Found in today's NYT World Briefings section:
Swaziland's 36-year-old playboy king, Mswati III, absolute monarch of a land where two-thirds of the population survives on an average income of less than $11 a month, has purchased a $690,000 Maybach 62, the ultraluxury Mercedes sedan from DaimlerChrysler, equipped with a television, refrigerator, heated steering wheel and sterling silver champagne flutes, the automaker's
South Africa spokesman said. The purchase adds to the fleet of 10 BMW sedans he bought on his birthday in April. Opposition leaders criticized the Maybach purchase, saying it sent the wrong message to foreign donors seeking to help a nation with 40 percent unemployment and the world's highest H.I.V. infection rate. DaimlerChrysler's spokesman in South Africa, where rich financiers have bought the region's remaining three Maybachs, said the king's purchase "shows that our product has arrived."
The world's highest H.I.V. rate and the dude is buying a $700k car! With that many people unemployed one would think that the hoi polloi could find the time to "overthrow" the king, huh?
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