 after 13 years. The items must be given up as part of the huge operation to scale down the last two UK bases, including Camp Bastion. Millions of pieces of equipment ranging from armoured trucks to light bulbs will come back to Britain in the biggest logistical exercise since the Second World War. Previously, troops in Afghanistan were told to iron their uniforms several times a week. Some are dismayed by the shift, saying keeping soldiers smart helps discipline and morale.
 With frightening power it clamps the roof of the green Panda and uses its superhuman robot strength to hold it aloft. With frightening power it squeezes the vehicle’s frame as if it were no stronger than paper, smashing through the windows and crumpling the body work. RoboHand is the attraction that has been dazzling audiences at the Maker Faire UK, a science technology and arts and craft extravaganza at Newcastle’s Life Science Centre. The vast contraption is 30 times larger than an average human hand, with an arm measuring eight meters and weighing in at six tons.
World’s first allergy-free airline to offer speciality menu and even avoid air fresheners that could irritate your nose: “Sensitive travellers will be able to travel in comfort from May as the first allergy-free planes take to the skies. Swiss Airlines is behind the unusual plan, changing fabrics, ditching air fresheners and serving up speciality food to make it the world’s first allergy-free carrier. Those with special dietary needs will be able to tuck into lactose and gluten-free meals as standard, followed by lactose-free coffee and even the iconic Swiss chococlate bar will be developed. Special snacks, from yoghurts to sweets and snacks, will also be on offer for passengers with a host of other intolerances. There will also be changes to the cabins, with synthetic pillows offered to first and business class passengers instead of the current down-filled option and a strict no flowers policy – plants are currently used to decorate the cabin. Air fresheners that could cause on -board nose and throat irritations will be ditched and even the hand wash in the toilets will be specially chosen to be gentle to skin.
Horse-drawn carriages are “cruel”? Sarko disagrees: “Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy has come out along with actor Liam Neeson to support keeping New York City’s famous horse-drawn carriages as Mayor Bill De Blasio seeks to ban the industry. Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni took their young daughter Giulia in one of the carriages for a ride through Central Park on Wednesday. When asked if he thinks the carriages should stay, Sarkozy offered up an enthusiastic ‘yes’, the New York Daily News reports. The Sarkozys are in town to support singer-songwriter Bruni who is set to perform at The Town Hall Thursday night. They were joined by more than 900 horse-lovers at the park yesterday where the Daily News was handing out ‘Save Our Horses’ buttons.
Italian man, 70, hires escort and finds it was son’s girlfriend: “AN elderly man decided to hire an escort. The man, from the city of Treviso, in Italy’s north, thought it would best be discreet and hired the escort from the neighbouring city of Vicenza. When they met, he could not believe his eyes when the realised the escort was his future daughter-in-law, The Local reported, citing Italian newspaper Il Gazzettino. His 40-year-old son’s girlfriend, who is from South America, had told the family that she was a waitress. When they met, they decided not to seal the arrangement for the night. But the man, 70, decided honesty was the best policy, and told his son what had happened. The news did not go down well and the father and son fought. The incident, which happened four years ago, only became public knowledge this month when the son sued his father for injuries sustained in the fight. The hearing was postponed, however, after the judge failed to broker peace.
After residing in Canada for almost three years now, I feel it is a safe accusation that North Americans love acronyms and initialisms. Many Brits will be familiar with how orange juice is often squeezed down to a more palatable ‘OJ’, but I was slow to understand ‘ACL’ despite many of you being able to recognise this as an anterior cruciate ligament. ‘LMK’ was an odd one too: known to the less lazy as ‘let me know’. After a while, I did finally get used to the day-to-day abbreviations, but there are still a few phrases and words leaving me scratching my head today.
Darts are cigarettes. It does seem odd, but Brits leave Canadians even more confused when they invite somebody for a ‘fag’ as it is a purely homophobic term over here.
What I do find strange about this is the use of ‘hacking’. I’m not a smoker, but it does sound like a term thought up by a self-righteous non-smoker as it’s such an aggressive and damaging action. Hacking is done by people who murder trees or, if you are the killer in an American horror movie, to fell those participating in beauty contests.
The verb ‘winning’ has been trampled under moose hooves and smashed by Uncle Sam’s fist to create an ugly adjective; and it is unfortunately a real word. I encountered it for the first time this week as the Toronto Raptors, a National Basketball Association franchise, completed a season in which they had won more games than in any previous year. Or, as it is reported over here, they are the winningest squad in their nineteen year history. Well done to the Raptors, but that just sounds awful.
I first encountered the exclusion of ‘to’ in this phrase when I moved here, and since pawing many pages of North American literature over the past three years I have found it is commonplace in the States and Canada. “I wrote him” – it sounds like an easy spelling exercise rather than the writing of a letter or email.
Turn it the other way around, and a Canadian or American newcomer to Yorkshire must be even more confused; especially when every male recipient of a letter from your friend seems to be called Tim. I wrote t’him.
There are others. I am heckled by my partner for using ‘dressing gown’, but to me ‘housecoat’ seems overdressed and formal – something you could genuinely don while popping out for milk and not look a slob. And when you pay for your semi-skimmed (or ’2 per cent milk’ if you’re speaking Canadian) you tend to use ‘loonies’ and ‘toonies’, or one dollar and two dollar coins to me and you.
While the occasional term does make me cringe, none of them send me out hacking. I expected the odd change in speech in Canada, like a “no kiddin’” here and an “eh?” everywhere, but to feel confused after three years over here makes my conversations still feel new.
Trunk and disorderly! Tipsy elephants staggering around South African park after eating huge quantities of fermented fruit: “These comical pictures were taken after a herd of young elephants ate a fruit which is said to make large mammals drunk when eaten in huge quantities. Marula fruit – said to be sweet, tart and refreshing – apparently has an intoxicating effect when consumed after it has ripened and fallen to the ground. Ross Couper, a field guide at Singita Kruger National Park in South Africa, saw the elephants begin to stumble around and fall over their siblings. He said: ‘We watched in awe because the youngsters definitely seemed to display signs of being rather tipsy.’ However, it has also been claimed that the unusual behaviour is actually caused by eating beetle pupae that live in the bark of marula trees.
There comes a time when a woman just has to trust her husband. For example….
“Hi, sweetheart”, he says. “Your parents have come to visit us, so I let them stay in our bedroom. Did you say, Hi?
Old fashioned apples making a comeback: “There might not be many traditional English apples to be found in your supermarket any more – but you’ll certainly find them cropping up in gardens. Record sales of ‘heritage’ fruit trees have been reported this year – with one of the country’s finest apples, Cox’s Orange Pippin, the most popular. The figures suggest there is still a great appetite for fruit varieties native to Britain, despite claims that supermarkets tend to rely on more consistent varieties from abroad. The latest sales figures from Homebase have revealed a 30 per cent increase in sales of fruit trees this year. According to the retailer, the number one choice was Cox’s Orange Pippin – widely regarded as the finest eating apple in the world. Worcester Pearmain – a small, classic English apple renowned for its strawberry-like flavour – came in second place. It was closely followed in third by Laxton’s Superb, the definitive late-Victorian dessert apple.
 Margaret Lowe, 77, put the teeth in a glass of water before going to bed. But the next morning Mrs Lowe was stunned when she could not find the plastic dentures. When her son came to visit, he heard a strange scratching noise from behind the fridge. When Stephen Lowe, 53 pulled out the fridge, at his mother’s house in Grove Park, south east London, he found her dentures hidden.  Mrs Lowe was astounded when she discovered that a rodent was behind the theft. But pet dog Denis, quickly came to the rescue