riverScrap

British schoolchildren 'think Auschwitz is a beer'

A significant number of British schoolchildren are so ignorant about the Holocaust that they think Auschwitz is a beer.

That's according to a deeply disturbing report from the London Jewish Cultural Centre, which polled more than 1,000 secondary school pupils aged between 11 and 16 in the UK mainland.

One quarter of the respondents failed to identify Auschwitz correctly, with two per cent - equivalent to 90,000 kids across the country - saying they think it is a beer.

Malaysia bans the word 'Allah'… for Christians

The Malaysian government has reinstated a law banning any Christian publications from using the word 'Allah'.

Home affairs minister Syed Hamid Albar said the move would overrule a February 16 decree stating that non-Muslim books can use the term under certain circumstances.

Paying little heed to the intelligence of the country's 17 million Muslims, the government claimed that pan-religious use of the term would "confuse" followers of Islam. Critics insist the move is discriminatory.

Behind baa's: Police detain goat for armed robbery

Some not very intelligent police in Nigeria have detained a goat on suspicion of armed robbery, Reuters reports.

Vigilantes brought the animal to a police station last week, alleging that an armed robber had transmogrified himself into the goat after being cornered in a chase.

What's more, their preposterous claim appear to have been taken seriously. Belief in witchcraft is common in Africa's most populated country - where scores of children are killed each year in violent exorcisms.

Masked bank-robber 'politely waited in line'

A masked man bungled a bank robbery when he alerted tellers to his scheme by politely waiting in line, AP reports.

Police say Feliks Goldshtein probably felt well-prepared when he walked into an Ohio bank on Thursday with a ski mask covering his face and a fake handgun concealed on his person.

But the fresh-faced novice allegedly made a schoolboy error by forgetting that few hardened criminals bother to wait in line while robbing a bank.

Study: Chainsaw massacres not actually very gruesome

Anyone who worries that taxpayer dollars are wasted on frivolous research projects should look away now. Squeamish readers, meanwhile, are free to continue.

A newly-disclosed study has put an end to the age-old debate of whether or not the stomach-churning murder scenes depicted in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are true-to-life.

Armed only with a chainsaw and a human-sized pig carcass, South Dakota coroner Brad Randall has revealed once and for all that, actually, when you dismember someone with a chainsaw, it's really not that gory.

Child molester wins lottery held in aid of abuse charity

A convicted sex offender has bagged $500,000 (£330,000) after winning the top prize in a lottery staged specifically to raise money for victims of sexual abuse.

Alaskan state law dictates that all games of chance must benefit charity, so organisers of the Lucky Times lottery selected STAR - Standing Together Against Rape - as their chosen beneficiary.

But they weren't banking on Anchorage resident Alec Ahsoak walking away with the winning ticket. The 53-year-old is a registered sex offender with three convictions of abusing a minor to his name.

Divorcee: Forget the kids, I want my kidney back

Broken hearts are a staple feature of many divorces, but one US man has added a novel twist to his settlement by demanding that his estranged wife undergoes surgery to give him back his kidney.

In 2001, Richard Batista showed his dedication to his other half by stepping forward when doctors said she was in dire need of a new kidney. The doting husband beat odds of 1-in-700,000 to be a viable match.

But he claims that his wife-of-19-years repaid the heart-warming gesture by shacking up with her physical surgeon - a charge both of them deny - and says he now wants the organ returned to his body.

Eco-warriors want more deadly mammals in Scotland

Support is growing for controversial plans to reintroduce several feared and deadly mammals to the Scottish Highlands.

Although bears were hunted to extinction in Britain 900 years ago, if proponents of a new 're-wilding' initiative get their way the carnivorous beasts could soon roam the countryside once again.

They would be joined by large numbers of lynx, wolves and elks - all ferried to the UK from Canada as part of an ideological campaign to resurrect the country's former ecological landscape.

First recorded case of person emailing while asleep

Researchers from the University of Toledo claim they have recorded the first ever case of a person sending an email while asleep.

According to the medical journal Sleep Medicine, a 44-year-old climbed out of bed two hours after falling asleep, before turning on her computer, logging into her email account and sending three poorly-worded emails.

The woman claims to have no recollection of the incident, which researchers say could shed light on the mysterious workings of the subconscious brain.

Plane crash victim updates Twitter before fleeing

The micro-blogging service Twitter has hit the headlines once again after an airline passenger filed an eye-witness report of the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 1404 from beside the wreckage itself.

Mike Wilson was aboard the doomed 737 jet when it slid off the runway at Denver International Airport yesterday (December 21), dropping into a 12-metre ravine and immediately catching fire.

But before fleeing the inferno with his fellow passengers, Mr Wilson whipped out his phone and sent the following message to all of his Twitter followers: "Holy fucking shit - I was just in a plane crash!"