Quirky News – Euro Weekly News https://euroweeklynews.com News and views in English since 1998 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:05:04 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://euroweeklynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-EuroWeeklyNews-Favicon-2-60x60.png Quirky News – Euro Weekly News https://euroweeklynews.com 32 32 ‘They’d throw themselves down a well if it told them to’: Google Maps traps drivers in Spain’s narrow streets https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/theyd-throw-themselves-down-a-well-if-it-told-them-to-google-maps-traps-drivers-in-spains-narrow-streets/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/theyd-throw-themselves-down-a-well-if-it-told-them-to-google-maps-traps-drivers-in-spains-narrow-streets/#respond Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:05:04 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576660 Some drivers who trust Google Maps into Santa Pau’s medieval alleys can’t even open the car door once they realise their mistake. The Girona village is far from alone though, with vehicles regularly getting wedged into streets never built for them across Spain. In Santa Pau, a village of 1,500 people in Girona province, Google Maps keeps directing cars towards the historic centre along Carrer…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/theyd-throw-themselves-down-a-well-if-it-told-them-to-google-maps-traps-drivers-in-spains-narrow-streets/feed/ 0 €80m Renaissance masterpieces stolen from Sicily museum despite working alarms and guards on duty https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/e80m-renaissance-masterpieces-stolen-from-sicily-museum-despite-working-alarms-and-guards-on-duty/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/e80m-renaissance-masterpieces-stolen-from-sicily-museum-despite-working-alarms-and-guards-on-duty/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:18:30 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576632 Four Renaissance masterpieces worth up to €80 million vanished from a Sicilian museum as a religious procession filled the streets outside, yet the thieves left two of the removed panels propped behind a wall as they fled. Art crime experts say works this recognisable may be almost impossible to sell. Thieves broke into the Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare di Messina in Sicily just before…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/17/e80m-renaissance-masterpieces-stolen-from-sicily-museum-despite-working-alarms-and-guards-on-duty/feed/ 1 The world’s first ‘space-age’ bone that saved a Madrid patient’s leg from amputation https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/15/the-worlds-first-space-age-bone-that-saved-a-madrid-patients-leg-from-amputation/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/15/the-worlds-first-space-age-bone-that-saved-a-madrid-patients-leg-from-amputation/#respond Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:34:03 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576539 Surgeons in Madrid seemed to be left with only one option: amputate. But instead, they built the patient a new bone from scratch, using a lattice structure borrowed from spacecraft engineering that the human body now can’t tell apart from its own. Pierre, a 38-year-old patient at Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, developed a high-grade sarcoma in his tibia, the shin bone.

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/15/the-worlds-first-space-age-bone-that-saved-a-madrid-patients-leg-from-amputation/feed/ 0 ‘We’ve found gold’: Belgian builders strike €9m treasure hidden behind cellar wall https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/14/weve-found-gold-belgian-builders-strike-e9m-treasure-hidden-behind-cellar-wall/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/14/weve-found-gold-belgian-builders-strike-e9m-treasure-hidden-behind-cellar-wall/#respond Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:24:16 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576484 An 18-year-old thought he had spotted a scatter of €1 coins while laying a drainage pipe, until a gold nugget rolled out beside them. What his crew had actually found, sealed inside a vault built into a cellar wall in Belgium, turned out to be a hoard worth an estimated €9 million. Workers from a local construction firm were carrying out groundworks on Tuesday August 11, laying a pipe for the…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/14/weve-found-gold-belgian-builders-strike-e9m-treasure-hidden-behind-cellar-wall/feed/ 0 Jellyfish strike France’s biggest nuclear plant again and shut down three reactors https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/12/jellyfish-strike-frances-biggest-nuclear-plant-again-and-shut-down-three-reactors/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/12/jellyfish-strike-frances-biggest-nuclear-plant-again-and-shut-down-three-reactors/#respond Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:11:11 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576338 A swarm of jellyfish has knocked out three reactors at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, and the strangest part is not that it happened but that it happened almost exactly a year to the day after the last time it did. On Monday August 10, operator EDF said swarms of jellyfish had clogged the seawater filters that cool Gravelines, the plant near Dunkirk that draws its water from a canal linked to…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/12/jellyfish-strike-frances-biggest-nuclear-plant-again-and-shut-down-three-reactors/feed/ 0 Britain abandoned a possible £5.5bn treasure near Gibraltar. Now an explorer says he would go back https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/10/britain-abandoned-a-possible-5-5bn-treasure-near-gibraltar-now-an-explorer-says-he-would-go-back/ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:38:55 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=576126 Ten tonnes of gold may have been laying untouched 821 metres below the sea for more than three centuries off the coast of Gibraltar. Britain once backed a search for it, but a furious dispute involving Spain, the Rock and a different shipwreck brought the project to a halt. HMS Sussex, an 80-gun Royal Navy flagship, sank in a violent storm near Gibraltar on 1 March 1694. Around 500 men died…

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]]> Guinness lost at sea 162 years ago could finally be brewed again https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/07/guinness-lost-at-sea-162-years-ago-could-finally-be-brewed-again/ Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:57:17 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=575943 It is far too murky for a celebratory pint, but Guinness recovered after more than 160 years beneath the sea may still surrender its secrets. Scientists now hope its yeast can reveal how Ireland’s famous stout tasted in Victorian times. Up to 20 bottles of stout were discovered among the cargo of a wreck around five kilometres off the coast of Dover during dives in the summer of 2025.

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]]> The wild deer who crossed 50km to return to his Spanish village https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/06/the-wild-deer-who-crossed-50km-to-return-to-his-spanish-village/ Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:05:53 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=575851 Tomás the deer first wandered into Linarejos with an injured leg in 2024 and never quite left. His latest return has delighted the tiny community, but it has also forced residents to protect their antlered local from tourists who treat him like a pet. In mid-July, Zamora’s Territorial Environment Service, part of the Castilla y León regional administration, organised a special operation to…

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]]> Apple Maps’ camera backpacks are walking Spain’s streets – and the images may train AI https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/05/apple-maps-camera-backpacks-are-walking-spains-streets-and-the-images-may-train-ai/ Wed, 05 Aug 2026 21:09:24 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=575780 Apple has taken its street-mapping cameras beyond the road, sending backpack-equipped surveyors through pedestrian areas of Madrid and Cataluña. While faces and number plates are blurred before publication, homes are obscured only if a person requests it, and anonymised images may also be used to train AI. Apple’s cameras are reaching places its vehicles cannot Apple conducted backpack surveys…

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]]> Mallorca’s eclipse may end with a rare green flash few ever see https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/08/01/mallorcas-eclipse-may-end-with-a-rare-green-flash-few-ever-see/ Sat, 01 Aug 2026 15:39:47 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=575405 Once daylight returns after roughly 90 seconds of totality, the show may still reveal an emerald encore. Mallorca’s low sunset could produce a flash so brief and elusive that Jules Verne even sent a heroine around Scotland to find it. Mallorca’s glimpse at the anomaly would arrive at sunset The partial eclipse will begin in Palma at 7.38pm on Wednesday August 12, according to Spain’s National…

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]]> Is the song you’re listening to AI or a human? https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/07/28/is-the-song-youre-listening-to-ai-or-a-human/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:57:28 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=575090 AI music is taking the music industry and platforms by storm. Its melodies are flawless, can give a moody vocal performance that resembles Billie Eilish, and can create a song in pretty much any style the prompter likes. With the vast choice of platforms people now have to upload their own music daily, anyone can create a fake AI persona, make a few songs with services like Suno or Udio…

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]]> The Tour de France has a secret team with one very unusual job https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/07/04/the-tour-de-france-has-a-secret-team-with-one-very-unusual-job/ Sat, 04 Jul 2026 21:00:45 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=573110 As the Tour de France begins in Barcelona, one unusual team has a job very few viewers ever think about. Before the cyclists and TV cameras arrive, they search the roads for giant penises painted on the tarmac and make them disappear. Patrick Dancoisne, a 65-year-old retired undertaker from north-eastern France, has spent 15 years working what may be the Tour’s strangest shift.

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]]> World Cup ‘miracle’ leaves social media baffled as Colombian fans leap from wheelchairs to celebrate goal https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/06/19/world-cup-miracle-leaves-social-media-baffled-as-colombian-fans-leap-from-wheelchairs-to-celebrate-goal/ Fri, 19 Jun 2026 20:53:52 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=572009 Football has produced plenty of miracles over the years, but the latest viral moment from the Club World Cup may have prompted some fans to question whether they had witnessed something altogether different. A video shared widely across social media shows two Colombian supporters sitting in a wheelchair-accessible section suddenly springing to their feet to celebrate a goal by their national side.

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]]> FlixBus revives Poland’s controversial 666 bus route to Hel after years of religious backlash https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/06/07/flixbus-revives-polands-controversial-666-bus-route-to-hel-after-years-of-religious-backlash/ Sun, 07 Jun 2026 08:50:27 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=570970 FlixBus has confirmed plans to relaunch the notorious 666 bus service from Krakow to the Baltic resort town of Hel this summer. The decision revives a route previously abandoned following continuous criticism from religious campaigners who linked the number to satanic symbolism. Passengers can board daily coaches departing Krakow at 6am and reaching Hel shortly before 8pm.

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]]> Spanish TV hosts left stunned by ‘most sunburnt men in Ireland’ comedy sketch after mistaking it for real news https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/29/spanish-tv-hosts-left-stunned-by-most-sunburnt-men-in-ireland-comedy-sketch-after-mistaking-it-for-real-news/ Fri, 29 May 2026 13:57:34 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=570406 A recent sketch from ComedyJOE, an entertainment section of the JOE Irish news outlet, has recently gone viral for an amusing reason: a Spanish morning talk show mistook the sketch for being real. The sketch, which was titled “Are these the most sunburnt men in Ireland?” and posted on Tuesday, May 26, features various men, JOE stars Ross McCarney, Ryan Carrick and Dan Casey…

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]]> Murcia police rush to rooftop after ”dangerous wild animal” reports in residential area https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/27/murcia-police-rush-to-rooftop-after-dangerous-wild-animal-reports-in-residential-area/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/27/murcia-police-rush-to-rooftop-after-dangerous-wild-animal-reports-in-residential-area/#comments Wed, 27 May 2026 17:09:30 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=570246 Residents in Molina de Segura (Murcia), contacted emergency services after spotting what they believed to be a dangerous animal on the rooftops of a residential area. The sighting prompted concern among neighbours, who reported seeing a large, unfamiliar figure positioned above the buildings. Several calls were made to the Policía Local, with initial descriptions varying depending on the witness.

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/27/murcia-police-rush-to-rooftop-after-dangerous-wild-animal-reports-in-residential-area/feed/ 1 Humanoid robot rental service does the housework for €130. Gatsby startup launches robot hire option https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/22/humanoid-robot-rental-service-does-the-housework-for-e130-gatsby-startup-launches-robot-hire-option/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/22/humanoid-robot-rental-service-does-the-housework-for-e130-gatsby-startup-launches-robot-hire-option/#comments Fri, 22 May 2026 12:12:42 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=569762 The Roomba was a great design but had its limitations. The Thermomix, a versatile, all-in-one multicooker and food processor, was a great help in the kitchen, even if it did take up too much space on the work surface. But the home tech everyone has been waiting for is the one that makes beds, fills the dishwasher, cooks the dinner, dusts and washes. Well, it was only a matter of time.

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/22/humanoid-robot-rental-service-does-the-housework-for-e130-gatsby-startup-launches-robot-hire-option/feed/ 1 Burglar hides from Dutch police under a laundry basket https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/22/burglar-hides-from-dutch-police-under-a-laundry-basket/ Fri, 22 May 2026 09:51:15 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=569748 Police officers from Zoetermeer in the Netherlands responded immediately to reports of suspicious activity near a residence in the Rokkeveen neighbourhood in south Holland on the evening of Tuesday, May 19. Multiple units, including uniformed and plainclothes personnel, conducted a thorough search of the area. Officers soon located a man in a garden corner attempting to conceal himself under a…

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]]> Famed for being the most handsome pin-up cleric on the Italian calendar, yet never been a cleric https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/20/famed-for-being-the-most-handsome-pin-up-cleric-on-the-italian-calendar-yet-never-been-a-cleric/ Wed, 20 May 2026 19:25:18 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=569649 Giovanni Galizia chuckles when he discusses his brush with unexpected fame through a Roman souvenir that has intrigued buyers for more than twenty years. Posing represented only a very amusing game, but his life followed an entirely different path, he reveals with clear amusement. He insists he forms no part of the entertainment or fashion worlds and maintains a completely ordinary job and…

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]]> Wild peacocks overrun tiny Italian village intimidating locals and terrifying children https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/08/wild-peacocks-overrun-tiny-italian-village-intimidating-locals-and-terrifying-children/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/08/wild-peacocks-overrun-tiny-italian-village-intimidating-locals-and-terrifying-children/#comments Fri, 08 May 2026 13:27:03 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=568614 Residents in Punta Marina near Ravenna are having to put up with the constant disruption from a booming peacock population that is now taking over the streets and turning into roaming gangs of aggressive birds. Numbers have risen continually since 2014 when just ten birds lived in nearby pine woods. Pandemic conditions allowed rapid breeding so that today around 120 peacocks roam freely…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/08/wild-peacocks-overrun-tiny-italian-village-intimidating-locals-and-terrifying-children/feed/ 1 Would you let astrology guide your next move? Why travellers are turning to the stars and what choosing Spain says about you  https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/01/would-you-let-astrology-guide-your-next-move-why-travellers-are-turning-to-the-stars-and-what-choosing-spain-says-about-you/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/01/would-you-let-astrology-guide-your-next-move-why-travellers-are-turning-to-the-stars-and-what-choosing-spain-says-about-you/#comments Fri, 01 May 2026 13:52:19 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=568055 Would you let astrology choose your next move? It’s a question more travellers are beginning to ask, as star signs, birth charts and astrocartography move from a niche interest into a mainstream travel trend, people are turning to the stars not just for insight into who they are, but where they should go next. Why are people drawn by the stars to Spain? Astrocartography is a type of astrology…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/05/01/would-you-let-astrology-guide-your-next-move-why-travellers-are-turning-to-the-stars-and-what-choosing-spain-says-about-you/feed/ 1 Switzerland has a new ‘King’ – kind of. Man exploits legal loophole to build an empire https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/30/switzerland-has-a-new-king-kind-of-as-man-exploits-legal-loophole/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/30/switzerland-has-a-new-king-kind-of-as-man-exploits-legal-loophole/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2026 14:33:30 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=567984 Switzerland has a new King. At least 117,000 square metres of Switzerland has a new King, as one aspiring monarch builds an empire through legal loopholes. In a surprising twist involving Swiss land ownership laws, pockets of Switzerland have been claimed by one man exploiting a little-known legal loophole. As debates grow around land rights in Switzerland, this self-styled monarch is building…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/30/switzerland-has-a-new-king-kind-of-as-man-exploits-legal-loophole/feed/ 1 Phallic flight fury: Finnish Air Force cadets in trouble for sky drawings https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/24/phallic-flight-fury-finnish-air-force-cadets-in-trouble-for-sky-drawings/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:29:46 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=567435 Finnish Air Force cadets have found themselves in serious trouble after turning the sky into their very own canvas, drawing “penis-shaped” patterns during a training flight. The Air Force cadets took off from Jyväskylä, located not far from Helsinki, for an early morning training session earlier in the month. The flight was expected to follow a routine operational route as part of standard pilot…

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]]> IKEA’s meatball lollipop is real, yes really real. https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/20/ikeas-meatball-lollipop-is-real-yes-really-real/ Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:21:11 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=566969 If you’ve ever looked at IKEA’s famous Swedish meatballs and thought to yourself ‘This needs to be on a stick’ then you’re in luck. IKEA has teamed up with Chupa Chups to create a limited-edition, meatball-inspired lollipop, a playful sweet that nods to the flavours people associate with the famous IKEA restaurant experience. The unusual collaboration started life as a funny April Fools’ tease…

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]]> Striking gold: man finds €30,000 gold bar in second-hand safe https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/17/striking-gold-man-finds-e30000-gold-bar-in-second-hand-safe/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 11:20:29 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=566779 There’s nothing quite as good as finding a long-forgotten fiver in your jean pocket. Except maybe finding a gold-bar bar worth more than €30,000 in a used-safe, bought online for just €15. That’s exactly what happened to a man in Germany, who quite literally struck gold when he opened his second-hand safe to find a bar of gold tucked safety inside a secret compartment.

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]]> Could robots solve Europe’s growing wild boar problem? Warsaw experiment goes viral https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/16/could-robots-solve-europes-growing-wild-boar-problem-warsaw-experiment-goes-viral/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/16/could-robots-solve-europes-growing-wild-boar-problem-warsaw-experiment-goes-viral/#comments Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:03:50 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=566664 Poland has come up with a novel way to get rid of packs of roaming wild boars from busy towns and cities, and it is both terrifying and hilarious to watch at the same time. Footage of a humanoid robot chasing a group of wild boars across a Warsaw car park has mesmerised audiences worldwide. Shared widely on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, the clips show the machine named Edward…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/16/could-robots-solve-europes-growing-wild-boar-problem-warsaw-experiment-goes-viral/feed/ 1 Viral mattress trailer siesta stunt on Spanish motorway causes laughter and double-takes https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/viral-mattress-trailer-siesta-stunt-on-spanish-motorway-causes-laughter-and-double-takes/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/viral-mattress-trailer-siesta-stunt-on-spanish-motorway-causes-laughter-and-double-takes/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:49:09 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=566311 Motorway traffic between Seville and Huelva delivered an unforgettable roadside moment recently. Drivers witnessed a car towing an open trailer piled high with mattresses from the Seville-based company 5Bed. Atop the stack lay what appeared to be a person taking a siesta face-up during the journey. Closer inspection revealed the figure as a highly realistic shop mannequin, fixed in place for…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/viral-mattress-trailer-siesta-stunt-on-spanish-motorway-causes-laughter-and-double-takes/feed/ 1 Senior pilot takes last flight on Boeing 757 on hair-raising low flyby over mum’s house https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/senior-pilot-takes-last-flight-on-boeing-757-on-hair-raising-low-flyby-over-mums-house/ https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/senior-pilot-takes-last-flight-on-boeing-757-on-hair-raising-low-flyby-over-mums-house/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2026 10:45:15 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=566298 Icelandair has reported one of their own pilots to the police after he flew a Boeing 757 at an unusually low altitude over a residential area during his final scheduled flight before retiring. Residents on the island of Vestmannaeyjar described houses shaking violently as the aircraft passed overhead on approach to Reykjavik. Flight FI-521 originated from Frankfurt and carried passengers unaware…

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]]> https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/12/senior-pilot-takes-last-flight-on-boeing-757-on-hair-raising-low-flyby-over-mums-house/feed/ 1 Scientists have accidentally been contaminating their own microplastic studies with their gloves https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/06/scientists-have-accidentally-been-contaminating-their-own-microplastics-studies-with-their-gloves/ Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:24:40 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=565846 In the world of science, researchers often expect the unexpected, or so I read once on a bumper sticker. But even seasoned scientists have been taken aback when their latest microplastic study began showing impossibly high particle counts. The mystery persisted despite careful handling, pristine samples, and hours spent double-checking equipment. Eventually, the culprit revealed itself in a way…

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]]> He used ChatGPT to sell his home – and walked away with €100,000 more than expected https://euroweeklynews.com/2026/04/03/he-used-chatgpt-to-sell-his-home-and-walked-away-with-e100000-more-than-expected/ Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:05:06 +0000 https://euroweeklynews.com/?p=565646 It sounds like an April 1 story, but it isn’t. A homeowner has managed to sell his property for around €100,000 more than estate agents had valued it – after using ChatGPT to plan the sale, tweak the property and write the listing. And it didn’t take months either. Within days of going live, offers were already coming in. At a time when many sellers rely heavily on agents to set the price and…

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