Spanking good time in sauna

Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, flogged the Finnish head of state in the sauna yesterday. "I used a Russian birch switch to spank the president very well," Mr Yeltsin told reporters, demonstrating his technique with his right hand. Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish President, chuckled in response, and shook Mr Yeltsin's hand warmly. Russian bathhouses combine elements of Finnish saunas and Turkish steam baths, and bathers beat each other with birch boughs. Mr Yeltsin, pictured with Mr Ahtissari, is on holiday at the government resort of Shuiskaya Chupa in Karelia, north of St Petersburg. The region borders on Finland.

AP - Shuiskaya Chupa, Russia