US woman swallows phone in spat
A woman's row with her boyfriend about a mobile phone suddenly went quiet - when she swallowed the handset whole. Police in Blue Springs, in the US state of Missouri, said they were called out by a man who said his girlfriend was having trouble breathing.
When they arrived at the house, they found a phone lodged in her throat.
"He wanted the phone and she wouldn't give it to him, so she attempted to swallow it," an officer said. The woman was expected to make a full recovery.
The 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital in Blue Springs, Det Sgt Steve Decker told local media.
"She just put the entire phone in her mouth so he couldn't get it," he said.
"This is the first I've heard of this happening," he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4557192.stm
Kangaroos 'scared by own noise'
Australian farmers could be about to get an unusual new weapon to protect their crops from rampaging kangaroos.
Researchers in Melbourne have found that these voracious marsupials can be scared off by the thumping sound of their own large feet on the ground.
There could be as many as 60m kangaroos in Australia, and they often compete with livestock for food and water.
Keeping these fleet-footed marsupials away from their crops and water supplies has become a constant battle.
A traditional deterrent has been a series of high pitched squeals emitted from loudspeakers.
Researchers have found that kangaroos often become accustomed to these artificial sounds and take little notice of them.
However, a recording of a 'roo thumping its foot appears to have been quite a breakthrough. This is the noise these macropods make when they sense danger before taking flight.
Using the animal's own alarm system could be what irate farmers have been looking for. They often complain that kangaroo numbers have reached plague-like proportions. Several million are shot dead every year as part of an official cull.
Animal rights campaigners have insisted that many of these pouched mammals die a painful death at the hands of unlicensed or inexperienced marksmen.
A large number of marsupials are also killed or injured on Australian roads by cars and trucks. Researchers, who are hoping to develop their foot thumping technology, believe it could also be used to guide kangaroos away from busy highways.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4554640.stm
New Year 'delayed' by leap second
Scientists are delaying the start of the new year by adding the first "leap second" in seven years. The Paris Observatory said an extra second would be added to clocks worldwide at the stroke of midnight on 31 December.
Leap seconds are required every so often to keep our clocks in sync with solar time used by astronomers.
"Enjoy New Year's Eve a second longer," said the researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Tidal friction
The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, based at the Paris Observatory, tells the world every six months whether to add or subtract a second from atomic clocks, the standard for everyday timekeeping.
A leap second is added to Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it in step with solar time - based on the Earth's rotation on itself - to within a second.
Tidal friction causes the Earth's rotation to slow down, which means that solar time tends to drift out of sync with atomic clocks.
If this disparity was not corrected, the error could increase to several seconds within a few decades; and would very quickly make software and possibly hardware used by astronomers obsolete.
There have been 22 leap seconds added - and no subtractions - since the first one on 30 June, 1972.
The new leap second will be inserted at the end of the final minute of 2005, giving the familiar "six pip" BBC radio time signal an extra pip before the long pip marking the hour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4562194.stm
'Absurd' ban on Letterman lifted
A judge in New Mexico has lifted a restraining order on talk show host David Letterman sought by a woman who said he sent her coded messages by TV. The Santa Fe resident had obtained the order on the grounds that Mr Letterman had caused her mental cruelty for 11 years, forcing her to go bankrupt.
Lawyers for the TV host, who records his shows in New York, dismissed the claims as "absurd and frivolous".
The same judge who granted the ban accepted their request to quash it.
In her request filed on 15 December, Colleen Nestler asked for Mr Letterman to stay at least three metres (yards) away from her and not "think of me, and release me from his mental harassment and hammering".
She accused the host of using code words, gestures and "eye expressions" to send her messages since she began sending him "thoughts of love" after his Late Show programme began in 1993.
One alleged message was for Ms Nestler to come east to New York to be trained as the Late Show's co-host.
'I'll break their legs'
In court on Tuesday, a lawyer for the talk show host, Pat Rogers, argued that his client was "entitled to a protection of his legal rights and a protection of his reputation".
He also said that the New Mexico court had no jurisdiction over Mr Letterman, a resident of Connecticut.
Questioned by Judge Daniel Sanchez, Ms Nestler, who defended herself in court, said she had no proof of the alleged messages from Mr Letterman.
She added that if Mr Letterman or any of his representatives came near her, she would "break their legs" but denied after the hearing that she was making a threat.
She had, she said, achieved her purpose since "the public knows that this man cannot come near me".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4563212.stm
Dallas bad smell ban sparks row
A rule that will allow public libraries in the US city of Dallas to ban people who are considered to smell badly has drawn criticism by charity groups. Under the guidelines, which come into force in February, sleeping, eating, loud talking, fighting, bare feet, sex and washing will also be banned.
Officials say the moves aim to provide a better environment for library users.
But charity workers say the plans unfairly target Dallas' poor and homeless people.
The rules follow complaints by library patrons over homeless people using the downtown public library for washing in the toilets or loitering outside.
Lack of facilities
Dallas library Director Laurie Evans said the intention was to create a welcoming environment for library users.
"They deserve to be comfortable, they deserve to feel welcomed in public buildings," he told the AP news agency.
He added library employees would be trained to implement the new regulations consistently.
Violations of the rules would be addressed on a case-by-case basis, he said.
The American Library Association has supported the change.
"If people can't take care of basic hygiene and are disturbing to the 100 or so people around them, then it's perfectly acceptable for the library to say, 'Will you please sit somewhere else?'", Leslie Burger, president-elect of the association told AP.
But charity groups say the ruling discriminates against homeless people, who already suffer from a lack of facilities in the city.
James Waghorne, a Dallas homeless advocate, said the city did not provide enough washing facilities for the homeless.
Homeless people often need libraries for resources they cannot get elsewhere, he said.
Libraries across the United States, including Redwood City, California, Boston and Houston have adopted similar policies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4568348.stm
Old and new in Seven Wonders poll
People around the world are being invited to vote in a survey for the New Seven Wonders of the World. A privately funded organisation, the New 7 Wonders Foundation, has put forward a shortlist of 21 landmarks from across the globe.
They include Rome's Colosseum, Jordan's ancient city of Petra, Britain's Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China.
The Swiss-based foundation is asking people to vote for their favourites by phone during 2006.
The winning septet will be announced on New Year's Day 2007.
Half of the money raised will go towards funding the Foundation's heritage work.
Man-made monuments
The list also includes a number of more modern candidates, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, New York's Statue of Liberty and the Sydney Opera House.
NEW WONDERS?
Acropolis, Athens
Alhambra, Spain
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
Taj Mahal, India
Timbuktu, Mali
The Great Pyramid of Giza, which is included in the new list, is the only original wonder to remain in contention.
The Seven Wonders of the ancient world were selected by a Greek philosopher, Philon of Byzantium, over 2,000 years ago.
All of his choices were situated around the Mediterranean basin.
To be included on the new list, the wonders had to be man-made, completed by 2000, and in an "acceptable" state of preservation.
The New Seven Wonders Foundation, which includes among its members the former head of the United Nations cultural agency, Unesco, says it is using its survey to alert the world to the destruction of the world's cultural heritage.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4574336.stm
