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A woman who has attempted suicide four times has been banned from jumping into rivers, canals or onto railway lines. Bath magistrates granted an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) against Kim Sutton from Odd Down. The 23-year-old was rescued three times from the River Avon in Bath last year after trying to take her life. She was also found hanging from a railway parapet and police had to stop trains to rescue her. Sutton could be jailed for breaking the order. On Thursday, magistrates sentenced her for three public order offences after deciding at an earlier hearing that throwing herself into...

Under rules agreed on Thursday (24 February), car drivers caught speeding in other member states will no longer will be able to rely on the safety of going home to avoid the fine. EU justice ministers agreed that by 2007, speeding fines or other motoring penalties will now follow the misbehaving driver back to their own door-step. For all penalties over 70 euro, member states will be legally bound to follow up unpaid fines if requested by another member state. According to UK media, the aim of the agreement on mutual recognition of financial penalities was not specifically targeted at...

The French language is in dramatic decline around the world, including in its traditional foreign heartlands, according to international language teachers recently gathered in Paris. French is disappearing from European classrooms in favour of English The predominance of English on the internet, the relative ease of learning basic English and the perception that English is "cooler" - thanks in large part to popular music and films - means French is becoming ever more restricted to older generations and the upper classes of many countries where it used to be the second language of choice in schools. That was the consensus...

A former colleague of mine was involved as an expert witness for the defendant in a civil case not long ago. A short time thereafter, he bumped into the judge at a golf clubhouse, who half recognised him. "Are you a doctor?", he said. "Yes", replied my colleague. "And weren't you a witness in a case recently?" "Yes". The judge then asked him what he thought of the outcome. My colleague replied: "I think that the defendant would have received a fairer hearing in a kangaroo court run by generals in a South American military dictatorship". I need hardly say...

A wife who was going through a bitter divorce tried to frame her estranged husband by using his old SIM card to send herself text messages containing death threats, a court heard yesterday. Jennifer Harris showed the messages to police and her husband, David, was arrested on suspicion of making the threats. One message said: "You'll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life." Her plot was uncovered six months later only after her husband had appeared in the dock in both a magistrates' court and the higher crown court charged with making the threats. Yesterday, at...

The family of a 94-year-old widow who died days after a 34-hour wait on a hospital trolley have spoken of their upset at the way she way treated. Bernard Edwards' aunt Phyllis was suffering from pneumonia when she arrived at casualty at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. Her family said she lay for hours among drunk patients and others with minor injuries, and died a few days later. A hospital spokesman said pressures at the unit remained "significant". Mr Edwards, from Cardiff, said he complained repeatedly but staff were unable to find a bed for her to be...

A tax on chewing gum is needed to help meet the £150m annual cost of cleaning it off streets, council representatives from across the UK are expected to say. A first national "gum summit" in London will call for a penny-a-packet tax. The Liberal Democrats have also called for anti-litter messages on packs, and the development of biodegradable gum. Gum maker Wrigley's says £5m research on that has been unsuccessful. Cardiff, Westminster, Edinburgh and Belfast representatives are due at the summit. Lib Dem London Assembly member and environment spokesman Mike Tuffrey said: "Chewing gum that is irresponsibly spat on to...

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It was a small gesture, but a pointed one, and designed to underscore the Queen's staunch support for London's Olympic bid. As members of the International Olympic Committee attended a banquet last night, Buckingham Palace abandoned tradition to present each with a menu card written not in French, but English. For as long as anyone can remember menus at the Queen's official banquets have been written in French, generally regarded as the international language of cuisine. But, as three generations of the Royal Family and the Prime Minister joined sporting stars and dignitaries in the State Dining Room alongside the...

Television is responsible for the deaths of 20,000 Germans a year, according to a professor of psychiatry. Professor Manfred Spitzer, a neuroscientist at the University of Ulm, says he has found a direct correlation between watching excessive amounts of television and death caused by obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and diabetes. He said: "People who watch too much have little time for sport or movement of any kind. They eat more in turn and that leads to them becoming overweight and dying earlier." The findings are based on studies of the habits of 15,000 children carried out across...

A baby boom among Britain's blue tits could cause an avian housing crisis in 2005, according to wildlife experts. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is urging people to put up nesting boxes to help the birds this spring. Data collected for the trust's Ringing Scheme, showed 2004 was a productive year for blue tits, many of whom will now be looking for their first homes. But natural nest sites, such as holes in trees and buildings, vanish as woods are tidied and houses are repaired. Nest Box Week Once a bird has found a place to nest it may...

It is good news for householders, but bad news for soap manufacturers. A British scientist has found a way of cleaning clothes using nothing but water. Richard Pashley, a professor of physical chemistry at the Australian National University in Canberra, has discovered that when tiny air "particles" are removed from water - a process known as "de-gassing" - the water lifts oily stains from the surface of clothes, allowing soap-free cleaning. Prof Pashley said that the technique was so effective that even the greasiest stains could be removed. "You can use de-gassed water to clean whatever you have dirtied. We...

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) - A judge allowed a court challenge to Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's excruciatingly close election to go forward Friday, rejecting arguments that the dispute can only be resolved by the Legislature. The ruling by Superior Court John E. Bridges came at a hearing on a Republican attempt to overturn Gregoire's election. Gregoire was sworn in last month after being declared the winner by a mere 129 votes out of 2.9 million cast. But Republican candidate Dino Rossi and the state GOP say the contest was tainted by so many errors and illegal votes - including ballots cast...

French President Jacques Chirac has said he would order the withdrawal of his troops from Ivory Coast if African leaders asked him to do so. Speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Senegal, Mr Chirac said that France had no intention of staying in Ivory Coast unless it was wanted there. He said France would consider any request to stay, but only on condition that it was made by African leaders. France sent 4,000 troops to Ivory Coast following a failed coup in 2002. Since last year they have been policing a buffer zone with the northern half...

The Bundesbank warned yesterday that European spending rules enshrined in the Stability and Growth Pact should not be softened in any way, rejecting calls by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder for the pact to be reformed. Mr Schroder had earlier demanded the European Commission sharply reduce its interference in the budget policies of countries within the euro currency zone. He said "more respect" should be paid to the primacy of national governments when it came to tax and spending plans. "Only if their competence is respected will countries be willing to align their policies more consistently with the economic goals agreed...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - An eagerly awaited first report by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker into alleged corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq will be sharply critical of U.N. management in key areas and will target Benon Sevan, who ran the program, a source close to the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The Volcker report, to be released Thursday afternoon, will focus on the administration, financial transactions, and internal auditing of the $60 billion program, all of which were "tainted badly," said the person with knowledge of the report. The interim report will not...

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 31: Observing rules does not always pay and a youth from Orissa recently learnt it the hard way. Samaresh Panda, 24, an unemployed youth, was allegedly pushed out of the 2802 New Delhi-Puri Purushottam Express on January 26 evening by three men near Bokaro railway station for his protests against smoking inside the compartment. The youth was left with a broken hip and scarred back. The injuries were so severe that pieces of flesh fell off his hip when he landed next to the railway track. Panda, a resident of Chakeisiani in Bhubaneswar, had recently gone to New...

It's 200 years since Lord Nelson's famous naval victory over the French and Spanish in the Battle of Trafalgar. To start the anniversary celebrations, an actor dressed as Nelson posed for pictures on the River Thames at Greenwich. But before he was allowed to board an RNLI Lifeboat, safety officials made him wear a lifejacket over his 19th century admiral's uniform. This incident inspired some wag to pen the following. How Nelson would have fared if he had been subject to modern health and safety regulations. You are now on the deck of the recently renamed British Flagship,HMS Appeasement. "Order...

The new U.S. Assault Rifle, the XM8, is a modular weapon that can be fitted with three different barrels (9", 12.5", 20".) The 9" barrel is for a very compact weapon for tank crews or commandoes. With the nine inch barrel and the butt stock retracted, the weapon has an overall length of 21 inches. The 12.5" barrel is the standard, for use with the assault rifle or, with the butt stock retracted, it serves as a carbine. The 20 inch barrel is thicker as well and used for the light machine-gun version. There is also a lighter 20 inch...

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year. Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers. The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe. She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested...