And Finally

An Italian mafia boss who swapped drug smuggling for the dole queue has been arrested. Police believe Giuseppe Refrigeri, 66, is a leader of the Banda della Marranella, which allegedly has a virtual monopoly on the drugs trade in Rome.

A convicted robber who absconded from prison was caught by police when he came out of hiding to buy the latest Call of Duty video game. Clint Butler, 36, fled HMP Spring Hill in south-east England last November while serving a 17-year extended sentence for crimes including robbery and firearms offen

A council is checking its CCTV footage following reports that a large section of pavement was stolen from a village in West Sussex. Numerous paving slabs went missing in Storrington this week, much to the confusion of locals.

A mysterious artwork painted on the former Reading Prison is speculated to be a Banksy piece depicting its most famous inmate, Oscar Wilde. The mural shows a prisoner rappelling down one of the prison's exterior walls using paper from a typewriter as a rope.

A man who shares a surname with a derogatory term is suing a major academic institution over its definition. Italian man Francesco Terrone, 59, is seeking to have the prestigious Accademia della Crusca amend its definition of terrone.

A juror caught reading a golf magazine during a robbery trial has been fined for contempt. David Barron, 60, found himself in the dock at Southampton Crown Court after browsing bargain golf clubs from the jury box.

A plastic surgeon who appeared in a virtual trial while operating on a patient is facing an ethics investigation. Dr Scott Green, from Sacramento, California, insisted he was "available for trial" as he appeared in the dock from an operating room wearing scrubs and surrounded by beeping medical equi

Spain's disgraced former king Juan Carlos I has paid a €4 million tax bill in a bid to help end his exile. The "king emeritus" abdicated in 2014 and later left Spain altogether amid allegations of corruption and tax offences, residing now in Abu Dhabi.

Armed police on rollerblades will patrol the streets of one of the world's largest cities under a strange new initiative. The new armed rollerblading unit in Karachi, Pakistan has been established to help crack down on street thefts and harassment.

A man who claimed to have been kidnapped by masked men allegedly made it up to get out of work. Police in Coolidge, Arizona found 19-year-old Brandon Soules with his hands bound behind his back and a bandanna stuffed in his mouth.

Police dogs will benefit from a state pension for the first time under proposals from the Polish government. Retiring service animals in Poland are typically adopted by their former handlers, sold or cared for by charities.

Customs agents have seized a shipment of cereal covered in cocaine instead of sugar. The shipment from Peru was searched by US border officials in Ohio and found to contain around 20 kilos of cocaine-covered corn flakes worth up to €2.3 million.

A senior state scientist known to his colleagues as the "sturgeon general" has been charged in connection with an alleged scheme to provide sturgeon eggs for processing into expensive caviar. Ryan Koenigs, the leading sturgeon expert in Wisconsin, has been accused of accepting jars of caviar worth $

A railroad engineer who deliberately defecated on company property and said it was a "present" for his boss has kept his job. Matthew Lebsack was fired by US rail giant Union Pacific after the incident in November 2016, but a federal appeals court has reluctantly reinstated him.

An eight-year-old border collie has joined the ranks of the canine elite after being left over €4 million in a will. Late bath tycoon Bill Dorris left $5 million from his estate – around €4.2 million or £3.6 million – to his beloved dog Lulu.