Message in a bottle house, at least for poor Hondurans

Houses built in Honduras using recycled bottles filled with sand as bricks, a technique by architect Andreas Froese, survived a major earthquake in May 2009. Working with local communities and using simple and cheap materials, Trocaire has reconstructed 4,000 houses for the people of Central America that can better withstand natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. Houses made of bottles stay cool in warm weather and retain heat in cold weather. Once plastered there is no way to tell they are made of bottles.

Well, blow me away. Russian turns vuvuzela into €17,000 cornucopia

A Russian businessman has bought a white gold and jewel-encrusted vuvuzela for €17,000 from an Austrian jeweller. The businessman bought it for a football-mad South African business partner to blow during the World Cup final today. The vuvuzela is fully functional and has a large diamond at its centre.

Loose change in Italy worth €10,000

Motorists in Italy made away with at least €10,000 after a truck carrying one and two euro coins overturned on a road in Foggia spilling €2m worth of cash. The truck was carrying the coins from a mint to local banks.

One World Cup trophy not going to Spain...

A replica World Cup trophy made from cocaine which was on its way to Spain when it was seized by police in Colombia.