Thirty performers from Germany, Italy, Morocco and Lebanon donned rainbow-colored wigs and red plastic noses to put on a show, as frustrated drivers blasted their horns.

Some clowns walked on stilts as others danced, juggled, blew balloons and took pictures with the crowd that gathered to watch the show under pouring rain in mainly Muslim west Beirut.

Tuesday's performance, which fell on the second day of the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Adha and in the runup to Christmas, was the culmination of a week-long workshop in Beirut on street performances.

"It is meant to introduce street performances and comic relief as a way to deal with tense situations and conflict," said Tonnie Selwood Choeiri, one of the organizers.

"They were taught about the history of clowns and the role of madness in society," she said.

This holiday season sees Lebanon in recovery after three years of unrest, including a string of assassinations, a devastating war with Israel, a 15-week battle with rebel militancy, civil strife and a debilitating political crisis.

"They brought back some smiles and happiness to us," said Ibrahim, a 27-year-old passer-by. "They gave us a sense that the holidays are upon us."

Top Photo: Activists dressed as clowns pose with a Lebanese policeman during a parade on Hamra street in Beirut December 9, 2008. Reuters

Activists dressed as clowns block Hamra street as a woman photographs them during a parade in Beirut December 9, 2008. Reuters

A Muslim woman wears a clown's nose as she takes a picture of the activists during their clown parade on Hamra street in Beirut December 9, 2008. Reuters

According to investigators, Nowak admitted paying for Eversole's services, in part, with a $100 gas card. Eversole was hit with a prostitution rap and also charged with doing business without an occupational license. Nowak was charged with promoting prostitution.

Eversole and Nowak are pictured below in mug shots snapped following their June 27 arrests. A local prosecutor noted that it was sad to see someone selling their body for gas, in this case about 25 gallons ( 95 liters ) worth.

Crude oil hit $144 per barrel this week, the highest recorded price ever

The restaurant opened three weeks ago, with a military theme that is drawing in a sector of Lebanese proud of Hezbollah's battlefield successes.

The restaurant is done up like a military outpost, located in the heart of a neighborhood heavily pounded by Israel during its 2006 war with the military group, which fought the Israeli military to a standstill.

Sandbags cover the exterior - a grim, and perhaps inadvertent, reminder of what Lebanon's government buildings looked like during the 1975-1990 civil war - and the interior is festooned with camouflage nets, defused mortar shells, and live ammunition.

"We thought at the beginning that it was a weapons store but later we discovered that it was actually a fast food restaurant," said customer Amr Nahas as he ordered a "magnum," a grilled chicken sandwich, with a side order of "grenades" or potato wedges.

"The sandwiches are really delicious," he added.

The restaurant's founding comes during a particularly tense period in Lebanese politics. Fighting between supporters of the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition in May killed 81 people and raising fears of a renewed civil war. It ended only after a political deal that gives Hezbollah and its allies a strong portion of a unity government.

"The idea came before all the clashes that happened in Lebanon," said co-owner Ali Hamoud to Associated Press Television News. "But in the end it (clashes) helped in advertising the restaurant."

While many Lebanese have been sickened by the renewed fighting - including clashes Monday in the north that claimed another eight lives - but many in the Hezbollah strongholds of south Beirut express pride in the movement's strength and gains.

"Establishing a military restaurant is a new fancy idea - there are people who like anything that deals with weapons," said one employee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He said that the restaurant has been doing brisk business since it opened, and said Hezbollah was not connected with the business. "Buns and Guns is a commercial enterprise that has nothing to do with politics."

Customers enter the restaurant under a sign bearing the restaurant's name - in English - and motto, "a sandwich can kill you," a reference to the large portions. Employees in military uniforms serve meals to the taped sounds of gunfire as "background music."

The glossy camouflaged menus feature burgers with names like "the mortar" and "the 155 mm howitzer," while grilled chicken sandwiches can be a "magnum" or a "rocket-propelled grenade."

A pizza topped with peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, corn and tomatoes, meanwhile, is rather disturbingly named Claymore, referring to the devastating anti-personnel mines.

Lebanon's most common and popular weapon, the AK-47 Klashnikov assault rifle, is a beef steak sandwich served in long baguette-style bread.

The Dutch-language de Volkskrant newspaper said it spoke to thousands of believers in the impending end of civilization, and while theories on the supposed catastrophe varied, most tied the 2012 date to the end of the Mayan calendar, Radio Netherlands reported Monday.

De Volkskrant said many of those interviewed are stocking up on emergency supplies, including life rafts and other equipment.

Some who spoke to the newspaper were optimistic about the end of civilization.

"You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."

The Mayan Calendar

The Maya civilization existed in Southern Mexico and northern Central America between from A.D. 300 to 900. Its population totaled 5-16 million people.

The Maya have been called the "Greeks of the New World" by many historians. The Maya had some knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, ritual ball games for entertainment, and the use of their complex written language. Unlike Europeans at the time, the Maya had developed the concept of zero.

The Maya used a yearly solar calendar that was fairly precise, using 18 months and 20 days per month, with five additional unlucky days at the end, which totals to 365 days. The Maya did not take into account the additional 1/4 day, which we take into account through leap year, because it was not important for them. They additionally had a 260 day ritual calendar which worked in conjunction with the 365 day calendar to create a 52-year cycle. They also used a Long Count calendar which counts the number of days since the creation of the world on August 13, 3113 BC. This calendar returns to zero in 2012, which has caused an Apocalypse scare. However, this stems from a misunderstanding of the calendar, because the calendar is generally abbreviated to 5 places, when in reality there are over 40, so the calendar will continue after this date. The calendar is written with five numbers with a period between each, such as 5.4.3.2.1. Each of the numbers between the period represents a place, since the Maya number system was base-20. In this date, for example, the 1 represents 1 days, the 2 represents 2*20 days, the 3 represents 3*360 days, the 4 represents 4*7,200 and the 5 represents 5*144,000. Each digit except the second (2) and the last (5) goes to 19 before returning to zero. The second only goes to 18 and the last only goes to 13. The original date for the world was 13.0.0.0.0, which will be the same date on December 21, 2012, and the reason for the Apocalypse scare.

Nostradamus

Nostradamus also predicted that the apocalypse will happen in 2012. But Nostradamus predicted the world is going to end all the time... so why 2012 should be the year many ask ?

The black and red handbag was found deserted on the main Chiyah highway, a stronghold for Hezbollah and allied AMAL movement on Beirut's southern edge.

A police official said the department received "a flood of calls reporting a suspicious object. Lebanon's Army units sealed off the area as a sapper opened the bag and found feminine underwear."

The highway was reopened to normal traffic, he added.

Mr. Mustapha had won the award in 2005 after persuading a judge that a water-bottling company ought to pay dearly for suffering serious psychiatric symptoms -- a major depressive disorder with associated phobia and anxiety. He became edgy, argumentative, depressed, couldn't sleep and refused to even drink coffee because it contained water. At the time of the incident, Mr. Mustapha and his wife had two daughters -- aged 7 and 3 -- and Ms. Mustapha was seven months pregnant. Mr. Mustapha is a hair stylist who immigrated to Canada in 1976.

He won C$340,000 (173,175 pounds) in damages in a lower court, but the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that he had not proved his case.

"Mr Mustapha must show that it was foreseeable that a person of ordinary fortitude would suffer serious injuries from seeing the flies in the bottle of water he was about to install. This he failed to do," the court said.

According to the incident on Nov. 21, 2001, "offended their sense of sanctity in the purity of their home, and shattered Mr. Mustapha's life."

Although none of the family drank from the unopened bottle, both parents vomited after. Mr. Mustapha, in particular, couldn't put the experience out of his mind, and found it difficult to shower. He became obsessed with thoughts about the dead fly in the water and about the potential implications for his family's health of their having possibly been drinking unpurified water supplied in the past.

He also said he was afflicted by visions of flies walking over faeces.

Mustapha -- who will lose the award and must pay the costs of the case -- was not immediately available for comment.

"Wall Street has good days and bad days. We wanted to have the everyday burger (for $4) ... and then something special if you really have a good day on Wall Street," said co-owner Heather Tierney.

The burger, created by chef and co-owner Kevin O'Connell, seeks to justify its price with a Kobe beef patty, lots of black truffles, seared foie gras, aged Gruyere cheese, wild mushrooms and flecks of gold leaf on a brioche bun.

The eatery sells 20 or 25 per month in the fine dining room upstairs versus hundreds of $4 burgers each day at the diner counter downstairs, Tierney said.

Pocket Change previously designated the double truffle burger at Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne as the most expensive at $120, and the Burger Shoppe set out to top that.

Boulud's creation -- available only during black truffle season from December to March -- rose to $150 this past season, so the Burger Shoppe raised its price on Monday to $175.

"Our burger is not about the price," said Georgette Farkas, a Boulud spokeswoman. "If you are making something concerned only about the price, you are off in the wrong direction."

Without truffles, Boulud's burger costs $32. It has a ground sirloin patty stuffed with red wine braised short ribs.

O'Connell said the Burger Shoppe was "finding the ultimate expression of each one of the ingredients."

"The concept was like a mushroom-bacon-Swiss cheese burger, which is my favorite sort of burger," he said.

The burger comes with golden truffle mayonnaise, Belgian-style fries and a mixed greens and tomato salad. O'Connell pairs the dish with many fine wines, a lager or a toasted brown beer, or ginger ale.

Where are the enterprising Lebanese restaurateurs, and why hasn't anyone created the $200 shawarma sandwich?!

She calmly stripped off, used the cash machine, before getting dressed and walking away.

The woman told police she didn't take too kindly to the whistling from the men repairing the road.

"She said she had thought 'bugger them, I'll show them what I've got'," Police Sergeant Peter Masters told NZPA.

"She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive looking lady," Masters said.

"She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate in New Zealand."

The check was made out to "Fulla Comp and Entertainment," the record company Fuller wanted to start, NBC 5 reported.

Police said Fuller stole the check from Paula Prettyman, the mother of Fuller's girlfriend, Andrea Greer.

"I wouldn't picture him doing something that stupid, I mean, hurting me and my family," Greer said.

Greer and her family said they don't know what Fuller was thinking.

"I didn't think he'd do this, something this dumb. I think it shocked everybody that knew him," Greer said.

Her grandmother Sharon Laird agreed.

"I said, 'Do what? Is he crazy? We were just in awe," she said.

Laird said if her family had $360 billion, "I wouldn't be sitting here. I'd be somewhere drinking margaritas. It's five o'clock somewhere, sometime."

Authorities said Fuller also had a gun and marijuana in his possession at the time of his arrest.

Fuller told NBC 5 police caught him with a gun and a small amount of marijuana, but he denied trying to cash the $360 billion check.

The fair first sounded like a book lover's dream: 200,000 titles on an enticing variety of topics put on display for those with a voracious appetite for reading.

But fans of steamy romance novels were sorely disappointed.

Here's what Saffar Harandi, Iran's Minister of Islamic Guidance and Culture, told reporters a few days ago:

If a book is describing the private life of a man and a woman in their domicile or their bedroom, or even worse, discussing their extramarital affairs, and is openly talking about sexual intercourse, then it is obvious that it will not be published.

He also reminded writers to self-censor their books about other topics if they want to be published in Iran, where literature undergoes rigid vetting before appearing on shelves.

He said no books will be allowed that challenge religion or the Islamic Republic's strict moral codes

The book fair includes 50,000 titles from Iran in addition to books from 74 countries. And foreign books must also respect Iran's "religious, moral and national" sensitivities.

Mohsen Parviz, an Iranian culture ministry official, acknowledged past mistakes in letting books through the vetting process. "Every year we have to remove some foreign or Persian books from the shelves because they were not compatible with our established Islamic and national values," he said.

But the heightened censorship imposed by authorities since conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 has angered publishers in Iran.

The Iranian Student News Agency reported griping from publishers. "The publishers complained about the lack of a clear law to define the red lines, revoking of publication permits and books being lost when submitted for screening," the report said.

Another drain on Le Pen's finances was the 10,000 euro fine he incurred in February when a court found him guilty of "contesting crimes against humanity" for saying the Nazi occupation of France was "not particularly inhumane".

Asked why the car was up for sale, a National Front spokesman said: "Money, money, glorious money."

With a little more than nine days left before the eBay auction finishes, the 1991 Peugeot that has ferried Le Pen around during his campaigns has been bid up from the one euro starting price to 3,510 euros. The auction has received 56 bids at the time of publication.

"Following its replacement, we are putting up for sale Jean-Marie Le Pen's armoured Peugeot 605, used daily by him, including during his last presidential campaign," the posting on the ebay site said.

"To be considered as a collector's item, no jokers."

It said the prince told a gathering at his palace in the northern town of Skaka on Sunday he has instructed police to apply the punishment to all youths guilty of flirting, including "the sons of senior military and civil officials."

"The decision doesn't include men who spend their free time in public places without hurting anyone," the paper quoted the prince as saying.

Saudi Arabia has long imposed a strict Islamic lifestyle in which men and women are segregated in public. That lifestyle is enforced by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a government body that runs the country's powerful religious police.

Its members patrol public places to make sure women are covered and not wearing make up, the sexes don't mingle, shops close five times a day for Muslim prayers and men go to the mosque and worship.

Many clergymen in this conservative Gulf country say men should not have long hair because Islam prohibits the sexes from emulating each other.

Sheik Mubarak al-Rushoud, head of the commission in al-Jof, told Al-Hayat the new punishment resulted from "the repeated pestering of women in souks and outside girls' schools."

He said Fahd has ordered that the punishment against the men "who emulate women" should be carried out at the scene of the infraction, according to the paper.

"The decision, however, doesn't include all men with long hair," al-Rushoud was quoted by Al-Hayat as saying.

He said any man 60 years and older who wants it can have up to four Viagra pills a month after undergoing a thorough medical exam to avoid potentially harmful side effects of the drug Sildenafil.

"We'll give out four, 50 milligram pills, in other words, for four sexual relationships per month," Navarrete said, adding that the program would have a starting cost of about 20,000 dollars.

The mayor said the idea for his unprecedented move came from hearing older men in his town complain about not getting enough sex.

He did have some advice, however, for the Viagra seekers: "Sildenafil doesn't get you going without direct stimulation."

Read cartoon from right to left. Arabic text on left reads: "For the eighteenth time!"

Artist: Jihad 'Awartani

"The sergeant's behaviour was disgraceful. He has brought shame on himself and his former colleagues," said IPCC Commissioner Deborah Glass.

The sergeant, who had faced four disciplinary charges, was forced to quit after a misconduct hearing.

Source: Reuters