A US soldier serving in Afghanistan accidentally left a voice mail message on his parents' phone of him exchanging fire with enemy forces. Sandie and Jeff Petee listened to three minutes of gunfire and shouting before a voice cried "Incoming! RPG" and the phone cut off. The message had come from the phone of their son Stephen Phillips, 22, who has been fighting in Afghanistan for around a year. It had dialled their number after being pressed against his Humvee during the clash. His parents were out shopping when their phone rang, but picked up the message when they returned. The recording - which included swearing and cries of "more ammo" - has since been listened to more than 220,000 times on the video-sharing website YouTube. "His friend died a year ago in Iraq and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, this may be the last time I hear my son's voice on the phone,"' Sandie Petee, of Otis , Oregon said. As soon as the voice mail stopped playing, the Petees began trying to reach their son, who is serving with the Army 546th MP Company 3rd Platoon. "I finally got a hold of him," Sandie Petee said. "He was embarrassed, he said, 'Don't let Grandma hear it."' Nobody was wounded or killed in his son's unit during the firefight, Jeff Petee said. He added: "It's something a parent really doesn't want to hear. It's a heck of a message to get from your son in Afghanistan."

A police force says it can't break up illegal all-night raves - because it's too dark. Chief Inspector Gill Ellis, of Kent Police, said that it was not safe to disperse revellers in remote locations when it was dark. She blamed the lack of action on 'health and safety' regulations when tackled by locals who are fed-up with raves in a wooded area near Sevenoaks. Chief Supt Ellis insisted that safety regulations meant officers had to wait until sunrise to break up the bashes. She said it could also be dangerous to disperse ravers because they may get into their cars to drive home while still high on drink and drugs. Chief Supt Ellis told the meeting: "We will wait until daylight hours for reasons of health and safety before making interventions." But councillors pointed out a bash in March, which took place at Longspring Woods near the village of Shoreham , had been allowed to go on until 1pm the following afternoon. Cllr Phil Hobson, an IT consultant in his early 50s, said: "It's ridiculous that a rave would be allowed to go on all night and into the afternoon. "What the police told us is if a rave is happening and they don't know about it significantly in advance they can't get the man power there to stop it. I think it is disgusting. The police are there to catch criminals and stop illegal activity."

A 72-year-old Chinese man walked more than 600 miles to visit his son in prison. The man walked for 71 days from his hometown at Taihe town, Anhui province, to the prison at Lianping town, Guangdong province. The pensioner, whose name was not disclosed, had planned to take the train but had his savings stolen shortly after leaving home. The father, who walks with a stick, says he begged all the way, and sometimes ate rotten food from bins during his two month journey. "I didn't see him for two years. I am here to visit him and tell him not to worry about me and transform himself for good, while in prison," he said. Prison wardens were so touched by his story that they even bent the rules to allow him to see his son. "We usually need the visitor to show us his ID card, but his was stolen along with the money," said warden Liu Guanghui. The son, Xie Fei, revealed that his father is actually is his adoptive father, as his real parents died when he was ten. "He adopted me and loves me very much, but I have nothing to repay all this," said Xie. His father made the return journey home in much less time - after wardens clubbed together to buy him a train ticket.

A police force says it can't break up illegal all-night raves - because it's too dark. Chief Inspector Gill Ellis, of Kent Police, said that it was not safe to disperse revellers in remote locations when it was dark. She blamed the lack of action on 'health and safety' regulations when tackled by locals who are fed-up with raves in a wooded area near Sevenoaks. Chief Supt Ellis insisted that safety regulations meant officers had to wait until sunrise to break up the bashes. She said it could also be dangerous to disperse ravers because they may get into their cars to drive home while still high on drink and drugs. Chief Supt Ellis told the meeting: "We will wait until daylight hours for reasons of health and safety before making interventions." But councillors pointed out a bash in March, which took place at Longspring Woods near the village of Shoreham , had been allowed to go on until 1pm the following afternoon. Cllr Phil Hobson, an IT consultant in his early 50s, said: "It's ridiculous that a rave would be allowed to go on all night and into the afternoon. "What the police told us is if a rave is happening and they don't know about it significantly in advance they can't get the man power there to stop it. I think it is disgusting. The police are there to catch criminals and stop illegal activity."

England is a nation of "overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts", according to the latest edition of a top travel guide. The new edition of the Rough Guide to England accuses the English of being quarrelsome, contradictory and "obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities". But it also says England is "also a country of animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors, where queuing remains a national pastime and bastions of civilisation, like Radio 4, are jealously protected". It is described as deeply conservative yet having "a richly multi-ethnic culture" and where "warmth is in the humour, a sort of national solidarity that is bred in the bone". The guide concludes: "Of the 200-plus destinations across the world that Rough Guides covers, there is none so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse, yet as insular, self-important and irritating, as England ." The warts-and-all assessment by the £15.99 guide, which is published around the world, was taken in good part by the tourism body, Visit Britain. "Our sense of humour is one of the many reasons, along with heritage and culture, that people come here," a spokesman said. The guide lampoons the national obsession with the weather, saying: "A two-day cold snap is discussed as if it were the onset of a new Ice Age and a week above 25 degrees starts rumours of a drought." It also highlights contradictions, pointing out: "It's a nation that prides itself on its patriotism - yet has a Scottish prime minister, an Italian football coach and a Greek royal consort." The English are "the most contradictory people imaginable", the book says, adding: "However long you spend in the country you'll never figure them out".

Rescue dogs working with Chinese firefighters have been given leather shoes. Chaoyang fire-brigade in Beijing city has fitted them with shoes to protect their paws. "It's mainly to protect their feet, not for fashion," a fire brigade spokesman said. The soles are made of leather, while the uppers are made from tough, fire-proof fabric. The department says the dogs' working environments are usually very dangerous, and their feet are easily cut open or burnt.

A car chase in Hungary ended when a police car pursuing a suspected car thief was pulled up for speeding. Inspector Zsolt Gyepes, head of the Kalocsa regional police in southern Hungary , spotted the crook breaking into the car but forgot to put on his siren as he gave chase. He was in hot pursuit when he was caught by traffic police doing 60mph in a 30mph zone. The stolen car sped off, but the police chief had to stop to avoid running over one of his officers. They refused to let him off even though they recognised him. The officers refused to be swayed and told him that because he had not put on the car's police siren he would face a fine like any other driver.

A Chinese driver got the shock of his life when the car he was driving was blown onto the roof of a building during a fierce storm. The driver, of Yanbian city, Jilin province, said he had just turned a corner when it suddenly felt as if his car was flying through the air. "Before I realised what was happening, my car had landed on the roof," he said. Police said the bizarre accident was down to the lie of the land, as well as the wind. "The road is actually a bit higher than the house roof," a police spokesman said. Local meteorologists said the city had suffered an unusually fierce windstorm, with gusts reaching up to 31.5 metres per second. Many motorists said their windscreens were blown in - not by flying objects but by the force of the wind alone. One repair ship said it had fitted 30 new windscreens in a single day.

Estonian authorities have slapped a flatulence tax on farmers to compensate the country for the methane gas produced by cows. Farmers received their first 'fart tax' demands asking them to pay for the greenhouse gases their cattle produce. A single cow is thought to produce on average 350 litres of methane and 1,500 litres of carbon dioxide per day from flatulence and burping. It is thought that cattle are responsible for up to 25 per cent of methane gas emissions in Estonia . Opposition politicians have slammed the tax however. Jaanus Marrandi, spokesman for the opposition People's Union of Estonia said: "This is unprecedented in any EU country."