QUIRKY WORLD ... Our daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories

USA: For a limited time, a Denver hotel is offering a package with a one-night stay in a pop-up, inflatable room that rises 22ft in the air, thanks to a scissor lift on top of the van on which it sits.

The cost: $50,000 (€37,680). There is a weight limit. No smoking is allowed.

Architect Alex Schweder created the 5ft-by-7ft (1.5m-by-2.1m see-through room atop a van for the Biennial of the Americas festival of arts, culture, and ideas in Denver.

It has a chemical toilet, shower, sink, inflatable bed and couch, and curtains.

Now the Curtis hotel, which sponsored the piece, is offering the curious a chance to stay in the aluminum and inflated vinyl structure called “the hotel rehearsal”.

For $50,000, a guest would get one weekend night in the space, plus lots of extras including a diamond pendant and earrings, two iPod Nanos and a party for 100 people in a ballroom of the Curtis.

Hirst in display case in portrait

ENGLAND: A new portrait of Damien Hirst will be unveiled later this year showing the controversial artist as if he has been preserved in formaldehyde in one of his own works.

The 6ft (1.8m) high oil painting, by Jonathan Yeo, shows Hirst sitting in a display case wearing a chemical suit and holding a gas mask.

Hirst, who rose to fame as part of a group known as the Young British Artists, is known for a series of works in which he preserved animals, including a shark and a sheep, in formaldehyde.

Lowering the cone

USA: The days of buying pornographic videos with names based on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavours are over.

Caballero Video has agreed to stop marketing Boston Cream Thigh, Peanut Butter D-Cup and other films spoofing the names of the venerable Vermont ice cream maker’s products.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the agreement settles a lawsuit Ben & Jerry’s brought against Caballero last year.

According to the suit, 10 titles in Caballero’s Ben & Cherry’s series besmirched the ice cream maker’s name and infringed its trademark.

Police 'sorry' for Twitter message

SCOTLAND: Police in Scotland have apologised over an insult directed at a Newsnight panellist which appeared on their official Twitter feed during a programme which discussed the social networking site.

A comment posted by @policescotland said author and journalist Toby Young “had made a right tit of it” on the BBC Two show. The tweet was written after Mr Young took part in a discussion with Labour MP Stella Creasy on threats she has received on Twitter.

Police Scotland wrote on Twitter: “We apologise for the tweet sent to @toadmeister & for any upset caused. The matter is being investigated & we’re reviewing Twitter access.”

Mr Young said he told police he hopes “the poor, overworked drudge who probably confused his/her personal Twitter feed with the official one he/she is responsible for, wouldn’t get into trouble”.

Boy searching for worms find gun

USA: A nine-year-old boy digging for worms in Arizona found a gun buried near his home. The .38-calibre revolver was in plastic bag along with one bullet just under the ground’s surface.

Police said it appears the gun was only covered up to hide it until someone came back to get it. They do not know who owns it or how it ended up in the ground.

Stowaway cat back on the mend

USA: A four-year-old cat who stowed away in a container ship headed from Manila to Los Angeles is on the mend after being found near death after a month without food or water.

The ginger and white female cat was weak and frail after the 7,300-mile (11,748km) trip. But after two weeks of treatments, it is in fair condition, rescuers said.

A year ago, a kitten named Ni Hao survived a freighter trip from China and was re-homed.