News Bytes

Did you know? In what city does a cow cause a damage of an estimated $500 million?

In Chicago! On October 8, 1871 a cow knocked over a petroleum lamp that set the barn on fire. At that time, the houses in the cit were still mostly made of wood. And so the fire, due to the strong winds, quickly spread. In the following two days 20,000 houses burned down and 150,000 people lost their homes. However, the town's progress could not be stopped and in 193 it was already the location of a world exhibition.

...And how about this? Who was the emperor of the US? In September of 1859 there was a proclamation on the title page of the San Francisco Bulletin saying that Joshua Norton had declared himself the 1st Emperor of the United States. In the following 21 years of his regency he declared that Congress was abolished, became Protector of Mexico, and took care of San Francisco's public concerns. He could eat and drink for free everywhere in town and always got free tickets for the theater, and in his magnificent uniform he was a cause of joy for his fellow citizens. In full regalia he visited shop owner and rich business people and collected taxes from them. 10,000 "subjects" walked behind his coffin.

Death threats for George W. Bush A German is facing charges in Florida due to a death threat to President Bush. It is said that the man had written the email from a public library in the US. Death threats are taken very seriously by the US, especially if they are addressed to President George W. Bush. According to the accusation the 33-year old car dealer from Florida sent the email from a library in Fort Lauderdale to the local FBI office.

"I will have killed the president by May 30, 2003, catch me if you can, long live Saddam," that's the text Volker C. is said to have sent. It remains unclear what the man had hoped to achieve with this message. But even if it was just a joke, he is facing a prison sentence of up to ten years or a fine of $500,000.

Wedding in space A Russian astronaut has married his American fiancé - via video link from the space station. Jurij Malentschenko joined the ceremony live from the International Space Station ISS. The bride Ekaterina Dmitrijew wore a cream-colored dress, the groom Malentschenko wore a bow-tie to his astronaut suit. And the best man in space, American astronaut Ed Lu, played the wedding march on the computer. Thanks to an elaborate video transmission, the couple could into each other's eyes during the ceremony. They both had to put on their own wedding rings. However, the Russian space agency wants this to have been the first and last ceremony of the kind. Future astronauts will have in writing in their contracts that weddings will have to wait until they are back from space.

The couple came to the US when they were three. She is an American citizen and lives in Texas. She met Jurij Malentschenko five years ago. The two have been a couple since last year.

US millionaire: married to two women for 30 years American Douglas Cone who has made millions in the construction sector has led a double life in Tampa, Florida for years without being caught. For 30 years he had been married to two women and had two families. The whole thing has been discovered now that one wife died and the 74-year old man asked his other wife to marry him again - making him admit his real name as well.

Cone had been married to the deceased for 52 years. The children of both families are shocked, the children of the deceased even feared that he had murdered his first wife. However, that suspicion couldn't be confirmed.

Texas: 91-year old arrested for bank job In Texas, a 91-year old has been arrested for robbing a bank in Abilene, according to a police statement of today. The man has been previously convicted. He had presented an envelope with the words "bank robbery" on them at the counter. He carried off ca. $2,000. He had already used the same modus operandi four years ago. He had been sentenced to three years. This time he made the mistake of using his own car as the getaway car. A witness wrote down the license plate, leading to the arrest. The man is facing a sentence of up to 20 years.

New York: logo lasered on teeth The celebrity dentist Larry Rosenthal signs his patients' teeth with a laser beam after cosmetic surgery. The signature is not visible to the eye. A patient of Larry Rosenthal seemed content. He said "it is just like a stamp inside a Louis Vuitton bag, as if I was buying designer clothes.

Honeymoon for penguins A zoo in Galveston, Texas, has come up with something special to motivate their penguins to produce offspring faster. In order to motivate the penguins to reproduce, they have sent them on a honeymoon. A special program has been prepared for the chinstrap penguins, with everything from the red carpet to the waiter who serves the fish on a silver tray. After that, the penguins were left alone. With dimmed lights and soft music they are now hoping for little penguins soon.

Libeskind partially succeeds in protecting the building plans for round Zero After the tenant of Ground Zero has decided upon another architect, Daniel Libeskind still managed to get his way in some important points. His planned Freedom Tower will still be built. And the controversial office tower the tenant wanted on top of the subway station will probably not be built, since the subway operators don't agree. They have hired Spanish architect S. Calavatra to do the planning. The city of New York announced that more of the surrounding lots were probably going to be included in the planning, also something Libeskind wanted, since there was not enough room on Ground Zero to accommodate all the tenants wishes.

Beer in demand again in the US In the 70s there were only about 40 breweries left in the US, but by now the drink is in demand again as a refreshment or a party drink. Today, there are more than 400 breweries again. For the American October fests they become creative and offer the drinks with various flavors. At some of the parties, you find more than 1,300 different kinds of more or less adventurous variety.

The dark beer by the name of skull-splitter tastes like lemons and also ginger-beer is very popular. Wheat beer with melon flavor was a big success on one October fest. There's also advertising for beer with the aroma of burned caramel.