News Bytes

US President George Bush visits Germany For the first time after the disputes about the Iraq policy two and a half years ago, US President George W. Bush made a short visit to Germany again.
In Mainz, German Chancellor Schröder and the President of the United States started a new chapter in German-American relations and emphasized its importance. They declared the fight about the war in Iraq over and demonstrated a united front. As a security measure, roughly 10,000 policemen were in action during the six-hour stay. Streets were closed off for a while and approximately 150 flights were canceled at the airport in Frankfurt.

US want to improve their image US President George W. Bush chose Karen Hughes from Texas to work on improving the image of the United States that has suffered ever since the start of the Iraq war. Hughes had been Bush's consultant when during his time as governor in Texas. For a short time, she held the same position in the White House. Despite her return to Texas three years ago, she was still occasionally working for the White House.
The former local beat reporter who was once called "the most powerful woman ever to serve in the White House" by the US media, is to help improve the image of the US, according to Condoleezza Rice. The goal is to clear up anti-American prejudices and negative sentiments about the US.

Launch of German TV in the US The new television station of the ProSiebenSat.1 Gruppe for the US, ProSiebenSat.1 Welt, has been launched in March this year. The target group is the German-speaking population in the US.
For $14.99 per month the audience will get the best programs of Pro7, Sat.1 and Kabel1 and in addition, especially for the US, news from N24.

As a special highlight, two Bundesliga (German soccer league) games will be aired live every week.

"ProSiebenSat.1 Welt" will be aired via US satellite TV provider DISH networks.

High tech taxis in the US In the future, taxis in the US are to be equipped with touch screens and internet access for the backseats.
Thus the passengers can read the news, buy tickets or watch movie trailers. In addition, there is supposed to be a search function for restaurants.
The plan is that by the fall of 2005, 12,000 of those taxis will be driving around New York.

Harvard website hacked US Ivy League university Harvard has rejected more than 100 applicants because they had illegally accessed some internal pages on the university website.
The applicants for economic studies had tried to find out whether they had been accepted or rejected weeks before the official announcements. Not only Harvard, but also other Ivy League schools such as Stanford were affected.

The Dean of Harvard University had rejected 119 applicants because they had accessed internal pages of the website in an "immoral" way. The whole thing was discovered when anonymous internet users had published how applicants had accessed the internal admission data of the university. Even the applicants who had only found blank pages when they illegally accessed the site were rejected.
Places at Ivy League Universities are in high demand because graduates often get the best jobs.

A dime for $1.3 million At an auction in Baltimore, a dime was sold for $1.3 million. The coin had been made in San Francisco in 1894. Only 24 of them were made, since they were only supposed to be gifts. Only 10 specimens exist today. The dime was sold by Bradley Hirst who had bough it six years ago for $825,000. The buyer was an anonymous bidder who participated vie telephone.

Radiotherapy patient causes nuke alarm In the US state of California, a radiotherapy patient has caused a false nuke alarm when a radiation sensor at a fire truck the man passed went off. As a result, the police had closed off the entire street at a gas station near Escondido after the Geiger counter on the truck had registered elevated radiation levels. Instead of finding a nuclear bomb, however, the police discovered that one of the pedestrians was the radiation source. He had passed the truck twice in his car and he could prove that he had received radiotherapy only a short while ago.

Be careful at birthday parties Everyone knows it, everyone has sung it before - Happy Birthday To You. The melody has already been written in the 19th century, the lyrics were added in the 30s of the 20th century. Now, Time Warner has bought the rights for this song until the year 2030, which means it is illegal to perform the song in public unless you have paid the appropriate fees. American civil rights activists, however, believe that the song is common property and cannot be protected by copyright. They now ask people to report themselves on the internet.