QUIRKY WORLD ... Sticky situation at nuclear reactor fixed with Blu Tack

Scotland:  A team tasked with decommissioning a nuclear reactor had a simple, sticky solution for taking samples from its core — Blu Tack.

Workers at Dounreay had to take samples of metal from holes drilled into the base of the prototype fast reactor (PFR). They attached Blu Tack to the end of a long, flexible rod, and inserted it 10m into the reactor core, thereby saving the cost of developing a specialist tool for the job.

Samples of the metal stuck to the Blu Tack and were collected for analysis.

Asda mission

England:

David Cameron and Harriet Harman made an early-morning trip to a supermarket, as the British prime minister warned that the cost of the weekly shop would rise by 3%, if Britain left the EU.

The Conservative leader and the Labour MP met staff at a branch of Asda, in west London. Mr Cameron said the average family would pay an extra £123 a year on food and drink, and an extra £98 on clothes and footwear, if Britain left the EU.

Later, alligator

USA:

A family feared someone was breaking into their home when they heard knocking at 4am — but it was a 5ft alligator. Police and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers, in Tampa, caught the creature and returned it to the wild.

It was the second such incident in the US in recent weeks. Earlier this month, an alligator was caught on camera wandering into a neighbourhood near Charleston, South Carolina, and appearing to reach for the doorbell of a house.

Royal rumble

Romania:

The former king, Michael, has asked not to have to pay taxes on his castle in western Romania, because he is a war veteran.

The royal household said it had made the request, not to pay property taxes on Savarsin Castle and other real estate owned by the 94-year-old former monarch, in line with exemptions introduced this year for war veterans.

Michael was king from 1927-30, and from 1940-47, when the communists forced him to abdicate. The 17th-century castle was returned to the royal family in 2001. Tax authorities say he owes four million lei (£680,000), although the royal household disputes the figure.

Tower of terror

Sweden:

Russia’s embassy denied any involvement in the collapse of a TV broadcast tower, claiming the allegation must have been “inspired by the James Bond movies”.

The top portion of the 1,080ft mast, near Boras, in south-western Sweden, broke off and slammed into a pine forest. No-one was injured, but TV and radio transmissions were knocked out, and police head investigator, Jan Johansson, said: “We are 100% certain the tower has been sabotaged.”

In a posting on its official Facebook page, the Russian embassy said Swedes “will laugh when picturing Russian agents ... unscrewing bolts” on the tower, and claimed Swedes have “a tradition to regularly look for a Russian trace”, referring to last year’s hunts for unidentified foreign submarines in Swedish waters.

Holiday high point

France:

Four competition winners will be the first people ever to use the Eiffel Tower as a holiday home.

Vacation-rental company, HomeAway, is taking over part of the first floor of the 300-metre-high landmark, for the duration of the Euro 2016 football tournament, in Paris, and transforming it into living quarters. HomeAway said the monument — with panoramic views of the Arc de Triomphe, the Sacre Coeur, and the Seine river — is “guaranteed to provide the most epic vacation memories of a lifetime”.