And Finally

Department store John Lewis has succeeded in a court battle with an author who claimed that the retailer had copied one of her designs for its Christmas advert. The retailer's 2019 advert featured a friendly green dragon named Excitable Edgar.

Albania has accused UK authorities of persecuting one of the country's nationals who was detained on suspicion of dealing cannabis – which turned out to be harmless tea leaves. Agim Agaj, 53, was arrested, strip-searched and detained for 15 hours after police in Dorset stopped his van and spot

A man has been indicted for licking a soy sauce bottle as part of a wave of 'sushi terrorism' plaguing Japan. Ryoga Yoshino, 21 was arrested after an incident at a Kura Sushi branch in Nagoya City last month.

A French woman is facing trial for insulting President Emmanuel Macron by calling him "filth" in a Facebook post. She risks a €12,000 fine at the trial to be held later this year.

Who said judges were out of touch with everyday life? A member of the bench, among other things, has been fired after it was revealed he creates pornography on the adult website OnlyFans.

Exorcism and prayer are among the most important tools used by police against drug gangs and criminals, Colombia's top police official has said. Flanked by crucifixes and other Catholic symbols decorating his office, police chief General Henry Sanabria told local media that he had "seen" and "felt"

Italy is to ban flour made from crickets, locusts and insect larvae from being used in pizza and pasta. Though insect-based foods have been approved by the European Union and are being talked up as a new eco-friendly superfood, the Italian government is concerned about the country's cuisine being as

A trademark dispute between Jack Daniel's and a dog toy branded "Bad Spaniels" has gone to the Supreme Court of the United States. The whiskey distillery claims that its brand is being harmed by the plastic chew toy, which is shaped like one of its distinctive whiskey bottles.

Prison officials in the US have been left red-faced after two inmates tunnelled their way to freedom using a toothbrush. Prisoners John M. Garza, 37, and Arley V. Nemo, 43, used "primitive-made tools constructed from a toothbrush and metal object" to "exploit a construction design weakness" in Newpo

A police sniper rifle dramatically landed on the St Patrick's Day parade in Buffalo, New York after being blown over by a gust of wind. Buffalo Police said it is continuing to investigate the circumstances in which a sniper rifle fell from a building and landed within feet of parade spectators, WGRZ

Members of the public have a right to be rude at town hall meetings and can compare town officials to Hitler if they want to, a US court has ruled. Local officials in Southborough, Massachusetts have been left disappointed by a new ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court which struck do

A woman who claimed refunds on shoplifted items more than a thousand times between 2015 and 2019 has been convicted of fraud.

A robot lawyer is facing a class action in the US for attempting to practise without a licence. The chatbot's creator, DoNotPay, is being sued for providing “substandard” and “poor legal advice” to the plaintiff on various matters, among them drafting demand letters and a sma

A major US city has scrapped a twinning agreement it inadvertently struck with a self-declared micronation led by a wanted sex offender. In January, a delegation from the self-declared "United States of Kailasa" met with the mayor of Newark, New Jersey and signed a sister-city agreement at a public

Giving someone the middle finger is a "God-given" right which belongs to "every red-blooded Canadian", a judge has ruled. Judge Dennis Galiatsatos said it is "not a crime to give someone the finger" as he dismissed a criminal harassment charge brought against a man in Quebec following complaints fro