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Be Here Now shot to the top of the album charts last night just four days after its release

Be Here Now shot to the top of the album charts last night just four days after its release. The Oasis album is believed to have gone platinum in its first 24 hours in the shops, selling more than 300,000 copies in Britain on Thursday alone.

By Saturday it was estimated to have sold more than 800,000 copies. That probably makes Be Here Now the fastest selling album in Britain.

The Spice Girls might be Britain's favourite band - but they have been named the country's number one nightmare neighbours in a survey. Oasis singer Liam Gallagher also featured in the hit-list.

But grumpy Victor Meldrew from TV's One Foot in the Grave made both the nightmare Top 10 and the Top 10 of the most desirable residents, according to the survey of 2,002.

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A poignant reminder of the homosexual relationship which led to the social and financial ruin of Oscar Wilde has surfaced a century after his release from prison.

It comes in the form of a previously unrecorded love token to Wilde from Lord Alfred Douglas: a silver cigarette case, which will be auctioned at Bonhams in London next month.

A patient on the run from a Finnish psychiatric hospital was caught red-handed Sunday as he tried to set fire to the concert stage where Michael Jackson was due to perform in Helsinki.

"He had a match in his hand and was trying to light it up," said Veijo Rissanen of the Helsinki police, adding that there was a strong smell of petrol. The concert went ahead as planned before 80,000 people.

The blind Catalan jazz pianist Tete Montoliu (64), has died of lung cancer in a Barcelona hospital. Montoliu's real name was Vincent Montoliu i Massana.