Student's perfect attendance results in new car

CONSTANTINE, Mich. (AP) - Andria Baker has pretty much always been present. From the first day of kindergarten through her last day of high school, Baker somehow made it to school for every day of classes, despite colds and sports injuries. Why? If she kept it up, her father promised her a car. Baker kept up her end of the bargain, willing herself to go to school on those days when she felt under the weather. She notched her 13th year of uninterrupted classroom attendance with her final day at Constantine High School on Friday.
At a party Sunday, her father, Tim, presented the young woman with the keys to a new, $17,000 Pontiac G6, complete with a "0 DAYS" personalized license plate. "Without a doubt, it was worth every penny I spent," he said. The look on my daughter's face when she saw the car was priceless, Tim Baker said. "When she turned around after seeing the car, she did not know what to do," he said. "We got her into the car and she just sat there. Then she ran into the house to get her driver's license, and she and her best friend got in the car and tooled down the road.
"Andria Baker, 19, said she probably would have gone ahead with her quest for perfect attendance even if a new car had not been promised.
"A lot of my friends thought I was crazy, but I just kept going," she said.

Girl of four saves man from fire

A girl of four saved the life of a sleeping neighbor by raising the alert after a blaze broke out in his flat. Leah Merritt was woken by a smoke alarm in the apartment above her family’s. She knew exactly what to do after a talk on fire safety two weeks ago at her nursery school.
Leah said: "I heard a beeping noise and ran and told my mummy." Mum Sam Broom, 25, and dad Barry Merritt, 31, at first thought the noise was a false alarm. Technician Barry said: "I couldn’t raise anyone upstairs so dialed 999." Firemen broke in to the flat in Brentwood, Essex, and rescued a 49-year-old man suffering smoke inhalation. A spokesman said: "If it hadn’t been for Leah he could have died."

Dogs fears a toy puppy

Yabba-Dabba-Do protesters arrested during protest

Six Greenpeace activists dressed as cavemen and traveling in a Flintstones-style vehicle were detained along with three others for public order offences.

.

.

A stone tablet accusing car lobbyists of driving climate change was confiscated before it could be delivered to lawmakers, a Greenpeace spokeswoman said. The European Parliament will this week start debating legislation to force down CO2 emissions from cars, with fines on manufacturers that fail to comply.