PLEASE HOLD: Nigeria’s telecommunications giant, NITEL, cut off all police hot lines in Lagos. (But it was ever so nice of them to leave the extreme-emergency number 991 connected.) It appears the boys in blue–and a few other government departments–owe NITEL nearly $80 million in phone bills.
DRUG BUST: The U.S. State Department delayed plans to expand its South American drug war, after Ayres Corp. (the manufacturer that supplies spraying planes used over Colombia) shut down its assembly lines.
PAPER JAM: At Xerox’s annual meeting, shareholders were disappointed. No splendid audiovisual presentations? That’s the kind of thing you splurge on when you’re making profits, apologized company chairman Paul Allaire. And Xerox isn’t.
PLAYING WITH FIRE: Three people died in an explosion in Tbilisi, Georgia, apparently trying to cut up tank and artillery shells to sell as scrap metal. Times may be tough, but that old mantra still holds: don’t play with guns.
BIKINI BUYOUT: U.S. consumer confidence has plummeted to a new low, but look at how Bill Clinton’s spending his $300 tax rebate from Dubya. Spotted shopping in Rio, Bubba blew $113 on… bikinis? They’ll come in handy in the next few years. Though the economy may not be strong, at least he’ll have a thong.
