Suffolk County police say Arthur Dalke, 34, of Long Island, N.Y., nearly backed his car into a police cruiser -- which wouldn't have been so bad if the man hadn't had seven drunken driving convictions under his belt.

The New York Post reports Dalke now faces felony charges of driving while intoxicated and could get seven years in prison if convicted.

Officer Anthony Dieguez told the paper Dalke was driving slowly in reverse while chatting with a pedestrian, paying no attention to oncoming traffic -- or the officer's squad.

When Dieguez tried to apprehend Dalke, who was driving with a suspended license, the man allegedly pulled into a parking lot, slid into the passenger seat, tossed his car keys out the window and denied ever driving the vehicle.

NEWS OF OTHER LIFE FORMS

Drink champagne, save a lynx. It's not quite that easy but the World Wildlife Fund would like everyone to pop the cork off some bubbly this New Year's Eve to help save the endangered Iberian lynx, the rarest of the big cats.

WWW says cork forests of Spain and Portugal, home to the lynx, are threatened by the increasing use of synthetic and screw-top stoppers among wine retailers.

The falling demand for cork means it often is more profitable to destroy the lynxes' forest homes and replace them with other less environmentally friendly forms of forestry and agriculture. The latest figures show there are just 150 Iberian lynx left, including just 30 breeding females.

The cork forests are home to many endangered species, including the Iberian imperial eagle in Spain and Portugal and the Barbary deer in Tunisia.

TODAY'S SIGN THE WORLD IS ENDING

The British government is big on Christmas cards. This year Prime Minister Tony Blair sent out 1,260 Christmas cards at a cost of $428, while Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott mailed some 1,820 cards, with a tab of $2,500, the Sunday Mirror in London reports.

In total, ministers spent $48,000 in taxpayer money on Christmas cards -- not including postage.

The Mirror reports the poshest cards of all were sent by Ian McCartney, a minister for Work and Pensions, who spent some $2,600 for just 1,230.

A Downing Street spokesman told the paper: "The cost, dispatch and staff time for posting these cards in the case of every Whitehall department is made in accordance with the departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety."

AND FINALLY, TODAY'S UPLIFTING STORY

Cody Selbe of Golden, Colo., awoke early Christmas morning to find the Grinch stealing the presents from under the tree.

The 11-year-old told the Rocky Mountain News he was sleeping in the living room and awoke to see someone come in. He decided to fake sleeping and watched as the burglar tore open packages, collected the gifts and took off in Grandma's 1996 Thunderbird.

Cody quickly woke up Grandma, and 71-year-old Gwen Selbe called police while an uncle gave chase down the street. The family was able to tell police the direction the Grinch had headed and later a 29-year-old suspect was arrested.

Cody even got his presents back Christmas Day, as the police and the District Attorney's office rushed the evidence process, took pictures of the gifts and brought them back to Grandma's house.