A happy ending of sorts – although junior may not see the funny side when he gets older. A baby boy removed from his parents' custody in May after they offered to sell him on eBay for just one euro (79p) is back at home.
GERMANYThe parents, from Berlin, maintained that the posting was a joke that had gone awry and police investigators agreed, dropping their probe into possible child trafficking. The 23-year-old mother and 24-year-old father were
not identified.
The ad that ran on May 24 read: "Offering my nearly new baby for sale, as it has gotten too loud.
"It is a male baby, nearly 28 inches (70cm) long and can be used either in a baby carrier or a stroller."
No bids were received in the two hours and 30 minutes the ad was online before it was taken down.
INDIANALet's hope they didn't watch the display with their mouths open in amazement. One of the fireworks bursting above Indianapolis last week to celebrate Independence Day contained the cremated remains of the man who ran the event for 40 years.
Meredith Smith died in February, aged 74, and about half a teaspoon of his ashes was scattered as part of the finale.
"I can't think of a better way to pay tribute," said family friend Kevin Moss.
Smith was also remembered through hundreds of T-shirts referring to the tribute as "the last shot".
A school maintenance worker, he was a trained pyrotechnician. His widow, Charlotte, said they started the fireworks shows – a July 4 tradition – as a community service. They sometimes paid for the fireworks themselves.
"Meredith felt like the people in this area didn't get the opportunities that other people got and he wanted to give them the opportunity," she added.
The release of the ashes shouldn't harm public health, said John Althardt of Marion County Health and Hospital Corporation. Just don't inhale.
SYRIAAT LEAST 25 prisoners were massacred yesterday in clashes between guards and prisoners at a jail in Syria.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths occurred after military police fired live bullets at Islamist inmates.
Prisoners said that the clashes were sparked by raids in which guards beat inmates.
They said the guards had also desecrated copies of the Koran.
The prisoners said the early morning raids were in response to a protest by detainees several weeks ago against conditions at the jail near Damascus, which houses chiefly Islamist and political prisoners.
SPAINHot Latin passions are running wild – over ties.
Industry minister Miguel Sebastian showed up at parliament last week without a tie. Parliamentary speaker José Bono took offence and quickly sent Sebastian a gift – a tie, with a note that read: "I hope you like it."
Sebastian declined to wear it and, the next day, sent a present to Bono – a digital thermometer, his way of saying the air conditioning was too strong, despite a 2007 decree to save energy.
MOVERS & SHAKERSCHRISTIE BRINKLEYShe used to be a top model and is now a leading light of the posh Hamptons set. But a divorce court was shocked by revelations about Christie Brinkley's fourth husband last week.
Brinkley, right, told a Long Island court hearing how she discovered that architect Peter Cook, 49, was having an affair with a 19-year-old. Brinkley had just delivered a graduation address at a high school – with her husband and son in the audience – when the girl's stepfather, a police officer, leaned over and told her about the affair. When the stepfather looked over at Cook, who had realised what was happening, he told the court: "It appeared like he had urinated in his pants."
BRUCE LEEA mansion that once belonged to Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee in Hong Kong may be preserved as a museum. Billionaire philanthropist Yu Panglin had put Lee's town house up for sale but later changed his mind. Lee, star of Enter The Dragon, died in mysterious circumstances in 1973, aged 32.
TIM MONTGOMERY He was once known as the "fastest man alive" but former US sprinter Tim Montgomery, an Olympic gold medallist now banned from the sport, pleaded guilty last week to distributing heroin.
Prosecutors say he provided an undercover agent with 114 grams of heroin on four occasions between August 2007 and April 2008. The transactions were captured on video.
OH, REALLYDenmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, is the happiest country in the world, new research has revealed.
Zimbabwe is the least happy, while the United States ranks 16th. Overall, the world is getting happier, according to the US government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists.
The full article contains 802 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
