An American motorcyclist has set a new world record for the longest distance jump on his Harley Davidson. Seth Enslow first smashed the existing record by jumping 53.34 metres in Sydney, before breaking his own newly set world record with a jump of 55.77 metres. On the second landing, his groin hit the bike and cracked the paintwork.  

A pay telephone line for French Roman Catholics to confess their sins has drawn criticism from bishops. “To confess, press two” says a male voice on the "The Line of the Lord" service. "In case of serious or mortal sins -- that is, sins that have cut you off from Christ our Lord, it is indispensable to confide in a priest" it says.  

A 1938 copy of the first comic featuring Superman has sold for a record one million dollars in New York. The original news stand price was 10 cents and the seller had purchased it at auction for 150,000 dollars 15 years ago.  

A week before Valentine's Day, a consignment of cocaine was found hidden among 20,000 roses on a flight from Bogota, Colombia, which stopped over in Puerto Rico. Three people were arrested with 9kg of cocaine in their possession.  

A South Korean robot that “acted” in Robot Princess and the Seven Dwarfs is set for more leading theatre roles this year. The lifelike EveR-3 can communicate in Korean and English, and can express a total of 16 facial expressions.  

A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending an art class lost her balance, fell into "The Actor", and tore it. The damage did not impact the "focal point of the composition" and should be repaired soon.

Bangladesh has ordered an emergency deployment of 100 mobile toilets in its capital to head off a worrying rise in public defecation. They will be carried around manually on tricycle vans and strategically placed.

FIFTY chefs in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh mashed up more than four tonnes of hummus, beating the Guinness World Record set in Lebanon just months ago. The massive dip was prepared in a six-metre satellite dish provided by sponsors.

Some 60 revellers were forced to drink beer and play cards for three days after they became stranded in a pub in the North Yorkshire Dales, cut off by snowstorms on New Year’s Eve.

Butter find TWO blocks of butter which had been preserved by the extreme cold have been found intact after nearly a century in an Antarctic hut used by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott on his doomed 1910-12 expedition.   Sustainable pleasure AN Irish company has created an eco-friendly vibrator. The sex toy has a handle at the bottom which they claim after winding for four minutes, will give you “30 minutes of full-on, right-to-the top vibrations."   Sophisticated invertebrates AUSTRALIAN scientists have discovered an octopus species that carries around coconut shells to hide in when threatened. Researchers say that behaviour is the first example of an invertebrate using 'tools' in a sophisticated way.   Seeing red TESCO has had to withdraw a Christmas card that shows a redheaded child sitting on Santa’s lap under the banner: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones" after a mother found it offensive.   Elderly killer A 98-YEAR-OLD Massachusetts woman has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly suffocating her 100-year-old nursing home room-mate with a plastic bag. However, the case may not get to court because of her mental condition   Young master PRECOCIOUS teenager Marian Kogler has become Austria's youngest master's graduate at the age of 17. He also holds a bachelor's degree in software and information engineering, and has now embarked on a doctorate in computer science.

ROBBERS in Brazil stole more than four million euros from a cash delivery firm as the nation was transfixed on championship football games. Police said they rented a nearby house several months before and dug a 150-metre tunnel.

Sweden's Interior Minister Tobias Billstroem brought his baby daughter into the council chamber at EU proceedings, eliciting smiles from his European counterparts. Eight-month old Tone was smuggled into the meeting in her father's arms.

A SEVEN-year-old Australian boy managed to escape from an out-of-control car moments before it plunged eight metres down an embankment and rolled several...

GIANT jellyfish capsized a 10-tonne fishing boat after its crew tried to haul in a net full of them off the eastern coast of Japan. Experts believe conditions...

THOUSANDS of Icelanders lined up at McDonald's restaurants to order their last Big Macs before the fast-food chain abandoned the crisis-hit island due to soaring costs. McDonald's said...

NINE people of 11 on a small plane survived a crash landing in Brazil's Amazon rain forest after native Indians notified authorities. Members of the...

AN off-duty police officer faced criminal charges after pointing his service revolver at an actor playing a zombie at a Halloween-themed haunted...

A WORRIED Iranian airline pilot asked passengers to start praying after his plane was affected by a technical glitch highlighting once again the notorious record of Tehran's aircraft...

Brazil's Rafaela Montenero, 24, has taken first place in South America's premier pole dancing competition. In second place was Argentine dance instructor, Maria Luz Escalante. Both women...

CALIFORNIA’S First Lady faces a dressing down as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed to take ‘swift action’ against his wife after she was photographed holding a mobile phone up to her ear whilst driving, breaching a 2008 law requiring drivers to use hands-free devices.

TAIWANESE transport authorities are planning to rename a metro line plagued by mechanical problems over concerns that its name, Zha-Hu, is unlucky. Zha-Hu sounds like bluff or scam in Taiwanese, and is to be changed to the luckier sounding Wen-Hu.

ARGENTINA coach Maradona had his website hacked into by an unidentified Peruvian football fan who derided Maradona as ‘the biggest cry baby of all time’ after Argentina won 2-1 against Peru in Buenos Aires at the weekend.

ORGANISERS of a travelling exhibition about the human body breathed a sigh of relief after an anonymous telephone tip-off led to the recovery of a stolen lung. The lung was recovered from a car park where, thanks to chemical treatment, it was still well preserved.

JAPAN’S former premier Junichiro Koizumi, known for crooning Elvis Presley songs while in office, is to provide the voice-over for an extraterrestrial hero who fights not political opponents but monsters and aliens from outerspace.

A SWEDISH family has asked for damages of 29,250 euros after a Protestant pastor performed a funeral service apparently drunk. The Church of Sweden said the issue is being investigated.