False alarm

One of Aesop's widely known fables is about the shepherd boy who cried wolf. After repeated unwarranted warnings, when a wolf actually appears, the disillusioned villagers no longer believe his cries and the town's flock is eaten by the beast.

Millions of people in Tokyo received a loud alert Friday that a "strong" earthquake was about to hit -- but it proved to be a false alarm apparently triggered by geological chance./dailysabah

Text messages and whooping alarms were sent to the phones of millions in and around the Japanese capital, warning: "A quake has occurred off Ibaraki. Prepare for strong jolts."

French police have cleared the entire area of the famous Place de la République square amid fears of a bomb in an abandoned car.

There are images of a dark green vehicle, left outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Toy rifle sets off alarm bells in hospital in south

NIS -- A pensioner who decided to take a toy rifle to his grandson receiving treatment in a hospital Nis, southern Serbia, "set off the alarm bells" there on Tuesday.