Rahul Bedi
TelegraphMon, 02 Jul 2007 11:29 UTC
India is struggling to prevent millions of condoms from being made into toys or sold as balloons.
The contraceptives were distributed free to control the country's population and restrict the Aids virus.
However, they are being used instead to strengthen roads, provide extra waterproofing for houses and to carry water.
Health activists said millions of condoms were melted down for their latex and made into toys. Others were dyed and sold as balloons.
In rural areas, villagers used them as water containers. India's soldiers covered their gun barrels with condoms as protection against dust.
Only a quarter of about 1.5 billion condoms made each year were "properly utilised", the activists said.
A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant was attacked by a man who vilified the bird as a vampire, animal-control authorities said.
Beaten so fiercely that most of his tail feathers fell out, the bird was euthanized, said Richard Gentles, a spokesman for the city's Center for Animal Care and Control.
"It's just unbelievable that someone would do something to a poor, defenseless animal and do it in such a cruel fashion," he said.
The naturally-formed ice Shiva lingam at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir has completely melted, Chief Executive Officer of Shree Amarnathji Shrine Board Arun Kumar said on Sunday.
The ice Shiva lingam has melted down owing to the rise in temperature, Kumar, who accompanied Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to the cave on Sunday, said.
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has dismissed the latest London bomb scare as "feeble" and "unlikely to frighten the public".
A Zorse
Eclyse the zorse is striking proof of how an offspring inherits genes from both parents - which in her case was a male zebra and a female horse. The result is shown in her amazing coat which looks like a zebra's that has been partly covered in white paint.
An unidentified woman was driving recently on Illinois Route 36 in the vicinity of Larry Schlabach's rural Arthur residence when she saw a giant chimney of flames pierce the horizon.
She promptly turned her car in the opposite direction and stepped on the gas. By the time she reached the town of Atwood, she was doing 85 mph.
A nature lover north of Sydney has saved a catfish stuck at the surface of a lake after swallowing a basketball.
The man saw a basketball bobbing on the surface of Lake Macquarie and went to investigate.
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| ©The Daily Telegraph
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| More than he could chew ... a catfish flathead in Lake Macquarie near Newcastle was stuck to the surface after swallowing a basketball.
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APThu, 28 Jun 2007 06:01 UTC
MANISTIQUE - Researchers will visit Michigan's Upper Peninsula next month to search for evidence of the legendary creature known as "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch."
Prince Charles, self-appointed champion of organic farming, has had his carrots rejected by Sainsbury's because they were found to be rotten.
The decision to turn down the vegetables, which Prince Charles sells under his Duchy Originals brand, emerged on the same day that figures revealed the Prince of Wales is investing more than ever in his organic farming and gardening enterprises.
Annual accounts published by Clarence House show the Prince received a record income of more than £14m in 2005-06 and that he spent 37 per cent more on his organic gardens - £41,000 in total.
But the business disagreement with Sainsbury's highlights a growing tension between organic farmers and supermarkets, which Prince Charles once accused of discriminating against "wibbly-wobbly" vegetables. Sainsbury's also rejected carrots supplied by the head of the Soil Association, Patrick Holden.
