A hunting dog accidentally shot his master in an over-affectionate greeting in the region of Dordogne, France.
His paw caught in the trigger of a shotgun the hunter was carrying, causing serious damage that led to him losing part of his hand.
The owner said later that he thought the Blue Gascony basset hound wanted "to give me a cuddle".
He added that he blamed only himself for not applying the safety catch, adding: "It wasn't the dog's fault. He's adorable."
Female flight crews
Players for Barcelona football club have asked for flights with women-only staff for Champions League games.
Stars such as Lionel Messi and David Villa are fed up with male attendants pestering them for autographs.
The club's official airline partner is Turkish Airlines, which struck a Dh36 million deal to carry the players.
The club says male attendants also try to talk tactics with the players when they are trying to rest.
The airline has agreed to handpick a female crew who are not football fans.
Forget Yale, go Miners
Graduates who want to earn big bucks should apply to an obscure mining college in South Dakota rather than Harvard.
A survey has found that students from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology receive an average annual salary of US$56,700 (Dh208,000) for their first job.
By contrast, graduates from the prestigious Ivy League college can expect only $54,100 (Dh198,000).
Escargot plan stymied
Customs officers in Scotland have caught a smuggler carrying snails as big as a man's fist.
The consignment of 36 giant African land snails was being carried by a Nigerian man arriving in Glasgow.
The man is said to have explained that he intended to cook and eat the snails, but officers say they could have carried serious diseases.
Lorries over burgers
Burgers cause worse air pollution than the heaviest lorries, according to research done by a university in California.
Cooking just one patty is the same as driving an 18-wheeler for 370 kilometres, says the study.
It goes on to report that the equipment used by burger restaurants produces damaging quantities of grease, smoke and combustion particles.
The researchers claim that these uncontrolled emissions cause twice the pollution of heavy lorries.
Bucks for botched art
After virtually destroying a celebrated 100-year-old mural of Jesus, an 80-year-old Spanish woman is demanding a cut of royalties from a flood of visitors.
Her botched restoration of Ecce Homo by Elias Garcia Martinez is so bad that the Santuario de Misericordia church in Borja is now a major tourist attraction.
Martinez says that since the church authorities started charging to view the painting, she should also receive a percentage.
She says that the international attention her failed restoration attracted has given her panic attacks and that she is entitled to compensation.