President Robert Mugabe denies rumors that spread last week about his death from heart failure. Speculation began to spread throughout the capital after local, private media reported he had checked into a local hospital to undergo heart tests. Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, says the President, upon learning of the rumors, asked how and when he died. Charamba assured the press Mugabe is "as fit as a teenager. "Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and his health has been a cause of speculation with local and foreign media over the past decade. The leader has hinted he may retire when his six-year term ends in 2008.

One Colombian mayor puts ban on gossip in his town. Ignacio Jimenez, mayor of Icononzo, southwest of Bogota, told a local newspaper he decreed the ban because loose tongues can cost lives in Colombia - in the grips of a guerrilla war involving Marxist rebels and far-right paramilitary outlaws.

A 38-year-old woman goes to the doctor with an excruciating pain in her cheek only to discover she has three dozen fly maggots eating their way through her nasal cavity toward her brain. The pig farmer from the northwestern city of Chiang Mai is believed to be the first reported case in Thailand of maggots nesting in a human's nose, Tawee Thanuparprangsan of Nakhon Ping hospital reported.

India uses condoms as more than a contraceptive. Only a quarter of condoms in India are actually used for protection during sex. The rest are used to in the manufacturing of saris, toys, and bathroom slippers. The condoms are valuable to manufacturers because of the lubricant on them. Sari weavers place the condoms on their thread spools and the lubricant on the prophylactics is rubbed off on the thread, making it move faster through their sewing machines, an Indian industry official explained. Sari makers also turn the condoms inside out, place them on their fingers and use the high-quality lubricant to polish gold and silver threads used in the traditional Indian women's outfits. India manufactures more than 1 billion condoms annually to check population growth and curb the spread of HIV/AIDS