A Serb farmer used a grinding machine to cut in half his farm tools and machines to comply with a court ruling that he must share all his property with his ex-wife, local media reported yesterday.

Branko Zivkov, 76, told Belgrade daily Kurir he had been ready to give his wife Vukadinka her equal share of everything earned during their 45-year marriage, but was furious at being asked to give away half his farming equipment.

Instead, he bought a grinder and cut in two all his tools, including large items such as cattle scales, a harrow and a sowing machine.

"I still haven't decided how to split the cow," he told the newspaper. "She should just say what she wants - the part with the horns or the part with the tail."

Saves wife from crocodile

An Australian man who leapt onto a crocodile after it seized his wife in its jaws, wrestling and poking it in the eyes until it let go, was praised yesterday as a hero by startled onlookers.

The 2.5 metre croc charged late on Wednesday from shallow water at Litchfield National Park, a popular outback waterhole south of Darwin, locking jaws around the thighs of 36-year-old visitor Wendy Pethrick.

"These crocs are vicious machines," said local man Steve Landreth, who watched amazed as Mrs Pethrick's husband Norm leapt onto the reptile's back and jabbed at its eyes to free his wife. "I think she's one of the bravest women I've ever met," Mr Landreth told Australian Associated Press, praising both husband and wife. "Even after being grabbed in the thigh by a crocodile and injured she was just talking very calmly about what happened."

Doctors said Mrs Pethrick suffered serious bite wounds to both legs.

Sarkozy touted as French Elvis

It's "Love me tender" between the US and France after President George W. Bush compared French President Nicolas Sarkozy with rock'n'roll singer Elvis Presley. Mr Bush told Nato leaders at the Bucharest summit yesterday that when Mr Sarkozy visited the US recently, he was seen as "the latest incarnation of Elvis".

Such an example of "Burning love" marks a sea change from the "Suspicious minds" that clouded Franco-American relations under Mr Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, who often seemed to see Washington as "The devil in disguise".

Mr Bush has made clear the diminutive French leader, who recently married another singer, Carla Bruni, is now his "Good luck charm" and "My little friend".

Mr Sarkozy has shown he is "All shook up" by heaping praise on Mr Bush as the first US leader to understand the need for a strong European defence.

No frisking the President

The President of the Pacific island of Palau was left stranded in the Philippines after a state visit when he refused to be frisked before boarding a Continental Airlines flight, officials said yesterday. The flight left Manila at around 10 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, leaving President Tommy Remengesau and his wife behind.

The plane had to return after midnight after the control tower at Manila's international airport received a call saying there was a bomb on board. No explosives were found, according to General Atilano Morada, chief of the aviation security group.

"There must be some room for the exercise of common sense in all decisions, and there must be respect for the dignity for the highest level of government," Mr Remengesau said in a statement.

Mr Remengesau and his wife left Manila yesterday afternoon in a private jet provided by the Philippine government.

Wanted: Drinker in pub

"Wanted: Person to accompany elderly gentleman to the pub" - and the lucky winner will even get paid for sharing a friendly pint of beer.

Mike Hammond put the advertisement in his village post office so his widowed 88-year-old father Jack could have someone to chat to on twice-weekly visits to a southern England pub from a local nursing home.

"It's got to be the best job in the world," Mike Hammond said as he sifted through a list of likely candidates who will be paid £7 an hour plus expenses. The successful applicant must not be a woman, a teenager or "somebody who is just going to get wrecked.

Diamond thong on show

A diamond thong worth S$168,000 (€78,000) was the highlight of a lingerie fashion show in Singapore yesterday. The Triumph Luxurious Diamond Thong had 518 brilliant-cut diamonds, totalling 30 carats, studded into the front of a black lace thong in a floral pattern. The skimpy underwear that left little to the imagination also had 27 white gold tassels hanging off it.

Danielle Luminita, a brunette model from Romania, was carried down the runway on the shoulders of two male models wearing only the diamond thong. "It is very comfortable, it's not heavy or scratchy or anything," Ms Luminita said backstage.