A garlic-based “potion” listed in a thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon manuscript has been found to kill off the MRSA superbug.

Microbiologists at the University of Nottingham say early trials of the 10th century remedy – which also contains cow bile – have yielded “astonishing” results.

The apparently homespun recipe, originally concocted as a treatment for eye infections, was spotted in a copy of Bald’s Leechbook, a medieval medical text held at the British Library.

Search for sweet-toothed burglar

Police in the US state of Pennsylvania are looking for a burglar with a sweet tooth.

Whoever broke into Corky’s Pizza Shop stole more than 100 chocolate bars and eight chocolate chip cookies, Franklin officers say.

The shop is in the tiny borough of Pleasantville in Armstrong County, about 150 kilometres north east of Pittsburgh.

Charged for shooting crocodile

A police officer in Mexico is being prosecuted over killing a crocodile with bursts from his assault rifle in the northern state of Sinaloa.

The case is based on a video clip posted on YouTube that shows a blue-uniformed man standing beside a water-treatment pond in the city of Ahome, waiting for the crocodile to appear.

Once it has been baited in, the man opens up with automatic weapons fire and people can be heard cheering in a crowd watching. There are federal charges because crocodiles are a protected species in Mexico.

Tiny songbirds’ non-stop flights

A tiny songbird that makes its home in forests routinely undertakes non-stop flights of up to 1,700 miles across open ocean, scientists have confirmed.

The heroic flight of the blackpoll warbler, which weighs just 12 grams, is “on the brink of impossibility” according to one of the researchers, who attached miniature tracking devices to the birds.

Experts had long wondered about tantalising clues that suggested the bird was capable of epic migrations between North and South America.

Cameron and Balls terrified of rats

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and shadow chancellor Ed Balls have finally found some common ground – they are both terrified of rats.

The Prime Minister confessed his fear of the “horrible” creatures in an interview with Heat magazine.

Asked whether he had any phobias, Mr Cameron replied: “I’m not very keen on rats, we had one in our kitchen once, it came in through the cat flap. It was horrible, and I kind of found it in the middle of the night.”

20-foot tree crashes down on home

One couple have had a lucky escape after a 20-foot tree fell on their home during the stormy weather.

The tree crashed down at the front of their house in Worsley in Greater Manchester just after midnight, but the pair managed to get out safely.

Greater Manchester firefighters used a chainsaw to break the tree down and make the house safe – spending more than three hours on the scene.