A bus driver tasked with taking 50 Belgian tourists to a French ski resort got his GPS directions wrong, and made a 1,200 km (750 mile) detour, according to Belgian radio.

"There are three entries for La Plagne in France, and I selected the wrong one," the driver told Studio Brussel radio, the youth channel of publicly owned VRT, which organised the failed holiday.

An American oarsman aiming to row across the Atlantic to raise awareness for HIV/AIDs is preparing for the final leg of his odyssey after being attacked by pirates off the Haitian coast.

Victor Mooney, 49, told Agence France Presse he expects to set sail from Miami for New York within two weeks after the latest setback to his decade-long dream of rowing from the coast of Africa to New York.

An Idaho fugitive was caught Saturday after he made a post on Facebook inviting friends to join him at batting practice in Boise.

KTVB TV station in Boise says (http://is.gd/E5RXSw) that Caldwell police officers showed up at the softball field after seeing the post on social media and arrested 22-year-old Joey Patterson.

This Chihuahua could be headed to the dog house.

Transportation Security Administration officers say a woman's 7-year-old Chihuahua sneaked into her suitcase and triggered a luggage screening alert at New York's LaGuardia Airport last week.

Authorities say a man who allegedly stole a woman's car during their first date last month has been captured.

Waterford Township police say 53-year-old Gerald Tietz was arrested Saturday after the vehicle — which had the vanity plate "JSRYGRL" — was spotted in Cherry Hill.

Bad news for selfie-stick lovers. Museums in Paris, the most touristed city in the world, are moving towards banning the popular devices because of the hazard they pose for crowds and artworks.

Inside the famed Palace of Versailles just outside the French capital, guards are telling visitors to put away the telescoping rods that allow users to take a smartphone picture of themselves at a distance. A formal rule change will soon prohibit the poles outright.

A luxury hotel in central Stockholm came under siege early friday by an ill-tempered badger that refused to allow any guests in or out, forcing police to intervene.

"A crazy or stressed-out badger is preventing the staff and clients at a major hotel from leaving their cars, and from picking up their bags," the Swedish capital's police website said.

It's enough to make any self-respecting French gourmet spit out his lunch with disgust: a new report published Thursday showed the French are chomping nearly as many burgers as their cherished ham baguette.

The "jambon beurre" (ham and butter), a staple of the French diet for centuries, is fast losing ground in the fast-food market to the burger, according to the report by food marketing group Gira Conseil.

Police say someone removed faucets from the still-incomplete headquarters of Germany's foreign intelligence service in Berlin, causing a large water leak.

Police spokesman Michael Merkle said officials were alerted to the theft at the sprawling site on Tuesday. He couldn't say how many taps were stolen.

Authorities at a prison in cricket-mad India were busy installing cable television Thursday after a judge said they had to ensure inmates can watch the ongoing World Cup.

"Prisoners need recreation for a healthy mind," Judge A. K. Goswami said on Wednesday as he ordered bosses at the central prison in the city of Guwahati to install cable TV within the next five days.