Drane Markgjoni is one of Albania's last "sworn virgins" - an age-old custom in which women assume the role of a man.
The 87-year-old says that from the cradle, her marriage was arranged in line with the custom of the time but on her wedding day in 1949, her husband fled Albania for Yugoslavia, during the difficult post-war period. Several hours later, Communist police arrested all the men from his family and Markgjoni found herself alone with the women and children of her husband's family. And that is when she decided to "convert", adopting "the role of the man of the house" in line with the centuries-old Albanian tradition of sworn virgins as the marriage was never consummated.
The decision meant renouncing forever her gender, pushing aside the possibility of being like other women, of having another husband, bearing children and, of course, engaging in any sexual relations.
For 12 years, she lived the life of a man, working on building sites, carrying cement bags and even sharing dormitories with men, where she was accepted without any trouble.
Such women who become "the man of the house" are labelled a "virgin" in Albania and working shoulder to shoulder with men, they enjoyed wide respect and their choice was considered a "supreme sacrifice". (AFP)
Paper dentures are a hit
Paper dentures have become a popular new item among ethnic Chinese Malaysians celebrating "Qingming", a festival when replica offerings are burnt to honour the dead, a report said yesterday.
Paper money, luxury cars and clothes are standard items at prayer shops catering to Chinese marking the April 4 festival, also known as "grave-sweeping day" or All Souls Day.
But the Star daily said that paper dentures had now been added to the list of things going up in smoke, along with replica luxury handbags, exercise treadmills and snooker tables.
Shopkeeper Leong Yoke Ping told the daily there had been a good response to the false teeth.
"My father wore dentures and it was his habit to wash them every night," one customer told the Star. "This is just my way to remember him." (AFP)
Polish MP fails drink-driving test
A Polish lawmaker who failed a drink-driving test said he had eaten too many apples, the website of daily Gazeta Wyborcza said yesterday. Asked why a traffic police check on Sunday showed he had 0.7 units of alcohol in his blood, Marek Latas denied having drunk alcohol that day.
"I am diabetic, I ate a few apples before driving. I have been involved in no accident, I underwent a routine roadside check. I was confident there was no chance I had alcohol in my blood," said Latas, a member of parliament for the conservative opposition Law and Justice Party.
The prosecutor's office is investigating his case, the website said. In Poland, the legal limit for alcohol when driving is 0.2 units. Fermented apple juice can be used to make cider, an alcoholic drink. (Reuters)
Nile beauty's ancient makeover
The ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti may not have been such a beauty after all, German scientists said yesterday.
A delicately carved face in the limestone core of the famous bust of Nefertiti suggests the royal sculptor at the time may have smoothed creases around the mouth and fixed a bumpy nose to depict the "Beauty of the Nile" in a better light.
"It is possible that the bust of Nefertiti was commissioned (probably by her husband Akhenaten) to represent Nefertiti according to his personal perception," Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, said.
Mr Huppertz analysis showed that compared to the outer stucco face, the inner face had less prominent cheekbones, a slight bump on the ridge of the nose, creases around the corner of mouth and cheeks, and less depth at the corners of the eyelids. The changes were possibly made to make the queen adhere more to the ideals of beauty of the time, the researchers said. (Reuters)
Academic bids to block handouts
An Australian academic has braved the wrath of millions of his compatriots in an attempt to stop the government giving them hundreds of dollars each and urging them to go shopping.
The cash handouts are part of a 42 billion Australian dollar (€21 billion) economic stimulus package designed to kick-start the flagging economy amid the global financial crisis but law lecturer Bryan Pape wanted to challenge the plan in court, saying it is unconstitutional. Mr Pape, says calling the payments a tax bonus is false and adds he is testing arguments he raised in a 2005 academic paper, in which he claimed the government was misusing its appropriations powers. (AFP)