BEIJING: Even in China, there is no escaping US President Bill Clinton's sex scandals.

Just a month before Clinton arrives in China for a summit, the allegations clouding his presidency are being served up to Chinese readers in a new book hitting Beijing bookstores.

The Temperament Of President Clinton seeks to capitalise on the interest about Clinton that his late June visit, the first by a US President in nine years, is expected to bring. The book by a state-owned publisher examines Clinton's public and private personas, his political career and women he's been linked to, complete with their photos.

That is far more detail than most Chinese ever get about their own leaders.

Controversial play

NEW YORK: Terrence McNally, author of a play depicting a Christ-like figure having sex with his disciples, says several theaters have offered to stage the production after an off-Broadway theater cancelled it.

"The playwright said he isconsidering the proposals to put on his Corpus Christi," about 13 gay men who meet to re-enact the story of Jesus, The New York Times reported yesterday.

The Manhattan Theatre Club dropped the play after receiving anonymous calls threatening to "burn the theatre, harm its employees and exterminate the playwright," said artistic director Lynne Meadow. "This became an issue of safety, not censorship," she said.

Gun in oven

MADISON: The police chief forgot he had a gun in the oven. Then he decided to roast some turkey.

"Shortly thereafter he heard a boom" police spokeswoman Jeana Kerr said on Wednesday.

The outcome for amateur chef and full-time Madison police chief Richard Williams was a voluntary one-day, unpaid suspension for violating his department's firearms policy.

Williams said the oven is one of the odd hiding places at home where he puts his service revolver to reduce the risk of a burglar taking it. On Sunday, he forgot he placed it in the oven the day before. After puttingsome turkey in the oven to roast at 350 degrees, he laid down while waiting for it to cook. That's when the gun went off, firing a round through the gas stove and into a hallway banister.