From all four corners of the US

Many death sentences revoked The US Supreme Court has further tightened the laws for imposing the death sentence. The Supreme Court in Washington decided that the death sentence cannot be imposed by a single judge, but only by a jury. With this, several death sentences in several states have been revoked. The cases have to be tried again. Currently, 38 of the 50 states have the death penalty.

American economy recovering The revival of the economy leads to the conclusion that the recession in the US that started 12 months ago, so even before September 11, may be over.

If Allan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is right, this will be the shortest recession in the US for 30 years.

Now that the end is in sight, the speed of this economic recovery proves the resilience of the American economy and the resolution of American customers who didn't let the crisis affect their spending. There are many encouraging signs. According to a report by the US Department of Labor, productivity in the US increased significantly toward the end of 2001. In the February of 2002 the US registered increasing employment figures again for the first time since July, and unemployment decreased to 5.5%, a rate that is still very good compared with Germany.

Trips to the US cheaper Good news for US tourists. The downtrend of the Euro seems to be over at last. On July 15 the Euro was more expensive than the Dollar again for the first time in years. So now shopping in the US is cheaper again for Europeans, even if it will probably still take a while before ticket prices for flights to the US start falling. And - at least for this summer - the Euro-Dollar exchange rate is quite simple with roughly 1:1.

German-American day care center opened in Berlin The south of Berlin is turning into a paradise for German-American preschool education. Recently, the third bilingual, bicultural day care center has been opened in the von Luck Str. 24. The "J.F. Kennedy Friendship Center" has invested €150,000 in his second day care center for initially 30 children. A lot of members of the center helped to realize this project.

Madeleine Kolaja's (2) parents are Americans, who are working for a US company in Berlin. Now they want her daughter, who speaks English, to learn German as well. That's why they send their daughter to the new day care center. Ines Bergmann, however, wants her son Eric (2) to learn English as early as possible. Both kids will soon be able to talk with each other - first in gibberish, until they learn to differentiate between both languages. The "J.F. Kennedy Friendship Center" is in high demand. 300 children are on the waiting list already. An after-school care center is planned for 2003.

Let's hope that this example catches on.

Ruling about Pledge of Allegiance It was a blow shaking the very foundations of US patriotism. For the first time, a US federal court has ruled that the pledge of allegiance to the American flag is unconstitutional. The shock this has caused throughout the US was so great that the judge decided to suspend the ruling at least for the time being. Now the responsible district court can have the case examined again by the original three judges or refer it to a panel of eleven judges. The ruling didn't have any direct effects anyway since according to the constitution of the courts, changes are always possible for 45 days.

In many American schools, the pledge of allegiance is being spoken every day. The Los Angeles judges had decided the phrase "one nation under God" violates the principle of the separation of church and government. President George Bush called the ruling "ridiculous."

The lawsuit had been filed by an atheist from Sacramento who had complained that his daughter had to say this pledge at school. Because "one nation under God" doesn't even specifically apply to one certain denomination. However, atheists and people belonging to a non-monotheist denomination could understand the controversial words as the governments confirmation of monotheism, said the judges. Congress as well criticized the ruling. Members of the House of Representatives met on the stairs of the Capitol to speak the pledge with the controversial text together.

The history: the pledge itself was officially recognized by Congress in 1942. However, it was published for the first time in 1892 in the "Youth's Companion Magazine" in Boston to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. The complete pledge is "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." By the way, in the original version it said "my flag" and not the "flag of the United States of America. The wording was changed in 1923. The words "under God" were added only on June 14, 1954, when the act was passed by Congress.

US Army computer game Since July 4, the Independence Day, the US army is offering a free shoot ‘em up online game. With realistic 3-D graphics, "America's Army: Operations" is supposed to win young men for the army. Within a team, the players have to shoot terrorists and enemy fighters - anyone who tries to shine as a lone fighter can be kicked out of the game. Willfully shooting your own team members is also forbidden. In addition, the player is supposed to obey commands. "After all, this is a game of the US army," the creators explained. In German internet forums debates are already going on about whether to alert the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) - but only to embarrass the department that is not very highly regarded among gamers. In late summer, by the way, the US army is planning to release the second game.

For more information about the game and a download section, please refer to