World Briefs

A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party.

The nativity's appearance coincides with the League's controversial operation "White Christmas", a two-month sweep ending on Christmas Day to ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan.

The Christmas scene - featuring a dark-skinned baby Jesus dressed in a red shirt and lying in a manger - was the idea of Mario Giulio Schinaia, the chief Public Prosecutor in Verona.

"History teaches us that baby Jesus and his parents were very probably dark-skinned," Mr Schinaia said. "This nativity belongs to a universal Christmas tradition that brings together the whole of Christianity in celebration." (Reuters)

Finding Nemo

Nemo the clownfish is more lost than ever, thanks to climate change.

Ocean acidification caused by global warming is destroying the sense of smell and navigational abilities of the little orange clownfish of Finding Nemo fame, pushing the species closer to extinction, a new report has found.

The report, launched yesterday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the sidelines of global climate talks in Copenhagen, named 10 species that will be hardest hit by global warming.

Among the 10 was the clownfish, which uses its sense of smell to find its way to its host anemone. The 10 species named in the report were: beluga whale, clownfish, leatherback turtle, emperor penguin, quiver tree, ringed seal, salmon, staghorn coral, arctic fox and koala. (Reuters)

Bin men

German police had to rescue four frozen walkers who jumped into a skip to escape marauding wild boars.

The four men fled into the container after being surprised by the boars during a night time walk in the woods and were too scared to emerge.

A patrol found them shivering in the metal container and escorted them from the scene. The boars had disappeared. (PA)

50-foot tree

A father has installed a 50-foot tree in his house that looks like it is bursting from the ground floor up through his roof.

The optical illusion was created by Greig Howe who cut the tree into three sections to fit in his ground floor lounge, first floor study and the final 15-foot section on a roof turret at his six-bedroom home in Bournemouth, Dorset.

It took 10 people three days to pull off the stunt with the lower parts of the tree passed through doors and windows and a borrowed crane to add the top section. (PA)

Cold comfort

A beggar who was given a hot coffee by a passer-by instead of money was arrested for assault after throwing it in the man's face, then rifling his pockets.

Frank Mangini, 48, struggled with the man on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, then punched him in the face.

Mr Mangini was charged with assault with intent to rob and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. (PA)

Pigs potty-trained

To keep their livestock from defecating into nearby rivers, a growing number of farms in Taiwan have established special "toilets" smeared with faeces and urine to attract the pigs - and farmers say the results have been very encouraging.

"The pig toilets on my farm help me collect about 95 per cent of all pig waste, making cleaning much, much easier," Chang Chung-tou, a pig farmer in Yunlin county, said.

The Environmental Protection Administration, which will introduce a new fee on water pollution in the middle of 2010, plans to encourage other pig breeders to begin potty training. (AFP)

Christmas diet

A man who has eaten Christmas dinner every day for the past 16 years lost three stone after halving his portions during the credit crunch.

Andy Park, known as Mr Christmas, has guzzled his way through nearly 118,000 sprouts and around 5,000 bottles of Moet champagne since his festive fetish began.

But since January the 45-year-old divorcee, a self-employed electrician, from Melksham, Wiltshire, has slashed the size of his plate to keep his devotion to Yuletide going in the recession. (PA)

Wheelie bin misdemeanour

A woman was given community service for breaching an Asbo by leaving her wheelie bin open, a council said.

Celia Edge, of Lyndhurst Gardens, Pinner, north west London was punished for propping the lid of the bin open and letting rubbish blow into her neighbours' garden.

She was already under a five-year Asbo for waging a war against Stephen and Angela Kent by throwing sanitary towels and food into their garden and flooding it. Ms Edge admitted breaking the rule at Harrow Crown Court and was given 40 hours' community service and ordered to pay £200. (PA)

Ecstasy and agony

Dutch police are investigating the claims of a man who reported his large collection of illegal ecstasy pills had been stolen.

The man, from Eerbeek, said he collected the pills over two decades, keeping them in coin collecting folders. They were allegedly taken during a break-in.

Police said it was not clear whether the man would be charged with a crime, given that the illegal drugs have vanished. (PA)