The Straw that Broke Hollande’s Camel’s Back

While the European Union crumbles around him, French President Francois Hollande was probably looking forward to a well-earned relaxing holiday. Perhaps he could have popped down to Mali where he could meet a gift he was recently given by locals – a camel.

The animal was presented to Hollande during a visit in February as a sign of thanks for French military intervention there. But presumably there are rules about bringing camels on aeroplanes, as he asked a local family in Timbuktu to look after it for safekeeping.

Unfortunately, for the camel at least, it emerged recently that it was not looked after very well. In fact it was promptly slaughtered and used in a tagine by the family who live in one of the poorest countries in Africa.

Brilliantly, the issue was raised by the French Defence Minister in a recent cabinet meeting, resulting in swift action from Malian authorities who have promised to replace the deceased camel.

“As soon as we heard of this, we quickly replaced it with a bigger and better-looking camel,” an official said.

“The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what has happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate.”

Lee Chong Wei on the Verge of Fatherhood

National treasure Datuk Lee Chong Wei is finally about to be a father, with his wife due to give birth any day now.

The badminton ace opted out of Saturday’s Axiata Cup semi-final to be with his wife Datin Wong Mew Choo in case she went into labour, saying that if he played his mind would be pre-occupied.

“All I want is for them, mother and child, to be safe and healthy,” he said.

“This is my first child and naturally, all kinds of emotions are going through my mind. I just can’t wait to hold the child in my arms.”

The couple have decided on a name for the infant – Kingston Lee – after his wife came up with lots of options.

“She did all the hard work by going through so many names. She came out with a few English names and I liked Kingston Lee,” said the Olympic medallist.

“There’s no particular meaning behind it but it sounded nice when I said it aloud. It is a belief that we should not reveal the Chinese name before the child is born. So I will leave that to Mew Choo.”