The scorched carpet has been ripped up and replaced, the smoke-stained walls wear a fresh coat of paint, and the swimming pool where desperate refugees came to drink the stagnant water has been cleaned and refilled. But memories are not erased as easily. ”There were people sleeping everywhere,” the concierge, Zozo, recalled.

It’s not a book known for its comedic value, but look beyond the death, disease and destruction of the Bible, and lo, you will find a joke or two. That is the view of theological scholars who have gathered in Italy to try to dispel the idea that ancient Christians were a po-faced lot, who struggled for a sense of humour.

The Bush administration on Tuesday night withdrew its ambassador from Syria and expressed ”profound outrage” at the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. Amid rising tension over the death of the construction magnate on Monday, the State Department announced that it had recalled Margaret Scobey.

Just fifteen years ago, FW De Klerk altered the South African paradigm when he unbanned the African National Congress and released Nelson Mandela. In the years that followed, many other paradigms were shifted and other forms of statesmanship displayed as a transition was successfully negotiated. Two weeks ago, the Zimbabwean election date was announced by Robert Mugabe’s government. Can we expect statesmanship?