Fury over Romeo and Juliet sex shop opening next to Bard’s birthplace

October 1st, 2009 LONDON - A large number of Britons turned up at clothes chain Joy, wearing only their underwear, to take advantage of the shop's free outfit offer. Joy, which has 21 branches nationwide, offered free outfits to the first 25 customers who turn up at their new branch at Upper Street in Islington, north London, dressed only in their underwear.

September 16th, 2009 LONDON - A Brit thief reportedly used a pair of knickers to cover his head, in a bid to disguise himself during a drunken shop raid. Chelmsford Crown Court was told that Michael Callaghan, 43, had forced a shop assistant into a cupboard before taking 200 pounds from the till, reports the Daily Star.

September 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Eastern Asia is believed to be the place where man tamed the wolf into becoming a dog. Now, researchers have succeeded in further narrowing the birthplace of man's best friend.

August 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A love-struck Romeo in China was warned against throwing roses out of his car by traffic police on Monday. The warning came after cops intercepted Wang, 26, who threw a rose out of his car every kilometre on an expressway in Hubei province.

August 10th, 2009 MELBOURNE - A coffee shop in the US is said to be causing quite a stir, after it employed waitresses wearing only bikinis in a bid to entice customers. The Bikini Espresso cafe, a drive-through shop in Torrance, Los Angeles, has seen many men flocking to it ever since it opened last week.

July 31st, 2009 LONDON - A group of squatters in Britain are said to have sparked fury after they took over an empty tower block, and began staging sex sessions on its roof. Couples could be seen performing sex acts in broad daylight after carrying a sofa to the top of the five-storey building, while others were seen having full sex and dancing naked on the flat roof.

July 4th, 2009 LONDON - Legendary playwright William Shakespeare-known for his plays like 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Hamlet', etc.-has officially been named Britain's greatest national treasure in a new poll. The poll was sponsored by ice-cream makers Mivvi.

June 25th, 2009 LONDON - Former high street store Woolworths has made a comeback as an online retail company called Woolworths.co.uk. The brand was taken over by Shop Direct, the online and catalogue retailer owned by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, after the retailer collapsed leading to the shut down of 800 stores and a loss of 31,000 jobs.

June 16th, 2009 HELSINKI - Finnair has become the first airline in the Nordic countries to open an internet shop, shifting Finnair Plus members' opportunities to use their frequent-flyer points into a new era, the airline said Tuesday. From the Finnair Plus Shop, members can buy products with Plus points alone, with cash, or with a combination of both.

May 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - An angry wife hired three masked men to wreak havoc in her husband's sex shop. Tian Shixing's wife was said to have hit the roof after learning that her husband had opened the adult store.

March 22nd, 2009 LONDON - A florist has an embarrassing problem to deal with - her new shop just won't let go of its past of trading in sex toys. Clare Ross would try to scrape off the letters on the windows of her Willows flower shop every morning in Reigate, Surrey.

March 14th, 2009 LONDON - Couples searching for the perfect place to say "I do" should look no further, for the House of Juliet - where, legend has it, Romeo wooed the young maiden under her balcony, will soon be used as a place for weddings. "We'll be offering tourist packages which include weddings, just like Las Vegas does," The Telegraph quoted Daniele Potalo, the city's councillor for tourism, as saying.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - A team of archaeologists has claimed to have unearthed the remains of Shakespeare's first theatre in London, England. According to a report by BBC News, a team from the Museum of London found the remains of the theatre in Shoreditch last summer.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - British soldiers who have just returned from Iraq faced a barrage of abuses from Muslim extremists during a home-coming parade in Luton. According to The Daily Express, radical Islamists condemned the 200 soldiers calling them "Butchers of Basra" and "Terrorists" as they marched in front of thousands of families and children on the streets of Luton.

February 4th, 2009 LONDON - A gift shop owned by the British Queen in northeast England has withdrawn golliwog toys that they were found to be selling. Managers at the shop in the Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate in Norfolk apologised and a spokesman said they 'did not intend to offend anyone.' The move followed the expulsion of journalist Carol Thatcher, daughter of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, from a popular BBC television show after she made an off-screen reference to a black tennis player as a 'golliwog'.