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BRITISH BACON

THE VALLEY OF THE DEAD

The long and difficult diplomatic ties between Britain and Spain-which have been strained over the years due to the constant tug-of-war over the Gibraltar issue- have blown up into the most serious political crisis ever-known between the two nations.
What the dispute to control the Strait did not do, the new publicity campaign for a well-known make of sandwiches has.
The company in question came up with a new and original version of the long-standing and well-known traditional bacon sandwich. The novelty doesn't lie in the sandwich filling itself (which is actually ordinary bacon) but rather in the visual content of the advertising posters on show everywhere.

On the billboards one can see a sunburnt Brit-as pink as a lobster- wearing Union Jack-coloured bathing trunks- between two pieces of white bread. The sandwich is called British Bacon !

Archaeologists have just discovered Gad Khensu Eyuf's last residence in Egypt. This powerful and secretive governor of the Bahariya province was considered a Pharaoh and the search for his tomb lasted a whole decade.
Gad Khensu Eyuf served Pharaoh Haaibre Apries from 589 to 579 b.c. A hundred and two mummies from the Greco-Roman period were found a hundred metres away from the governor's own twelve-ton coffin.

In 1999 another 105 mummies were discovered in the Bahariya oasis. Some of them wore gold masks and it will still be more than 10 years before the 10,000-mummy-treasure, believed to be buried in this necropolis, will be brought to light.

Unlike the former tomb- that is to say Gad Khensu Eyuf's- (which was found by archaeologist Zahi Hawass), believe it or not, the true discoverer of this one was a passing donkey that happened to bump against one of the graveyard entrances.

POPE PROVIDES FOR THE DOWN-AND-OUTS

A FALSE STEP

Pope John Paul II has managed to squeeze into his tight schedule for 2000 a number of social engagements aimed at showing the sympathy of the Head of the Catholic church for the poverty-stricken (those on the rocks)(those without two pennies to rub together)...

Firstly, he has requested the pleasure of the company of two hundred dropouts on June 15th so he can dine with them in The Vatican and thus be able to "share their miserable lifestyle". Then, he is going to Regina Coeli's Rome prison to pay a visit to the convicts there, in order to mark their jubilee celebrations.

It is still unknown, though, whether the Pope will beg for clemency from the Italian government for Ali Agca, who pleaded guilty and was imprisoned 19 years ago for shooting him.

37-year-old Swiss journalist, Tom Kummer, is up to his neck in scandal for making up fake interviews with famous public people such as Sharon Stone, Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger among others. The number of fake articles and columns published in SD Magazin (the supplement of the prestigious German newspaper Sýddeutsche Zeitung ) amounts to about thirty.

The striking thing about Kummer was the wry sense of humour he displayed in his writings. It was just tough luck that some of his wittiest lines were discovered to come straight from Andy Warhol's "The Philosophy".