Alfred Collins, London's longest serving taxi driver, has been honored with an award from Transport for London at a specially organized ceremony at the Public Carriage Office. Now 92, Collins drove his first passenger in 1937 and went on plying the London streets until he drove his last passenger just a few years ago. After receiving the award for his 70 years of service, Collins said: "Life is all about communication and I have enjoyed sharing my vast experience of life as well as learning a lot with some of my passengers. "

Swiss infantry soldiers numbering 170 accidentally marched into the neighboring country of Liechtenstein when they got lost at night during a routine training exercise. The soldiers had reached 2 kilometers across the border before they realized their mistake and turned back. The story was confirmed by a Swiss army spokesman.

A gym owner in the Netherlands is surprised by the number of offers he is getting after he made the announcement to open the world's first fitness program for nudists. Gym owner Patrick de Man says the "nudifit" classes at his gym in the town of Heteren is attracting attention from the U. S. , U. K. , Germany and Belgium. ANP and Expatica quote de Mann as saying, "The thousands of responses on my gym's Web site show that naturists have been waiting for something like this for a long time. "

Animal services are up in arms about a Tampa-based fast food restaurant promotional stunt asking customers to dress their cats in specially designed take out bags. The bags were invented after Checkers restaurant saw that Rap Cat, a cat puppet used in Checkers advertising commercials, was gaining popularity.

A nine-year-old cat was named U. K. pet slimmer of the year after shedding 2kg, or 4. 4 pounds, on a strict diet and lots of exercise. The cat owner Helen Ebrahim, said Willie used to be so fat because of eating too much back when they were still living in the U. S. However, the cat started shedding some weight when his owner moved to Pembrokeshire, England three years ago.