■ Athens
Licensing brothels gets flak
The city council in Athens was on Wednesday embroiled in a row with the Greek Orthodox church over plans to license brothels to cope with an expected influx of tourists during next year's Olympic Games. The Greek capital's new mayor, Dora Bakoyianni, has come against the fierce opposition of leading clerics in her attempt to bring "law and order" to the profession. Her campaign to register 230 brothels was denounced by the church's Holy Synod, which said the proposal was nothing short of "an insult". With just 13 months to go before the Olympics come home, the problem of unregistered prostitutes has turned into a headache for officials now keen to clean up Athens' act.
■ Switzerland
Teacher nude on Internet
A Swiss teacher who posted nude photographs of herself on the Internet has chosen to resign rather than remove the photos, the education authorities said on Wednesday. Although posing nude on the Internet is not a crime in Switzerland, the country's laws ban teachers from activites deemed to undermine their profession. The woman posed in her free time as a nude model and wanted to use the Web photos to find artists to employ her. Instead the photos were discovered by pupils at her school, whose parents lodged a complaint. The education authorities said the pictures were "good nude photos" but some of them could be considered shocking.
■ United States
Bush names AIDS fighter
On the eve of a presidential visit to Africa, President Bush on Wednesday nominated Randall Tobias, a former chairman and chief executive of Eli Lilly & Co, to run a US$15 billion program to fight AIDS worldwide. Tobias, a major donor to Bush and the Republican Party and a resident of Indianapolis, has little experience with AIDS issues or with Africa, where most of the program's money will be directed. If confirmed by the Senate, Tobias, 61, will have the rank of ambassador and will report directly to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
■ Chile
Blob puzzles scientists
Call it the blob, or the creature from the deep. An enigmatic lump of gelatinous flesh washed ashore on the coast of Chile is puzzling marine scientists. "We have never seen such a strange creature before," said Elsa Cabrera, a marine biologist and director of the center for cetacean conservation in Santiago. "We don't know if it might be a giant squid that is missing some of its parts, or maybe it is a new species." The blob is a lump of decomposing grey flesh the size of a small bus. It measures at least 12m and lies on the beach like a large and disgusting blanket. It was first reported as a beached whale, but it was not a whale's skin.
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