Lost dog drama

London, Aug. 27: A couple desperate to get back their 14-year-old dog have put up a ?40,000 reward for its return, reports The Daily Telegraph.

Diane Cousins and her husband Roy Zifras have re-mortgaged their ?200,000 home and sold jewellery worth ?4,500 to raise the reward for the return of Natasha, a Labrador cross.

Diane Cousins, 55, who believes that the dog was kidnapped when it disappeared from the couple’s house in Downham, London, five months ago, has even sold her ?1,500 engagement ring. The couple have gone out searching for their pet in the evenings and have put up posters for miles around.

Diane Cousins said yesterday: “Selling the jewellery and re-mortgaging the house is not a huge step to take to get my dog back.They’re just objects. A ring is only a ring, a house is a house ? but a dog is a life.”

Pirate dose

Los Angeles (Reuters): Just before moviegoers get their second dose of Pirates of the Caribbean, Hallmark Channel will bring TV viewers its own swashbuckling action hero in the form of a four-hour mini-series titled Blackbeard. Angus Macfadyen, Richard Chamberlain, Stacy Keach and Rachel Ward have been tapped to star in the mini-series, which is set to set sail in June.

Cold Logic

Nashville, Tennessee (Reuters): Coldplay’s ongoing Twisted Logic tour is doing huge business at the box office in North America, but the UK group already has its sights set on a return engagement. After the December 20 close of a European tour, Coldplay will return to North America in February for an arena tour that will run till mid-April.