Skip the mower and ewe will be sorry

A flock of sheep employed as a cost-cutting measure by a UK village church to maintain its grass areas has drawn the ire of locals after the woolly workers caused havoc to the church's burial site. Ten ewes were let loose on the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church in Grazeley, Berkshire, because the church could no longer afford to pay someone to mow the lawn. But relatives of those buried there have complained the animals have been eating their floral tributes left for loved ones. Nicola Millard, whose grandparents are buried there, says: "I arrived to see four of them stood on my nan's grave. I was so heartbroken." The Reverend Chris Leslie says use of the flock was a "traditional way of managing churchyards".

When Harry Met Sally, times 20

Twenty female diners simultaneously faking sexual climax over their meals at a New York delicatessen have left more than a group of startled diners panting over their pastrami, it seems. Video of the staged incident, filmed by prank group Improv Everywhere at Katz's Deli in New York City earlier this year, has racked up more than 100,000 views. The recreation and filming of the infamous "fake orgasm scene" by actress Meg Ryan from the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally was part of Improv Everywhere's Movies In Real Life series, and later posted online. The crew posed as tourists with hand-held cameras to avoid being identified as a production team. Even the staffers at the well-known deli were not in on the gag.

Ex-wife abducted for exorcism ritual

Two men from California in the United States were arrested last week after allegedly kidnapping a woman in order to perform an exorcism on her. The San Joaquin Sheriff's Department alleges the 42-year-old man and his 20-year-old son believed the older man's ex-wife had become possessed by demons, according to local news outlet KCRA. The pair arranged to meet the woman in a Walmart carpark in Stockton, 136 kilometers east of San Francisco. The family then drove to pick up two priests from separate locations in order to perform the ritual. According to the Sheriff Deputy's report, the father, son and the two priests forced her to undergo the exorcism, which involved the woman being doused in oils. Authorities were alerted by the victim's roommate. The father and son remain in police custody under suspicion of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit a crime and false imprisonment.

Fire fears for Swedish ice hotel

Local authorities ordered a hotel in Northern Sweden, rebuilt every winter using only ice, to install fire alarms last week. Located in the Arctic town of Jukkasjaervi, the ice hotel is a tourist attraction. "We were a little surprised at first, but the reason is that there are things that can actually catch fire, like pillows, sleeping bags or reindeer skins," hotel spokeswoman Beatrice Karlsson says. The hotel, open from Dec 6 to April 13, attracts tourists from all over the world to sleep on an ice bed in temperatures as low as -8 C. "(Installation of the alarms has) been a challenge for our building team, but it made us one experience richer," Karlsson says.

Starling startles with cheeky talk

A pet starling in New Zealand has taught itself to talk, sing, impersonate its owner and even dispense pearls of wisdom it has heard from television shows. What's more it does it in a voice that is startlingly similar to its owner's. Buddy Loveheart whispers phrases such as "I love you" and "Whatcha been doing today?" in owner Debbie Bingham's voice and parrots back songs he has heard. Bingham found the fledgling Buddy while out walking on a farm track near the town of Waimate three years ago. One of Buddy's favourite lines is, "We must learn to love each other no matter what our color", which he learned from watching Ellen DeGeneres' talk show.

Cannibal ate man's tongue with beans

In a scene recalling an eerie line from the horror film The Silence of the Lambs, a suspected cannibal killed a 90-year-old man in a southern French village before pulling his victim's heart and tongue out to eat them with white beans. The 26-year-old man slipped into his victim's house in the isolated Nouilhan hamlet on Nov 14 and smashed the old man's skull with a metal object. The accused then set fire to the body before extracting his victim's heart and tongue to cook and eat them. Police discovered the calcinated body of the victim with an open wound visible on his side, and a bit of cooked meat on a plate with white beans taken from the old man's fridge.

Thor takes hammer to frame for new film

Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, best known for portraying the muscle-bound Thor in the Marvel superhero film franchise, will appear markedly thinner in his next big screen outing. Hemsworth has embarked on a starvation diet to look as "scrawny" as possible for his new film Heart Of The Sea, about the true events that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, a noticeably slimmer Hemsworth says in the film the ship sinks and the occupants jump onto small rafts and drift for 90 days without food and water. Hemsworth explains that the actors have to get "rather skinny" to achieve the right look.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/24/2013 page4)