Residents of Greek island Lesbos want to be known as Lesbians

MAGPIE: RESIDENTS OF the Greek island of Lesbos have launched a legal action to demand the exclusive right to call themselves…

MAGPIE:RESIDENTS OF the Greek island of Lesbos have launched a legal action to demand the exclusive right to call themselves Lesbians.

The inhabitants of the island are attempting to ban OLKE, the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union, from bearing the name lesbian.

The residents claim they suffer "psychological and moral rape" from the "seizure" of their island's name by gays, according to the complaint by Dimitris Lambrou, a local activist.

He has set out his argument in The Misfortune of Being Lesbian, published on his website. Mr Lambrou said that the case was likely to come before a court in Athens in June.

READ MORE

But Evangelia Vlam, a spokeswoman for OLKE, dismissed the claim.

"This affair is totally ridiculous," she said. "But if we are summoned by the courts, we will be heard."

Lesbos is synonymous with the love verses of the ancient Greek poet Sappho, who expressed her love of other women in poetry written in the early sixth century BC.

The eastern Aegean Sea island is often referred to in Greece as Mytilene, the island's capital.

* * *

A chihuahua in a scuba suit has won a canine fashion show in the Philippines.

Five-year-old Mondex wore a four-legged wetsuit, air bottle, four little flippers and goggles for the day.

Mondex was joined by other pampered pooches in the pet fashion show held in a mall in suburban Manila.

He faced stiff competition from Tucker, another five-year-old chihuahua, which was dressed as a cowboy, but Mondex eventually emerged victorious at the show.

* * *

A Texan man has been arrested for trying to cash a fake cheque at a bank - for £180 billion.

Employees at the Chase Bank in Fort Worth grew suspicious after seeing the cheque for $360,000,000,000 and called the female account holder.

The woman said the suspect, Charles Ray Fuller (21) was her daughter's boyfriend and did not have permission to take the cheque or cash it.

Fuller was arrested on suspicion of fraud, along with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possession of marijuana.

While inside a patrol car, police say Fuller claimed he was starting his own record label that he and had been given the money by his girlfriend's mother in order to help him get it off the ground.

* * *

Seven young artists from Berlin are trying to stretch the boundaries of art by living in an Israeli museum for three weeks with lice in their hair. "Art is no longer just a painting on the wall," said Milana Gitzin-Adiram, chief curator of the Museum of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv. "Art is life, life is art."

The artists, who sleep, eat and bathe in the gallery, said the exhibition toyed with ideas about hosts and guests in line with a theme set by the museum and aimed to blur the boundaries between art and reality.

Gitzin-Adiram said she

spent weeks exploring the gallery's theme of "hosting", turning to philosophers such as Jacques Derrida and even the Bible for inspiration. She

received proposals from around the world but was won over by the lice.

"The idea is that we live in the museum as their guests, and at the same time we are hosting lice on our heads," said artist Vincent Grunwald (23), wearing a plastic shower cap to prevent the lice from spreading.

* * *

Estonian police in the southern city of Tartu were shocked when they stopping a car to find that the driver not only drunk, but also blind. Police said Kristjan Gradolf (20), who is completely blind, was being given directions by a friend in the passenger seat. A breath test revealed he was two and a half times over the legal drink drive limit.

Both men face a £700 fine and Gradolf is also facing a jail sentence on charges of endangering public safety. "Despite the fact that I am blind, driving is something I enjoy, and I am in fact very good at it," said an unrepentant Gradolf.