Retirement Home Prepared for Prostitutes
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Distressed to find aging homeless women still working as prostitutes in downtown Mexico City, women's' groups are preparing a roomy retirement home to take 65 of them off the streets.
Rejected by their families and stripped of much of their earnings by policemen and pimps, the elderly sex workers say they have no choice but to keep working, sometimes for less than $2 a day or just a plate of food.
"I may have two or three clients a day but I can't charge what the young ones do. Sometimes I just ask for food or a hotel room," said Gloria Maria, a kindly faced woman of 74 who mostly sleeps outdoors in a grimy downtown food market.
Funds raised this week will go toward fixing the roof of a an elegant but crumbling 18th century building donated by the Mexico City government to serve as a retirement home for Gloria Maria and others.
Like many of her co-workers, Gloria Maria was raped as a teen-ager and fell into prostitution soon afterward.
Prostitution is not legal in Mexico but sex workers are tolerated, along with the shoe shiners, orange juice vendors and tamale sellers who clog the streets of big cities, creating a gray economy that absorbs millions of unemployed.
While some of these workers can put savings under the mattress for old age, or hope their children will support them, prostitutes often have nothing after a life of exploitation by pimps and paying bribes to avoid arrest.
Few are in touch with their families or children.
"Other people pay taxes and can retire with a pension. We are exploited by society then thrown away when we get old," said one lithe young prostitute, with long blond hair and funky platform shoes.
"We should have the same rights as anyone else," she said at a fund-raising concert for the retirement home Tuesday.
Organizers are collecting funds from private donors and hoping local companies will provide beds and help with improvements to the retirement home like painting, plumbing and rewiring.
The women will be expected to cook and clean for themselves and earn money through handicrafts to help with running costs.
The home is seen as a pilot project and the organizers realize it needs to be part of a longer-term solution for sex workers.
"Sex workers are doubly marginalized," said Emilienne de Leon, head of a local women's' rights group called Semillas.
"They are rejected by society and by their families. When they get old, either they sell themselves very cheaply or they don't have enough to eat. It's a very difficult world."
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AussieMark
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Land of the Rising Sun Wants More Daylight
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese lawmakers held a rally and made a push for daylight savings time on Friday, saying that it was time the land of the rising sun had more daylight.
Members of a multi-party group of lawmakers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in favor of the system gathered near the parliament and vowed to pass a "summer time" bill through the current session of the national assembly.
Lawmakers had given up submitting legislation in the past, judging that public opinion was divided on the issue, but they are determined this time and their rallying cry is the environment.
"In this 21st century, we must protect the precious environment we call the earth," Takeo Hiranuma, head of the lawmakers group told the rally.
"It is a grand undertaking we humankind have been given," added Hiranuma, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The bill says Japan would introduce summer time by setting clocks forward an hour the first Sunday in April, and back an hour the last Sunday of October.
On June 22, the longest day of the year, the sun sets in Tokyo at around 7 p.m. It gets light by 4:30 a.m.
The resulting extra daylight and cooler mornings will yield direct crude oil savings of some 930,000 kiloliters and 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, according to an NGO which took part in the rally.
In addition to the energy saved, the later nightfall would give people more time to spend with the family and may even lead to more consumption, the proponents said.
"People will be able to enjoy life more, strengthen family ties, and by some estimates there would be an boost to the economy of some 900 billion yen," Hiranuma said.
But despite all the advantages, summer time still faces many hurdles, from people's fears that the time change would result in something akin to jet lag, to union worries of longer hours at work given unspoken mores that frown on going home before dark.
And even a greater hurdle is lingering bad memories from Japan's first foray into daylight savings, carried out under the U.S. Occupation, from 1948 to 1952. "There was a sense that it was forced upon us by the occupying forces," said Hiranuma, 65.
But he said a growing number of people were now in favor of summer time, adding that those who support the system had topped 50 percent in some recent surveys.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese lawmakers held a rally and made a push for daylight savings time on Friday, saying that it was time the land of the rising sun had more daylight.
Members of a multi-party group of lawmakers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in favor of the system gathered near the parliament and vowed to pass a "summer time" bill through the current session of the national assembly.
Lawmakers had given up submitting legislation in the past, judging that public opinion was divided on the issue, but they are determined this time and their rallying cry is the environment.
"In this 21st century, we must protect the precious environment we call the earth," Takeo Hiranuma, head of the lawmakers group told the rally.
"It is a grand undertaking we humankind have been given," added Hiranuma, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The bill says Japan would introduce summer time by setting clocks forward an hour the first Sunday in April, and back an hour the last Sunday of October.
On June 22, the longest day of the year, the sun sets in Tokyo at around 7 p.m. It gets light by 4:30 a.m.
The resulting extra daylight and cooler mornings will yield direct crude oil savings of some 930,000 kiloliters and 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, according to an NGO which took part in the rally.
In addition to the energy saved, the later nightfall would give people more time to spend with the family and may even lead to more consumption, the proponents said.
"People will be able to enjoy life more, strengthen family ties, and by some estimates there would be an boost to the economy of some 900 billion yen," Hiranuma said.
But despite all the advantages, summer time still faces many hurdles, from people's fears that the time change would result in something akin to jet lag, to union worries of longer hours at work given unspoken mores that frown on going home before dark.
And even a greater hurdle is lingering bad memories from Japan's first foray into daylight savings, carried out under the U.S. Occupation, from 1948 to 1952. "There was a sense that it was forced upon us by the occupying forces," said Hiranuma, 65.
But he said a growing number of people were now in favor of summer time, adding that those who support the system had topped 50 percent in some recent surveys.
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AussieMark
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Will Heavier Manhole Covers Deter Thieves?
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Johannesburg will replace its cast iron manhole covers with heavier concrete versions that are more difficult to steal and have less scrap value to deter night-time criminal gangs, Johannesburg Water said Friday.
Spokesman Jameel Chand said that some nights as many as 25 manhole covers might disappear from a small area -- leaving residents at risk in areas with poor street lighting.
"We think it's syndicates operating, not just individuals. We suspect people come in with a vehicle," he said.
Scrap is big business in South Africa's townships, and scavengers with shopping trolleys scour roads and motorways everyday for anything salvageable. Chand said Johannesburg Water suspected the covers were sold and quickly melted down.
The new covers made mainly of concrete and polymers were heavier, easier to lock and -- most importantly -- had virtually no resale value, he said. The first covers would be laid in theft hotspots in the city center.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Johannesburg will replace its cast iron manhole covers with heavier concrete versions that are more difficult to steal and have less scrap value to deter night-time criminal gangs, Johannesburg Water said Friday.
Spokesman Jameel Chand said that some nights as many as 25 manhole covers might disappear from a small area -- leaving residents at risk in areas with poor street lighting.
"We think it's syndicates operating, not just individuals. We suspect people come in with a vehicle," he said.
Scrap is big business in South Africa's townships, and scavengers with shopping trolleys scour roads and motorways everyday for anything salvageable. Chand said Johannesburg Water suspected the covers were sold and quickly melted down.
The new covers made mainly of concrete and polymers were heavier, easier to lock and -- most importantly -- had virtually no resale value, he said. The first covers would be laid in theft hotspots in the city center.
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AussieMark
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I Had Sex with Dogs for Their Sake...
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian man on trial for having sex with dogs claims he did it out of compassion for man's best friend, a Belgian paper said on Friday.
Daily Gazet Van Antwerpen said the 36-year old in the eastern Belgian town of Genk told the court he had sex with dogs "out of love for animals," since a lot of them can't have sex, especially those locked up in refuges.
The man, only identified by his initials, could face six months in jail if convicted.
He had worked in an animal refuge before and had also posted thousands of pictures on the Internet of himself having sex with dogs, the paper said.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian man on trial for having sex with dogs claims he did it out of compassion for man's best friend, a Belgian paper said on Friday.
Daily Gazet Van Antwerpen said the 36-year old in the eastern Belgian town of Genk told the court he had sex with dogs "out of love for animals," since a lot of them can't have sex, especially those locked up in refuges.
The man, only identified by his initials, could face six months in jail if convicted.
He had worked in an animal refuge before and had also posted thousands of pictures on the Internet of himself having sex with dogs, the paper said.
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AussieMark
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Woman's Scooter Blown Up in Security Scare
LONDON (Reuters) - Heidi Brown was told she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited to get license plates.
To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.
Police in Ipswich, eastern England, confirmed on Thursday that a moped had been blown up in a controlled explosion after local business people "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.
"The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building. We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it," said a spokeswoman for Suffolk police.
She said the surrounding office buildings were evacuated and three roads were closed off.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported the scooter belonged to Brown, a 22-year-old care worker, who said she had been told she could leave it there awaiting inspection.
LONDON (Reuters) - Heidi Brown was told she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited to get license plates.
To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.
Police in Ipswich, eastern England, confirmed on Thursday that a moped had been blown up in a controlled explosion after local business people "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.
"The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building. We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it," said a spokeswoman for Suffolk police.
She said the surrounding office buildings were evacuated and three roads were closed off.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported the scooter belonged to Brown, a 22-year-old care worker, who said she had been told she could leave it there awaiting inspection.
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AussieMark
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$27 Million Lottery Winner Rushes Back to Work
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's biggest individual lottery winner had no time to celebrate after becoming 20.4 million euros ($27 million) richer, because he was too worried about being late for work.
When the salesman, who was not identified by WestLotto, arrived Thursday to buy his weekly lottery ticket at a shop in the industrial Ruhr area he was told last week's 12-euro ticket that he hadn't bothered to check had won the jackpot.
The man's reaction left the lottery operator dumbfounded.
"After he was told he had won the jackpot, he said he didn't have time to chat because he would get into trouble with his boss," a lottery spokesman in the western city of Muenster said. Instead, he rushed off to catch a bus to work.
There were few details about the lucky man, a pigeon-lover in his 30s, except that he planned to trade in his rented apartment for something a little bigger in the country. It was not known if he would stay on in his job as a salesman.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's biggest individual lottery winner had no time to celebrate after becoming 20.4 million euros ($27 million) richer, because he was too worried about being late for work.
When the salesman, who was not identified by WestLotto, arrived Thursday to buy his weekly lottery ticket at a shop in the industrial Ruhr area he was told last week's 12-euro ticket that he hadn't bothered to check had won the jackpot.
The man's reaction left the lottery operator dumbfounded.
"After he was told he had won the jackpot, he said he didn't have time to chat because he would get into trouble with his boss," a lottery spokesman in the western city of Muenster said. Instead, he rushed off to catch a bus to work.
There were few details about the lucky man, a pigeon-lover in his 30s, except that he planned to trade in his rented apartment for something a little bigger in the country. It was not known if he would stay on in his job as a salesman.
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rainstorm
tropicalweatherwatcher wrote:I Had Sex with Dogs for Their Sake...
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian man on trial for having sex with dogs claims he did it out of compassion for man's best friend, a Belgian paper said on Friday.
Daily Gazet Van Antwerpen said the 36-year old in the eastern Belgian town of Genk told the court he had sex with dogs "out of love for animals," since a lot of them can't have sex, especially those locked up in refuges.
The man, only identified by his initials, could face six months in jail if convicted.
He had worked in an animal refuge before and had also posted thousands of pictures on the Internet of himself having sex with dogs, the paper said.
did the dogs complain?
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TexasStooge
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AussieMark
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Britain Woman Finds Freedom Laws Mean No Free Man
LONDON (Reuters) - When Britain introduced its new freedom of information laws, Angela Wright seized on them as a chance to find an unattached man in uniform.
Wright sent an email to her local police force asking about "eligible bachelors within Hampshire constabulary between the ages of 35 and 49 and details of their email addresses, salary details and pension values," the Guardian reported Saturday.
But police said the names and addresses were personal and exempt from the laws, which came into force in January. They were prepared to tell her, however, that the Hampshire force had 266 eligible bachelors, of whom 201 were in uniform.
"I was amazed that I was told that the information could not be practically released," said Wright, adding she had two reasons for making her request.
"The first was to amuse the (freedom of information) team. The second was to see what response I could get."
LONDON (Reuters) - When Britain introduced its new freedom of information laws, Angela Wright seized on them as a chance to find an unattached man in uniform.
Wright sent an email to her local police force asking about "eligible bachelors within Hampshire constabulary between the ages of 35 and 49 and details of their email addresses, salary details and pension values," the Guardian reported Saturday.
But police said the names and addresses were personal and exempt from the laws, which came into force in January. They were prepared to tell her, however, that the Hampshire force had 266 eligible bachelors, of whom 201 were in uniform.
"I was amazed that I was told that the information could not be practically released," said Wright, adding she had two reasons for making her request.
"The first was to amuse the (freedom of information) team. The second was to see what response I could get."
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AussieMark
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Woman's Scooter Blown Up in Security Scare
LONDON (Reuters) - Heidi Brown was told she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited to get license plates.
To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.
Police in Ipswich, eastern England, confirmed on Thursday that a moped had been blown up in a controlled explosion after local business people "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.
"The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building. We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it," said a spokeswoman for Suffolk police.
She said the surrounding office buildings were evacuated and three roads were closed off.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported the scooter belonged to Brown, a 22-year-old care worker, who said she had been told she could leave it there awaiting inspection.
LONDON (Reuters) - Heidi Brown was told she could park her new scooter outside the vehicle registration office while she waited to get license plates.
To her horror, it was blown up by the army after someone reported that it might be a bomb.
Police in Ipswich, eastern England, confirmed on Thursday that a moped had been blown up in a controlled explosion after local business people "raised concerns" that it could be a bomb.
"The moped was chained to the perimeter fence outside the building. We weren't able to identify whose vehicle it was because there were no license plates on it," said a spokeswoman for Suffolk police.
She said the surrounding office buildings were evacuated and three roads were closed off.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported the scooter belonged to Brown, a 22-year-old care worker, who said she had been told she could leave it there awaiting inspection.
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AussieMark
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Blessed Be the Cheese Sandwich Maker
LONDON (Reuters) - It's no ordinary toasted cheese sandwich.
American food guru Ruth Reichl called it the tastiest morsel she had eaten in the place she said was now the world's food capital.
And the praise she heaped on Bill Oglethorpe's designer sandwich in Gourmet magazine triggered a flood of visitors to his Saturday stall in London's trendy Borough Market.
"I would guess that my sandwich turnover has doubled since the article," Oglethorpe, 42, told Reuters while standing over a hotplate full of sizzling delicacies with a long queue of people waiting.
They are not cheap, but nevertheless they were selling at a rate of close to one a minute.
There is an art to the Oglethorpe sandwich experience. He takes two slices of Poilane sourdough bread, crumbled Montgomery cheddar cheese, matured for 18 months at 12 degrees centigrade, and tops it off with five varieties of onion and garlic.
"I came to London to see my daughter and her fiancee," said Jack Flynn from Maine. "But I came here to try one of these. The article was right. It is to die for."
LONDON (Reuters) - It's no ordinary toasted cheese sandwich.
American food guru Ruth Reichl called it the tastiest morsel she had eaten in the place she said was now the world's food capital.
And the praise she heaped on Bill Oglethorpe's designer sandwich in Gourmet magazine triggered a flood of visitors to his Saturday stall in London's trendy Borough Market.
"I would guess that my sandwich turnover has doubled since the article," Oglethorpe, 42, told Reuters while standing over a hotplate full of sizzling delicacies with a long queue of people waiting.
They are not cheap, but nevertheless they were selling at a rate of close to one a minute.
There is an art to the Oglethorpe sandwich experience. He takes two slices of Poilane sourdough bread, crumbled Montgomery cheddar cheese, matured for 18 months at 12 degrees centigrade, and tops it off with five varieties of onion and garlic.
"I came to London to see my daughter and her fiancee," said Jack Flynn from Maine. "But I came here to try one of these. The article was right. It is to die for."
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AussieMark
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Woman Kills Herself So Blind Sons Can See
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman committed suicide so her two blind sons could receive her eyes and see, a newspaper reported Monday.
But doctors say the chances of success are bleak, The Indian Express reported.
Thirty-seven-year-old Tamizhselvi's sons, Kumaran, 17, and Kumar, 15, have been blind since birth.
Doctors in the southern city of Chennai say Kumar's condition cannot be helped with a cornea transplant and also suspect his elder brother does not have a cornea defect.
"We had told the family earlier itself that a corneal transplant was not needed for the younger son," the Express quoted hospital official G. Seethalakshmi saying.
The family is insisting Tamizhselvi's corneas can only be used for her sons and no one else.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian woman committed suicide so her two blind sons could receive her eyes and see, a newspaper reported Monday.
But doctors say the chances of success are bleak, The Indian Express reported.
Thirty-seven-year-old Tamizhselvi's sons, Kumaran, 17, and Kumar, 15, have been blind since birth.
Doctors in the southern city of Chennai say Kumar's condition cannot be helped with a cornea transplant and also suspect his elder brother does not have a cornea defect.
"We had told the family earlier itself that a corneal transplant was not needed for the younger son," the Express quoted hospital official G. Seethalakshmi saying.
The family is insisting Tamizhselvi's corneas can only be used for her sons and no one else.
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AussieMark
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Ceausescu's Daughter Wants Parents' Graves Dug Up
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The daughter of Romania's late Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu has called on authorities to prove her parents are buried in a Bucharest cemetery by exhuming their bodies.
Romanian media said Saturday that Zoe Ceausescu had made a request through a Bucharest court for the Defense Ministry to reveal what happened to Ceausescu and his wife Elena after their summary executions in 1989, following an anti-Communist revolt.
"I want the truth," Zoe Ceausescu, 54, told Romanian media. "None of the official documents verify they are buried in that cemetery."
About 1,000 people died in Romania's December 1989 revolt. Some historians say it was not a spontaneous popular uprising but an internal Communist Party coup to overthrow the dictator.
Television at the time showed their mock trial and execution by firing squad on Christmas Day 1989.
It also showed soldiers burying two covered coffins at Bucharest's main Ghencea Cemetery. Every January 26, Ceausescu's birthday, hundreds of die-hard supporters flock to the grave to light candles and sing communist anthems.
But Ceausescu's family has long doubted the couple, who were loathed for their megalomania and oppressive secret police, are buried there.
Zoe Ceausescu said she wanted the bodies exhumed, their identities investigated and, if they are Nicolae and Elena, to provide them with Christian burials at private graves.
She said she had information which contradicted claims by the Defense Ministry that her parents were actually there.
In 2001 Romanian communists demanded that Ceausescu's remains be exhumed because they suspected he may have been tortured. Authorities denied the request.
The government would not comment on Zoe Ceausescu's demands.
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - The daughter of Romania's late Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu has called on authorities to prove her parents are buried in a Bucharest cemetery by exhuming their bodies.
Romanian media said Saturday that Zoe Ceausescu had made a request through a Bucharest court for the Defense Ministry to reveal what happened to Ceausescu and his wife Elena after their summary executions in 1989, following an anti-Communist revolt.
"I want the truth," Zoe Ceausescu, 54, told Romanian media. "None of the official documents verify they are buried in that cemetery."
About 1,000 people died in Romania's December 1989 revolt. Some historians say it was not a spontaneous popular uprising but an internal Communist Party coup to overthrow the dictator.
Television at the time showed their mock trial and execution by firing squad on Christmas Day 1989.
It also showed soldiers burying two covered coffins at Bucharest's main Ghencea Cemetery. Every January 26, Ceausescu's birthday, hundreds of die-hard supporters flock to the grave to light candles and sing communist anthems.
But Ceausescu's family has long doubted the couple, who were loathed for their megalomania and oppressive secret police, are buried there.
Zoe Ceausescu said she wanted the bodies exhumed, their identities investigated and, if they are Nicolae and Elena, to provide them with Christian burials at private graves.
She said she had information which contradicted claims by the Defense Ministry that her parents were actually there.
In 2001 Romanian communists demanded that Ceausescu's remains be exhumed because they suspected he may have been tortured. Authorities denied the request.
The government would not comment on Zoe Ceausescu's demands.
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AussieMark
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Cathedral Seeks Truth Behind Da Vinci Code
LONDON (Reuters) - A British cathedral is on a quest to discover the truth behind Dan Brown's runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code.
Manchester Cathedral is hosting a Da Vinci night Monday, where experts including an author and theologian will field questions about the book, which has spurred anti-Christian charges.
"Everyone's fascinated by mystery, secrets and the dark side," said event organizer Canon Robin Gamble.
"This gripping thriller asks lots of questions: Did Jesus really die on a cross? Was the Grail the 'cup of blood?' Is Easter Day fact or fiction? And why does it matter?"
The Da Vinci Code is a modern-day quest for the Holy Grail, the chalice from which Jesus and his disciples are said to have drunk at the Last Supper.
The book says Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. But Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead. The story line has aroused anger among Christians.
The cardinal leading the Vatican's charge against the Da Vinci Code urged Catholics last week to shun it and branded the bestseller "a sack full of lies insulting the Christian faith."
LONDON (Reuters) - A British cathedral is on a quest to discover the truth behind Dan Brown's runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code.
Manchester Cathedral is hosting a Da Vinci night Monday, where experts including an author and theologian will field questions about the book, which has spurred anti-Christian charges.
"Everyone's fascinated by mystery, secrets and the dark side," said event organizer Canon Robin Gamble.
"This gripping thriller asks lots of questions: Did Jesus really die on a cross? Was the Grail the 'cup of blood?' Is Easter Day fact or fiction? And why does it matter?"
The Da Vinci Code is a modern-day quest for the Holy Grail, the chalice from which Jesus and his disciples are said to have drunk at the Last Supper.
The book says Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. But Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead. The story line has aroused anger among Christians.
The cardinal leading the Vatican's charge against the Da Vinci Code urged Catholics last week to shun it and branded the bestseller "a sack full of lies insulting the Christian faith."
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AussieMark
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U.S. Rocker Gives Guitar to Brazil's Poor
BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - U.S. rock star Lenny Kravitz gave a $5,000 electric guitar to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday to help him raise funds for his struggling campaign to wipe out hunger in the South American country by 2006.
The Epiphone Flying V guitar used by Kravitz on his Latin American tour will be auctioned on the Internet at http://www.fomezero.gov.br and proceeds will go to building water cisterns in poor regions of Brazil's northeast, state news agency Radiobras reported.
Lula has gained an international profile for his proposals to fight global hunger and his "Zero Hunger" program in Brazil.
The plan to wipe out malnutrition in Brazil has encountered problems with mismanagement, corruption, and the scale of poverty in this continental-sized country, where nearly a third of the 180 million people live on a dollar a day.
BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - U.S. rock star Lenny Kravitz gave a $5,000 electric guitar to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday to help him raise funds for his struggling campaign to wipe out hunger in the South American country by 2006.
The Epiphone Flying V guitar used by Kravitz on his Latin American tour will be auctioned on the Internet at http://www.fomezero.gov.br and proceeds will go to building water cisterns in poor regions of Brazil's northeast, state news agency Radiobras reported.
Lula has gained an international profile for his proposals to fight global hunger and his "Zero Hunger" program in Brazil.
The plan to wipe out malnutrition in Brazil has encountered problems with mismanagement, corruption, and the scale of poverty in this continental-sized country, where nearly a third of the 180 million people live on a dollar a day.
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AussieMark
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Brothel ads too racy for Grand Prix
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Two high-class brothels hoping to attract racers and pit crews in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix were shut down after they posted sexually explicit advertisements on 30 billboards around South America's largest city.
Sao Paulo Mayor Jose Serra demanded the billboards be covered with blank white sheets and his code enforcement officers sealed doorways to the brothels, Romanza and Cafe Millenium, with concrete blocks.
The billboards showed a photo made to look like a scantily clad woman was performing fellatio on a man in a racing uniform. Captions on the advertisements said in both Portuguese and English: "Do you know what happens after the (winners') podium?."
Another advertisement in Sao Paulo targeting race car drivers reads "emotion in every curve" alongside a semi-nude woman, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported.
Every year, brothel owners put up dozens of billboards targeting rich customers who visit Sao Paulo for the Formula One race.
But since taking office in January, the tough-talking Serra has tried to clean up the sleazy side of Sao Paulo, including shutting down cheap downtown hotels frequented by crack addicts.
Prostitution in Brazil is legal, but pimping is not. To avoid hassles from police, many brothel owners say they run "relaxation clubs for men" and that sexual services are not provided in exchange for money.
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Two high-class brothels hoping to attract racers and pit crews in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix were shut down after they posted sexually explicit advertisements on 30 billboards around South America's largest city.
Sao Paulo Mayor Jose Serra demanded the billboards be covered with blank white sheets and his code enforcement officers sealed doorways to the brothels, Romanza and Cafe Millenium, with concrete blocks.
The billboards showed a photo made to look like a scantily clad woman was performing fellatio on a man in a racing uniform. Captions on the advertisements said in both Portuguese and English: "Do you know what happens after the (winners') podium?."
Another advertisement in Sao Paulo targeting race car drivers reads "emotion in every curve" alongside a semi-nude woman, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported.
Every year, brothel owners put up dozens of billboards targeting rich customers who visit Sao Paulo for the Formula One race.
But since taking office in January, the tough-talking Serra has tried to clean up the sleazy side of Sao Paulo, including shutting down cheap downtown hotels frequented by crack addicts.
Prostitution in Brazil is legal, but pimping is not. To avoid hassles from police, many brothel owners say they run "relaxation clubs for men" and that sexual services are not provided in exchange for money.
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AussieMark
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- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Testing slimming powers of tequila's agave
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Scientists from Mexico's tequila producing region say juice extracted from the blue agave plant,
best known when distilled into the fiery spirit, may help dieters shed pounds and cut cholesterol.
Sadly for the world's growing band of tequila lovers, agave's possible health benefits are lost when the plant is distilled into alcohol.
Spiky agave plants has been cultivated on Mexico's arid central highlands for thousands of years and are woven into the
country's history and mythology. But more than anything the plant is known for what Spanish invaders called "tequila wine."
Now however, researchers from the University of Guadalajara, close to the town of Tequila, the cradle of Mexico's famous alcoholic export, say the plant's powers go beyond inducing euphoric highs followed by crushing hangovers.
"The structure of agave contains, among other things, substances known as fructans," Dr Jorge Segura, who is leading the investigation, told Reuters on Thursday. "Fructans reduce cholesterol (and) alter the absorption of fat in the intestine,
at least in animals."
Segura said he was confident his team of 20 researchers would have similar results during their 18-month study on humans, launched this week.
Inulin, a type of fructan, is a carbohydrate found in many plants, including asparagus. Some scientists believe inulin helps weight loss.
Segura hopes that his research will open new markets for Mexico's thousands of agave farmers who have watched prices plummet as supply outstrips demand.
"This will benefit the agave farmers more than anyone," he said. "Prices have collapsed in recent years."
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Scientists from Mexico's tequila producing region say juice extracted from the blue agave plant,
best known when distilled into the fiery spirit, may help dieters shed pounds and cut cholesterol.
Sadly for the world's growing band of tequila lovers, agave's possible health benefits are lost when the plant is distilled into alcohol.
Spiky agave plants has been cultivated on Mexico's arid central highlands for thousands of years and are woven into the
country's history and mythology. But more than anything the plant is known for what Spanish invaders called "tequila wine."
Now however, researchers from the University of Guadalajara, close to the town of Tequila, the cradle of Mexico's famous alcoholic export, say the plant's powers go beyond inducing euphoric highs followed by crushing hangovers.
"The structure of agave contains, among other things, substances known as fructans," Dr Jorge Segura, who is leading the investigation, told Reuters on Thursday. "Fructans reduce cholesterol (and) alter the absorption of fat in the intestine,
at least in animals."
Segura said he was confident his team of 20 researchers would have similar results during their 18-month study on humans, launched this week.
Inulin, a type of fructan, is a carbohydrate found in many plants, including asparagus. Some scientists believe inulin helps weight loss.
Segura hopes that his research will open new markets for Mexico's thousands of agave farmers who have watched prices plummet as supply outstrips demand.
"This will benefit the agave farmers more than anyone," he said. "Prices have collapsed in recent years."
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AussieMark
- Category 5
- Posts: 5858
- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 6:36 pm
- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Supermodel gets nasty rumor off chest on TV
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Supermodel Tyra Banks underwent a sonogram on her own television show to quell rumors that she had breast implants.
But first she ordered all the men out of the audience, a spokeswoman for her program said on Wednesday.
Banks, 31, told the audience for her syndicated talk show on Tuesday that she was tired of rumors that her breasts were fake.
"It's something that's followed me forever and today I'm going to finally admit once and for all the truth about my breasts," the Victoria's Secret model said as she removed her push-up bra from underneath a T-shirt.
She took a break and returned wearing a bathrobe and accompanied by plastic surgeon Garth Fischer.
He and an assistant performed a sonogram in front of the audience that was broadcast with certain part of Banks' anatomy blacked out.
Fischer said, "I've performed approximately 8,000 breast implant surgeries, I've examined you, I've reviewed your sonogram ... and Tyra Banks has natural breasts."
Banks added, "By no means am I against plastic surgery, by no means am I saying that breast implants are a bad thing, but it's just not a choice that I made ... it's something that a lot of people think I have and that is so frustrating to me."
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Supermodel Tyra Banks underwent a sonogram on her own television show to quell rumors that she had breast implants.
But first she ordered all the men out of the audience, a spokeswoman for her program said on Wednesday.
Banks, 31, told the audience for her syndicated talk show on Tuesday that she was tired of rumors that her breasts were fake.
"It's something that's followed me forever and today I'm going to finally admit once and for all the truth about my breasts," the Victoria's Secret model said as she removed her push-up bra from underneath a T-shirt.
She took a break and returned wearing a bathrobe and accompanied by plastic surgeon Garth Fischer.
He and an assistant performed a sonogram in front of the audience that was broadcast with certain part of Banks' anatomy blacked out.
Fischer said, "I've performed approximately 8,000 breast implant surgeries, I've examined you, I've reviewed your sonogram ... and Tyra Banks has natural breasts."
Banks added, "By no means am I against plastic surgery, by no means am I saying that breast implants are a bad thing, but it's just not a choice that I made ... it's something that a lot of people think I have and that is so frustrating to me."
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AussieMark
- Category 5
- Posts: 5858
- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 6:36 pm
- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Strippers help tease back New Orleans nightlife
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.
Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.
It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck in the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States.
"It's nice to get back to work, and all these men need some entertainment," Dawn Beasley, 27, a dancer at the club, said on Tuesday night. "They haven't seen anybody but their buddies for two weeks."
The crowd hooted and hollered as women peeled off their tops and gyrated, as customers tucked tips into their G-strings.
"This is our first time off the ship and it's great," said one young sailor as he left the club. He declined to give his name or say where he was stationed.
"It's good to see the businesses getting back up and bringing the city back," another sailor said.
New Orleans' strip clubs have long been a fixture of Bourbon Street, where marquees promise everything from "barely legal" dancers to transvestite divas. Photos of the seedy shows inside the clubs line the windows, next to scores of bars in the district that draws tourists from around the globe.
The city's dusk-to-dawn curfew failed to prevent the Deja Vu from staying open to the early hours, with blaring music and neon lights spilling out into the Quarter, most of which remained bathed in darkness in the aftermath of the storm.
"We were open till two last night, just long enough to get the testosterone flowing," Beasley said.
Only a handful of restaurants and bars in the Quarter have reopened in recent days, serving food and drinks -- usually without charge -- to rescue workers and military who stream through the mostly empty streets. The Deja Vu waived its cover charge, drinks were selling for $3 and a private dance was available for just $1.
For Deja Vu manager Brent Ardeneaux, reopening was a public service.
"It's a disaster zone. You got a lot of people in from out of town that need entertaining," he said as he unloaded supplies from the back of a pick-up truck.
The club even drew several women looking for a respite from their duties patrolling the city, but they resisted entreaties to join the others on stage and left after a few minutes.
One of them, a soldier, said: "We were just looking for any place open. We've been working hard."
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.
Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.
It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck in the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States.
"It's nice to get back to work, and all these men need some entertainment," Dawn Beasley, 27, a dancer at the club, said on Tuesday night. "They haven't seen anybody but their buddies for two weeks."
The crowd hooted and hollered as women peeled off their tops and gyrated, as customers tucked tips into their G-strings.
"This is our first time off the ship and it's great," said one young sailor as he left the club. He declined to give his name or say where he was stationed.
"It's good to see the businesses getting back up and bringing the city back," another sailor said.
New Orleans' strip clubs have long been a fixture of Bourbon Street, where marquees promise everything from "barely legal" dancers to transvestite divas. Photos of the seedy shows inside the clubs line the windows, next to scores of bars in the district that draws tourists from around the globe.
The city's dusk-to-dawn curfew failed to prevent the Deja Vu from staying open to the early hours, with blaring music and neon lights spilling out into the Quarter, most of which remained bathed in darkness in the aftermath of the storm.
"We were open till two last night, just long enough to get the testosterone flowing," Beasley said.
Only a handful of restaurants and bars in the Quarter have reopened in recent days, serving food and drinks -- usually without charge -- to rescue workers and military who stream through the mostly empty streets. The Deja Vu waived its cover charge, drinks were selling for $3 and a private dance was available for just $1.
For Deja Vu manager Brent Ardeneaux, reopening was a public service.
"It's a disaster zone. You got a lot of people in from out of town that need entertaining," he said as he unloaded supplies from the back of a pick-up truck.
The club even drew several women looking for a respite from their duties patrolling the city, but they resisted entreaties to join the others on stage and left after a few minutes.
One of them, a soldier, said: "We were just looking for any place open. We've been working hard."
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AussieMark
- Category 5
- Posts: 5858
- Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 6:36 pm
- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Battle robots could join dogs on S. Korea border
SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed, six-legged robots may one day work alongside man's best friend on the southern side of the Korean DMZ.
South Korea will spend 33.4 billion won over the next five years to develop the robots for the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula, the Communications Ministry said in a statement Friday.
South Korea envisages the robots performing roles on the battlefield now done by dogs, such as sniffing for explosives and catching intruders, the ministry said.
The robots will stand knee-high to the average adult, mounted on wheels for road missions or on as many as eight legs to get them over uneven terrain, it said. Equipped with firearms, they will be able to carry out combat missions via remote control.
South Korea's Defense Ministry announced plans this month to reduce the number of its troops in uniform by about 25 percent over 15 years and develop more high-tech weapons systems.
North Korea maintains most of its 1.2-million-strong army near its border with the South. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed, six-legged robots may one day work alongside man's best friend on the southern side of the Korean DMZ.
South Korea will spend 33.4 billion won over the next five years to develop the robots for the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that divides the peninsula, the Communications Ministry said in a statement Friday.
South Korea envisages the robots performing roles on the battlefield now done by dogs, such as sniffing for explosives and catching intruders, the ministry said.
The robots will stand knee-high to the average adult, mounted on wheels for road missions or on as many as eight legs to get them over uneven terrain, it said. Equipped with firearms, they will be able to carry out combat missions via remote control.
South Korea's Defense Ministry announced plans this month to reduce the number of its troops in uniform by about 25 percent over 15 years and develop more high-tech weapons systems.
North Korea maintains most of its 1.2-million-strong army near its border with the South. The two Koreas are technically still at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
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