NEW YORK: After printing 3 billion copies of a new postage stamp bearing an image of the Statue of Liberty, the United States Postal Service received a strange question from a stamp collector. Did postal officials realise the photograph was not of the famed statue in New York Harbour, but of a less-feted fibreglass and Styrofoam replica outside a Las Vegas casino? They did not.

“We certainly regret having made the error,” said Roy Betts, a USPS spokesman. The first-class postage stamp, which shows a low-angled close-up of Lady Liberty’s face and crown, was issued in December, according to an announcement about the ‘world-recognised’ symbol of the United States.

MGM Resorts International, which owns the New York-New York Hotel, seemed pleased with the mix-up. “We all thought that the Post Office was honouring just one great American institution, but in reality it was honouring two — The Statue of Liberty and Las Vegas — with just one stamp,” said Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for the company. “New York-New York is honoured to be the first Las Vegas casino resort to be on a US stamp.”

German circus families in shootout over tent space

BERLIN: A shootout between two German circus families competing over tent space has left six people injured, police said. The disagreement came to a head on Monday evening as families fired guns, used knives and attacked each other with

batons, police in the Bavarian city of Regensburg said.

Three people from each family were injured, including a 48-year-old man who was shot in the leg. None were

seriously injured, the police said.

McDonald’s Happy Meal leaves parents unhappy

SAN FRANCISCO: A law-suit that seeks to stop McDonald’s from selling Happy Meals must be dismissed because parents can always prohibit their children from eating them, the hamburger giant said in a court filing.

The lawsuit claims McDonald’s unfairly uses toys to lure children into its restaurants. The plaintiff, Monet Parham of Sacramento in California, mother of two, claims the company’s advertising violates California consumer protection laws. The Happy Meal has been a huge hit for McDonald’s — making the company one of the world’s largest toy distributors — and spawning me-too offerings at most other fast food chains.

But lately it also has come under fire from public health officials, parents and lawmakers who are frustrated with rising childhood obesity rates and weak anti-obesity efforts from restaurant operators, which are largely self-regulated. Parham, who filed suit last December, is represented by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group.

“She was not misled by any advertising, nor did she rely on any information from McDonald’s,” the company said.