Berlusconi’s gifts to Zuma
JOHANNESBURG- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has given Jacob Zuma a gift of blue pyjamas and bedsheets, according to an official list of the presents received by the South African president. The entry in Zuma’s long-awaited “declaration of interests”, reported on Monday by the SAPA news agency, was likely to raise eyebrows since both men have recently been the subject of sex scandals. SAPA news agency also said one of Zuma’s three wives had received a foot spa from former British first lady, Cherie Blair.

Govt helps lovebirds meet
CHINA - Government has set up a match-making website to help thousands of busy but lonely government workers find love at work. The website, www.ywqq.gov.cn, features a young man and woman peering at each other around the corner of a log cabin. It has attracted more than 5,000 civil servants from the central government and the Beijing municipal government since it was established in 2005.

Mayor starts brothel debate
NETHERLANDS - Amsterdam’s deputy mayor proposed restricting opening hours for brothels and raising the minimum age for prostitutes to 23 from 18 in new measures to help tackle forced prostitution. Lodewijk Asscher’s proposal was immediately rejected by the local union for prostitutes which said the early morning hours he wanted to remove were among the most lucrative for many women.