A selection of odd stories from around the world
Brussels: A cat running loose on a Belgian flight attacked a pilot and forced the crew to turn back to the airport. "Gin" broke out of its cage about 20 minutes after take-off and ran to the cockpit where it scratched the co-pilot.
The flight, with 62 crew and passengers, had left Brussels for Vienna on Monday when the cat, a prized animal that travels to cat shows around the world, started wandering around the cabin.
San Francisco: A man required to wear a signboard stating "I stole mail. This is my punishment", outside a San Francisco post office was reasonably sanctioned, a US federal court said on Monday. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's order that required mail thief Shawn Gementera to wear the sign, noting the public humiliation was intended to "break" him of the illusion that he had committed a victimless crime.
Gaborone: Botswana wants to extend the use of corporal punishment so criminals can be beaten instead of going to jail. It already uses corporal punishment for minor crimes, but its scope will be widened if a new Bill becomes law. The Bill would allow courts to sentence men under 40 to be flogged instead of serving time for minor offences.
Seattle: More than two dozen mothers staged a breastfeeding "nurse-in" at a Starbucks store in Maryland over the weekend in an effort to get the world's largest coffee shop chain to adopt a policy allowing breastfeeding in all its US stores.
Ms Lorig Charkoudian, who organised the event, said she began her quest a month ago when she was nursing her 15-month-old daughter at the store in Silver Spring, Maryland, and was asked by a Starbucks employee to cover up with a blanket or breastfeed in the bathroom.