Bring on the Virgins!

Wow! I thought that Americans gave virgins a hard time!

Swaziland's King Mswati III has ended a five-year sex ban he imposed on the kingdom's teenage girls a year early.

The girls have had to wear large woollen tassels as a sign of their chastity since 2001. These are to be burnt in a huge ceremony on Tuesday.

The sex ban was imposed to fight the spread of HIV/Aids. Swaziland has one of the world's highest HIV infection rates, at almost 40% of the population.

The king fined himself a cow for breaking the ban by marrying again.

He took a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife just two months after imposing the sex-ban in September 2001, sparking unprecedented protests by Swazi women outside the royal palace.

Note to self: don't move to Africa.