After more than 70 years of separation, an 88-year-old British woman is looking forward to a reunion with her younger brother.

Olive Winstone of Penarth last saw her brother Sydney Adler when she left home Worcestershire at age 16 in pursuit of a job in an ammunition factory near Haverford west.

A 51-year-old in Britain, who was kept on hold for almost eight hours by a telephone company, finally broke down and started crying out of frustration.

Hannah King, whose family was moving from Cardiff to a seafront apartment in Milford Haven, said she had to be prescribed tranquilizers after the incident to calm herself.

Rusty, an eight year old poodle cross Maltese was stolen from his home in Woy Woy in New South Wales nearly three months ago. Against the odds, he was recovered this week from Australia's north, about 4000km (2485 miles) away from home. The dog's owner, who had lost all hope of retrieving Rusty, is delighted.

Owner, Shirley Lowry, had lost all hope of ever finding him again after placing newspaper and radio advertisements following his disappearance. All seemed to be a useless effort. But Darwin City Council animal management officer Colin Roe this week found Rusty roaming the streets in Winnellie, Darwin, in the Northern Territory.

Every criminal file in the New South Wales Supreme Court is being reviewed after an administrative blunder has resulted in a fresh appeal for murderers.

Two of the murderers of Sydney woman, Ms Janine Balding have been granted special leave to take their case to the High Court due to a missing staple from their file. This effectively quashes the pair's unsuccessful appeal in 1992.

A 42-year-old man from New South Wales, Australia lost a part of his finger in a bar brawl and walked out of the pub and down the street unaware of it. He did not realize that something was amiss until he saw blood dripping down.

Police Inspector Mark Kellert told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, "He was out on the street and realized there was blood on his hand, noticed his finger was missing, and went to hospital."