At a glance

Goodwill charm to peaceBOGOTA: Taking the old adage of ``peace on earth and good will toward men'' to heart, the Colombian Army is sending...

Goodwill charm to peace
BOGOTA: Taking the old adage of “peace on earth and good will toward men” to heart, the Colombian Army is sending Christmas cards this year to the Communist guerrillas it has been battling for decades.

“Feliz navidad, prospero ano, guerrillero” (merry Christmas and prosperous new year, guerrilla) reads the greeting in 100,000 cards the army began sending out to their archenemies on Sunday. “Make your family happy and share the season’s joys with them. Desert your (rebel) unit and enjoy your freedom … long live freedom long live Christmas” continues the message, signed simply “The National Army.”

Breakfast blues
BERLIN: Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney said his children once began trying to snatch his half-eaten breakfasts after hearing that a piece of toast fellow band member George Harrison had nibbled on drew $ 40,000 at a memorabilia auction.

Story continues below this ad

“I figured out my children had heard about the piece of toast that George Harrison had left behind somewhere when they suddenly started telling me “dad, you don’t have to finish your roll” or “are you sure you really want to eat the rest of your egg?,” McCartney told Der Spiegel news magazine.

The vodka trap
MOSCOW: Russia’s Communist party accused opponents of trying to compromise it during a parliamentary election on Sunday, saying bags with vodka bottles were left purposely outside its campaign headquarters.Two bags with 24 bottles were found outside the party’s building a temptation in a country where vodka is the national drink.

“Passers-by could have thought the Communist party wanted to buy off voters with the help of the bottle, although we have no link whatsoever to this act of provocation,” Interfax news agency quoted an official at the party’s Moscow campaign headquarters as saying.