News of the weird

Pig of a day: A boar weighing 961kg was the biggest ever winner in the 200-year history of a pig-raising contest in Taiwan. After winning, the pig was adorned with ribbons and worshipped with bunches of fragrant incense sticks at the Tsushi Taoist temple in Sanhsia, near Taipei. Then it was slaughtered, and will be served at a celebratory banquet on Sunday.

Appearances count: About 1,400 workers at the Superior Justice Tribunal, Brazil's highest court for non-constitutional matters, have received their first Monthly Appearance Allowance of between $1,100 and $1,700 - a newly instituted bonus for looking professional.

Lost cat: Firemen in Mexico city used lassos to capture a baby lion which had been found hiding under a car. "This rescue was very unusual," explained Israel Mendoza Sanchez, of the central fire service. "We usually only get calls for escaped birds. We took it to a circus but they said they didn't have any lions, so we took it to the Chapultepec Zoo instead. Maybe it was someone's pet."