Barclays have penalised thousands of students with charges this week by accidentally removing their overdraft facilities. Usually at this time of year any graduates would be moved to a standard Barclays account but a processing error meant that around 20,000 people had the facilities removed by mistake. This could lead to costs of around £35 a day or £175 a week. Barclays have said that all the charges will be refunded but I doubt that any consolation for those graduates that have rent to pay.

A New Zealand brewery is offering a reward to anyone who can help them find a stolen laptop. The laptop was stolen from their Croucher Brewing Company and contains financial information, contact details and designs. They are offering a lifetime supply of free beer to anyone who can name the thief. I bet they will have no shortage of leads on this case.

Tesco is to start transporting some of its goods by canal in order to take some of its lorries off the road and cut carbon emissions. They will use the Manchester Ship Canal to move crates of wine from the Port of Liverpool. The service will include three journeys a week and move an estimated 600,000 litres of wine. Currently the wine arrives in the UK at various ports and is driven to the bottling depot at Manchester. Tesco is now looking at transporting other goods by water.

Debt experts have said that around one million people use high interest credit cards to cover their mortgage or rent payments. Six per cent of householders have put their mortgage or rent payments on their credit card in the past year according to the housing charity Shelter. Credit card companies often charge interest of around 15 and 18 per cent which is up to three times more then most mortgage rates. The problem seems to be worst among 18 to 24 year olds. It certainly seems like a very risky way of managing your finances.

Port Allen City Council has become the second Cajun-country town to ban saggy pants. By saggy pants I mean the style of trousers that fall below the hips often exposing the wearer’s underwear. The o ordinance requires pants to be secured at the waist so that they do not fall below the hips. Violators could be fine $25 to $250 for a first offence and $250 to $500 for repeat offences. Council member Hugh Riviere said he didn't want to view other people's undergarments, saying it "is called underwear for a reason."

Sainsbury’s are to give away one million energy saving lightbulbs on Saturday. The giveaway is timed to coincide with the clocks going back and so encourage people to save energy this winter. To get a bulb you have to take an energy saving pledge to help save energy by measures such as recycle bags and switching from baths to showers.

I was reading this short article about Rudy Giuliani who is currently the Republican presidential candidate. During a recent press conference he was asked by a small boy how he would deal with an alien invasion and gave the rather confident answer. "Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that, yes we will. We'll be prepared for anything that happens." I feel very relieved that if we are ever invaded by aliens, Giuliani will be there to save the planet.

Barratt has begun building work on a new generation of zero-carbon homes. The houses are designed to produce a very small carbon footprint. They will include solar panels that will heat the water, pumps that will extract heat from the air to warm the house and toilets that will use rainwater to flush. The houses are likely to be on the market in 2010.

Three otters have died after getting caught in illegal traps in the River Cam in Cambridgeshire. The wire mesh traps are designed to catch crayfish but they have a wide mouth that otters can easily enter. The otters are thought to have swam in after some fish that been caught in the traps and once they were inside they drowned.

Tesco has had to suspend its property sales after the Office of Fair Trading ruled it was acting as an estate agent and would need to abide by the relevant laws. The site was launched in July and offered customers the chance to sell their home for £199. They have offered a full refund to all their customers and are now considering launching a full online estate agency in the future.

Travelodge is offering rewards to members of the public that suggest new sites for development. To suggest a site you can visit their website and fill in a form with your contact details and your proposed location. If your tip results in a new opening they will then pay you £500 per bedroom up to a maximum payout of £150,000.

My husband came home with an XBOX 360 and a few games the other day. So far the only one I have tried out is Gears of War. Needless to say I have only played it once so far and am hooked. We played in two player mode, which is quite good. You get a split screen action and can help out your buddy by reviving him when he gets shot. At first with the game I went at it, like I usually do, by that I mean just running at all monsters with all my guns firing. Now, after many deaths I have become a bit more cautious preferring to hide behind a wall or a rock and gradually sneak up on things until I can kill them. The only downside is my husband keeps getting himself shot, so I spend most of the game having to leave my strategic sniper hideout and running across the battle zone to revive him usually getting myself shot in the process.

A man in Hong Kong was jailed after he drank two vials of blood on a hospital visit. The man was drunk and had staggered into the hospital for treatment on an injured toe. Surveillance cameras showed the man walking up to a laboratory counter before drinking two vials of blood. His excuse was that he was extremely thirsty.

A rare tiger that was thought to be extinct in the wild has been spotted in China. A farmer handed in some pictures of the tiger which was confirmed to be a wild South China tiger. The tiger is on the critically endangered list and was last sighted in 1964. Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers are likely to remain in the wild.

This image appeared in a bonfire lit during a service in Poland to mark the second death of Pope John Paul II. Onlookers have said the image is Pope John Paul II making an appearance from beyond the grave. A picture of the real Pope John Paul II is on the left in case you find the two images too similar to determine which is which. I’m not convinced myself. What do you think?

As a long time supporter of Tottenham Hotspur it’s nice to see them doing better financially. They have just announced record pre-tax profits of £27.7m. The profits are a result of new sponsorship deals and kit manufacturer deals. I wonder whether the club will pass on some of their new found wealth and reduce ticket prices for their loyal fans.