Mircea Caraman

On July 19–21, 2001, over 200,000 people took to the streets of Genoa to protest against the ongoing G8 summit. Anti-globalization activists clashed with the police, with 23-year-old protester Carlo Giuliani shot dead after confronting a police vehicle. In the aftermath, the police organized a night raid on the Diaz high school, where around a hundred people between unarmed protesters—mostly students—and independent reporters who documented the police brutality during the protests had took shelter. What happened next was called by Amnesty International "the most serious breach of civil liberties in a democratic Western country since World War II."

Jailed for his reckless driving, rambunctious Mr. Toad has to escape from prison when his beloved Toad Hall comes under threat from the wily weasels, who plan to build a dog food factory on the very meadow sold to them by Toad himself.

A young teenager wins a contest for a "Medieval Adventure" from a soda company. The winners, plus a film crew from the soda company arrive at the castle for the adventure. During the night, a spell cast over 600 years prior brings the castle and all the people in it back to 1383. The evil Lord Raykin plans on retrying to take the castle. It is up to the group to stop him, and thereby return to the 20th century. They enlist the help of the former court magician, Percival, to help them.

As the millenium draws near, an evil being awakens. Fused to an ancient Talisman for centuries — Theriel, the Black Angel is summoned from his resting place to usher in the end of the world. The ghastly messenger must claim seven human sacrifices to complete the ritual and open the gates of Hell. Two teens have been chosen to assist the angel in its deadly mission, yet they alone are the world's only hope for salvation.

Reclusive mathematician Stephen Ezard returns to England after years in China, finds his brother's widow, and becomes entangled in a plot involving a new national database (TIA) and a terrorist scheme.