London, Oct 21 : A man had paid a whopping 30,000 pounds for a water tower that he wished to convert into a "modern and funky pad" to share with his girlfriend, only to find he could reach there by helicopter or plane.

First time buyer Ashley Parsons has been told that driving or walking to the disused Ministry of Defence water tower could actually land him in prison, for his future love nest stands on private land.

The company that bought the land around the water tower refused to grant him with retrospective access rights because the directors do not want the tower to be redeveloped.

"It''s a horrible feeling but it won''t stop me and I''m glad I went ahead with the purchase,” The Telegraph quoted Parsons, as saying.

London, Oct 21 : Iranian security forces have arrested two pigeons for apparently spying near its Natanz nuclear facility.

According to the Etemad Melli newspaper, one of the pigeons captured near rose water production plant in the city of Kashan in Isfahan province had metal rings and "invisible" strings attached to it.

It is believed that the bird might have been communicating what it had seen with the equipment it was carrying.

London, October 21 : An Oregon hiker rescued from a mountain, where he survived for five days with a broken ankle, has revealed that he ate centipedes, ants and even a poisonous wolf spider to survive.

Derek Mamoyac, 27, fell badly while descending 12,300-ft Mount Adams in Washington state on October 12.

It was supposed to be a one-day trip, and he had not informed his family about it.

When he failed to turn up for work the following morning, his family reported him missing.

Mamoyac tried descending the mountain by crawling on his knees, but he had to stop when it became too painful.

He revealed that he drank water from creeks.

London, Oct. 21 : An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report has found that the gap between rich and poor people in the United Kingdom is one of the widest in the developed world.

According to The Telegraph, the gap in earnings widened by 20 per cent between 1985 and 2005.

While both the richest and poorest have been getting richer, the bottom has experienced a growth in earnings three times as large as the top, the OECD report said.

London, October 21 : An English man is dragging a furniture company to court, claiming that a “toxic sofa” they had sold to him left him with a permanent heart condition.

Barry Green, 63, a resident of Plymouth in Devon, claims that he had to spend a week in hospital with blisters, breathing problems, pneumonia, and eventually heart failure.

The father-of-four bought the brown leather couch worth 545 pounds from Land of Leather a year ago, but soon began to suffer health problems.

He is now seeking damages from the firm and its manufacturers, Chinese firm Eurosofa, via a High Court legal action.

London, Oct 21 : Being environmentally aware is one thing, and being obsessed with it, is another, say US psychiatrists, who warn that extreme environmental awareness may be creating a generation of “carborexics”.

In a new survey, it was found that seven per cent of Americans come into the category of “dark green”— hard core recyclers and carbon footprint worriers.

However, scientists claim that there is a thin line between these behavioural traits qualifying for eco-leadership or bordering on the obsessive-compulsive.

A report in the New York Times detailed all manner of lifestyles that might be considered carborexic.