At a glance

Chernobyl reactor closed for repairsKIEV: The fourth and last reactor still functioning at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was shut dow...

Chernobyl reactor closed for repairs

KIEV: The fourth and last reactor still functioning at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was shut down just after midnight Thursday to allow for a Major four-month overhauling of the accident-prone station.

Specialists began the process of lowering nuclear energy levels at the reactor at midnight, rounding up slightly more than an hour later to bring the entire works to a full stop at 1:06 am local time, said engineers.

Reactor number three, as it is called, will undergo a thorough check over the next four months, when tubes containing nuclear material will be reinforced and pipes carrying radioactive water to the reactor are to be welded. Several hundred cracks have been discovered in the reactor8217;s pipes in the last two years.

Curtains for US law

WASHINGTON: The independent counsel8217; law that brought Monica Lewinsky and Kenneth Starr to fame passed into history on Wednesday after 21 years on the books. Official Washington is heaving a collectivesigh of relief.

The law will be best remembered as the primary vehicle for the sex scandal investigation that ultimately led to the impeachment of US President Bill Clinton. But its origins go back to another political scandal that rocked this country: The Watergate break-in and cover-up that led to the resignation of then-President Richard Nixon. Nixon tried to impede the investigation by firing Archibald Cox, the prosecutor appointed to conduct the investigation, during the famed Saturday Night Massacre8217;. After the scandal legislators decided to rein in the power of the executive by creating an independent investigator who could root out governmental abuses without being answerable to any particular individual or political party.

But in the years that followed, independent counsels, named by a three-judge panel, often behaved more like zealous inquisitors. For better or ill, Starr has come to be seen as the chief example of the law8217;s flaws. Like other independent counsels, he has been allowed toproceed in his investigations without any limit on expenditures and answerable to no one.

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Male transsexual is mom MADRID: THOUGH physically a man, Alfredo Jimenez, 33, is a mother. It is a perfectly viable combination, according to a court in Seville, southern Spain, which recently granted the transsexual custody of the 11-year-old daughter of his late male companion.

Gay groups hailed the decision as a historic breakthrough while the catholic church lambasted it as 8220;shocking8221;. Jimenez, alias Eva, met a man named Isidoro around ten years ago when Isidoro had just become widowed and had a one-year-old daughter. The two men started living together and Eva, who says he has always felt like a woman, became the only mother the girl can now remember.

But when Isidoro died, his late wife8217;s family started claiming custody of the daughter. The girl wanted to stay with Eva, and the court decided in Eva8217;s favour to avoid 8220;sexual discrimination8221;. The traditional family model was not necessarily always the best,the court argued. Eva, a hairdresser who is undergoing sex change operations to become physically a woman, is overjoyed.

Century8217;s best bubbly

STOCKHOLM: To make that millennium party go with a bang, try getting hold of a bottle of 1959 Billecart-Salmon champagne, officially the best bubbly made this century.

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An international jury assembled in the Swedish capital voted the 8217;59 Billecart-Salmon, from a small family-owned champagne house in Mareuil-Sur-Ay, eastern France, the best of the century after tasting 150 champagnes over three days. However, the local wine store won8217;t stock it as there are only a couple of dozen bottles left in the world and only the rich and famous can afford it.

Experts say Billecart-Salmon 8217;59 should not be wasted on a large crowd or served with a heavy meal. 8220;It should be drunk only with your nearest and dearest. You don8217;t want to serve it at a big party because you won8217;t have time to focus on it,8221; said Serena Sutcliffe, responsible for wine trade at auction houseSotheby8217;s.

Drinks on the house

SINGAPORE: The impending prison release of rogue trader Nick Leeson, whose wild futures deals broke Britain8217;s oldest merchant bank, is to be the occasion for free beer at one of his favourite Singapore hangouts, the manager said on Thursday.

8220;It8217;s all a bit of good fun,8221; said Margaret Woodward, who remembers the days when Leeson frequented Harry8217;s Bar way before he was jailed in December 1995 for fraud and forgery in connection with the collapse of Barings Bank. Thirty-two-year-old Leeson is set to be released from Changi prison on July 3 and deported from the city-state on a flight to London. He will still be incarcerated while traders and bankers enjoy one hour of free spirits on Friday at the popular watering hole.