OddSpot

A young woman in southern China has partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, local media reports.

The 20-something girl from Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, went to hospital completely deaf in her left ear, the China Daily said, citing a report in a local newspaper.

"The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear," the paper quoted a doctor surnamed Li from the hospital as saying.

The woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months, Li said.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," the paper said.

If you have been sitting at work this week, grumbling about the end of your summer holiday, then perhaps you should have tried life as a fur seal.

At 9am on Wednesday, Conservation Department officers heard about a fur seal enjoying summer on the banks of Kingswell Creek in Invercargill.

The easy-going marine mammal swam about 1.2km into suburban Clifton to the point where Elles Rd meets Ball St.

It found a good spot, taunted nearby road-workers with a four-hour snooze, then slipped back into the creek and went about its day.

DOC biodiversity ranger Sarah Thorne said the workers kept a watch on the seal to keep it safe, but were jealous of its apparent lack of anything to do.

"The description we got was that it was sunning itself and having a good scratch," she said.

The seal had disappeared back into the water by lunchtime, and there had been no further reports of sightings, she said.

Fur seals had a habit of making their way up from Foveaux Strait to Oreti Beach for a spot of sunbathing, but residential areas weren't usually their first choice, she said.

"Some years we get them coming into paddocks in the Catlins, where they swim right up the creek and spend a week or so in pasture, running around, snooping, and sunbathing before they go back out."

Contrary to popular belief, fur seals can spend long periods away from water without it bothering them, as long as they have shelter, Ms Thorne said.

They are not naturally aggressive but often get panicked if people get between them and the water, she said.

"They have got teeth and they carry a lot of disease, so they're not something you should go up and stroke. They're more useful to look at from a distance."

The seal had probably roamed from Foveaux Strait but its kind were also known to congregate at the Muttonbird Islands, in Fiordland, and Kaka Point in the Catlins, she said. "It's a wonderful lifestyle, just being allowed to lounge about like that."

In New Zealand, the Fur Seal is now protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1978).

Invercargill's Oreti Beach has become the bachelor pad for one very big boy.

The Conservation Department (DOC) was alerted to a young male New Zealand sea lion at the beach yesterday morning after receiving numerous calls from the public.

The alpha male has stationed himself like a guard dog at the popular recreational beach's entrance, giving some visitors a surprise welcome.

DOC biodiversity programme manager Jessyca Bernard it was not unusual for male New Zealand sea lions to come ashore at this time of year. "It's not really a matter of these animals sharing our space, but us sharing their space," Ms Bernard said.

For no particular reason, this one had made itself at home near the beach's entrance and, while he appeared calm, people were advised to stay at least 10m away and not get between the animal and the sea.

A provoked animal could potentially deliver a fatal attack in retaliation, she said.

"They can get up on their flippers and lunge at you. Their bite is extremely painful."

DOC had received up to a dozen telephone calls from concerned members of the public yesterday, most of them worried about the animal's welfare.

However, the sea lion appeared healthy and happy, Ms Bernard said.

His dark brown colouring indicated he was a young male and had probably come ashore to rest after possibly gathering food or mating down on the sub-Antarctic islands or Otago coast.

Sea lions could hunt up to 175km offshore and could dive to up to 600m.

They were typically between 350kg and 500kg but because this one was still very young it may be lighter than 350kg, she said.

Anyone caught harassing the animal could face a fine of up to $30,000.

JOHN HAWKINS/Southland Times

FISHER KING: Fisheries officer Peter Meulenbroek checks to see if this big boy has got any undersized fish stored beneath his flippers. The young male New Zealand sea lion has made itself at home at the entrance to Invercargill's Oreti Beach.

While New Zealand struggles with a falling job market, Prime Minister John Key is doing his bit to create extra work.

His staff have been working hard answering more than 180 questions posted on Trade Me in response to an auction of the cast on his broken arm.

Mr Key broke the arm in two places on January 17 when he fell at an event in Auckland.

The cast, signed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, was listed for auction in to raise money for a charity, at the suggestion of an officer working with the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.

In addition to the cast, the winner would also be shouted a morning tea with the Prime Minister.

Among the questions Mr Key's workers have been tackling are:"does it come with the arm?"; "as you dont allow pickups and are not addressed verified, with no feedbacks, how do we know how trustworthy your are?"; "Just a coincidence that it's the right arm, and blue?"[national are blue and centre-right]; "If i win can i have lunch with Winston instead?" [Winston peters];"Do you know if Helen [Clark] will be making a bid?"; and "is there a chance of the winner of the auction and john key exchanging numbers and hanging out in the future if we hit it off?"

One user who asked "If I was successful with this auction do I also have ownership and rights to any genetic material that may left inside the cast and the right to clone it if I choose to?" was told they would "have to negotiate with John's lawyers for that particular right".

In addition to many postings congratulating Mr Key, some Trade Me users appeared to be less than impressed and used the opportunity to lash out at the new Prime Minister.

Money raised in the auction was to be donated to The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ, which operates blindness prevention programmes in the Pacific, and the website advised that all success fees for the auction had been waived to ensure all the money raised went to the charity.

At midday today bidding for the cast had reached $16,100.

- NZPA

Hundreds of sparrows littered New Plymouth's main street yesterday, shocking business owners arriving at work and baffling a bird expert.

The drenched birds were dropping like flies from two trees on the Hill on Devon St West after a deluge of rain.

Autopsies will be done on some of the dead birds to see if foul play was involved.

The Shampoo Shop and Salon owners Jane Moodie and Jan Boc**k said waterlogged birds lined their shop front as they arrived at work about 8.15am.

"When I first arrived I thought they were rats and told my partner to go and get rid of them," Ms Moodie said.

"There was just heaps of them. I've never seen anything like it," Ms Moodie said.

She telephoned the New Plymouth District Council to advise them what was happening.

Some of the birds died on the footpath as people walked past on their way to work, while others huddled together in large groups attempting to keep warm.

Ornithologist David Medway was baffled.

"They have been in those trees for a long time and they don't usually fall out," Mr Medway said.

"It is rather strange that some should die and others were fine after they had dried out."

Mr Medway did not think yesterday's heavy rain could be the cause.

"We've had heavier rain before than we've had this morning."

NPDC enforcement manager Lloyd Crow said a council contractor collected the bodies of the dead birds.

Mr Crow said he would be getting the dead bodies tested to see if they had been poisoned.

"At this point in time I am intending on getting some samples of the bodies autopsied by a vet."'

He believed the deaths could have been a "natural phenomenon" caused by the heavy rain.

New Plymouth man Craig St George had no explanation for what he was seeing.

"There is something going on, there really is, it is weird," Mr St George said.

He believed it must have something to do with what the birds had eaten and wondered whether they had been poisoned.

Joel O'Connor, who lives on a farm up Carrington Rd, collected some of the birds to take home.

"I'll put them in the haybarn and let them dry off.

"They will do well on the farm."

Mr O'Connor said what had happened to the birds was mysterious.

"It is bizarre," he said.

SPCA field officer Jackie Poles-Smith said officers were shocked when they arrived.

"We couldn't believe how many there were," she said.

Officers collected about 100 birds and took them back to the SPCA.

"They are alive they have warmed up and they are all feeding and they are doing really well," Mrs PolesSmith said.

She had never seen anything like it before and did not know exactly what could have caused the birds to drop dead.

"We assume that it is the rain and the cold because they are all young birds."

The sparrows would be released when they had recovered.

"We'll shut all of the cats away and wait for a nice sunny day and let them all go," she said.

A 107-year-old woman from Malaysia is reportedly planning to marry for the 23rd time because she fears that her current husband may leave her for a younger woman.

The woman told the Star magazine that the 37-year-old could leave her when he completes his voluntary drug rehabilitation treatment in Kuala Lumpur.

A man was captured after allegedly burgling a home when he used a computer in the house to check his Facebook profile.

Jonathan G. Parker, 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pennsylvania, was charged with daytime burglary after seemingly forgetting to log out of the social networking site after stealing two diamond rings.