Last week was ...

a Weird Week for deaths, as Spanish officials were called in to investigate the case of a cow which died after being forced to drink over a gallon of whisky during a religious festival in the village of Villardefrades. Police said that the cow probably died of a heart attack. "We have identified the culprits," they added, "but cannot arrest them owing to a lack of law to back us up."

Meanwhile, in Daytona Beach, Florida, a raccoon jumped through the windscreen of a truck, shattering the glass and knocking the driver, John Antienowicz, unconscious. His son steered the truck to a safe halt. The raccoon had launched itself from the back of a garbage truck. The driver was treated for cuts. The raccoon died.

A tragic death led to the Isle of Wight Council being fined pounds 18,000 after a man was electrocuted while using a public toilet. The council pleaded guilty to contravening section three of the "1974 Health and Safety at Work, Etcetera Act". An inquest had heard of "an unfortunate chain of events".

In France, however, a woman is keeping a 12-inch block of ice in her freezer after it fell through her roof from an airoplane. She hopes analysis of the ice will identify the plane so she can claim damages.