■ United States
Punk rockers push for Bush
They have spiky hair and chains and their hero is US President George W. Bush. Is something wrong in the anarchical world of American punk rock? Nick Rizzuto knew there were other right-of-center rebels like him when he launched www.ConservativePunk.com in January, rewriting the legend that punks are anarchists or leftists. Many conservative punks kept their political beliefs secret before, said the 22-year-old New Yorker who works at a rock radio station. "I think people in the punk scene, especially conservatives, probably felt very, very isolated, very alienated," he said.
■ United States
Jacksons crowned top fools
Beleaguered pop star Michael Jackson and his little sister Janet have earned the dubious distinctions of being named the most foolish Americans of 2004, organisers of the annual awards announced Tuesday. It marked the second time in a row that the "King of Pop," who is currently facing child molestation charges, has snatched the April Fools Day award as the "Most Foolish American" in a US telephone survey. In the poll of 1,016 Americans carried out by New York-based public relations consultant Jeff Barge, 77 percent of respondents voted Michael Jackson to the top of the fools' list. Janet Jackson came in a close second, backed by 70 percent of respondents.
■ Hungary
`Last POW' dies
A former Hungarian soldier, who spent more than 50 years in Russia as a forgotten prisoner of World War II, died on Tuesday, the defense ministry said. Andras Toma became known here as the "last prisoner of war," after he returned from decades in captivity in Soviet POW camps and psychiatric hospitals. Soviet soldiers captured Toma in 1944 when he fought with Hungarian forces allied with Nazi Germany. He was considered mentally unbalanced because his Hungarian was mistaken for gibberish, and in 1947 was transferred to a hospital in Kotelnich, 700km east of Moscow. A Hungarian-speaking Slovak doctor met Toma by chance at the clinic, and he was soon after flown to Budapest in 2000.
■ Brazil
Ban looms for bingo parlors
Brazil's government won a much-needed political victory on Tuesday after the lower house of Congress passed a measure outlawing bingo parlors in a move to stamp out a source of illegal campaign funding. The bill's passage was seen as a test of the government's strength after it was damaged by a scandal centered around a gambling boss who had contacts with an aide to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff. The lower house of Congress must still vote on the measure item by item before it can send the bill to the Senate.
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