World Briefs

Ex-Baywatch star David Hasselhoff has landed his next plum role – helping to get children to sleep by reading a CBeebies Bedtime Story.

The former Knight Rider actor and Britain’s Got Talent judge will be telling the tale of Billy, who rescues one of his parents’ snails to keep as a pet, in a story of friendship and magic on New Year’s Eve.

The US star, 60, said: “As a child I used to love reading ’ Twas the Night Before Christmas and I can still recite all the words today.” (PA)

Widow spiders shock

Workers opening a crate which should only have contained tyres were shocked when they found it was full of dangerous black widow spiders.

The spiders had been breeding in a crate which had been sent from Arizona in the US and had travelled thousands of miles to Seething, Norfolk in England.

“It is not something you expect to see, especially in the outback of Norfolk,” said Mark Cook, group HSE manager for Fendercare Marine told the Eastern Daily Press. (PA)

Salvation Army to rock

Switzerland is putting its faith in the Salvation Army, whose guitarist is 94 years old, to win the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, next year.

Swiss television viewers opted for the Christian missionary group’s rock tune from among five national finalists late on Saturday.

Switzerland hasn’t won the contest since Canadian singer Celine Dion represented the country in 1988. (PA)

Unusual jogging partner

A man in the United States picked up an unusual jogging partner when an emu began following him.

Animal shelter superviser Wayne Gilbert said they received a call when the flightless bird showed up alongside the jogger in the Highgate Green neighbourhood of Virginia Beach in Virginia.

Emus are native to Australia and can reach speeds of 43 mph. Mr Gilbert said animal control officers returned the bird to its owner. (PA)

China cracks down on cult

China has launched a crackdown on a cult it says is calling for a “decisive battle” to slay the Red Dragon Communist Party, and which has been spreading doomsday rumours, state media said.

In recent weeks, hundreds of members of the ‘Almighty God’ group have clashed with police, sometimes outside government buildings, in central Henan, northern Shaanxi and southwestern Gansu provinces, according to photos on popular microblogs.

The group has “incited followers to launch a decisive battle with the ‘Big Red Dragon’, to make the Red Dragon extinct and to establish the reign of the kingdom of the Almighty God”, the provincial Shaanxi Daily said on its website.

It added that the sect’s followers have been distributing leaflets saying that the world will end in 2012. (Reuters)