Annoyed by a stream of unwanted kisses, Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo warned overzealous male fans and supporters on Wednesday that to avoid embarrassment they should not pucker up in her direction. ”I do not want to be kissed by any man but my husband,” she told a meeting in Laguna province.
Bosnian forensic teams have exhumed 59 bodies including 18 children, believed to be Serb civilians, from a mass grave in the north-east of the country, a forensic expert said on Wednesday. So far about 18 000 bodies have been exhumed from more than 300 mass graves throughout the country.
Italian men, who have revelled in their reputation as hotblooded Lotharios, are no longer the lovers of legend, according to a survey of 1 200 men on the country’s favourite beaches. In the sample of men aged between 16 and 35, 87% admitted that they lacked the confidence to chat up women and were ”paralysed by the fear of being refused”.
United States President George Bush turned on Tuesday to a Republican congressman with intelligence expertise to lead the CIA through an era of change following the September 11 terror attacks. If approved by the Senate, Porter Goss (65), a former CIA operative and leader of the House intelligence committee, will be responsible for restructuring the CIA after failures of intelligence on the September 11 attacks and the Iraq war.
The informal sector features prominently in many discussions about Africa’s economic health. Some say it should be encouraged. After all, it’s a lot better than having citizens turn to crime in their effort to survive. But in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where an an average of 100 000 vendors operates, some people have a different view.
Nigeria’s external debt stood at ,92-billion at the end of last year, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday. Nigeria owes ,47-billion dollars, 83,45% of its total debt, to the Paris Club of creditor nations, ,04-billion to multilateral institutions and ,44-billion to the London Club.
Armed militias are continuing to commit atrocities against civilians in Sudan’s troubled western region of Darfur despite claims by Khartoum that the situation has improved, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. HRW said that instead of disarming the Janjaweed militias, Khartoum has begun incorporating them into the police force.
Fans of Alicia Keys keep calling her number, but only JD Turner of Statesboro picks up the phone. Turner has the same number that Keys references in her love song Diary. ”I get 20 to 25 calls a day,” Turner said. ”Sometimes at 4:30am, and they say, ‘I want to talk to Alicia Keys.”’
Andre 3000 is the world’s best-dressed man, according to Esquire magazine. ”He’s a complete individual,” Nick Sullivan, Esquire‘s fashion director, said on Tuesday. ”But that’s really the point.” Andre 3000 is the usually over-the-top dressed half of hip-hip duo OutKast.
The three recognised trade unions at Telkom, the fixed line communications monopoly, have united to fight retrenchments at the company. ”Solidarity, the South African Communications Union and the Communication Workers Union resolved in Centurion today [Tuesday] to form an alliance against Telkom’s plans to retrench more than 4 100 workers over the next three years,” said Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann.