IT MUST BE TRUE… I read it in the tabloids

Chinese businessman Tan Youhui thought he had made a straightforward deal when he hired a hitman to dispose of one of his rivals for a £218,000 fee. But rather than carry out the killing, Xi Guangan decided to pass the task to another criminal – who sub-contracted it to a third. The pattern continued, with each hitman in the chain taking a cut, until a fifth was offered just £11,000 to do the deed – and felt so hard doneby he contacted the intended victim and suggested that he fake his own death. All five hitmen and Tan himself have now been convicted of attempted murder.

Six firemen were needed to remove a pig from a firstfloor flat in Yorkshire. Twiglet had been bought two years ago as a “micro-pig” by Elaine Edwards, who fed her on Chinese takeaways, chocolate and porridge, and let her sleep on a mattress surrounded by soft toys. She ballooned to 30 stone, and when Edwards died in August, relatives found that they couldn’t get Twiglet downstairs unaided. She is now being cared for at a rehabilitation centre, where she has lost one-and-a-half stone. “She had a fantastic life and ruled the roost,” said a trustee of the centre. “But it wasn’t really the right environment for her.”

A Japanese man has turned his nail clippings into an engagement ring. Kiwami Kouba collected a year’s worth of clippings before grinding them to a powder, adding water, compressing and then baking them; he then set them in a silver ring. The recipient of his romantic gesture is unknown. Kiwami has previously created a knife made out of potatoes.