Leap of faith: Daredevil motorcyclist jumps London's Tower Bridge while doing a no-handed backflip

Motocross star Robbie Maddison found an unusual way to cross the Thames this morning - when he used his motorbike to leap an open Tower Bridge.

The 27-year-old Australian performed a no-handed backflip as he jumped the gap between the north and south side of the historic London landmark at 2.55am.

‘The whole experience was awesome,’ he said.




‘We had a matter of minutes on the bridge and had to time everything to the second - there were so many factors to get right, but we pulled it off.

‘It was an incredible feeling to fly between the two towers and over the Thames.’

Maddison said he had been planning a stunt in London since his last feat - leaping off a ramp on to a life-size replica of the Arc de Triomphe in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve last year.




‘People say I’m crazy, but I just want to push the boundaries of my sport and my body to the limit and I love taking on these huge challenges,’ he said.

Maddison, who also holds the record for the world’s longest ever motorbike jump (350.7ft) will perform at Battersea Power Station on August 22 as part of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2009.

His stunts are reminiscent of Evel Knievel, the American motorcycle daredevil whose jumps including his 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon in Idaho.

His achievements and failures, including his record 37 broken bones, earned him several entries in the Guinness Book of World Records before his death in 2007.

The pups of war: Police seize 20 vicious 'weapon dogs' in raid on suspected gang members

THEY may look cute and helpless, but these puppies could turn into the devil dogs that can be as dangerous as a gun or knife.

Pit bull terriers are trained by criminals to terrorise neighbourhoods, inflict horrific injuries on their rivals and intimidate all who meet them.

These four-week- old puppies were among 20 pit bulls seized yesterday as police launched one of the biggest operations of its kind.





Specialist officers wearing protective padded gear smashed down the doors of several suspected gang members in early morning raids on 12 addresses in South London.

Some of the older dogs were dragged snarling from their homes by officers from the Metropolitan Police's Status Dog Unit.

The unit was set up in March following a surge in complaints from members of the public about 'assault animals' being paraded as trophies by lawless thugs. Since March, there have been 273 dangerous dogs seized across London, with pit bull terriers making up the majority.

Pit bulls were banned under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, but they have not disappeared.

Known as weapon dogs by the police, they are a must-have for gangsters and young street thugs.

They are brutalised by their irresponsible owners and some are put on treadmills to bulk up their muscles and hanged from the branches of trees by their teeth to strengthen their bite.

Many will be used in muggings and other robberies or train o take part in illegal dog fights. Others are let loose in parks where they are encouraged to attack other dogs and their owners, so that their masters can show who runs the neighbourhood.







The number of victims needing hospital treatment after attacks by dangerous dogs has increased from 4,328 in 1999 to 5,943 last year.

There have been several cases of children being killed by the dogs.

London magistrates are being given lessons on how to tell the difference between illegal pit bulls and legal Staffordshire bull terriers.

London Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse said: 'Weapon dogs are not fluffy pets. They are kept to intimidate and cause injury or death, no different from a knife or a gun.'

The animals seized yesterday will be examined by the Status Dog Unit before a court hearing to decide their fate. Many will be put down because they cannot be rehabilitated.

But if the puppies are deemed in court not to be dangerous they could be returned to their owners as long as the owners agree to conditions.

These include having the animals neutered, and keeping them muzzled and on a lead.

Justice Yemen-style: Paedophile who raped boy, 11, shot in the head in front of hundreds of spectators

This is criminal justice, Yemen style. A man accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy is paraded through his home town before being shot dead by an executioner.

Hundreds of onlookers lined the streets to watch the gruesome scene, cheering and shouting abuse at Yehya Hussein al-Raghwah.

The boy, Hamdi al-Kabas, had reportedly come into his shop for a haircut last December during the Muslim festival of Eid. After brutally attacking him, the barber cut his body into pieces and dumped them outside the capital Sana'a.






He was given the death penalty by a Yemeni court a month later after apparently admitting his crime.

Shocking images of his final moments were released following the execution yesterday.

First he leaves the city's central prison, handcuffed and dressed in white robes. Fear etched on his face, he is surrounded by soldiers as he is led towards a ceremonial red carpet.

He is allowed to say a final prayer, his shirt is then ripped open before he is laid face down.

As a police official reads out his sentence for the last time, a doctor oversees his treatment and crowds - which appear to include children - jeer and punch the air, some filming his final moment on their mobile phones.



A soldier brandishes his machine gun at the nape of the barber's neck, and within a split second it is all over. His death brings the number of executions in the country this year to nine.

Yemen is one of 59 countries which retains the death penalty, and one of its most prolific users, according to Amnesty International.

It is deployed for a variety of violent and non-violent crimes including apostasy and adultery.

Last year Yemen executed 13 people, according to those Amnesty has verified. But as no official figures are released the real toll could be far higher.

All of those died by firing squad but in recent years there have been reports of stonings and beheadings.

The deeply religious desert country has a poor human rights record and it is unclear if the barber had a fair trial.

Under sharia law, which applies in Yemen, relatives of the victims of certain categories of murder have the power to pardon the offender in exchange for compensation, grant a pardon freely or request his or her execution.

Horror as two-year-old girl is strangled to death by 8ft pet python

A two-year-old girl has been strangled to death in her bed by a pet python which escaped from its cage in the middle of the night.

The eight-foot Burmese python broke out of a terrarium and killed toddler Shaiunna Hare in her bedroom in Florida.

Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and boyfriend of the child's mother, went to the little girl's room when he realised the reptile was missing.




He found Shaiunna in the snake's deadly grasp, with bite marks on her head.

Darnell stabbed at the snake until he was able to pry the child away, but the infant was dead by the time emergency services arrived.

'The baby's dead!' a sobbing caller from the house screamed to an emergency all dispatcher in a recording. 'Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby... She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death.'

Authorities did not say who made the emergency call.

The snake was taken away alive by emergency services.



Darnell did not have a permit for the reptile. He has not been charged but investigators are looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.

The snake is to be placed with someone who does have a permit for it pending an investigation into the toddler's death.

At least 12 people have been killed in America by pet pythons since 1980, including Shaiunna and four other children.

Burmese pythons can reach a length of 26 feet (8 metres)and weigh more than 200lbs (90kg).



Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it.

Scientists also speculate a number of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

'It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human,' said Jorge Pino, a state wildlife commission spokesman. 'People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them.'

George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food.

'They are always operating on instinct,' he said. 'Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python.'

Zambian president left pee-ved off after monkey urinates on him

A monkey urinated on Zambian President Rupiah Banda as he spoke to journalists at a news conference in the capital Lusaka yesterday.

Banda shouted: 'You (monkey) have urinated on my jacket,' and paused as he looked up to see the animal playing in a tree just above his chair.

He joked: 'I will give this monkey for lunch to Mr Sata', referring to opposition leader Michael Sata, who Banda defeated in last year's elections.


Perhaps these are blessings,' he said continuing his address amid laughter from the audience of journalists and diplomats at the State House presidential offices.

Banda has been addressing the economic downturn and was reassuring Zambians about the falling prices for the country's main export, copper.

It is not know if there are any superstitions in the country relating monkey urine to good fortune.

Several monkeys play around the grounds of Banda's residence and his office.

There are also many species of antelope and birds in the State House grounds.