PARIS – From Mr Donald Trump showing class to bribery backfiring in Bulgaria. Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

Two Bulgarian transport inspectors have been sacked for demanding bribes from British pop star Robbie Williams’s tour convoy.

They asked to be slipped €500 (S$756) during a traffic check, resorting to Google Translate when the lorry drivers couldn’t believe they were being shaken down.

“They even asked those who didn’t have cash to go to an ATM,” police commissioner Lyubomir Nikolov said.

Traffic stops are a “gold mine” for corrupt Bulgarian officials, said organised crime expert Tihomir Bezlov.

“Robbie Williams is more efficient at fighting corruption than Bulgarian institutions,” joked one internet wit in the Balkan country, the poorest country in the European Union.

A German left a lottery ticket in his jacket pocket for six months, oblivious to the fact that he had won €15.3 million.

Like many in the Frankfurt area, the father wondered over the spring and summer who had won the big prize as lottery organisers put up posters looking for the elusive winner.

“I heard about it on the radio and thought to myself, ‘How stupid can you be not to collect it?’” he said.

It was only when he put on his winter coat as the weather turned chilly that he found the ticket from March.

“It never occurred to me that I could be the person they were looking for.”

He and his wife have sworn not to tell anyone about their win. But they are planning to splash out... on a new sofa.

US police thought they had their man when they saw a taxi make an illegal U-turn right in front of them – only to discover there was no one in the driver’s seat.