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No sandcastles please, you’re in Italy
When in Capri, don’t wander off the beach in a bikini. If you go to the sea in Eraclea, near Venice, remember that building sandcastles is forbidden. And don’t even think about mowing your lawn at the weekend in Forte dei Marmi.
Emboldened by a nationwide crackdown on crime and a government decree giving them extra law-and-order powers, Italian mayors have issued a string of often bizarre by-laws to enhance “public decorum.”
Public displays of affection in a car can earn you a fine of up to 500 euros ($745) in Eboli, feeding pigeons is off-limits in the centre of Lucca while in Novara groups of more than two people are forbidden from lounging around in parks at night.
Italian newspapers have dubbed this year’s holiday season “the summer of bans.” But this week one town hall was forced to acknowledge things may have gone too far.
Rodrigo Piccoli, 33, called national radio to protest after he was fined 50 euros for lying down in a park in the northern city of Vicenza to read a book. The mayor has since promised to drop the ban.
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Abandoned baby found safe with dog
A newborn baby abandoned outdoors in winter by her 14-year-old mother was found safe in a dog pen with a mother dog and her brood of puppies near the city of La Plata, Argentine media reported on Friday.
Farmer Fabio Anze found the naked baby girl on Thursday, being kept warm among his dog China’s puppies, La Nacion newspaper said. Anze called the police and the baby was taken to a hospital.
Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero hospital, told television and newspaper reporters that the baby was just a few hours old when she was found, and was in good health although she had some bruises.
Nighttime temperatures are chilly but not freezing in the Southern Hemisphere winter in the rural area around La Plata, 40 miles (60 km) south of Buenos Aires.
Police said they had located the 14-year-old girl who gave birth to the baby outdoors during the night.
It was not clear whether the mother left her baby in the dog’s pen or whether the dog found the baby outdoors and carried it in to join her puppies. |
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Pair stopped at 108 mph re-arrested at airport
A man and woman who told troopers they were speeding to catch a flight when they were clocked driving 108 mph ended up in jail a second time — this time on charges of unruly behavior aboard an airplane, officials said.
The woman, 29, and the man, 42, both of Thorndike, were charged with criminal threatening, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and violation of bail conditions, after they were arrested Wednesday at Bangor International Airport.
Forty-eight hours earlier, the couple had been released on bail after speeding past an unmarked state police cruiser on Interstate 95.
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Alleged thief stuck under trash bin for 12 hours
A suspected thief trying to steal $10 worth of copper got himself into a stinky situation when he was trapped under a trash bin at a county landfill for 12 hours, sheriff's deputies said.
Deputies said Gibson Cook, 56, broke into the landfill, then got stuck as he tried to crawl under the large container. Landfill workers found him about 12 hours later with his legs sticking out from under the bin. Emergency workers had to inflate air bags so they could lift the bin to free him.
Cook was charged with trespassing and petty larceny, Deputy Wayne Kirby said. He was waiting for a bond hearing and it was unclear if he had an attorney.
"He's one of our local petty thieves," Kirby said. "But he has never been in a jam like this."
Break-ins at the landfill in Dillon, a town of about 6,400 people in the northeast corner of the state near the North Carolina line, have increased in recent months as thieves look for discarded scrap metal. But employee Charlie Brown said that in 27 years at the dump, this is the first time he's seen anyone get stuck. He said the copper under the trash bin could not have been worth more than $10.
"It was right disgusting," he said. "I wouldn't be under there." |
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Japan woman slashes passers-by
A 79-year-old woman slashed two women with a fruit knife near a crowded Tokyo railway station because she wanted police help after running away from a shelter for homeless people, police said on Saturday.
The victims, in their 20s, were only slightly injured in the attack on Friday night in a crowded shopping and entertainment district of the city. The elderly woman was arrested at the scene, a spokesman at the Shibuya police station said.
“I ran away from a shelter earlier this week and I don’t have money. I thought if I caused an incident, the police would take care of me,” the spokesman quoted the woman as telling investigators. She was carrying around 6,500 yen (32 pounds).
The incident was the latest in a string of such attacks that have unnerved the relatively crime-free country.
In June, a man who said he was tired of life went on a stabbing rampage in the crowded Tokyo shopping street of Akihabara, killing seven people and wounding a dozen others.
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Tailpiece
A wife arrived home after a long shopping trip, and was horrified to find her husband in bed with a young, lovely thing. Just as she was about to storm out of the house, her husband stopped her with these words: “Before you leave, I want you to hear how this all came about. Driving home, I saw this young girl, looking poor and tired, I offered her a ride. She was hungry, so I brought her home and fed her some of the roast you had forgotten about in the refrigerator. Her shoes were worn out so I gave her a pair of your shoes you didn’t wear because they were out of style. She was cold so I gave her that new birthday sweater you never wore even once because the color didn’t suit you. Her slacks were worn out so I gave her a pair of yours that you don’t fit into anymore. Then as she was about to leave the house, she paused and asked, ‘Is there anything else that your wife doesn’t use anymore?’ “And so, here we are!”
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