First hair wash for 26 years

An 80-year-old Chinese man has washed his hair for the first time in 26 years.

It took 12 people five hours to wash Luo Shiyuan's 6ft long hair and 5ft beard /Lu Feng

Shampoo had little effect on Luo Shiyuan's matted 6ft long hair and 5ft beard so the whole family pitched in with washing powder, reports Chongqing Morning Papers.

In all, it took 12 people - including his son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and neighbours - five hours and three family bags of washing powder.

When his hair was finally clean, locals in the remote mountain village of Red Flag, near Chongqing city, said they would try to get his name in the record books.

World's youngest transexual, 12

A boy believed to be the youngest sex change patient in the world wants to bring forward the operation two years.

The German youngster, christened Tim and now called Kim, was allowed to start hormone treatment at the age of 12. Now aged 14, Kim told Germany's Stern TV his dearest wish was to have the final cosmetic surgery to remove male genitalia when he is 16.

Under German law the operation can not take place until Kim is 18, which would mean either a law change or traveling abroad.

Pictures of him on German TV showed Kim looking like a typical teenage girl, playing with strands of his long hair while seated in the pink attic bedroom of his parents' house.

He keeps a piggybank filled with change he has been saving for the operation - since the age of five, even though all the costs so far have been paid by the German National Health Service.

When he was just two Tim tried on his older sister's clothes and played with Barbies. As soon as he could speak he told his parents "I'm a girl" and later had a row where he declared he wanted to "cut off my thing".

His father, named only as Lutz P. for legal reasons, said they realised then it was not just a phase and that the problem was serious.

Kim's mother, who has not been named, said: "If your child has a heart defect you send him to a specialist, but when your child is transsexual, everyone seems to have an opinion."

Kim's family turned to Dr. Bernd Meyenburg, head of a clinic for children with identity disturbances at Frankfurt university. He has studied transsexuality since the 1970s but said Kim was a "real dilemma".

He said: "If we do something about it, it's irreversible. And if we allow nature to take its course, that too is irreversible." He added however that: "it would have been a crime to let Kim grow up as a man".

Golfer's nightmare

A Taiwanese golfer lost his memory after hitting a hole-in-one.

Wang, 50, was playing golf with friends at a course in Xinzu city when it happened. "The ball flew and dropped directly into the hole, which is a standard three-par hole," said one of his friends.

Wang was initially overjoyed - but when his friends picked up the ball and came to congratulate him they found him muttering on a hill and asking: "Why am I here?"

He was sent to the hospital immediately and doctors diagnosed him as suffering a blackout or temporary memory loss. After a couple of hours of rest, Wang's memory was pieced together again, but his golfing success was still missing.

When Wang revisited the doctor a week later, he still didn't remember the hole-in-one, reports Taiwan News.

Man kept contact lenses in for a year

A Chinese man had to have his contact lenses surgically removed after he did not take them out for a year.

Liu, 40, started to wear contact lenses a year ago and never took them out because he found it difficult. "I only have some eye drops for when they feel uncomfortable," he told Chutian City News.

Liu recently felt his eyesight was getting worse, so he bought another pair of lenses and wore them on top of the old ones. But when his eyesight still didn't improve, he took another startling decision.

"I put a pair of used disposal contact lenses over the other two pairs in my eyes. By then, I was wearing three pairs of lenses," he said. By the next day, Liu's eyes had reacted badly to his DIY eyecare and he finally sought medical attention.

A doctor was shocked to find the first lenses had grown into his eyes and surgery was needed to take them out.

Trapped drunk rang out SOS on church bell

A drunk man who fell asleep and got trapped inside a church rang out SOS in morse code with the bell.

When the man awoke in St Faith's Church in Havant, near Portsmough, he found the doors locked.

Reportedly worried about ghosts, he started ringing out the morse code for SOS on the church bell, reports Portsmough Today.

As dusk began to fall, he was still ringing for his life but eventually a local resident realised something was wrong.

He alerted two Police Community Support Officers who, in turn, contacted church verger Vicki Mockford who came to the rescue.

She said: "I was called by police saying someone was using the bell as a sign they were trapped.

"When we found him inside he told us he went into the church to have a sit down but fell asleep. He told the police he had been drinking which may have made him a bit dozy.

"He looked quite embarrassed about the whole incident when we found him. Maybe after this he might consider taking up bell ringing as a hobby."

Britain's unluckiest man?

'Britain's unluckiest man' - who has suffered 16 major accidents - is laid up again after falling down a manhole.

John Lyne's misfortunes have included two lightning strikes, a rock-fall in a mine, nearly drowning and three car crashes.

Mr Lyne, 54, of Stainforth, near Doncaster, will be out of action for 32 weeks after his latest mishap, reports the Doncaster Free Press.

The accident damaged his back and injured his left leg and both knees - on top of a lifetime of broken bones.

Mr Lyne says he's not bitter - just glad to be alive.

"Everyone thinks it is just hilarious," he said. "My mates, family and wife Susan just laugh about it.

"I don't think there is any reason or explanation for it though, it has just happened really. I have to particularly be careful on the Friday 13ths, when a few accidents have fallen."

Mr Lyne's mishaps cover a lifetime. As a child, he fell off a horse and cart - only to be run over by a delivery van.

When he was a teenager, he broke his arm falling from a tree. On his way back from hospital, his bus crashed, breaking the same arm in another place. The date was Friday the 13th.

'Mr Magoo' driven off the road

A partially-sighted driver, dubbed Mr Magoo by anxious neighbours, has been ordered off the road..

Partially-sighted learner driver Peter Davies, 25, who is determined to pass his test despite concern from local residents in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire /PA

Peter Davies, 25, of Burry Port, west Wales, failed a basic eye test, reports icWales.

Residents urged him to give up driving after he recently mounted a kerb and crashed into a fence.

He was banned after police called at his home and asked him to carry out a partial eye test in the street outside.

He agreed to take part and went on to fail four times to read a number plate of a car parked 20 yards away.

Mr Davies admits having just 50% effective vision in one eye and 45% in the other but insists he is a safe learner driver.

His father, Antony Davies, who was teaching him to drive, says Peter was 'gutted' and had booked another test with an optician.

"To be honest he is gutted by what has happened. We are both hoping an optician can put an extra thickness into his glasses," he said.

"Personally I don't think it is justified, stopping him driving, but there was a campaign to get him off the road and this is where it has led."

Pensioner survives 100ft fall

A pensioner walked away with cuts and bruises - after driving his car over a 100ft cliff.

The drama was witnessed by Andy Baldwin who called 999 - but only realised later the driver was his own stepfather Terry Flynn, 72.

Mr Flynn swerved off a coast road in his Vauxhall Corsa and smashed through a barbed wire fence into a field, reports the Mirror.

He then drove in circles round the field in the pitch black before plunging over the cliff 300 yards from the road.

But, amazingly, Mr Flynn had only minor head and rib injuries. He was winched to safety by coastguards and taken to hospital where he was said to be "comfortable".

Mr Baldwin, 54, who was driving past at the time of the crash, said: "It seems Terry swerved to avoid an animal and ended up in a field.

"He got disoriented, probably banged his head, and drove over the cliff. The car is almost completely flattened. It was low tide otherwise he could have drowned."

A Hampshire Police spokeswoman said: "We are treating it as an accident. We have no idea why he lost control."

Hospital patient had to ring 999

A Romanian hospital patient had to call the emergency services because nobody heard him crying for help.

Stefan Ososchi, 80, who suffers from an incurable disease, said he was lucky to have his mobile phone with him.

He had been admitted to the County Hospital in Botosani and put on a drip but the nurses forgot to come back to take out the needle from his vein.

Mr Ososchi said: "I waited for the nurse come and take the needle out. It had been almost an hour and nobody came.

"I had terrible pains in my arm and I tried to take it off myself but didn't succeed. I began to cry for help. It was in vain so I called 112 and asked for their help."

The head of the County Hospital in Botosani said the two nurses who were in charge of the patient will be disciplined for negligence.

Ambulance service spokesman Dorina Andronache said: "I thought it was a stupid joke when I heard that somebody from a hospital was asking for help. But it turned out the patient was indeed in trouble."

Man unhurt after 50ft fall

A Czech man had a lucky escape after he plunged four floors onto the pavement below after mixing up the toilet and balcony doors.

Dusan Zdimala, 61, from Brno, fell 50ft but walked away with just light bruises after his middle of the night mix-up.

He was taken to hospital after a neighbour, who saw him fall, rang an ambulance.

Mr Zdimala, a painter, said: "It's miraculous. Apart from the bruises nothing happened. I didn't even break a single bone."

Paula's toilet break tops poll

Paula Radcliffe's wee stop during the London marathon has been voted running's most memorable event.

Her unscheduled roadside toilet break in 2005 beat Sir Roger Bannister's historic four-minute mile in 1954.

Radcliffe's embarrassing moment received 28% of the online vote - 1% more than Bannister's memorable run.

In third place, with 20%, was the clash of British great rivals Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Coe, now Lord Coe, finished second to his rival in the 800m, but took the gold in the 1,500m race.

In fourth place, was another duel, between South African Zola Budd and American Mary Decker in the 3,000m at the 1984 Olympics.

The race ended in tears for both after they collided. Decker fell over while Budd finished out of the medals.

Jesse Owens' feat of winning four golds in front of Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin was voted fifth.

Horror fans faint at new movie

A UK cinema chain had to call emergency services three times in one night because of people fainting during the new horror film SAW III

Four people passed out in separate incidents while watching slasher movie Saw III at Cineworld complexes in Stevenage and Peterborough.

One woman was taken to hospital and two other adults were treated by medics after fainting in Stevenage, Herts.

And in a separate case, a man collapsed at a cinema in Peterborough, Cambs, "due to the film's content".

"If you know you're squeamish, don't go," warned a spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service.

"This is obviously a blood-thirsty film. Some of the scenes are fairly horrific," Matthew Ware told the BBC News website.

The movie is currently number one in both the UK and North American box office charts.

Cineworld have declined to comment

Man loses 16 stone - on Oxo cubes

A Cornwall man has lost 16 stone in a year on a diet of Oxo cubes.

Stephen Kay, 39, swapped fry-ups, pies, pasties and pints of lager for three bowls of hot broth a day.

The dad-of-three, who is 6ft 2ins, weighed 31.5 stone, reports the Daily Mirror.

He devised with his own diet made up of Oxo stock cubes, topped up with fruit and vegetables.

Within 12 months he had slimmed down to 15.2 stone and lost two foot off his waist as his belt size shrank from 60 to 36.

Stonemason Stephen said: "I'd read all the weight loss magazines and watched all the TV programmes - but I hate salads.

"I remember my grandfather eating hot Oxo broth soaked up by wholemeal bread so I went for that."

Stephen decided to fight the fat after constant pestering from wife Caroline and children Gary, 21, Claire, 14 and Jack, 11.

Caroline makes her husband's filling broths three times a day using two stock cubes, hot water and pepper. She also gives him three slices of wholemeal bread.

The 42-year-old part-time cleaner said: "This diet has totally transformed him. He used to get tired easily and spend all his time on the sofa. Now he is out playing badminton."

Japanese champ to defend burger title

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee - Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi will try to defend his title in a Tennessee hamburger-eating contest in which he is undefeated. He is among 13 finalists that are going to Chattanooga, headquarters of fast-food chain Krystal Co., to eat as many small, square hamburgers as they can in eight minutes. Kobayashi took the title in the contest's first year in 2004 and again in 2005.

Last year, Kobayashi swallowed 67 hamburgers to win the title and a check for $10,000.

The eating machine from Nagano fended off San Diego State University engineering student Joey Chestnut, who was tied with Kobayashi at 60 Krystals with 37 seconds left.

Chestnut finished with only 62, but he will return to challenge Kobayashi this year.

Now a project engineer living in San Jose, California, Chestnut said he has been training for the finals using frozen Krystal burgers because there are not any locations in California.

The 172-pound Kobayashi finished 69 Krystals during the first contest in 2004.

Kobayashi also holds the title of hot dog-eating champion, after eating 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island, New York.

Krystal, the oldest fast-food chain in the South, holds two-minute qualifying rounds in eight Southern U.S. cities in the months leading up to the championship.

The average person can eat four to six Krystal burgers in two minutes; Chestnut ate 28.

The Krystal finals are governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Founded by brothers Richard and George Shea in 1997, it regulates events for safety and keeps records on everything from meatballs to green chiles.

Toddler gets stuck in vending machine

ANTIGO, Wis. - Three-year-old Robert Moore went fishing for a stuffed replica of Sponge Bob and ended up trapped in a vending machine. The toddler's adventure began with a Saturday evening shopping trip with his grandmother, Fredricka Bierdemann, and three siblings.

Bierdemann ended the trip by giving each child a dollar and telling them to have fun in a retailer's game room.

A stuffed Sponge Bob in a vending machine's bin caught Robert's eye. He tried without success to fish it out with a plastic crane.

"I told him I could get it for him," his grandmother said. "He's a character. He said, 'Oh no, I can get it.'"

When she turned her back to get another dollar for a second try, Robert took off his coat and squeezed through an opening in the machine. He landed in the stuffed animal cube.

"I turned around and looked for him, and he said, 'Oma, I'm in here," Bierdemann said. "I thought I would have a heart attack."

Store employees couldn't find a key to the machine, so Robert waited while the Antigo Fire Department was called.

"He was having a ball in there, hugging all the stuffed animals," Bierdemann said. "He was so good-natured, but I was shaking like a leaf."

Firefighters broke one lock but then spotted two latches inside the plastic cube. They passed a screwdriver to Robert.

"He stacked up all the stuffed animals and used that screwdriver to open the latch," his grandmother said. "You should have seen him go."

Eventually, Robert freed himself. But his mother, Marie Moore, and grandmother said they were lucky that he remained calm when another child might not have. He went home safe - but without a stuffed Sponge Bob.

Officials probe finger-in-sandwich claim

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. - Health officials are investigating a woman's claim that she found part of a human finger in a Subway sandwich - an allegation reminiscent of the chili bowl finger hoax at a Wendy's restaurant last year.

Two health inspectors visited the Subway restaurant Thursday in Chowchilla after the woman reported finding what appeared to be a half-inch piece of a finger a day earlier, said Jill Yaeger, director of the Madera County Environmental Health Department.

The inspectors did not find any evidence that a restaurant worker had lost part of a finger, and they found no violations of food handling procedures there, Yaeger said. The purported human digit was sent to a laboratory for testing, and the incident was reported to police.

The Subway manager, Anita Munoz, said she was in the restaurant when the woman returned with what she claimed looked like a finger.

"It looked like a thick piece of fat," she told The Fresno Bee. "It doesn't look anything human to me."

Munoz said the incident would be investigated by Subway's national headquarters.

Subway spokesman Kevin Kane said the company was aware of the woman's claim but would not comment until Madera County officials completed their investigation.

"The Subway restaurant chain takes every customer comment seriously," Kane said Friday. "We don't know what the foreign object is yet."

Chowchilla is about 90 miles east of San Jose, where a Las Vegas woman claimed in March 2005 that she bit into a fingertip in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant. Anna Ayala's stomach-turning claim made headlines around the world.

The claim was found to be a hoax and Ayala was sentenced to nine years in prison. Her husband was sentenced to more than 12 years for getting the finger from a co-worker who lost it in a workplace accident.

Wendy's, based in Dublin, Ohio, said it lost $2.5 million in sales because of bad publicity and had to lay off dozens of employees at its Northern California franchises.

Subway, which has more than 26,000 restaurants in 85 countries, is owned by Doctor's Associates Inc., based in Milford, Conn.

Panda bites off part of woman's thumb

BEIJING - A panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding it at a reserve in southwest China, state media said Thursday.

The 50-year-old woman, identified only as Lisa, had registered in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan province as a volunteer, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

She was wearing gloves and feeding the panda bamboo on Tuesday morning when "suddenly, the panda bit into her thumb," Xinhua said.

"When she cried out, the cub became excited and gripped more tightly," it said. "Lisa finally managed to wrench herself free."

About 20 percent of the thumb had been bitten off, Xinhua said.

A man who answered the telephone at the center's administrative office said it had no comment.

The center has been recruiting volunteers since 2004 for stints that last from one day to more than a month, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, was quoted as saying. They can prepare food, feed pandas under supervision and clear the enclosure with the help of professional keepers, he said.

More than 1,200 volunteers from America, Japan, Switzerland, France and Spain have already worked in the center, Xinhua said.

Last month, a drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it.

Roofer nails testicle to roof

A Austrian workman who slipped while working on a house nailed his own testicle to the roof with a nail gun.

August Voegl, 59, from Jennersdorf, shot the four-inch nail into his left testicle with the compressed air nail gun.

He was unable to extract it or pull himself away from the roof.

Emergency medics were called in to separate the man from the roof after which he was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he is reportedly recovering well after surgery.

Man, 105, seeks wife

A 105-year-old Chinese man has placed lonely hearts adverts in newspapers for a new wife.

Gong Duruo, 105, has placed lonely hearts adverts in newspapers for a new wife /Lu Feng

Gong Duruo, who was born at Chengde, Hebei province, in 1901, wants a wife less than half his age.

Gong, a doctor, said: "First, the woman better have a history of doctor practice or learning literature, since I need assistance to write a medical book.

"Second, the woman should be younger than 50, and can take care of my life."

Gong has two medical degrees - one from the American State University around 1940, the other from the West China University of Medical Sciences in 2000.

He currentlly lives with relatives but told Inner Mongolia Morning Papers he was looking for life partner again.

"Every one should have a goal. Without a goal, people would die very early. That's why scientists always have longevity, like Einstein, since they have life-goals," he said.

Woman gives birth to own grandchild

A Japanese woman in her 50s has given birth to her own grandchild.

The woman had the baby last year, using an egg from her daughter and sperm from her son-in-law.

It was the first time a woman has acted as a surrogate mother for her daughter in Japan, reports the BBC.

Yahiro Netsu, the head of the Suwa maternity clinic in Nagano, told a news conference the woman agreed to act as a surrogate mother because her daughter was unable to have children due to cancer.

Both the mother and child were reported to be in good health.

Dr Netsu said the woman had first registered the baby as her own and then the child was adopted by her daughter and son-in-law.

The case is set to stir debate in Japan where surrogate births are opposed by the government and a key medical group.

Japan's justice ministry views the woman who gives birth as a child's mother - not the biological mother.

Dr Netsu called on the government and the medical authorities to review their stance.