And Finally

Iraqi prank shows that terrified celebrities with fake suicide bombers and staged kidnappings have been taken off the air by regulators. Talqat Tony (Tony's Bullet) and Tanb Raslan (Raslan's Shooting) went too far and were deemed to breach broadcast rules, the BBC reports.

A state senator in Ohio appeared in a Zoom meeting with a fake background while driving – on the same day a distracted driving bill was introduced. Andrew Brenner used a virtual home office background, but his seatbelt was still visible in his video feed.

A farmer accidentally annexed part of France to his native Belgium after moving a 200-year-old stone marking the border between the countries. The border marker has been in place since the border was first drawn up in 1819 and ratified in the Treaty of Kortrijk the following year.

German teenagers who planned a sophisticated heist to get their hands on school exam papers have received suspended sentences. Three pupils at a school in Bavaria spent months planning a night-time break-in to a safe in their headmaster's office.

Heavy metal band Twisted Sister has won a payout of nearly €1 million after an Australian politician ripped off the lyrics to "We're Not Gonna Take It" for his election campaign. Clive Palmer, a billionaire mining magnate whose right-wing United Australia Party failed to win a single seat in th

The NYPD has been forced to fire its robot dog, the New York Times reports. Digidog, developed by Boston Dynamics, was obtained on a contract worth $94,000.

A border guard service dog has received a national honour in Turkmenistan on its inaugural new state holiday. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has dedicated April 19th to the alabay, a symbol of national pride, Sky News reports.

A hand grenade discovered in a German forest, leading to a full-scale bomb disposal operation, has turned out to be a rubber sex toy. Police were alerted to the possible explosive after it was spotted by a woman jogging through the forest near the Bavarian city of Passau, DW reports.

A new law putting the US state of Georgia on daylight savings time all year round will reduce crime, officials have claimed. Governor Brian Kemp has signed Senate Bill 100, which provides that Georgia "shall observe daylight savings time year round as the standard time of the entire state".

A judge accused of selling judicial favours to the mafia had tens of thousands of euros stashed in his electrical sockets, Italian police have said. Judge Giuseppe De Benedictis was found to have around €60,000 (£52,000) in plastic bags stuffed behind his power switches, The Times reports

An Italian has broken the country's record for absenteeism after allegedly skipping work for 15 years. The public sector worker, dubbed the “king of absentees” by the Italian press, is reported to have accrued €538,000 (£464,000), despite not having turned up for work since 20

Wine tasters have pleaded with the French government to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a priority. The Union of France Oenologists has written to the French prime minister to ask for wine tasters to move up the vaccination queue, The Telegraph reports.

Plans to limit the number of tourists visiting the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony in Verona have been blocked by a court. The city's mayor proposed installing turnstiles at the tiny courtyard where tourists congregate to take photos of the balcony after heightened fears of overcrowding with Covid-1

A celebrity psychic who said he lost his powers after a car accident is facing a £100,000 legal bill after a judge ruled he had been "fundamentally dishonest" in his claim for compensation. Maurice Amdur said an injury sustained in a collision six years ago left him unable to concentrate enoug

A landlord couple who refused to return a security deposit to tenants they accused of ruining the property with cigar smoke are facing a £100,000 legal bill. Nick Boakes and husband Harald Denker counter-sued after their former tenant Jonathan Hagmaier went to court for the return of the &poun