World Vignettes

Now Viagra to boost populationRIO DE JANEIRO: Elcio Berti, mayor of tiny Bocaiuva do Sul in southern Brazil, announced he would be handing o...

Now Viagra to boost population

RIO DE JANEIRO: Elcio Berti, mayor of tiny Bocaiuva do Sul in southern Brazil, announced he would be handing out Viagra in hopes of spurring population growth, the Estado news agency reported.

Berti got national attention in 1997 by banning condom sales in his town in another effort to boost his town8217;s 10,000 population and get more federal aid. Town doctors were prepared to hand out Viagra prescriptions, and Berti said that he personally would pay for the anti-impotence drug to avoid any legal troubles. 8220;This product is being offered in Brazil and around the world, and helps those whose 8216;socks are falling down,8221; Berti said on Wednesday.

Brother on Diana

LONDON: The brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, described in a television interview on Wednesday his admiration for her sister8217;s two sons as they followed her funeral cortege through London. Speaking to the BBC, Earl Charles Spencer said the self-control shown by Princes William, now 16, and Harry, 13,was the 8220;most amazing display of courage I8217;ll ever see8221;.

8220;My admiration for those two boys is without bounds now. How they could have got through it8230;8221; He added, 8220;I8217;d have been in tears if they hadn8217;t been there and, being a generation senior to them, I couldn8217;t cry if they weren8217;t.8221; Spencer also spoke of his own feelings as he followed his sister8217;s coffin through London last September.

8220;I was walking down a tunnel of grief and you could feel the intensity of that grief every footstep. 8220;And you8217;d walk a hundred yards in complete silence, but with this grief bearing down on you, and then somebody would scream 8212; almost in tortured pain they8217;d bellow 8212; which was just awful.8220;And then other people would be sobbing, others would applaud and then silence again. It just seemed endless to me8221;.

Unabomber8217;s biography

NEW YORK: Theodore Kaczynski, a hermit mathematician serving a life sentence for bombings that killed three and injured 23, has contacted a publisher about writing his biography,sources said.

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8220;We have received an unsolicited proposition from someone who presented himself as Theodore Kaczynski and we have sent to this person a letter of refusal,8221; said Simon and Schuster spokeswoman Wendy Nicholson.