Mayor says don't air your pants in public

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Drying wet laundry in public will earn residents of Cyprus' capital Nicosia a fine later this year as authorities launch a drive to clean up the city's image, its mayor has said.
The unseemly sight of underwear flapping in the breeze along narrow streets of the medieval city will be punishable with a 50 Cyprus pound (52 pound) fine as of October 1.
"Imagine walking along a road and having wet washing drip all over you... from someone else's underwear," Nicosia Mayor Michalakis Zampelas told Cyprus radio on Tuesday.
In a country which has almost uninterrupted sunshine all year round, most Cypriots hang their washing outside to dry.
Washing wardens will also be responsible for ensuring householders don't beat their carpets or rugs over balconies or throw laundry water into the streets, Zampelas said.

Baby rhino in plaster after mum steps on foot

BERLIN (Reuters) - A new-born baby rhinoceros in a Berlin zoo is in plaster after his mother trod on his foot one day after his birth, zookeepers have said.
Patna, born last week to mother Betty and father Belur, will have to wear a plaster cast on his left lower leg for up to five weeks to heal a broken leg.
The incident is not the first in the zoo, which now houses seven rhinos.
"In 2002, mother Betty, also born in the zoo, killed her first child by treading on the baby shortly after birth," said zoo keeper Ingolf Kastierke.
Zoo keepers had waited in keen anticipation of Betty's second baby, the zoo's second this year.
But the morning after birth they noticed the baby was limping and called in the vet.
"We assume that the mother had trodden on her son in the middle of the night," said Kastierke. Luckily the injury was easily treated and keepers expect a full recovery.
The baby has already put on five kilos since birth.
The zoo said only four or five rhinoceros are born in zoos in Europe per year.

Boy takes joyride on airport conveyor belt

OSLO (Reuters) - A four-year-old boy caused chaos at a Norwegian airport this week when he hopped aboard a luggage conveyor belt as if it were a merry-go-round.
Ole Tobias crawled onto the belt next to an unmanned check-in desk on Monday, continued unnoticed through a trapdoor along with bags and suitcases about his size, then passed through an X-ray scanner and into the luggage hall.
"It was just a moment of inattention and Ole Tobias disappeared," his mother, Ingvild Aakervik, told NRK radio on Tuesday. "I panicked and made the entire airport search for him."
She said Ole Tobias was not hurt and seemed to have enjoyed the ride, which ended abruptly when staff at the Aalesund Vigra airport in central Norway noticed the boy in the X-ray machine and pressed the alarm button

Strippers need naked pics for visas

Women wishing to enter Canada to work as strippers must provide naked photos of themselves to qualify for a visa.
The Canadian Embassy in Mexico says "stage photos during performances are required'', says Ottawa's CFRA radio.
Immigration officers are having to pore over naked pictures of hundreds of exotic dancers to keep imposters out of Canada.
In a memo to fellow visa officers around the world, officials said if a dancer passes the no-clothes test, they may then require a police certificate or medical examination.