A 94-year-old woman from Greater Manchester had to spend several sleepless nights worrying for her life after she received a letter from Spain that warned her of facing "execution" if she does not pay nearly Ł17,000 ($33,282. 6) into an off-shore bank account. The elderly woman, who received the letter on December 23rd, said it was from Harpreet Sanhdu & Co, an "international security and assassination firm. "

Come Christmas and one can find the Virgin Mary, the three kings and a few wayward sheep as the traditional Christmas nativity scene. But the nativity scenes in Spain have a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed. The statuettes of "El Caganer," known as the great defecator in the Catalan language, can be seen on the mantelpieces of collectors, throughout Spain's northeastern Catalonia region.

Police have recovered about 79 garden gnomes that were stolen. The gnomes were found along the banks of a stream in the central Limousin region with a sign that said "gnome mistreated, gnome liberated. " Last month, 86 gnomes were found in the yard of a high school. Others were discovered on the outskirts of the city.

A 50-year-old American woman only known as Lisa, has been bitten by a panda cub at a research center in Sichuan province in southwest China. According to Xinhua news agency, the woman's thumb was bitten by a panda cub in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center where she works as a volunteer.

An American visitor had a part of her thumb bit off by a panda cub as she was feeding it bamboo at a reserve in southwest China. Identified only as Lisa, 50, she was listed in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center as a volunteer.