QUIRKY WORLD ... Ducking out of school to get to the nearest pond

USA: A mother duck has grown attached to a Michigan primary school’s courtyard, returning each year to lay her eggs and then walk the hallways with her ducklings — with the help of students and staff — to get to a nearby pond.

The duck named Vanessa has appeared at Village Elementary School in Hartland for the past 13 years, and her latest waddle through the school took place last week, the Livingston Daily Press & Argus of Howell reported.

The duck flies into the closed-off courtyard, and crawls under a specific shrub, digs out her nest and lays her eggs, then waits for them to hatch.

After the ducklings appear, now-retired teacher Ruth Darrah and others tape black construction paper along the walls, creating a clear path for the ducks to get to a pond outside the school.

Red brigade

ITALY: Chinese police are joining Italian officers on the streets of Rome and Milan in an experiment aimed at helping tourists from China feel safe.

The experiment is the first of its kind in Europe, China’s ambassador to Italy, Li Ruiyu, said at a meeting to announce the project, according to a statement from the Italy’s interior ministry.

The four Chinese officers, who were trained by Italians in Beijing, will wear the same uniforms they wear at home so their compatriots can recognise them easily.

More than 3m Chinese tourists come to Italy every year, according to Liao Jinrong, the director general of the Chinese International Co-operation Bureau.

The officers will share information with Italian police and help Chinese tourists if they need to contact local authorities and diplomats from Monday until May 13, the ministry said.

Thick and thin

ENGLAND: The ‘fattest’ and ‘thinnest’ regions of England have been revealed.

Figures show that across England, there were 811 hospital admissions out of every 100,000 people where doctors took note of a patient’s obesity.

In the Wirral, the figure was almost three times higher than this average, according to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Out of every 100,000 people in the area there were 2,894 admissions where medics recorded a “primary or secondary” diagnosis of obesity.

Fired up

SPACE STATION: Playing with fire in space has been the “coolest” part of Major Tim Peake’s scientific mission so far, the British astronaut has revealed.

He confessed he was surprised to see “naked flames” burning on the International Space Station (ISS) where fire is one of the greatest threats to safety.

Answering a question during a special live link-up with science journalists from the ISS, he said: “I think the coolest experiment was actually looking at flame combustion. I never expected to be on board the International Space Station being able to see in the microgravity science glove box actual flames and setting fire to different materials and investigating flame combustion techniques.”

Symbolic tribute

USA: A retiree in a tiny community in North Dakota has paid tribute to Prince in perhaps the most unique way a farmer can.

Gene Hanson, from Edgeley who always liked the song ‘Purple Rain’, hopped on his tractor and ploughed a football field-size version of the late musician’s symbol into his corn field.

The 75-year-old said he found an image of the symbol on the internet, put it on his tractor’s dash and followed the pattern. When done, he got into his plane to check it out.

He said he could not believe it had turned out so well.