Swallowing Money

A budget-conscious council in Austria has requested that swimmers stop swallowing water in a bid to save money.  
According to a survey carried out by managers at Vienna's 18 public swimming pools bathers are drinking 5,000 litres of chlorinated pool water a day.

Official Martin Kotinsky said: "A lot of water gets taken out in the material every time a swimmer uses the pool and it has to be replaced."

He pointed out that, as well as replacing water, authorities had to spend £20 on chlorine - £1.11 per pool.
The council is also targeting people who wear Bermuda shorts to go bathing.
Tests revealed that the average wearer takes 2.5 litres of water with them trapped in their swimwear every time they get out of the pool.
Mr Kotinsky said: "A lot of water gets taken out in the material every time a swimmer climbs in and out. That means that for every 1,000 visits to the pool we lose 2,500 litres of water."
Complaints about shrinking pools come amid heatwave in Austria that has boosted the number of swimmers.

Irish Penguin

A penguin was found waddling the streets of Dublin after a gang of pranksters stole her from the city's zoo.
Ten-year-old Kelli was said to be distressed by her kidnap ordeal after three men climbed perimeter fences and snatched her from her mate Mick. Furious zookeepers condemned those responsible, saying that the delicate birds could have died from the trauma. 
Eddie O'Brien, team leader in the zoo's east section, said the penguin was obviously traumatized when rescued but quickly settled back into her routine.
"These birds get stressed very easily when taken out of their environment. They don't react well to and it and it could have caused a heart attack," he said.
Gardai said three men broke into the Phoenix Park zoo at about 8am on Thursday and climbed into the enclosure.
The thieves snatched the Humboldt – native to parts of South America, including Chile – stuffed it in a sports bag, hailed a taxi outside the zoo and fled.
Gardai believe they told the taxi driver they had a rabbit in the holdall.

The Nutty Professors

Over a dozen monkeys used tree branches to escape from a Japanese laboratory surrounded with a 17 ft high electric fence, only to be lured back in by scientists armed with peanuts. The 15 monkeys escaped from Kyoto University’s primate research institute in Aichi Prefecture.
After escaping, the monkeys seemed unsure about what to do next. They sat by the gates of the research centre and were lured back by scientists carrying peanuts.
“It was an incredible escape and the first time something like this has ever happened,” Daily Telegraph quoted Hirohisa Hirai, deputy head of the institute, as saying.

Hot Relaxation

A "motivation day" organized by one of Italy's biggest real estate agencies has ended in tears and injuries when nine staff had to be treated in hospital after walking barefoot on a bed of hot coals. Alessandro Di Priamo, a motivational trainer for companies, said that the nine salespeople from the Tecnocasa agency had suffered light burns and none were seriously hurt. Doctors said the injuries could take up to 10 days to heal.
"Fire walking helps people overcome their fears, seek new challenges and understand that most of what they see as their limits are self-inflicted," Mr Di Priamo said. He said the hotel near Rome where the exercise was held used the wrong kind of wood and some artificial coal without him knowing. "I have done this job for 12 years with thousands of people and never had a problem. I myself walked first on that bed of burning coals and didn't feel anything - in fact that same evening I went for a 16 km run," he said.

Serafino Bisirri, the manager of the Villa Icidia hotel, denied responsibility for the incident. "If the wood wasn't the right sort, whose responsibility was that? Mr Di Priamo was the conductor of this particular orchestra. I mean, it's not as if I go walking on burning coals," he told the Guardian.

Hairy Treat

A jam made from Princess Diana's hair was sold out within days for about $7 a pot. Makers Bompas and Parr created the preserve for a surrealist exhibition at London's Barbican Exibition. The controversial conserve uses a speck of her hair purchased from a US dealer on eBay, the Daily Express reported on its website on Sunday. The jam could soon hit supermarket shelves after top retailers showed an interest in stocking it. Sam Bompas, who founded the catering company with school friend Henry Parr three years ago, said: "The milk jam takes a speck of Princess Diana's hair and infuses it in gin before it is turned into jam"