Australia Lets Visa-Less Chinese Woman, 104, Stay
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government granted permanent residency Tuesday to a 104-year-old Chinese woman who theoretically faced deportation after losing a last legal appeal for a visa.
In a late-night statement, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said she had exercised her discretionary powers to grant a visa to Cui Yu Hu "as my department had always intended."
Vanstone denied there was ever any intention to remove Hu from Australia, citing a letter the woman was sent last month telling her the department was doing all it could to help her.
Hu, who received a letter of congratulations from Prime Minister John Howard on her last birthday on Feb. 18, has lived in Australia since 1995 when she arrived on a 12-month visitor visa.
When she tried to leave, no airline would take her because she was deemed too old and frail. She was later denied an aged-parent visa to be able to stay in the country with her adopted daughter who settled permanently in Australia in 1996.
Tuesday Hu, who has outlived all her family and friends in China and has no other relatives, lost her appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal against a government decision to refuse her a visa.
In principle, this decision opened the way for her deportation but Vanstone's department had made it clear that this was unlikely.
Vanstone said the department had had to deny Hu an aged parent visa because she had been unlawfully in Australia between 1996 and 2001.
"(But) at no time has Mrs. Hu faced deportation," she said, according to Australian Associated Press.
The Hu case comes at a time when Australia's tough immigration rules and mandatory detention regime for illegal arrivals are under close public scrutiny.
Last month, a 39-year-old mentally ill Australian, Cornelia Rau, was found to have been held in an immigration detention center for 10 months because authorities wrongly believed she was an illegal German immigrant.
Refugee advocates said Rau was locked in solitary confinement for up to 20 hours a day during her time in detention.
Human rights groups have consistently criticized the government for its tough policy of detaining illegal arrivals, sometimes for years, while their applications for asylum are considered. The policy is aimed at deterring Asian people smugglers sailing asylum seekers to Australia.
TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES
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AussieMark
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Heaven Can Wait, Court Tells Dying Man
ROME (Reuters) - A man given six months to live by his doctors has been told by an Italian court to come back in 14 months to hear the outcome of his demand for insurance damages.
Carmelo Cisabella, 39, has an inoperable spine disease and is anxious to pick up some $596,300 in already-agreed damages from his insurers to help ease his final months of life, Il Messaggero newspaper reported Tuesday.
In a bid to speed up the process, Cisabella turned to the Sicilian courts to put pressure on the slow-moving insurers, but was told to return next year to hear their decision.
In his frustration, he chained himself to the gates of the law courts to bring attention to his plight.
Il Messaggero said Cisabella's woes dated back more than a decade when he was left paralyzed by a motorcycle accident. Confined to a wheelchair, he subsequently developed a lethal infection of the spine.
The insurance claim dates back to the road crash.
Italian justice is notoriously slow and it takes on average 3,041 days to obtain a definitive sentence in a civil case.
ROME (Reuters) - A man given six months to live by his doctors has been told by an Italian court to come back in 14 months to hear the outcome of his demand for insurance damages.
Carmelo Cisabella, 39, has an inoperable spine disease and is anxious to pick up some $596,300 in already-agreed damages from his insurers to help ease his final months of life, Il Messaggero newspaper reported Tuesday.
In a bid to speed up the process, Cisabella turned to the Sicilian courts to put pressure on the slow-moving insurers, but was told to return next year to hear their decision.
In his frustration, he chained himself to the gates of the law courts to bring attention to his plight.
Il Messaggero said Cisabella's woes dated back more than a decade when he was left paralyzed by a motorcycle accident. Confined to a wheelchair, he subsequently developed a lethal infection of the spine.
The insurance claim dates back to the road crash.
Italian justice is notoriously slow and it takes on average 3,041 days to obtain a definitive sentence in a civil case.
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Uganda Nabs 16-Foot-Long, Man-Eating Croc
KAMPALA, Uganda (Reuters) - A 5-meter-long (16 ft) crocodile said to have eaten more than 80 people has been caught alive in Uganda and transferred to a sanctuary, officials said Tuesday.
The giant beast -- weighing about a ton-- was captured by wildlife experts who spent three nights camping in the bush before locating their target.
Residents told local media the crocodile killed 83 people over the last two decades, mostly fishermen plying their trade on Lake Victoria off the shores of Bugiri district.
"Much as the residents of Luganga wanted to kill the reptile after our rangers had captured it, it is our responsibility to protect it by removing it from that area and keeping it in a safe place," Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga told Reuters.
The beast - reportedly more than 60 years old -- was trapped using ropes and transported by pick-up truck to Buwama crocodile farm west of the capital Kampala.
The state-owned New Vision newspaper said it "roared" as it was released into a holding ground at the farm Monday.
Crocodiles sometimes attack and kill villagers collecting water or fishing in Lake Victoria, Africa's biggest lake.
Experts say most attacks are triggered as humans getting too close, and the crocodiles are protecting their territory.
KAMPALA, Uganda (Reuters) - A 5-meter-long (16 ft) crocodile said to have eaten more than 80 people has been caught alive in Uganda and transferred to a sanctuary, officials said Tuesday.
The giant beast -- weighing about a ton-- was captured by wildlife experts who spent three nights camping in the bush before locating their target.
Residents told local media the crocodile killed 83 people over the last two decades, mostly fishermen plying their trade on Lake Victoria off the shores of Bugiri district.
"Much as the residents of Luganga wanted to kill the reptile after our rangers had captured it, it is our responsibility to protect it by removing it from that area and keeping it in a safe place," Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga told Reuters.
The beast - reportedly more than 60 years old -- was trapped using ropes and transported by pick-up truck to Buwama crocodile farm west of the capital Kampala.
The state-owned New Vision newspaper said it "roared" as it was released into a holding ground at the farm Monday.
Crocodiles sometimes attack and kill villagers collecting water or fishing in Lake Victoria, Africa's biggest lake.
Experts say most attacks are triggered as humans getting too close, and the crocodiles are protecting their territory.
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Giant Swastika Carved Near Airport
BERLIN (Reuters) - Passengers on planes descending into Berlin's Tegel airport were greeted by the sight of a huge swastika scraped out of snow on a frozen lake a few kilometers from the runway, police said Tuesday.
The Nazi symbol, which is banned in Germany, was visible from planes arriving from all over Europe for most of Monday morning before water police, having tested the ice thickness, could venture out to erase it.
Alerted after a pilot told the airport control tower, police in a squad car sent to the lake failed to see anything from the shore. A police helicopter later spotted the 8 by 5 meter (26 by 16 foot) swastika and sent the water police team.
The suspected neo-Nazi stunt recalls an affair five years ago when a 60-by-60 meter swastika, visible only from the air, was discovered in a forest 100 km north of Berlin.
A devoted Hitler follower had planted russet-colored larch trees in 1938 which formed a swastika for a few weeks each autumn and spring as the leaves changed color.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Passengers on planes descending into Berlin's Tegel airport were greeted by the sight of a huge swastika scraped out of snow on a frozen lake a few kilometers from the runway, police said Tuesday.
The Nazi symbol, which is banned in Germany, was visible from planes arriving from all over Europe for most of Monday morning before water police, having tested the ice thickness, could venture out to erase it.
Alerted after a pilot told the airport control tower, police in a squad car sent to the lake failed to see anything from the shore. A police helicopter later spotted the 8 by 5 meter (26 by 16 foot) swastika and sent the water police team.
The suspected neo-Nazi stunt recalls an affair five years ago when a 60-by-60 meter swastika, visible only from the air, was discovered in a forest 100 km north of Berlin.
A devoted Hitler follower had planted russet-colored larch trees in 1938 which formed a swastika for a few weeks each autumn and spring as the leaves changed color.
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No Hackers at Harvard
BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard Business School said on Tuesday it is rejecting applications from 119 would-be students who it says hacked into a Web site to learn if they were accepted at the Ivy League university ahead of the official notification.
"This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School, said in a statement.
"Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school."
Harvard said 119 applicants had hacked into Virginia-based ApplyYourself, a company that manages Web pages used by students to apply to roughly 300 different universities.
"We know that 119 applicants hacked into the system -- and we know their names," said Jim Aisner, a spokesman for Harvard Business School.
Aisner declined to comment on how many of the 119 applicants would have been accepted at the school had they not broken into the ApplyYourself Web site.
Harvard is one of several top-tier universities that use ApplyYourself to tell applicants if their applications were successful.
Last week, officials at the site said a computer hacker had helped applicants break into records at some of the most prestigious U.S. business schools to see if they were accepted weeks before official offers are made.
BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard Business School said on Tuesday it is rejecting applications from 119 would-be students who it says hacked into a Web site to learn if they were accepted at the Ivy League university ahead of the official notification.
"This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School, said in a statement.
"Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school."
Harvard said 119 applicants had hacked into Virginia-based ApplyYourself, a company that manages Web pages used by students to apply to roughly 300 different universities.
"We know that 119 applicants hacked into the system -- and we know their names," said Jim Aisner, a spokesman for Harvard Business School.
Aisner declined to comment on how many of the 119 applicants would have been accepted at the school had they not broken into the ApplyYourself Web site.
Harvard is one of several top-tier universities that use ApplyYourself to tell applicants if their applications were successful.
Last week, officials at the site said a computer hacker had helped applicants break into records at some of the most prestigious U.S. business schools to see if they were accepted weeks before official offers are made.
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A First from Rebel-Held Myanmar
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Reuters news team shone a rare light on Asia's longest running insurgency on Feb. 28 when they crossed a rickety pontoon bridge over the Moei river on the Thai-Myanmar border to interview the commander of the rebel ethnic Karen National Liberation Army.
General Mutu Saepoe's interview with a team of reporters, a photographer and a TV camera operator at the Kaw Htoo Lae Camp in a jungle clearing was his first in 56 years as a rebel fighter.
Mutu, 72, told Reuters in impeccable Queen's English learned at a British-run primary school in colonial Burma that the conflict with Myanmar's military junta could last another 50 years unless it got serious about peace talks.
The Karen struggle for self-determination is as old as the Palestinian conflict with Israel but is rarely covered. The Reuters report won wide play in newspaper, online and on television.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Reuters news team shone a rare light on Asia's longest running insurgency on Feb. 28 when they crossed a rickety pontoon bridge over the Moei river on the Thai-Myanmar border to interview the commander of the rebel ethnic Karen National Liberation Army.
General Mutu Saepoe's interview with a team of reporters, a photographer and a TV camera operator at the Kaw Htoo Lae Camp in a jungle clearing was his first in 56 years as a rebel fighter.
Mutu, 72, told Reuters in impeccable Queen's English learned at a British-run primary school in colonial Burma that the conflict with Myanmar's military junta could last another 50 years unless it got serious about peace talks.
The Karen struggle for self-determination is as old as the Palestinian conflict with Israel but is rarely covered. The Reuters report won wide play in newspaper, online and on television.
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City Won't Destroy 'Cursing Stone'
LONDON (Reuters) - A 14-ton "cursed" artwork that some in a northern English city wanted destroyed because they said it had brought misery and misfortune has been saved.
The city council has rejected a motion tabled by one of its members, Councilor Jim Tootle, that the "cursing stone" should be destroyed, blaming it for Carlisle's recent bad luck.
Since the boulder, which is inscribed with a 1,069-word curse, was installed in one of the city's museums in 2001, Carlisle has been plagued by floods, foot-and-mouth disease, sporting humiliation and job losses.
Written by the Archbishop of Glasgow in the 16th century, the curse was directed at "reivers" who terrorized the area with blackmail, rape, pillage and robbery.
Debate about the stone has attracted worldwide interest in Carlisle's woes. Spoon-bending Israeli psychic Uri Geller even offered to "save" Carlisle by exorcising the curse of evil forces in his healing garden.
"The right decision was made because there was no logical reason why the stone could be blamed for events," city council leader Mike Mitchelson said.
"We live in a modern era. People in Carlisle are sound, rational people and don't continue to live in medieval times."
Many other areas of Britain suffered from both foot and mouth disease and flooding, he added.
LONDON (Reuters) - A 14-ton "cursed" artwork that some in a northern English city wanted destroyed because they said it had brought misery and misfortune has been saved.
The city council has rejected a motion tabled by one of its members, Councilor Jim Tootle, that the "cursing stone" should be destroyed, blaming it for Carlisle's recent bad luck.
Since the boulder, which is inscribed with a 1,069-word curse, was installed in one of the city's museums in 2001, Carlisle has been plagued by floods, foot-and-mouth disease, sporting humiliation and job losses.
Written by the Archbishop of Glasgow in the 16th century, the curse was directed at "reivers" who terrorized the area with blackmail, rape, pillage and robbery.
Debate about the stone has attracted worldwide interest in Carlisle's woes. Spoon-bending Israeli psychic Uri Geller even offered to "save" Carlisle by exorcising the curse of evil forces in his healing garden.
"The right decision was made because there was no logical reason why the stone could be blamed for events," city council leader Mike Mitchelson said.
"We live in a modern era. People in Carlisle are sound, rational people and don't continue to live in medieval times."
Many other areas of Britain suffered from both foot and mouth disease and flooding, he added.
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Claws Out Over Animal Rights in West Hollywood
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The claws are out in Southern California over the rights of cats to keep their nails and dogs to keep their tails and ears intact.
Two years after the liberal city of West Hollywood became the first in the United States to ban the removal of claws on cats, a California veterinary group has filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance.
The California Veterinary Medical Association also wants the Los Angeles Superior Court to declare illegal a proposed ban on tail-docking and ear-cropping in West Hollywood.
"The practice of veterinary medicine should be left to veterinarians with the best interests of the patient and animal owners in mind," CVMA president Jon Klingborg said on Tuesday, adding that the only legitimate way to ban the procedure was to go through the California state assembly.
Animal rights activists lobbied for years in favor of the cat declawing ban -- which involves amputation of a cat's toes and tendons -- saying there are kinder ways of stopping cats scratching people and furniture. Declawing, tail-docking and ear-cropping are prohibited in several European countries.
"I think the CVMA should be spending their time on something more constructive when there are so many animal problems, like overpopulation," said Jennifer Conrad, a practicing vet who spearheaded the declawing ban in 2003.
"Fighting for the right to amputate the fingers off cats is really a waste of their money," she said.
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran said the city was leading the way in outlawing animal cruelty and defended the right of the elected city council to enact local laws. In 2002, the city decreed that pet owners should be known as "guardians" and their pets as "companion animals."
Klingborg said the CVMA's lawsuit had nothing to do with its views on so-called cosmetic surgery for pets, adding that the group opposed ear-cropping.
"This is not an issue that has anything to do with whether a procedure is unkind or cruel. The city of West Hollywood is overstepping its bounds. It is taking away a pet owner's freedom to choose how they want their pets cared for," Klingborg said.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The claws are out in Southern California over the rights of cats to keep their nails and dogs to keep their tails and ears intact.
Two years after the liberal city of West Hollywood became the first in the United States to ban the removal of claws on cats, a California veterinary group has filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance.
The California Veterinary Medical Association also wants the Los Angeles Superior Court to declare illegal a proposed ban on tail-docking and ear-cropping in West Hollywood.
"The practice of veterinary medicine should be left to veterinarians with the best interests of the patient and animal owners in mind," CVMA president Jon Klingborg said on Tuesday, adding that the only legitimate way to ban the procedure was to go through the California state assembly.
Animal rights activists lobbied for years in favor of the cat declawing ban -- which involves amputation of a cat's toes and tendons -- saying there are kinder ways of stopping cats scratching people and furniture. Declawing, tail-docking and ear-cropping are prohibited in several European countries.
"I think the CVMA should be spending their time on something more constructive when there are so many animal problems, like overpopulation," said Jennifer Conrad, a practicing vet who spearheaded the declawing ban in 2003.
"Fighting for the right to amputate the fingers off cats is really a waste of their money," she said.
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran said the city was leading the way in outlawing animal cruelty and defended the right of the elected city council to enact local laws. In 2002, the city decreed that pet owners should be known as "guardians" and their pets as "companion animals."
Klingborg said the CVMA's lawsuit had nothing to do with its views on so-called cosmetic surgery for pets, adding that the group opposed ear-cropping.
"This is not an issue that has anything to do with whether a procedure is unkind or cruel. The city of West Hollywood is overstepping its bounds. It is taking away a pet owner's freedom to choose how they want their pets cared for," Klingborg said.
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Sexy Moans for Mobile Phones
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Adult film company New Frontier Media has something new for cell phones: ring moans.
Wireless content company Brickhouse Mobile on Tuesday said that under an agreement with New Frontier it would begin offering ring tones for mobile phone users featuring stuff stars making groaning and moaning noises from the suggestive to the positively tantalizing.
The company said it would also begin offering sexually explicit "wallpaper" for cell phone screens and adult videos for download on mobile phones under its brand The Erotic Network, the television subsidiary of New Frontier Media Inc.
Brickhouse and New Frontier signed their five-year deal in January but did not disclose full terms of the program until Tuesday. Users will be able to buy individual items or take a monthly subscription.
The two sides said they would also work together on age-verification schemes to ensure that minors were not purchasing inappropriate content. Much of the more explicit content will be available internationally at first.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Adult film company New Frontier Media has something new for cell phones: ring moans.
Wireless content company Brickhouse Mobile on Tuesday said that under an agreement with New Frontier it would begin offering ring tones for mobile phone users featuring stuff stars making groaning and moaning noises from the suggestive to the positively tantalizing.
The company said it would also begin offering sexually explicit "wallpaper" for cell phone screens and adult videos for download on mobile phones under its brand The Erotic Network, the television subsidiary of New Frontier Media Inc.
Brickhouse and New Frontier signed their five-year deal in January but did not disclose full terms of the program until Tuesday. Users will be able to buy individual items or take a monthly subscription.
The two sides said they would also work together on age-verification schemes to ensure that minors were not purchasing inappropriate content. Much of the more explicit content will be available internationally at first.
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Man Loses Fingers in Quest for Girlfriend
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man who sneaked into Canada in February to see his Internet girlfriend will be deported -- minus all his fingers and some of his toes, the Winnipeg Sun newspaper reported Tuesday.
Charles Gonsoulin, 41, will have the fingers and toes amputated because of severe frostbite suffered during a 100-hour trek from Pembina, North Dakota, across the border to Emerson, Manitoba, where he was found wandering on a golf course on Feb. 23, suffering from hypothermia.
"It is better to have loved and to have lost than never to have loved at all," the Sun quoted Gonsoulin as saying. "It was all worth it for me. It's the difference between sitting around dreaming about things and going out and getting them."
Gonsoulin and the Canadian woman met in an Internet chat room in 2002. The woman lives in Quebec, Gonsoulin's lawyer, Mike Cook, told a court hearing. Quebec is about 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) east of Manitoba.
Gonsoulin could not enter Canada legally because he was convicted of robbing a Pizza Hut in Arkansas in 1984, the newspaper said.
His girlfriend could not afford to travel to Los Angeles, he told the Sun. So he took a bus to North Dakota where he crossed the border.
"Mr. Gonsoulin didn't really know that there was any place on Earth that could be so cold and so inhospitable," Cook told a court hearing Monday, adding his client had never felt temperatures colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 F).
Temperatures dipped below -26 C (-15 F) during his long hike.
Gonsoulin is receiving medical treatment in a Winnipeg jail. He still has not met his girlfriend face-to-face but they have spoken on the phone and Gonsoulin said they are still in love.
No deportation date has yet been set.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A Los Angeles man who sneaked into Canada in February to see his Internet girlfriend will be deported -- minus all his fingers and some of his toes, the Winnipeg Sun newspaper reported Tuesday.
Charles Gonsoulin, 41, will have the fingers and toes amputated because of severe frostbite suffered during a 100-hour trek from Pembina, North Dakota, across the border to Emerson, Manitoba, where he was found wandering on a golf course on Feb. 23, suffering from hypothermia.
"It is better to have loved and to have lost than never to have loved at all," the Sun quoted Gonsoulin as saying. "It was all worth it for me. It's the difference between sitting around dreaming about things and going out and getting them."
Gonsoulin and the Canadian woman met in an Internet chat room in 2002. The woman lives in Quebec, Gonsoulin's lawyer, Mike Cook, told a court hearing. Quebec is about 2,500 kilometers (1,600 miles) east of Manitoba.
Gonsoulin could not enter Canada legally because he was convicted of robbing a Pizza Hut in Arkansas in 1984, the newspaper said.
His girlfriend could not afford to travel to Los Angeles, he told the Sun. So he took a bus to North Dakota where he crossed the border.
"Mr. Gonsoulin didn't really know that there was any place on Earth that could be so cold and so inhospitable," Cook told a court hearing Monday, adding his client had never felt temperatures colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 F).
Temperatures dipped below -26 C (-15 F) during his long hike.
Gonsoulin is receiving medical treatment in a Winnipeg jail. He still has not met his girlfriend face-to-face but they have spoken on the phone and Gonsoulin said they are still in love.
No deportation date has yet been set.
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Harvard Snubs 119 Cyber-Snoop Applicants
BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard Business School said on Tuesday it is rejecting applications from 119 would-be students it accused of hacking into a Web site to learn early if they were accepted, before the sending of official notifications.
"This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School, said in a statement.
"Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school."
Harvard said it knew the names of the 119 applicants who tried to learn their admissions status early using a security flaw in an online college-recruitment and application product called ApplyYourself.
Jim Aisner, a spokesman for the Ivy League university's business school, declined to say how many of the 119 would have been accepted at the school had they not peeked.
The intrusions came as business schools across America place more emphasis on ethics following a wave of Wall Street accounting scandals.
Harvard's Clark said the school's mission was to educate principled leaders with high integrity, sound judgment and "a strong moral compass -- an intuitive sense of what is right and wrong."
"Those who have hacked into this Web site have failed to pass that test," Clark said.
Last week, an individual exposed the ApplyYourself security flaw on an online message board and showed readers how to access records at some of the most prestigious U.S. business schools to see if they were accepted.
ApplyYourself said it fixed the flaw after learning about it, and that the intruders did not get information about anyone but themselves. A company spokesman was not immediately available for further comment.
Other schools affected said they were still mulling how to handle the matter.
The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, said it will carry out a full investigation before determining what action to take.
A Tuck spokeswoman would not say how many applicants had tried to access their admission status, but she said those who did only saw a blank screen because the school had not yet put the information online.
The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said it knew of only one applicant who tried to access the information.
Jim Gray, an associate dean at Fuqua, said the school had not yet taken any official action regarding the prospective student, but he added: "Put it this way: he shouldn't be buying any Duke sweatshirts or renting any apartments in Durham."
BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard Business School said on Tuesday it is rejecting applications from 119 would-be students it accused of hacking into a Web site to learn early if they were accepted, before the sending of official notifications.
"This behavior is unethical at best -- a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School, said in a statement.
"Any applicant found to have done so will not be admitted to this school."
Harvard said it knew the names of the 119 applicants who tried to learn their admissions status early using a security flaw in an online college-recruitment and application product called ApplyYourself.
Jim Aisner, a spokesman for the Ivy League university's business school, declined to say how many of the 119 would have been accepted at the school had they not peeked.
The intrusions came as business schools across America place more emphasis on ethics following a wave of Wall Street accounting scandals.
Harvard's Clark said the school's mission was to educate principled leaders with high integrity, sound judgment and "a strong moral compass -- an intuitive sense of what is right and wrong."
"Those who have hacked into this Web site have failed to pass that test," Clark said.
Last week, an individual exposed the ApplyYourself security flaw on an online message board and showed readers how to access records at some of the most prestigious U.S. business schools to see if they were accepted.
ApplyYourself said it fixed the flaw after learning about it, and that the intruders did not get information about anyone but themselves. A company spokesman was not immediately available for further comment.
Other schools affected said they were still mulling how to handle the matter.
The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, said it will carry out a full investigation before determining what action to take.
A Tuck spokeswoman would not say how many applicants had tried to access their admission status, but she said those who did only saw a blank screen because the school had not yet put the information online.
The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said it knew of only one applicant who tried to access the information.
Jim Gray, an associate dean at Fuqua, said the school had not yet taken any official action regarding the prospective student, but he added: "Put it this way: he shouldn't be buying any Duke sweatshirts or renting any apartments in Durham."
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Chinese Rice Cookers: Women's Day Gift from Castro
HAVANA (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro gave Cuban women some good news on International Women's Day: rice cookers are coming to every household.
In a five-hour 45-minute speech to cheering women on Tuesday night, the Cuban leader announced 100,000 pressure cookers and rice cookers would be available each month at subsidized prices.
"Those of you who like rice cookers, raise your hands," Castro said to applause from hundreds of women. The 78-year-old leader spent two hours talking about the merits of pressure cookers.
Castro's gesture may have carried some irony, coming on a day commemorating women's battles for equality. But many Cuban women, who do the vast majority of domestic work despite advances toward equality under Castro, were only too happy to hear the Chinese-made rice cookers were on their way.
The electric rice cooker is a treasured appliance in communist-run Cuba, where the basic diet is black beans and rice. The cookers were among appliances banned to save energy a decade ago when Cuba was plunged into economic crisis and power outages due to the loss of Soviet aid and oil.
The cookers could be distributed now, Castro said, because Cuba was emerging from the crisis and had resolved its latest energy crunch, caused by a failure of the island's largest power plant last summer.
With average salaries of $12 a month, most Cubans cannot afford rice cookers that now sell for $60 on the black market.
"They will be received with open arms. When the gas goes, you can make beans, boil vegetables or heat up milk for the baby," said a Cuban housewife.
She said electric rice cookers are vital in rural Cuba, where households cook on wood or coal fires when gas is not available.
HAVANA (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro gave Cuban women some good news on International Women's Day: rice cookers are coming to every household.
In a five-hour 45-minute speech to cheering women on Tuesday night, the Cuban leader announced 100,000 pressure cookers and rice cookers would be available each month at subsidized prices.
"Those of you who like rice cookers, raise your hands," Castro said to applause from hundreds of women. The 78-year-old leader spent two hours talking about the merits of pressure cookers.
Castro's gesture may have carried some irony, coming on a day commemorating women's battles for equality. But many Cuban women, who do the vast majority of domestic work despite advances toward equality under Castro, were only too happy to hear the Chinese-made rice cookers were on their way.
The electric rice cooker is a treasured appliance in communist-run Cuba, where the basic diet is black beans and rice. The cookers were among appliances banned to save energy a decade ago when Cuba was plunged into economic crisis and power outages due to the loss of Soviet aid and oil.
The cookers could be distributed now, Castro said, because Cuba was emerging from the crisis and had resolved its latest energy crunch, caused by a failure of the island's largest power plant last summer.
With average salaries of $12 a month, most Cubans cannot afford rice cookers that now sell for $60 on the black market.
"They will be received with open arms. When the gas goes, you can make beans, boil vegetables or heat up milk for the baby," said a Cuban housewife.
She said electric rice cookers are vital in rural Cuba, where households cook on wood or coal fires when gas is not available.
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AussieMark
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Paying Cash to Fix Sex Ratio
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - An Indian state government has offered to pay 100,000 rupees ($2,300) cash to families who have just one daughter in a bid to counteract traditional preferences for sons and balance the sex ratio.
The cash incentive will be paid to the daughters when they reach 20 years of age, provided their parents have had only one child and have undertaken birth control operations, officials said on Thursday.
The southern state of Andhra Pradesh has a sex ratio of 943 females to 1,000 males. Sex determination tests and female feticide are common in small towns and rural areas of the largely farming state.
"I consider it a shame that in our country we ascertain the sex of the baby before it enters the world," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy said at a function on the empowerment of woman in the state capital, Hyderabad.
In India, where millions of couples still hanker for a male child, the overall sex ratio is 927 females to 1,000 males, down from 945-to-1,000 more than a decade ago. It has one of the lowest female-to-male ratios in the world.
Many couples see the boy as growing up to be a bread-winner and providing for them in their old age, unlike a daughter who will be married off and become part of her husband's family.
India has banned pre-natal sex testing through an act of parliament but non-government agencies say the law is basically toothless and sex determination tests are common.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also appointed India's leading woman tennis player Sania Mirza -- who is from Andhra Pradesh -- as "state ambassador of the girl child" as part of its campaign to protect the female child.
Eighteen-year-old Mirza, the first Indian woman to get into the third round of a Grand Slam, will feature on billboards with the caption: "Your daughter may be the next champion."
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - An Indian state government has offered to pay 100,000 rupees ($2,300) cash to families who have just one daughter in a bid to counteract traditional preferences for sons and balance the sex ratio.
The cash incentive will be paid to the daughters when they reach 20 years of age, provided their parents have had only one child and have undertaken birth control operations, officials said on Thursday.
The southern state of Andhra Pradesh has a sex ratio of 943 females to 1,000 males. Sex determination tests and female feticide are common in small towns and rural areas of the largely farming state.
"I consider it a shame that in our country we ascertain the sex of the baby before it enters the world," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy said at a function on the empowerment of woman in the state capital, Hyderabad.
In India, where millions of couples still hanker for a male child, the overall sex ratio is 927 females to 1,000 males, down from 945-to-1,000 more than a decade ago. It has one of the lowest female-to-male ratios in the world.
Many couples see the boy as growing up to be a bread-winner and providing for them in their old age, unlike a daughter who will be married off and become part of her husband's family.
India has banned pre-natal sex testing through an act of parliament but non-government agencies say the law is basically toothless and sex determination tests are common.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also appointed India's leading woman tennis player Sania Mirza -- who is from Andhra Pradesh -- as "state ambassador of the girl child" as part of its campaign to protect the female child.
Eighteen-year-old Mirza, the first Indian woman to get into the third round of a Grand Slam, will feature on billboards with the caption: "Your daughter may be the next champion."
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AussieMark
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Now in English: 'I'm Jailed, You're Jailed...'
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Speaking English is no longer mandatory to get a diplomatic job in Brazil -- but jailmates in a Rio de Janeiro prison will soon know how to express themselves in the language of Shakespeare.
The first class of 20 prisoners, with average jail terms of 25 years, will start learning English on Thursday according to a method devised by Oxford University in the maximum security Lemos Brito prison on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, the prison director said.
"The idea is to prepare (them) as much as possible for their return to the society. It is much easier to find a job with a knowledge of English," Luciano de Oliveira Silva told Reuters on Wednesday.
In contrast, Brazil's foreign ministry in January scrapped mandatory English exams for candidates for diplomatic jobs earlier this year, causing a media uproar.
Lemos Brito houses 600 prisoners with jail terms ranging from 15 years to 1,200 years.
Oliveira Silva said, however, that nobody can stay in jail for more than 30 years and most were likely to be released on parole earlier, so most prisoners will have enough time to use their English skills.
"The teacher, who is a voluntary worker, guarantees that they will speak English after six months," he added. Prisoners will study for six hours a week. If the program is successful, another two groups will start taking classes.
Brazilian jails are notorious for being overcrowded and prisoners being kept in all but inhuman conditions.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Speaking English is no longer mandatory to get a diplomatic job in Brazil -- but jailmates in a Rio de Janeiro prison will soon know how to express themselves in the language of Shakespeare.
The first class of 20 prisoners, with average jail terms of 25 years, will start learning English on Thursday according to a method devised by Oxford University in the maximum security Lemos Brito prison on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, the prison director said.
"The idea is to prepare (them) as much as possible for their return to the society. It is much easier to find a job with a knowledge of English," Luciano de Oliveira Silva told Reuters on Wednesday.
In contrast, Brazil's foreign ministry in January scrapped mandatory English exams for candidates for diplomatic jobs earlier this year, causing a media uproar.
Lemos Brito houses 600 prisoners with jail terms ranging from 15 years to 1,200 years.
Oliveira Silva said, however, that nobody can stay in jail for more than 30 years and most were likely to be released on parole earlier, so most prisoners will have enough time to use their English skills.
"The teacher, who is a voluntary worker, guarantees that they will speak English after six months," he added. Prisoners will study for six hours a week. If the program is successful, another two groups will start taking classes.
Brazilian jails are notorious for being overcrowded and prisoners being kept in all but inhuman conditions.
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AussieMark
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- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Judge Tosses Out Teen's Homework Lawsuit
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge has tossed out a Wisconsin high school student's lawsuit asking for summers free of homework and may order him to pay the state's costs, court officials said on Wednesday.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz on Tuesday called 17-year-old Peer Larson's suit frivolous and said his complaint should be directed at the school board.
The Wisconsin attorney general's office may ask the judge to order Larson to pay the state's court costs.
Larson, of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, had asked that the state schools superintendent on down to his local school district and math teacher be barred from assigning homework over the summer.
Larson and his father said the problem arose when he was given three assignments just before the start of summer vacation to prepare for an advanced precalculus class that began last fall.
The younger Larson said he failed to get all the work done because he had a summer job as a camp counselor.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A judge has tossed out a Wisconsin high school student's lawsuit asking for summers free of homework and may order him to pay the state's costs, court officials said on Wednesday.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz on Tuesday called 17-year-old Peer Larson's suit frivolous and said his complaint should be directed at the school board.
The Wisconsin attorney general's office may ask the judge to order Larson to pay the state's court costs.
Larson, of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, had asked that the state schools superintendent on down to his local school district and math teacher be barred from assigning homework over the summer.
Larson and his father said the problem arose when he was given three assignments just before the start of summer vacation to prepare for an advanced precalculus class that began last fall.
The younger Larson said he failed to get all the work done because he had a summer job as a camp counselor.
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AussieMark
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- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Goldfish Got Gill Problems? Call the Fish Doc
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will soon have its first fully licensed fish hospital with specialists trained to treat trout with fin fungus and grouper with gill infections.
The Yosu Fisheries Clinic will open on Saturday on South Korea's southern coast, operated by a husband and wife team of marine biologists who are among the first to pass a Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries exam to treat fish and shellfish.
Kim Choon-sup, the husband, said he expects the fish hospital mainly to serve commercial fish and shellfish farms in the area, but he thinks he will also make tank calls for people who have sick pets.
"We have studied to treat diseases in all types of aquatic life from fish to crustaceans," Kim said by telephone.
Kim and his wife Kim Jin-suk are among 40 people who passed the first exam given by the ministry to be licensed fish doctors.
The ministry decided to implement the fish doctor scheme to support the country's farmed-fish industry. The Kims want to help stop the spread of diseases that have wiped out some fish farms.
The couple said some skeptics in the area question how they can make money as fish doctors.
"Fishermen are not sure if we can make a go of it because no one has jumped into this type of operation before," Kim Choon-sup said. "However, there are some people who also see this as a great growth industry."
Kim said there is probably not a lot of money to be made treating pets, but "if the chance arises to treat a pet goldfish, I will do it."
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea will soon have its first fully licensed fish hospital with specialists trained to treat trout with fin fungus and grouper with gill infections.
The Yosu Fisheries Clinic will open on Saturday on South Korea's southern coast, operated by a husband and wife team of marine biologists who are among the first to pass a Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries exam to treat fish and shellfish.
Kim Choon-sup, the husband, said he expects the fish hospital mainly to serve commercial fish and shellfish farms in the area, but he thinks he will also make tank calls for people who have sick pets.
"We have studied to treat diseases in all types of aquatic life from fish to crustaceans," Kim said by telephone.
Kim and his wife Kim Jin-suk are among 40 people who passed the first exam given by the ministry to be licensed fish doctors.
The ministry decided to implement the fish doctor scheme to support the country's farmed-fish industry. The Kims want to help stop the spread of diseases that have wiped out some fish farms.
The couple said some skeptics in the area question how they can make money as fish doctors.
"Fishermen are not sure if we can make a go of it because no one has jumped into this type of operation before," Kim Choon-sup said. "However, there are some people who also see this as a great growth industry."
Kim said there is probably not a lot of money to be made treating pets, but "if the chance arises to treat a pet goldfish, I will do it."
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AussieMark
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Police Dish Summons to Girl Scout Cookie Father
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police have ticketed a man they say set up a table on a Brooklyn sidewalk to sell Girl Scout cookies without a license.
But the suspect's 13-year-old daughter disputes the account and says her father was only helping her deliver pre-ordered cookies in the neighborhood.
Officers issued a summons for unlicensed vending to Hoi "Howard" Louis over the weekend.
"An adult 55-year-old male who had set up a table along a busy stretch was given a summons," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said on Wednesday. "No Girl Scouts were seen by officers at the time the summons was issued."
But Grace Marie Louis said she was there and that her father was preparing the orders when police pulled up in a car.
Donna Ceravolo, director of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, told Reuters that Grace Marie and her father were delivering pre-ordered cookies.
"I make no bones about the Girl Scout cookie program," said Ceravolo. "It would not be nearly as successful without the support of parents. I don't apologize for it."
The girl, who has sold about 600 boxes of cookies this year, is helping her troop save up for a trip to Hawaii or Europe.
Ceravolo said the Girl Scouts would provide counsel in court if needed. The fine, if any, will be determined by a judge. [/b]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York police have ticketed a man they say set up a table on a Brooklyn sidewalk to sell Girl Scout cookies without a license.
But the suspect's 13-year-old daughter disputes the account and says her father was only helping her deliver pre-ordered cookies in the neighborhood.
Officers issued a summons for unlicensed vending to Hoi "Howard" Louis over the weekend.
"An adult 55-year-old male who had set up a table along a busy stretch was given a summons," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said on Wednesday. "No Girl Scouts were seen by officers at the time the summons was issued."
But Grace Marie Louis said she was there and that her father was preparing the orders when police pulled up in a car.
Donna Ceravolo, director of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County, told Reuters that Grace Marie and her father were delivering pre-ordered cookies.
"I make no bones about the Girl Scout cookie program," said Ceravolo. "It would not be nearly as successful without the support of parents. I don't apologize for it."
The girl, who has sold about 600 boxes of cookies this year, is helping her troop save up for a trip to Hawaii or Europe.
Ceravolo said the Girl Scouts would provide counsel in court if needed. The fine, if any, will be determined by a judge. [/b]
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AussieMark
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- Location: near Sydney, Australia
Typing Error Causes Nuclear Scare
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A stenographer for the U.S. Congress generated alarming headlines in the Sudanese press this week by giving the mistaken impression the United States conducted nuclear tests in the African country in 1962 and 1970.
The Sudanese government asked the United States for an explanation and began its own investigations into a Web site report that a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee had talked about the tests in Sudan.
But Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, who had summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires on hearing the news, said Thursday it turned out that the word Sudan was merely a typing error for Sedan, the name of a nuclear test site in Nevada.
"The American administration ... said that there is a typing mistake," he told reporters. "Instead of writing Sedan, the typist in the military subcommittee branch typed Sudan," he said.
"Now they want to correct the spelling mistake and they want to confirm the tests did not take place in Sudan but in Sedan, part of the United States in Nevada," he added.
A U.S. embassy official in Khartoum said a statement had been issued affirming no tests were made in Sudan, but did not say how the mistake had happened. The official transcript of the hearing, in the strategic forces subcommittee on March 2, has already been corrected, with a note saying the word Sedan was misspelled in the original.
Ismail said he was very relieved the reports were not true.
"Our first concern of course was for the people of Sudan."
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A stenographer for the U.S. Congress generated alarming headlines in the Sudanese press this week by giving the mistaken impression the United States conducted nuclear tests in the African country in 1962 and 1970.
The Sudanese government asked the United States for an explanation and began its own investigations into a Web site report that a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee had talked about the tests in Sudan.
But Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, who had summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires on hearing the news, said Thursday it turned out that the word Sudan was merely a typing error for Sedan, the name of a nuclear test site in Nevada.
"The American administration ... said that there is a typing mistake," he told reporters. "Instead of writing Sedan, the typist in the military subcommittee branch typed Sudan," he said.
"Now they want to correct the spelling mistake and they want to confirm the tests did not take place in Sudan but in Sedan, part of the United States in Nevada," he added.
A U.S. embassy official in Khartoum said a statement had been issued affirming no tests were made in Sudan, but did not say how the mistake had happened. The official transcript of the hearing, in the strategic forces subcommittee on March 2, has already been corrected, with a note saying the word Sedan was misspelled in the original.
Ismail said he was very relieved the reports were not true.
"Our first concern of course was for the people of Sudan."
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AussieMark
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The Last Song You'll Never Hear....
LONDON (Reuters) - Robbie Williams has topped the UK funeral music chart, leaving Mozart trailing in his wake, according to a survey Thursday.
Williams' "Angels" was the record most Britons would like played at their funeral, with Mozart's "Requiem" coming in at five in digital broadcaster Music Choice's poll of top 10 British funeral songs.
Frank Sinatra's "My Way" was second, just ahead of Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
The rest of Europe favored a more soft rock approach.
Queen's "The Show Must Go On" topped the European chart, with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" in second and third place.
Over 45,000 music fans from across Europe were polled, with 20,000 Britons taking part.
LONDON (Reuters) - Robbie Williams has topped the UK funeral music chart, leaving Mozart trailing in his wake, according to a survey Thursday.
Williams' "Angels" was the record most Britons would like played at their funeral, with Mozart's "Requiem" coming in at five in digital broadcaster Music Choice's poll of top 10 British funeral songs.
Frank Sinatra's "My Way" was second, just ahead of Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."
The rest of Europe favored a more soft rock approach.
Queen's "The Show Must Go On" topped the European chart, with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" in second and third place.
Over 45,000 music fans from across Europe were polled, with 20,000 Britons taking part.
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rainstorm
tropicalweatherwatcher wrote:Claws Out Over Animal Rights in West Hollywood
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The claws are out in Southern California over the rights of cats to keep their nails and dogs to keep their tails and ears intact.
Two years after the liberal city of West Hollywood became the first in the United States to ban the removal of claws on cats, a California veterinary group has filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance.
The California Veterinary Medical Association also wants the Los Angeles Superior Court to declare illegal a proposed ban on tail-docking and ear-cropping in West Hollywood.
"The practice of veterinary medicine should be left to veterinarians with the best interests of the patient and animal owners in mind," CVMA president Jon Klingborg said on Tuesday, adding that the only legitimate way to ban the procedure was to go through the California state assembly.
Animal rights activists lobbied for years in favor of the cat declawing ban -- which involves amputation of a cat's toes and tendons -- saying there are kinder ways of stopping cats scratching people and furniture. Declawing, tail-docking and ear-cropping are prohibited in several European countries.
"I think the CVMA should be spending their time on something more constructive when there are so many animal problems, like overpopulation," said Jennifer Conrad, a practicing vet who spearheaded the declawing ban in 2003.
"Fighting for the right to amputate the fingers off cats is really a waste of their money," she said.
West Hollywood Mayor John Duran said the city was leading the way in outlawing animal cruelty and defended the right of the elected city council to enact local laws. In 2002, the city decreed that pet owners should be known as "guardians" and their pets as "companion animals."
Klingborg said the CVMA's lawsuit had nothing to do with its views on so-called cosmetic surgery for pets, adding that the group opposed ear-cropping.
"This is not an issue that has anything to do with whether a procedure is unkind or cruel. The city of West Hollywood is overstepping its bounds. It is taking away a pet owner's freedom to choose how they want their pets cared for," Klingborg said.
declawing cats is cruel
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