After two months roller skating through 22 cities in seven provinces, Cao Hongwei plans to roll back to his hometown in Kaifeng, Henan Province by the end of December after completing the first leg of a three year journey across China.

Cao, a 31-year-old farmer who began skating in 2006, has already checked the provinces of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui off his travel list.

He said he was inspired by the writings of Xu Xiake, a legendary 16th-17th century traveler who roamed China for 30 years and recorded his impressions in 'The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake'.

"I was inspired by Xu's story, so I decided to skate though the country," said Cao who found no financial support for his odyssey after publicizing his dream, but nonetheless strapped on his skates and rolled.

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One woman has gone to a hospital with head injuries in Jixi, Heilongjiang Province after about 40 tons of corn spilled from an overturned truck that crashed through her wall and flooded the bedroom of her and her husband.

The husband, who was not severely injured, said the corn deluge swamped their residence at about 2 am as the couple were soundly sleeping.

"Suddenly I heard a loud noise then corn flooded through the window and buried us!" he told the local newspaper.

He said his wife suffered severe head injuries and convulsions.

A police officer said the truck's maximum weight bearing capacity was 17 tons, a far cry from the 40 tons he was carrying, and that the driver would be held responsible for the disastrous overload.

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Police say a fifth-grader handed out about $300 US dollars to others on the bus ride to his Selma, Indiana school. Problem is, they say, the cash was among some $10,000 he took from his grandparents' safe.

Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan said the boy was riding the bus to Selma Elementary School when he handed out the money earlier this month.

Children who received the cash told teachers and the principal, and the sheriff's department was called.

Officers found the boy carrying the rest of the cash, which was returned to his grandparents. Police weren't certain what he intended to do with the money or how he got it from the safe.

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A British radio presenter has been sacked after he pulled the plug on Queen Elizabeth II's traditional Christmas Day speech, telling listeners it was "boring."

Tom Binns has lost his job at Birmingham radio station BRMB after a number of listeners complained over his interruption of the monarch's traditional December 25th broadcast to Britain and the Commonwealth.

"Two words: Bor-ring," he said on air as he stopped the broadcast, before quipping "from one Queen to another..." and put on the song 'Last Christmas' by pop duo Wham, featuring openly gay singer George Michael.

The Queen's Speech - a decades-old tradition is watched and listened to by millions of Britons and others every year.

Binns said, "I'm not trained to make editorial decisions, but I decided to get rid of it and make a joke".  "I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France, before cueing up the Wham song", he added.