Russian Duma becomes a bar at night!

MOSCOW: At night, Russia's state Duma is filled with staff and deputies' aides who engage in heavy drinking and casual sex, a newspaper reported yesterday. Popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets said it sent two female correspondents to see what the imposing seat of the Russian parliament's lower house looks like after dark. The reporters said they immediately encountered two drunk men at the Duma cafeteria, a technical staffer and a parliamentary expert, who suggested they have sex and proposed opening an office for the purpose. At 2300 hrs, they found a group of people drinking and celebrating the birthday of a lawmaker's aide in another office, the newspaper reported. The unnamed aide had a pyramid of red vodka caps in the corner of his office, it said, adding that ``it's now fashionable in the Duma to see whose pyramid is higher.''

Sinatra gold

WASHINGTON: Ol' blue eyes'' is headed for gold. Frank Sinatra, the recipient of numerous awards for an entertainment career that spans six decades, will add the Congressional gold medal to the collection under a bill that won final passage yesterday in the House of Representatives. It is Congress' most prestigious civilian honour. Frank Sinatra is perhaps the greatest singer of popular American music of this century,'' said Rep. Michael Castle. Rep. Jose Serrano, the sponsor, said he was introduced to Sinatra's music and the English language when his father returned home to Puerto Rico after World War II with a set of the balladeer's albums. The House approved the bill, which advances to President Clinton, by voice vote. The senate passed a similar version in February.

Mystery donor

NORTH DAKOTA: She's being celebrated throughout this city. They are even calling her saintly. And nobody knows her name. Only that she is wealthy. Only that she has never been here and has no ties to the region that was torn asunder by massive flooding almost two weeks ago. The woman has made an anonymous pledge to give $2,000 to each household in flood-ravaged Grand Forks and neighbouring East Grand Forks, innesota, state and city officials said on Tuesday. With an estimated 5,000 households eligible for payments, the pledge could cost the woman a total of $ten million.

Gay voting

BRIGHTON: Homosexual rights will be the key issue for many voters in this jostling seaside town, where a large gay community hopes to help in the expected defeat of Britain's long-reigning Conservatives. In this particular constituency ... There is such a concentration of lesbian and gay men, and we will vote, and a number of people will vote on equality issues,'' said Chris Farrah-Mills, a local gay rights activist and co-owner of the gay bookstore, out in Brighton. There are an estimated 9,000 gays in Brighton, a town of 87,000 people. A change of 2,000 votes from the 1992 general election result would hand the local seat to Labour.

Love blind

NEW YORK: A disbarred lawyer who spent 12 years in prison for having his future wife blinded with lye was acquitted of threatening to kill another woman after she ended their five-year affair. Burton Pugach, 70, whose blind wife testified on his behalf during the trial, was found guilty of harassment but innocent of seven more serious counts yesterday. Those involved physical threats and sexual abuse last year of his former mistress, who is 42.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.