Hero
Amal Clooney, who has secured the world’s first conviction of an Isis member for genocide. She got an Iraqi extremist known as Taha A-J banged up for life in Germany for enslaving and abusing Yazidi prisoners. The sentence was passed under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”, which allows crimes against humanity to be judged anywhere, regardless of where they were committed.
Villain
A Gloucester man who turned up at A&E with a World War Two bomb in his bum, meaning hospital staff had to call the bomb squad to defuse him. A source told The Sun: “It was a chunky, pointed lump of lead designed to rip through a tank’s armour.” It ended up in the man’s private arsenal “while he was having a clear-out” and he slipped and fell on it.
Heroes
Australians, who’ve come top in a global ranking of the biggest boozers. The average Aussie got trolleyed 27 times in the past year, almost twice the global average of 15. Surprisingly, says the New York Post, the Sheilas were blotto more often than the Bruces, putting an end to the reputation of Aussie men as the world’s hardest drinkers.
Hero
Britain’s oldest iron, which is still working after 80 years. When owner Chris West, 56, bought his first flat in the 1980s, his grandmother gave him the Morphy Richards iron she had bought for 41 shillings in the early 1940s. West still uses it, claiming that its “hotter plate and heavier weight” mean it smoothes creases better than modern models.
Villain
The Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, where work is still causing disruption for the neighbours 140 years after builders first broke ground. Plans for a grand entrance ramp will mean the demolition of three blocks of flats in front of the church and the eviction of up to 1,000 families.
Heroes
Police officers in Beaverton, Oregon, who took a hamster into “protective custody” after it was found on the lap of its 27-year-old owner, Nicole Huey, when her car was stopped shortly after midnight on suspicion of drink-driving. “It took three officers to capture the furry little passenger,” said Officer Mike Rowe, adding that the creature “put up a good fight trying to avoid capture”.
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