England is not set to have a white Christmas – but SNOW has fallen in the SAHARA desert for only the SECOND time in living memory.

Amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata took incredible pictures of snow covering the sand in the small Saharan desert town of Ain Sefra. He captured the amazing moment snow fell on the red sand dunes in the world’s largest hot desert for the first time in 37 YEARS.

Coldplay have replaced the rock tradition of illuminating the stadium with lighters and mobile phones during big anthems by handing out radio-controlled GLOW BANDS.

The band gave out 20,000 of the multi-coloured glowing wrist bands to the audience for free when they played the O2 arena as part of their Mylo Xyloto tour. The innovative new bands are designed to light up and flash in time to the music during big numbers when people would previously have waved lighters or mobile phones.

A photographer has taken a picture of a beautiful WHITE rainbow in the Scottish mountains.

Melvin Nicholson captured a stunning photo of a rare FOG BOW on Rannoch Moor whilst out walking.

Rock star Bruce Springsteen did the CONGA around the AccorHotels Arena in Paris after a fuse blew and the concert was plunged into darkness for 20 minutes.

The singer and four of his E Street Band entertained fans by dancing through the packed arena during a power cut in the middle of the show. Springsteen was singing his hit Ramrod when a fuse blew and the arena lost all lighting and sound. The emergency lighting came back on after a few minutes, but there was no sound for 20 minutes as the crew tried to get the power working again.

An amateur photographer has amazingly tracked down people he snapped on the streets of his hometown almost 40 YEARS ago and painstakingly recreated 134 PICTURES in a remarkable new book.

Paramedic Chris Porsz spent hours walking around the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the late 1970s and 80s, taking candid shots of punks and policemen, siblings and sweethearts, traders and teenagers. Three decades later, Chris, known as the “paramedic paparazzo,” decided it would be fun to reconstruct a handful of his favourite photos from the past.

A gold prospector has found Britain’s biggest ever GOLD NUGGET, worth an estimated £50,000 and the size of a small chicken’s EGG, on a beach in Wales.

Vincent Thurkettle, 60, was stunned to see the incredible 97.12g (3oz) nugget of gold gleaming in a crevice on the sea bed off the coast of Anglesey. It is almost twice as heavy as the UK’s second biggest nugget, which was found in Cornwall more than 200 years ago in 1808 and weighed 59g. The nugget is believed to be part of a £120 million haul of gold which went down with the Royal Charter when it was shipwrecked during a hurricane in 1859.

Alton Towers fans were left hanging and screaming for help for half an hour when its newest ride failed in heavy rain.

The group of 28 people were left stranded after virtual reality ride Galactica ground to a halt at the top of the first loop at around 2pm, witnesses said. A member of staff had to climb up to comfort them and calm them down after the rollercoaster, which opened in March, broke down during a heavy rain shower.

Sir David Attenborough has abseiled down a 13 METRE high living wall inside a new global conservation hub in Cambridge – just weeks before his 90th BIRTHDAY.

he daring 89-year-old presenter looked completely at ease as he dangled high in the air to gain a “plant’s eye view” of the special building, which he will officially open. The naturalist, who will turn 90 next month, carefully made his way down the amazing living wall in the atrium of the new campus, which is inside the David Attenborough Building at Cambridge University.

Socialite Olivia Tallent, whose dad plays in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, sent Twitter into meltdown after posting a picture with her “new boyfriend” – Prince Harry.

The pretty brunette, whose father Garry Tallent plays bass in the rock band, had her photo taken backstage with Prince Harry after he watched Springsteen’s concert at Wembley Stadium.

Extraordinary pictures have been revealed showing the caring side of Prince William as he went above and beyond the call of duty at work, comforting a patient and even travelling with him in the ambulance.

Photos show the Duke of Cambridge reassuring and comforting a patient after flying him to hospital in the air ambulance.

As co-pilot William is usually seen waiting in the helicopter cock-pit while his colleagues carry out the medical tasks. But this time it was the Duke who was the first to quickly jump out of the helicopter and pull the patient out on a stretcher after landing at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Prince William enjoyed a school dinner of roast chicken and Cauliflower cheese as he stopped for a break between shifts with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

The Duke of Cambridge was invited in to the school canteen at John Henry Newman School in Stevenage, Herts, after landing his helicopter in the grounds, which is close to the Lister Hospital. Students were stunned to see the Royal tucking into the school meal when they walked into the canteen at break time.

A respected master at Cambridge University has warned students who “bully” freshers at drinking initiation ceremonies they could turn into “insider traders, exchange rate riggers and corrupt Volkswagen engineers.”

Professor Sir Alan Fersht, 72, has sent an email to all students at prestigious Gonville and Caius condemning second years who “pressured” freshers into drinking “shots of liquor until they vomited.” His email came after he claimed students at the annual Freshers Week pub crawl were caught on CCTV encouraging first years to drink shots as part of an initiation ceremony.

Tourists enjoyed punting in Cambridge wearing T-SHIRTS as temperatures soared to 17C in England – just nine days before Christmas.

Punting companies have often been forced to close in December as the River Cam ices over, but this year tours along the historic Backs are in full swing as the UK is unseasonably mild.

Experts at the Met Office said parts of England would see temperatures of 17C today – more than double the normal average of 7.2C and not far from the December record of 18.3C set in Scotland in 1948.

The DULLEST men in Britain, including a TRAIN STATION spotter, VACUUM CLEANER collector and a HANDSAW enthusiast, are featured in a new book.

A golf ball collector, folly fan, mountain measurer and a man who has kept a diary of each time he has mown the lawn for 30 years also appear in the Dull Men of Great Britain book. Last year The Dull Men’s Club produced a calendar with pictures of its 12 most mundane members.

Punters looked prepared for a weekend of sun and thunderstorms as they arrived at the 20th V Festival in Essex wearing shorts and wellies.

Punters looked prepared for a weekend of sun and thunderstorms as they arrived at the 20th V Festival in Essex wearing shorts and wellies. Festival-goers at both Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in Staffordshire can expect mixed weather, with top temperatures of 31C expected in the UK tomorrow and the possibility of severe thunderstorms.

Olympic cycling star Victoria Pendleton looked happy as she finished a horse race without falling off – despite coming LAST.

The 35-year-old aspiring jockey looked pleased with herself after completing the point-to-point race in Higham, Suffolk, having fallen off at her last two events. She came last out of 11 riders in the race, but afterwards said “it was an absolute joy” to ride her horse Minella Theatre. She later looked relaxed as she posed for photos with fans.

One choir boy at King’s College in Cambridge will be given just 10 seconds notice before he is chosen to start the world famous carol service broadcast to 30 million listeners.

Stephen Cleobury, who has directed the choir since 1982, will select one of the 16 choir boys to start A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols with a solo of Once in Royal David’s City. He makes the last minute decision to avoid any jealousy among the boys, aged between 9 and 13, and to prevent any unnecessary nerves.

A couple enjoyed a “magical” white winter wedding after they were caught in EIGHT INCHES of snow following a freak BLIZZARD. Carly and Chris Atwill were thrilled when their wish for snow came true and their wedding venue was turned into a winter wonderland.

Wedding photographer Paul Liddement captured a series of stunning shots of the newly-married couple in the grounds of Lartington Hall in Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham. The snow began falling at the start of the wedding ceremony and when they emerged an hour later it was an incredible eight inches deep.

An extreme bargain hunter FLEW from a business meeting in Sheffield to his home in Essex via BERLIN – because it was nearly £8 CHEAPER than taking the train.

Jordon Day, who is nicknamed The Coupon Kid, saved £7.72 by taking an international flight home via GERMANY instead of catching a UK train. The 18-year-old, who admits he always goes “the extra mile to save money” ended up going an extra 1,017 miles to save some cash – and even had some spare Euros for a currywurst.

Female students at prestigious Cambridge University stripped off to reveal their BREASTS and BUMS at a fashion show – with some just wearing NIPPLE TASSLES.

The Cambridge elite flashed their assets as they strutted their stuff on the catwalk in revealing bondage outfits, see-through mesh trouser suits and backless dresses. Others were completely topless and used heart-shaped nipple tassles to cover their modesty as they paraded in front of around 1,000 people at the event in Cambridge.