London, July 31: British forces are reportedly considering renting helicopters from other countries to meet their security needs in war-torn Afghanistan.

The Independent has learnt that the Ministry of Defence will hold a crisis meeting this evening to discuss leasing helicopters from former Warsaw Pact countries as well as commercial companies like the US-based Blackwater.

Chaired by the Defence Secretary Des Browne, the summit will be attended by senior military and government personnel who will be expected to solve the acute helicopter shortage.

London - The British government hopes to be able to uphold a "dual track approach" in the nuclear row with Iran by promising Tehran economic incentives in return for concessions on its nuclear enrichment programme, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday.

Miliband said western nations were awaiting with interest Iran's response to the latest western-proposed package by this weekend's deadline.

He hoped that the dual track approach adopted by the five UN veto powers plus Germany towards Iran could be upheld, Miliband said after talks in London with his Italian counterpart, Franco Frattini.

London  - Firefighters were called to disentangle a 3.65-metre albino Burmese python trapped in the car bodywork of a British pet snake lover, it was reported Wednesday.

Danny Palmer took his pet snakes - Jack, the python, and Molly, a 1.2-metre boa constrictor - for an outing on the grass in a public park in Southampton, southern Britain, the Daily Southern Echo newspaper reported.

But before Palmer was able to get out of his Ford Fiesta, Jack had slithered through a small gap in the boot next to the car's rear lights.

London, July 30 : More than half Brit men would like their girlfriend to stay the same, despite a whopping 55 percent of women worrying that their partner may not be attracted to them if they won’t have a good body.

The finding is based on the Fabulous Body Survey 2008.

The two sexes showed a stark contrast in their opinion regarding the female bodies, with women fearing more about looks than men.

Though 74 percent men agreed that women’s body size did matter, only 28 percent men wanted their girlfriends to drop a dress size.

London - A British computer hacker accused of breaking into top secret US defence and aerospace systems Wednesday lost his appeal against extradition to the US where he could face a life sentence if convicted of sabotaging vital defence systems.

Gary McKinnon, a 42-year-old computer and UFO enthusiast from Glasgow, Scotland, has been described as the "biggest military hack of all time."

His appeal against a 2006 High Court ruling was rejected by the Law Lords Wednesday, Britain's top appeal court.

McKinnon was never charged in Britain after admitting that he accessed 97 computers of the Pentagon and the US space agency NASA between 2001 and 2002 in an alleged search for information on UFOs.

London, July 30 : It has a beating heart, a breathing belly and appears to react emotionally to the way it is treated – no it is not a human being but a mechanical robot ‘with feelings’.

Scientists have developed Heart Robot, which relaxes when it is shown kindness and flinches at anger. 

Heart Robot has sensors that respond to movement, noise and touch. Cuddle him, and he seems to soak up the affection. His limbs become limp, his eyelids lower, his breathing relaxes, and his heart beat slows down.