And Finally

A mayor who flew off on holiday by private jet urged residents to stay at home – in a video recorded from a beach resort. Steve Adler, leader of Austin, Texas, has become the latest politician to be accused of Covid-19 hypocrisy. He went to Mexico after telling people to stay indoors amid risi

Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and other Muppets were listed to appear in court on criminal charges in an apparent mistake by courts staff. At least three Crown Courts in England listed various Muppets as well as cartoon and fairy tale characters in official court listings.

An investigation has been launched after a two-metre-tall sculpture of an erect penis disappeared from a mountainside as mysteriously as it appeared. The sculpture baffled locals when it first appeared on the Grünten mountain in the south of Bavaria, Germany some years ago but later became a po

A lawyer who represented a non-existent victim in one of the highest-profile trials in German legal history has been found not guilty of intent to deceive. The 53-year-old lawyer, who has not been named, took part in the trial of several members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground (NSU) g

Pig entrails have been flung across the floor of parliament in Taiwan in protest at new pork import rules. Opposition MPs threw offal at their government counterparts in the latest escalation of protests against plans to relax restrictions on pork imports from the US.

An attempted armed robbery in Australia failed after the would-be victim pulled out a larger knife. Evoking the famous scene in the film Crocodile Dundee, café manager Johan David Cruz Arevalo scared off a knife-wielding robber.

A hair salon that invoked the authority of Magna Carta faces a fine of £27,000 for repeatedly breaching the lockdown rules. Sinead Quinn, owner of Quinn Blakey Hairdressers in Oakenshaw, Bradford, was working when Kirklees Council issued a fine for £4,000 and thereafter two more for &pou

A former gymnast has reportedly defected from North Korea to the south by vaulting a three-metre high border fence. South Korean media said officials who found and detained the man were so astonished they asked him twice to show his jumping skills.

A man who held a cardboard sign with a smiley face outside of a police station has been arrested for taking part in an illegal protest. Jolovan Wham was arrested in Singapore after the brief one-man demonstration in solidarity with arrested climate activists, The Guardian reports.

Online shoppers who shelled out hundreds of pounds for a new PlayStation 5 console have been left disappointed after instead receiving bags of grain, cat food or nothing at all. Amazon has announced an investigation into what it said was a "small proportion" of orders which had apparently fallen vic

The Vatican has launched an investigation after the Pope appeared to like a titillating photo on Instagram. A photo of Brazilian model Natalia Garibotto in a revealing "schoolgirl" outfit was briefly liked by the Pope's account, @franciscus.

A police officer who allegedly scanned a box of expensive Krispy Kreme doughnuts at a self-service checkout as a single carrot is facing a misconduct hearing. Cambridgeshire police officer Simon Read could be sacked over allegations he paid just seven pence for a £9.95 box of doughnuts in Febr

A High Court judge whose father was a law lord has been used as an example of diversity on the bench by the Judicial Office of England and Wales. Mrs Justice Steyn appears in a video answering questions on how she got into law and the obstacles she faced in her career, Legal Cheek reports.

A man suspected of stealing Pope John Paul II's blood has been identified by Italian police. The vial of blood, taken from the pope shortly before his death in 2005, was stolen from a cathedral in September.

Breast implants filled with liquid cocaine have been recovered in an anti-drugs police operation in Colombia. Police believe a gang in Cali, southwest of Bogotá, has been using the implants to ferry drugs to Spain, The Times reports.