An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as "religious headgear".

Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.

Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.

Later a police spokesman explained that the licence was issued because Mr Alm's face was fully visible in the photo.

"The photo was not approved on religious grounds. The only criterion for photos in driving licence applications is that the whole face must be visible," said Manfred Reinthaler, a police spokesman in Vienna.

He was speaking on Wednesday, after Austrian media had first reported Mr Alm's reason for wearing the pasta strainer.

After receiving his application the Austrian authorities had required him to obtain a doctor's certificate that he was "psychologically fit" to drive.

According to Mr Reinthaler, "the licence has been ready since October 2009 - it was not collected, that's all there is to it".

A retired prison guard in the US has eaten his 25,000th Big Mac.

It has been 39 years to the day since Don Gorske ate his first nine.

At a ceremony in his honour at a McDonald's in his hometown of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, he said he would continue to eat Big Macs "until I die".

Mr Gorske, 57, appeared in the 2004 documentary film Super Size Me, which looks at the impact of a daily diet of McDonald's food. He is thin and his cholesterol is said to be low.

"When I was 19 years old I had eaten my first 1,000 Big Macs and I was kind of like, I thought how long before I hit 10,000?" he said before eating the world record 25,000th burger on Tuesday.

"Then it was like boy, by the time I hit 25,000 I will be old and retired. Well wouldn't you know, I'm not super old, I am 50-something, but I am retired and stuff, but you don't dream of living so long as to reach a milestone like that."

Blender burger?

Mr Gorske says he eats a Big Mac in 16 bites and keeps track of his consumption on calendars.

Every week he buys six on Monday and eight on Thursday and keeps them in his fridge or freezer until he is ready to eat them, he says.

He said his wife told him the end will come "when she has to put them in a blender".

Doctors have said they do not recommend Mr Gorske's diet.

Source: BBc news

Six-year-old Croatian boy Ivan Stoiljkovic can hang up to 25kg of metal from his chest, including cutlery, coins and even a non-stick frying pan.

According to his family, when Ivan who is from Koprivnica in Croatia, takes off his shirt, metallic objects such as spoons, mobile phones and even frying pans simply stick to his body.
Ivan, it is also claimed, is much stronger than other children his age and is able to easily carry bags of cement as heavy as 50lbs.
And that isn't the end to Ivan's unusual talents, his family say Ivan has also used his 'healing' hands to alleviate his grandfather's stomach pains and take away the pain of a neighbour who hurt his leg in a tractor accident.

Source: Telegraph