Yanukovych win is a triumph for democracy – not Russia

Tony Halpin in Moscow

The Kremlin has wasted no time in embracing Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s pro-Russian President-elect, even before he has been sworn in.

President Medvedev issued an invitation to the conqueror of the pro-Western Orange revolution to visit Moscow in which he called the election victory a demonstration of Ukraine’s desire “to end the historically doomed attempts to sow discord between the people of our countries”.

Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, has already proposed greater “integration” of Ukraine into the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Viktor Yushchenko, the outgoing President, showed little enthusiasm for this Russian-dominated group of former Soviet republics, preferring to seek integration with Nato and the European Union.

Yuliya Tymoshenko, Mr Yushchenko’s former Orange ally, is determined to challenge her defeat in the presidential poll, alleging widespread ballot fraud. But the rest of the world has accepted the outcome and Mr Yanukovych’s inauguration is set for February 25.

On the face of it, the Kremlin’s Orange nightmare is ending and Russia has achieved its goal of restoring a sphere of “privileged interests” in the region despite the West’s insistence that there is no such thing. Yet Mr Putin remains oddly nervous of the Ukrainian example.

After the first round of voting last month, when 18 candidates competed in an election hailed for its fairness by international observers, Mr Putin told top government officials that there should be no “Ukrainianisation of political life in Russia”.

He was making a gibe at the deadlock and division that have characterised Ukrainian politics since the 2004 revolution. Where he sees chaos, however, others see democracy, with the balance of political forces accurately reflecting the division of opinion across the country.

That Ukraine is split between its partly Catholic, pro-European west and its largely Orthodox, pro-Russian east is no surprise. The divide was clear in the presidential election, with Mr Yanukovych winning overwhelmingly in the east and Mrs Tymoshenko doing best in the west.

The average voter has accepted that their bitter contest ended with a narrow victory for Mr Yanukovych. Disputes will continue to be aired vigorously on television, where there is genuine free speech, and people remain free to make their voice heard in street protests.

There will be much symbolism attached if Mr Yanukovych makes Moscow his first foreign destination as President, but he will arrive at the Kremlin as the leader of a democracy. He will face far greater public scrutiny and political pressure at home than anything his hosts are used to.

So Mr Yanukovych is contaminated with the “Orange virus” because, unlike Mr Putin, he cannot govern by diktat. If he fails to deliver on agreements, he will have to explain that it is because there is too much political opposition, an alien concept in the Kremlin.

The Kremlin may embrace Mr Yanukovych as one of its own, but the more Russia engages with Ukraine, the greater the contrast between political freedoms in Moscow and Kiev. Amid growing signs that Russians are unhappy with their politicians, Mr Putin may have reason to be nervous about Ukraine after all.

Times Online

John F Kennedy love letters to Swedish siren up for auction

Passionately tender correspondence written by John F Kennedy to his Swedishsweetheart is up for auction in the United States.

The letters and telegrams are being sold by Gunilla von Post, now 78, described by Kennedy as my “Swedish flicka” (girl).

The relationship started in 1953, just before Kennedy’s marriage, when he met the 21-year-old Swedish siren on the French Riviera. A “magical evening” with the 35-year-old Kennedy, then a senator, led to a series of 11 letters and three telegrams from him. The relationship was maintained, off and on, for five years. 

In one letter, dated 1956, Kennedy writes that “I got word today – that my wife & sister are coming here. It will all be complicated the way I feel now – my Swedish flicka. All I have done is sit in the sun & look at the ocean & think of Gunilla… All love, Jack”.

In 1997, von Post wrote a book about the relationship, and spoke movingly of herAmerican beau. She recalls being “flooded with warm feelings…his charismatic smile”.

They met for the last time in 1958 at the Paris Ball in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel inNew York, and shared a final goodbye. 

Bidding started at $25,000 on Tuesday and is set to continue for fifteen days. Four bids had been placed at the time of writing, topping out at $32,500.

Roger Choate

The Local | Sweden

Changi ranks 2nd again

FOR the second year running, Changi has emerged as number two in a ranking of airports worldwide.

South Korea's Incheon International Airport is once again the top pick of over 275,000 passengers surveyed at 118 eligible airports around the world - a position it has held for the fifth consecutive year.

The bronze medal goes to the Hong Kong International Airport.

The annual Airport Service Quality ranking is done by Airports Council International (ACI), a global trade representative of airports, with 575 members operating in nearly 180 countries.

Its members, including Changi Airport, account for 96 per cent of the world's total airport traffic.

Among other indicators, travellers were asked to rank the airports based on waiting time at check-in, ease of finding their way through the airport, ground transportation to and from the airport, thoroughness of security inspection, cleanliness of washrooms as well as waiting time at security inspection, and passport and visa inspection.

The Straits Times

'Malaria and weak bones' may have killed Tutankhamun

The Egyptian 'boy king' Tutankhamun may well have died of malaria after the disease ravaged a body crippled by a rare bone disorder, experts say.

The findings could lay to rest conspiracy theories of murder.

The scientists spent the last two years scrutinising the mummified remains of the 19-year old pharaoh to extract his blood and DNA.

This revealed traces of the malaria parasite in his blood, the Journal of the American Medical Association says.

Shrouded in mystery

Ever since Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, scholars have speculated over why the 19-year old 'boy king' died so young.

Some believe he was killed by a fall from his chariot. Others suspect foul play.

Because he died so young, and left no heirs, scholars have speculated that, instead, he may have suffered from a disease that ran in his family.

Artifacts have shown the royalty of that era as having a somewhat curvaceous and rather feminine appearance, which some say would be typical of inherited conditions like Marfan syndrome.

But Egypt's chief archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass rejects these explanations.

He and his team have painstakingly picked over the remains of Tutankhamun and 10 other royal mummies from his family - two of which they have now confirmed using genetic fingerprinting to be the young king's grandmother and most probably his father.

They say there is no compelling evidence to suggest King Tut or indeed any of his royal ancestors had Marfan's - the voluptuous artefacts, they believe, are a red herring and merely reflect the fashion of the time.

But they did confirm that the king may have had some form of inherited disease, a rare bone disorder affecting the foot called Kohler disease II, as well as a club foot and a curvature of the spine.

Scientific 'proof'

Although this was not his ultimate downfall, it would explain why among his possessions there were sticks and staves that could have been used as walking canes, say the researchers.

Not long before his death, the king fractured his leg, and the scientists think this was important.

The bone did not heal properly and began to die. This would have left the young king frail and susceptible to infection.

What finished him off, they believe, was a bout of malaria on top of his general ill health.

The scientists found traces of the malaria parasite in the pharaoh's blood - the oldest mummified genetic proof for malaria in ancient populations that we have.

Dr Hawass and his team say: "A sudden leg fracture possibly introduced by a fall might have resulted in a life-threatening condition when a malaria infection occurred.

"Seeds, fruits and leaves found in the tomb, and possibly used as medical treatment, support this diagnosis".

Dr Bob Connolly, a senior lecturer in physical anthropology at Liverpool University, has examined Tutankhamun himself.

He said the researchers had been incredibly lucky to be able to extract the DNA for study.

"His is not a beautifully preserved mummy. It's a charred wreck. Hawass and his team have been incredibly clever and lucky to do this".

He said it was possible that the king died from malaria, but he personally doubted it.

"Just because he had the parasite in his blood does not necessarily mean he suffered from malaria or died from it. It may not have caused him any trouble."

"I still think he died from a fall from his chariot. His chest cavity was also caved in and he had broken ribs".

BBC News

VANOC cancels 20,000 Cypress tickets

The Canadian Press

Olympic organizers were Tuesday forced into an embarrassing cancellation of an extra 20,000 tickets for events on Vancouver's Cypress Mountain over safety fears at the beleaguered venue.

It brings the total number of tickets pulled at the venue, hosting snowboard and freestyle skiing events, to 28,000, putting a dent of $1.5-million in the Games budget.

Tickets costing up to $65 dollars would be refunded, the Games organizing committee VANOC said. Spectators who have grandstand seating will not be affected.

Recent warm weather and heavy rain has washed away almost 30 centimetres of snow at Cypress and made the general admission standing room spectator area unsafe.

Events affected are the men's and women's snowboard half pipe, men's and women's ski cross, and men's and women's snowboard parallel giant slalom.

Previously, standing tickets for men's and women's snowboard cross events were cancelled for February 15 and 16.

"We're extremely disappointed to say that we will be unable to have standing spectators at our remaining events in the snowboard stadium up at Cypress," VANOC vice president of ticket and consumer marketing Caley Denton told reporters.

"We spent a considerable amount of time up there yesterday...trying to figure out how we could make it work and at the end of the day we just came to the conclusion that it's too unstable up there and too unsafe to have people in big numbers walking around the side of courses".

He said straw had been put down and snow piled on top in a bid to get the area ready after a lack of snow over the past few weeks.

"We started out with a considerable amount of snow that everybody felt really comfortable with," said Denton.

"The snow has washed away to the point where people can punch through and potentially step in between places where there are two big straw bales and that becomes a pretty deep crack where we've had people going down up to their knees or in some cases even further," he added.

Denton, who said spectator safety must come first, said the atmosphere at the venues would still be good and that the "field of play is in good shape".

Cypress, to the north of Vancouver, has been badly affected by the warm temperatures which prompted a round-the-clock operation to bring in snow from higher elevations to make the venue ready for the Games.

The weather has played havoc with the Olympics, particularly on the Whistler mountains where heavy snow has forced repeated postponements of alpine ski events.

The Globe and Mail

Meeting the ‘golden girls’ of prostitution

Audiences at this year's Berlin International Film Festival have embraced a documentary by a budding German filmmaker tackling a titillating topic – working prostitutes old enough to be grandmothers.

The tender film “Frauenzimmer,” which has the English title “Silver Girls,” focuses on three Berlin grandmothers in their autumn years working in what turns out to a surprisingly ordinary profession from which they gain happiness and fulfilment. 

On Monday night, 28-year-old director Saara Aila Waasner was on hand to witness the enthusiastic applause that followed her first feature-length film’s debut only a week after receiving her diploma from film school.

“Respect! It was wonderful. You didn’t betray them,” one of several cross-dressers in the audience stood to say.

“We’ve been totally overwhelmed that the public has reacted so positively to this film,” Waasner told The Local on Tuesday. “It was a good experience for the two protagonists who were able to be there to witness this - a validation for them and the reward for our work”.

The film begins with 59-year-old Christel, a quirky woman who works from her home and tells the camera that there is a “considerable demand for older women.” After a lifelong struggle with manic depression and medication that killed her sex drive, Christel made a radical therapy change, discovered her physicality and became a prostitute ten years ago.

“Now I enjoy sex like a 20-year-old, when before it was always a service I provided my husband,” she says. 

The second subject, 49-year-old Paula, heads a bordello in Berlin’s Reinickendorfdistrict. She tells the camera that she has sold sex for almost 30 years since she was a young woman growing up in what was then communist East Germany. 

“When you’ve worked once as a prostitute then you’ll be a prostitute your whole life,” Paula tells the camera. “I don’t know anyone who has managed to quit completely”.

Finally there is 64-year-old dominatrix Karolina, shown answering her phone with the words, “Hello, slave,” as she arranges a client meeting. Sixteen years ago she gave up her 25-year marriage and job to take up whips and chains in a Berlin S&M studio.

While all of the women discuss their human vulnerabilities and some incredible struggles in their past, they view their unconventional career choices in a positive light and feel no need for apologies. 

“I’d never seen any television or film work that shows women working of their own free will that have a family life,” Waasner told The Local. “It interested me to see what impact it had, how their families deal with it, and the real people behind the job”.

She admitted the sex industry was responsible for terrible crimes against women forced into prostitution around the world. “But it’s not the theme of this film,” she said.

Waasner’s approach has an intimate but respectful feel, showing the women, their working spaces, and their imperfect and ageing bodies, without judgment. 

“I think it is important to show a body that is not so wrinkle-free anymore, and these women are beautiful despite that,” she told The Local. “And their beauty really comes from the fact that they are happy with themselves”.

Kristen Allen

The Local | Germany

George Osborne's brother 'prescribed drugs for friend'

By Michael Savage, Political correspondent

The younger brother of shadow Chancellor George Osborne broke medical rules by prescribing anti-psychotic drugs to a friend addicted to cocaine, a disciplinary hearing has heard.

Adam Osborne, 33, stands accused of “inappropriate” conduct after making the prescription. He is also alleged to have prescribed a girlfriend the contraceptive pill while a psychiatry trainee, and to have given a prescription for the anti-smoking aid Zyban to a family member. Dr Osborne was temporarily barred from practising medicine when the charges against him first emerged in 2008, but now faces being struck off.

It is alleged that Dr Osborne did not record any details of the prescriptions in question on medical records and did not inform the GPs of those concerned. Medical guidelines set out by the council also state that doctors may only make prescriptions for family and friends in emergencies. Although he admits the charges against him, Dr Osborne argues that he is now fit to continue practising.

The case will come as an unwelcome embarrassment to the shadow Chancellor, as well as his parents, Lady Osborne and Sir Peter, the multi-millionaire founder of the wallpaper designers, Osborne & Little. Dr Osborne resigned his post when the allegations emerged, but was later sacked for gross misconduct.

All the alleged irregular prescriptions date back to Dr Osborne’s tenure as a trainee psychiatrist at Wythenshawe Hospital near Manchester, between June 2006 and May 2008. The General Medical Council (GMC) panel heard that Dr Osborne was “misleading and dishonest” in attempting to use a false name to secure anti-psychotic drugs for a friend. It was told that on 12 May 2008, a friend known only as Miss B, was admitted to the accident and emergency department of Manchester Royal Infirmary after suffering from “psychotic symptoms associated with the side effects of cocaine”.

However, it heard that the woman then discharged herself and headed to seek the help of Dr Osborne at Wythenshawe Hospital. She was said to be “hysterical” when she contacted Dr Osborne and “was not sure what to do”. He is said to have told colleagues that Miss B had refused to go to her doctor or to be admitted to a psychiatric ward.

Both he and Miss B did not want to use their real names to make the prescription for the drugs so used an “entirely fictitious name”, the disciplinary panel was told. The plan was scuppered when a computer system did not allow the prescription to go ahead under the false name. But he then attempted to secure the drugs elsewhere. Bernadette Baxter, for the GMC, told the hearing: “The couple left the hospital and made their way to a pharmacy close to Osborne’s home where he wrote a private prescription for the necessary drugs — haloperidol, an anti-psychotic, and iorazepam, a tranquilliser.

“The GMC’s case is that Dr Osborne’s contact was misleading and dishonest,” she added. “More so when you know it was a quite deliberate act designed to deliberately conceal the identity of the patient. It is clear that the doctor knew that if he was writing a private prescription the details of the patient ought to be on the face of the document”.

Dr Osborne was initially suspended by the GMC for 18 months in November 2008. However, he was allowed to return to work last year subject to strict conditions. He is now working as a psychiatrist at the John Howard Centre in Hackney, east London. The GMC claims Dr Osborne’s conduct was “inappropriate, misleading and not of the standards expected of a reasonably competent medical practitioner”. The hearing continues.

The Independent