Saudi Arabia's 'wizard combat training' and other tall tales

Our pick of the strange but true stories from around the world.

Supernatural training

Thirty members of Saudi Arabia's religious police force, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, have completed a new training programme to help them combat "wizards, witches and an as-of-yet unconfirmed plague of leprechauns blighting the Kingdom", says the Jerusalem Post. The new trainees will complement the existing "anti-witchcraft unit" formed in May 2009.

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Helicopter grounded by goat attack

An Australian rescue helicopter has been grounded after an encounter with a territorial goat, local officials say. The aircraft had landed in Onkaparinga Hills, a suburb of Adelaide, to transport a man who suffered leg injuries in a car accident when it was rammed by the goat, which damaged a window near the pilot's feet.

Kebab burp fine

A man has been fined more than £50 by police in Vienna over an "unusually loud belch" in a public park. Edin Mehic was stopped by a local police officer and accused of "offending public decency" with the burp, which he blamed on a kebab he had eaten that contained too many onions. Mehic plans to appeal and a flash mob has been organised to protest on his behalf.