Nairobi — Just how valuable is human life?

Not much, going by what transpired last week in Kenya following the collapse of a five-storey building under construction in Kiambu, near Nairobi.

Days after the tragedy in which 32 people were buried under concrete, Kenya's disaster response units had barely moved in, with the forlorn crane having been donated by a private company.

There were no sniffer dogs, no oxygen tanks in case a survivor was found, no fibre optic probes to peer into dark recesses.

Just soldiers and policemen in camouflage bearing AK-47s, as if going to war.

Five days after the tragedy, the police had somehow not managed to trace the collapsed building's owner, or the supervisor who had overseen its calamitous rise.

In the end, 16 people died.

But the disaster site had at least one positive use, for some organisms of carrion.

Flies especially, and politicians keen to shed a few crocodile tears against a "great" back-drop.

Once, European media liked to regale the world with the antics of the likes of Idi Amin Dada and Emperor Bedel Bokassa, who were depicted as the archtypical African dictators with a taste for the bizarre.

Today, one of Europe's richest countries, Italy, is saddled with a 72-year old sex-crazed megalomaniac to rival both Bokassa and Amin.

In just the past six months, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been caught cavorting with 18-year olds, and allegations have been made that he routinely pays high-end prostitutes.

He has also been accused of gagging the press and issuing racist remarks by calling President Barack Obama "the tanned one."

Just last week, he provoked the ire of Italian women when he described one lady politician as being "more beautiful than intelligent."

In Rome, apparently, a modern-day Caligula lives.

Economic crunch takes its toll on terrorists

Al-Qaeda, like many other multinationals, is in its worst financial state for many years, US Treasury official David Cohen says.

The group, Mr Cohen added, had made several appeals for funds already this year, warning that a lack of money was hurting its recruitment and training efforts.

As a result of the funding crisis, Cohen said, Al Qaeda's influence was waning, as was its ability to plan and launch attacks.

From Chavez, no more singing in the shower...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last week came up with a novel suggestion for his countrymen to beat a crippling water shortage: stop singing in the bathroom and take shorter showers.

"Some people sing in the shower, in the shower for half an hour (wasting water)," the president said. "No kids, three minutes is enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink."

Won a quiz? Here's an AK-47 for a gift!

Forget an afternoon at the movies or a new bike for that end-of-term gift for your child if they pull in good grades.

What about an AK-47 or a live hand grenade? Maybe an anti-tank mine?

It all probably sounds crazy, and it is, but that is what the Somali rebel militia, Al Shabaab awarded young winners at a religious quiz which run recently during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan at the port city of Kismayo.

The winning team, from the city's Farjano district, won a rifle, two grenades, a landmine and some office supplies. Kaboom! to the future of the graduands!