A new sandal from designer Paul Smith based on a traditional Pakistani style has amused shopkeepers in its "hometown" Peshawar -- both for its $500 price tag and what they say is its outdated look.

Pakistan's chattering classes took to social media on Monday to berate the fashion house for "stealing" the design of Peshawari chappals for its "Robert" sandal, priced at 300 pounds ($500).

A conservation group has teamed up with the Canadian tax man to offer deductions for land donations to help lovelorn moose.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is looking for land along the border between the country's easternmost Nova Scotia and New Brunswick provinces to create a corridor wildlife can wander through.

A 22-pound (10-kilo) Himalayan cat attacked a baby boy and then took a U.S. family hostage in their apartment, forcing them to call 911 to get police help.

The ferocious feline first went for the seven-month-old baby, prompting owner Lee Palmer to kick the animal up the backside, but that served only to antagonize it further.

As part of trade talks, the European Union wants to ban the use of European names like Parmesan, feta and Gorgonzola on cheese made in the United States.

The argument is that the American-made cheeses are shadows of the original European varieties and cut into sales and identity of the European cheeses. The Europeans say Parmesan should only come from Parma, Italy, not those familiar green cylinders that American companies sell. Feta should only be from Greece, even though feta isn't a place. The EU argues it "is so closely connected to Greece as to be identified as an inherently Greek product."

Sri Lanka's new executioner panicked after seeing the country's main gallows for the first time and has since gone AWOL leaving the authorities hanging, the top prison official said Tuesday.

Commissioner-General of Prisons Chandrarathna Pallegama said their new employee reported for duty earlier this month, but freaked out after seeing the execution site on Thursday.

On a chilly morning last weekend, a 57-year-old Japanese man adjusted his diving mask before heading out to sea from the tsunami-hit northeast coast.

Yasuo Takamatsu is learning to scuba dive in hopes of finding the remains of his wife.

A Japanese budget airline has flown into rough air over its decision to outfit flight attendants in revealing mini-skirts, drawing criticism that it could invite sexual harassment.

Skymark Airlines came under fire from the cabin crew's labor union, which said the super-short skirt -- with a distinctively swinging sixties look -- barely covers wearers' thighs.

A two-year-old poodle called Ricky won the Best in Show award at Britain's Crufts festival, the world's largest annual dog show that this year attracted more than 21,000 entrants.

Ricky, from Preston in north west England, will now retire from UK competitions, his owner revealed on Sunday.

Australian police on Monday said they had arrested a man after a drone allegedly carrying drugs was seen "hovering in the vicinity of a prison".

Victoria state police said the unmanned aerial vehicle, which was carrying a small quantity of drugs, was found near the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Melbourne's west on Sunday.

It's taken him 12 years, but an amateur art historian from Texas reckons he's solved the mystery of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, five centuries after it was immortalized by Leonardo da Vinci.

In a just-published book, "The Lady Speaks: Uncovering the Secrets of the Mona Lisa," William Varvel argues that La Gioconda was a 16th-century feminist who favored a greater role for women in the Catholic church.