From the Icelanders putting peas in their beer to the Italian whose arm -- and conscience -- was impossible to prick. Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- Oops! Wrong leg -

An Austrian surgeon has been fined 2,700 euros ($3,060) for amputating the wrong leg of one of her patients.

To make matters worse, she took two days to notice her mistake.

Unfortunately, her 82-year-old patient died before he could collect the 5,000 euros in compensation a court awarded him.

- This won't hurt -

An Italian tried to fool vaccine staff with a false arm to get a health pass without a jab.

Despite the realistic skin colour, staff were not fooled, and the man -- in his 50s -- was reported to police.

"The case borders on the ridiculous," said Albert Cirio, the head of the Piedmont regional government, if it wasn't so tragic.

- Smelly monkeys -

Their manners are shocking, but the guests of honour at a special banquet in the Thai town of Lopburi can't help monkeying around.

On the menu at the annual simian feast held at a temple was durian, the super pungent love-it-or-hate-it tropical fruit popular across Southeast Asia.

And the cheeky monkeys were keen to renew their acquaintance with their distant human cousins after last year's festival was cancelled because of the virus, stealing hats and giving the occasional bite.

- Long way home -

Hope is sometimes not enough. Our hearts go out to the footballers of Cayenne, who travelled over 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles) from French Guiana to be beaten 14-0 by second division Paris FC in the French Cup. 

It could have been worse, they could have been playing Paris Saint-Germain.

- Peas on Earth -

A beer made from tinned peas and marinated cabbage has become a huge hit in Iceland, selling thousands of cans in a few hours.

Ora Christmas Beer is inspired by the island's Christmas dinner, which typically features peas and red cabbage alongside smoked leg of lamb and potatoes.

Even brewer Valgeir Valgeirsson, who has previously made ales from dried fish, seaweed and even Christmas tree trunks, is taken aback by his beverage's success.

"I was surprised how good it tasted," drinker Hedinn Unnsteinsson told AFP, though it did have a pronounced smell.

His friend Thorsteinn Tomas Broddasonsaid he was looking forward to "cod liver oil beer next year." 

- Back in the USSR -

Nostalgia for the Soviet Union is no longer only a Russian affliction. With border walls and razor wire all the rage in Europe, the Cold War retro wave has also spread to Washington.

US defence chief Lloyd Austin accidentally called Russia the Soviet Union after a long flight to Seoul Thursday, warning of a feared "incursion by the Soviet Union into Ukraine" as Moscow builds up troops along its border. 

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Vladimir Putin read the AFP dispatch...