AUSTIN, March 15 (AFP) - Australian entrepreneur Mick Johnson is a firm believer in the principle that pressure gets people to focus.

BERLIN, March 12 (AFP) - A cow in Germany sparked a major police operation on Friday after escaping from a slaughterhouse, charging with horns lowered at police cars and passersby.

AIZAWL, March 12 (AFP) - A troupe of 10,780 tribal villagers in India's northeast set a record Friday for the largest dance ensemble in the world with a carefully choreographed routine to welcome in the summer.

NEW YORK, March 12 (AFP) - Instead of resting in peace, the body of a recently deceased man ended up in New York's equivalent of Purgatory: the city tow pound for illegally parked cars.

TBILISI, March 12 (AFP) - Georgian criminals could be swapping prison uniforms for cassocks under a new scheme to allow offenders to serve out their sentences in monasteries.

LONDON, March 12 (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II's gaffe-prone husband Prince Philip proved that at 88 he is as undiplomatic as ever, when he asked a young sea cadet if she worked in a strip club, newspapers reported Friday.

PARIS, March 11 (AFP) - A court ruled Thursday against three French pensioners appealing for ownership of Fouquet's, an iconic Paris restaurant on the Champs Elysees, in a legal battle that has gone on for half a century.

BERLIN, March 12 (AFP) - A cat in Germany escaped with just a burnt paw after travelling at speeds of up to 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour on the motorway under the bonnet of a car, Bild newspaper reported on Friday.

WASHINGTON, March 9 (AFP) - It's a terrifying image transfixing Washington: President Barack Obama's bruising enforcer Rahm Emanuel, naked, in a communal shower, berating a congressman over perceived political cowardice.

NEW YORK, March 9 (AFP) - An electric power button symbol inched past other entries to win New York's condom wrapper design contest, the city said Tuesday.