High-octane car chases, outrageous stunts, explosive events and humourous commentary from the team continues to make the MPH show unique among motor shows and allows performance car enthusiasts to get closer to the action than ever before. Between the three live shows a day, show goers can get intimate with automotive exotica from marques that have previously included Aston Martin, Bentley, Caterham, Invicta, Jaguar, Noble, Pagani, Radical, Saleen and Ultima. There's also the chance to learn about events like the exclusive Gumball 3000 and handle cutting edge gadgetry. Full Article

A San Diego company said yesterday that it had created the world's first cat that is free of the allergy-causing proteins that afflict many feline lovers. If true, the feat by privately held Allerca is a new but low-tech twist on using genomic tools to create so-called “designer” pets, which in recent years have included cloned cats and dogs and genetically engineered fish that glow. The sneeze-free kitties will come at a price guaranteed to make a pet lover's eyes water. Customers must fork out $3,500 to “pre-purchase” a 12-week kitten that could take two or more years to actually be delivered. Full Article

A bird lover from County Antrim has been left heartbroken after vandals cut open her aviary and allowed more than 60 birds to escape. Caring for her birds was a labour of love for Lynne Scott from Derriaghy and her aviary was a poignant memorial to her grandmother. But on Saturday night vandals ripped out the aviary's wiring allowing 68 budgies, canaries, parakeets and cockatiels to fly away. Lynne first knew something was wrong on Sunday morning when she was awoken by a neighbour who had found one of her canaries. She went out to her aviary at the back of her house on the Milltown Road to find it had been vandalised and all but eight of the birds had flown away. Full Article

Honda is to unveil a new 3-door Civic at the London Motor Show in July - completing the 'Built in Britain' line-up of Honda hatchbacks. The 3-door makes its world debut at the London event and is joined by the award-winning 5-door Civic and the Civic Type R Concept. Honda's luxury saloon, the Legend, is also on display at the show. The Legend features safety equipment in the shape of CMBS – brake technology that can predict collisions – and SH-AWD, an intelligent all-wheel drive system that delivers extra cornering performance. For motorsport fans, a specially-commissioned Formula 1 exhibit makes an appearance. Full Article

Forget the old joke which starts ''my dog has got no nose...'' - Duo the Staffordshire bull terrier has two. Staff at Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter are having problems finding a home for the three-year-old because of his unique appearance caused by a harelip. The dog, named Duo by shelter staff, was handed in to them by police after apparently being lost or abandoned. Staff at the shelter said vets had not seen a harelip to such an extent in a dog before. Head of fundraising Michelle Pyle said: "We''ve had a few people come and see him and say he''s a freak. "Duo is not a freak, he''s just unusual. Not many people can say they''ve got a dog like that." Full Article

SHETLAND yachtsman Leslie Irvine and crewmate Dick Koopmans are setting off on the second leg of the Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race this afternoon (Thursday). Their Shetland Catch sponsored yacht Jager arrived in the Irish port of Kinsale on Tuesday afternoon after completing the first leg of the 2,000 mile race. The first yacht into Kinsale was Pete Goss and Paul Larsen sailing Cornwall Playing for Success which crossed the finish line at 11am on Monday with an elapsed time of 23 hours. Most of the 42 participating yachts experienced light winds after leaving Plymouth on Sunday and only made slow progress towards Kinsale. Full Article

Freddie Ljungberg said he could not wait for Tuesday's crunch game against England, after his goal kept alive Sweden's hopes of winning Group B. Ljungberg's headed goal gave Sweden a 1-0 win over Paraguay and put the South Americans out of the World Cup. "It's going to be difficult but it will be a massive game as both teams want to win the group," said the Arsenal man. "I think we played well, better than against Trinidad and Tobago. We created enough chances to win the game." Ljungberg added: "But of course you get a little worried when you create that many chances and the ball doesn't want to go in. "It was absolutely the best match I have ever experienced. The fans are never this crazy when we play at home. All the Swedes were screaming like mad." Full Article

The most secure and theft-resistant model range in the UK is built by Audi, according to experts at the Thatcham Research Centre, on voting the brand, 'Best Manufacturer' in the 2006 British Insurance Car Security Awards. The company says that not only will owners of the new TT Coupé be driving a car developed with the benefit of award-winning security expertise, but also award-winning engineering know-how, as the new Audi sports car's 2.0-litre Turbo FSI engine has just received an International Engine of the Year honour. The Best Manufacturer Award in the Thatcham Security Awards is given to the car maker delivering the highest level of security throughout its complete model range. In addition to this top award, Audi also won through in the Executive Car category with the A6 Saloon. Full Article

The Peugeot 907 – a V12 GT coupé concept – is making its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Powered by a 6.0-litre 500bhp V12 engine, the one-off carbon fibre concept is being demonstrated in the Supercar Run at approximately 1.20pm on Saturday and Sunday, 8 and 9 July. The 907 concept was created as the archetypal grand touring car – a two-seater coupé – and with a nod to the era of the great coachbuilders, this coupé combines a large capacity engine within a classical shape. It also provided the first clue to the frontal style identity of the new 207 which has just gone on sale in the UK. Full Article

The MINI GP has sold out in the UK before a single customer has driven the car and extra allocation of the exclusive 2000 models being built for the globe has been secured. The MINI Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit was announced in October 2005, and only 444 UK customers were given the chance to own one from July 2006. Such has been the demand for the fastest, most powerful production MINI yet, that MINI UK has been negotiating with other countries and has managed to snatch 15 more of the models. Only 10 of these extra models remain today. America, Germany and Switzerland have also been eager to increase their share of the 2000 cars. Full Article

There's a suspicion in the land -- and specifically in Chicago -- that these are dark days for the arts. We live in the digital age, so surely television, movies, iPods and especially the Internet are kicking the stuffing out of live theater, classical music, opera, dance and art museums. It's all about "Desperate Housewives," not "I Am My Own Wife," right? Britney, not Britten, right? Not exactly. Pop culture remains mass culture, of course, and people who consume entertainment with the help of electronics continue to outnumber those who prefer the real thing. But the doomsayers who expected the arts to be swept away in the "digital tsunami" of the past decade, as it's been called, turn out to have been gratifyingly off the mark. Full Article

The Ford Focus has won the award for Best Fleet Car in the 2006 Fleet World Honours. The Fleet World Honours are presented annually to those motor manufacturers and service companies who have achieved the highest possible level of excellence in their sector, as judged by Fleet World magazine. Fleet World editor 'Ken Rogers' commented, "Focus continues to be a truly great success story for Ford. It's rare for a very high volume, top-seller in both the fleet and retail markets to be considered a "benchmark" product but Focus still is. It presents that rare combination of being a good value, effective work-horse - and a great driver's car.Full Article

A dog made a Lassie-style rescue after a boy of eight fell 30ft from a rope swing into a river, breaking both arms. Nye Thomas wrapped Bud''s lead around himself to help him out of the water and up the bank of the Tawe in Swansea. Bud, a Welsh border collie and black labrador cross, also barked to alert Nye''s parents as he dragged him home. "You hear about dogs helping people but until it happens to you, you don''t release how grateful you are to have good pets," said Nye''s father Richard. Nye was hurt when he was playing on the swing while taking Bud for a walk. "I was just having fun and I fell off," he said. Full Article

A French publishing group is to sue Google for publishing book excerpts online without permission. La Martiniere accuses the technology company of "counterfeiting and breach of intellectual property rights" by digitising about 100 of its titles. Google is scanning millions of books, allowing users to access the full text of works in the public domain or extracts from those under copyright. The publisher is demanding 100,000 euros (£69,000) for each book involved. La Martiniere owns the French company Le Seuil, along with Delachaux and Niestle in Switzerland and Harry N Abrams in the United States. The lawsuit will be filed in a court in Paris and will target both Google France and its parent company, the American group Google Inc. Full Article

Thousands of drivers from outside the UK are not paying London's congestion charge, the BBC has learnt. Transport for London (TfL) is chasing more than 88,000 foreign drivers who have left owing £8.8m in unpaid bills since January last year. So far only 25,000 of them have been identified and just £500,000 collected. TfL said lack of a Europe-wide agreement on traffic fines meant UK local authorities had "great difficulty" tracing foreign drivers. But a TfL spokesman said the £500,000 it had clawed back was "the highest recovery of foreign debt for traffic offences amongst local authorities in the UK". Drivers from France were the worst offenders, leaving 25,930 unpaid bills, with Germans in second place with about 13,000. Full Article

Two new arrivals at a Devon zoo are causing something of a stink. Staff at Exmoor Zoo were delighted when their female skunk gave birth to a new litter of kittens five weeks ago. Normally skunks have distinctive black and white striped coats, but two of the litter of five are albino and are completely white with pink eyes. Staff said the arrival of the albino kittens, who have not yet been named, was "very rare". They will be put on public display in the next few weeks. The surprise pair, both females, were among the first litter of skunks to be born at the zoo although skunks have been part of the zoo for more than 10 years. Curator Danny Reynolds said: "We are delighted, colour mutations like this in the wild are very rare, probably as few as one in 20,000. Full Article