Pet names
A Brazilian legislator wants to make it illegal to give pets names that are common among people.
Federal congressman Reinaldo Santos e Silva proposed the law after psychologists suggested that some children may get depressed when they learn they share their first name with someone's pet.
"Names have importance," said Alves. The congressman "wants to challenge people's assumptions that it's acceptable to give animals human names," she said.
If the law is passed, pet stores and veterinary clinics would be required to display a sign noting the prohibition of human first names for pets.
Touchy, aren’t we?		 No more kissing
Russian politicians have been told to stop kissing each other. They've been told to stick to handshakes as the traditional Russian greeting takes too long.
Officials in the Moscow regional government are also said to be annoyed at local media using pictures of them kissing to make fun of them and entertain readers.
And they have now told all their officials to use only handshakes, arguing that the 'kissing ceremony' takes so long that a ban would make time for dozens of extra meetings a year.
Prim and prudent!
 
Dog's collar view
Japanese dog lovers will get to see the world from the perspective of their pets, with a digital camera attached to their companions' collars.
Toy maker Tomy will launch the 38-gram "Wonderful Shot" at a cost of 9,240 yen ($US87).
The company says it can take pictures via a remote control, letting owners "enjoy pictures from dogs' view". Or owners can put on a time switch, taking pictures at intervals of one minute to one hour.
A four-legged perspective!		 Paprika banned
Hungary has plunged into a national culinary crisis after its beloved paprika powder -- and any products containing the hot red spice -- vanished from shop shelves because of a contamination scare.
Thousands of Hungarians flooded a telephone hotline to inquire about food safety after the authorities said on Wednesday they had discovered traces of a toxin in some paprika samples at warehouses.
No gourmet food her for a while!
Food fight
A food fight has erupted in Taiwan's parliament as lawmakers, quarrelling over a massive arms budget, hurled their lunch boxes at each other.
"You've got no shame!" screamed Chu Fong-chih of the opposition Nationalist Party, after throwing a take-out box of chicken and rice at Chen Tsung-yi, a legislator from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who backed the special budget.
Chen responded by accusing Chu of sympathising with Taiwan's arch-foe China, and flung his own lunch box at her.
Legislators were meeting to decide if a proposed T$610.8 billion (9.9 billion pound) budget to buy weapons from the United States should be put on the legislative agenda.
Wasted missiles!		 No more ponytails
Iran has banned soccer players from sporting ponytails and sculpted beards as part of a campaign to prevent the spread of Western culture in the Islamic state, a soccer federation official says. The federation said those who defied the order ran the risk of being banned from the game.
"Soccer players with ponytails, hair-band and sculpted beards will be banned from playing or will be fined," Navid Majd, head of the federation's public relations office, said. The ban does not apply to long hair.
Many Iranians are obsessed with soccer, and soccer players are considered role models for younger fans.

No soccer fashion here!
Superglued to condom
A Romanian father-of-five needed medical help after he superglued a condom to his male organ. Nicolae Popovici, 43, told doctors he didn't want any more children.
The man, from Topraiser in Constanta county, already has five children. He and his wife decided to use contraception but the condom they bought was too big so he stuck it on with glue.
After making love, the man realised he couldn't remove the condom and went to his village's medical clinic for help. A nurse said: "He even said that he thought the condom could be used several times and that he wanted it stuck on his penis so he could use it again later. We barely managed to remove it in the end."
What’s greater – the pain or the embarrassment?

Tailpiece

A survey was conducted to discover why men get out of bed in the middle of night: five per cent said it was to get glass of water, 12 per cent said it was to go to toilet and 83 per cent said it was to go home.