ENGLAND: A Shih Tzu dog had life-saving treatment after he swallowed a kitchen sponge. Alfie’s owner, Maria Bird, was cleaning the bathroom, when Alfie pinched a sponge from the packet, gulping it down in one.

USA: Police have charged a man with trespassing, public drunkenness, and indecent exposure after he was caught on a neighbour’s Pennsylvania farm in the nude, drinking beer among pigs.