And Finally

France is to fine shops that leave their lights on too long as it cracks down on energy waste. Agnès Pannier-runacher, the energy transition minister, said that firms that break rules on when they can have their lights on will face fines of €1,500 (£1,294).

Suspected fraudsters who are alleged to have bought 20 bottles of fine French wine with €95,000 (around £82,000) in fake banknotes have been arrested – but the bottles are believed to be lost. The two men and a woman are accused of swindling a Parisian wine merchant out of 18 bottle

A judge who allegedly sent hundreds of text messages mocking lawyers, jurors and witnesses while overseeing a child murder trial is to be removed from the bench. Judge Traci Soderstrom, in Oklahoma, speculated about the size of prosecutors' penises and fawned over a police officer in messages exchan

A social media influencer has been fined after stopping traffic to perform yoga in the middle of the street. Footage published by police in India's Gujarat state shows cars stopping while the woman, named as Dina Parmar, strikes various poses in pouring rain.

An African mask sold for €4.2 million is now at the centre of competing legal claims over its rightful ownership. The retired couple who sold the mask to an antiques dealer for €150 is now suing in the southern French town of Alès, alleging that the dealer knew of the items val

An illustrated children's book was inadvertently shortlisted for censorship amid a US book-banning frenzy simply because the author's last name is Gay. Read Me a Story, Stella by Mary-Louise Gay was included on a list of potentially "sexually explicit" books to be removed from an Alabama public libr

Lawyers who successfully sued Tesla's board of directors over excessive compensation are to seek more than $10,000 per hour in costs. A dozen Tesla board members agreed to repay $735 million as part of a settlement following the 2020 lawsuit brought by Tesla shareholders, as well as to forgo compens

A museum worker who used his access to steal paintings and auction them off to fund a "luxurious lifestyle" has been spared jail. The 30-year-old worker with a role in managing the collection of a Munich museum admitted stealing four paintings over a two-year period, in one case replacing the origin

An English police chief has been referred to a watchdog after being accused of falsely presenting himself as a veteran of the Falklands War. Nick Adderley, chief constable of Northamptonshire Police, has been regularly pictured wearing the South Atlantic Medal awarded to those who served in the 1982

Police fined a motorist after spotting a large dog behind the wheel of a speeding car. Slovakian police have released a photo they say shows a "brown hunting dog smiling beautifully into the camera, obediently sitting behind the wheel of a Škoda and peering through the windshield".

A medicinal cannabis farm has seen its entire crop wiped out by an invading herd of sheep who ate around 300kg of cannabis, according to reports. Yannis Bourounis, owner of the farm in Almyros, Greece, told In.gr that the sheep ate everything that was left after Storm Daniel destroyed most of the pl

A police officer who arrested and handcuffed a Chucky doll – from the horror film franchise Child's Play – has been disciplined. The owner of the doll was arrested in the Mexican city of Monclova after reports that he was using Chucky and a real knife to scare people and ask th

A couple who threatened to raise an action against an airline after spending a 13-hour flight seated next to a farting dog have received a refund.

A lawyer who defrauded clients of almost £2 million after falling for a lottery scam has been jailed for four years. Scammers convinced Norwich solicitor Hugh Lansdell, 74, that he had won a postcode lottery in Spain but needed to hand over increasing amounts of cash to access his winnings.

Police pulled over a stolen car only to find it was being driven by the owner's runaway 10-year-old son, accompanied by his 11-year-old sister. The young children decided to abscond after their mother confiscated their electronic devices and were caught hundreds of miles from their Florida home, pol