Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

British flag upside down for Chinese P.M.

LONDON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The British government says an upside down Union Jack at a ceremony with the Chinese prime minister was a mistake, not a distress signal.

The flags of both countries, small plastic versions, were displayed as a table centerpiece during the signing of an agreement Monday, the BBC reports. Both prime ministers, Wen Jiabao and Gordon Brown, were present.

Officials apologized for the error.

To the untutored eye, the British flag may look like it could be hung either way. But the Flag Institute says the thicker white strips of the diagonal cross are supposed to be above the thinner white ones on the part of the flag closest to the pole.

Mike Kearsley, director general of the institute, said his first thought was "Here we go again."

"One part of me is concerned that we don't recognize and understand our own flag but another part of me is amused that it's a terribly British thing to do," he said. "You would think people in Downing Street would recognize it because they see the flag so often. Many places in government these days have people working from overseas and maybe they don't understand."

Naked statue dressed up for rugby tourney

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A prominent statue of a naked man was dressed up for a big rugby tourney in Wellington, New Zealand, this week only sans pants.

Nicole Retter, an events coordinator for the local tourism agency, braved high winds to deck out the upper half of the Solace in the Wind statue that graces Wellington's waterfront with a "We Love Wellington" T-shirt, a cape, sailor hat, Hawaiian lei, a bucket and spade, and a rubber duck. But no trousers.

The idea was to promote the NZI Sevens rugby tournament to be played out Friday and Saturday.

A statue of John Plimmer, known as the Father of Wellington, also got a makeover.

"We will be changing or adding to their costumes every day in the lead-up to the NZI Sevens, depending on what state of undress we find them in due to the weather or other external forces," Retter said.

The public is being invited to get in on the act. They can bring old costumes "appropriate for the public eye" to adorn the statues.

However, while the Solace in the Wind statue may get away with being only half-dressed, spectators attending the games at Westpac Stadium "must conform to reasonable standards of decency," which would rule out such partial nudity.

Good Samaritan stops out-of-control car

WICHITA, Kan., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A woman in Kansas may receive an award for stopping a runaway car driven by another woman suffering from a medical condition, authorities say.

Gloria Lugo, 42, said she was running errands with relatives shortly after 11 a.m. Monday in Wichita when she noticed a blue car in front of her family's vehicle was traveling erratically, the Wichita Eagle reported Tuesday.

Lugo said she and her family followed the car, which was swerving from side to side on the road, until it came to a stop after several blocks. She said she approached the car and found the woman looked dazed and appeared to be suffering from a seizure. Lugo said she was unable to pry the woman's foot from the car's accelerator and she wound up partially sitting on the driver's lap when the car began to move again.

Lugo said she attempted to slow the car by pushing on the brake and was eventually able to slide the gear shifter into park and switch off the ignition.

Firefighters said the other woman had a serious, but non-life threatening, medical condition.

Fire Lt. Mark Jordan said he is recommending Lugo for a Good Samaritan award.

"You know, that type of stuff don't happen every day," Jordan said. "I've been on 17 years and never seen nothing like that."

Super Bowl porn interruption 'malicious'

TUCSON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Cable giant Comcast said 30 seconds of pornographic material that appeared in a Tucson Super Bowl broadcast was an "isolated, malicious act."

Kelle Maslyn, Comcast's corporate affairs manager, said the company's inquiry into the origin of the broadcast has yielded "some leads" that investigators will "aggressively pursue … until we come to a resolution," the Tucson Citizen reported Tuesday.

Maslyn said the company has not yet determined the number of customers who saw the pornographic material, which only appeared on the non-high definition broadcast, but Comcast is offering $10 credit to any Tucson customer "who was impacted" by the incident.

"We are appalled by (the) Super Bowl interruption," Maslyn said in a written statement. "The Super Bowl is a family viewing event and (Sunday) night was even more special here in Arizona as we were all cheering for the Cardinals."

"While this credit won't change what happened, we hope that it will demonstrate to our customers, and to the Tucson community, how seriously we are taking this situation," she wrote.