Cops after gingerbread vandals
The people of Bergen rolled out the cookie dough recently as local police tried to sniff out vandals who destroyed the Norwegian city’s traditional Christmas decoration – a town of gingerbread houses. Vandals entered a massive tent in central Bergen and crushed most of the 650-cookie-house town, topping off the ruins with paint and fire extinguisher foam.

Santa may have the flu
Santa Claus should avoid kissing children and shaking their hands to prevent spreading the flu and should get vaccinated against the illness, Hungary’s state health authority said.

In a recommendation issued recently and posted on its official website www.antsz.hu, the authority did not ban traditional Santa Claus activities but warned of increased risks of contagion due to a nationwide flu epidemic.

Darwin book on sale
A first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which had been kept in a toilet bookcase for years, will go on sale and is expected to fetch US$66 (RM222) to US$100,000 (RM337,300). Christie’s auctioneer will offer the book on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary of its original publication.

Facelift for ageing Santa
A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 (RM246,900) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his ageing face does not scare children. The 20-meter tall fiberglass Santa has been among the festive decorations in Auckland since 1960 but in recent years began to struggle with one of his eyes that was made to wink and a mechanical figure that moved in a welcoming gesture. – Reuters