And Finally

Hundreds of official Harry Potter replica swords have been recalled in Japan after they were discovered to be illegal weapons. Over 350 swords have been sold at the Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo, billed as "the largest indoor Harry Potter attraction in the world", since it opened in May 2023.

A Michelin-starred chef has urged thieves who stole thousands of pies in a Christmas heist to donate them to charity. A refrigerated vehicle carrying "nearly a tonne" of pies worth around £25,000 was stolen on Sunday night before it was meant to deliver the pastries to a Christmas market in Yo

Police have been led on a chase by a 12-year-old boy who travelled over 150 miles in his grandfather's car before being caught. The child took the stolen car on a 161-mile journey, starting in Issaquah in Washington, USA and travelling through the Cascade Mountains.

A stowaway has managed to fly from New York to Paris without a boarding pass. The woman, a Russian passport holder somewhere between 55 and 60 years old, is awaiting deportation to the United States following her arrival in France without a visa, CNN reports.

The Pope's surgeon has been charged with fraud in connection with allegedly fake records of operations he never performed. Sergio Alfieri, who successfully operated on Pope Francis twice, in 2021 and 2023, lied about performing surgeries 29 times, prosecutors claim.

It is no longer a crime to cheat on your spouse in New York. The state has repealed an adultery law dating back to 1907, which said it was a crime where a person "engages in sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse".

A two-kilogram garden gnome made entirely out of MDMA has been seized by police in the Netherlands. The fairy creature, with a suitably mischievous countenance, was discovered in a drugs stash by the Dongemond police force in the south of the country.

A man has been convicted of a criminal offence after deliberately gaining weight to avoid compulsory military service. The 26-year-old was sentenced last week by a court in South Korea, where all able-bodied men are required to service in the military for at least 18 months.

Pop singer Katy Perry has won a 15-year-long trade mark dispute with a fashion designer called Katie Perry. The American pop star – whose real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson – launched the legal action in 2009 after Australian woman Katie Jane Taylor, née Perry, registered "Kat

A passenger plane was grounded for days after nearly 150 hamsters broke loose and began to roam the aircraft freely. The animals escaped from the cargo hold during a commercial flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Ponta Delgada in the Azores last week, CBS News reports.

Police have seized tarot cards and crystal balls after arresting a group of "psychics" alleged to be fraudsters. Three arrests have now been made in Sydney, Australia following an investigation into what is alleged to be a crime syndicate using their supposed psychic abilities for cover, ABC News re

Police in Thailand were forced to barricade themselves into their station as their town came under attack from around 200 escaped monkeys. Special enclosures in Lopburi – around 100 miles north-east of Bangkok – are used to manage the local monkey population.

A man was caught allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of tarantulas onto a plane. The 28-year-old suspect, who has not been named, was arrested at an airport in Peru after security officials noticed an unusual bulge around his stomach.

Infowars, the far-right media outlet built by disgraced conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has been acquired by satirical news website The Onion. Jones – once close to Donald Trump – declared bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook E

Ukraine has failed in a bid to register "Russian warship, go f*ck yourself" as an EU trademark. The infamous phrase was said by a Ukrainian border guard in response to a Russian demand for surrender in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.