Ferrari threatens to sue over limo

A Manchester man who turned a Ferrari into the world's fastest limousine may no longer be able to use the famous Italian name. The Italian super car manufacturer is threatening legal action against Dan Cawley unless he removes all Ferrari insignia from the car. They argue that because he modified the 360 Modena when he cut it in half and stretched it with a 9.5ft section of hand-built carbon fibre, it is technically no longer a Ferrari. But Mr. Cawley said before he converted the 400bhp beast he specifically asked the car manufacturer whether he could go ahead and they agreed he could. The new car is now 20ft long and seats eight people. It maintains a fast speed because it weighs just 160kg more than the original 1,390kg vehicle. When it was built the modified 360 set the record for fastest limousine and longest Ferrari. Mr. Cawley built the car along with former McLaren carbon fibre expert Chris Wright for a total cost of around £200,000. Recently Mr. Wright unveiled a plan to create the world's first Audi R8 stretch limousine, which he hopes will take the Modena 360's crown as the fastest limousine.

Football's notoriously complicated offside rule has been simply explained - on the back of a new 50p coin. It is one of 29 new 50p piece designs produced by the Royal Mint to mark the London 2012 Olympics. There is one for each sport of the Games and almost 30,000 designs were submitted to the coin makers following the launch of a public competition in January 2009. Journalist Neil Wolfson came up with the offside coin and said: "I am a football fan. I've followed the Premier League since its inception and if I had 50p for every time someone asked me what the offside rule was then I would be a very rich man. "When the coin is in circulation I hope people like it and I hope people are able to use it to explain the offside rule." On the Royal Mint website it said: "Neil Wolfson designed his coin in the hope that it would encapsulate football in a simple image." As the offside rule is a perennial talking point, the image is designed to provoke discussion, which was what he was aiming for." The coin is now in circulation but can be purchased separately in a limited edition presentation package for £2.99. Olympic fans can also pick up coins for any of their favourite sports, including swimming, boxing, gymnastics and wheelchair rugby.

A Canadian man who forgot his passport managed to cross the border into the US - using a copy he had scanned on to his iPad. Martin Reisch, from Montreal, presented the US border office with his tablet computer after realising that he did not have his passport. He said he told the official that he was heading to Vermont to deliver Christmas presents. "I thought I'd at least give it a try," he said. "He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. "When he came back, he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas." The 33-year-old said he believed that the true story he told, as well as his driver's licence, helped him get across the border to deliver the gifts last week. Mr. Reisch, who successfully managed to re-enter Canada later the same day, has said he will not forget his passport in the future. However, he hopes one day scanned identification will become the norm. "I see the future as 100% being able to cross with your identity on a digital device - it's just a matter of time," he said.

A Chinese mechanic quit his job to create a larger-than-life bike for his cartoon-obsessed son. Zhang Yali, 49, from Jilin City, started the bike three months ago as a surprise gift for his son Zhang Wenzhong. He said he son was a cartoon fanatic who majored in animation at university, and works as an animation artist in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. "My son is thousands of kilometres from home. My wife and I miss him a lot so I created this bike to inspire him," he said. "Animation is the art of exaggeration. So I thought that this giant bike would be the perfect gift for him." Zhanag extimates that it cost him about £2,000 to create the one tonne bike which stands more than 10ft high and 18ft long. Zhang used two giant wheels from an excavator to create bike. The seat is made from old sofas, and can sit up to eight people in two rows. His wife, Mei Jianhua, was not initially impressed: "We are not a rich family," she complained.

A South African woman has launched an unusual yoga class in Hong Kong - for dogs. Suzette Ackermann's "doga" classes are aimed at dog-owners wanting to pamper their pets." I already gave yoga classes for adults and also for mothers and their children, so I thought "this can not be so different than that!" and it is not so different," she says. Dog owner Baleros Harty said: "It's relaxing, it's like you're bonding with the dog, and the dog listens to you more. It's more well-behaved when we do yoga together."

A US newsreader unwittingly read out the line "I love lamp" on air after he was duped in an Anchorman-style teleprompter prank. NBC meteorologist Brian Niznansky was left red-faced after his director slipped the quote into his script after a story about cats. "In other news, I love lamps..," he began before realising what he was saying. His female co-anchor burst out laughing and said: "Oh my God, he fell for it!" before adding: "Brian will read anything put on the teleprompter and that is just proof right there." The stunt was similar to the one performed on Will Ferrell's Ron Burgundy character in the film Anchorman. The "I love lamp" line itself comes from a scene in the movie when Brick Tamland, played by Steve Carell, starts saying he loves random things in the office. Niznansky eventually saw the funny side to the joke and tweeted: "Director Nik just put "I love lamp" in the teleprompter... and yes I read it.

A Polish art student has boosted his profile by secretly hanging one of his own works in his country's National Museum. Andrzej Sobiepan said he was inspired by street artist Banksy, who pulled a similar stunt in 2005 at several galleries in New York. Mr. Sobiepan told TV channel TVN24 that he could not "wait 30 or 40 years" for his work to be exhibited by a gallery. The portrait was on display for three days before it was noticed and is now hung inside the museum's cafe. Mr. Sobiepan said he hoped his stunt would encourage galleries to give more exhibition space to young artists. "I decided that I will not wait 30 or 40 years for my works to appear at a place like this. I want to benefit from them in the here and now," he said. Director of the museum in Wroclaw, Mariusz Hermansdorfer, admitted there had been several security breaches, but saw the funny side of it saying his action was a "witty artistic happening". He added: "It has shown that the young generation of artists, unlike their predecessors, wants to see their works in museums." The artwork, which is white and green, and partly uses swine leather to show a drooping acacia leaf, is to be auctioned off at a charity sale.

A video posted online of a young girl wiggling her eyebrows to music has taken the internet by storm. The clip of a 14-year-old girl, from Sydney, Australia, has notched up nearly eight million hits on YouTube. In the clip, entitled “The Girl with a Funny Talent,” she makes her eyebrows dance independently of each other to music. The girl starts out with a shy smile to the camera, and an awkward grimace as she waits for the music to start. What follows is a bizarre, hilarious, and slightly disturbing use of one's facial muscles. Her identity - and the back story as to how she learned such a talent - are unknown.