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A new 12-sided one pound coin based on the threepenny bit is said to be the hardest in the world to fake.

Described as a “giant leap into the future” the new coin will replace the old one in 2017, after the Treasury announced that three per cent in circulation are fake – or more than 45 million.

The new coin – roughly the same size as the existing one – will contain an array of technological advances making it difficult to forge.

As well as a ‘bi-metallic’ construction similar to the existing £2 coin, the new £1 will also feature new banknote-strength security pioneered at the Royal Mint’s headquarters in Llantrisant, South Wales.

School reunion turns into mayhem

Police were called to a school reunion after reports that a group of middle-aged rebels were vandalising the building, smoking in toilets and deliberately setting off fire alarms.

Hundreds of adults – aged from their late teens to 70s – attended the evening at the old Orwell High School in Felixstowe.

But the event had to be cancelled as police and firefighters were called after reports that a group, said to be in their 40s and 50s, were misbehaving.

Those who attended took to Twitter to describe lewd pictures being drawn on walls and alcohol being smuggled in.

A Suffolk Police spokeswoman said the building had to be evacuated, adding: “We are investigating and may consider prosecutions for criminal damage.”

Cluttered cars failing MOT tests

Cluttered-up cars are causing thousands of drivers to fail the MOT test, while some drivers even turn up for a test sporting no number plates.

Some vehicles are not passing the test as the screenwash has not been topped up, the survey by Whatcar.com found. Test centres are also failing vehicles as they have stickers on the windscreen that block the driver’s view.

Whatcar? said that of more than 285,000 MOT failures between August 2012 and August 2013, a total of 4,649 were for non-topping up of the screenwash, while 114 motorists presented cars without number plates.

Teen party’s $1m mansion damage

Authorities have filed criminal charges against 14 teenagers who allegedly broke into a Southern California mansion and held a party that caused more than one million US dollars in damage and losses, including the theft of a stuffed snow leopard.

Officials say the party, promoted on social media in November, drew more than 100 teenagers to the La Habra Heights mansion while the owner was away.

According to investigators, partygoers entered through a window, trashed the place and stole several expensive items including designer suits, medieval armour, jewellery and the mounted leopard.

Retracing trek of wandering wolf

Wildlife advocates are preparing to retrace the 1,200-mile path of a wandering wolf whose trek in 2011 across Oregon and California attracted worldwide attention.

Members of the Wolf OR-7 Expedition say they hope their upcoming journey will help build greater acceptance of wolves as they reclaim lost territories across the West.

OR-7 became an international celebrity after leaving north-eastern Oregon in 2011 in search of a mate, crossing territory that had not seen a wolf in decades. The expedition plans to start in mid-May, and cover 900 miles by bike and 300 miles on foot in 40 days. The group includes a professional tracker, a storyteller, a filmmaker and a multimedia blogger.

Pope shooter’s gun star attraction

A priest in charge of a museum devoted to Pope John Paul II says the gun used by a would-be assassin will be on display as a sign of God’s protection of the pontiff.

Monsignor Jacek Pietruszka said many wonder why trained assassin Mehmet Ali Agca, firing a Browning HP 9mm handgun from close range, injured but did not kill the Pope in 1981.

“We believe that the Pope was saved to continue his mission,” Monsignor Pietruszka said. The gun will be among “witnesses” to the happy and sad moments in the late Pope’s life at the museum in John Paul’s childhood home in Wadowice, in southern Poland. The expanded museum reopens on April 9.