QUIRKY WORLD ... Thief makes a clean getaway with his haul ... of 35 cents

USA: New Orleans police are investigating an armed robbery in which the assailant walked away with only 35 cents. Two men, aged 33 and 29, were robbed by a man armed with a semi-automatic gun in the city’s Carrollton area.

No-one was injured. A police report gave no explanation as to why the perpetrator came away with such a small amount of money.

First-class freebies

USA: Cruise ship passengers have been hanging out at an Alaska homeless shelter to get free coffee and a bite to eat, but few have bothered making a donation, said one of the nonprofit’s board members.

Tourists in Ketchikan often stop by looking for a restroom, and some decide to stay longer, First City Homeless Services chairwoman Evelyn Erbele told the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly on Monday.

“If we have a snack, they’ll take the snack and they’ll sit there and watch TV,” Erbele said. “It’s called audacity, isn’t it?”

Chris Alvarado, the shelter’s services manager, said he sees why tourists come to the shelter, which is open from 8am to 4pm six days a week: “Sometimes some of the stores are not open really early, (so) sometimes people will come up here and get coffee and just hang out,” Alvarado said. While few of them donate to the shelter, Alvarado said it doesn’t bother him.

“We are for the homeless, but we’re also for the community, for anybody who needs a safe place to stay,” he said.

Prickly situation

ENGLAND: A Conservative MP has recalled when a hedgehog he brought into the House of Commons “did something terrible” in his hand before scurrying away.

Michael Fabricant said his decision to bring a hedgehog into the chamber was “completely out of order”, adding he believed the then speaker Betty Boothroyd would not have approved.

He told MPs about the incident as he urged ministers to protect the prickly mammal from being eaten by badgers.

Breakfast of champions

ENGLAND: Weetabix should be served for breakfast at all international trade conferences organised by one of the government’s departments, British ministers have been told.

Conservative Philip Hollobone labelled the food as a “great British breakfast cereal”, adding it should also be served at all early morning meetings held by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

High and mighty

ENGLAND: UK astronaut Tim Peake has told school children he has grown up to three centimetres during his time on the International Space Station (ISS).

Major Peake also revealed that there is a secret drawer of sweets and sugary treats on the station, as he spent 10 minutes being quizzed by youngsters from Ashfield Primary School in Otley, West Yorkshire, while he flew above them at 28,000km/h.

Unwelcome visitor

USA: An alligator wandered through a residential part of South Carolina and on to the front porch of a house before climbing up the front door and appearing to reach for the doorbell. The visit in Moncks Corner, near Charleston, was captured on video by Gary Rogers.

The alligator, which was several feet long, hung around for about an hour before it wandered back into the woods on its own.

Pole position

AUSTRIA: The last fireman’s pole in Vienna has been removed, marking the demise of a spectacular but potentially dangerous tradition. Firefighters’ spokesman Lukas Schauer told state broadcaster ORF that the only remaining remains in the Austrian capital’s firefighters’ museum, adding: “Stairs are safer.”