From an off-the-scale honour for a heavy metal icon to how love blinds us all, here is your weekly round-up of offbeat stories from around the world.

Love comes with handcuffs

Two Peruvian women who thought they were being serenaded by Valentine’s Day secret admirers fell straight into the arms of police sent to arrest them for dealing drugs.

An officer dressed as a giant teddy bear held up gifts outside the women’s Lima home, while another waved a heart-covered sign saying: “You are my reason to smile.”

But love can be deceiving. When one of the excited women rushed downstairs, the cuddly bear pinned her to the ground. The stunned second woman was arrested inside, where hundreds of drugs packages were seized.

“It was a surprise operation for them as part of the day of love,” the disguised officer later told AFP.

It is not the first time that Peruvian police have dressed up to fool suspects. In December, officers disguised as Santa Claus and his elves carried out another drug bust in the capital.

Lizard king

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, 65, is now more than just a rock dinosaur, he is a lizard as well. A newly discovered reptile has been named after the ageing British heavy metal star.

In keeping with the flamboyant style of his namesake, Enyalioides dickinsoni has an orange head with a green body, although he is a lot more camera-shy than his human counterpart.

Scientists named the lizard, who lives in the Peruvian rainforest, in Dickinson’s honour to thank him for his work for endangered species, according to the Journal Of Vertebrate Biology, and because “Iron Maiden is a popular band among taxonomists and museum curators”.

But before he gets too puffed up, the late Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister of Motorhead still has bragging rights, having had one of the most dangerous dinosaurs named after him.

Lemmysuchus – Latin for Lemmy’s crocodile – was “one of the largest coastal predators of its time” and was the nastiest Jurassic crocodile, say experts.

Italian driving advice

An Italian government video warning young drivers not to use their phones at the wheel rather backfired when viewers spotted that one of the actors was not wearing a seatbelt.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini launched the drive only to be quickly pulled up on X, formerly known as Twitter, by opposition MP Giulia Pastorella.

“Matteo Salvini, the young woman forgot to buckle up,” she wrote.

Pressed by AFP, the Italian Transport Ministry acknowledged a “possible mistake”.

Oh no, Joe

What with his son Hunter, United States President Joe Biden has probably had his fill of embarrassing relatives.

But with an election looming, historical detectives have landed him with another – his great-great-grandfather Moses Robinette.

The Union army veterinary surgeon was court martialled during the American Civil War for stabbing a man during a late-night brawl.

But he cannot have been all bad as his outraged fellow officers petitioned the White House, saying he had acted in self-defence, and Abraham Lincoln eventually pardoned him.

Clerical error

And finally, a Spanish priest has been suspended by the Catholic Church there after being accused of selling drugs including Viagra.

Spanish media said the cleric, from Don Benito town in the western Extremadura region, was involved in trafficking aphrodisiacs and narcotics with a second man said to be his lover. AFP