Weather experts reckon the North-East has the best chance in Britain of a white Christmas - but punters won't be able to cash in on a regional snowstorm.

Betting rules traditionally dictate that snow must fall on the met office in Newcastle, but that was closed earlier this year and so no bets are being taken. But you can still bet on snow falling on London's met office at 2-1 odds.

ferrets saved: Fire- fighters rescued a dog and two ferrets after a blaze broke out in buildings on an allotment last night near the Miners' Welfare Hall, at Seaside Lane, Easington Colliery.

sting's party: Music star Sting splashed out £3,000 to hire a former steel works for his son's birthday party. The singer took family and friends to the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham for Giacomo's sixth birthday.

hot dogs alert: Asda is recalling a batch of 400g cans of Smart Price Hot Dogs, with a best-before date of September 2003, which could cause people to become ill from bacteria. The company said there was a possibility that seams on the cans may be defective.

top movie: Musical spectacular Moulin Rouge has high-kicked all challengers into touch to be named top movie of the year by viewers of BBC1's Film 2001. The Baz Luhrmann epic set in the famous Parisian nightclub, which stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, topped a poll among thousands of viewers.

raleigh honoured: A statue of Sir Walter Raleigh was unveiled yesterday outside the former Royal Naval College in Greenwich, south east London, near the spot where the adventurer famously laid down his cloak for Queen Elizabeth I.

number's up: Chinese and Japanese people are more likely to die from heart disease on the fourth day of the month because the number four evokes superstitious stress among them, a University of California study has found.

hero found dead: A 61-year-old man has been found dead at his home only minutes after scaring off an intruder as he tried to break into his home in Accrington, Lancashire.

market blast: An explosion ripped through a market in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif yesterday, wounding 100 people, six of them seriously. One of the wounded said he had seen a grenade roll into the moneychangers' section of the city's central market before the explosion.

Peacekeepers arrive - Page