And Finally

A courthouse dramatically went into lockdown after suspicious packages on its doorstep were reported to police – which turned out to be from Taco Bell. Police set up a perimeter around the federal courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama after employees raised the alarm, blocking adjacent streets to

Hundreds of people have volunteered to be locked up in a brand-new prison as part of a test run for the facility. The new prison in Zurich, Switzerland, has capacity for 241 remand prisoners, but authorities decided to test the facility on local volunteers before it opens in April, Swissinfo reports

The greatest hits of Barry Manilow have been weaponised against protesters by authorities in New Zealand. Anti-vaxxers have set up camp outside the country's parliament, which has started playing music on a loop through its speakers in a bid to disperse them.

A right-wing US politician with a penchant for conspiracy theories has been widely mocked after appearing to confuse the Nazi Gestapo with "gazpacho" – a chilled Mexican soup. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has faced social media bans for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, excoriated "Nan

A security guard has been sacked after defacing a valuable Russian painting by drawing eyes on its blank-faced figures with a ballpoint pen. The guard took a pen to Anna Leporskaya's avant-garde painting Three Figures on his first day working at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center in the city of Y

Jurors in a high-profile criminal case in Quebec have been supplied with cannabis to pass the time until they reach a verdict. The jury has been sequestered while considering kidnapping charges brought against a local businessman. The jurors are staying in a hotel and will not be allowed to return h

A priest dubbed “Don Euro” because his flock had unknowingly funded his lifestyle of swingers’ parties, diamonds, luxury holidays and the services of sex workers has been jailed for extortion. Luca Morini, who has been defrocked by the Vatican, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half yea

Charles Darwin stole his theory of evolution from a Scottish naturalist, a criminologist has said. Dr Mike Sutton says his research proves “overwhelming” similarities between On the Origin of Species and the work of Perthshire-raised Patrick Matthew.

Two TV judges walked off the set of The Masked Singer after the disguised contestant was revealed to be former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to reports. The show sees a panel of four judges try to guess the identity of a performer wearing a unique costume, with celebrities and politicians al

Security officers at the Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday caught an unlikely intruder – a lone chicken. Animal welfare officials were called to pick up the wayward fowl after it was "caught sneaking around the security area at the Pentagon".

A scheme to allegedly smuggle thousands of coconuts filled with liquid cocaine into Europe has been foiled by Colombian authorities. The shipment of 19,780 coconuts was seized in Cartagena, a major port in the north of Colombia, shortly before it was due to leave for the Italian port of Genoa, The T

The studio behind children's TV phenomenon Peppa Pig is suing a Vietnamese rival over its cartoon about a childlike wolf. Vietnamese-owned Sconnect's Wolfoo cartoon, which has become a massive YouTube hit, has drawn some comparisons to Peppa Pig in terms of its format and characters.

Cult classic film Fight Club has been rewritten in China to give it a more censor-friendly ending where law enforcement ultimately wins the day. The original version of the 1999 film, starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, ends with the protagonist failing to foil an anti-consumerist plot to blow up

Hundreds of holidaymakers experienced an unexpected end to their trip after their cruise ship changed course to avoid seizure by US authorities. The Crystal Symphony was bound for Miami, Florida but docked at Bimini in the Bahamas after a US judge said the luxury liner could be seized in a dispute o

Loyal fans of Hollywood star Ana de Armas are suing a film studio for $5 million after renting a film in the mistaken belief that she was in it alongside actress Lily James. Ms de Armas – who shot to fame with her appearance in Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out and No Time to Die – appeared