Our weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world: Lockdown does this to people. Hundreds of men and boys called Josh gathered in Lincoln, Nebraska to batter each other with swimming pool noodles to earn the right to be called "the Josh". So many Joshs turned up that it is now to become an annual event and who knows, possibly even an Olympic sport. The last Josh standing was a boy called "Little Josh", who said he was five. But controversy erupted when he was carried aloft and rivals noticed he was wearing body armour. And he also lied about his age. His father said he was four. When the Japanese town of Noto was given a quarter of a million dollars in pandemic relief, its leaders knew straight away what they should spend it on -- a giant 13-metre (43-foot) pink squid. The monstrosity/work of art -- opinion is divided -- has already become a tourist attraction, although critics are calling for the remote fishing port's councillors to pay for it out of their own pockets. "Why did this qualify for the grant?" one Twitter user asked, clearly miffed that none of its 10 tentacles were edible. Napoleon met his Waterloo in Belgium and since then the French have always had their doubts about their beer- and French fry-guzzling neighbours. Their worst suspicions were confirmed this week when it was revealed that the Belgians had stolen a near three-metre (seven-foot) strip of France. The land grab was blamed on a farmer who moved a 200-year-old border marker to increase the size of his field. Happily, war has been averted. Instead the mayor of the neighbouring French town of Lavaux has given him an ultimatum. "If he replaces the stone by the end of the week, we'll make no more of it," he told AFP. We now know where the Bidens' nippy Alsatian dog Major developed his taste for flesh. From Joe himself. The 78-year-old US president ordered himself a monster taco lunch on his first restaurant trip out of the White House, dropping in by surprise at a Mexican place in a nearby market. Biden chomped through four tacos and two quesadillas, one of them spiced up with chorizo and habanero salsa. And when his staff hovered that bit too close Joe jokingly growled, "These are my tacos!" In a major power shift within the administration, the First Mutt will soon have to share his masters' affections with a cat. Jill Biden told US television that the First Feline will be female. "She is waiting in the wings," she said. The First Lady insisted the first pets will not spend their days chasing each other around the Oval Office. In fact the cat might help to calm Major -- who was sent back to dog finishing school after he sank his teeth into several secret service agents. "That was part of his training," Jill Biden said. "They took him into a shelter with cats and he did fine." Californian Republican hopeful John Cox could also do with a period of reflection. He appeared at a rally with a half ton bear under the banner, "Beauty and the Beast". The beast, Cox explained, was him -- in contrast to the state's telegenic Democratic Governor "Gorgeous" Gavin Newson. "The beautiful politicians have failed California," Cox declared. "We need big, beastly changes to save it," he said with a huge Kodiak bear called Tag sitting beside him. California's flag features a bear but animal lovers were not amused, and made abundant and creative use of Cox's name to insult him on social media. bur-fg/nrh