The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying in a strong rebuke that the trials were illegal under U.S. and international law.
Bush said there might still be a way to work with Congress to sanction military tribunals for detainees and the American people should know the ruling "won't cause killers to be put out on the street."
The court declared 5-3 that the trials for 10 foreign terror suspects violate U.S. military law and the Geneva conventions.
The ruling raises major questions about the legal status of the approximately 450 men still being held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba and exactly how, when and where the administration might pursue the charges against them.
It also seems likely to further fuel international criticism of the administration, including by many U.S. allies, for its handling of the terror war detainees at Guantanamo in Cuba, Abu Ghraib in Iraq and elsewhere.
White House counselor Dan Bartlett said the administration's task now is mostly technical — trying to determine how to design military tribunals that would pass muster under the decision. Republican senators said they would cooperate.
Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the court, said the Bush administration lacked the authority to take the "extraordinary measure" of scheduling special military trials for inmates, in which defendants have fewer legal protections than in civilian U.S. courts.
The decision blocked a trial for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a bodyguard and driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison in Cuba. He faces a single count of conspiring to commit terrorism against U.S. citizens from 1996 to November 2001.
It was a broad defeat for the government, which two years ago suffered a similar loss when the high court held the president lacked authority to seize and detain terrorism suspects and indefinitely deny them access to courts or lawyers.
Thursday's vote was split 5-3, with moderate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joining the court's liberal members in most of the ruling against the administration. Chief Justice John Roberts, named to the lead the court last September by Bush, was sidelined in the case because as an appeals court judge he had backed the government over Hamdan.
Thursday's ruling, the final one of the court's term, overturned that decision. Justices began a three-month break after releasing the ruling. Six different justices wrote 176 pages.
The administration had hinted in recent weeks that it was prepared for the court to set back its plans for trying Guantanamo detainees.
The president also has told reporters, "I'd like to close Guantanamo." But he added, "I also recognize that we're holding some people that are darn dangerous."
The court's ruling says nothing about whether the prison should be shut down, dealing only with plans to put detainees on trial.
"Trial by military commission raises separation-of-powers concerns of the highest order," Kennedy wrote in his opinion. "Concentration of power (in the executive branch) puts personal liberty in peril of arbitrary action by officials, an incursion the Constitution's three-part system is designed to avoid."
The prison at Guantanamo Bay, erected in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, has been a flash point for international criticism. Hundreds of people suspected of ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban — including some teenagers — had been swept up by the U.S. military and secretly shipped there since 2002.
Three detainees committed suicide there this month, using sheets and clothing to hang themselves. The deaths brought new scrutiny and criticism of the prison, along with fresh calls for its closing.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent from Thursday's ruling and took the unusual step of reading part of it from the bench — something he had done only once before in his 15 years. He said the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."
The court's willingness, Thomas wrote in the dissent, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous."
Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito also dissented.
In his own opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer said, "Congress has not issued the executive a 'blank check.'"
"Indeed, Congress has denied the president the legislative authority to create military commissions of the kind at issue here. Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary," Breyer wrote.
Justices also rejected the Bush administration's claim that the case should be thrown out on grounds that a new law stripped the court's authority to consider it, and that Hamdan should not have been allowed to appeal until after the conclusion of his trial.
The court said the law passed last year to limit lawsuits by Guantanamo detainees does not apply to pending cases like the one brought by Hamdan.
"It's certainly a nail in the coffin for the idea that the president can set up these trials," said Barbara Olshansky, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents about 300 Guantanamo detainees.
Hamdan has claimed he is innocent and worked as a driver for bin Laden in
Afghanistan only to eke out a living for his family.
Stevens suggested that the administration would be best off trying Hamdan and others before regular military courts-martial trials.
The case is Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 05-184.
20060626
Teen burns down house over test grades
A Japanese boy burned down his home, killing his stepmother and two younger siblings, for fear his parents would find out he had lied about his score on an English test.
The 16-year-old, whose name has not been released, is thought to have set fire to the house in Nara, western Japan, and left his stepmother to die along with his 7-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister, domestic media reports said on Saturday.
The boy's parents had been due to attend a meeting with teachers about his exam results that same day, reports said. The teen-ager told police his father, a doctor, had put him under extreme pressure over his academic performance, Kyodo news agency said.
The 16-year-old, whose name has not been released, is thought to have set fire to the house in Nara, western Japan, and left his stepmother to die along with his 7-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister, domestic media reports said on Saturday.
The boy's parents had been due to attend a meeting with teachers about his exam results that same day, reports said. The teen-ager told police his father, a doctor, had put him under extreme pressure over his academic performance, Kyodo news agency said.
20060624
20060621
For once, a bad boss could be a good thing...
The U.S. labor movement is asking workers to move their complaints about their bosses from the water cooler to the Web.
Working America, the AFL-CIO union federation's affiliate for nonunion workers, invited workers throughout the country on Monday to share their best stories about their worst bosses in its "My Bad Boss Contest".
Top prize is a one-week vacation.
"It's an opportunity for people to get this off their chests and to see what's happening out there and to shine a spotlight on this," said Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum.
It's also an opportunity for the worker advocacy group, which has more than 1 million members, to pick up new members, since contestants must go to www.workingamerica.org to enter.
Standing by to weigh in with on-line comments about the worst-boss stories are author Barbara Ehrenreich, who chronicled the plight of the working poor in "Nickel and Dimed," comedian tuned liberal talk show host Al Franken and liberal commentator Jim Hightower.
Voting for the best worst-boss stories will be done by Web readers over the next six weeks. Each week's top vote-getter will be eligible to compete for the grand prize, a seven-night vacation getaway and $1000 for a round trip air fare, to be announced by August 16
Leading vote-getters as of Monday were:
-- "Russ," whose table-thumping boss at a small Maryland company nixed bonuses, cut overtime and ordered managers to "instill fear" in workers to boost productivity, all because a competing company's owner had a more expensive car, and
-- "Graphics Girl," who left her Pennsylvania media company, and was publicly berated for doing so, after 10 years, including the last five where she worked 50 to 80 hours a week without overtime pay and often without seeing her children. "I missed birthdays and health and years of seasons changing since my office was in a basement with no windows, all for nothing," she wrote.
"It's important to legitimize for people that when you're treated unfairly on the job, that it's not necessarily something you have to swallow," commented Nussbaum.
And then there was "Nobody" from California who warned others by his own example of the perils of entering the contest from a workplace computer. "The fact that my entire Internet connection is monitored by my employer prohibits me from making a contribution," he wrote.
Working America, the AFL-CIO union federation's affiliate for nonunion workers, invited workers throughout the country on Monday to share their best stories about their worst bosses in its "My Bad Boss Contest".
Top prize is a one-week vacation.
"It's an opportunity for people to get this off their chests and to see what's happening out there and to shine a spotlight on this," said Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum.
It's also an opportunity for the worker advocacy group, which has more than 1 million members, to pick up new members, since contestants must go to www.workingamerica.org to enter.
Standing by to weigh in with on-line comments about the worst-boss stories are author Barbara Ehrenreich, who chronicled the plight of the working poor in "Nickel and Dimed," comedian tuned liberal talk show host Al Franken and liberal commentator Jim Hightower.
Voting for the best worst-boss stories will be done by Web readers over the next six weeks. Each week's top vote-getter will be eligible to compete for the grand prize, a seven-night vacation getaway and $1000 for a round trip air fare, to be announced by August 16
Leading vote-getters as of Monday were:
-- "Russ," whose table-thumping boss at a small Maryland company nixed bonuses, cut overtime and ordered managers to "instill fear" in workers to boost productivity, all because a competing company's owner had a more expensive car, and
-- "Graphics Girl," who left her Pennsylvania media company, and was publicly berated for doing so, after 10 years, including the last five where she worked 50 to 80 hours a week without overtime pay and often without seeing her children. "I missed birthdays and health and years of seasons changing since my office was in a basement with no windows, all for nothing," she wrote.
"It's important to legitimize for people that when you're treated unfairly on the job, that it's not necessarily something you have to swallow," commented Nussbaum.
And then there was "Nobody" from California who warned others by his own example of the perils of entering the contest from a workplace computer. "The fact that my entire Internet connection is monitored by my employer prohibits me from making a contribution," he wrote.
Wife accused in swordplay death of husband
A Chinese woman has been charged with accidentally killing her husband with a sword after he refused to make her dinner, the Shanghai Daily said on Tuesday.
Police said Tang Xiaowan, 25, who has been practicing swordsmanship since she was young, had often forced her husband of three years at swordpoint to carry out her demands.
On March 3, her husband, Li Weidong, refused to cook dinner because he was late for work.
Police said Tang picked up her sword and put it on Li's chest and promptly slipped, stabbing Li by mistake.
Li died in hospital from loss of blood.
Tang was arrested Monday and charged with manslaughter.
Police said Tang Xiaowan, 25, who has been practicing swordsmanship since she was young, had often forced her husband of three years at swordpoint to carry out her demands.
On March 3, her husband, Li Weidong, refused to cook dinner because he was late for work.
Police said Tang picked up her sword and put it on Li's chest and promptly slipped, stabbing Li by mistake.
Li died in hospital from loss of blood.
Tang was arrested Monday and charged with manslaughter.
20060617
Mother duck makes annual traffic-stopping trip
A mother duck brought traffic in central Dublin to a standstill for an annual event Friday as she marched her seven ducklings to a pond for their first swim.
The duck, encouraged by delighted passersby, was relocating her young from their birthplace in the grounds of Trinity College to St. Stephen's Green, the city's historic public park, around half a mile away.
"She's been doing it for about the last six or seven years now -- laying her eggs at the college and then taking the babies to the green," Trinity groundsman David Hackett told Reuters.
"Usually she's good and picks an evening when it's quiet to waddle them up the street but sometimes she doesn't and in the past we've had to have the police help us out with the traffic."
This time two members of Trinity's zoology department escorted the new family safely along several busy streets.
The duck, encouraged by delighted passersby, was relocating her young from their birthplace in the grounds of Trinity College to St. Stephen's Green, the city's historic public park, around half a mile away.
"She's been doing it for about the last six or seven years now -- laying her eggs at the college and then taking the babies to the green," Trinity groundsman David Hackett told Reuters.
"Usually she's good and picks an evening when it's quiet to waddle them up the street but sometimes she doesn't and in the past we've had to have the police help us out with the traffic."
This time two members of Trinity's zoology department escorted the new family safely along several busy streets.
DNA test to clear up Confucius confusion
Chinese claiming Confucius for an ancestor can now use a genetic test to prove a direct blood connection to the grandfather of Chinese social mores, a state newspaper said Friday.
The fifth-century BC social philosopher's ideas of filial piety and deference to elders influence Chinese society and politics even today.
Now his countrymen can establish a genetic link in a test that will cost more than 1,000 yuan ($125), according to the Shanghai Morning Post.
"We would like to help these unconfirmed claimants to test their DNA and to establish a Confucius-DNA database," it quoted Deng Yajun, a DNA expert from Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Science, as saying.
How the scientists had obtained a sample of Confucius's DNA was not explained.
"One of the most difficult things in the project is to confirm the blood connections of these numerous claimants," said Kong Dewei, one of the editors of the new family tree, who has the same Chinese surname of Confucius, "Kong" in Chinese.
Association with Confucianism was fatal during the tumult of the Cultural Revolution, when "old China" and its traditions were condemned as reactionary by fervent Communist Red Guards.
But since the 1990s, Beijing has been encouraging Confucianism as part of celebrating traditional Chinese culture -- and of pushing a message of obedience to those in power.
The fifth-century BC social philosopher's ideas of filial piety and deference to elders influence Chinese society and politics even today.
Now his countrymen can establish a genetic link in a test that will cost more than 1,000 yuan ($125), according to the Shanghai Morning Post.
"We would like to help these unconfirmed claimants to test their DNA and to establish a Confucius-DNA database," it quoted Deng Yajun, a DNA expert from Beijing Institute of Genomics at the Chinese Academy of Science, as saying.
How the scientists had obtained a sample of Confucius's DNA was not explained.
"One of the most difficult things in the project is to confirm the blood connections of these numerous claimants," said Kong Dewei, one of the editors of the new family tree, who has the same Chinese surname of Confucius, "Kong" in Chinese.
Association with Confucianism was fatal during the tumult of the Cultural Revolution, when "old China" and its traditions were condemned as reactionary by fervent Communist Red Guards.
But since the 1990s, Beijing has been encouraging Confucianism as part of celebrating traditional Chinese culture -- and of pushing a message of obedience to those in power.
20060615
Art gallery loses its head, displays plinth
One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.
The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.
But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen.
"I think the things got separated in the selection process and the selectors presented the plinth as a complete sculpture," the work's artist David Hensel told BBC radio.
The academy explained the error by saying the plinth and the head were sent to the exhibitors separately.
"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently," it said in a statement. "The head was rejected. The base was thought to have merit and accepted.
"The head has been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist," it added. "It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended".
The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.
But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen.
"I think the things got separated in the selection process and the selectors presented the plinth as a complete sculpture," the work's artist David Hensel told BBC radio.
The academy explained the error by saying the plinth and the head were sent to the exhibitors separately.
"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently," it said in a statement. "The head was rejected. The base was thought to have merit and accepted.
"The head has been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist," it added. "It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended".
Bulls get simulated cows at farmers' fair
Live "sex shows" of bulls mounting a simulated cow have become a big attraction at an agricultural exhibition taking place in New Zealand.
The fake 'cow' -- a small go-kart with natural cowhide on its roof -- was developed by Ambreed New Zealand Ltd. to collect semen from bulls more safely and efficiently and improve artificial breeding of cows.
Similar machines are widely used in Europe but have yet to be introduced in New Zealand, where dairy products are its largest export.
The go-kart, driven by a human operator, draws close to a bull and adjusts to the proper height.
The experience can be a little alarming.
"It's quite a daunting feeling when you consider you've got a bull there that weighs a thousand kilograms sitting on top of you and is in quite an aggressive mood," Andrew Medley, production manager at Ambreed, told Reuters.
Bull semen is commonly obtained using a rubber device known as an artificial vagina which is put in place manually by two handlers.
The fake 'cow' -- a small go-kart with natural cowhide on its roof -- was developed by Ambreed New Zealand Ltd. to collect semen from bulls more safely and efficiently and improve artificial breeding of cows.
Similar machines are widely used in Europe but have yet to be introduced in New Zealand, where dairy products are its largest export.
The go-kart, driven by a human operator, draws close to a bull and adjusts to the proper height.
The experience can be a little alarming.
"It's quite a daunting feeling when you consider you've got a bull there that weighs a thousand kilograms sitting on top of you and is in quite an aggressive mood," Andrew Medley, production manager at Ambreed, told Reuters.
Bull semen is commonly obtained using a rubber device known as an artificial vagina which is put in place manually by two handlers.
The president, the prime minister and the king
President George W. Bush and Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a huge Elvis Presley fan, will visit Graceland Mansion on June 30 to pay homage to the king of rock and roll.
Presley moved into the 13-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s and died there in 1977, aged 42. Graceland draws Elvis fans from all over the world and ranks officially as a U.S. historic landmark.
Koizumi, 64, and Presley were both born on January 8.
Elvis fan websites say the Japanese leader is an enthusiastic member of his country's Elvis Presley fan club and even sang along to an Elvis number played at a banquet during a visit to Australia last year.
Koizumi is due to leave office in September and his U.S. visit for talks with Bush at the White House on June 29 is likely to be his last as prime minister.
Bush often talks about his warm friendship with Koizumi and uses it as an example of how relationships between countries can change over time. The United States and Japan fought each other during World War Two.
Presley moved into the 13-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s and died there in 1977, aged 42. Graceland draws Elvis fans from all over the world and ranks officially as a U.S. historic landmark.
Koizumi, 64, and Presley were both born on January 8.
Elvis fan websites say the Japanese leader is an enthusiastic member of his country's Elvis Presley fan club and even sang along to an Elvis number played at a banquet during a visit to Australia last year.
Koizumi is due to leave office in September and his U.S. visit for talks with Bush at the White House on June 29 is likely to be his last as prime minister.
Bush often talks about his warm friendship with Koizumi and uses it as an example of how relationships between countries can change over time. The United States and Japan fought each other during World War Two.
20060610
Sleepy workers costing billions
Japan's corporate warriors aren't getting enough sleep -- and it's costing the country billions.
In the country that gave the world the word "karoshi," or death from overwork, drowsy employees turning up late, taking days off or struggling to stay awake on the job are causing economic losses of some $30 billion a year, according to a survey.
"The idea is to raise awareness of the problem," said Makoto Uchiyama, professor and chairman of the department of neuropsychiatry at Nihon University School of Medicine, who conducted the survey.
"Not everyone who is sleepy at work is lazy. It's hard to tell your boss that you are sleepy, but ignoring the problem can lead to losses in the long run."
Japanese routinely work long hours, as much from cultural constraints on leaving before colleagues as from volume of work. Suited salarymen napping, often standing up, are a common sight on crowded commuter trains.
The survey questioned some 3,075 workers at a chemical company on their sleeping and working habits for a month.
Some 37 percent of respondents said they had problems sleeping. They said their efficiency at work was reduced by about 40 percent and reported a high frequency of accidents, lateness and absenteeism.
Uchiyama said other countries may be in a similar situation.
"It may be thought that this is a Japanese problem. But it's not, it's global".
In the country that gave the world the word "karoshi," or death from overwork, drowsy employees turning up late, taking days off or struggling to stay awake on the job are causing economic losses of some $30 billion a year, according to a survey.
"The idea is to raise awareness of the problem," said Makoto Uchiyama, professor and chairman of the department of neuropsychiatry at Nihon University School of Medicine, who conducted the survey.
"Not everyone who is sleepy at work is lazy. It's hard to tell your boss that you are sleepy, but ignoring the problem can lead to losses in the long run."
Japanese routinely work long hours, as much from cultural constraints on leaving before colleagues as from volume of work. Suited salarymen napping, often standing up, are a common sight on crowded commuter trains.
The survey questioned some 3,075 workers at a chemical company on their sleeping and working habits for a month.
Some 37 percent of respondents said they had problems sleeping. They said their efficiency at work was reduced by about 40 percent and reported a high frequency of accidents, lateness and absenteeism.
Uchiyama said other countries may be in a similar situation.
"It may be thought that this is a Japanese problem. But it's not, it's global".
20060602
Court bars man from seeing dog
A Spanish court has ruled that dogs should not be treated like children with allocated visiting rights when it comes to divorce cases.
A Spanish man was originally given permission by his wife to visit Yako, a golden retriever, when they separated but he appealed to a lower court when she stopped him from seeing the dog. The court ruled in his favor and set up visiting hours.
But the provincial court of Barcelona then overturned that decision, saying it set a precedent for pets to be treated like children in divorce cases.
"This sort of litigation is rare, given that common sense and reason dictate that people should not take such cases to court," said court papers obtained by Reuters Friday.
A Spanish man was originally given permission by his wife to visit Yako, a golden retriever, when they separated but he appealed to a lower court when she stopped him from seeing the dog. The court ruled in his favor and set up visiting hours.
But the provincial court of Barcelona then overturned that decision, saying it set a precedent for pets to be treated like children in divorce cases.
"This sort of litigation is rare, given that common sense and reason dictate that people should not take such cases to court," said court papers obtained by Reuters Friday.
Anna Nicole Smith says she's pregnant, little else
Former Playboy Playmate model, reality TV star and would-be oil heiress
Anna Nicole Smith announced on her official Web site on Thursday that she is pregnant, but offered few other details.
Smith, 38, revealed the news in a brief home video clip in which she appears to be lounging on an inflatable raft in a backyard swimming pool, with two yapping poodles visible in the background.
"Hi, it's me, Anna Nicole," she says, smiling into the camera. "I've been hearing a lot of gossip in the papers ... Is she pregnant? She's pregnant by some guy? Well, let me stop all the rumors. Yes, I am pregnant."
Smith goes on to say that she is "very, very happy about it" and that "everything's going really, really good."
But she never says when she's expecting, nor offers any hint of the father's identity.
The video was shot at a close camera angle that reveals little more than Smith's face and shoulders, though she promises future updates that will "let you see me as I'm growing."
The video was posted on Smith's official Web site (http://www.annanicole.com) with a message promoting the footage as a first installment in what will become, starting next week, a subscriber-supported video diary.
Unconfirmed reports that Smith was pregnant began surfacing weeks ago on the Internet, gossip columns and supermarket tabloids, but her lawyer-spokesman Howard K. Stern had previously declined to confirm the stories.
Last month, Smith won a U.S. Supreme Court decision giving her another chance to collect millions of dollars left by her late Texas oil tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall by allowing her to contest a probate court judgment in federal court.
The former Vicki Lynn Hogan from Mexia, Texas, she met Marshall at a Houston strip club and was 26 when she married the wheelchair-bound, 89-year-old billionaire in 1994.
His death after 14 months of marriage triggered a legal battle over his estate between Smith and his son, E. Pierce Marshall.
She has a son Daniel Smith, born in 1986 during her first marriage.
Anna Nicole Smith announced on her official Web site on Thursday that she is pregnant, but offered few other details.
Smith, 38, revealed the news in a brief home video clip in which she appears to be lounging on an inflatable raft in a backyard swimming pool, with two yapping poodles visible in the background.
"Hi, it's me, Anna Nicole," she says, smiling into the camera. "I've been hearing a lot of gossip in the papers ... Is she pregnant? She's pregnant by some guy? Well, let me stop all the rumors. Yes, I am pregnant."
Smith goes on to say that she is "very, very happy about it" and that "everything's going really, really good."
But she never says when she's expecting, nor offers any hint of the father's identity.
The video was shot at a close camera angle that reveals little more than Smith's face and shoulders, though she promises future updates that will "let you see me as I'm growing."
The video was posted on Smith's official Web site (http://www.annanicole.com) with a message promoting the footage as a first installment in what will become, starting next week, a subscriber-supported video diary.
Unconfirmed reports that Smith was pregnant began surfacing weeks ago on the Internet, gossip columns and supermarket tabloids, but her lawyer-spokesman Howard K. Stern had previously declined to confirm the stories.
Last month, Smith won a U.S. Supreme Court decision giving her another chance to collect millions of dollars left by her late Texas oil tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall by allowing her to contest a probate court judgment in federal court.
The former Vicki Lynn Hogan from Mexia, Texas, she met Marshall at a Houston strip club and was 26 when she married the wheelchair-bound, 89-year-old billionaire in 1994.
His death after 14 months of marriage triggered a legal battle over his estate between Smith and his son, E. Pierce Marshall.
She has a son Daniel Smith, born in 1986 during her first marriage.
20060601
'F-word' banned in hotel
A British hotel is offering football-free breaks for "soccer widows" desperate to escape wall-to-wall coverage of the World Cup.
Any guest who overhears a member of staff mentioning the f-word -- football -- will be given a free glass of champagne.
"The bookings are starting to stream in," said Mike Bevans, manager of the Linthwaite House Hotel in the picturesque Lake District, one of Britain's prime tourist destinations.
The sport supplements are being taken out of daily newspapers and, instead of blanket TV coverage of the big games, guests will be offered a string of romantic movies on DVD like "Dirty Dancing" and "Pretty Woman."
The World Cup finals in Germany start on June 9, with the final in Berlin on July 9.
Any guest who overhears a member of staff mentioning the f-word -- football -- will be given a free glass of champagne.
"The bookings are starting to stream in," said Mike Bevans, manager of the Linthwaite House Hotel in the picturesque Lake District, one of Britain's prime tourist destinations.
The sport supplements are being taken out of daily newspapers and, instead of blanket TV coverage of the big games, guests will be offered a string of romantic movies on DVD like "Dirty Dancing" and "Pretty Woman."
The World Cup finals in Germany start on June 9, with the final in Berlin on July 9.
Would-be robber asks bank how to do it
A would-be Japanese bank robber asked staff how he should carry out the crime before meekly obeying a request to leave and then accidentally stabbing himself in the leg with a knife he was carrying.
The 58-year-old unemployed man went into a branch of the Saitama Resona Bank in the town of Kumagaya, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, intending to rob it, a police spokesman said.
According to local media reports the man first asked a bank teller, "Any idea how you rob a bank?" The teller alerted another member of staff, who asked the man to leave.
"He left quietly when asked to," the police spokesman said.
However, the staff member escorting the man out of the bank noticed the knife sticking out of his pocket and a bloodstain on his trousers.
Police arrested the man for illegal possession of a weapon.
"He didn't brandish the knife at anyone ... but he injured himself in the leg," the police spokesman said.
The 58-year-old unemployed man went into a branch of the Saitama Resona Bank in the town of Kumagaya, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, intending to rob it, a police spokesman said.
According to local media reports the man first asked a bank teller, "Any idea how you rob a bank?" The teller alerted another member of staff, who asked the man to leave.
"He left quietly when asked to," the police spokesman said.
However, the staff member escorting the man out of the bank noticed the knife sticking out of his pocket and a bloodstain on his trousers.
Police arrested the man for illegal possession of a weapon.
"He didn't brandish the knife at anyone ... but he injured himself in the leg," the police spokesman said.
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