And Finally

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.

A criminal case concerning the alleged theft of slippers worth around €20 has been concluded after eight years and around €3,000 in costs. The long-running case in Palermo, the capital of the Italian region of Sicily, has been held up as an example of trivial cases clogging up the island's

A Māori politician who was ejected from New Zealand's parliament for refusing to wear a tie has won a battle to change the dress code. Male MPs will no longer be required to wear a tie – which Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi has called a "colonial noose" – under the new rules.

Police officers have spoken of their "disbelief" after pulling over a car almost entirely covered in thick snow.

A defendant in Cork District Court was reprimanded yesterday after using his mobile to take courtroom selfies and share them on Snapchat. Corey O'Brien, 23, was in court yesterday to face a charge of demanding money with menaces, having allegedly demanded €6,000 to satisfy a drug debt.

A lawyer who appeared before a judge on Zoom as a cat was unable to switch the filter off.

A couple has been fined for an outing they undertook – to catch pokémon. Canadians Matthew Steeves and his wife spent the first moment they'd had together in months to steal away together for a game of Pokémon GO in the hopes of finding a Pikachu or two.

A man who stole a pair of handcuffs more than 60 years ago has sheepishly returned them to the police. The 74-year-old grandfather returned the handcuffs to the Los Angeles Police Department with an apologetic letter and a $100 donation.

A remarkably brave smuggler has been sentenced after being caught with nearly 1,000 cacti and succulents strapped to her body. Wenqing Li, known as Wendy, stuffed the prickly plants in stockings and strapped them to her body to smuggle them from China to New Zealand.

A long-standing ban on workers eating at their desks is set to be relaxed in France to help tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. French labour law currently forbids "letting workers take their meal inside the work premises", The Local reports.