Bananarama Drama

Peels, Sir, Can I Have Some More?

A British primary school has been branded "over the top" after banning bananas because a teacher is allergic to them. Plymouth City Council will ask officers to investigate the ban at Stoke Damerel Primary School. Council officials advised the school in 2007 to ask pupils not to bring bananas in because the allergy was potentially life-threatening.

FOOTNOTE: Fruitless.

Banana Boat

Have A Fruit Cocktail On The Beach

Thousands of bananas have washed up on two Dutch North Sea islands after six containers fell off a cargo ship in a storm and at least one burst open. A 1km stretch of beach on Terschelling Island, north of Amsterdam, was littered with bunches of unripe fruit from Cuba. Bananas also washed up on neighbouring Ameland Island. It has been suggested the bananas be sent to nearby zoos.

FOOTNOTE: Peels of laughter.

H€adlines & D€adlines

Text Messages Create Banana Republic

Pointing out stories you may have missed. A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China's Hainan island. The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide. Producers in Hainan say the resulting price slump is costing them up to $2.5 million a day. China's Agriculture Ministry has dismissed the Sars claim as baseless. Police are investigating its source. "It is utterly a rumour," a Chinese Health Ministry official said. "There has not been a case in the world in which humans have contracted a plant virus, and there is not any scientific evidence." Hainan bananas had already been subject to rumours they caused cancer, after the banana plantations were hit by blight earlier this year.

News source: BBC.