The vast majority of some 22,000 swimming beaches in the EU are clean and safe, the European Environment Agency said Tuesday. The EEA annual report for 2012 showed the water met the minimum standards required for bathing at 94 percent of all swimming beaches in the European Union. At 78 percent of the beaches, the quality of the water was found to be excellent, the top rating, with Cyprus leading the way as all of its 112 swimming beaches got the best review.

The giant inflatable rubber duck which has attracted tens of thousands of visitors since it sailed into Hong Kong two weeks ago was reduced to a sad deflated disc Wednesday in the city's harbour. Duck mania has gripped Hong Kong since its arrival, with locals and tourists flocking to catch a glimpse of the 16.5-metre-tall (54-feet) artwork, conceived by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

An inflatable bright yellow rubber duck six storeys high sailed into Hong Kong harbour on Thursday to the cheers of hundreds of people who gathered to watch the classic bathtime-inspired artistic creation. The 16.5-metre-tall (54-feet) artwork, conceived by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, dwarfed other craft as it was towed past the city's iconic skyline by a tugboat a fraction of its size. Since 2007 the duck has travelled to 13 different cities in nine countries ranging from Brazil to Australia in its journey around the world.

Lying face down in deep snow, naked, in bone chilling sub-zero weather is enough to make anyone think twice. But such are the extremes required to penetrate the mysteries of the "pirts" - Latvia's little-known and complex interpretation of what is known in other parts of the world as the sauna, banya, hammam, Roman bath or Native American sweat lodge. For Juris Batna, owner of the Lielzemes -- literally, 'Big Strawberries' -- pirts complex 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the capital Riga, there are no short cuts when it comes to the rituals of the Latvian bath-house.