Real World News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19499457 If cocaine was found police need to get to the bottom of it fast.

I find this very odd, as an economist I'm quite familiar with petrol prices and fail to see what this investigation is going to do... considering that that fuel is taxed twice, via Hydrocarbon Oil Duty which is about 57p a litre currently and then VAT on the total price. If there was no tax on petrol whatsoever, then it would, off the top of my head be about 54/55p a litre (depending on the price charged by the garage) currently. So how you're going to make any meaningful change (i.e ideally more than 10p a litre) without tackling the biggest chunk of the cost is beyond me.

A cow had to be rescued by fire services in northern England after it tumbled down a 30 meter river embankment and got stuck in a tree. Fire crews in Cumbria were surprised to receive a call to rescue the cow, which had toppled 10 meters down a slope of the river Leith before a tree broke its fall. The bruised bovine was discovered after its farmer noticed one of his cows was missing. The animal was sedated by a vet before being winched out of the tree by firemen using specialist equipment. "(Fire crews) had to wear body armor in case a stray hoof lashed out at them," said a spokesman for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service. "The vet checked the cow over and it seemed re…

Michael Clarke Duncan, the hulking, prolific character actor whose dozens of films included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and such other box office hits as "Armageddon," "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," is dead at age 54. Clarke died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical centre in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancee, Reverend Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily. The muscular, 6-foot-4 Duncan, a former bodyguard who turned to acting in his 30s, "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," the statement said. "Manigault i…

http://www.bbc.co.uk...litics-19429936

TBH at least he wasnt drunk in the street, causing ASB or fighting! The "house" party didnt get too out of order either, certainly no complaints so far from neighbouring rooms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rshire-19423334

http://www.bbc.co.uk...sussex-19413895 Very sad news indeed and my condolences to his family and all his mates that knew him.

Suspect a lot of people will agree with that assessment.

I think so. I remember when bank where in the news a lot they kept referring too various CEOs and Charimen who are "Sirs". God knows what they have done to deserve that title! Apparently a lot of senior civil servants get the Order of Bath bestowed upon them for doing a good job, ridiculous!

An Indian company has launched what it claims is the country's first vagina tightening cream, saying it will make women feel "like a virgin" again. The company says it is about empowering women, but critics say it is doing the opposite. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan in Mumbai reports. It is certainly a bold claim. As the music starts playing on the advertisement for the 18 Again cream, a sari-clad woman is singing and dancing. It is an unusual take on Bollywood. "I feel like a virgin," she croons, although the advert makes it clear she is not. Her shocked in-laws look on, before her husband joins her for some salsa-style dancing. "Feels like the very first time," she…

A father of three who had sex with his ex-wife's bull mastiff dog was spared a prison sentence today. Nicholas Saunders, 46, was caught in bed with Sasha by Kelly Thacker, mother of two of his children. Saunders, of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, was convicted by a jury at Gloucester Crown Court in June of having intercourse with an animal. Today the court heard that Saunders continues to deny his guilt. Recorder Stewart Patterson sentenced Saunders to a two-year community order, placed him on the sex offenders register for five years and ordered him to attend a sex offenders' treatment programme. He told Saunders: "On January 15 2011 you had a row with your partner and …

What a poignant send off.