A woman stripped naked in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg and caressed a huge statue of the liberation hero as astonished bystanders looked on, local media reported Wednesday.

New York City officials are turning up the heat on Elmo, Cookie Monster and Statue of Liberty impersonators — Times Square costumed characters who often demand money for posing in photos with tourists.

The city wants to rein in a summertime spike in badly behaving characters, such as the Spider-Man accused of punching a police officer recently.

A top rebel chief in east Ukraine has banned fighters from swearing, saying it "spiritually demeans us and will lead our army to defeat,” according to a document published on a Twitter account used by insurgents.

Igor Strelkov, the self-declared defense minister of the unrecognized Donetsk People's Republic said swearing in public places by rebel gunmen would be considered "a serious disciplinary infraction".

Rats are on the rampage in the elegant garden of the Louvre Museum, so bold they romp on the grass in broad daylight, defying death threats from sanitation workers and scaring tourists.

The hot weather in Paris has brought many picnicking visitors to the garden, whose garbage is a feast for the rats. And they're getting help from animal lovers who dig up poison and feed them water.

An Australian airline apologized on Wednesday for a warning a flight attendant gave passengers who might have been flying high that there were drug-sniffer dogs awaiting them at Sydney airport.

Many of the 210 passengers aboard the Jetstar flight from Gold Coast city on Sunday night had attended the Splendour in the Grass weekend music festival at Byron Bay and were returning home.

Chinese officials painted a rectangular running track at a stadium as they rushed preparations for a visit by their superiors, state media reported Tuesday.

Pictures posted online showed the running surface had the normal oval shape, but the white lines marking out each runner's lane were angled at 90 degrees.

Britain's Prince Harry has followed his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II into the photobomb craze, giving the thumbs up in an image of acclaimed New Zealand rugby sevens coach Gordon Tietjens at the Commonwealth Games.

Just days after the queen was snapped beaming in the background as Australian hockey players Jayde Taylor and Brooke Peris took a selfie, the 29-year-old prince popped up as Tietjens was being photographed at the swimming pool.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says a "little bird" has appeared to him once again to assure him that his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, is "happy and full of love."

Maduro made the assertion Monday during a ceremony to mark what would have been Chavez's 60th birthday in his hometown of Sabaneta. Chavez died March 5, 2013.

Timberwolf the koala was lucky to be alive Monday after surviving a terrifying 88-kilometer (54.5-mile) ride down a busy Australian freeway clinging to the bottom of a car.

The four-year-old male, who survived with nothing more than a torn nail, was struck by the vehicle near Maryborough in Queensland state on Friday.

Visiting a museum may be the last thing on the minds of hardened insurgents in east Ukraine, but a group of them turned up at one in Donetsk -- only to make off with a World War II tank and two howitzers.

"They had written authorisation to take them away," said a bewildered guard from his sentry post outside the immense World War II museum in the insurgent-held city.