Nicole Martinelli for Wired News says: Researchers (in Milan) are investigating the subjective acoustic qualities of church architecture in one of the most extensive scientific inquiries yet.

Sounds like a load of irreligious twaddle from the land of Popes, Pavaroti and delicious ice cream. I am no acoustic scientist, but when you pray to the white porcelain god, the sounds of release from drink-induced sickness reverberate better than in any cathedral.

Off with their heads

The BBC's Indonesia correspondent reports:

A court has sentenced three Muslim militants to jail for beheading three Christian schoolgirls in Central Sulawesi in 2005.

Pretty gruesome incident all round. Good job those unpleasant chaps didn't commit their atrocities in Saudi Arabia or Iraq, because they would have had a dose of their own medicine from the only courts that execute murderers by beheading!

Barcelona school room loses its roof

Barcelona is the capital of Catalunya, the richest region in Spain by miles. They pride themselves on their level of education and attention to detail. How embarrassing to have reports (in Spanish) of a classroom roof collapsing, and then a further report that the walls are starting to crack. No doubt the Madrid government will take great delight in offering the breakaway state a few euros to put it right.