World Vignettes

Pregnant pupils pose problemLUSAKA: When the Zambian government recently announced it would allow pregnant schoolgirls to go back to the cla...

Pregnant pupils pose problem

LUSAKA: When the Zambian government recently announced it would allow pregnant schoolgirls to go back to the classroom after delivering their babies, there was a nationwide furore with critics and enthusiasts bombarding the media with arguments for and against. Before, the girls were expelled for being pregnant. Headmasters periodically invited health workers to their schools to examine students for pregnancies. Schoolboys, even in the few cases where they admitted paternity, were allowed to go scot-free.

Most girls who fall pregnant are from poorer families and whose parents do not have the confidence to push headmasters to accept their children. Most of them in fact encourage their daughters to marry the father of their baby, or else start finding ways to earn a living.

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It is estimated that in a class of 20 girls, 8 to 10 of them will get pregnant before reaching junior school leaving certificates in grade nine.

UAE weddings

DUBAI: In a move aimed at encouraging marriage among his countrymen, President Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan has ratified a law that sets a ceiling on dowries and wedding celebrations, the Khaleej Times has reported. The law, which was approved by the Cabinet in September, sets the maximum dowry for brides at 20,000 dirhams ($5,480), limits wedding parties to one day and allows a maximum of nine camels to be slaughtered for the wedding celebration. High dowry and wedding costs have forced many men in the Emirates to seek foreign brides. The law also sets a 30,000 dirham limit on divorce settlements, the paper said.

Mum millionaire

MARION: George Alber never lived like a millionaire and his wealth was never much of an issue until he died at the age of 92 last month and left 32 million dollars to 10 local charities. “He was frugal with himself. With everyone else, he was generous,” said Barbara rice, his longtime bookkeeper and friend.

By all accounts, Alber was just a regular guy. He wore khaki work pants, washed his clothes at the Laundromat, and spent his mornings chatting with a friend at a local cafe over a plate of bacon and eggs, which the two would split.

Hot escape

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LAHORE: Five Islamic militants made a daring escape from a jail in eastern Pakistan, after an accomplice blinded the prison guard with chili powder, officials said. The prison break in Dera Ghazi Khan, a rural town in Punjab province, occurred after eight visitors were allowed into the jail compound to visit the five inmates. One of the visitors apparently asked a prison guard to unlock the cell door so he could bring food to the inmates, who were jailed almost ten years ago in connection with the killing of an Iranian diplomat, they said. When the guard unlocked the gate, the visitor threw chili powder in his eyes. Another three men burst into the cell and opened up with automatic weapons fire.