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Gordon Brown has suffered a devastating blow with a new opinion poll showing Labour’s support in a general election falling behind the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years.

The ICM poll for The Sunday Telegraph is the worst possible news for the Prime Minister as he enters his most important week since taking power with Labour expecting a hammering in Thursday’s local and European elections.

The results, which show Labour has suffered particularly badly from the MPs’ expenses scandal in voters’ eyes, are certain to ratchet up speculation that Mr Brown will face a leadership challenge in the next few weeks.

Asked who they would support in a general election, only 22 per cent of voters back Labour, with the party slumping behind both the Conservatives on 40 per cent and, crucially for Mr Brown’s future, the Liberal Democrats who are on 25 per cent.

The last time Labour was in third place in any poll in a “general election” question was in 1987 – when the party was reeling from defeat in a by-election held in Greenwich and hard-left local councils were tarnishing its reputation across the country.

The results when voters were asked who they would support in Thursday’s elections to the European parliament are no better for Mr Brown.

Labour again comes third with just 17 per cent, down from the 22.5 per cent the party achieved in what was judged a poor performance in the last set of such elections, in 2004.

The Conservatives lead in today’s poll with 29 per cent, while the Lib Dems are on 20 per cent.

~ UK Telegraph

It may not be immediately obvious to everyone, but one family are convinced they can see the face of Jesus on the lid of a jar of Marmite.

Claire Allen, 36, said she was the first to notice the image on the underside of the lid as she was putting the yeast spread on her son’s toast.

Her husband Gareth, 37, said he could not believe his eyes when he saw it.

Mr Allen, of Ystrad, Rhondda, said: “The kids are still eating it, but we kept the lid.”

He explained: “Claire saw it first and called her dad to come and take a photo of it.

“When I first looked at it I wasn’t sure, but when I moved it away from me it started coming out. I thought yeah, she’s right – that’s the image of Jesus.

~ BBC News

A US teenager who was thwarted in an attempt to rob an internet cafe armed with a hidden banana ate the “weapon” before he was arrested, police say.

John Szwalla entered the shop with a banana concealed under his T-shirt and demanded money, saying he had a gun.

The shop’s owner and customers overcame the hapless thief and called for help, but they said the teenager ate his “weapon” before the police arrived.

Officers joked they may charge the 17-year-old with destroying evidence.

Bobby Ray Mabe, the owner of 109 Biz Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said police officials took pictures of the banana skin instead.

“If he had had a gun he would’ve shot me,” Mr Mabe told the Winston-Salem Journal newspaper. “But he had a banana.”

~ BBC News

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created the world’s first Formula 3 racing car to be designed and made from sustainable and renewable materials.

The BBC’s Claire Marshall has been looking at the car which is powered by chocolate, steered by carrots and has a bodywork made from potatoes.

~ BBC News

A US woman had a lucky escape when a burglar’s bullet bounced off the metal underwire in her bra.

Police in the city of Detroit said one of three intruders fired a shot when the woman looked out of her window and saw them raiding the house next door.

The bullet smashed the window and hit her, but instead of causing serious injury – or worse – it was deflected off the wiring in her bra.

The unnamed 57-year-old woman was taken to hospital and released the same day.

“It did slow the bullet down,” said a police spokesman. “She sustained injuries but they’re not life-threatening.”

~ BBC News

A Polish politician has criticized his local zoo for acquiring a “gay” elephant named Ninio who prefers male companions and will probably not procreate, local media reported Friday.

“We didn’t pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there,” Michal Grzes, a conservative councilor in the city of Poznan in western Poland, was quoted as saying.

“We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?” said Grzes, who is from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party.

The head of the Poznan zoo said 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.

~ Reuters