Yesterday was a ...

Good Day for Francoise, a 30-year-old Swiss fakir, fire-eater and sword-swallower, who has set a new world record by covering herself with 82 large African scorpions. She wore a transparent body suit on which she said the animals felt safe. Her only complaint was that they tickled.

Bad Day for Michelle Hartnett, who was sent home from college in County Galway for saying "pardon me" when she sneezed. "I was just having breakfast and I sneezed and said 'pardon me'. My mum has told me to say that for years," she told the Irish Independent newspaper. But her apology broke a rule banning entire sentences in English. "The rule is strictly enforced, and no exceptions are made," a college spokesman explained - in English.

Sickening Day for coyotes, as the council of Villa Park, California, voted to hire the services of an academic to train wild coyotes not to prey on pet animals. Stuart Ellins intends to inject dog and cat carcasses with a substance that will make coyotes sick.