German police are investigating the theft of 250 photographs by Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's official film-maker, from the basement of a firm in Cologne.
The Riefenstahl photos and 300 works by American photographer Elliott Erwitt disappeared from a basement storage unit at the offices of Photo Estate GmbH, a subsidiary of Berlin gallery Camera Work AG, police said.
The estimated value of all the works taken is as much as four million euros, they added.
Ms Riefenstahl died in 2003 at the age of 101.
Saudi, Turkish boys to swap homes
Two boys, one Saudi and one Turkish, will swap homes four years after a hospital gave them to the wrong parents, a Saudi newspaper said yesterday.
"Mistakes are always possible, but we will try to find who was responsible and hold them to account so it doesn't happen again," Prince Mishaal bin Saud, governor of Najran in the far south of the kingdom, said in comments in al-Watan newspaper.
Saudi health authorities had been reluctant to accept the Turkish father's claim that his son Yacoub was not his, but DNA tests carried out this week proved him right.
No to transgender bridesmaid
A Catholic priest has blocked an Italian transgender parliamentarian from being a bridesmaid at a relative's wedding, drawing protest from her political party.
Vladimir Luxuria, who was born male but wears women's clothing and prefers to be called "she", said she had been asked by her cousin to be the bridesmaid at her Catholic wedding, to be held at an ancient sanctuary in Foggia, southern Italy.
But Fr Francesco, the sanctuary's pastor, told Reuters the request was rejected because Luxuria, a former drag queen and defender of gay rights, "does not believe in family values, even from a political point of view". "His personal choices are another matter, I have already explained this to him," the priest said by phone yesterday.
Yorkshire to grow truffles
Farmers in a Yorkshire town famous for its rhubarb and liquorice sweets are moving upmarket with an attempt to grow truffles, one of the world's most expensive delicacies.
They will spread the spores from the rare black fungus normally found in France's Perigord region among the roots of oak and beech trees next to the M62 motorway near Pontefract.
Supermarket chain Asda, which organised the trial, said it wants to cut the price of the "black diamonds", which sell for hundreds of pounds per kilogramme.
Pisa tower challenged
The Guinness Book of World Records has ruled that a church steeple in Germany, not the famous leaning tower of Pisa, is the most tilted tower in the world.
The 25.7-metre steeple tilts at an angle of 5.07 degrees, while the tower of Pisa tilts at just 3.97 degrees, said Olaf Kuchenbecker, head of Guinness's German edition.
"When you lay photos of the two next to each other you can see it relatively clearly," Mr Kuchenbecker said.
The new record, scheduled to appear next autumn in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, could strip the Pisa tower of its iconic status, Mr Kuchenbecker said.
Another China-made toy banned
Australia announced a nationwide ban on around one million Chinese-made toys after investigations showed they contained a chemical which metabolises when swallowed into a date-rape drug.
The ban across Australia's six states and two territories came after three children became severely ill after they swallowed the toy beads called Bindeez.
Toy importer Moose Enterprise issued a voluntary recall of Bindeez, named Australia's 2007 Toy of the Year, saying some batches of the beads failed to match the approved formula.
Authorities in Hong Kong also took steps to test the product on toy safety and dangerous drug concerns.