Serbian village to erect Rocky statue

A Serbian village is planning to erect a huge statue of Rocky Balboa because locals are fed up with only making the news when their village gets flooded.

The village of Zitiste has suffered regular heavy flooding and landslides in recent years, and has gained a disaster-prone reputation.

But authorities now want to unveil the statue using Rocky as a symbol of the "abilty to bounce back every time you are knocked down".

They have also asked for help from officials in the US city of Philadelphia, where a monument to Sylvester Stallone's film character already exists, local daily Kurir reported. A spokesman for the newly created Association of Rocky Balboa in the village said: "We want to create a new image of our village because up to now Zitiste has only ever been talked about when we have floods or disasters here.

"We thought long and hard about what would represent our new image, and we came up with Rocky Balboa. He is a character who never gives up and even when he looks to be beaten he picks himself up and wins through."