Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Sack-o-flour causes airport scare ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 23 (UPI) -- HazMat crews rushed to Albany (N.Y.) International Airport to inspect a suspect package on a United Express plane that turned out to be African rice flour. Advertisement The open bag of white powder was discovered by ground crew as they unloaded the plane that had just arrived from Chicago Wednesday, Capital News 9, Albany, reported. The owner of the bag said it was rice flour he bought in Africa for cooking, but that wasn't enough for airport officials. "The owner had told us it is a rice powder used in baking that he was bringing back in the country," airport spokesman Doug Myers said. "The owner feels that it isn't a dangerous substance at all. But our protocol is it's still an unknown substance to us." The ground crew members who found the bag were decontaminated and the plane was put back into service. Advertisement Mexican city bans indoor nudity VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Villahermosa, Mexico, is cracking down on nudity, imposing fines and jail time for walking nude inside the home -- or outside. Beginning in 2005, residents will face a $121 fine or 36 hours in jail for taking their clothes off. Also banned are spying on neighbors, protesting without permission from the authorities and siccing dogs on people, La Jornada reported Thursday. The city council is going for zero tolerance. "We are talking about zero tolerance ... for a lack of morality," said city councilwoman Blanca Estela Pulido of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which governs the city and Tobasco state. One opposition member noted a Catch 22 to the law: If people report their neighbor for walking around maked, they can be prosecuted for spying on them. Little lizard grows up into big gator EDINBURGH, Scotland, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- An Edinburgh man got nipped when Scottish authorities answered his ad seeking a new home for his 5-foot pet alligator. Anthony Quinn told investigators he bought the spectacled cayman over the Internet thinking it would only grow to be about 12 inches. When it grew too large for his bathtub, he decided to sell it, the Daily Record reported Thursday. Advertisement Animal welfare workers saw Quinn's ads in a trade paper and set up a sting. Quinn was arrested when he went to meet with an undercover agent posing as a potential buyer. The giant gator was in his car trunk. Quinn pleaded guilty to keeping a reptile without a license, endangering people by not muzzling it and causing the gator unnecessary suffering. An animal welfare official said alligators "are not cute, but they still deserve to be treated humanely." Quinn will be sentenced in about three weeks when investigations into his background are finished. Royal Navy bans newspaper's hotties LONDON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Days before Christmas, British sailors have been ordered to take down pictures of pretty girls aboard their ships, The Sun reported Thursday. The tabloid newspaper was particularly indignant over the order by Royal Navy Vice Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugen, which specifically mentioned the paper's notorious "Page 3" girls, who often appear topless in full color. The admiral reiterated the longstanding policy on pin-ups -- regardless of the source -- are forbidden. To further dampen the holiday spirit, the Navy also ordered an end to all bragging about sailors' sex lives, the newspaper said.
