A Swaziland chief banned women from wearing miniskirts and trousers at a two-day nomination process that got under way Saturday to select candidates for upcoming elections.

"I told the residents recently, that tomorrow they should dress properly, decently in line with our culture to show respect," Prince Mashila of Maphalaleni, a chiefdom about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mbabane.

Taipei zoo held a "baby-shower" party Sunday to celebrate the one month birthday of the first panda born in Taiwan as the cub continues to be a star attraction even though she has yet to appear in public.

Hundreds of children accompanied their parents to attend the party, during which a video featuring the baby panda's growth was screened. Guests were also invited to experience what it is like to feed a panda cub in an incubator using a replica.

A two-year-old boy has been mauled to death at his grandmother's house in a savage attack by a mastiff cross dog, Australian police said on Monday.

The tragedy unfolded on Sunday afternoon at Deniliquin in southwestern New South Wales state, with reports that the boy went outside to get an ice-cream from a back fridge and the dog, a family pet, followed.

Michelle Obama took to Twitter on Sunday to send her husband an affectionate birthday message -- and a gentle ribbing about the U.S. President's graying hair.

"Happy birthday, Barack! Your hair's a little grayer, but I love you more than ever," Michelle Obama wrote on her official twitter account, @FLOTUS.

Parliamentary officials in Britain want lawmakers to keep their hands off Margaret Thatcher's toes.

Authorities are considering roping off statues of former prime ministers, including Thatcher and Winston Churchill, because they are suffering wear and tear from legislators rubbing their toes for luck.

Mexico City prison authorities say they have quashed an attempt to smuggle a prohibited cell phone into a city prison in the coffin of an inmate's mother.

Prisoners in the city have the right to have the casket of a deceased parent or child brought into the prison yard so they can bid farewell to their relative.

Zoologists are baffled by the strange behavior of a troop of baboons at a Dutch zoo which have become inexplicably withdrawn, apparently fearful of an unseen threat.

"They became panicked at the end of the day on Monday, they were hysterical, not jumping around but behaving strangely," zoologist Wijbren Landman of Emmen Dierenpark in the northern Netherlands told Agence France Presse on Friday.

A Turkish man living in Germany has invented a Muslim prayer mat that takes the strain off the knees which, he said Friday, he hoped to now sell worldwide.

At first sight, the rug looks like other prayer mats, but it is designed with special cushioning for under the knees, feet and forehead, said Adnan Pirisan, 50, who himself suffered from painful joints.

An attempt to parachute British Foreign Secretary William Hague into an early political career was rejected as a "gimmick" by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, archives released on Thursday revealed.

Thatcher, who died in April aged 87, first came across Hague when he addressed the Conservative Party conference as a schoolboy.

New Zealand's two main islands have never been formally named due to a clerical oversight lasting 200 years despite being universally known as the North and South Islands, officials said Thursday.

The New Zealand Geographic Board said the names had appeared on maps since European settlement began in the early 1800s but had never been formally recognized.