A SMALL church in the States is standing by its plans to hold a “Burn a Koran Day” on September 11. Despite widespread condemnation from top US commanders in Afghanistan, the Attorney General, religious leaders across all faiths and Hillary Clinton, the organiser Pastor Terry Jones is defiant saying, “We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam." The church only has a congregation of 50 people but has already sparked demonstrations in Afghanistan and Indonesia.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGISTS at Northumbria University have published a study to try and determine which kind of dancing is most attractive to women. The study suggests that men with sweet dance moves are seen as more healthy and having more reproductive potential that those that flail around on the dancefloor like someone that’s just been tazered. It was found that women paid attention to the core body region: the torso, neck and head and movements that went down terribly were twitchy and repetitive, so-called "Dad dancing".

TONY BLAIR received an egg-stremely unpleasant reception at his first book signing in Dublin yesterday. Blair is out on the road promoting his memoirs he’s enigmatically entitled “A Journey”. Anti-war protesters threw shoes and eggs at Mr Blair as he emerged from his car and heckled him. Since then, he’s hinted that he may cancel his London book signing to prevent causing the authorities “a lot of hassle.” He said: “"To be frank about it, I am concerned. I do not want to put everyone through a lot of cost and hassle on this Wednesday's signing so I am thinking about that."

JUST WHEN you thought the situation couldn’t get any weirder, Michael Jackson is back… from beyond the grave. Celebrity psychic Melodie claims to be a ‘spiritual advisor’ to several major celebrities and has even aided LAPD in some of their investigations, the modern day equivalent of asking ScoobyDoo to investigate major crimes. Apparently Jackson was ‘amused’ by the séance but was upset about property taken from his home on the day of his death amounting to $1 million. He also blamed his personal physician for his death but said that he wasn’t angry about it.

BUTTER-WOULDN’T-melt supermarket chain Tesco has been accused of taking advantage of weak labour laws in the States by bullying employees and creating an anti-union environment. The New York branch of Human Rights Watch has published a report claiming that while Tesco talks nicely about labour relations back in the UK, its new chain in the US called Fresh & Easy has left employees that wish to organise union activities fearing for their jobs.

AN UNIDENTIFIED ship has dumped oil off the coast of Goa off Western India just one month before a load of aging ravers are due to show up and party. Tar balls have washed up on the beach causing a solid, six-inch layer of oil on top of the sand. Civic workers are on the case with brooms to try and sort out the sticky mess as the Indian Navy navy and coastguard have set sail to trace the offending tar dumpers out on the high seas.

FIDEL CASTRO has admitted that he was responsible for the discrimination against homosexuals in Cuba in the 1960s and 70s. During that time, many gays were fired, imprisoned and sent to “re-education” camps before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1979. Castro has said that he did not pay enough attention to the hardships of the gay community due to greater problems within the country, such as armed attacks and the availability of food and medicine. In the past years Castro's niece has also been fighting for the recognition of same-sex marriage. SP

ASYLUM SEEKERS have staged a protest in Australia after breaking out of their detention centre. More than 80 escapees held banners of protest by a nearby highway, with messages such as “Show us mercy”. Some said that they have been recently told that they do not qualify for asylum, while one told how he had been held there for nine months. The Refugee Action Coalition has said that most of these men are simple fishermen who actually want to return home. SP

PARIS HILTON was arrested in Las Vegas over the weekend for possession of cocaine. Police officers noticed a suspicious smoke trail coming from a car in which Hilton was the passenger, and later charged the socialite with possession before releasing her without bail. She claims that the handbag it was found in was too cheap to be hers, and that she had borrowed it from a friend. She will appear in court in October. Hilton was also arrested in July for suspected possession of marijuana and was imprisoned in 2007 for drink driving. SP

SOUTH AFRICAN public service workers have been on strike for two weeks in their demand for a wage increase. President Zuma has responded to their urges with an increased offer, which the unions will vote on on Tuesday. Around a million workers are currently on strike, but other unions have threatened to join the movement if the demands are not met. But with the African National Congress just round the corner, it has been commented that President Zuma is more interested in protecting his public image than any economic concern. SP

CONCERN IS mounting over the government’s plans to allow local councils to decide the criteria for allocating council houses could lead to favouritism of local residents over immigrants. The Refugee Council is worried that locals will be put first, but Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister has stated that local links are just one of many criteria that councils take into account. All the same, a survey last year reported that nine out of ten families in social housing are UK-born. SP

HEAD OF the BNP, Nick Griffin has reported that his ‘party’ is in financial difficulty and has appealed to its members for support. The party’s money has been spent on various law suits in the past couple of years, namely defending themselves against Unilever after the BNP used Marmite to promote their election campaign earlier this year without their permission. We’re just wondering if Mr Griffin would be willing to accept any donations from the ethnic community… We think we speak for everyone when we say: it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke!

ALTAF HUSSAIN, the leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in Pakistan has lashed out against the political establishment’s lacklustre response to the country’s severe floods. He has called on “patriotic generals to initiate martial-law like steps against federal politicians and legal proceedings against people who “save their crops and divert floods towards the localities as well as villages of the poor”. His comments could be worrying to the prime minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani who relies on the 25 MQM members of the National Assembly for a majority.

APPLE HAS refused to allow the iPhone to be included in the UK’s first ever green ranking scheme for mobile phones. Companies like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have all signed up to the scheme that has been launched by the O2 network which gives phones a rating out of five according to their environmental footprint. The scheme has been launched in partnership with Forum for the Future and scores mobiles on the manufacturing process, packaging, energy efficiency and the ecological impact pf their raw materials.

YESTERDAY THE third annual “Go Topless Day” went down in America to protest against the fact that it’s generally acceptable for men to walk around topless while women are expected to cover up. GoTopless.org, an organisation formed by sports journalist Claude Vorilhon, encourages women to go topless for the day and men to don bikini tops or bras to raise awareness. In Chicago, the main participants were the beach volleyball players and rollerbladers at the beach, and unsurprisingly not the inner-city office workers.