Saudis ban botoxed camels from beauty contests
And other stories from the stranger side of life

Saudi Arabia has banned 40 camels from a beauty pageant after it emerged that they received botox injections and facelifts. Declaring war on cosmetically enhanced camels at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, Saudi authorities also ejected breeders who used muscle-boosting hormones and inflated camel body parts. The pageant’s organisers said they will “impose strict penalties on manipulators”. Camels compete each year for a $66m (£50m) prize pot and the title of Miss Camel.
Travelodge reveals strangest requests
Travelodge has revealed its strangest requests from guests this year. One guest asked where the Welsh rarebit lives and another asked a member of staff to sing in the next room to check he had a quiet room. A spokesperson said the curious requests included “arranging afternoon tea with the pandas, getting a shooting star to appear at 10pm, getting a part on Emmerdale and getting seagulls to sing instead of squawk”.
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Female priests adopt M&S jumpers as ‘uniform’
Female priests are adopting a £20 festive M&S jumper as an unofficial uniform, according to The Telegraph. The black jumper, emblazoned with the word “believe” in bold colours, has been bought by several female priests, who use the hashtag “TeamBelieve” on social media when sharing photographs of them wearing it. Reverend Claire Jones, a curate in Bodmin, Cornwall, is collating a photo montage of more than 200 clergy wearing the high-street jumpers.
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
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