yesterday was a ...

Good Day for cheating, as the national university entrance exams got under way in Vietnam. Sixteen people were caught in Hanoi trying to pass themselves off as the students who had hired them to take the exam on their behalf, while one newspaper published a photograph of a man passing a student answers on the end of a stick through a first-floor window.

Bad Day for abductees, as preachers in Roswell, New Mexico, announced that the tens of thousands of UFO-spotters rushing to join celebrations in the town for the 50th anniversary of a supposed flying saucer crash, had been drawn there by "alien minions". "People are looking to UFOs as a replacement for God," said Pastor Jim Suttle: "This is Satan distracting people from the Lord."

Gourmet Day for dogs, as the "Three Dog Bakery" opened in New Orleans, offering to organise canine parties or weddings, or sell specially prepared snacks such as mutt muffins and ciao-wow pizza. "We're very excited," said Zetta Hearin, who has just booked a birthday party for her Tibetan terrier, Shagi. "One of the guest dogs is getting her nails done and bows put in her hair."