AN OVERWEIGHT American woman has vowed never to diet again after her spare tyre saved her life.

Samantha Lynn Frazier, of Florida, was shot in the left side while walking into a bar in Atlantic City.

Local press reported the 35 year old saying she felt “two pops and then pain”.

Police report that the gunman was aiming at someone else.

The victim said she had been trying to lose weight, but had changed her mind since her love handles spared her life.

Not tonight, pooch

YOU thought you’d seen it all, then comes along the chastity belt for dogs.

Yes you’ve read that right. The Pet Anti-Breeding System is being promoted as “a new concept in birth control for pets that specifically targets the external reproductive area of our four-legged friends,” according to NBC in New York.

The system sells for $65-$95, depending on size and whether the pet will need to protect its show-quality coat.

And while shopping, dog owners should also check out another canine revolution: the Sani-T pads.

Barking, or what?

Barista bares nearly all

THE Bikini Bottoms espresso bar in Puyallup, Washington State, sounds like a venue in a comedy skit.

But pull up there and you might find more than a double espresso to get your heart racing.

Prosecutors have filed a charge of unlawful public exposure against a 19 year old barista accused of wearing only a thong bottom and X-shaped pasties (like plasters) on her nipples, reports thenewstribune.com.

Apparently, a passer-by had complained about seeing the woman topless.When a sheriff's deputy went to investigate, the woman went to the back of the stand, and put on a bikini top.

The pasties were seized as evidence.

Thank heavens Bikini Bottoms doesn’t have a franchise in Yorkshire.

Spaniel survies 300-ft sea dive

A SPANIEL that plunged 300 feet off a cliff while chasing a seagull has emerged unscathed from the adventure.

British rescuers say the dog dropped some 90 metres into the sea, but survived with only minor injuries, according to azdailysun.com.

Paul Legendre of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution search and rescue service says the springer spaniel was rescued after it darted off the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in Southern England.

Legendre says the spaniel fell straight into the sea but there was just enough water to cushion the fall.

He says the owners sought help after they went to the edge of the cliff and saw their pet swim to shore.

The spaniel suffered a partially collapsed lung and was in shock, but looked in good shape, added Legendre.

Tears over collapsed garden

A WOMAN bought a house overlooking a Devon beach – but six days later its garden collapsed in a spectacular rock fall.

The six-bedroom property was sold at the bargain price of £150,000 because of its precarious position on a geographical fault line overlooking Oddicombe Beach in Torquay. A similar-sized beach-front home in other British resorts would cost more like £1.5million.

Six days after the sale, more than 5,000 tonnes of rock at the bottom of the garden collapsed into the beach below, reports the Telegraph.

Police and coastguards feared joggers or dog walkers were trapped underneath the rock and used thermal imaging equipment to hunt for survivors.

No-one was hurt but the property now sits just 50ft from the edge of the 300 feet cliff.

It is understood to have been bought as a second home by a property developer from London, who paid a deposit with the sale to be finalised in March.

The new owner was said to be too upset to speak about the damage to her new property.

According to the auctioneers who handled the latest sale, Fox & Sons of Southampton, all those who were interested in the property had been told that the house had structural problems since it sits on a geographical fault line.

While it is not yet the subject of a demolition order, its utilities were cut off nearly ten years ago when another part of the clifftop collapsed.

A spokesman for the firm said it had advised buyers that they could demolish the house, and apply for planning permission to build a lighter property away from the fault line.

But now that so much of the estate has fallen into the sea, experts warn it might be hard to get planning permission to build a home because you couldn’t put foundations down.

Lucky gold coin

A RETIRED ex-policeman from Sydney, Australia, has become an instant millionaire – after gluing a gold coin to his doorstep The man, who is in his 50s, picked a winning ticket in the latest BoysTown charity lotto after placing a gold coin outside his house on the advice of an article on feng shui.

He has won a luxury house on the Sunshine Coast worth $1.2 million, and because he bought four tickets he has been given an extra prize – the choice of a sports car or $75,000 in gold bullion, reports AAP.

The man, a bachelor who wishes to remain anonymous, has taken the gold and plans to cash it in for an overseas holiday.

He says he will also sell the house to pay off his debts.

And he believes his stroke of luck is all down to the gold coin.

Since gluing it in place in November, he has also won two lotto prizes worth more than $1,000.

“I had lost a fair bit of money, so I thought why not,” he said of adopting the feng shui practice. “I was pretty embarrassed about it at the time.”

Bet he’s not anymore.