SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian transsexual is suing two policemen for allegedly telling her unsuspecting boyfriend about her gender switch, leading to a violent confrontation, it was reported Wednesday.

Brigitte Fell has launched a lawsuit accusing the officers of breaching privacy laws by telling her then-boyfriend about the sex change while he was in police custody, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported.

Constables Tyrone Stacey and Brendan Ritson pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court Tuesday and could face two years jail if convicted of unlawfully disclosing information, the newspaper reported.

It said Fell’s boyfriend was picked up by police for suspected theft in September 2006 and while he was in custody Stacey allegedly accessed confidential information about Fell, revealing she was born a man.

Ritson, who was looking over his colleague’s shoulder, allegedly shouted to Jacobson that he was having sexual relations with “a bloke”.

After the boyfriend, Garrick Jacobson denied it, he was allegedly shown paperwork indicating her gender and told: “See, it’s a guy.”

Fell told the court that when Jacobson was released he stormed into her flat and confronted her, asking if what the police told him was true.

She said he repeatedly punched her in the face, resulting in her hospitalization for several days.

Fell told the court that she underwent sex change surgery in London about 12 years ago and claimed the privacy breach “ruined my life”, the Telegraph reported.

She said she had not previously revealed her surgery to Jacobson, her boyfriend of about two months, because “he was temperamental enough”.

ATHENS (AFP) – A young Greek actress who forgot her cellphone in an Athens cab found herself blackmailed for 1,500 euros (2,200 dollars) when the driver threatened to post sex footage stored inside the phone on the Internet, the Greek police department said on Friday.

The 30-year-old driver was arrested on Thursday after the unnamed actress gave him the demanded sum in marked currency.

The taxi driver, also unidentified, who had initially tried to peddle the sex footage to a reporter, told police he was facing “serious financial difficulties.”

The behavior of taxi drivers in Greece usually tops visitors’ grudge lists with complaints ranging from boorish conduct and rip-off pricing to general uncleanliness.

The union representing Athens’ some 15,000 taxi drivers has repeatedly promised to organize behavioral seminars for its members but the effect on the street has been minimal.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston radio station is observing Valentine’s Day with a reminder that Cupid sometimes misses his mark. WKLC-FM, better known as Rock 105, is giving away a free divorce.

Valentine’s Day isn’t all hearts and flowers, says WKLC Program Director Jay Nunley. There is a darker side, he said, “where maybe you despise your spouse and resent the entire day.”

Through 4 p.m. on Thursday, Valentine’s Day, applications for the free divorce will be accepted on the classic rock station’s Web site, http://www.wklc.com. The winning name will be drawn at 5 p.m.

Nunley cautions that this is a real divorce and people shouldn’t enter if they aren’t serious. Also, people expecting a long, drawn-out legal battle should hire a lawyer because the Rock 105 contest is for a relatively uncomplicated divorce.

Charleston attorney Rusty Webb will handle the actual filing.

“Sure we can give away concert tickets, and we do,” said Nunley. “That’s going to make you happy for a little while. This is the chance to make someone happy for the rest of their life.”

LONDON (Reuters) – A 16th Century painting of Venus featuring the Roman goddess of love wearing little but a smile has been deemed too risque for the eyes of London’s Tube travelers.

London Underground bosses have banned a poster of the 1532 work by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, promoting an upcoming Royal Academy exhibition.

The Academy is outraged.

“We are disappointed and find it quite ridiculous in this day and age,” said Head of Press and Marketing, Jennifer Francis.

“The painting is around 500 years old — it’s a pure painting by a master,” she told Reuters.

But Transport for London, which operates the Tube network, is unmoved.

“Millions of people travel on the London Underground each day and they have no choice but to view whatever adverts are posted there,” a spokesman said.

“We have to take account of the full range of travellers and endeavour not to cause offence in the advertising we display.”

Advertising standards on the Tube are vetted by the company CBS Outdoor. It states that posters can not “Depict men, women or children in a sexual manner, or display nude or semi-nude figures in an overtly sexual context.”

The Tube has banned historic paintings before.

In 2001 it refused to pass a 17th century portrait by Sir Peter Lely of a mistress in Charles II’s court nonchalantly exposing a breast on a poster for a National Portrait Gallery show.

The Royal Academy, which must now scramble to design another poster for its exhibition, had considered placing black strips over Venus’s offending bodily parts.

But Francis said they will more likely use a cropped version of the painting to advertise the show, which opens on March 8.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A woman in Germany who became pregnant after an online sex auction has won a court battle to force the Web site that hosted the sale to reveal the names of the winners, so she can find out who’s the father.

Six different men won Internet auctions to have sex with the woman in April and May last year. They were only known to her by their online names, a spokesman for a court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said on Wednesday.

“The woman wanted to discover which one of the men had made her pregnant,” the spokesman said. “So she needed their contact details. Of course, if they’re not willing to go along with the gene test, she’ll have to take them to court.”

The woman asked the site’s operator to reveal the true identity of the men, but it refused, citing a confidentiality clause in its terms and conditions.

The court ruled in her favour, saying the child’s right to know who its father was took precedence.

The court declined to give the woman’s age and nationality.

By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK (Reuters) – Alarmed by polls showing one in four Thai teens will celebrate St. Valentine’s Day by having sex, police plan to swoop on motels, malls and parks to ensure youths behave themselves on the “Day of Love”.

The annual campaign to ensure good behaviour on February 14 will see city officials turn on all lights at public parks in the capital Bangkok, while parents are urged to make sure their teenagers come home early.

Police and “student inspectors” from the Education Ministry will be checking discrete “curtain” motels to make sure youths under the legal age of 18 are not using them for amorous interludes.

“We will send patrols to check out public parks, restaurants and shopping malls, which are the starting points for potential sexual activities that will be done at home or motels,” Bangkok police spokesman Suporn Pansuea said.

Thailand’s moral guardians are taking action after an Assumption University poll showed 27 percent of 2,400 Bangkok teenagers surveyed said they might have sex on Wednesday.

Despite Bangkok’s reputation as one of the world’s sex industry centres, predominately Buddhist Thailand is generally a conservative country.

This year’s St Valentine’s Day celebrations have been tempered by a sluggish economy after two years of political strife and a 2006 coup, and nationwide mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s sister who died in January.

Rose vendors have complained about sagging sales because people have less disposable income.

“I don’t think we’ll have robust sales this Valentine’s Day,” Den Yarum, a florist at Bangkok’s main flower market, told the Thai-language Daily News.

A number of annual high-profile events, such as weddings conducted on mountain cliffs, underwater or in hot-air balloons, have been cancelled or postponed due to the 100-day mourning period for Princess Galyani Vadhana.

Bangkok’s “District of Love”, a city office where superstitious couples flock to register their marriages on Valentine’s Day, will be open for business, but the ceremonies will be low key.

“People are still mourning Princess Galyani Vadhana so the activities will be simple, with an emphasis on her love for the people,” district chief Pravit Panviroj said.

LONDON (Reuters) – When Richard Martinez goes to a nightclub or bar, he often goes alone.

But the 38-year-old former RAF officer wastes no time in heading for a target — a woman — to flirt with and flatter.

Martinez will not try too hard, but will allow himself to be drawn into conversation and, if asked, will give out his phone number for a potential future date.

Martinez is a “honey trapper” — or as he likes to call himself, an “integrity tester” — one of a growing team of private detectives who are hired by wives, husbands or partners to test the loyalty of their loved ones.

“It’s growing all the time,” he says of his business, the Expedite Detective Agency (www.ex-da.com), which charges 300 pounds ($588) for an integrity test on a potential cheat.

Martinez refutes accusations of marriage-wrecking, arguing that his customers come to him when they are already concerned about their partner’s fidelity or when rumors have led them to suspect an affair. But he admits around 80 percent of targets fail the test and turn out to be ready and willing to cheat on a partner.

Martinez and his colleagues — he has a team of male and female trappers, some more, some less attractive — record the whole “hit” on audio and video, so that the customer can see for themselves how the evening develops.

And Martinez has “rules of engagement”: The target must not be drunk, there must be no touching, and the relative attractiveness of the trapper to the target must be equal.

“It’s got to be a fair test,” he explains. “So we make sure that we don’t set a very attractive honey trapper on a not so attractive target, and vice versa.”

“The customer needs a fair answer to the question of whether their husband or girlfriend is loyal.”

Martinez says that while many of his customers may end their relationships, other use the honey trap to confront unfaithful lovers and appeal to them to change their ways.

“So we can also act as a deterrent,” he says. “The customer can say to their partner: ‘I caught you this time and I want you to change’ and they can warn that they will use the honey trap service in the future to test them again.”

He shrugs off criticism that he is fostering mistrust, and insists he is meeting a real need among British couples. But while Martinez is unashamed about what he does, other such detective agencies are more reticent.

At UK Honey Traps, a service based in Worcestershire in the heart of England and offering trappers across the country, they are not keen to talk.

“We don’t talk to journalists,” a spokesman there told Reuters by telephone. “It wouldn’t help our business.”

They are, however, looking for new recruits.

Under the vacancies section of their Web site, the detective service is on the look-out for “confident, bubbly, outgoing men and women with an ability to think on their feet.”

Becoming a honey trapper demands reliability, honesty and accuracy, it says, and because most of the trapping takes place outside office hours, it can offer “an ideal second career.”

JERUSALEM (AFP) – It might harm their reputation, but Israel’s air force is considering giving its combat pilots Viagra to improve their performance — in the air.

A recent study conducted by Israeli doctors among mountain climbers in Africa found a link between erectile dysfunction drugs and improved performance in high altitudes, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday.

The active ingredient in the drugs was found to make climbers perform better in an environment with less oxygen, which causes fatigue and dizziness.

This has led army doctors to consider giving jet fighter pilots — who can fly at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,000 metres) — the same drug, the report said.

“The Viagra family of drugs is considered effective in these conditions because when there is a long shortage in oxygen it leads to high blood pressure in the lungs, and the drugs help fight that,” the report quoted military medical sources as saying.

NEW YORK (AFP) – New York authorities unfurled a new official city condom Wednesday in time for Valentine’s day with a “Get Some” tagline, a new colorful wrapper and a campaign unfortunately described as cutting-edge.

“The NYC Condom’s new look includes a fresh package design and an elegant new dispenser, which will debut in 200 New York City venues in the coming weeks,” city health authorities said, unveiling the new design.

The condom drive was to be backed by television and radio commercials aimed at increasing the city’s use of the contraceptives.

The city gave out 36 million condoms last year — the equivalent of more than four for every man, woman and child in the city. The city’s first official condom, unveiled last year, featured a subway-themed wrapper.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Dolly Parton’s breasts may be two of the wonders of the entertainment world, but the country music icon says they are a pain in her back.

Parton, 62, said on Monday she would postpone her upcoming North American tour after doctors told her to take it easy for six to eight weeks to rest her sore back.

“Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don’t have back problems,” the folksy singer-songwriter said in a statement.

The tour was due to begin on February 28 in Minneapolis, two days after the release of “Backwoods Barbie,” her first album of mainstream country music in 17 years. She hopes to hit the road in late April.

Parton, also famous for her big voice, big wigs and big smile, has long joked about her famous bust. When she received a songwriters award in New York last year, she noted that she’s been known for two things throughout her career.

“I’m talking about my music and my lyrics,” she said.

Parton, a member of both the country music and songwriters halls of fame, has been enjoying a renaissance since she released the first of a trio of bluegrass-tinged albums in 1999.

As with other veterans such as Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, Parton found that she was no longer welcome at country radio, and changed tack by delving into roots music. Her releases garnered widespread critical acclaim and a fond examination of her 40-year career.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Love really is blind, at least when it comes to looking at others, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

College students who reported they were in love were less likely to take careful notice of other attractive men or women, the team at the University of California Los Angeles and dating Web site eHarmony found.

“Feeling love for your romantic partner appears to make everybody else less attractive, and the emotion appears to work in very specific ways in enabling you to push thoughts of that tempting other out of your mind,” said Gian Gonzaga of eHarmony, whose study is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

“It’s almost like love puts blinders on people,” added Martie Haselton, an associate professor of psychology and communication studies at UCLA.

Gonzaga and Haselton asked 120 heterosexual undergraduates in committed relationships to examine photographs of attractive members of the opposite sex from an eHarmony Web site.

The volunteers were asked to choose the most attractive photos, and write an essay either about their current romantic partner, or the subject of their choice.

While writing, the students were asked to forget the “hotties” from the Web site, but told to put a check in the margins if they did happen to think of the attractive photos.

The volunteers who wrote about their partners were six times less likely to admit to thinking of the attractive others than volunteers who wrote about random subjects.

And later asked to recall the cuties in the pictures, the students who wrote about their lovers remembered fewer details about the physical appearance of the attractive strangers.

“These people could remember the color of a shirt or whether the photo was taken in New York, but they didn’t remember anything tempting about the person,” Gonzaga said.

“It’s not like their overall memory was impaired; it’s as if they had selectively screened out things that would make them think about the how attractive the alternative was.”

PARIS (Reuters) – Former “Baywatch” star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson takes to the stage in one of France’s most famous nude revues this month, when she performs for two nights at the Crazy Horse in Paris.

Anderson, who has recently been performing in a magic show in Las Vegas, follows Arielle Dombasle, an actress and wife of one of France’s leading intellectuals, in appearing at the Crazy Horse, a fixture in Paris night life for half a century.

“A special number will be created for Pamela Anderson, a striptease on a Harley Davidson,” the Crazy Horse said.

Anderson will perform four shows on February 13-14.

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – Broward County authorities said a grandmother was arrested for hiding cocaine in her bra during a drug raid in Oakland Park. Eight others were also arrested Friday at or near the home of Henrietta Corvin Daise, 62. Many of them were her grandchildren.

Jail records show Daise posted $7,500 bail Saturday.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said deputies conducted a search warrant on her home and found Daise with powder cocaine stuffed in her bra. Deputies also found 20 crack cocaine rocks, four grams of powder cocaine, marijuana and $1,000 in cash.

The eight face various charges including possession and intent to sell cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church, probation violations and marijuana possession.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wanted: rich older women interested in hot younger guys. Applicants must be over 35, earn at least $500,000 a year or have a minimum of $4 million in liquid assets, entrusted assets or divorce settlement.

That’s the basis of a speed-dating event organized by a New York entrepreneur bringing together 20 “sugar mamas” and 20 “boy toys” vetted by an elite New York matchmaker.

“Symbiosis has allowed ugly rich men to attract young, gorgeous, money-hungry women for centuries; it’s now the women’s turn,” proclaims pocketchangenyc.com, the Web site that Jeremy Abelson is using to promote the event.

Set to take place at Manhattan’s 230 Fifth club on February 7, it has attracted more than just wealthy divorcees. Nancy Richards, 50, is the owner of a marketing firm and a theater producer in New York and London.

“Is it truly what I am looking for? No. Is it an option? Why not? In New York City anything goes,” Richards said with a laugh.

Speed-dating pairs up prospective couples for face-to-face meetings that last just a few minutes. The partners rotate over the course of the evening, allowing participants to make the acquaintance of many potential partners.

“I find younger guys will usually be totally into you while older guys will be looking over your shoulder at a younger woman,” said Gail Garrison, 44, a fashion designer and former model.

“Younger men expect an older woman to be more accomplished. They are looking for you because you are intelligent. They are not looking for a mother,” she said.

Abelson, 27, calls it “Natural Selection Speed Date II: Sugar Mamas & Boy Toys.” He came up with the idea after drawing criticism from feminists for organizing an event last year that paired wealthy older men with young women.

More than 5,000 men applied for a place in this year’s event. Twenty finalists were selected.

“I think for men it is an incredible fantasy (to be with an older woman),” Abelson said. “Older women are more experienced and they know what they want.”

The prospective boy toys — who had to be under 35 — were screened by Janice Spindel, billed as New York’s most exclusive matchmaker.

“I really think a lot of people will connect,” Spindel said. “Age is just a number, and some people are unlisted.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas.

Itar-Tass news agency reported Thursday that 17 tourists in the Caucasus spa town of Yessentuki had to be treated in hospital after the mix-up.

Sources at the sanatorium said the mistake was explained by water and hydrogen peroxide looking the same. Hydrogen peroxide, which can be used to bleach hair, is used as a disinfectant but should not be ingested.

THE HAGUE (AFP) – A Dutch online training in safer sex is so popular that the website featuring short instruction videos was overloaded Friday, the Amsterdam health authorities told the ANP news agency.

The website called www.vrijlekker.nl (have nice sex) went online on Wednesday and just hours after opening already had nearly half a million hits.

Although the Amsterdam health authorities, that set up the website to combat the rise in sexually transmitted diseases in young people aged 16 to 24, had expected the site would be popular “this beats our wildest expectations”, Udi Davidovich of the GGD health services told ANP.

So far the site has had nearly 960,000 hits generated by around 60,000 people. The GGD has increased the site’s capacity so that more curious youths can get safer sex training.

LONDON (Reuters) – Forty years after feminists threatened to burn their bras, British women have won another battle in the fight for equality.

Asda, Britain’s second-biggest food retailer and owned by U.S. giant Wal-Mart, says it will no longer charge women more for bigger bras in its George fashion range.

“We’re putting an end once and for all to one of the last prejudices — that of the bigger-busted woman,” said brand director Fiona Lambert in a statement.

“From now on, all bras at George will be exactly the same price from A cup through to F cup.”

LONDON (Reuters) – A British bus company has apologized to a girl who is led around on a leash by her boyfriend and describes herself as a human pet after one of its drivers threw her off a bus.

Tasha Maltby, 19, told British newspapers she was the “pet” of her 25-year-old fiance Dani Graves.

Pictures showed her dressed in black Gothic-style clothing with silver buckles on a silver chain — which the driver of a bus from the firm Arriva took exception to.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper Wednesday she was thrown off and told: “We don’t let freaks and dogs like you on.”

Arriva would not comment on specifics but said it apologized if the couple felt they had been discriminated against. It added, however, that the driver was worried about safety and the company told Maltby to take the leash off in the future.

“We have spoken to the driver who has talked about health and safety,” a spokesman said. “Should she be attached to a chain and something happens on the bus, that could be dangerous. All we are saying is that she is very welcome to use the buses but not when she is on her lead.”

Maltby — who lives on state benefits and got engaged in November — said her choice of lifestyle might seem unusual but was harmless.

“I am a pet,” she told the Daily Mail. “I generally act animal-like and I lead a really easy life. I don’t cook or clean and I don’t go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It’s my culture and my choice. It isn’t hurting anyone.”

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s broadcast watchdog has slammed a provincial station for ignoring an order to remove sexually explicit television programs from the air, and demanded better “spiritual food” for viewers.

In September, the regulator told two small cable channels in the central province of Hubei to stop showing “obscene” programs, but in early January the same content appear on another provincial channel.

“The order banned the showing of programs about exaggerated sexual life, sexual experiences, sexual understanding, sexual organs and the abilities of aphrodisiacs,” the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said.

“Repeatedly broadcasting base and lascivious programs is serious and has had a terrible effect,” it said in a statement on its Web site (www.sarft.gov.cn).

The central Hubei broadcaster, which is supposed to oversee the content of radio and television stations in the province, had failed in its supervision role, the watchdog said.

“This shows that the Hubei People’s Radio and Television Station’s propaganda and management abilities have serious flaws which are in urgent need of rectification,” it added.

But the station got away with merely a “criticism,” the statement said, without explaining why the punishment was so light.

“Provide more and better spiritual food for the masses,” it added in an admonition to other provincial broadcasters.

The government has moved to crack down on increasingly free-wheeling TV broadcasters, urging them to reject “vulgarity” and “weirdness” in the pursuit of ratings and put on more wholesome shows, especially in this Olympic year.

“Happy Boys Voice,” China’s male-only take-off of U.S. talent show “American Idol,” cut scenes involving contestants in tears, with wild hair or singing “unhealthy” songs in its first season to comply with the watchdog’s demands.

LILONGWE (Reuters) – Malawi will investigate fears that labour-intensive manual irrigation pumps distributed to poor farmers are hurting their sexual performance.

The farmers say using the pump makes them too tired for sex and have voiced their anger to the government.

“The government is aware of the problem, the parliamentarian committee on irrigation is also concerned about it and we intend to start probing and finding out if the pumps are really to blame for the problem,” Adrina Mchiela, principal secretary in the Irrigation and Water Development Ministry, told Reuters.

The high-capacity treadle pump, touted as a major reason for improved food security in the southern African country, is designed to lift water from shallow wells and surface sources.

A farmer weighing 60-70 kg (132-154 lb) can draw 5,000 liters of water per hour.

The pumps are imported from India and about 100,000 have been handed out to poor farmers over the past three years.

HELSINKI (AFP) – Male members of Finland’s parliament have wandering hands, according to an internal report on sexual harassment in the country’s political assembly published on Thursday.

One in three female employees at the Eduskunta, or parliament, said they had received inappropriate comments from male colleagues, 15 percent had been subjected to improper advances and seven percent had received proposals to have sex.

In four of 10 cases, the advances or comments were made by an MP, according to the survey of 680 employees of the parliament.

“I hope that all of the MPs are aware of their responsibility and understand that such behaviour is unacceptable,” the speaker of parliament, Sauli Niinistoe, told public broadcaster Yle.

“The situation is neither better nor worse than in other workplaces, but zero tolerance will be the rule,” he said.

The Finnish parliament, which is expected to adopt measures to combat sexual harassment, has the second-highest female representation in the world after Sweden.

In March 2007 legislative elections, 84 women were elected to the 200 seats, representing 42 percent of MPs.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Lovelorn staff at a Japanese marketing company can take paid time off after a bad break-up with a partner, with more “heartache leave” on offer as they get older.

Tokyo-based Hime & Company, which also gives staff paid time off to hit the shops during sales season, says heartache leave allows staff to cry themselves out and return to work refreshed. “Not everyone needs to take maternity leave but with heartbreak, everyone needs time off, just like when you get sick,” CEO Miki Hiradate, whose company of six women markets cosmetics and other goods targeted for women, told Reuters by telephone.

Staff aged 24 years or younger can take one day off per year, while those between 25 and 29 can take two days off and those older can take three days off, the company said.

“Women in their 20s can find their next love quickly, but it’s tougher for women in their 30s, and their break-ups tend to be more serious,” Hiradate said.

Hime & Company staff can also take two mornings off twice a year as “sales shopping leave”, so they can race to stores to hunt for bargains.

“Before, women could take half-days off to go to sales, but you’d have to hide your shopping bags in lockers by the train station,” Hiradate said.

“But with paid leave, we don’t have to feel guilty about bringing our shopping bags to work, and we can enjoy the best part about sales shopping — talking about our purchases afterwards.”

HELSINKI (AFP) – Two Finnish banks on Wednesday announced the creation of a new index option invested solely in companies headed by women, pointing out that recent studies indicate such firms are more profitable.

Aalandsbanken and Tapiola banks jointly launched “Top Women,” an option invested in a bouquet of 15 multi-national companies “selected for their strong profitability and large number of women in high-level positions.”

“Companies with both women and men in leading positions are more profitable than those led solely by men,” the banks said in a statement, referring to several recent studies.

One of the studies, conducted by international consultancy McKinsey last year and titled “Women Matter”, found that companies with more gender-balanced boardrooms are on average 10 percent more profitable than their peers in the same sector.

“Women making most of the household purchasing decisions and women-led companies are good at picking up on customer needs,” the banks explained, adding that women leaders also offer alternative and fresh approaches to business deals.

Among the companies included in the Top Women option are cereal maker Kellogg’s and cosmetics firm Avon from the United States, British energy company Centrica, Swedish banks SEB and Swedbank and Norwegian oil giant StatoilHydro.

The option is open between January 28 and February 15 and requires a minimum investment guarantee of 1,000 euros (1,460 dollars).

CALVERT, Md. – A Cecil County man who phoned the governor’s office with an opinion about the mortgage foreclosure debate realized he wasn’t talking to a secretary when the woman who answered greeted him with a “Hi, sexy.”

Pete Pritchard of Calvert discovered the number for the governor’s office is misprinted in the latest edition of the Armstrong Telephone Co. phone book. The printed number connects with a phone sex service.

The previous edition had the same mistake. Pritchard wonders if he’s the first person in two years that ever called the governor’s office by using that directory.

An Armstrong executive said the directory information comes from a third party source not controlled by the company. He said the error will be addressed in a message included with February bills.

BEIJING (Reuters) – An incensed Chinese couple, videotaped hugging and kissing on a subway platform, plan to sue the subway’s operator after the video was uploaded to Youtube and other Web sites, attracting thousands of hits.

The three-minute video of the couple in their 20s was shot in September and uploaded to Youtube and Chinese video-sharing Web sites last week, Tuesday’s China Daily reported, citing a local newspaper.

It drew more than 15,000 hits in two days, it said.

“A mocking voice can be heard in the background of the video. It has extremely embarrassed the couple,” the paper said.

The couple had hired a lawyer in the interests “of all passengers traveling on metro trains in Shanghai,” the paper quoted the unnamed man in the video as saying.

“Now every time I walk into a metro station I feel uncomfortable,” the man said.

The subway’s operator, Shanghai Metro Operation Co Ltd, was investigating and had promised “severe punishment” if employees were found to have misused the video, the paper said.

Authorities have credited the installation of hundreds of thousands of closed-circuit security cameras in large Chinese cities for helping to reduce crime in recent years.

But Chinese legal experts and scholars have called for more robust privacy legislation to regulate the use of video footage and impose penalties on its abuse.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A Swedish university has received $590,000 in research funds to measure the greenhouse gases released when cows belch.

About 20 cows will participate in the project run by the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, about 40 miles north of Stockholm, officials said Monday.

Cattle release methane, a greenhouse gas believed to contribute to global warming, when they digest their food. Researchers believe the level of methane released depends on the type of food the eat.

Project leader Jan Bertilsson said that the cows involved in the study will have different diets and wear a collar device measuring the methane level in the air around them.

He said 95 percent of the methane released by cows comes out through the mouth.

“This type of research is already being conducted in Canada so we will be in contact with Canadian agricultural researchers in the near future,” he said.

The research will be funded by a grant from the government’s Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning.

LYNDONVILLE, Vt. – Stacie Warren wasn’t satisfied with one husband, so police say she married again and again. Warren, 33, was cited last week on a second charge of bigamy for having three husbands. State police said Warren married Frank Gray last year while she already was married to two other men.

Vermont State Police Trooper Callie Field said Warren married a third time two months after being charged with bigamy in 2007. In that case, both Warren and her second husband were charged with bigamy because the man also was already married to someone else, police said.

Warren apparently married one man, then moved out, and married another without getting divorced, Field said. He said prescription drug abuse may be a factor in the case.

Field said that when Warren’s first two husbands learned of the alleged bigamy, ‘they pretty much didn’t care either way.’

Warren faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the felony bigamy charge.

In the 2007 case, she pleaded guilty in a plea deal and was ordered to appear before a reparative board.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A Swedish bomb squad called out to disarm a suspicious package on Wednesday did not find a ticking bomb. But they did find a vibrating sex toy.

A janitor alerted police after he found the package in a garage of an apartment building in Goteborg, the country’s second-largest city, police spokesman Jan Strannegard said.

The package was humming and vibrating suspiciously, so police took no chances and sent out a team of explosives experts. After having cordoned off the area, they opened the package with bomb disposal equipment, only to find the battery-operated device inside.

“The package was vibrating when the janitor found it, but I think it had sort of died out by the time it was disarmed,” Strannegard said.

ROME (Reuters) – Recording secret videos of sex with your partner is not illegal, Italy’s supreme court has ruled.

Rome’s highest appeals acquitted a 49-year-old man who, unbeknown to his girlfriend, had recorded and kept films of them having sex.

It overruled two previous verdicts which had given him a four-month jail sentence.

The woman had agreed to the man using a video camera to project live images of them having sex on to the bedroom wall, but did not know he was recording the action.

The court acquitted the man because he had not distributed the films to other people.

When the relationship ended the man gave the videos to his partner in a package accompanied by a note saying: “These are my last thought for you.”

NEW YORK (AFP) – Republicans and Democrats may be dominating the US presidential race, but when it comes to the bedroom, it is independents who have better sex, according to Playboy magazine’s Politics of Sex survey.

More than 45 percent of those questioned said independents were better in the sack, against 36 percent who thought Democrats were the best lovers and just over 18 percent who rated Republicans as the real Don Juans.

However, more Republicans had sex at least once a week — 55 percent against only 43 percent of Democrats — according to the magazine’s February edition, which questioned 900 adults aged between 18- and 64-years-old.

The survey also found that Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, was considered by almost one in five respondents as the sexiest woman in politics.

She was followed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with 17.5 percent, first lady Laura Bush on 16.3 percent and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with 14 percent.

Among former presidents, Bill Clinton emerged as the sexiest former US leader, beating Ronald Reagan by 58.8 percent to 21.7 percent.