Custom-built wheelchair for disabled Buster

Although Buster the sheep was born with deformed front legs he was fortunate to get a specially-adapted animal wheelchair.

Fighter: Buster the sheep

Here Buster is seen on the move after the two-year-old sheep faced a long fight for survival after vets recommended that he be put down.

But he found a new home at Clough Farm Animal Sanctuary near Stockport, where the owners had the device designed for him.

Hundreds of animal lovers responded to a text appeal to raise the £550 needed to build it, and by June 2011, Buster was roaming the fields.According to sanctuary manager Jayne Murray it was told that he was not going to make it past six months.'But there was no way I was going to give up on him when he wasn't in any pain,' Ms Murray said.

After some internet research, Ms Murray found a website specialising in dog wheelchairs who agreed to build the equipment. 'He has learnt very quickly how to manoeuvre himself,' added Ms Murray.'At first he ran into a bush and once went down a hill so fast he came out of the harness, but you should see him now, nothing can stop him.

'Buster is brilliant. It is always worth going that sort of distance to help an animal. We will always find a way.'

Homeless man handsomely rewarded for honesty

"It is good to know honesty still exists despite one's circumstances which Mr. Harris exemplifies!" wrote one poster, while donating 25 dollars to a fund set up on GiveForward.com for Billy Ray Harris, the man who was panhandling on the streets of Kansas City, Mo.

Harris is a US homeless man who returned a diamond ring to its owner when the ring was accidentally dropped into beggar his cup by Sarah Darling after it fell out of her bag on a street in Kansas City, Missouri.

The following day Ms Darling returned to the bridge where she first encountered Harris and explained she may have accidentally dropped her ring into his cup.

When Harris heard her story he responded by returning the ring which he had kept safe after realising it was not intended as a donation.

His actions so impressed Ms Darling's fiancé, Bill Krejci, that he set up an online fund-raising campaign (http://www.giveforward.com/billyray) for the homeless man which he expected to fetch around $1,000 US (£659), but which ended up raising just under $150,000.

A modest Billy Ray Harris says he was simply doing the right thing. And asked: 'What's the world coming to?' after he received the donations which poured in from all over the world.

'My grandfather was a reverend,' he said. 'He raised me from the time I was six months old and, thank the good Lord, it's a blessing, but I do still have some character.'

In a note on the fund-raising site Mr Krejci said he and Mr Harris had talked about the impact of the public reaction to the story and the life changing events for the engaged couple and Mr Harris.

'We talked about one day in the future the ring may one day be passed down to my daughter. We talked about how insanely positive all this has been. We talked about what he's planning to do with the donations. The details would be better left for later but know that he has a very solid plan and a very solid way of making it happen,' Krejci wrote.

The donations - more than 6,000 of them in varying amounts - have come in from all over the United States, as well as from Germany, Sweden, Australia, Ireland and other countries.

In addition to the congratulations and good wishes that they offered, some donors also urged that Harris receive help to manage the money that was earmarked for him.

Is this the world's most comfortable prison?

On Bastoy prison island in Norway, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand 'cushy' and 'luxurious'.

An inmate with a fake name of Niels, 36-year-old sentenced to sixteen years and a half for murder and narcotics related crime is sun bathing in front of the wooden cottage where he lives in Bastoy Prison

Yet it has by far the lowest re-offending rate in Europe. Inmates in this prison can enjoy sunbathing and trips to the beach.

Bastoy prison island in Norway has been described as 'cushy' and 'luxurious' by critics who have questioned whether prisoners should be treated to such domestic comfort.Up to six prisoners share accommodation in wooden huts on the island, plus communal kitchen and other facilities. Jobs on the island include working on the local farm, the bicycle repair shop or in the timber workshop.

They earn the equivalent of £6 a day and are also given a food allowance of up to £70 a week to spend at the supermarket.

In their spare time, the prisoners can visit the on-island church, school or library and to relax can head to the beach or play sports including tennis and football.

Prison governor Arne Kvernvik Nilsen believes treating the prisoners as human beings can help reduce re-offending rates.

'I believe that we as human beings, if we are prepared to make fundamental changes in the way we regard crime and punishment, can dramatically improve the rehabilitation of prisoners,' he told the Daily Mail last year.

'Bastoy is an ongoing experiment, but I really hope the results will benefit not only Norway but the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.'