News Bytes

People of German descent largest population group in the US The Weltverband deutschsprachiger Journalisten (WDJ) (= international association of German-speaking journalists) has recently published a study about population groups in the US. The result: The group of people of German origin is 60 million people - there are considerably fewer people of British or Irish descent. Even the American Declaration of Independence has first been published in a German paper in 1776, the "Pennsylvanischen Staatsboten."

California: Arnie and his (visa) history According to some US law firms, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is under suspicion of having violated US immigration law. This suspicion has overshadowed his candidacy throughout the entire campaign. In 1968, Schwarzenegger came to the US with a tourist visa B-1, which, even back then, would have allowed him to receive compensation in the form of hotel and food as an athlete, but no payment from US sources. In his biography from 1977 he wrote that he had signed a contract with Joe Weider, which, apart from different benefits had guaranteed him a salary of $200 a week.

Weider is vehemently denying those accusations, he says the contract had only been about $65, later he didn't even remember the contract at all. According to US law that was already valid back then, Schwarzenegger should have got an entry ban of several years. Arnold's lawyer says that his client had received the H-2 Visa - after having been in the US for one year (apparently illegally). But even here, US lawyer are debating whether he hasn't used this visa in an unlawful way as well. In 1974 Schwarzenegger received a green card and in 1983 he became a US citizen.

Immigrants' rights: Tour d'USA According to a report by the civil rights union, about 800 people have set out on a march for immigrants' rights from nine cities (among them Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Miami and Boston) toward the end of September. The main route led via Washington DC, where they met with members of Congress, and then via New Jersey to New York. There, a mass demonstration took place at the beginning of October. The goal of this rather unusual demonstration was to strengthen the rights of illegal immigrants, of employees and families' rights for family unification.

Furthermore, at every starting point, separate routes went off over the 110 cities that are most affected by immigration. Also marching was a group of students and professors to give members of Congress a petition to change visa regulations for academics who are entering the US. The petition came from the International Student Committee of the Graduate Employees and Student Organization (GESO), who are demanding that the tightened visa regulations introduced after 9/11 are being loosened again.

According to official statements by the US Department of State the number of granted F-1 Visas have decreased from 226,465 between October 1999 and August 2000 to 174,479 between October 2002 and August 2003. The tour has been supported by immigration organizations, politicians, religious associations and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

US researchers confirm that "learning while you are sleeping" is possible What you have learned during the day and partly forgotten about again, can be reactivated while you are sleeping. US researchers have confirmed that this knowledge is available again to the test persons the next day. The important part happens during a multiple saving process that can be consolidated during a sleeping break. Via a computer generated voice, test persons were provided with inarticulately pronounced words and had to learn to recognize them. When asked for the words again at different time intervals, they had forgotten them to varying extents. The test persons best remembered the words after they had been sleeping during a 12-hour break.

New Jersey: humorous warning signs to stop speeders According to ABC News, the small town of Mount Holly in the US state of New Jersey is trying to slow down speeders with the help of humorous warning signals. The colored signs with humorous messages are supposed to address the drivers' humor and at the same time remind them of the speed limits.

Health: Americans are losing weight According to a study, the number of overweight people dropped by 1% in 52 weeks that ended in February. This is the first positive development within the last six years. Only 55% of the population is overweight now. The vice president of the NPD Group that has carried out the study said "the people are interested in a balanced diet, they ate more vegetables than in the previous year and less snacks."

The study looked at the Body Mass Index (BMI) of 5,000 adults. A BMI higher than 30 stands for obesity, 25-30 means overweight. An acceptable BMI is between 20 and 25.

New York: WTC is to be higher than planned Architect Daniel Libeskind had planned the height of the new World Trade Center to be 1,776 feet. 1776 is also the founding year of the US. According to that, the building would have been 541 meters high. Now it has been discovered that from a height of 610 meters, television reception is especially good. Now the tenant Larry Silverstein wants to erect an antennae up to that height on the roof. Libeskind had angrily left the discussion meeting about these changes.

Ikea, Nivea or Pepsi: more and more children in the US with brand names In the North of the US and in Canada it is becoming more and more popular to name kids after all kinds of brands. Popular are especially the great brand names, as well as brand names of luxury goods. This is possible since there are no legal restrictions for kids' names. So girls are, for example, being named Pepsi, Nivea, Ikea, or Chanel and Porsche or Lexus. The male offspring receives names such as Timberland or Chivas Regal. Names such as Nike, Champagne or Armani are used for boys and girls alike. Apart from perfumes, also beverages are becoming more and more popular as name sources, for example Chianti, Chardonnay, Evian or Fanta.

Alaska: the couple who lived with grizzlies For 13 years, Timothy Treadwell had been drawn to the lonely wilderness of Alaska. He set up his tents with the bears. Now, the grizzlies mauled their cohabitant and his girlfriend Huguenard. During the winter months, Treadwell was living in Malibu, California. During the summer, he had been going to Alaska for 13 years to follow his passion - living with the bears. Huguenard, a medical secretary had already accompanied her boyfriend into the wilderness twice for a few weeks at a time.

Treadwell was known in the US, he had published a rather popular book: "Among Grizzlies" about his adventures with the bears and appeared on TV, for example in the Late Night Show with David Letterman. The charismatic Californian had made films about "his bears" and tried to spread the lesson of peaceful coexistence of bear and man. Scientists and the National Park Service had asked Treadwell for years to improve his security measures. However, he seemed more and more convinced of the fact that Alaska's bears were well-disposed towards him. Unfortunately, it turned out he was wrong in the end...