Videoblog

Albania police spent the Christmas holiday searching for four Santa Clauses who held up a jewellery store in the capital, Tirana. In a slick operation lasting less than three minutes, the Kalashnikov-toting robbers emptied the loot into their Father Christmas sacks and made off in a waiting Mercedes. Police said they had formed a special unit to hunt down the gang.

This is the video at the centre of furious controversy this morning. Italian cops in full riot gear remove their helmets in what was taken to be a sign of solidarity with the so-called ‘Pitchfork’ protesters – a heterogeneous group that includes farmers, lorry drivers and unemployed workers that on December 9 staged demonstrations, some of them violent, in numerous Italian towns and cities. It’s not quite as it seems because the protest had a distinctly right-wing flavour. One of the ‘Pitchfork’ demonstrations was joined by ‘Ultras’ (organised and often far-right football fans).

http://youtu.be/hhGnxnssChk

What is it about Rome and elephants right now? This is the second time in a month that an elephant has got out of a circus and roamed around on the outskirts of the capital. The last one wandered into a market and helped herself to a bunch of bananas off a fruit and veg stall.