Indonesia’s Aceh province is to ban female passengers from sitting astride motorbikes as part of Shariah, or Islamic law.
Rules allow the regional government to regulate women’s dress and public morality.
Suaidi Yahya, mayor of Lhokseumawe city, said the ban was needed because the “curves of a woman’s body” are more visible when straddling a motorbike as opposed to sitting sideways.
Marketplace for disabled
A historic Yorkshire marketplace is to have its cobbles ripped up and replaced with modern block paving after they were deemed unsuitable for disabled people.
East Riding Council said the traditional stones in Beverley’s Saturday Market could “cause problems for visitors and residents with disabilities” and has ordered crews to dig them.
English Heritage urged the council to keep the cobbles, which historians believe are at least 175 years old and probably date back to the 1700s.
Kitten swallows TV aerial
A kitten had a lucky escape after he swallowed a 15-centimetre TV aerial and survived.
Alphie required emergency surgery when the metal antenna became lodged in his oesophagus and stomach. Owner Vanessa Waite, 36, of Parson Cross, Sheffield, had only owned the young tabby for a few days when he started his love affair with the TV.
Whales ‘escape ice trap’
About a dozen killer whales that were trapped under sea ice appear to have reached safety after the floating ice shifted on Canada’s Hudson Bay.
Two hunters from Inukjuak village reported the water had opened up around the area where the cornered whales had been bobbing frantically for air. Locals said the mammals were trapped around a truck-sized breathing hole for at least two days.
Villagers snapped photos and shot video footage of the killer whales surfacing in the opening and thrusting themselves skyward while gasping for air.
Newborn giant anteater
A rare and endangered baby giant anteater has been born in captivity in the UK.
The tiny youngster, whose gender is not yet known, is only the second of the species ever to be born at Chester Zoo in Cheshire.
The baby will cling to its mother’s back for approximately six months until it is ready to walk, explore and find food on its own. Parents Pedro and Bliss, both aged three, arrived in 2010 as part of an international breeding programme.
Alligator guards hash stash
Police in California who entered a man’s house for a probation check found a stash of marijuana guarded by a five-foot long alligator.
Officers found 15 kilos of marijuana and the alligator in a tank in the bedroom. Assif Mayr was arrested and held in jail on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale.
The alligator was taken to Oakland Zoo.