Islamic police in Indonesia's Aceh province have been issued with 20,000 long skirts and ordered to cover up women deemed to have broken Muslim dress codes.
The province on Sumatra island has banned Muslim women from wearing figure-hugging clothing such as tight trousers, under Islamic by-laws that have outraged less conservative parts of the mainly Muslim archipelago.
Vice and virtue officers in West Aceh district have been told that from yesterday they should ask women wearing the wrong clothes to put on the government-issue skirts on the spot.
" I will hand over some 20,000 skirts to the sharia police in West Aceh," West Aceh district chief Ramli Mansur said.
"Female offenders can then immediately change their tight pants to the long, loose skirts if the sharia police catch them." (AFP)
Monster giveaway
A dinosaur park with a monster problem is giving away a huge model brontosaurus to anyone willing to carry it off.
The colossal long-necked reptile is an unwanted attraction at Europe's biggest dinosaur park, Dan-yr-Ogof National Showcave Centre for Wales, near Swansea, which is running out of space.
The two-and-half-tonne house-sized behemoth is 30feet long and stands 20feet tall and is worth £20,000. Bosses at the centre plan to bring in a new model spinosaurus which looks like a T-Rex with a terrifying sail on its back. (PA)
Buried alive... under rubbish
An elderly US couple missing for three weeks were found alive buried under mounds of rubbish in their crammed apartment.
Chicago police said their home on the city's South Side was "packed from floor to ceiling" with garbage and may have to be condemned.
The man and woman in their 70s were taken to Jackson Park Hospital in critical condition. (PA)
Hard luck
A Pennsylvania man who won a $2,000 slot machine jackpot had to forfeit the winnings because he was under a voluntary ban from casinos as part of a state scheme for gambling addicts.
Under the self-exclusion programme, problem gamblers can choose to ban themselves from casinos for one year, five years or for life.
Banned players are charged with criminal trespass if they enter a casino and must forfeit any winnings. The money goes to a compulsive gambler treatment fund. (PA)
'Miracle' boy
A "miracle" boy who survived an infection that ate away at his body is to leave hospital after recovering.
Nine-year-old Kian Slaven spent seven months in hospital after developing severe appendicitis and had surgery 30 times.
The infection spread and doctors were forced to remove 35% of his skin, part of his bowel and infected muscle and fat. Kian astounded doctors at Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow with his recovery. (PA)
Little piggies saved
Two little piggies went to market - and very nearly ended up getting the chop.
The pair were hidden inside the coat of a man who threatened to slit their throats in the car park of Asda in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, according to their rescuers.
But one of the teenagers who found the piglets decided to step in to save their bacon. He tucked them up in blankets in a cardboard box overnight before handing them over to the RSPCA the next morning. (PA)
Newborn baby is alibi
Bronx resident Orlando Caceres tried rushing his pregnant wife Johanna Melo to hospital, but the mum-in-a-hurry couldn't wait and gave birth to baby girl Miah in the back seat, the Daily News reported.
Paramedics cut the umbilical cord in the street, then brought mother and child into the hospital, followed by the frantic father.
When Mr Caceres got out again, he found a $35 parking ticket. He's planning to fight and he has Miah as an alibi, the Daily News said.
"I think we have a pretty good case," he was quoted as saying. (AFP)
Mob memorabilia
A museum of organised crime is being planned for Las Vegas.
It will be housed at a former city-centre federal building once used as a post office and court house.
It held hearings on organised crime in the 1950s and the proceedings will be a central part in some of the displays. (PA)