Snacking Mugabe, flying penguins greet April Fools

By Paul Casciato and Belinda Goldsmith

LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Flying penguins, lampooned heads of state, foul-mouthed chefs gone polite and a car that repels full-bladdered dogs topped the list of April Fool pranks around the world on Tuesday.

An elaborate BBC video of flying penguins topped a rich offering of spoofs in Britain that included Gordon Ramsay and a full-page advert from BMW.

The Independent newspaper reported that expletive-spouting TV chef Ramsay was banning swearing in all his restaurants after Australian authorities refused an application for him to set up an eatery on the grounds of "decency."

The BMW advert, carried in several newspapers, purported to introduce Canine Repellent Alloy Protection, an ingenious system of delivering an electric shock to any dog thinking of relieving itself against a BMW wheel.

The Daily Telegraph featured a story based on BBC footage of a colony of penguins that flies thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America to sunbathe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/epeng001.shtml?src=ip_potpw).

With an eye to last week's French state visit, the Sun said diminutive President Nicolas Sarkozy will be stretched five inches to help him see eye to eye with supermodel wife Carla Bruni.

Cypriots woke to "news" in the Cyprus Mail that the European Union had introduced nano technology which ensured eight hours of sleep every night, allowed bosses to keep eye on sleepy employees and traffic police to nab drowsy drivers.

In the United States, newspaper publisher Tribune Co said it will rename itself ZellCoMediaEnterprises Inc and featured pictures of dogs on its Web site. The site also featured a ticking "DEBToMETER," referencing the debt taken on as part of the company's leveraged buyout led by real estate tycoon Sam Zell, and a "TipJar" labeled "Hey buddy, help a paper out?"