Dallas ISD: Bus driver fired after positive marijuana test
By DAN RONAN / WFAA ABC 8
DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas County school bus driver was fired after testing positive for marijuana.
Parents last week became suspicious after they said the driver showed up late and was behaving erratically when he came to pick up first graders at a field trip.
Bradfield Elementary School students were at the Dallas World Aquarium, when parents said both buses were an hour late. When they arrived, they said one driver fell off the bus.
A teacher suspected something was wrong and called the principal and two new buses were dispatched. The drivers were tested for drugs and alcohol.
While alcohol tests were negative, one driver tested positive for marijuana.
"It's kind of scary to know that my child is on a bus that could possibly have drivers under the influence and are not screened," said Teresa Williamson, a first grader's mother.
It has not been said if the driver who was fired will face criminal charges.
Students at the elementary took home a letter from the principal outlining new bus policy safeguards.
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Diner finds piece of finger in TGI Friday's burger
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A diner found a piece of human flesh on his hamburger shortly after a restaurant worker accidentally cut his finger, and a spokeswoman said the company was "very, very sorry."
A kitchen manager at the TGI Friday's at College Mall injured himself Tuesday and no one immediately realized he had lost part of his finger while others rushed to help him, said Amy Freshwater, a spokeswoman for the chain.
"The manager didn't even know it happened until he got to the hospital," she said.
Another staff member served the plate to a customer, who immediately spotted the piece of flesh.
The manager was treated at Bloomington Hospital and lost only a small piece of his finger, according to Freshwater.
"We absolutely acknowledge the seriousness of this incident, and we are very, very sorry that this occurred," she said.
The restaurant has been in contact with the customer, Freshwater said.
The diner called police, but an officer told him that it was not a criminal matter, Detective Sgt. David Drake said.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A diner found a piece of human flesh on his hamburger shortly after a restaurant worker accidentally cut his finger, and a spokeswoman said the company was "very, very sorry."
A kitchen manager at the TGI Friday's at College Mall injured himself Tuesday and no one immediately realized he had lost part of his finger while others rushed to help him, said Amy Freshwater, a spokeswoman for the chain.
"The manager didn't even know it happened until he got to the hospital," she said.
Another staff member served the plate to a customer, who immediately spotted the piece of flesh.
The manager was treated at Bloomington Hospital and lost only a small piece of his finger, according to Freshwater.
"We absolutely acknowledge the seriousness of this incident, and we are very, very sorry that this occurred," she said.
The restaurant has been in contact with the customer, Freshwater said.
The diner called police, but an officer told him that it was not a criminal matter, Detective Sgt. David Drake said.
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China waxworks snubs Charles
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Prince Charles, who caused a stir by describing Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks", has failed to make the cut at Shanghai's new Madame Tussauds Museum.
Princess Diana and Prince William are on display. David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, rub shoulders with celebrity Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Charles's unflattering reference was contained in a diary he kept during a visit to Hong Kong in 1997 for the handover of the former British colony to China. A British newspaper published the diaries last November.
The Shanghai museum, which opened on Monday, is the sixth Madame Tussauds. The others are in London, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York and Hong Kong.
The China Daily said the most popular of the 70-plus figures on opening day was that of the late Hong Kong singer and movie star Leslie Cheung.
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Prince Charles, who caused a stir by describing Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks", has failed to make the cut at Shanghai's new Madame Tussauds Museum.
Princess Diana and Prince William are on display. David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, rub shoulders with celebrity Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Charles's unflattering reference was contained in a diary he kept during a visit to Hong Kong in 1997 for the handover of the former British colony to China. A British newspaper published the diaries last November.
The Shanghai museum, which opened on Monday, is the sixth Madame Tussauds. The others are in London, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York and Hong Kong.
The China Daily said the most popular of the 70-plus figures on opening day was that of the late Hong Kong singer and movie star Leslie Cheung.
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Winter ski to the North Pole is no walk in the park
By James Kilner
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - Nearly 100 years after explorers first reached the North and South Poles, Norwegian Boerge Ousland believes he too has etched his name into polar exploration's Hall of Fame.
Countryman Roald Amundsen was first to the South Pole in 1911, beating Briton Robert Falcon Scott who died with his team on the return trip after a heroic race. American Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole first in 1909.
All of the men spent years mapping the unknown polar regions.
Ousland's generation of polar adventurers do things differently. They move fast and hard across the Arctic and Antarctic, alone or in small groups, carrying just enough food and equipment to last a few months without support.
And Ousland, a 20-year veteran, is probably top of the pile.
"It will be hard to match my record, if it ever will be done," he told Reuters during an interview at his home on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital.
The 43-year-old explorer had only just returned a few days earlier from completing another "first". This time he and South African Mike Horn had been the first people to ski to the North Pole during winter, a journey nobody had even attempted before.
"People said it was impossible. Too hard, too cold, too dark," Ousland said.
On March 23, the pair reached the North Pole after 61 days dragging their 155-kg (342-lb) sledges across nearly 1,000 km (620 miles) of ice and water -- in pitch-black darkness through howling winds and temperatures of around minus 35 degrees Celsius.
"This is one of the greatest things I have done. It creates a new chapter in Arctic travel," Ousland said.
AMAZON SWIM
Ousland's list of achievements was already long.
In 1990, he was part of a team that skied to the North Pole without any outside support, four years later he made the first solo unsupported trek to the North Pole, in 1996/7 he beat the British explorer Ranulph Fiennes as the first person to ski across Antarctica alone and in 2001, he crossed the Artic alone.
But this latest trip was his crowning achievement, he said.
"I don't think this will be done again. Somebody may try but I don't think they will succeed."
The harsh winter weather made the risks extremely high.
"It was a one-way ticket, we could not have been rescued. When we started the helicopter pilots did not even want to fly us out," he said.
"When the helicopter left, we knew it would not come back."
Ousland sees himself as a pioneer, stretching the boundaries of exploration and human endurance and flying the flag for Norwegian polar explorers like Fridtjof Nansen, who led a team across Greenland, the first to do so, in 1888.
If Ousland's curriculum vitae is classic polar stuff, Horn's isn't. Before the trip he was best known for travelling the length of the Amazon river on a bodyboard, circumnavigating the equator and then walking, skiing, sailing and kayaking around the 20,000-km (12,430-mile) Arctic Circle alone, a trip that took 2-1/2 years.
Their plan was to set their compasses due north and stick to that single bearing. There was no point in trying to blindly pick a way around obstacles as the low-power intensive head torches they wore only gave them 10 metres (33 feet) of visibility.
"It was like walking in a tunnel," Ousland said as he looked out across the Oslo fjord through his wraparound sunglasses, sucking on snus, balls of tobacco placed in the mouth.
POLAR BEAR ATTACKS
Several times during the first few days, Ousland and Horn had to struggle into giant orange waterproof suits and swim across open water.
To fight the cold, they wore double layers of everything and spent 1-1/2 hours every evening wiping the ice from between the two layers where their sweat had frozen. They slept in plastic bags inside their sleeping bags.
Polar bears ripped through their tent at night looking for food and tracked them during the day.
Horn twice crashed through the ice into the freezing Artic water and a few days before the end he contracted blood poisoning, probably through his frost-bitten hands.
"I thought the expedition would be over then. I asked him if he wanted to call it off but he said no and he staggered on like a drunk," Ousland recalled.
The former deep sea navy diver now makes a living from lecturing, giving motivational speeches, writing books and organising commercial trips to both the North and South Poles.
Sponsors paid the $300,000 (165,000 pound) bill of the latest trip.
A similar winter trip to the South Pole would be suicide, Ousland said, because of temperatures around minus 60 degrees Celsius. The major title polar explorers are now chasing is to be the first man to cross the Arctic solo and unsupported, he said.
But for Ousland, the challenge is not one he will take up.
"For me it is not interesting enough. I have made the trip with one resupply at the Pole. One less is not stretching myself enough."
He promised his 18-year-old son the winter trek to the North Pole would be his last major polar expedition.
"I am finally satisfied," he said.
By James Kilner
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - Nearly 100 years after explorers first reached the North and South Poles, Norwegian Boerge Ousland believes he too has etched his name into polar exploration's Hall of Fame.
Countryman Roald Amundsen was first to the South Pole in 1911, beating Briton Robert Falcon Scott who died with his team on the return trip after a heroic race. American Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole first in 1909.
All of the men spent years mapping the unknown polar regions.
Ousland's generation of polar adventurers do things differently. They move fast and hard across the Arctic and Antarctic, alone or in small groups, carrying just enough food and equipment to last a few months without support.
And Ousland, a 20-year veteran, is probably top of the pile.
"It will be hard to match my record, if it ever will be done," he told Reuters during an interview at his home on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital.
The 43-year-old explorer had only just returned a few days earlier from completing another "first". This time he and South African Mike Horn had been the first people to ski to the North Pole during winter, a journey nobody had even attempted before.
"People said it was impossible. Too hard, too cold, too dark," Ousland said.
On March 23, the pair reached the North Pole after 61 days dragging their 155-kg (342-lb) sledges across nearly 1,000 km (620 miles) of ice and water -- in pitch-black darkness through howling winds and temperatures of around minus 35 degrees Celsius.
"This is one of the greatest things I have done. It creates a new chapter in Arctic travel," Ousland said.
AMAZON SWIM
Ousland's list of achievements was already long.
In 1990, he was part of a team that skied to the North Pole without any outside support, four years later he made the first solo unsupported trek to the North Pole, in 1996/7 he beat the British explorer Ranulph Fiennes as the first person to ski across Antarctica alone and in 2001, he crossed the Artic alone.
But this latest trip was his crowning achievement, he said.
"I don't think this will be done again. Somebody may try but I don't think they will succeed."
The harsh winter weather made the risks extremely high.
"It was a one-way ticket, we could not have been rescued. When we started the helicopter pilots did not even want to fly us out," he said.
"When the helicopter left, we knew it would not come back."
Ousland sees himself as a pioneer, stretching the boundaries of exploration and human endurance and flying the flag for Norwegian polar explorers like Fridtjof Nansen, who led a team across Greenland, the first to do so, in 1888.
If Ousland's curriculum vitae is classic polar stuff, Horn's isn't. Before the trip he was best known for travelling the length of the Amazon river on a bodyboard, circumnavigating the equator and then walking, skiing, sailing and kayaking around the 20,000-km (12,430-mile) Arctic Circle alone, a trip that took 2-1/2 years.
Their plan was to set their compasses due north and stick to that single bearing. There was no point in trying to blindly pick a way around obstacles as the low-power intensive head torches they wore only gave them 10 metres (33 feet) of visibility.
"It was like walking in a tunnel," Ousland said as he looked out across the Oslo fjord through his wraparound sunglasses, sucking on snus, balls of tobacco placed in the mouth.
POLAR BEAR ATTACKS
Several times during the first few days, Ousland and Horn had to struggle into giant orange waterproof suits and swim across open water.
To fight the cold, they wore double layers of everything and spent 1-1/2 hours every evening wiping the ice from between the two layers where their sweat had frozen. They slept in plastic bags inside their sleeping bags.
Polar bears ripped through their tent at night looking for food and tracked them during the day.
Horn twice crashed through the ice into the freezing Artic water and a few days before the end he contracted blood poisoning, probably through his frost-bitten hands.
"I thought the expedition would be over then. I asked him if he wanted to call it off but he said no and he staggered on like a drunk," Ousland recalled.
The former deep sea navy diver now makes a living from lecturing, giving motivational speeches, writing books and organising commercial trips to both the North and South Poles.
Sponsors paid the $300,000 (165,000 pound) bill of the latest trip.
A similar winter trip to the South Pole would be suicide, Ousland said, because of temperatures around minus 60 degrees Celsius. The major title polar explorers are now chasing is to be the first man to cross the Arctic solo and unsupported, he said.
But for Ousland, the challenge is not one he will take up.
"For me it is not interesting enough. I have made the trip with one resupply at the Pole. One less is not stretching myself enough."
He promised his 18-year-old son the winter trek to the North Pole would be his last major polar expedition.
"I am finally satisfied," he said.
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Germany planning "heroin therapy" for some addicts
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) - The German government is planning to supply long-term drug addicts with controlled amounts of free heroin to "improve their health", the government's commissioner for substance abuse Sabine Baetzing said on Monday.
"A heroin therapy is the last hope and provides help for survival for some of those who are addicted," Baetzing said in an interview to appear in Tuesday's Die Welt newspaper. "It can improve their health and stabilise their social situation."
Baetzing, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats, said she was confident the conservative Christian Democrats, who lead their grand coalition government, would agree to back the plan to give between 1,000 and 1,500 addicts taxpayer-funded heroin.
Baetzing said that pilot projects in seven German cities had shown that giving controlled amounts of heroin to long-term addicts was a more effective way of getting them off the drug than methadone, a drug used as a heroin-substitute.
Baetzing said the testing in the pilot cities also showed the heroin therapy had led to reduction in crime.
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) - The German government is planning to supply long-term drug addicts with controlled amounts of free heroin to "improve their health", the government's commissioner for substance abuse Sabine Baetzing said on Monday.
"A heroin therapy is the last hope and provides help for survival for some of those who are addicted," Baetzing said in an interview to appear in Tuesday's Die Welt newspaper. "It can improve their health and stabilise their social situation."
Baetzing, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats, said she was confident the conservative Christian Democrats, who lead their grand coalition government, would agree to back the plan to give between 1,000 and 1,500 addicts taxpayer-funded heroin.
Baetzing said that pilot projects in seven German cities had shown that giving controlled amounts of heroin to long-term addicts was a more effective way of getting them off the drug than methadone, a drug used as a heroin-substitute.
Baetzing said the testing in the pilot cities also showed the heroin therapy had led to reduction in crime.
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Japan mulls matchmaking ads to boost birth rate
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Alarmed by a falling birth rate and rapidly ageing population, Japanese policymakers are thinking about allowing TV ads for matchmaking agencies in the hope that an increase in couples will result in more kids.
Japan's population shrank in the year to October for the first time since 1945, heightening worries about economic decline due to a smaller workforce supporting a growing number of pensioners.
An official at the Trade Ministry said on Tuesday that the ministry is considering allowing advertisements for matchmaking agencies to be shown on television, which is currently forbidden.
"Compared to newspapers, where such ads can currently run, the impact of television is much greater," the official said.
"One cause of the falling birth rate is later marriages, or no marriage at all, so we see promoting marriage as one good way of dealing with this problem."
Policymakers, once wary of pushing the issue for fear of echoing wartime efforts to boost the birth rate, have said the next five years are crucial for efforts to halt the population decline.
According to recent Health Ministry data, the average age of women on their first marriage has been creeping steadily upwards, from 25.8 in 1988 to 27.8 in 2004.
"We think that improving the image of matchmaking agencies by allowing them to advertise on television is one important way to boost the number of marriages," the trade ministry official said.
Experts argued, however, that more fundamental changes are needed, citing recent surveys showing that most Japanese think it is difficult to raise children in their nation.
According to a poll released last week by the Cabinet Office, only 48 percent of respondents said Japan was an easy place to raise children, compared to Sweden at 98 percent and the United States with 78 percent.
No specific reasons were given but the cost of child raising, a lack of child care facilities, and attitudes that make it hard for women to return to work after taking time off to raise children, are frequently cited to explain the falling birth rate.
TV advertising for businesses that are based on private information is generally not allowed in Japan.
"I don't think the plan to have matchmaking agencies advertise on television will do anything for the birth rate," said independent social commentator Tomoko Inukai.
"We need much more fundamental changes in social infrastructure to really make a difference."
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - Alarmed by a falling birth rate and rapidly ageing population, Japanese policymakers are thinking about allowing TV ads for matchmaking agencies in the hope that an increase in couples will result in more kids.
Japan's population shrank in the year to October for the first time since 1945, heightening worries about economic decline due to a smaller workforce supporting a growing number of pensioners.
An official at the Trade Ministry said on Tuesday that the ministry is considering allowing advertisements for matchmaking agencies to be shown on television, which is currently forbidden.
"Compared to newspapers, where such ads can currently run, the impact of television is much greater," the official said.
"One cause of the falling birth rate is later marriages, or no marriage at all, so we see promoting marriage as one good way of dealing with this problem."
Policymakers, once wary of pushing the issue for fear of echoing wartime efforts to boost the birth rate, have said the next five years are crucial for efforts to halt the population decline.
According to recent Health Ministry data, the average age of women on their first marriage has been creeping steadily upwards, from 25.8 in 1988 to 27.8 in 2004.
"We think that improving the image of matchmaking agencies by allowing them to advertise on television is one important way to boost the number of marriages," the trade ministry official said.
Experts argued, however, that more fundamental changes are needed, citing recent surveys showing that most Japanese think it is difficult to raise children in their nation.
According to a poll released last week by the Cabinet Office, only 48 percent of respondents said Japan was an easy place to raise children, compared to Sweden at 98 percent and the United States with 78 percent.
No specific reasons were given but the cost of child raising, a lack of child care facilities, and attitudes that make it hard for women to return to work after taking time off to raise children, are frequently cited to explain the falling birth rate.
TV advertising for businesses that are based on private information is generally not allowed in Japan.
"I don't think the plan to have matchmaking agencies advertise on television will do anything for the birth rate," said independent social commentator Tomoko Inukai.
"We need much more fundamental changes in social infrastructure to really make a difference."
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Couple, 33 and 104, Reportedly Marry
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A 33-year-old man in northern Malaysia has married a 104-year-old woman, saying mutual respect and friendship had turned to love, a news report said Tuesday.
It was Muhamad Noor Che Musa's first marriage and his wife's 21st, according to The Star newspaper which cited a report in the Malay-language Harian Metro tabloid.
Muhamad, an ex-army serviceman said he found peace and a sense of belonging after meeting Wook Kundor, whom he said he initially sympathized with because she was childless, old and alone, the report said.
"I am not after her money, as she is poor," Muhamad reportedly said. "Before meeting Wook, I never stayed in one place for long."
He said he hoped to help his new bride to master Roman script while she taught him Islamic religious knowledge.
The report did not say if any of Wook's previous 20 husbands are still alive.
Malaysian Muslim men are allowed by their religion to take up to four wives at a time, but reports of women who marry more than once are rare. Muslim women do not practice polygamy.
Malaysia's 26 million population comprises about 60 percent Muslims, almost all ethnic Malays. Large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities are Buddhists, Hindus or Christians.
_____________________________________________________________
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A 33-year-old man in northern Malaysia has married a 104-year-old woman, saying mutual respect and friendship had turned to love, a news report said Tuesday.
It was Muhamad Noor Che Musa's first marriage and his wife's 21st, according to The Star newspaper which cited a report in the Malay-language Harian Metro tabloid.
Muhamad, an ex-army serviceman said he found peace and a sense of belonging after meeting Wook Kundor, whom he said he initially sympathized with because she was childless, old and alone, the report said.
"I am not after her money, as she is poor," Muhamad reportedly said. "Before meeting Wook, I never stayed in one place for long."
He said he hoped to help his new bride to master Roman script while she taught him Islamic religious knowledge.
The report did not say if any of Wook's previous 20 husbands are still alive.
Malaysian Muslim men are allowed by their religion to take up to four wives at a time, but reports of women who marry more than once are rare. Muslim women do not practice polygamy.
Malaysia's 26 million population comprises about 60 percent Muslims, almost all ethnic Malays. Large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities are Buddhists, Hindus or Christians.
_____________________________________________________________
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Malaysia Wants to Flush Dirty Toilet Rep
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia will try to flush its long-held image of having foul-smelling public restrooms with a National Toilet Summit to educate the public about the importance of clean commodes.
Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Robert Lau — whose ministry will hold the conference in Kuala Lumpur Aug. 24-25 — said Tuesday "having clean restrooms in this country is a serious challenge that we have to tackle."
"If a toilet is a person (in Malaysia), he should protest to the Human Rights Commission because he is very unfairly treated," Lau said.
Public toilets in Malaysia have long disgusted residents and tourists with their lack of basic items such as toilet paper, soap and sometimes even toilet seats. Many fall prey to vandals.
Lau said the meeting would bring together local officials and international experts on toilet management, including the founder of the World Toilet Organization, Jack Sim.
Such eyesores scare away tourists, Lau said.
"The vision ... is to establish a clean toilet culture," he said. "The mission is to raise users' etiquette and to motivate the change in the psychological ethics and attitudes of users and owners."
Shopping malls and other commercial establishments that do not have clean toilets may not have their business licenses renewed, he said, adding the government was also considering imposing fines for vendors with dirty washrooms.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia will try to flush its long-held image of having foul-smelling public restrooms with a National Toilet Summit to educate the public about the importance of clean commodes.
Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Robert Lau — whose ministry will hold the conference in Kuala Lumpur Aug. 24-25 — said Tuesday "having clean restrooms in this country is a serious challenge that we have to tackle."
"If a toilet is a person (in Malaysia), he should protest to the Human Rights Commission because he is very unfairly treated," Lau said.
Public toilets in Malaysia have long disgusted residents and tourists with their lack of basic items such as toilet paper, soap and sometimes even toilet seats. Many fall prey to vandals.
Lau said the meeting would bring together local officials and international experts on toilet management, including the founder of the World Toilet Organization, Jack Sim.
Such eyesores scare away tourists, Lau said.
"The vision ... is to establish a clean toilet culture," he said. "The mission is to raise users' etiquette and to motivate the change in the psychological ethics and attitudes of users and owners."
Shopping malls and other commercial establishments that do not have clean toilets may not have their business licenses renewed, he said, adding the government was also considering imposing fines for vendors with dirty washrooms.
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It's really appalling: China waxworks snubs Charles
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles, who caused a stir by describing Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks," has failed to make the cut at Shanghai's new Madame Tussauds Museum.
Charles's late wife, Princess Diana, and their elder son, Prince William, are on display. Soccer star David Beckham and his pop singer wife, Victoria, rub shoulders with celebrity Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Charles's unflattering reference was contained in a diary he kept during a visit to Hong Kong in 1997 for the handover of the former British colony to China. A British newspaper published the diaries last November.
The Shanghai museum, which opened Monday, is the sixth Madame Tussauds. The others are in London, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York and Hong Kong.
The China Daily said the most popular of the 70-plus figures on opening day was that of the late Hong Kong singer and movie star Leslie Cheung.
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles, who caused a stir by describing Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks," has failed to make the cut at Shanghai's new Madame Tussauds Museum.
Charles's late wife, Princess Diana, and their elder son, Prince William, are on display. Soccer star David Beckham and his pop singer wife, Victoria, rub shoulders with celebrity Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Charles's unflattering reference was contained in a diary he kept during a visit to Hong Kong in 1997 for the handover of the former British colony to China. A British newspaper published the diaries last November.
The Shanghai museum, which opened Monday, is the sixth Madame Tussauds. The others are in London, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, New York and Hong Kong.
The China Daily said the most popular of the 70-plus figures on opening day was that of the late Hong Kong singer and movie star Leslie Cheung.
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Rower dies hours into 90-day trip
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - The Norwegian coastguard Tuesday found the body of a 67-year-old adventurer roped to the keel of his overturned and wrecked boat two days after he had set off from the North Cape to row the length of Norway's coastline.
Without protection a man can survive for only a few hours in the cold Arctic waters around the Cape, but before his departure Richard Horntvedt told a local newspaper he was not taking a life raft or a survival suit as he did not have enough space.
"We found his body at about 5.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) this morning drifting about 10 miles east of the Cape," emergency services spokesman Erlang Herstad said.
"He was tied to the keel of the boat by a rope, but I don't know if he had tied himself or became entangled."
Horntvedt had set off Sunday from the North Cape -- Norway's most northerly point deep inside the Arctic Circle -- to row the 2,500-km (1,555-mile) coastline south to Lindesnes in an open 20-foot (6-metre)-long 1850s style boat.
Herstad did not know what had caused the accident but said it had probably happened only hours after Horntvedt had departed in calm weather. Horntvedt only had a mobile phone for communication and had not made a call for help.
He had expected his journey to take up to 90 days.
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - The Norwegian coastguard Tuesday found the body of a 67-year-old adventurer roped to the keel of his overturned and wrecked boat two days after he had set off from the North Cape to row the length of Norway's coastline.
Without protection a man can survive for only a few hours in the cold Arctic waters around the Cape, but before his departure Richard Horntvedt told a local newspaper he was not taking a life raft or a survival suit as he did not have enough space.
"We found his body at about 5.30 a.m. (0330 GMT) this morning drifting about 10 miles east of the Cape," emergency services spokesman Erlang Herstad said.
"He was tied to the keel of the boat by a rope, but I don't know if he had tied himself or became entangled."
Horntvedt had set off Sunday from the North Cape -- Norway's most northerly point deep inside the Arctic Circle -- to row the 2,500-km (1,555-mile) coastline south to Lindesnes in an open 20-foot (6-metre)-long 1850s style boat.
Herstad did not know what had caused the accident but said it had probably happened only hours after Horntvedt had departed in calm weather. Horntvedt only had a mobile phone for communication and had not made a call for help.
He had expected his journey to take up to 90 days.
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Indian "marathon boy," coach run into abuse claims
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - A four-year-old child, sold by his mother for less than $20, has been dubbed India's "marathon boy" after he ran 65 km (40 miles) on Tuesday, but critics accused his coach of risking the boy's health for cash.
Budhia Singh, dressed in a white T-shirt and red shorts, covered the distance in just seven hours and two minutes, after setting out to become the youngest Indian to cover the marathon distance.
His progress was avidly followed by many of India's TV news channels. Around 300 police officers ran with him, and senior local government officials greeted him when he eventually ground to a halt.
Born in a slum in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, Budhia was a year old when his mother sold him for just 800 rupees ($20) after his father had died.
Biranchi Das, a local judo teacher, adopted Budhia and later discovered his unusual stamina.
Thousands of people cheered Budhia during his record attempt, which saw the exhausted child collapse as soaring summer temperatures sapped his energy.
An editor with the Limca Book of Records, a local version of the Guinness publication, said Budhia's record would be officially recognized Thursday.
"Though Budhia had completed this distance several times, we did not have any record to claim it," Das told reporters.
However, there are serious concerns the boy is being pushed too far for publicity and rewards.
Orissa's state-run child welfare committee is probing allegations the coach is exploiting the child for personal gain.
Das has in turn won a court injunction against Orissa's child development minister, Pramila Mallick.
Budhia said he is happy to run and run. "During my (daily) ten-hour practise, I don't feel the pain; I enjoy it," he said.
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - A four-year-old child, sold by his mother for less than $20, has been dubbed India's "marathon boy" after he ran 65 km (40 miles) on Tuesday, but critics accused his coach of risking the boy's health for cash.
Budhia Singh, dressed in a white T-shirt and red shorts, covered the distance in just seven hours and two minutes, after setting out to become the youngest Indian to cover the marathon distance.
His progress was avidly followed by many of India's TV news channels. Around 300 police officers ran with him, and senior local government officials greeted him when he eventually ground to a halt.
Born in a slum in Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, Budhia was a year old when his mother sold him for just 800 rupees ($20) after his father had died.
Biranchi Das, a local judo teacher, adopted Budhia and later discovered his unusual stamina.
Thousands of people cheered Budhia during his record attempt, which saw the exhausted child collapse as soaring summer temperatures sapped his energy.
An editor with the Limca Book of Records, a local version of the Guinness publication, said Budhia's record would be officially recognized Thursday.
"Though Budhia had completed this distance several times, we did not have any record to claim it," Das told reporters.
However, there are serious concerns the boy is being pushed too far for publicity and rewards.
Orissa's state-run child welfare committee is probing allegations the coach is exploiting the child for personal gain.
Das has in turn won a court injunction against Orissa's child development minister, Pramila Mallick.
Budhia said he is happy to run and run. "During my (daily) ten-hour practise, I don't feel the pain; I enjoy it," he said.
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Oregon students can sue over tough coach dispute
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Reuters) - Members of a high school basketball team can sue over their suspensions after they protested a verbally abusive coach, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.
Eight students on the Clatskanie High School basketball team in Clatskanie, Oregon, during the 2000-2001 season signed a petition seeking the removal of coach Jeff Baughman because of what they described as his intimidation tactics.
The players were suspended from the varsity team after they refused to board a bus to their next game, and in 2003 they filed a lawsuit claiming school officials violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.
A district court ruled against the students, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the lower court erred in dismissing the students' free speech claims.
"The plaintiffs' petition and complaints against their coach were protected speech because that speech could not reasonably have led school officials to forecast substantial disruption of or material interference with a school activity," Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for a three-judge panel.
The 9th Circuit found that not boarding the bus was not protected speech because it disrupted the basketball program, but the panel asked the lower court to reconsider whether the players' free speech action of signing a petition was a substantial reason in their suspension.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Reuters) - Members of a high school basketball team can sue over their suspensions after they protested a verbally abusive coach, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday.
Eight students on the Clatskanie High School basketball team in Clatskanie, Oregon, during the 2000-2001 season signed a petition seeking the removal of coach Jeff Baughman because of what they described as his intimidation tactics.
The players were suspended from the varsity team after they refused to board a bus to their next game, and in 2003 they filed a lawsuit claiming school officials violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.
A district court ruled against the students, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the lower court erred in dismissing the students' free speech claims.
"The plaintiffs' petition and complaints against their coach were protected speech because that speech could not reasonably have led school officials to forecast substantial disruption of or material interference with a school activity," Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for a three-judge panel.
The 9th Circuit found that not boarding the bus was not protected speech because it disrupted the basketball program, but the panel asked the lower court to reconsider whether the players' free speech action of signing a petition was a substantial reason in their suspension.
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Ohio man tells executioners "It's not working"
By Jim Leckrone
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A double murderer was put to death in Ohio on Tuesday but not until after one of his veins had collapsed, causing the condemned man to sit up and tell his executioners, "It's not working," officials said.
The Ohio Department of Corrections said Joseph Clark, 57, was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. EDT (4:26 p.m. British Time) following an injection of lethal chemicals at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.
Spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the execution was delayed about 90 minutes because technicians had trouble initially finding a site in Clark's arm for the intravenous line carrying the chemicals.
Then shortly after the poisons were supposed to have been pumping into his body, she said, he sat up saying, "It's not working. It's not working."
Officials determined that a vein had collapsed. Curtains were closed to block witnesses' view until technicians found a vein in his other arm. They were then parted to reveal him dying, witnesses said.
Ohio has used lethal injection repeatedly without similar problems, but this method of execution, used in all but one of the 38 U.S. states that impose capital punishment, is under legal attack. The U.S. Supreme Court has a challenge before it from Florida claiming that it causes undue pain, while the matter is also before a court in California.
The method involves three separate drugs: the first renders the victim unconscious, the second stops all muscle movement except the heart and the third stops the heart, causing death.
Clark was given a meal of his request on Monday, consisting of shrimp, steak, chicken wings, fries, rolls with butter, cherry pie and a soft drink.
Just before the execution process started the first time Clark made a final statement apologising to his victims' families and saying "Today my life is being taken because of drugs. If you live by the sword you die by the sword."
On January 13, 1984, Clark shot Marine reservist and father of two David Manning and stole $65 (35.4 pounds) from the gas station where Manning was working.
The murder came during an eight-day crime spree in which Clark also murdered another man, student Donald Harris, and wounded a third man during an attempted robbery.
Harris was filling in for a friend at a convenience store when Clark entered and demanded the contents of the store's safe. Harris said he did not know the safe's combination, and was shot in the back of the head.
Clark later attempted to rob a man at an automated teller machine, the two struggled, and the victim was wounded twice. A witness saw the attack and noted the licence plate number on Clark's car.
After he was arrested, Clark tried to hang himself in his jail cell, and confessed to the murders while recovering in a hospital. He was sentenced to death for Manning's murder.
Clark said he robbed to support a drug habit.
"Neither the parole board nor I are persuaded by Mr. Clark's attempt to explain away Mr. Manning's murder," Gov. Robert Taft said in refusing clemency last week.
Taft said Clark's "well established prior criminal conduct, both as a juvenile and as an adult, signifies a propensity for violent behaviour."
Clark was the 21st person to be executed in Ohio since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999, and the 1,021st inmate executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1976.
By Jim Leckrone
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A double murderer was put to death in Ohio on Tuesday but not until after one of his veins had collapsed, causing the condemned man to sit up and tell his executioners, "It's not working," officials said.
The Ohio Department of Corrections said Joseph Clark, 57, was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. EDT (4:26 p.m. British Time) following an injection of lethal chemicals at the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution in Lucasville.
Spokeswoman Andrea Dean said the execution was delayed about 90 minutes because technicians had trouble initially finding a site in Clark's arm for the intravenous line carrying the chemicals.
Then shortly after the poisons were supposed to have been pumping into his body, she said, he sat up saying, "It's not working. It's not working."
Officials determined that a vein had collapsed. Curtains were closed to block witnesses' view until technicians found a vein in his other arm. They were then parted to reveal him dying, witnesses said.
Ohio has used lethal injection repeatedly without similar problems, but this method of execution, used in all but one of the 38 U.S. states that impose capital punishment, is under legal attack. The U.S. Supreme Court has a challenge before it from Florida claiming that it causes undue pain, while the matter is also before a court in California.
The method involves three separate drugs: the first renders the victim unconscious, the second stops all muscle movement except the heart and the third stops the heart, causing death.
Clark was given a meal of his request on Monday, consisting of shrimp, steak, chicken wings, fries, rolls with butter, cherry pie and a soft drink.
Just before the execution process started the first time Clark made a final statement apologising to his victims' families and saying "Today my life is being taken because of drugs. If you live by the sword you die by the sword."
On January 13, 1984, Clark shot Marine reservist and father of two David Manning and stole $65 (35.4 pounds) from the gas station where Manning was working.
The murder came during an eight-day crime spree in which Clark also murdered another man, student Donald Harris, and wounded a third man during an attempted robbery.
Harris was filling in for a friend at a convenience store when Clark entered and demanded the contents of the store's safe. Harris said he did not know the safe's combination, and was shot in the back of the head.
Clark later attempted to rob a man at an automated teller machine, the two struggled, and the victim was wounded twice. A witness saw the attack and noted the licence plate number on Clark's car.
After he was arrested, Clark tried to hang himself in his jail cell, and confessed to the murders while recovering in a hospital. He was sentenced to death for Manning's murder.
Clark said he robbed to support a drug habit.
"Neither the parole board nor I are persuaded by Mr. Clark's attempt to explain away Mr. Manning's murder," Gov. Robert Taft said in refusing clemency last week.
Taft said Clark's "well established prior criminal conduct, both as a juvenile and as an adult, signifies a propensity for violent behaviour."
Clark was the 21st person to be executed in Ohio since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1999, and the 1,021st inmate executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed in 1976.
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PM 'eats babies' sign flashed at commuters
By Stefanie Kranjec
TORONTO (Reuters) - A mocking announcement about Canada's prime minister, "Stephen Harper Eats Babies," was flashed on electronic advertising signs on Toronto area commuter trains for several days, and technicians were still scrambling on Tuesday to get the signs fixed.
"Stephen Harper Eats Babies. Stephen Harper Eats Babies. Stephen Harper Eats Babies," started to appear every three seconds across some LED screens late last week. The signs usually carry transit updates and advertising spots.
"It appears that this was a case of electronic vandalism," said Stephanie Sorensen, corporate communications and media specialist for the GO Transit commuter system. "We assume it was a hacker. We haven't identified the person who did this but we're working closely with the contractor who runs the signs to fix the problem."
Screens on GO Trains have been shut down since Monday. Sorensen said she expects they will remain off line for a few more days until password-protected technology is installed to protect them from computer hackers.
"We regret that it happened and we're sorry if anybody was offended, including the prime minister," Sorensen said.
GO Transit carries 47 million passengers every year on its network of buses and trains in the Toronto region.
By Stefanie Kranjec
TORONTO (Reuters) - A mocking announcement about Canada's prime minister, "Stephen Harper Eats Babies," was flashed on electronic advertising signs on Toronto area commuter trains for several days, and technicians were still scrambling on Tuesday to get the signs fixed.
"Stephen Harper Eats Babies. Stephen Harper Eats Babies. Stephen Harper Eats Babies," started to appear every three seconds across some LED screens late last week. The signs usually carry transit updates and advertising spots.
"It appears that this was a case of electronic vandalism," said Stephanie Sorensen, corporate communications and media specialist for the GO Transit commuter system. "We assume it was a hacker. We haven't identified the person who did this but we're working closely with the contractor who runs the signs to fix the problem."
Screens on GO Trains have been shut down since Monday. Sorensen said she expects they will remain off line for a few more days until password-protected technology is installed to protect them from computer hackers.
"We regret that it happened and we're sorry if anybody was offended, including the prime minister," Sorensen said.
GO Transit carries 47 million passengers every year on its network of buses and trains in the Toronto region.
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Thief disguised as guard robs Italy museum
ROME, Italy (Reuters) - A thief disguised as a security guard on Tuesday duped the unsuspecting staff of a top Italian art gallery into giving him more than 200,000 euros (137,000 pounds), local media reported.
The thief showed up on Tuesday morning at the Pitti Palace, a grandiose renaissance construction in central Florence and one of Italy's best known museums, wearing the same uniform used by employees of the security firm which every day collects the institution's takings.
After the cashier staff gave him three bags full of money, he signed a receipt and calmly walked out.
The robbery was only discovered 30 minutes later, when the real security guards turned up to collect the money.
The museum declined comment.
ROME, Italy (Reuters) - A thief disguised as a security guard on Tuesday duped the unsuspecting staff of a top Italian art gallery into giving him more than 200,000 euros (137,000 pounds), local media reported.
The thief showed up on Tuesday morning at the Pitti Palace, a grandiose renaissance construction in central Florence and one of Italy's best known museums, wearing the same uniform used by employees of the security firm which every day collects the institution's takings.
After the cashier staff gave him three bags full of money, he signed a receipt and calmly walked out.
The robbery was only discovered 30 minutes later, when the real security guards turned up to collect the money.
The museum declined comment.
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Euless man puts dog in washing machine
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
ELLIS, Texas - A Euless man who severely injured a stray dog by placing him in a washing machine with hot water faces an animal cruelty charge, authorities said Tuesday.
Chad Edward Ellis, 32, was indicted Friday on one count of animal cruelty, a state jail felony, stemming from an incident in January. If convicted, Mr. Ellis could receive six months to two years and fined up to $10,000 on the state jail felony, said Assistant Tarrant County district attorney Rob Martinez.
“Based on what he told us, he became angry with the dog,” said Euless police Lt. W. L. Pavlik. As a result, the dog, a black Labrador mix, was placed inside a washing machine, and Mr. Ellis then turned on the hot water cycle, officials said.
“This was a stray,” Mr. Martinez said. “No owners have come forward. The dog may have had owners at one point.”
Grapevine police said a woman brought the dog to their animal control officers on Jan. 4 claiming the dog had been struck by a vehicle on State Highway 114 at Hall-Johnson Road. The dog was taken to a veterinarian, but never got better.
“The dog was in bad shape,” said Grapevine Lt. Bob Murphy. “It had marks all over its body.”
“After three days, he’s in pain and he’s not claimed, so the dog was euthanized,” Lt. Murphy said.
Weeks later, Grapevine officials were contacted by a Euless detective about the dog.
“We said ‘sure, it was brought here,” Lt. Murphy said. “We had taken pictures of the dog and turned those over to Euless for evidence.”
Police said neighbors became suspicious of Mr. Ellis in January. Three reported their dogs missing and another told police their dog was stolen.
“People were putting up posters,” Lt. Pavlik said.
One neighbor said he had seen Mr. Ellis in the backyard of some homes, carrying dog leashes.
Police obtained a search warrant and found all four dogs in Mr. Ellis’ home. All were returned to their owners.
News of the abuse of the Euless dog comes on the heels of another highly publicized animal cruelty case. More than 1,500 people turned out for a memorial service for Mercy, a 10-month-old pit bull mix who was doused with gasoline and burned. The dog later died. Dallas police last week arrested Deshann Quatrail Brown, 21, in connection with the case.
_____________________________________________________________
This is not "All Dogs Go To Hell", idiots!
By DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News
ELLIS, Texas - A Euless man who severely injured a stray dog by placing him in a washing machine with hot water faces an animal cruelty charge, authorities said Tuesday.
Chad Edward Ellis, 32, was indicted Friday on one count of animal cruelty, a state jail felony, stemming from an incident in January. If convicted, Mr. Ellis could receive six months to two years and fined up to $10,000 on the state jail felony, said Assistant Tarrant County district attorney Rob Martinez.
“Based on what he told us, he became angry with the dog,” said Euless police Lt. W. L. Pavlik. As a result, the dog, a black Labrador mix, was placed inside a washing machine, and Mr. Ellis then turned on the hot water cycle, officials said.
“This was a stray,” Mr. Martinez said. “No owners have come forward. The dog may have had owners at one point.”
Grapevine police said a woman brought the dog to their animal control officers on Jan. 4 claiming the dog had been struck by a vehicle on State Highway 114 at Hall-Johnson Road. The dog was taken to a veterinarian, but never got better.
“The dog was in bad shape,” said Grapevine Lt. Bob Murphy. “It had marks all over its body.”
“After three days, he’s in pain and he’s not claimed, so the dog was euthanized,” Lt. Murphy said.
Weeks later, Grapevine officials were contacted by a Euless detective about the dog.
“We said ‘sure, it was brought here,” Lt. Murphy said. “We had taken pictures of the dog and turned those over to Euless for evidence.”
Police said neighbors became suspicious of Mr. Ellis in January. Three reported their dogs missing and another told police their dog was stolen.
“People were putting up posters,” Lt. Pavlik said.
One neighbor said he had seen Mr. Ellis in the backyard of some homes, carrying dog leashes.
Police obtained a search warrant and found all four dogs in Mr. Ellis’ home. All were returned to their owners.
News of the abuse of the Euless dog comes on the heels of another highly publicized animal cruelty case. More than 1,500 people turned out for a memorial service for Mercy, a 10-month-old pit bull mix who was doused with gasoline and burned. The dog later died. Dallas police last week arrested Deshann Quatrail Brown, 21, in connection with the case.
_____________________________________________________________
This is not "All Dogs Go To Hell", idiots!
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More Professors Ban Laptops in Class
By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - As the professor lectured on the law, the student wore a poker face. But that was probably because, under the guise of taking notes on his laptop, the student actually was playing poker — online, using the school's wireless Internet connection. The scenario is not uncommon in today's college classrooms, and some instructors want it stopped. So they have done the unthinkable — banned laptops.
The move caused an uproar at the University of Memphis, where law professor June Entman nixed the computers in March because she felt they were turning her students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom debate.
Students rebelled by filing a complaint with the American Bar Association, although the organization dismissed it.
At the University of Pennsylvania, law professor Charles Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago for similar reasons.
Around that time, said Mooney, he was serving as an expert witness in a lawsuit. During a break in his deposition, he recalled asking the stenographer if she found the case interesting. She replied that she didn't remember anything she had taken down, Mooney said.
"I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" he said.
The ban led to "a lot of grumbling," Mooney said. Some students even dropped the class.
But as an experiment, the professor permitted laptops this past year to compare the difference in students' performance. His conclusion: Don't allow laptops.
Penn law student Karen Yeh, 23, said a laptop prohibition in one of her classes this past year was unnecessary. The embarrassing possibility of being unable to answer a question posed by the professor was reason enough for students to pay attention.
"Nobody would've been surfing the Net," Yeh said. "You're just too scared to get called on."
But some students said online distractions are really no different from pre-laptop days, when they might do a crossword puzzle in class.
Ryan McKenzie, a third-year Penn law student, said so much of students' knowledge is gleaned outside the classroom that in-class distractions don't detract from learning.
"The class is only a small part of the whole experience," said McKenzie, 29. "It's much more independent study."
Paul Engelking, a chemistry professor at the University of Oregon, said he was disturbed to find students gambling online while they were purportedly working on an in-class assignment.
Yet even students who are diligently taking notes with their laptops are missing out on social interaction and jokes the teachers make, he said.
"There isn't even eye contact going on in the classroom," said Engelking.
One remedy instructors have, he said, is to establish penalties for Web surfing, codify them in a course syllabus, and then enforce them.
But even that leaves a lot to be desired, Engelking said.
"I'm not completely thrilled about being a policeman in my own lecture hall," he said. "I've got enough things to do.
By KATHY MATHESON, Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - As the professor lectured on the law, the student wore a poker face. But that was probably because, under the guise of taking notes on his laptop, the student actually was playing poker — online, using the school's wireless Internet connection. The scenario is not uncommon in today's college classrooms, and some instructors want it stopped. So they have done the unthinkable — banned laptops.
The move caused an uproar at the University of Memphis, where law professor June Entman nixed the computers in March because she felt they were turning her students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom debate.
Students rebelled by filing a complaint with the American Bar Association, although the organization dismissed it.
At the University of Pennsylvania, law professor Charles Mooney banned laptops from his classes two years ago for similar reasons.
Around that time, said Mooney, he was serving as an expert witness in a lawsuit. During a break in his deposition, he recalled asking the stenographer if she found the case interesting. She replied that she didn't remember anything she had taken down, Mooney said.
"I thought, 'That's what my students are doing,'" he said.
The ban led to "a lot of grumbling," Mooney said. Some students even dropped the class.
But as an experiment, the professor permitted laptops this past year to compare the difference in students' performance. His conclusion: Don't allow laptops.
Penn law student Karen Yeh, 23, said a laptop prohibition in one of her classes this past year was unnecessary. The embarrassing possibility of being unable to answer a question posed by the professor was reason enough for students to pay attention.
"Nobody would've been surfing the Net," Yeh said. "You're just too scared to get called on."
But some students said online distractions are really no different from pre-laptop days, when they might do a crossword puzzle in class.
Ryan McKenzie, a third-year Penn law student, said so much of students' knowledge is gleaned outside the classroom that in-class distractions don't detract from learning.
"The class is only a small part of the whole experience," said McKenzie, 29. "It's much more independent study."
Paul Engelking, a chemistry professor at the University of Oregon, said he was disturbed to find students gambling online while they were purportedly working on an in-class assignment.
Yet even students who are diligently taking notes with their laptops are missing out on social interaction and jokes the teachers make, he said.
"There isn't even eye contact going on in the classroom," said Engelking.
One remedy instructors have, he said, is to establish penalties for Web surfing, codify them in a course syllabus, and then enforce them.
But even that leaves a lot to be desired, Engelking said.
"I'm not completely thrilled about being a policeman in my own lecture hall," he said. "I've got enough things to do.
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Fortune-telling judge couldn't see it coming
MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) - A Philippine judge who claimed he could see into the future and admitted consulting imaginary mystic dwarfs has asked for his job back after being fired by the country's Supreme Court.
"They should not have dismissed me for what I believed," Florentino Floro, a trial judge in the capital's Malabon northern suburb, told reporters after filing his appeal.
Floro was sacked last month and fined 40,000 pesos ($780) after a three-year investigation found he was incompetent, had shown bias in a case he was trying and had criticized court procedure, a ruling showed.
He told investigators that three mystic dwarfs -- Armand, Luis and Angel -- helped him carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers.
The Supreme Court said it was not within its expertise to conclude that Floro was insane, but agreed with the court clinic's finding that he was suffering from psychosis.
MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) - A Philippine judge who claimed he could see into the future and admitted consulting imaginary mystic dwarfs has asked for his job back after being fired by the country's Supreme Court.
"They should not have dismissed me for what I believed," Florentino Floro, a trial judge in the capital's Malabon northern suburb, told reporters after filing his appeal.
Floro was sacked last month and fined 40,000 pesos ($780) after a three-year investigation found he was incompetent, had shown bias in a case he was trying and had criticized court procedure, a ruling showed.
He told investigators that three mystic dwarfs -- Armand, Luis and Angel -- helped him carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers.
The Supreme Court said it was not within its expertise to conclude that Floro was insane, but agreed with the court clinic's finding that he was suffering from psychosis.
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Rome tourist parched after $1,200 beer
ROME, Italy (Reuters) - He had heard Rome was expensive but nothing prepared the Hong Kong tourist for a 990 euro ($1,251) beer.
The unwary visitor received the bumper bar bill for a drink sipped near Rome's most famous street, Via Veneto, where beers usually cost as much as 10 euros, Rome mayor's office said.
The tourist, who was traveling alone, was invited to the bar by a tout who served him a beer and then said it would cost him 990 euros. He bartered it down to 490 euros, but the bar owner ended up taking 990 euros off his credit card anyway.
"When the bill arrived I thought it was safer to pay it. I was scared something could happen to me if I didn't," the man, whose name was withdrawn, told Rome mayor's office that is investigating the crime.
The tourist, who is from Hong Kong but lives in Germany and has a British passport, tried to report the fraud to the police but said he could not make himself understood because no one spoke English.
Tourists to Rome have surged in the past five years -- visitors were up 60 percent in April compared with a year ago
-- but the unwary can find the Eternal City's charms obscured by the fight to get a fair price.
Most visitors have tales of rip offs by bar, restaurant and hotel owners but they often pale beside stories of taxi drivers who can charge hundreds of euros for trips from the airport and then dump those who refuse to pay by the side of the motorway.
ROME, Italy (Reuters) - He had heard Rome was expensive but nothing prepared the Hong Kong tourist for a 990 euro ($1,251) beer.
The unwary visitor received the bumper bar bill for a drink sipped near Rome's most famous street, Via Veneto, where beers usually cost as much as 10 euros, Rome mayor's office said.
The tourist, who was traveling alone, was invited to the bar by a tout who served him a beer and then said it would cost him 990 euros. He bartered it down to 490 euros, but the bar owner ended up taking 990 euros off his credit card anyway.
"When the bill arrived I thought it was safer to pay it. I was scared something could happen to me if I didn't," the man, whose name was withdrawn, told Rome mayor's office that is investigating the crime.
The tourist, who is from Hong Kong but lives in Germany and has a British passport, tried to report the fraud to the police but said he could not make himself understood because no one spoke English.
Tourists to Rome have surged in the past five years -- visitors were up 60 percent in April compared with a year ago
-- but the unwary can find the Eternal City's charms obscured by the fight to get a fair price.
Most visitors have tales of rip offs by bar, restaurant and hotel owners but they often pale beside stories of taxi drivers who can charge hundreds of euros for trips from the airport and then dump those who refuse to pay by the side of the motorway.
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Study: US mothers deserve $134,121 in salary
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study released Wednesday.
A mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home, according to the study by Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts Salary.com.
To reach the projected pay figures, the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 jobs respondents said most closely comprise a mother's role -- housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.
"You can't put a dollar value on it. It's worth a lot more," said Kristen Krauss, 35, as she hurriedly packed her four children, all aged under 8, into a minivan in New York while searching frantically for her keys. "Just look at me."
Employed mothers reported spending on average 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stay-at-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week, it showed.
An estimated 5.6 million women in the United States are stay-at-home mothers with children under age 15, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
NOT 'JUST A MOM'
"It's good to acknowledge the job that's being done, and that it's not that these women are settling for 'just a mom,'" said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. "They are actually doing an awful lot."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 26 million women with children under age 18 work in the nation's paid labor force.
Both employed and stay-at-home mothers said the lowest-paying job of housekeeper was their most common role, with employed mothers working 7.2 hours a week as housekeeper and stay-at-home mothers working 22.1 hours in that role.
"Every husband I've ever spoken to said, 'I'm keeping my job. You keep yours.' It's a tough one," said Gillian Forrest, 39, a stay-at-home mother of 22-month-old Alex in New York. "I don't know if you could put a dollar amount on it but it would be nice to get something."
To compile its study, Salary.com surveyed about 400 mothers online over the last two months.
Salary.com offers a Web site (http://www.mom.salary.com) where mothers can calculate what they could be paid, based on how many children they have, where they live and other factors. The site will produce a printable document that looks like a paycheck, Coleman said.
"It's obviously not negotiable," he said.
On average, the mother who works outside the house earns a base pay of $62,798 for a 40-hour at-home work week and $23,078 in overtime; a stay-at-home mother earned a base pay of $45,697 and $88,424 in overtime, it said.
In a Salary.com study conducted last year, stay-at-home mothers earned $131,471. The potential earnings of mothers who work outside the home was not calculated in the previous study.
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A full-time stay-at-home mother would earn $134,121 a year if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top U.S. ad executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study released Wednesday.
A mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home, according to the study by Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts Salary.com.
To reach the projected pay figures, the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 jobs respondents said most closely comprise a mother's role -- housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.
"You can't put a dollar value on it. It's worth a lot more," said Kristen Krauss, 35, as she hurriedly packed her four children, all aged under 8, into a minivan in New York while searching frantically for her keys. "Just look at me."
Employed mothers reported spending on average 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stay-at-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week, it showed.
An estimated 5.6 million women in the United States are stay-at-home mothers with children under age 15, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
NOT 'JUST A MOM'
"It's good to acknowledge the job that's being done, and that it's not that these women are settling for 'just a mom,'" said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. "They are actually doing an awful lot."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 26 million women with children under age 18 work in the nation's paid labor force.
Both employed and stay-at-home mothers said the lowest-paying job of housekeeper was their most common role, with employed mothers working 7.2 hours a week as housekeeper and stay-at-home mothers working 22.1 hours in that role.
"Every husband I've ever spoken to said, 'I'm keeping my job. You keep yours.' It's a tough one," said Gillian Forrest, 39, a stay-at-home mother of 22-month-old Alex in New York. "I don't know if you could put a dollar amount on it but it would be nice to get something."
To compile its study, Salary.com surveyed about 400 mothers online over the last two months.
Salary.com offers a Web site (http://www.mom.salary.com) where mothers can calculate what they could be paid, based on how many children they have, where they live and other factors. The site will produce a printable document that looks like a paycheck, Coleman said.
"It's obviously not negotiable," he said.
On average, the mother who works outside the house earns a base pay of $62,798 for a 40-hour at-home work week and $23,078 in overtime; a stay-at-home mother earned a base pay of $45,697 and $88,424 in overtime, it said.
In a Salary.com study conducted last year, stay-at-home mothers earned $131,471. The potential earnings of mothers who work outside the home was not calculated in the previous study.
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