Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

World Economic Forum ends amid heated discussions of global problems By PAUL HAVEN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DAVOS, Switzerland — More than 2,000 of the world’s rich and powerful decamped from this luxurious Swiss ski resort Sunday after five days of talks on how to improve the world, particularly by scamping out poverty, fighting disease and bringing peace to the Middle East and elsewhere. They left with a message of optimism from South Korean unification minister Chung Dong-young, who said he was hopeful there would be “substantial resolution” in nuclear talks with North Korea. “The time for diplomacy is now," he said. Whether any of the lofty goals set forward at the World Economic Forum will take root in the global trouble spots far from this idyllic Alpine village will not be known for some time. But there was hope among many social activists here, including U2 frontman Bono, that the world leaders were doing more than jusi blowing smoke. “I think we can be the generation that ends extreme poverty, I really do, and I think I will spend the rest of my life pledged to that commitment,” Bono said, heaping praise on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and others he said were committed to “getting it right” in fighting poverty, particularly in Africa. The Davos summit has been going on for decades, mosdy as a place for billionaires and millionaires to mingle. Businessmen pay $12,000 each for the privilege of rubbing shoulders with each other and political heavyweights such as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, former President Clinton and newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. But the summit has become increasingly socially conscious in recent years, partly in response to anti-globalization protesters who have denounced the gathering as elitist and disconnected. Blair and French President Jacques Chirac challenged world leaders to finally address grinding poverty in Africa, where 300 million people lack safe drinking water, 3,000 African children under the age of 5 die every day from Malaria, and 6,000 people die daily of AIDS. “We know all of this. So what can be done?” Blair said in the forum’s keynote address. American leaders, normally a strong presence at the summit, were notably absent this year amid a rise in anti-U.S. sentiment. The highest-ranking Bush administration official to attend was Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Talks at the summit echoed sentiment around the world. There was optimism over Israeli Palestinian reconciliation since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November. Shimon Peres, Israel’s vice premier, said the “magic has returned to the mountain” of Middle East peace after many years of violence and hopelessness. Far less optimism was expressed over Iraq, which a senior analyst at RAND Corp. described as a “clarion call” for Islamic militants that may spark terrorist attacks far from its borders. “In terms of perception, we’ve already lost the war,” said Bruce Hoffman, chief of the think tank’s Washington office. “I believe that a cult of the insurgent has emerged from Iraq.” Other Mideast issues were given a positive spin, with a senior Saudi ambassador predicting that women in the strictly segregated Islamic nation will be allowed to vote in future elections, and the Iranian foreign minister suggesting informal contacts with the United States over nuclear issues were achievable through European intermediaries. On the economic front, Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju said per capita income will triple during the next 15 years and there was no reason for the world to fear his country’s emergence as a global giant. “China will by no means pose a threat to others. The Earth is a common home to all of us,” he said. Another celebrity activist, actress Sharon Stone, made headlines when she stood up during a weighty talk on African poverty, pledged $10,000 to fight malaria and urged others in the room to do the same. She raised $1 million in about 10 minutes. LAURENT GILLIERON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the WEF, closes the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Sunday. ■ CARNIVAL Continued from page 1 expects USC students to respond to the games, which include “find the clitoris,” with humor while facing a serious. “I think we’ll respond with honesty and maturity, probably without anger,” Bowman said. “Ignorance of an issue such as violence against women is tragic and all we’re trying to do is raise an awareness of this issue. We hope people will be open minded enough to see through games such as pin the clitoris on the vagina and understand the gravity of this issue.” Tickets to “The Vagina Monologues” go on sale Tuesday at the Russell House front desk. They cost $ 12 for the public and $6 for students, who can pay with their Carolina Cards. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocknews@givm.sc. edu PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Fourth-year anthropology student Lauren Adams paints a banner to be signed by students during the V-Day carnival Feb. 9. The banner asks, “What would your vagina wear?" Sweden’s oldest twins hit 100, attribute long life to turnips By MATTIAS KAREN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STOCKHOLM, Sweden — They have lived for 200 years between them, but Sweden’s oldest twins had never seen anything like this before. Holding up a birthday cake and two bouquets of flowers, Siri Ingvarsson and Gunhild Gaellstedt seemed bewildered by the media attention and the photographers huddled around them in the living room of Gaellstedt’s apartment. “Why do they need five photographers?” Gaellstedt asked. “Do they not think we’ll stick on the film?” Turning 100 on Sunday “isn’t that big of a deal,” Ingvarsson said. “Not much different from turning 99.” Still, Ingvarsson and Gaellstedt — who walk without any assistance and do all their daily chores themselves — did their best to answer questions they’ve grown tired of. No, they repeated time and again, they don’t have a secret formula for long life. “We like to joke and say it’s because we lived only on turnip back in 1914,” Gaellstedt said. “That’s all we had to eat during the world war. The first one, that is.” Aside from when they gave birth — they each had one child — Gaellstedt is the only one who has ever been hospitalized. She broke her thigh bone two years ago, but recovered quickly, she said. Ingvarsson, who is 30 minutes older than her sister, said she has never been seriously injured or ill. “I have a toe that aches, though,” she said. In a country where senior citizens have access to free home-help service, the sisters do their own shopping, cleaning, cooking and laundry. They have lived in the same apartment building for more than 50 years, Ingvarsson on the second floor and Gaellstedt on the third. The building has no elevator, and the sisters have no trouble gening up and down the stairs every day. Ingvarsson’s son, Stig, said the sisters’ active lifestyle is probably why they’ve aged so well. “They’re on the go all the time,” he said. “And they get natural exercise from walking up the stairs.” Stig Ingvarsson, a 62-year-old clockmaker who has lived in Boston since 1969, said Sunday’s birthday party will be small, with only the closest family. Many friends and loved ones have died long ago. Stig doubts he’ll match his mother’s feat. “I already feel like I’m 100,” he said. Sweden, a country of 9 million, has more than 86,000 pairs of twins, but Ingvarsson and Gaellstedt are “by far” the oldest, said Nancy Pedersen, a professor who researches twins at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The institute keeps a national record of all Sweden’s twins. “It’s very, very unusual that two twins both live to be 100,” Pedersen said. The oldest female twins in the world were Kin Narita and Gin Kanie of Japan. Both sisters died in 2000 at the age of 107, according to Guinness World Records. HENRIK MONTGOMERY/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Twins Gunhild Gaellstedt, left, and Siri Ingvarsson cut their 100th birthday cake in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday. 1 L Mandat Infcri[|^n Meetitg T February 6:oo fious€,3*5 « P hinking about jc injlfratd ty? Give it a shot! For more SCHOUkaiP • LEADERSHIP • SERVICE -FRIENDSHIP BE A LEADER AMONG LEADERS ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Every Soldier in the U.S. Army learns how to become a leader - AN ARMY OF ONE. With your bachelor’s degree, you can become an Army Officer and be a leader among leaders. In Officer Candidate School (OCS), you’ll learn management and leadership techniques. Apply now. Openings are limited. >> Call Sgt 1st Class Greene at 777-4812 to find out about college loan repayment and more Army benefits. Or talk to a Recruiter at the Lagare College RS, 902 Sumter Street in Columbia. cell phone 315-7588, MON-FRI9 AM - 5 PM. gOarmy.COm ©2001 Paid for by the U S. Army. AM rights reserved AN ARMY OF ONE 2.tSL_