An 80-year-old woman with a criminal record stretching back to 1955 has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing cash.

Doris Thompson thanked the judge for sending her to a federal prison rather than Los Angeles County jail, which she does not like.

Ms Thompson, who has used 27 aliases, has repeatedly been arrested during the past 55 years, mainly for theft. (PA)

Boozy chimp sent to rehab

A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits it has picked up, a popular daily reported yesterday.

A former performer, Zhora became aggressive at its circus and was transferred to a zoo in the Russian city of Rostov, where it fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up its two vices.

"The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze," the Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.

It added the chimp has now been transferred to the city of Kazan, about 800 kilometres east of Moscow, for rehabilitation treatment. (Reuters)

Excessive tweeting

Forget The Byrds and The Eagles... now you can listen to the finches. An installation at the Barbican Centre brings new meaning to air guitar as 40 tiny zebra finches make music as they swoop down on instruments.

French artist Celeste Boursier-Mougenot has created a walk-in aviary which was unveiled at The Curve Gallery within the north London arts complex. (PA)

From jet to jail

Telecoms billionaire Silvio Scaglia spent the night in Italian police custody after flying in by private jet from the Caribbean to face charges in a money-laundering probe.

Mr Scaglia, who founded Fastweb, Italy's second biggest telecoms company, was led away by police after the jet touched down in Rome's Ciampino airport after midnight.

One of Italy's richest men, Mr Scaglia is among 56 people for whom arrest warrants were issued in a case where prosecutors allege more than €2 billion were laundered via fake international phone service purchases and sales from 2003-2006.

Mr Scaglia, who was on an overseas business trip when his arrest warrant was issued, has denied any wrongdoing.

Fastweb and Sparkle, a unit of Telecom Italia, are both being investigated in the scandal that has sent shockwaves through Italy's political and industrial circles. (Reuters)

Happy return

A builder renovating a house found and returned a wallet lost by a man more than 60 years ago. Jerry Busch found Henry Leland's wallet in the rafters of a house in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. He managed to trace 81-year-old Mr Leland to Florida. Mr Leland said the wallet was stolen during a weekend he spent in the area in 1949. (PA)

Export bar on Raphael drawing

A Raphael drawing which sold for a world record price at auction has been temporarily barred from export.

Head of a Muse sold for £29,161,250 - a world record price for any work on paper to go under the hammer - at Christie's in London. However, Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has put the export bar on the work.

The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest recommended that a decision on whether the work can be exported be deferred on the grounds that it is of "outstanding" aesthetic importance and significance. It also awarded a starred rating to the drawing, meaning that every effort should be made to raise enough money to keep it in the UK.

Head of a Muse was drawn as a study for a figure in Parnassus, one of a series of frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican between 1508 and 1511. This series is widely considered to be Raphael's greatest masterpiece. (PA)

Repeat offender

A German robber held up the same bank in Hamburg twice within 24 hours just a week after being released from jail - for the same crime. A police spokesman said on Friday the 50-year-old man went into a savings bank in the centre of the northern port city and flashed a pistol, saying: "I was here yesterday, and I want money again today!"

The repeat offender made off with €450 but with the help of video surveillance cameras, police were able to detain him three hours later. They said he had been in jail for robbing banks in Hamburg in 2002 and 2004. (Reuters)

Topping prize

A fast-food chain owner has offered a reward of 100 pizzas for information on a robber who held up one of his shops in Spokane, Washington.

Brian Dickmann, owner of Pizza Rita, says he will pay up once the armed man is arrested, charged and prosecuted.

The suspect was white, about 18 to 20, wearing baggy black clothing, black shoes, black gloves, and a black ski mask. (PA)