<B> Germany. Woman stabs partner over soccer match.</B> Passions surrounding Germany’s final match at the Euro 2004 soccer championships turned violent when a woman stabbed her partner in the head because she didn’t want to watch the game on television. “He wanted to watch football, she didn’t,” said a police spokesman in the western city of Wuppertal. Police arrested the 31-year-old woman and confiscated the kitchen knife with which she gashed the man at the start of Germany’s Group D tie against the Czech Republic. The man was treated in hospital and later released. Germany lost the game 2-1 and crashed out of the tournament.

<B> ISRAEL. Baby’s diaper absorbs snake venom. </B>A diaper proved to be a life-saver when a venomous snake bit an Israeli infant, a doctor said. The 12-month-old baby, who had been playing in the backyard, was rushed to a hospital after his parents noticed fang marks on the diaper and swelling on his bottom while giving him a bath . “He had been bitten by a venomous snake,” Dr Kobi Assaf told Israel Radio. “Luckily, the snake injected its venom into the diaper on coming into contact with it and most of the poison did not penetrate the skin.” Doctors said there was no need to administer an antidote but the baby would remain in the hospital for observation.

<B>CANADA. Friendly dog prevents killing spree? </B>A Canadian man, James Paul Stanson, 43, driving a car packed with weapons and ammunition, was intent on killing as many people as possible in a Toronto neighborhood but gave up the plan at the last minute when he encountered a friendly dog, police said. The middle-aged man, who police said was mentally disturbed, had planned to carry out the shooting spree to ensure he would be put in jail permanently. He had set himself up in an east-end park to load his weapons and then planned to drive around shooting. He later told police that a dog then approached and started playing with him. The encounter melted his heart and he then went in search of police to give himself up.