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Cat needed after rats filmed entering Downing Street

BRITAIN: British prime minister David Cameron has a new group of foes to contend with -they have cunning, stealth and look determined to force their way into the famous Downing Street home in London.

It's not the opposition Labour Party worrying the British leader,  but rats seen scuttling outside the door of his official residence.

The rodents have twice been filmed by TV news crews in recent days, prompting Cameron to bring in a specialist rat-catcher and consider whether Downing Street needs a new pet cat.

Previous prime ministers have appointed a "Chief Mouser", with the last holder of the office, a male cat called Humphrey retiring in 1997.
 
'Unluckiest' man struck by lightning while on phone

FLORIDA: The self-titled 'unluckiest man in the world' was yet again taken to the hospital after he was struck by lightning while using a landline telephone in his Florida home.

Metro says the last thing he remembers is leaning over a metal sink, with a severe storm raging outside, speaking on the phone.

John Wade Agan has hit headlines in the past because of his extraordinary misfortune, which included an incident four years ago when he was robbed at gunpoint while driving his taxi and got locked in the boot.

He also suffered injuries after being stabbed in the chest with a butcher's knife in 2008, and, more recently in 2009, he claimed he was bitten by two snakes at the same time.

Although experts have questioned whether all his injuries are genuine - especially the snake incident and now the lightning strike - he stands by his claims.

Some have suggested he is an attention seeker, or even self-harming (in the most bizarre ways possible) in order to receive pain medication, the paper says. 
 
Online peril for internet pirates

AUSTRALIA: The international movie industry has a new weapon against internet pirates - a program written by two Ballarat computer scientists.

PhD student Robert Layton and researcher Prof Paul Watters, of Ballarat University's Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL), wrote a program that can track illegal downloads through torrent websites, reports Herald Sun.

The program apparently maps the extent of criminal activity and copyright infringement online.

The daily said the program uses a tagging technique to track files through networks commonly used by movie and music pirates to transfer large files in fragments from multiple users simultaneously.

The project attracted attention from movie giant Village Roadshow, who offered funding to help curb internet copyright infringement.

The ICSL works with the Australian Federal Police to stop online sharing of child pornography and other illegal content.

The lab has found the Christopher Nolan-directed sci-fi hit Inception to be the current favourite for movie pirates, followed by Iron Man 2 and Salt, the paper said.
 
'I won $485,000, they won't pay'

SOUTH AUSTRALIA: A man has launched court action against the SA Lotteries Commission after it refused to pay out on his "winning" ticket.

When Wayne Clavell's Pools numbers finally came up, he figured his dreams had come true.

Perhaps an overseas trip, a new home, new car, swimming pool. At least that's what he thought.

When he went to claim his winnings - which he believed could be up to $484,890.75 - his heart sank after he was told his "winning" numbers had not been included in the draw because he had lodged his entry almost four hours after the draw closed.

Despite pleading to the Lotteries Commission that he was incorrectly advised of the closing time for the draw by one of its agents, it has refused to pay a cent.

Not content to let the matter rest, Clavell has launched legal action in the District Court against the Commission seeking damages and interest.
 
Dutch prisoner ‘too big for cell’

THE HAGUE: His lawyer, Bas Martens, told a court in The Hague that at 2.07m (6ft 9in) tall and 230kg (36 stone) his client is too big and too fat to fit in the cell he was assigned.

But Martens told the Metro: ‘He is not obese. He is a giant. He even walks like a giant, like out of the comic books.’

MacD, who is serving a two-year sentence for fraud, has a long list of complaints, the daily reported.

His bed is apparently too small, forcing him to sleep on his side ‘with one eye open in case he falls out of bed’.

He also claims he has to crouch under the shower, keep toilet trips to a minimum as the seat is too low and small, and has nowhere to sit in the prison canteen.

Martens argues that his client’s living conditions violate the European Convention on Human Rights, and wants MacD to be allowed to serve the rest of his sentence at home under house arrest.

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