10th November:

One firmly from the file labelled "You Couldn't Make It Up":

A fire safety leaflet printed by the Scottish Executive in Urdu has suffered from a small translation hiccup - the leaflet recommended breaking ones fall from a window when fleeing a house fire using a donkey. The word 'cushion' in Urdu is apparently very similar.

The bit that really got me, however, was the final line of the story as reported on the BBC web site - "The leaflet has now been withdrawn and will be reprinted." Really? No shit, Sherlock.