Stricter absenteeism rules had little effect on British students after truancy rates rose 33 percent. The British government has spend almost $2 billion to overcome the problem, but 63,000 more British students skipped classes in the '06-'07 school year, compared to '05-'06. Family holidays and ailments topped the list of the reasons why British pupils skipped school. Schools Minister Kevin Brennan said 3. 47 percent of the absences were attributed to illness, especially among female students and poor pupils on free school meals. This was followed by family holidays which accounted for 0. 7 percent of the absences. The family holidays ate up 6. 8 million schools days, although 90 percent of the students who availed of this had the school's permission.

A pretzel resembling the Virgin Mary was posted on the online auction site eBay, and bids for the item have surpassed the $1 million mark. The pretzel, posted on the website by owner Michael Fleming, had received a bid of $10,950 Thursday afternoon, and was later on followed by a questionable $1. 1 million by a first-time bidder.

A man was accidentally shot in the arm after a rescuer tried to free him from the jaws of a crocodile in Northern Australia. Police said Jason Grant was collecting crocodile eggs near a popular tourist spot on the Mary River, near Darwin, when he was attacked by the reptile.

More libraries in Kentucky's Kenton County are letting kids and teens pay library fines by reading books. Under the plan called Fresh Start Club, introduced years ago by the Mary Ann Mongan Library in Covington, children up to 17 years old who incurred fines for not returning borrowed books on time can pay off the debt at a rate of 10 cents for every minute that he or she reads a book at the library. The reading is monitored.

Senior residents of a local retirement center are protesting against plans to construct a funeral home right across the street. Saying that the location of the proposed establishment would be a bit too much of a train, many older residents of the center signed a petition, showing the protest of about 100 residents of the Lake City Senior Center.