For the first time since the Middle Ages the River Seine in Paris is being revived as a means of commercial transport.

Supermarket chain Franprix has inaugurated their new aquatic delivery system, which is being used to stock 80 of their 350 stores in Paris.

In a modern variation on the agricultural deliveries of times past, 26 containers of daily goods will be carried by river from a depot east of the city to a central distribution point located near the Eiffel Tower. The switch to barges for the journey will take 15 lorries per day off the streets of Paris and save 234 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. (AP)

Protester climbs down

An Italian man who had perched perilously near the top of the 130 metre dome of St. Peter’s Basilica for 24 hours to protest against austerity measures climbed down late on Wednesday.

Marcello Di Finizio was pulled to safety by Italian firemen and the Vatican police. Di Finizio, a beach resort owner from Trieste in Italy, managed to slip over the rails surrounding the dome at around 3pm on Tuesday, before lowering himself with a rope on to a ledge.

From there, he hung up a banner which read: “Help! Enough Monti, Enough Europe... Do you call this growth? This is simply social butchery!”

Judge is serial oversleeper

A judge in Costa Rica has been sacked for serial tardiness, the newspaper La Nacion has reported.

The unnamed 35-year-old judge got the axe from a judicial oversight board.

He has repeatedly offered oversleeping as an excuse.

“I have constantly received complaints from prosecutor, judges, administrators, technicians and drivers about his poor performance, such as arriving at the office late, starting hearings almost an hour late and absenteeism, with excuses such as oversleeping,” his boss, Eladio Sanchez, wrote to the board.The newspaper said the judge is appealing.

Power to stop raindrops

The power to stop the rain has been handed to visitors to a new art exhibition.

The Rain Room at the Barbican takes art lovers on a journey through a dark corridor surrounded by the sound of drumming rain. It leads into a brightly lit rectangle of space full of rain. When people step in, the water halts overhead, keeping them dry wherever they are standing.

The installation is regarded as a social experiment, designed to extract personality types as visitors play the part of audience and performers.

The exhibition in The Curve at the Barbican, in London, runs until March next year. Admission is free.