News of the weird

Patriotic drinkers: Among ales brewed in honour of the G8 summit and served at the Prince of Wales pub in Birmingham, "Blair's Cool Britannia Bitter" has proved the most popular, followed by "Boris's Belter" and "Bill's Best Brew" celebrating Russia and the US respectively. The least popular has been "Hashimoto's Tokyo Tipple".

Beauty and the police: Police and Islamic officials arrested 50 people who were taking part in a transvestite beauty contest in Malaysia. All except five non-Muslims were charged with the religious offence of wearing women's clothes and acting like women in a public place.

Safe sex-change: France has granted political asylum to an Algerian transsexual on the grounds that he or she faced persecution from both sides in the current strife in Algeria.

Mickey Mouse marriage: On Sunday, Walt Disney World in Florida celebrated its 10,000th wedding at the theme park. Weddings there are currently running at 2,300 a year.