DODGY WORKMATES
Factory workers found themselves working alongside some deadly colleagues when three black widow spiders dropped out of an aircraft engine imported from the United States.
The men, employees at jet engine maintenance company TC Power, were working on the engine at the factory at Barton-upon-Humber, north Lincolnshire, when a "black, leathery" spider appeared.
The workers trapped the spider in a glass and captured another two before a fourth was spotted out of reach in the frame of the engine - leaving the men to work around the poisonous guest. Stuart Elliott, managing director of the company, said the engines were imported from Kansas and arrived via Amsterdam.
WEE PROBLEM
An Austrian museum has fired an employee for washing his hands and face with his urine.
Alfred Zoppelt says he was fired after 23 years of working as an attendant at the Belvedere, a castle in Vienna with major art works. He says his practising of urine therapy, which some claim gives medical and cosmetic benefits, was previously "never a problem".
Zoppelt, 57, said he was told in his notice statement: "You regularly rub urine into your skin, particularly the face and hands. With this, you soil your place of work ... and threaten the health of your co-workers."
HONK PATROL
An overcrowded prison in north-eastern Brazil has added a new layer of security against escapes: two geese.
Sobral prison warden Wellington Picanco says the geese make a lot of noise when they sense "strange movements". Also the geese roaming the prison grounds will help alert guards to the outbreak of violence among rival gangs at the overcrowded facility.
The prison was built to hold 153 inmates but holds 255.
NO WAY SHERLOCK
Sherlock Holmes's first adventure has been removed from reading lists for 11-12 year-olds in a US school after a parent complained it was derogatory toward Mormons.
The Albemarle County School Board in Virginia voted to remove A Study In Scarlet after a committee commissioned to study the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel said it was not age-appropriate for sixth-graders.
The book includes a flashback to 1847 Utah that recounts the actions of a Mormon community when a non-Mormon man wants to marry the daughter of one of its members.
'GLADIATORS' BUSTED
Rome police have donned togas, capes and sandals to bust a ring of "gladiators" on assault charges outside the Colosseum.
The 20 suspects are accused of assaulting and intimidating their competition, in order to pose for pictures with tourists for money in the most lucrative spots at Rome's Colosseum, Forum and Vatican.
Rome police said assault charges were filed against the suspects. Officers showed up dressed as gladiators near the ancient arena but were attacked - at which point they and other undercover officers disguised as rubbish collectors or tourists intervened.