|Strange but True... |The Weird World This Month! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Army Bomb Disposal expert were called to examine a suspicious package with protruding wires and found... a single read rose. The Valentine bloom was seen to be supported by florist's wire when the anonymous parcel was opened at a house in Weardale, County Durham. "It caused more than a few hearts to ripple," said a police spokesman. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Spanish police say they have busted a drug ring which was smuggling cocaine in imported fertiliser. "We found a labortory of proportions never before seen in Spain and probably one of the biggest discovered in Europe" said police. The drug-enriched manure was coming into Spain under cover of large congignments of ordinaty fertiliser. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Phnom Penh has temporarily shut down a newspaper for insulting Cambodia's political leaders. "The Ministry of Information has deinately decided to close the publication of Udom Katei Khmer (Khmer Ideal)," said a governmant spokesman. "They have written very bad things and groundlessly criticised with insults the government and the leadership." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Hong Kong government has so much money it could abolish salary taxes for the next four years or give each baby born in 1995 a £110,000 start in life. While other governments scramble to raise taxes or cut benefits, the colony has an embarrassment of riches. Accountants Price Waterhouse said Hong Kong has around £8Bn more than it needs before Chine takes over in 1997. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Mongolia's privatisation has been hard on the nomadic country's camels, a third of which have been butchered for quick cash since communism collapsed. "The collectives have been privatised in the 1990s and the animals distributed indiscriminately," the Ministry of Food said. Mongolians have slaughtered 225,000 two-humped Bactrian camels since 1990. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "God must have forgotten me," Jeanne Calment is fond of saying. Fance's - and, it is believed, the world's - oldest citizen is preparing to celebrate her 120th birthday. "I've had a beautiful life. With good health, one is happy - I have a 120-year-old stomach and I'm still as hungry as a wolf," said Mrs. Calment, who has outlived her direct decendants. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "Ghost" star Demi Moore is set to become the most highly paid actress in entertainment history. If she accepts an offer to appear in a new film called "Striptease", Bruce Willis's wife will pick up a whopping $12 million - about £8 Million! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Surgeons at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, made a gruesome discovery while operating on an eight-year-old boy with stomach pains. They found about 250 worms crawling out of his belly. Doctors say the worms had come from eating unwashed vegetables. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A Norwich youth football team has been shown the red card for using players who were too old. South Earlham U13s have been bannes from their league and fined for using players aged 14 and 15 in their team last November. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A diabetic who joked with staff at a hospital in Tampa not to cut off the wrong leg in an operaton awoke... to find they had cut off the wrong leg. Willie King, 51, now faces having no legs at all as the gangreous limb left on by a University Community Hospital surgeon must be amputated as well. "He's very depressed about it," says his brother John Hollis. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Koko is a gorilla who has cracked the basics of sign language. And he has a healthy taste for gossip, his keepers have told the latest issue of The Sciences magazine. "After watching one of his human teachers argue with his girlfriend, Koko couldn't help telling another human teacher about i," says Stanfor University expert Robert Sapolsky. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A Brisbane court has fined a man £50 for riding a skateboard while drunk. Police saw John Forno, 19, riding his skateboard and swerving all over the road near a McDonald's restaurant. Tests showed hus blood contained three times the maximum legal amout of alcohol allowed for drivers. He said: "I had a few rums and felt hungry. I think the police are being very petty." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A delegation from the Amararabe tribe of S. Africa may travel to England soon to demand back it's head - literally. Tribal spokesman Prince Mjolo said the group sought the return of the head of King Hintsa, killed by British troops some 160 years ago. According to legend, Hintsa's head and mace were taken to London. The tribe claims to know where they are kept. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Bees are apparently able to count and can use landmarks for navigation. Lars Chittka and Karl Gieger of the Free University of Berlin said they tested honeybees flying between a feeding device and the hive. They set up various landmarks, such as tents, and then moved the feeder to see if the bees used such markers to find their way around. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- An ex-dockworker is battling to leave his skeleton to medical science after being told by health bosses that there is no more demand for human bones. John Bartlett, 68, wants to give his skeleton to Southampton Medical School. He said: "I have not achieved a lot during my lifetime and thought it would be useful." But health officials say it is not needed - ang against the law. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- An actor repeatedly rejected by the Royal Shakespeare Company wants to exact revenge from beyond the grave. He is bequeathing his skull to the RSC so he can appear in Hamlet forever. Canadian-born Jonathan Hartman, 39, has drawn up a will leaving his skull to the company so that the part of the deceased jester Yorick will be his in perptuity. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-