Russian President Boris Yeltsin failed to show up on Thursday for his first day of work this year at the Kremlin, but his spokesman insisted the Russian leader, who recently suffered a new bout of ill-health, was ``lively'' and full of energy. He conceded, however, that Yeltsin was likely to miss a visit to the Interior Ministry pencilled for Friday, and was not scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during her visit to Moscow later this month. ``There is nothing extraordinary with the President's health,'' the spokesman, Dmitry Yakushkin, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying. ``He is lively and in an active frame of mind,'' Yakushkin said, adding that Yeltsin was even healthy enough to fly.The spokesman had earlier said that the 67-year-old President was due to hold his first ``working meetings'' of 1999 in the Kremlin on Thursday. But Yeltsin failed to show up as scheduled, spending the day instead at the suburban Moscow Gorky-9 residence. The whereabouts of the RussianPresident remained a mystery for much of the day, with the Kremlin press office refusing to confirm any reports of Yeltsin's schedule. Yakushkin said Yeltsin is simply more active than his press office realises.Castro turns peacemaker, huh!After 30 years of sponsoring guerrillas from Central Americato Patagonia, Fidel Castro at 72 and with surprising ease, is taking on the role of peacemaker at the request of beleaguered Colombian President Andres Pastrana, a conservative. Though his back is not as straight as it once was, and the beard is turning white, the Cuban chief of state wore his usual olive-green combat fatigues when on Thursday he benevolently greeted Pastrana, 44, a newcomer to power.Castro can bring to bear ``fundamental'' influence to persuade Colombian guerrillas to lay down their arms, the Colombian President said. In an effort to bring the Latin American family back together after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba gave up its role as the spearhead of communism in theregion.Not ready to retireMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has pledged a smooth transition of power to his deputy when he is ready to retire. Upon his retirement and barring unforeseen circumstances, Mahathir was quoted as saying by The Star daily that his deputy - the newly appointed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - would succeed him. ``I can assure you that there will be a smooth transition of power to my deputy,'' said Mahathir, who has been in power for 18 years.``I will not be here forever. I am almost 74 years old but I have a duty to ensure the country is returned to stability and economic recovery before I retire.'' Abdullah was named to fill the vacancy left by the sacking of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim in September, as part of a surprise cabinet reshuffle which saw Mahathir reasserting his political control.Here's to great brotherWhile Viagra remains a black market rarity, Chinese men are flocking to drink `Great Brother's Wine' to give their sex life aboost, reports said. The wine is being made in the southern city of Guangzhou and according to its manufacturer contains safe anti-impotency ingredients, the semi-official China News Service said in a report quoted by the Wen Wei Po newspaper. Viagra is known in Chinese as `Great Brother' and sales of the wine have surged following a small newspaper advert in local newspapers, it said. Businessmen from across southern China had flocked to Guangzhou for rights to sell the wine. Around 600 male volunteers were taking part in trials for the anti-impotence pill Viagra as the first step towards getting `Great Brother' approved for sale in China.Bully to you, Mr MurdochBritish playwright and actor Alan Bennett has turned down the offer of an honorary degree from Oxford University because of its association with Rupert Murdoch. The US-Australian media magnate, who controls a third of British newspaper circulation, paid for a professorial chair in language and communication to be established atthe university in 1992. In an article for The London Review of Books, Bennett, 64, who was a student at Oxford and later taught there, said that Murdoch was a ``bully'' who should be ``stood up to publicly''.``I am aware of the arguments about bad money being put to good uses but I still think that Murdoch's is not a name with which Oxford should have associated itself,'' he added. But Jean Aitchison, the Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communications at Oxford, whose salary is paid by the benefaction, said it was one of the more generous Oxford had received and it came without strings.
