Wedding photographer dies after loaded prop goes off

A wedding turns into a calamity when a bride and groom posing with a gun shoot him in the head during a photo session.

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An Italian wedding photographer was killed by the bride and groom when the gun they were posing with accidentally went off. Horrified guests could do nothing to help Calogero Scimeca, 45, who was hit in the head by a bullet from a .22 calibre rifle. The groom's parents had apparently provided the gun after the photographer suggested it would make the occasion more memorable. The wedding reception was abruptly cancelled, with police quizzing guests with a view to bringing a prosecution for negligence.

The octopus who correctly predicted the winner of the World Cup has been accused of spreading "western propaganda and superstition" by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. Paul became an international celebrity after predicting the results of all Germany's games and the final between Spain and the Netherlands. The octopus, who lives at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre, in Germany, was mentioned several times in a speech by the Iranian leader, who called the creature a symbol of "decadence and decay".

An aerial assault by pigeons forced the American rock band Kings of Leon to cancel a concert in St Louis after just three songs. The birds found their first target during the opening song, when the band's bass player, Jared Followill, was hit on the face and arms. "I was hit by pigeons on each of the first three songs," he said. "By the end of the show, I would have been covered from head to toe."

A couple with a combined age of 184 have married after a four-year romance. Henry Kerr, 97, married Valerie Berkowitz, 87, at a ceremony at a residential nursing home in north London. Mr Kerr said he had proposed in part to end gossiping about their relationship, and added that his bride "burst into hysterical laughter" when he proposed.

A supermarket in Britain has begun selling cuts of fresh grey squirrel meat. Budgens is stocking its London supermarkets with the meat, which is said to have a "nutty" flavour. The company says squirrel meat is attracting "huge interest" but that most of its customers are "looking rather than buying." However, animal rights organisations have attacked the chain for causing a "wildlife massacre".

The world's largest hailstone has fallen on a small town in South Dakota. Weighing in at 800g, the ball of ice fell during a thunderstorm that hit the town of Vivian. It was so heavy that it punched a hole in the ground. Ed Scott, who found the hailstone, said he first planned to make a daiquiri with the ice, but instead put it in a freezer and called the National Weather Service so he could have it verified and perhaps win a place in the record books. The hailstone was probably even heavier when it fell, but a power failure caused by the storm left the freezer without electricity for six hours.

Officials have discovered that Tokyo's oldest man has actually been dead for at least 30 years. Police found the mummified body of Sogen Kato while visiting his home to update a list of centenarians ahead of Respect for the Elderly Day this September.

Relatives had previously turned away visitors to Mr Kato, who was born on July 22, 1899 and would have been 111. His body was in bed, still dressed in pyjamas and covered with a blanket. Investigators believe that the family may have kept quiet about his death because they wanted to keep collecting his old age pension. @Email:jlangton@thenational.ae