Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla paid a surprise visit to a sweetshop to stock up on jelly babies during their tour of Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The prince and the Duchess of Cornwall - who are enjoying a two-day tour of the region - picked up a bag of the sugary delights and a packet of throat lozenges, much to the surprise of Ulster shopkeeper Gerald Monaghan. Gerald told the Belfast Telegraph: "I asked which sweet was his favorite and he picked 'Throat and Chest' because he said he had a sore throat.

Malaysian authorities have boosted security for its two special "four-legged" investigators for they are feared to be potential targets of the country's piracy syndicates. The floppy eared investigators are actually a pair of sniffer dogs that the country has recently loaned from Ireland for a month trial in order to break down the DVD piracy racket. Lucky and Flo, the pair of black Labrador Retrievers, are notably the first animals trained to detect optical discs by their scent.

A beer-drinking camel decided to crash a Christmas party in Ireland by becoming the center of attention of having cracked open six cans of Guinness with his teeth and helping himself to over 200 mince pies. Gus, the 11-year-old camel, must have carefully planned his feast as he was able to sneak out of his stable while staff at his equestrian center were getting changed for their party.

A camel at an Irish riding school's Christmas show halted festivities when he gorged on the feast intended for the human guests. Gus, an 11-year-old camel originally from Morocco, devoured 200 mince pies and several cans of Guinness while the staff were getting changed for Santa's Magical Animal Kingdom show. Reuters reports that Robert Fagan, owner of the Mullingar Equestrian Centre in central Ireland, said, "Gus found his way out of his pen and helped himself. "

Two Irishmen are making mounds of money by shipping soil from "the mother country" to Irish Americans who want it put on their caskets. Pat Burke, 27, and Alan Jenkins, 65, are selling 0. 75 lb. bags for $15 dollars each. Burke and Jenkins have already shipped about 528,000 pounds of soil to New York, and they think that the number of people who want Irish dirt will surely keep rising.