Record-breakers in the news today

Facebook has taken the wraps off a new search function dubbed "Graph Search" that indexes the social network by people, photos, places and interests as it looks to boost user engagement on the site.

The new feature will allow users to make queries on the site such as "photos of my friends in 2001", "restaurants nearby" or "who are my friends who like Guinness World Records".

Facebook currently holds the Guinness World Records title for largest online social network, boasting one billion monthly active users as of 4 October 2012, with more than 140 billion "friend" connections between them, and over 219 billion photos having been uploaded to the site.

Meanwhile, investigations are under way to try to find out how beefburgers on sale in UK and Irish Republic supermarkets became contaminated with horsemeat.

Irish food safety officials, who carried out tests two months ago, said the products had been stocked by a number of major supermarket chains across the UK.

The world's rarest horse breed is the Abaco Barb. By July 2010, only five individuals existed, all of which were apparently infertile. Once common in the Bahamas, the breed's demise is believed to be due to hunting for food and sport, as well as to poisoning by farming pesticides.

To Italy, where the mayor of the Sicilian town of Corleone, famous for its connections to the Cosa Nostra mafia, has apologised to victims of the criminal network.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the arrest of Cosa Nostra head Toto' 'the Beast' Riina, Mayor Lea Savona said the town no longer belonged to the mafia and urged those who still formed part of the structure to hand themselves in.

Marlon Brando's personal 173-page film script from Mafia-themed movie classic The Godfather (USA 1972) sold for US$312,800 (then £175,418) to an anonymous bidder at Christie's, New York, USA, on 30 June 2005 - making it the world's most expensive script from a film.

Finally, Police in the UK have launched an appeal for information after a limited edition Ferrari worth £230,000 was stolen in a daring robbery from a showroom in Surrey.

The 458 Italia, the only car of its kind in the country, was taken by thieves equipped with angle grinders who cut their way into the dealership's secure compound where the supercar was parked.

The world's most expensive car is a vintage 1963 Ferrari 250 GT, sold to UK radio star Chris Evans for £12,000,000 ($17,275,000 million) on 14 May 2010.

The car, which has a top speed of 174mph, five manual gears and does zero to 60 in 6.1 seconds, is one of only 36 ever produced.