Weird BUT true

A hamster in Japan that was launched into the stratosphere attached to a flying balloon has returned safely to Earth.

The critter’s adventure — orchestrated by Iwatani Giken, a firm that specializes in space experiments — was its first test flight involving a mammal.

The furry creature, who was secured in an airtight cabin, managed to reach an altitude of 14 miles.

A garbage pail from Hampshire, UK, somehow turned up in the Ukraine, 1,200 miles from its home.

A journalist reporting on the conflict there discovered the Test Valley Borough Council bin on wheels and posted the incredible find on Twitter.

There was no explanation for how the bin made it to the war zone.

This prank on their prime minister is a whole different ball of wax.

Madame Tussaud’s had fun with Thursday’s news that Boris Johnson is stepping down as Britain’s PM.

The wax museum’s Blackpool location changed its display of Johnson from a replica of his No. 10 Downing Street office to feature him posed outside of an employment agency.

A chess club in France made a strategic move in a record-breaking direction.

The Sautron Chess Club constructed a chess king consisting of 768 pieces of wood and measuring more than 20.6 feet. The towering king unofficially broke a Guinness World Record.

The club made the almost 4.2-ton king, which took more than 700 hours, to mark the 20th International Open tournament in the city.

This little piggy went to school.

A pig oinked its way onto the campus of an Illinois high school and is successfully evading capture.

Mount Vernon Township HS said on its Facebook page “the pig has proven to be too fast and elusive for MVTHS staff and the animal shelter personnel.”