A baby weighing 14 pounds and two ounces (about 6.4 kilograms) – double the average – has been born in California.

Doctors said Richard Walker Sault, born two days before Christmas, was one of the biggest babies they had ever seen.

Richard was delivered by caesarean section, but he was so large that it took two doctors to lift him out of his mother’s womb, reports the Daily Telegraph

"We thought our first baby was a miracle, and now we have this little guy," the baby’s father Richard Sault told the OC Register. "Guess he’s not so little."

"Our daughter, she was a big girl and she walked at ten months. And Junior here looks like he could get up and walk out of the hospital right now."

Both mother and child are said to be in good health, but the parents have had to exchange all Richard’s clothes for bigger sizes.

He has been named the largest baby ever delivered at Saddleback Memorial Medical Centre – and possibly in Orange County, according to doctors and local media.

"That’s a big baby," Marty Wright, department manager of labour and delivery at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, told the newspaper. During her 21 years at the hospital, about 102,000 babies have been delivered.

"I remember one that was nearly 12 pounds, but 14.2? Never!" she said.

A Russian baby was born last year weighing a hefty 16 pounds and a newborn in Brazil entered the world at 17 pounds in 2005.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the biggest baby ever born arrived in Canada in 1879. He weighed just over 24 pounds. (Daily Telegraph)

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A Chinese shop is giving discounts to customers who hit an image of George Bush by throwing shoes.

Customers hitting zones A-D can receive a discount from 20% to 50% off at the store in Wenzhou.

The activity, with a slogan "Hitting for world fame and good fortune", was so popular among shoppers that the store had to call police to maintain order.

During the first 30 minutes of the special promotion they sold 64 pairs of shoes and earned more £1,000. Several hundred pairs of shoes were sold on the second day.

"We were inspired by the shoe throwing incident in Iraq and hoped customers can get some entertainment while shopping," said the shop owner. (ananova.com)

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Ginger the goldfish has amazed experts by surviving out of water for up to 21 hours.

He was found lying on the floor behind a chest by owner Barbara Woodward at her home at 7am.

She assumed he was dead and, as she could not move the heavy chest, left the pet and went to work, reports The Sun.

But when she returned at 8pm, Ginger was still alive and flapping.

He was last seen in his tank at 11pm the night before – and so could have been out of water an incredible 21 hours.

A local vet said fish usually die in minutes without water as they need it to breathe.

Ginger was a gift to receptionist Barbara, 61, from her husband Alan, 62.

She said in Gloucester: "I can’t believe it. He looked lifeless and I had planned on burying him. It’s a real Christmas miracle." (The Sun)

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A Chinese man had to be rescued by firefighters after he was reportedly blown onto a tree by a strong gust of wind.

The man, 20, was trying to repair the roof of his home in Beijing’s Shijingshan district when the wind caught him.

According to the Beijing Morning Post, he was trying to repair loose slates when a strong gust blew him off the rooftop.

"Luckily I was blown onto a nearby tree, otherwise who knows where I would be," the man reportedly told rescuers.

For a while he was left clinging to the 45ft tree with both arms, legs dangling in the air: "I was terrified and kept shouting for help," he said.

But passers-by called firefighters who arrived within minutes and bound two ladders together to reach the man. He was brought back to earth safely, ending his 20 minute ordeal. (Beijing Morning Post)

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Police in Germany banned a woman driver’s car from the road – for being too untidy.

The Vauxhall Astra was so full of junk, magazines, old clothes and even bits of furniture that they could barely see the driver at it roared down a motorway near Dusseldorf.

The driver – who has not been named by police – has been banned from taking the car on the road again until it has passed a tidiness test.

Police said the car was so full of junk the woman’s face was pressed up against the windscreen as she drove.

"I’m sure this will make most people feel a lot better about leaving the odd sweet wrapper lying around in their car," joked one police source. (ananova.com)

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A horse whose abstract paintings sell for more than £2,000 is to have his own exhibition in Venice.

Cholla – pronounced Choyah after a desert cactus – uses his mouth to hold a brush and paints on an easel-mounted canvas in his paddock.

Owner Renee Chambers, 51, of Reno, Nevada, said she first noticed Cholla’s hidden talent four years ago when she painted the fence of his paddock.

She said: "He seemed really interested in what I was doing then one day my husband Robert joked to me that I should give Cholla a brush.

"He hasn’t looked back since then, I give him the canvas and the paint and he just makes these wonderful pictures."

She said she squeezes the paint out of the tube for him, puts the paint on the brush and hands it to him, but insists that is the extent of her involvement.

"I have thought he might be the reincarnation of a famous artist, maybe Monet or someone, but the one thing he is definitely is a horse who loves to paint."

Rosalba Giorcelli, from Galleria d’arte Giudecca in Venice, which is to show an exhibition of his work in the spring, said she did not initially realise Cholla’s work was painted by a horse.

She said: "We exhibited it at a recent art fair, and the reactions by the public and the artists were enthusiastic.

"They all understood we did not want to diminish any human artist’s artwork, but we wish to contribute to a debate about contemporary art." (AP)

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A picture of a shepherd controlling his flock with a poster of a wolf has become an online hit in China.

Du Hebing, of Xi’an, told Huashang Daily that he shot the picture by chance.

"After visiting Qinling Wild Animal Park, on the way home I saw a group of sheep walking along the road with a man holding a picture following behind them," he said.

Du said he burst out laughing when he realised it was a picture of a wolf.

"The man was using the wolf picture to scare the sheep and drive them ahead – it was a really funny scene," he said.

"Maybe he was just trying to save some money by not buying a sheepdog – but he is obviously a talented shepherd." (Huashang Daily)

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A motorist who paid a parking fine with a cheque written on toilet paper claimed a victory for common sense today after he escaped a further penalty.

Richard Roper, 63, of Long Melford, Suffolk, was instead ordered to spend just over an hour at the back of Sudbury Magistrates’ Court.

Mr Roper staged his "peaceful protest" after receiving a £30 ticket for illegally parking his car across two spaces in Sudbury.

But Suffolk Police took the matter to court to reclaim the £15 they said it would cost to process the unusual payment method.

My payment has been written on stationery which aptly reflects my feelings towards the system

District Judge David Cooper, who sniggered while listening to some of the evidence in the case, suggested the compromise punishment as a way of "clearing it all off".

Mr Roper told the judge: "This is not a case of not wishing or refusing to pay but a case of the authorities refusing to accept my payment.

"What I did here, your honour, was done in good humour.

"My payment has been written on stationery which aptly reflects my feelings towards the system which I am unfortunately forced to support through my taxes."

Afterwards, Mr Roper, a retired managing director of a pharmaceuticals company, said: "I don’t consider it a punishment. It was a victory for common sense, really.

"At the end of the day, it wasn’t me refusing to pay the fine. It was them refusing to accept it." (Metro.co.uk)

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A Chinese man says he likes to relax by eating live snakes and washing them down with beer.

Wen Xide, 41, of Wangzhuang village, Zhumadian, says he has been eating live snakes for 10 years.

He started by eating one to win a bet with friends for a packet of cigarettes.

"From then on I became addicted to eating live snakes," he said.

Wen demonstrated his habit to a visiting journalist from Oriental Today by chewing down two live snakes bit by bit over a bottle of beer.

"It’s a bit smelly, but they’re very delicious," he exclaimed – although watching villagers said the sight gave them goosebumps and two vomited at the scene.

Wen says his son is now following his lead and has eaten eight live snakes this year.

But Wang Tianming, a doctor specialising in digestion at a local hospital, said Wen could suffer nerve problems and risked infection from parasites. (Oriental Today)

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A calendar featuring England’s prisons has become an unlikely best-selling stocking filler for Christmas.

Strangeways, Wormwood Scrubs, Dartmoor and Pentonville, are among 12 institutions featured in Her Majesty’s Prisons of England 2009, reports the Daily Telegraph.

It follows the surprise success of the Boring Postcard books which became an overnight success with its prints of motorway service stations, roundabouts and shopping centres.

The idea was dreamt up by Kevin Beresford, 56, from Worcestershire, whose fascination with the less aesthetically pleasing features of Britain have spawned a series of books and calendars.

The year begins with Wormwood Scrubs while the Victorian form of HMP Leicester, the all-male Nottingham prison, Long Lartin in Evesham and HMP Gloucester also feature.

"The calendar shows prisons from all over England from Hull to Dartmoor," said Mr Beresford. "It seems to appeal to all sorts of people although I’ve not had any orders from prisons yet.

"Every year you see the same calendars on the shelves, such as Jordan and Cliff Richard, so I decided to come up with something totally unique

"I’m a courier and everywhere I turn there seems to be a prison so I went up and down the country taking pictures and turned them into a calendar.

"It started off as a bit of a joke but the orders have been pouring in. I gave one to Jacqui Smith, who is MP in my hometown of Redditch, and she thought it was hilarious." (Daily Telegraph)

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