A new waxwork of Barack Obama has been unveiled in Paris - where it had to be protected from the hot sun by umbrellas.

The same heatwave that has hit Britain has sent temperatures soaring in France and threatened to melt the model's face, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Helpers grabbed umbrellas to shield the waxwork from the hot sun as it was unveiled near the Eiffel Tower before taking up its plave in the Musée Grevin wax museum.

It was created by sculptor Eric Saint Chaffray who had to overcome the problem that he had never seen the US president in person.

"The main difficulty is making it without meeting him, from press photos," he admitted.

But passers-by were so taken by the resemblance that many stopped to have their photograph taken by the model.

"It looks really cool," said Emily Artes, a US tourist. "Everyone was joking that he was actually here and that we were gonna take pictures with him."

Mr Saint Chaffray has been creating wax statues for the museum for the past 20 years, and has worked on American presidents in the past.

"We're presenting Barack Obama at the Musée Grevin as part of a gathering of heads of state, which is why he has kind of an official attitude, a little bit stiff," he said.

A boxer with a prominent under-bite, scrunched face and floppy ears has been named the world's ugliest dog.

Pabst, a boxer-mix, won the annual World's Ugliest Dog contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California.

The dog, who was rescued from a shelter by Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, California, beat former champion Rascal, a pedigree Chinese Crested.

Mr Egstad said Pabst was rescued from an animal shelter as a puppy and named after an American beer for his "bitter beer face".

He has a 2in underbite, a large scar from a burn on his stomach and nails which grow in odd directions.

Pabst received £1,000 in cash, a year-long modelling contract, a prize package of collars, leads, bowls and toys, and a professional photoshoot.

Miss Ellie, a blind 15-year-old Chinese Crested Hairless from Tennessee, won the pedigree category.

She is reported to be around 15 years old, has only a couple of back teeth, cataracts in both her eyes, several moles and pimples and limited hair.

Her owner Dawn Goehring said: "Her dream is to travel around to prove that ugly is just a word, and says nothing about how wonderful she is."

A Chinese farmer dug a 50ft hole inside his house to go fishing.

Li Huiyan, of Chongqing, hired 30 villagers for six months to dig the hole in his kitchen, reports IC Media.

He wanted to reach an underground river which he suspected was full of fish.

The river had been over ground but had disappeared 30 years ago when the local authorities bombed part of a mountain to pave a road.

Li explained: "The river used to have so many fish, and by simply putting a net there, hundreds of fish would be caught."

After digging his pit down to the river, Li installed a fishing net across it and regularly hauls out fish, so far earning his family nearly £2,000.

"I sell the fish at a wholesale price of 24 yuan (£2.15p) per kilo, but 36 yuan (£3.20p) per kilo for retail," he said.

Li built ladders from his kitchen to the river 16 metres below, and each day he has to go down to check the harvest.

Morning All

Was in at the crack of dawn ... I now know how Mooney feels with all them burds singing in his ears first thing .. the dawn chorus was out in full voice this morning I can tell ya ... had me up and out better than any alarm clock.

Just talking to one of my BFF's Paul there he's in Ibiza, was at Tiesto last night in privilage apparently he does a wicked remix of Calvin Harris' new track ... gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I need a holiday  (",)

Ok well heading to studio now ... l8rs loves xxxx