Catholics have outstripped Anglicans in Great Britain which must have royals like Henry VIII and Elizabeth I rolling in their graves. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has converted to Roman Catholicism. Yet 25 million Brits consider themselves to be Church of England and only 4.2 million say they are Catholic. How’s that?

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In China they are having "Olympic cheering" practice. Beijing citizens are learning how to clap, wave and chant in unison. They also attend cartoon movies aimed at stopping them from smoking, littering and swearing. "Civilized sportsmanship" is being taught in factories, community centers and old-age homes.

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An analysis of 124 of Europe’s most common bird species shows that 56 percent have declined across 20 countries in 26 years. Only large bird populations in Asia keep the gray partridge from being globally threatened. The wild birds sung about in "The 12 Days of Christmas" (partridge and turtle dove) are heading for extinction across Europe. But the rare endangered red-breasted goose has been sighted in a West Sussex harbor. It usually breeds in arctic Europe and winters on the coast of Bulgaria.

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The Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown, wants his people to convert to electric cars by 2020 and, come September, British drivers have to pass practical "green" driving tests as part of a push to improve fuel efficiency by 60 percent. This leads some Brits to say the PM interferes in people’s lives.

PM Brown recently compared himself to Emily Bronte’s character Heathcliff from the book or movie "Wuthering Heights." Brown said he was perhaps "an older Heathcliff." Columnists pounced, wondering if Brown means he is brooding and intense, bent on acquiring power, destroying the family he marries into and haunted by a long lost love. He certainly does not resemble the three great actors who have played "Heathcliff" – Laurence Olivier, Timothy Dalton and Ralph Fiennes.

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The British Red Cross has received 60 brand-new Land Rovers to use for pressing humanitarian relief. These come as a 60th birthday gift from Land Rover.

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Four people were injured at the recent running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. The only one seriously injured was an American who was gored in the buttocks.

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In Australia where the Pope is coming to visit any minute, protestors are already trying out t-shirts that read: "The Pope Is Wrong. Put a condom on!"

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The actor Sacha Baron Cohen says he is terribly unhappy that he won’t be able to ever play his characters Borat or Ali G again. "It is quite a sad thing," he says. "It is like saying good-bye to a loved
one."

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Because of popular reality TV programming, enrollment at dancing schools is up by 2O percent across the United Kingdom

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