Stolen car returned - after 14 years

A couple have been given back their VW Golf car - 14 years after it was stolen.

Milos and Spomenka Jokic, from Setic in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, had their Mark II Golf stolen after they parked it on a street in Belgrade during a holiday in 1994.

They returned a few hours later to find it gone, but were more surprised when a policeman knocked on their door this week and told them they had found the car.

Spomenka Jokic, 51, said: "Me and my husband thought it was a joke at first but the police told us they had stopped a driver during a routine roadside check and realised it was stolen and then traced it back through old records to us.

"It seems it had actually been stolen a few times since we had it taken from us and they can't say if the mileage on the clock is accurate as it had probably been turned back a few times but it's definitely our car.

"It still drives well and in fact my husband says it feels as good as it did 14 years ago. The insurance company that had already paid out compensation say they don't want the car as it's not worth anything now."

Woman posts cat


A cat was posted 450 miles by mistake after it crawled into a parcel box for a cat nap.

The cat's owner Gitti Rauch said her pet climbed into a box filled with presents for relatives. She did not notice the cat as she sealed up the package and sent it off.

After the two-day journey from Rottach-Egern in southern Germany to Dorsten in the north of the country the cat leapt out unharmed - and no worse for wear - when the parcel was opened.

Mrs Rauch, 44, said: "Janosch usually goes off on his own for a few days and I wasn't worried when I hadn't seen him for a while - then I got a call telling me what had happened.

"I can understand though how he survived the journey without a scratch. He is a very special little cat. He likes to ride in cars, he likes boxes - and he never complains."

Loudest man in China promotes Olympics

A man who claims to have the loudest voice in China is touring the country to promote the Beijing Olympics.

Li Xuedong, 45, of Shangfan city, once caused traffic chaos because people mistook his shout for an air alarm.

He is currently on a tour of 12 cities while hoping to find people to compete with him.

"Unfortunately no one can," he told the Wuhan Morning Post as he waited in vain for a rival in front of the Dragon King Temple in Wuhan city.

Li, who is 5ft 7ins tall, said his personal record was 120 decibels, and that he was once invited to demonstrate his talent at the opening ceremony of a new building, but attracted police attention instead.

"With one shout, more than 60 cars on the street suddenly came to a stop, causing traffic chaos. People thought that it was an air alarm," he said.

Li puts his special ability down to competing in many different sports, including river swimming, when he was at university.

"My lungs are probably bigger and stronger than other people's," he explained.

He has been practicing his shouting skills for more than 20 years, each day shouting at least twice, in the morning and in the evening, in closed rooms.

Li used to work as a teacher, then in business but now works as a full-time shouter: "To hire me to shout on business occasions, I won't work for less than 2,000 yuan (£150)," he said.

Grans hooked on virtual boxing

Two women in their 90s have become hooked on boxing at their care home - on a Nintendo Wii.

Rose Sanders, 98, regularly boxes with Violet Gyves, 95, at the Greensleeves Care Home in Crawley, West Sussex, reports the Littlehampton Gazette.

Bosses at the nursing home on Perryfield Road, Southgate, which looks after ladies suffering from dementia, introduced the console to help stimulate residents' body and mind.

They became so enamoured with it that, together with their fellow residents, they raised £500 with a raffle and cake sale to buy two consoles and a selection of games.

Mrs Sanders, 98, who used to fly in Spitfires during her time in the WAF, said: "It's great fun. It makes a change from Coronation Street, doesn't it?"

Mrs Gyves, 95, a fan of British boxer Henry Cooper, said: "We were absolutely ecstatic to get the Wiis.

"Rose and I love playing the boxing game - it's a great way to keep fit and it doesn't hurt to take out some aggression now and again."

Care home manager Trevor Bartley said the Wiis had already "worked wonders" with the residents, who are all women, helping them to sharpen their minds and get some exercise.

He said: "The idea came about after my wife Linda and I brought our machine in for them to try and they absolutely loved it."

Blackbird copies ambulance

A Somerset family is being woken up at 5am every day by a blackbird mimicking an ambulance siren.

The songbird has learned to copy the alarms of the emergency vehicles dashing to a nearby hospital, reports The Sun.

But the early morning calls are a real pain for Nathan Talbot and his family.

Decorator Nathan, 39, and wife Alison, 37, have been woken at dawn every day for three months after the bird perched in their garden.

Nathan, who has kids Joshua, 11, and Sophie, ten, said: "At first it was funny but now it's just annoying. I throw stones at it hoping it'll fly away but it never does."

Sales assistant Alison added: "It is so realistic I thought it was a real ambulance. He's only tiny but the sound is so incredibly loud. There is no drowning it out. My husband tried wolf-whistling at it and it wolf-whistled right back."

The blackbird arrived in the garden in Weston-super-Mare, in April. The bird has also copied car alarms and mobile ringtones.

Every morning it sits at the top of the same tree or perches on the roof. It returns through the day and often sings into the evening.

Steven Dudley of the British Ornithologists' Union said: "In 20 years I've only ever seen one other blackbird do this."

Thieves posed as firemen

Scrap metal thieves made off with five tonnes of metal from a steel plant after posing as firemen.

The crooks had turned up at the Mittal Steel plant outside Galati in Eastern Romania in a fire engine saying they had been told a blaze had broken out.

But while some of the gang checked for signs of a fire the rest loaded the truck with steel worth £15,000 on the scrap metal black market.

They were foiled when police stopped their fire engine after reports that it had been stolen from the local fire brigade.

Soaring metal prices - caused by demand in China and India - have led to a huge outbreak of scrap thefts all over Europe.

In Britain this week police launched a blitz on the crooks who get rich from stealing lead from church roofs, railway tracks and cables and even bronze statues.

Air traffic controller ad - in Braille

An airport has been accused of political correctness after advertising for a new air traffic controller in Braille.

Although '20/20 vision' is a requirement of the position at St Mary's airport on the Isles of Scilly, the application form is offered in both Braille and audio format.

But the operators of the airport say they are merely adhering to equal opportunity guidelines to avoid accusations of discrimination, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The airport, operated by the Council of the Isles of Scilly, is seeking a fourth air traffic controller and offering a salary of up to £36,000.

The advertisement states that applicants must have excellent vision in order to guide aircraft safely into the hilltop airport, which is often fogbound.

Yet at the bottom is the note: "If you require this document in an alternative language, in larger text, Braille, easy read or in an audio format, please contact the Community Relations Officer."

A spokeswoman for the Council of the Isles of Scilly said the wording was included on all job adverts "to ensure that potential job applicants know that they can access information in a format to suit them."

However, the move was applauded by Bill Alker, from the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

"We welcome the Isles of Scilly's Council for their good practice and would hope more employers do the same," he said.

Socks-obsessed schoolboys

Boys at a Birmingham school believe they have beaten the world record for the longest washing line of socks.

Longest sock washing line record attempt /PA pics

Children at King Edward's School, in Edgbaston, passed the previous record of 0.8 miles, reports the BBC.

They assembled more than 28,000 socks and 24,500 pegs for their attempt, which also aimed to raise money for the schools' charities.

The record-breaking bid will be now be checked by officials from the Guinness Book of Records.

Duncan Witcombe, head of biology, said he decided on the bid after reading the Guinness Book of Records during the winter.

He said: "It's been a lot of hard work the last two days, setting it up yesterday in the rain and getting the boys out here today to do it. I'll sleep better tonight."