Welcome to Cold War City (population: 4). It covers 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station. It even includes a pub called the Rose and Crown.

The most underpopulated town in Britain is being put on the market. But there will be no estate agent's blurb extolling the marvellous views of the town for sale: true, it has a Wiltshire address, but it is 120ft underground.

The subterranean complex that was built in the 1950s to house the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan's cabinet and 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack is being thrown open to commercial use. Just four maintenance men are left.

Already two uses are being considered: a massive data store for City firms or the biggest wine cellar in Europe. More outlandish ideas put forward include a nightclub for rave parties, a 1950s theme park or a reception centre for asylum seekers. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ruled out any suggestion of using it to store nuclear waste or providing open public access because of the dangers that still lurk below.

A system of underground power stations would have provided electricity to the 100,000 lamps that lit its streets and guided the way to a pub modelled on the Red Lion in Whitehall.

Helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi in western Iraq on Sunday, killing about 70 people, the US military says.

It said all the dead were militants, although eyewitnesses are quoted saying that many were civilians.

An F-15 warplane fired a precision guided bomb at the group, killing about 20 militants, the US statement said.

Several witnesses quoted by Associated Press said they were civilians who had gathered near the wrecked US vehicle and 25 had died.

A nice bit of Friday silliness: the BBC reports that posters for the forthcoming Wallace and Gromit spectacular The Curse of the Were-Rabbit on the south-coast island of Portland will not contain the word "rabbit" out of respect for local tradition which has it that the mere utterance of the word causes quarries to collapse entombing local workers forever in killer cement.

As the BBC explains: "Because burrowing can cause landslips in quarries, residents of Portland, Dorset, instead call the creatures underground mutton or furry things." Accordingly, the W&G publicity will carry the alternative slogan "Something bunny is going on".

Weymouth and Portland mayor Les Ames illuminates: "If the word rabbit is used in company in Portland there is generally a bit of a hush. In the olden days when quarrying was done by hand, if one of these animals was seen in the area, the quarryman would pack up and go home for the day - until the safety of the area had been reconnoitred. It is an unwritten rule in Portland that you do not use the word rabbit."

Microsoft Corp. has broken off licensing talks with the four global music companies, raising questions about the software giant's plans to start a subscription-based music service, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

The paper reported negotiations broke down Friday over what Microsoft considered high royalty rates sought by EMI Group Plc, Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

According to several people briefed on the matter, the labels separately were seeking royalty payments of $6 to $8 per user, per month. People close to the labels say that is in line with what existing subscription-music services pay, the Journal reported.

Vending machines selling chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks will be banned under moves to outlaw junk food in schools, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced.

Headteachers condemned the proposed ban, warning that many parents would simply send their children to school with junk food in their lunch boxes instead.

From September 2006, tougher new rules will be brought in limiting the amount of sugar, fat and salt in school meals.

Once the law is changed, vending machines will have to stock items such as milk, bottled water and fresh fruit instead of sweets and crisps.

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.

The US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons.

A series of contracts have been uncovered that relate to the US army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. They ask companies to tender for the production of bulk quantities of a non-virulent strain of anthrax, and for equipment to produce significant volumes of other biological agents.

Whatever use it is put to, however, the move could be seen as highly provocative by other nations, he says. "What would happen to the Biological Weapons Convention if other countries followed suit and built large biological production facilities at secretive military bases known for weapons testing?"

For some time, the RIAA has been pushing the FCC to impose a copy-protection mandate on the makers of next-generation digital radio receiver/recorders (think TiVo-for-radio).

Never mind that digital audio broadcasting is not significantly greater in quality than regular, analog radio. Never mind that it's of vastly less quality than that of audio CDs. In spite of these inconvenient facts, the RIAA is hoping that the transition to "digital audio broadcasting" will provide enough confusion and panic that they can persuade Congress or the FCC to impose some kind of copy-protection scheme or regulation on digital radio broadcast.

In other words, the music industry is basically saying that, where recording from next-generation radio is concerned, government must step in and freeze innovation to ensure that you can never do anything that you couldn't do with an analog cassette deck in 1984. This, despite the fact that Congress specifically approved of digital recording off the radio in the Audio Home Recording Act in 1992. So this is about stopping music fans from doing things that are perfectly legal under copyright law.

The power of texting turned a party in Sacramento into death for a teenager, and bullet laden injuries for others.

The Sacramento Bee reported that what had started as an innocent txt message to pals to celebrate a 16th birthday party turned into a gunfight at the not-so OK corral.

The Sacbee reported here that a message to 40 friends from a mobile phone turned into a battle where a 16-year old high school boy, Phillip Bailey, died, while four other children including one girl were hospitalised with gun wounds. The 40 recipients may have texted their pals, and so on ad infinitum.

Adults were trying to shut the party down when the gun shots started, said the Sacbee, quoting a local cop.

A woman thought she could not have children is now a mother - thanks to a white knuckle rollercoaster ride.

But, after making love in their home, the young couple visited their local entertainment park at Hassloch in Germany where Nayade went on the Expedition GeForce, one of the world's fastest rollercoasters.

One week later her gynaecologist, Dr Thomas Gent, told her she was pregnant.

He said: "We believe that she conceived due to the G force of the rollercoaster ride."