News Bytes

Ideals of beauty More than half of all men and women in the US want their partner to have cosmetic surgery, according to a survey by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The majority of people seems to want just that - the perfect face. Especially for their partner. 59 percent of women and 54 percent of men would like their partner to have at least part of their face changed - at the top of the list are wrinkles, nose, mouth, eyes and ears. However, it doesn't always have to be bloody like that - the most common wish was a new hairstyle.

NEW YORK: Job interview on TV 16 young business man and women are going through the probably hardest job interview in the world in New York - over a period of 13 weeks they have top prove themselves to billionaire Donald Trump, the winner gets a position at the top of a Trump company. "The Apprentice" - that's the name of NBC's newest creation. As the CNN website describes it - 16 ambitious young entrepreneurs try to impress one of the richest men in the US - to get a managerial position in his company empire afterwards.

The show: the candidates have to prove their salesmanship in the urban jungle of New York. The eight men and eight women have to open a lemonade stand with $250, organize a successful exhibition with children's scribbles or rent out empty apartments. At the end of each task, Trump decides who has to go. As Donald Trump says, all these people want to get very rich, and that only works if you work for yourself, not for others. The winner will get a managerial position in one of Trump's companies for one year.

Lining up in front of plane toilets Visiting the restroom on your flight to the US should be very well considered from now on. In the future, lining up in front of it is no longer permitted if the plane is going to the US. At least according to Australian airline Qantas. A spokesman said that passengers were no longer allowed to assemble in groups in any part of the plane, especially on front of the toilet door. He referred to the US Transportation Security Administration. Some European airlines have already confirmed this.

Privacy protection: Bill Gates buys neighborhood According to the weekend edition of the "Seattle Times," Bill Gates and his wife Melinda are systematically buying all the houses in their neighborhood in order to protect their own privacy. Over the past ten years, the two have bought a total of eleven neighboring houses. By buying these houses, Gates is creating a security zone around his house that he bought for €110 million in 1997. Gates paid 14.4 million for the neighboring houses, Microsoft employees are supposed to live there.

New York: Sunglasses for more than $250 made of old records A store in New York sells sunglasses made of old vinyl records. The frames in punk-style are available for $320 or $256. The basic component is not a record but usual plastic, but the whole thing is coated with an old vinyl record. The scratches and groves are included.

Blueprints for new WTC - train station: sunshine underground The blueprints for the train station at the new World Trade Center are finished. Architect Santiago Calatrava presented his plans at an official press conference. The station which is going to be underground will have sunlight all day. Before 9/11 roughly 67,000 people used the rain station at the World Trade Center each day.

McDonald's widow leaves €1.2 billion to the Salvation Army Billionaire Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, died on October 12, 2003. She left 1.2 billion Euros to the Salvation Army. Furthermore, she left 90 million Dollars to a US radio station named "National Public Radio." The Salvation Army is planning to use the money to build community centers that will be named after Ray and Joan Kroc.

Watchmaker constructs Mars-watch by order of NASA A day on Mars is longer than a day on Earth - it lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. NASA always had to convert this into Earth time for all their actions on Mars. In order to simplify this, they ordered a Mars watch. Garo Anserlian, a watchmaker from California, executed the order and has already made about 100 of those, most of them for NASA employees.

Iowa - webcam: watchers help injured woman In Iowa, a woman was saved thanks to emergency calls from California to Germany - a webcam filmed the woman watching the birth of a colt. Everything went well until the mare kicked her several times. The woman was alone on the farm, meaning the worldwide emergency calls did indeed save her.

US Army: support from robot dogs Currently the TACOM, the department of the US army responsible for tanks, is constructing the 2.25 million Dollar prototype of a robot dog that is to transport equipment in the future. The reason - the entire weight of equipment and ammunition for each soldier is about 100 pounds. The robot dog is supposed to help and make the men more mobile. They would like to construct the dog without wheels so that even mountains and stairs won't be a problem.

US government offers free computer virus warnings As of now the US Department of Homeland Security is offering free warnings for computer viruses and worms. Anyone who signs up with the national cyber warning system will receive information about current viruses and how to protect their computers. On the website www.us-cert.gov experts inform users about their computers' weak points and offer advice on how to make them more secure.

Washington: set back for US elections via internet The elections via internet that are to be held soon have experienced a severe set back. American computer scientists harshly criticized the 22 million Dollar program allowing soldiers stationed abroad to vote in the upcoming elections via internet. The program is so insecure that it might undermine the integrity of American democracy and has to be stopped immediately. The government had hired experts to evaluate the program. The experts were especially concerned that hackers or political opponent s of the US might use the opportunity of sabotaging an event as important as the presidential elections. According to the media, the Pentagon declared that it still believes in the program that is to be tested for the first time in the primaries in South Carolina in February. A spokesman assured that the program was safe.