Paper Prints Only Good News in Christmas Issue
BERLIN (Reuters) - Dropping its daily diet of stories on crime, corruption and evil wrongdoing, Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper printed only good news in its Christmas issue Friday. "No parking tickets today -- traffic wardens have day off!" the newspaper with 12 million readers wrote.
Bild turned a scandal involving the opposition Christian Democrats on its head, cheering a generous severance payment of 52,000 euros that the disgraced general secretary, Laurenz Meyer, received after quitting under pressure Wednesday.
"Merry Christmas! Fantastic severance pay package for Laurenz Meyer," Bild wrote, days after it led the attack on Meyer for taking payments from another former employer, which sparked the public outrage that led to his resignation.
German share prices and the euro's value versus the dollar hit record highs, consumers are spending more, health insurers are lowering fees, and the number of millionaires rose to 1.6 million from 1.1 million in 1998, Bild said on page one.
"That's the conflicting aspect of our time -- that it keeps producing bad news and puts horror on the assembly line even though we are all craving good news," wrote Bild columnist Peter Bacher. "But the good is never completely lost."
Bild even found positive news from overseas. An Israeli scientist had developed a laser treatment against bad breath and a mugger in Zagreb who was always polite to his victims was finally captured by police.
Bild noted Germans made their own good news at Christmas. "The procreation rate rises each year during the Christmas holidays," was the headline over a report that the number of births in Germany rises sharply every year in mid-September -- nine months after Christmas.
Give a Goat for Christmas
LONDON (Reuters) - Looking for a last minute Christmas gift? Think goat!
You will pay 24 pounds ($46) for a goat or 10 pounds for a brood of chickens, tell a friend or relative that this is their Christmas present, and it will be sent to a Third World family to provide milk, meat, manure and offspring for trade. People have bought 31,000 goats and 500,000 chickens under the scheme set up by the international aid agency Oxfam, not to mention 650,000 tree seedlings to provide wood and shade and prevent soil erosion. Other aid agencies have similar projects. "Not only do people like the idea of giving something so unusual at Christmas, but you can also see how a goat, chicken, bike or midwife will make a difference to a person struggling against poverty," Oxfam manager Douglas Graham said.
'Lap Pillow' Offers Solace to Lonely Men
TOKYO (Reuters) - Single or lonely Japanese men may get lucky this Christmas. One popular item for holiday shoppers is the "lap pillow," with skin-colored polyurethene calves folded under soft thighs -- a comfy cushion for napping, reading or watching television.
The 9,429 yen ($90) pillow, which comes with one red and one black skirt, went on sale in late November and maker Trane Co Ltd says shipments have reached 3,000 in just a few weeks."We created this item to help tired people relax," said Makoto Igarashi, Trane's managing director.
Care was taken with details such as the softness of the thighs, panty lines on the pillow's "backside" and wrinkles in the lap of the skirt so as to make the pillow look and feel as real as possible.
"We thought our main customers would be men in their 20s, but even men in their 60s are buying it," Igarashi said. At stores, lap pillows gather crowds where people poke and pry at the foam legs. "I think this may be good for single men, but it could cause trouble for someone who is married," said Shingo Shibata, a 27-year-old company employee browsing at a toy store which sells the pillow.
Retiree Duped by Naked Invitation
BERLIN (Reuters) - An 81-year-old German dropped his trousers and lost his wallet when two young women asked him to join them in a nude photo shoot but they fled with his belongings as he stripped, police said Monday.
"After the pensioner had removed his trousers in eager anticipation, the women left in a hurry," taking the man's wallet with about 250 euros in cash, police in the western city of Wiesbaden said in a statement.
Virgins Rally to Promote Abstinence
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Hundreds of virgins gathered in the Ugandan capital Friday to meet the country's first lady and renew their pledges to abstain from premarital sex.
"If you don't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, they say you are crazy, don't they?" 23-year-old Alex Mumale asked the youngsters as they banged drums and blew trumpets.
"Well, we say we are crazy. We are crazy about Jesus, because he is our redeemer and our shield," he said to loud applause from the crowd and from First Lady Janet Museveni.
Many of the group, most of them in their late teens, waved colorful banners carrying messages like "Abstinence is safe and healthy" and "Condoms are completely not effective."
Most had rejected sex before marriage for religious reasons, and to avoid HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS (news - web sites) and other sexually transmitted diseases.
"I chose abstinence because it is a smart way to protect my life," said third-year science student Diana Nambatya. Organized by several church and youth groups, including the U.S.-based True Love Waits program, the meeting drew more than 500 committed virgins from across the East African country once seen as the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
An energetic government information campaign helped bring down infection rates to about six percent from more than 30 percent in the early 1990s, and the government says promoting abstinence will be key to reducing the future prevalence of the disease.
"You are all created in the image of God, and God has endowed you with the ability of self-control. We are here to guide you to a safer way of life," Mrs. Museveni told the crowd.
After praying together, the youths released bunches of balloons into the deep blue sky, saying they wanted to send their message of patience to the rest of the country.
Pastor Martin Sempa, a vocal advocate of abstinence, said events like Friday's were crucial because the mainstream media was biased in their presentation of the issue.
"You can sense the cynicism and animosity," he told Reuters. "We are promoting abstinence because Uganda is under attack from an agenda driven by homosexuals and Western experts who are out of touch with how the AIDS epidemic is driven in Africa."
As he spoke, a group of teenage boys walked past carrying a homemade sign saying: "Please open your eyes and ears homos." Jimmy Bosco, a Ugandan activist for True Love Waits, said premarital sex was forbidden in traditional African cultures. "Some girls who messed around would even be thrown to wild animals, or their parents fined many goats," he told Reuters.
On stage, Uganda Youth Forum Chairman Sam Ruboga worked the crowd into a frenzy with shouts of "Abstinence, oh-yeah!" He said they should abstain from sex now, keeping their "valuables" until later, when they would enjoy it more. "You know what it is like when you eat a young, unripe mango?" he asked. "That's right. It is very, very bitter."
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