Hold My Vodka

Authorities in the Russian city of Orenburg have praised municipal workers from Africa, saying they outperform local employees.

Mayor Albert Yumadilov said the workers are willing to take on difficult and dirty jobs and even work on Sundays.

He also complained that hiring workers from North Korea would be too expensive, saying they wanted nearly 170,000 rubles a month — about $2,200 for street-cleaning jobs, roughly three times more than the city was prepared to pay.