And Finally

A former rugby international has gone on trial accused of eating sparrows, robins and other songbirds protected under law. Dax criminal court in the southwest of France heard that Jean-Pierre Bastiat, 71, who was part of the 1977 France team that won the Five Nations tournament, was suspected of buy

A £400 million collection of rare stamps and other paraphernalia including calligraphy by Chairman Mao has been stolen. The items were stolen from a flat in Hong Kong belonging to Fu Chunxiao, who is a citizen of the mainland and is well known in collecting circles.

A dentist who extracted a patient's tooth while riding a hoverboard has been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment on various charges. Alaskan Seth Lookhart was caught on camera using the hoverboard while carrying out the procedure, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

A woman who married a tree has marked their first wedding anniversary, The Mirror reports. Kate Cunningham, 38, who took the surname "Elder" upon marrying an elder tree said they have no plans to divorce.

The embittered love child of the former Belgian king who abdicated in 2013 is suing for the right to use the royal title of princess. Albert II, now 86, finally admitted earlier this year, after a court-ordered DNA test, that Delphine Boël is his daughter.

A Florida man who fled from a large alligator in his storage shed was left embarrassed after police discovered it was a swimming pool inflatable. The man had gone into his shed to fetch boxes but was startled by the large inflatable and told his wife to call the police.

A police dog reared from a puppy into an "absolute unit" has been retired before his first day of duty for being too "sweet-natured". Balou was eight weeks old when acquired by police in Bremerhaven, Germany, and was trained for nearly a year-and-a-half, The Times reports.

A mob boss is facing assault charges after allegedly biting off and swallowing a prison guard's finger. Giuseppe Fanara, 60, has been serving a life sentence in Sicily for nearly two decades after murdering a police officer.

A man has been slapped with a four-figure fine after stealing sand from a Sardinian beach. The man, who was not been named by the Italian island's authorities, was caught at the airport with a bottle containing around two kilograms of sand.

The family of the former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco have been ordered to return a palace in Galicia to the state. Although Franco's heirs have owned the property for more than four decades, the court of La Coruña said that the palace was donated to the state and not the fascist dictato

A tax break scheme to lure the wealthy to Italy has attracted super-rich Britons. The €100,000-a-year flat tax, which is payable on money earned abroad by anyone who changes their tax residence to Italy, has seen 784 high worth individuals make the move in the first two years, The Times reports

Police officers are facing investigation after letting an apparently drunk man walk away from a car crash without a breath test or arresting him. A video which went viral on Twitter shows what appears to be an extremely drunk man barely keeping himself upright after crashing his car into other parke

Aviation authorities have asked police to investigate reports from two pilots who said they saw a man in a jetpack above Los Angeles. The bizarre saga began when a pilot approaching Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sunday night told the control tower that he "just passed a guy in a jetpack

Around 54 million people are being referred to prosecutors for failing to vote in recent elections in Egypt. Voting is mandatory in the north African country but only 14 per cent of voters turned out for Senate elections earlier in August.

A famous painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, valued at over £13 million, has been stolen for the third time in three decades. Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was stolen from a museum in Leerdam, near Utrecht in the Netherlands, earlier this week, The Guardian reports.