BURGOS, Spain, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Babies get the jump on the devil each year in the Spanish town of Castrillo de Murcia as a Christian brotherhood leaps over the infants to keep them from harm.

Der Spiegel said Thursday that residents of the town take part in the tradition as part of their El Colacho festival that has been a mainstay in the village since 1620.

The unusual tradition involves placing babies on mattresses laid out in the town's streets and then having men dressed like demons jump over the newborns to frighten away any spirits living within them.

The brotherhood of Santisimo Sacramento de Minerva takes on the role of those demon leapers, who are also tasked with creating mischief throughout the town during the days before the festival begins.

Der Spiegel said after the completion of the annual ceremony, participants form a parade that helps corral the released evil spirits. The celebratory group then drives those invisible spirits to the town's church where they can be destroyed and the babies can be saved.

School bullies set to be graded in Italy

ROME, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Bully fellow high school classmates in Italy and you may receive a failing grade in behavior and be held back a grade level, school officials said Thursday.

Italian Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini said in response to the growing problem of bullying in Italian high schools, officials have decided to institute a behavior grade that could result in bullies having to repeat a grade level, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

''This is a necessary move. If they don't make the grade they will have to repeat the school year," Gelmini said.

The governmental move will bring back the so-called conduct grade that Italy abolished a decade ago. Yet, ANSA said, the government is concerned with the steadily increasing number of bullying reports in Italian schools and everyone from Gelmini to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is dedicated to stamping out the violent practice.

ANSA said Italian Pediatric Society data indicate that during the last two years in Italy the number of bullying reports has increased 6 percent.

Britons drive to Greece on cooking fat

ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A group of eco-conscious Britons said they have completed a 2,330-mile drive from London to Athens, Greece, using fuel made from cooking fat.

Participants said their environmentally friendly convoy was designed to call attention to the existence of cheaper and more eco-friendly biofuels, Kathimerini reported Thursday.

"There is no reason why Joe Public cannot do this, save themselves a bit of money and help save the environment because they are not using fossil fuels," the leader of the expedition, Andy Pag, 34, said at the British Embassy in Athens after the journey.

Pag said nine cars toured Europe for the 10-day "Grease to Greece" expedition. He said the cars relied on frying oil donated by restaurants and cafes they passed along the way. Pag said restaurant managers were enthusiastic about the project and were glad to put their "waste product" to good use.

He told Kathimerini some of the cars had been modified to run directly on vegetable oil while others had biodiesel engines that filled up on processed restaurant waste that was prepared in a "fuel pod" in a truck accompanying the convoy.

Yank fan's 7th-inning stretch from hell

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A New York Yankees fan says he might sue after he was allegedly ejected for trying to use the Yankee Stadium men's room while a patriotic song was playing.

Bradford Campeau-Laurion told WCBS-TV in New York Thursday that the seventh-inning stretch seemed like an opportune time for a pit stop during Tuesday's game against Boston. However a police officer allegedly blocked his departure until the traditional recording of "God Bless America" was finished playing.

Campeau-Laurion said when he protested that his priority at the moment was the rest room, two officers pinned his arms behind him and gave him the bum's rush out the gate.

"He shoved me out the front gate and told me get out of their country if I didn't like it," Campeau-Laurion said to the television station.

A police spokesman told WCBS that Campeau-Laurion was abusive and appeared to be drunk, which Campeau-Laurion and the person he was attending the game with both denied.

The Yankees have a policy that prohibits fans from wandering around when "God Bless America" is playing, but the American Civil Liberties Union said having the police throw someone out for simply wanting to use the bathroom probably crossed the line, WCBS said.