American troops storm Bulgaria olive oil factory by accident

Marin Dimitrov, the factory’s owner, said: “Around 1.30pm about seven soldiers jumped over our fence. They entered the factory while pointing their weapons. The first people they saw were asked to sit down, and they did sit down, because they were scared.

“The US soldiers went through the whole premises of the factory. Then they just left from the same place from where they entered, went over the fence and that was it.” Mr Dimitrov has not ruled out legal action.

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Italy’s president walked out of a street naming ceremony in honour of one of his predecessors after noticing that the honoree’s name had been misspelled on the road sign he was supposed to be unveiling.

Sergio Mattarella halted proceedings when the mistake was spotted. The street in Rome was to be named after Carlo Azeglio Ciampi but the stone plaque read ‘Azelio’.

The incident was even more embarrassing as it happened in front of watching members of the Ciampi family, as well as Rome mayor Virginia Raggi, who has been blamed for the error.

Her supporters say the whole thing was staged to damage the politician, from the populist Five Star Movement, who faces an election this year. “They are doing all they can to stop Virginia Raggi,” said Five Star councillor Paolo Ferrara. “The plaque with the wrong name of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi did not happen by a simple mistake. Do you think it is possible? I don’t.”

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A paddleboarder who decided to jump into Hamburg’s Osterbek Canal to cool down from 29 degree heat got an unpleasant surprise when a sharp iron rod standing upright underwater went straight through his foot.

The man, whose loud screams soon had witnesses dialling the emergency services, was held above the water until help arrived and then fitted with a lifejacket. A police diver was then called to remove the spike from the canal bed with a bolt cutter, and the unlucky paddler later had it removed from his foot in hospital.

Doctors also treated the man’s girlfriend, who was suffering from shock.

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A French woman and her cat have been reunited, 11 years after it went missing.

The ginger feline, named Angie, disappeared shortly before her owner Alicia moved from Haute-Savoie to Le Mans in 2010 but was discovered in a distressed state near Annecy in late May and was found to have had an identifying chip implanted.

Vets said that when they contacted an overjoyed Alicia, she immediately drove seven hours to be reunited with her pet, now 14 years old.

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An amateur footballer died of a heart attack during a memorial match for his brother, who had died three years earlier while playing sport.

Former Parma youth player Giuseppe Perrino, 29, collapsed in Poggiomarino, near Naples, while local players were honouring his brother Rocco, who passed away at only 24.

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Parents in the Zurich suburb of Herrliberg have complained after learning that their primary school offspring were being made to wear nappies over their trousers and skirts if they asked to go to the toilet too often.

A spokesperson said that a first-grade teacher, frustrated with requests for bathroom breaks, had brought in a nappy from home and that “children thought it looked funny, so some asked to be allowed to put on the nappy if the rules were broken. Then the incident developed a momentum of its own.”

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A partygoer from Stary Sącz in southern Poland is facing jail after a real-life incident reminiscent of the Hangover film series went badly wrong.

The 55-year-old, wearing only boxer shorts and standing near a delivery van, was found by police in Muszyna, a 45-minute drive away. He told officers he had no memory of how he got there after a boozy night with friends and was unable to call them for help as he had no mobile phone.

However, CCTV footage revealed the man, who was still over the drink-drive limit, had stolen the van from near his home and made the long journey himself. He faces up to five years in jail.