Massive Lego mural for charity

A charity event in Switzerland attempted a Guinness World Record by assembling a mural from 300,000 Lego bricks.

The mural, which measures nearly 79 feet long and over 6 feet tall, was assembled as part of the Swiss Telethon, which raised money for people living with rare genetic diseases. The mural, assembled in Yverdon-les-Bains, depicts various locations in Switzerland’s North Vaud region.

The mural was designed and assembled by Brickmasterch, a company specialising in Lego-related events. The artwork must still be reviewed by Guinness World Records to officially earn the title of largest Lego mural.

Severed ear reattached after months

A Chinese factory worker had her left ear temporarily attached to her foot for five months after it was torn off in a workplace accident in Shandong.

Doctors could not reattach the ear immediately due to severe blood vessel damage, so surgeons grafted it on to the instep of her foot, where thin skin and suitable blood vessels helped keep it alive.

After months of healing, the ear was successfully reattached to her head in October following a complex microsurgical procedure.

Man sings Christmas songs for 42 hours

Dave Purchase, known as “Mr Toasty” from Gloucester’s On Toast sandwich shop, spent 42 consecutive hours singing Christmas songs to break the Guinness World Record.

He performed 684 songs, including classics like Jingle Bells and hits from Mariah Carey and Wham, surpassing the previous 40-hour record. Local choirs and festive visitors joined him at various points during the marathon.

The world’s longest expressway tunnel

On December 26, 2025, China reached another notable milestone on its already impressive list of infrastructural achievements.

It opened the world’s longest expressway tunnel — the 22.13-km Tianshan Shengli Tunnel — to the public, allowing people to travel between northern and southern Xinjiang in just 20 minutes, rather than several hours on dangerous mountain roads.

The Tianshan Mountain range stretches 2,500 kilometres through central Xinjiang, effectively dividing the Chinese province into a northern and a southern part. Crossing from one side to the other previously involved navigating winding roads at altitudes of up to 4,000 metres, and long detours during the winter, when these roads closed for safety reasons.

Chinese engineers took five years to build a giant expressway tunnel at an altitude of 3,000 meters, with temperatures as low as minus 42 C during the winter, in an area characterised by high seismic activity and complex fault zones.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 10th, 2026