Whore duty

Amsterdam, Oct. 23 (Reuters): A Dutch mayoress has raised eyebrows by backing the idea of sending prostitutes to accompany Dutch troops on foreign missions.

“The army must consider ways its soldiers can let off steam,” Annemarie Jorritsma, mayor of the town of Almere in central Netherlands and a member of the ruling VVD liberals, told Dutch television.

“There was once the suggestion that a few prostitutes should accompany troops on missions. I think that is something we should talk about,” she said, adding that the prostitutes would keep soldiers from turning to local women.

Her comments have drawn a mixed response in the Netherlands, renowned for its liberal prostitution laws. “I don’t think my wife would find it a good idea,” Wim van den Burg, a spokesman for the military service trade union told Dutch newspaper Volkskrant today.

Nude actor

New York (AP): The world knows him as boy wizard Harry Potter. Now, Daniel Radcliffe wants the world to see him differently. Next summer, the 17-year-old will take to a London stage in the Tony Award-winning drama Equus and will perform nude during one scene, according to Newsweek magazine. Andre van Dorst of sex industry organisation VER said: “It’s a very strange idea.”

Chavez tail

Caracas, Venezuela (AFP): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has claimed he holds President George W. Bush by the tail, despite Venezuela’s failure to capture a UN Security Council seat last week against US opposition. “The devil is on the loose and at the UN, we have him by the tail,” Chavez said in Valencia, Spain.Venezuela battled last week with Guatemala for an empty seat on the Security Council, a contest that neither won and will continue on Wednesday.