THE head of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tuta, yesterday held a farewell communion service in a huge undercover sports arena in Cape Town. Two thousand choristers led the singing of hymns and psalms in English, "Afrikaans and Xhosa.
The archbishop, winner of the Nobel Peace prize in 1984, is retiring from the Cape Town archdiocese at the end of the month. He will be 65 in October.
The archbishop praised God for his sense of humour in making a small man with a flat nose archbishop, and giving him a name which lent itself to graffiti. ,He also mentioned a pop song, one line of which ran: "Don't mess with my tutu."
His Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has the task of probing crimes committed in the apartheid era, is expected to last another 18 months, after which the Archbishop emeritus will travel to the United States to take up a fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia.
Russia's First Lady Naina Yeltsin has revealed a way to her husband's heart - her secret recipe for chocolate cake - in a pre election interview shown on Russia television at the weekend.
Naina said life was hectic in the Yeltsin household as "Borya" prepared for the election on June 16th. One daughter, Tatyana, is part of the official campaign team and the other, Yelena, was described by the interviewer as his "unofficial press secretary".
Naina appears homely and is popular, unlike former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev's wife Raisa who was accused by Russians of having a taste for the high life.
Romania's former international tennis star Ilie Nastase was waiting last night to discover the fate of his attempt to be mayor of Bucharest. His candidacy marks a crucial test for the Party of Social Democracy of President Ion Iliescu, in power since the end of 1989. However, Romanians showed scant interest in the poll in the capital the turnout by mid afternoon was 4.8 per cent.
The Duchess of York promised that three charities would benefit from money she received for help with a magazine article - but almost all the cash went on her expenses, according to a TV programme.
A Romanian orphans' charity was due to be one of three beneficiaries of the duchess's royalties from the article in Hello! magazine, expected to total between £7,000 and £9,000, according to Granada TV's World in Action. But expenses for the duchess' three day tour of Romania's hospitals and orphanages last June, which provided the subject for Hello!, totalled all but £900 of that amount.
The programme, to be broadcast tonight, also claims that John Bryan, former "financial adviser to the duchess, had asked Granada for up to £9,000 to meet her expenses on another charity trip.