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News Bytes

US citizen puts $200,000 stamp on a letter
A US citizen, who still remains anonymous up to now, has put a stamp worth approx. $200,000 (€156,000) according to collectors on the envelope for his absentee ballot for the Congressional elections. The "Inverted Jenny" - one of the rarest stamps in the world due to the upside-down print of a plane - was auctioned off in New York in October 2005 for $2,970,000 (€2,314,146). According to US media, there are only 100 of those stamps, printed in 1918 with the upside-down picture of the biplane aircraft Curtiss Jenny. The misprint of the stamp that was worth 24 cents at the time, is now one of the most valuable US stamps. The irony - because there was no name on the envelope, the absentee ballot couldn't actually be counted in the Congressional elections last Tuesday. According to the "Miami Herald" the invalid ballot with the valuable stamp will now be kept, together with other ballots, in a sealed ballot box for 22 months.

Rudolph Giuliani, hero of 9/11, wants to be President of the US
One of the heroes of 9/11, New York's ex-mayor Rudolph Giuliani, apparently wants to become successor to George W. Bush in 2008, according to US media. They say, Republican Giuliani had already taken the first steps toward his candidacy. A spokeswoman of the ex-mayor said she couldn't comment on the reports. Giuliani, therefore, becomes one of the possible successors, more will probably follow over the next months. Especially the Democrats have a lot of potential candidates, for example Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Statue of Liberty celebrates her 120th birthday
October 29, 2006 was the day. It was the birthday of America's copper landmark, representing a free America. For 120 years the transatlantic gift France gave to the US has been standing guard in the port of New York. She was the first to welcome the countless immigrants and visitors to the US. By now, more than four million tourists visit her every year. The statue had been closed to the public after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Since August 3, 2002, parts of it have re-opened for tourists, for example the Statue of Liberty Museum, the statue's pedestal and the observation deck at a height of about 50 meters (164 feet). The statue itself is only partly open to the public. Through a glass plate, the visitor can have a look at the Statue of Liberty's interior. The observation deck in the crown remains closed.

US Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman dies
One of the most influential scientists of our time, Milton Friedman, is dead. He received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on macro and micro economics in 1976. Friedman died from a heart problem in San Francisco at the age of 94. Friedman advocated free market economy and the author of several books, among them "Capitalism and Freedom" in 1962 and "Free to Choose" in 1990. Friedman was economic advisor the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Friedman's theory of monetarism was the counterpart of the Keynesian theory of John Maynard Keynes, that had been the dominating theory in the US up to the time of the "New Deal."

Increasing tendency toward emigration
More and more Germans try to find their luck abroad. According to the Federal Statistical Office, a total of 144,815 people chose to emigrate last year. This is the highest number since 1954. By now, eight out of the ten most popular destinations for emigrants are European countries, due to the reduced amount of red tape. Very popular, however, is the US as the second most popular country after Switzerland with a total of 13,569 German immigrants, still the most popular non-European country among emigrants.