The £23,000 oil change



A motorist sent his 'Batman' Lamborghini on a 6,500 mile round-trip to London for an oil change - at a cost of more than £23,000.

A Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 /NewsPress

The £190,000 vehicle was loaded on to a scheduled flight from Qatar to Heathrow, before being flown back to the Middle East owner.

The Murcielago LP640, a two-seater coupe, features in the latest Batman film The Dark Knight, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The car's 6.500 miles journey sparked outrage from environmental groups.

One said the owner - thought to be a wealthy Sheikh - had a 'carbon crater' rather than a carbon footprint.

According to reports, the black and gold car cost £3,552 to service at an approved dealer, plus around £20,000 to freight to Britain and back.

Jenny Evans from the campaign group Plane Stupid said: "This horrifies me. It is another example of how rich people exploit and pollute the planet because of their money."

Friends of the Earth transport campaigner Richard Dyer said the trip was "ludicrous".

"We urge the individual to get their car serviced closer to home," he added.

However David Price of Lamborghini Club UK said the way the owner chose to have his car serviced was up to him.

"I'm not surprised. Thankfully the age of excess in some areas continues," he said.

Nudist Germans told to cover up

German nudists have been told to cover up on a beach after the removal of border fences with Poland.

The view of nature lovers - which has so upset Polish politicians on the Baltic coast that they're accusing the Germans of being "perverts" - only came to light because of new EU rules.

But German holiday-makers say their neighbours are only getting an eyeful because they use binoculars.

Polish councillor Edward Zajac from the Swinoujscie region on Poland's north west coastal border says the sight of naked Germans on the nearby beach is offensive and that "undressing is a perversion".

But now German nudists have torn their neighbours off a strip for kinky voyeurism.

"This is a beach for nudists," said German tourist Elke Bernhol. "It's terrible the way Poles come over fully clothed and stare."

"We feel like monkeys in a zoo," said another, Ines Muller. "Poles come with binoculars, gape at us and swear."

The nude beach had been hidden for decades but became visible when Poland joined the EU's Schengen agreement on a borderless Europe last December and took down border fences that had blocked views onto the beach.

Puppy addicted to skateboarding



A pet dog in China is so hooked on skateboarding he has scrapped his daily walk so he can practice.

Skateboarding dog De Bao /Quirky China News

De Bao followed his owner's son around when he went skateboarding with his friends.

Mr Huang explains: "My son loves skateboarding, and after going out with him for a while, the dog became obsessed with the sport."

To avoid any friction between the pair Mr Huang made a skateboard especially for the dog, who was then seen practicing daily at People's Square in Guangzhou.

De Bao can speed up with his forelegs or hind legs, and is also good at changing directions and stopping.

"When he gets to a high speed, he puts his feet up on the board and enjoys coasting," said Huang's son.

Robots have feelings too

Scientists have built a robot that appears to react emotionally to the way it's treated.

Designer David McGoran with his creation Heart Robot /PA pics

Heart Robot has a beating heart, a breathing stomach and sensors that respond to movement, noise and touch, reports The Daily Telegraph.

If he is cuddled, he seems to soak up the affection - his limbs become limp, his eyelids lower, his breathing relaxes and his heartbeat slows.

But if Heart Robot is given a violent shake, or is shouted at, he flinches, clenches his hands and his eyes widen, while his breathing and heart rate speed up.

The machine was developed by scientists at the University of the West of England, in Bristol, to explore how humans react to a machine that appears to show feelings.

Holly Cave, who helped organise the Emotibots event at the Science Museum in London, told the Daily Telegraph: "Heart Robot looks like a cross between ET and Gollum and is about the size of a small child. He's half robot, half puppet.

"Different children react to him very differently. They either want to hug and cuddle him, and look after him like a doll or baby, or they just want to scare him."

She added: "How humans and robots might interact in the future is something that raises lots of interesting and moral questions."

Bugs save pest controller's life

A former pest exterminator owes his life to bugs after turning to them for food while spending four days lost in the Australian outback.

Gold prospector Theo Rosmulder got stranded in a remote part of Western Australia without any food, water, matches or global positioning equipment.

Facing dehydration and death, he turned to what he knew best, reports ABC News.

The 52-year-old managed to survive for four days by feasting on termites and other insects before local Aborigines happened upon him and brought him back to civilization.

A weary-looking Rosmulder told reporters how he found some relief from hunger at a giant termite mound.

"I just hit the top of the termite nest off and got stuck into them. Termites don't taste too bad," he said at a news conference in the southwestern Australian mining town of Laverton.

Rosmulder was suffering from dehydration but otherwise in "surprisingly good condition", according to Western Australia state police Sergeant Graham Clifford.

He said the insects and termites had provided Rosmulder with a bit of moisture and some protein.

Inventor unveils commuter jet pack



A jet pack which could allows commuters to fly to work has been unveiled by an inventor.

Harrison Martin takes a test flight with the jet pack /PA pics

Glenn Martin, from New Zealand, described his craft as "the world's first practical jet pack" while unveiling it in front of a crowd of thousands at a Wisconsin air show.

The Daily Telegraph reports how Martin's 16-year-old son, Harrison (pictured) donned a helmet and eased into the contraption - with the help of two people to stop him toppling over.

Revving its engine, Harrison slowly climbed to about three feet off the ground and hovered for 45 seconds before touching back down to Earth.

The crowd at the AirVenture Oshkosh 2008 show cheered.

"Wow, that went better than expected," dad Glenn said afterwards. "People will look back on this as a moment in history."

The Martin Jet Pack is theoretically capable of flying an average-sized pilot 30 miles in 30 minutes on a full tank of fuel - it carries five gallons.

The inventor, 48, who has been working on the pack for almost three decades, plans to start selling them next year for around £50,000.

The device is designed to conform to the Federal Aviation Administration's definition of an ultra light vehicle - one weighing less than 115 kilograms and capable of carrying only one passenger - so it won't require a pilot's licence.

Most previous jet packs have lasted only a few minutes before running out of fuel. But Mr Martin, who gave up his job to concentrate on his design, hopes its superior performance will win over sceptics.

Mum scared by 'prat-nav' truckers

A worried mum is too scared to watch TV in her living room - in case a lorry crashes into it for the 16th time.

The winding country lane where Amanda Sandland lives in Bodfari, North Wales, shows up on sat-navs as a handy short-cut.

But truckers have slammed into her cottage 15 times, wrecking walls and landing her with massive repair bills, reports The Sun.

Amanda's daughter Jemma, 18, moved out after the latest collision, which came within feet of her bedroom.

Carer Amanda, 45, said: "It is very stressful, very traumatic. The point of impact was so close to my daughter's bedroom that she is understandably terrified.

"Sometimes lorries have just driven off, meaning I have to claim on my insurance sending premiums sky-high."

Her plight emerged as new statistics showed more than a third of sat-nav users have been directed along a hazardous country road.

Amanda's home was first damaged 19 years ago, but navigation devices have since increased the menace. She wants signs put up on the nearby main road warning truckers not to use the lane.

She added: "This road isn't built for them - but I don't blame the drivers because they don't realise how narrow it is. They are just following instructions."

Romantic Rob's corny proposal

Love was in the air when Sarah Garside's childhood sweetheart invited her for a fun flight in a plane.

Moments after take-off she was greeted by the sight of Robert Szabo's marriage proposal - in the form of a massive crop pattern.

A huge love heart in the cornfield below contained the words: "Sarah marry me."

Sarah, 24, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, burst into tears and said: "Yes."

"It was the greatest day of my life. The most romantic thing anyone has ever done," she told the Daily Mirror.

"My hand flew over my mouth, I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. When I caught my breath, I said yes. Ten seconds later Robert put the ring on my finger."

Robert, who works as a Project Manager, came up with the unusual idea after seeing pictures of fields ploughed in different designs by his brother James, who works on computer software for farming technology.

"I had seen some of his plough art a few months ago and it got me thinking," the 27-year-old told the Daily Mail.

"I came up with the idea and mentioned it to James and his friend who is a pilot. They thought it was a good idea so James came up with the plans."

James ploughed the design into the field near the home Robert shares with Sarah using a mini-computer and satellite tracking.