Dancing Polish street cleaner

A dancing street sweeper has left Britain fearing for his life, saying he was beaten up by racist thugs.

Ziggy Dust, from Poland, told friends he was leaving because National Front members had attacked and threatened to kill him.

The London cleaner shot to public attention when YouTube clips showed him dancing as he collected rubbish in Chiswick.



Film crews descended on the borough to see the 47-year-old strut his stuff and one national newspaper used him in its advertising campaign.

But after three years in Britain, Ziggy - christened Zbigniew Colbecki - is now back in Poland.

Writing on a web forum, he said: 'I'm outside of England because someone wanted to kill me before New Year.

'I feel very sad. Not everyone was happy.

'Someone hated me very much and my dancing. I miss Chiswick. I left England without choice.'

Ziggy, a former circus juggler had also been DJ-ing in a Chiswick bar owned by Sam Harrison.

Mr Harrison said: 'Ziggy came to see me last week and collected his equipment. He had decided to leave for Poland the next morning.

'He told me that he had been attacked and threatened by a faction of the National Front and felt unsafe.

'He said that it had happened over the Christmas period and that he did not think the police could help him.

'Somebody had scared him. I could see the fear in his eyes.'

Chiswick resident Kieran Loughran, 39, said: 'It was extraordinary how famous Ziggy became but it didn't change him and he was always happy to show off his moves.'

Hounslow council said it had not been aware of any threats against Ziggy.

The Great Esssssssscape: Snake eats snake - but then victim slithers back out again

A snake that was swallowed alive by another snake has pulled off what must be one of the greatest escapes in the animal kingdom.

Determined to survive, the would-be snack managed to turn itself around inside the other snake's belly - and slither its way back out to freedom.

At least, that's what Australian Tony Barton claims he witnessed in his garden.

And he snapped these images as proof.




'When you tell these stories, no-one believes you,' said Mr Barton, who lives in the small rural town of Gundagai, south west of Sydney.

'But I have the pictures to prove it.'

The images, he says, show how the toxic red-belly black snake got its fangs around the far more poisonous eastern brown snake and began to swallow it.

It took almost 15 minutes for the 5ft.6in brown snake to disappear down the black snake's throat. The shape of the victim could be seen in the bulge in the body of the attacker.

The black snake, its lunch totally consumed, then slid away, very sluggishly, to a spot of shade 'for a snooze,' said Mr Barton.

A little later Mr Barton decided to have another careful look at the black snake.



What he saw next left him stunned.

'The black snake opened its mouth a little bit and I spotted this beady eye and the head of the brown snake peering out at me from the mouth,' he said.

'So I got my camera ready again and took a picture as the brown snake came out a few inches. Then it fastened itself onto the black snake's lower jaw and pulled itself completely out.

'It was covered in mucus, as you might expect, but seemed to be completely undamaged. Then the two of them parted ways, slithering off into the bush in different directions.

'I must admit that at first I thought someone was playing a practical joke on me because what I'd first noticed was what I thought was a very long snake with two tails - before I realised that one snake was swallowing another.

'There's only one explanation for what happened - having been swallowed head first, the brown snake must have been able to turn itself around inside the other snake's body for it to be able to emerge head first.'

As he admits, his story is going to take some believing.

But he has the photographs - and he hopes they will silence all the critics.

The land that health and safety forgot:workers ignoring the rules

Polar bears floating past the Houses of Parliament

It looks like a scene from a surreal post-apocalyptic film - a polar bear and her cub stranded on an iceberg float past the Houses of Parliament.

But the creatures floating down the Thames today were sculptures launched in the river to raise awareness of climate change.

The polar bear stranded on the ever-receding icecaps has become the iconic image of the effects of global warming.



The 16ft-high structure was launched in Greenwich, south east London and travelled upstream to Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament.

A team of 15 artists spent two months working on the piece which aims to draw attention to climate change and its effect on the Arctic mammal.



The work was commissioned by Eden, a new digital television channel devoted to natural history programming.

Wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough said: 'The melting of the polar bears' sea ice habitat is one of the most pressing environmental concerns of our time.'



'We need to do what we can to protect the world's largest land carnivores from extinction.'

The sculpture will travel to other UK cities including Birmingham and Glasgow.

2008 Maserati Gran Turismo Car

Maserati teamed with Italian design company Pininfarina to style its latest model, the Gran Turismo, which is influenced by another of the companies' collaborative efforts, the Maserati Birdcage 75 concept car of 2006.
The 2008 GranTurismo, designed by Pininfarina, is set to debut at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show in early March. Looking like an angry Quattroporte on steroids, the Maserati GT Coupe will have excellent performance. 2008 Maserati engines powered by the same Ferrari-derived 4.2-liter V-8 as the Coupe, the Gran Turismo has 405 horsepower, and Maserati says it can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in 5.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 177 mph. A six-speed automatic transmission adapts gear changes to driving style and conditions

Best Car : Peugeot 908

There are Peugeot 908 Pictures. The Peugeot 908 RC is a concept car of the French car manufacturer Peugeot, which was first presented at the Paris Motor Show in 2006, was.
The vehicle is a sedan with four seats, the body styling has been included in the design studios of Peugeot developed. With the Peugeot 908 RC is on the Peugeot 908 coming out in 2007 when 24-hour race at Le Mans at the start is gone. The abbreviation RC is always for the sportiest version of a model.
As the engine, the concept car use a V12 diesel with 5.5 liters engine capacity. The engine is transversely in front of the rear axis. Directly under the engine sits a six-speed automatic gearbox. According to the manufacturer, the rated output of the engine over 700 horsepower, the maximum torque over 1200 nm. Two other peculiarities of the engine, the cylinder angle of 100 degrees and two exhaust particulate.

Maserati Gran Turismo 2009 Picture

Maserati Gran Turismo 2009 Picture

Volvo S60 : The Exotic Car

There are Volvo S60 car pictures. The S60 car marked a clean break for Volvo from the boxy design that many stereotyped the brand with in 1980s and 90s. Its design by Peter Horbury built upon the styling of the S80 and was the most marked departure from traditional Volvo styling since Horbury joined the firm in 1992. Accordingly, Volvo marketed the car as heralding a “Revolvolution.” It was built upon Volvo’s P2 platform, which was shared with three other Volvo models: the S80, the V70 and the XC90. First introduced in 2003, Volvo's S60 R boasted AWD (Haldex) mated to a 300 hp / 295 lb·ft (400 N·m) engine. 2004-2005 models came with a 6-speed manual transmission, as well as a 5-speed automatic which allowed only 258 ft-lb. torque. 2006-2007 models were available with a 6-speed manual or automatic transmission. The 2006-2007 Automatic Transmission allowed for the full torque of 295lbs. (however, this torque was still limited to 258 ft-lbs.

Best Picture KIA Sportage Cars

from the year 2005-2008 KIA Sportage photos, pictures and images gallery. The Kia Sportage is a compact crossover SUV built by the Korean automaker Kia Motors since 1995. Originally, it was a mini SUV, but the second generation Sportage has grown in size to become a compact crossover SUV

Lamborghini Estoque Pictures

Lamborghini Estoque Picture

Lamborghini Estoque Red Picture

'once faced Earth '

The parrot called Me-Tu sent off at football game for imitating ref's whistle and calling the players 'pretty boy'

A football referee was forced to send off a parrot during a match - after the bird began imitating his whistle.

Nine-year-old Me-Tu was taken to the match in his cage by eccentric owner Irene Kerrigan, 66, because he enjoys watching the players run around.

But the game descended into farce when the rare Senegalese parrot began copying the referee's whistle, causing confusion on the pitch.




He also started shouting 'pretty boy' as some of the players showed off their silky skills.

Referee Gary Bailey, 45, had no choice but to stop the game and order Irene and Me-Tu to leave the touchline.

Gary said the game between Hertford Heath and Hatfield Town in the Hertfordshire Senior Centenary Trophy was the most bizarre he has ever overseen.

'I've sent a few people off in my time but I 've never sent a parrot off before,' he said.

'It was a tough game and the lads were kicking lumps out of each other on the pitch.

'About 10 minutes into the second half one of the lads was running with the ball and then all of a sudden he'd heard a whistle and then stopped.

'The whistle wasn't even anywhere near my lips!' After a brief stoppage Gary let the amateur game continue but as the second half went on the parrot continued to make the noises and play was interrupted.

So he approached Irene, who lives near the ground at Hertford Heath, and asked them to leave the touchline and retreat into the stands.

Gary, of Hodderston, Hertfordshire, added: 'I was forced to go over to this woman who I thought was making the noises and ask her to stop.

'When I confronted her she said "It's not me, it's my parrot". I got a hell of a shock.

'The woman told me she was just taking it for a walk and giving it some air. I didn't have a choice I had to sent the bird off because it was ruining the game.'

But Irene has vowed to return to the stadium. She said: 'He loves his football and I'll take him back down there again on Saturday.'

The 150-strong crowd looed on as the pair were forced to beat a hasty retreat.

Hatfield Town Manager, Trevor Lloyd, 36 watched his team wing it into the semi finals winning the cup tie 5-2.

Trevor said: 'It's a shame the parrot didn't manage to hang on into extra time because we scored three goals.'