London, July 26 : The humble sound of a lawnmower is Britons’ favourite summer sound, says a new poll.

The seasonal noise beat the sound of pub garden chatter into second place.

Waves breaking on to a beach came third in the survey of 2,500 Britons.

The sound of sports such as people playing cricket and tennis came fourth and fifth on the list.

Animal sounds were also prominent with seagulls cawing continuing the summer beach association, while pigeons cooing also made the list.

Surprisingly only one in ten associated the sound of rain with summer.

London, July 26 : An Indian chef has failed to land a place in the Guinness Book of World records for the “world’s hottest curry” with his creation Bollywood Burner.

London, July 26 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was told that he has only 42 days to turn around Labour’s fortunes or face an autumn leadership crisis.

The warning came after the party slumped to one of its all-time lows with a crushing by-election defeat.

Labour plunged into turmoil when it was trounced in Thursday’s Glasgow East by-election.

The party’s 13,507 majority was annihilated by the Scottish National Party, which took the seat with a 22 per cent swing.

London, July 26 : Scientists have said that microbes from Venus could actually be blown into the Earth’s atmosphere by solar winds.

According to a report by BBC News, this has been suggested by two scientists at the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology in the UK.

Their findings follow analysis of data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Venus Express probe, launched in 2005.

Previous research has considered the possibility of micro organisms existing in Venus’s atmosphere despite extreme temperatures on its surface.

London, July 26 : With the picture of a sari-clad Virgin Mary and a loincloth and turban-clad Joseph in the first “Indianised” Bible, the Vatican is hoping to attract more people into turning to the Catholic church in India - as congregations decline in Europe and North America.

And the news comes straight from the mouth of Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Mumbai, who released The New Community Bible during a recent ceremony.

“I am sure this Bible, made in India and for Indians, will bring the word of God closer to millions of our people, not only Christians,” Times Online quoted him, as saying.

Produced by the Society of St Paul, this is the first of its kind Bible that has been penned in simplified English.

London, July 26 : Rare plant fossils in a district of Jharkhand state in India, dating back between 68 million years and 145 million years, are being decimated in hundreds of crusher machines that are reducing them into stone chips to be used in road construction.

These plant fossils are scattered all over 2,600 sq km in the Rajmahal Hills in Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state.

Examples of these Jurassic age plant fossils - known as Rajmahal Flora - are to be found in many museums across the globe.

But, this wonder of nature is fast disappearing and geologists say the fossils may soon all be gone.