Lifeguard blows the whistle over skimpy trunks

Plus a wandering German cow spurs ankle monitoring for the rest, an inflatable church in Russia and more news you can lose.

After 40 years of devoted service, New York's Roy Lester no doubt expected a little support at work.

But when the 61-year-old lifeguard refused to wear skimpy swim trunks for his annual swim test - he wanted to take the test in biking shorts instead - he claims he was forced out of his job.

Mr Lester filed a lawsuit against the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in 2009 on the basis that the bathing suit requirement was aimed at getting rid of older lifeguards.

The case was initially dismissed but has now been reinstated by an appeals court.

Mr Lester is a triathlete of firmly held principles. He says that no one his age should be wearing tiny trunks.

When cows are hot to trot

While Yvonne the runaway cow continues to gambol free somewhere in a Bavarian forest - according to some experts apparently believing herself to be a deer - farmers in the UK have decided to keep close tabs on their own livestock by fitting them with pedometers.

The devices record how far, how often and how fast each cow is ambling around and sends updates to a computer. Apparently cows move around more when they're in season but monitoring such movement without the aid of a gadget is sleep-depriving work for the farmer. According to the dairy farmer Richard Park, from Kendal in the Lake District, without the pedometer he would have to spend half the night monitoring his herd of 160 cattle as most of a cow's "heat behaviour" takes the form of nocturnal rambling.

"Cows are quite secretive," he said. "They don't like giving things away."

No jumping in the pews

Members of Father Kryzsztof Kowal's congregation are likely to find his services an uplifting experience, especially on a particularly blustery day.

The Roman Catholic missionary from Poland has had trouble gaining permission, or cash, to build a permanent place of worship in the Kamchatka peninsula, a 1,250-kilometre stretch of far eastern Russia. But his friend Robert Woicik, who builds inflatable toys for children in Kolobrzeg, Poland, has stepped in with an offer of help and a blow-up church as a temporary solution.

Father Kryzsztof, the rector of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face parish, is said to be delighted but did express concern that some might mistake the inflatable church for a bouncy castle.

Recipe for outrage

The BBC apologised yesterday after an article on its website included pork vindaloo in a list of recipes for Eid Al Fitr.

The British news service blamed the mistake on an automated suggestion system. The recipe was removed from the website in short order.

Other suggested recipes include Arabian spiced rack of lamb with couscous, and simple Goan chicken curry.

The iPad wore white

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before an "I do" moment was brought to you in conjunction with an iPad. For the Denver bride Jamie Wilborn, the iPad meant friend Renee could be her bridesmaid even though she was stuck 1,600 kilometres away from the actual wedding ceremony of Jamie to Jonathan Alberico.

"Renee called dibs to be my bridesmaid many, many moons ago and unfortunately she couldn't physically make it," Jamie said on a YouTube video, holding up a white iPad framing Renee's face. "She got to see the whole ceremony, she got to meet everyone and be here for the reception."