News Bytes

French fries boycott lifted
US Congress has decided that fries may again be called "French fries" in the US. When France didn't want to take part in the Iraq war, an anti-French sentiment had started spreading in the US, eventually leading to a boycott of French products. As a consequence, the former French fries had to be called "freedom fries." "French fries are back on the menu in the Capitol, back on the presidential dinner menu and our relations are back on track," said French Embassy spokeswoman in Washington, Agnes Vondermuhll.

New world record for skydiving
Jay Stokes from Yuma, Arizona, did something very special for his 50th birthday. During a sky-diving competition, the ex-soldier spent an entire day jumping off a plane. He broke his own world record with 640 jumps in one day, i.e. he jumped in ca. 2-minute intervals. After 24 years with the Green Berets, he still proved to be in excellent shape. The proceeds of the event are meant to go to children of fallen soldiers.

Tony Blair criticizes negative attitude of Europeans
British Prime Minister Tony Blair harshly criticized some of his European colleagues. In his pamphlet, he denounced the "anti-Americanism" of many European politicians. He pointed out that no serious problem in the world could be solved or discussed without the United States. This way, the US might distance themselves from Europe further, but the world needed all peoples and denominations to be united to fight terrorism. It was the only way to guarantee a peaceful future in the long run. However, George W. Bush met with resistance to his plans for the treatment of terrorist suspects even among Republicans. A bill by the Democrats that prohibits torture during interrogations got the vote of four Republican Senators and has thus been passed with 15:9 votes by Congress. Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, has also criticized Bush. According to Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung he said that the world was starting to doubt the moral grounds of the United States' war on terrorism.

Possibly oldest writing in America has been discovered
Road builders in Mexico have discovered a stone slab bearing inscriptions in a pile of debris. This could be the oldest writing to ever be discovered on the American continent. Archeologists analyzed the stone slab found in the Mexican state of Veracruz and dated it back to the first century BC. The writing may be of the Olmec culture, presumably the oldest culture of Central America. Previously, the oldest discovered writing from the ruins of San Andrès in the state of Tabasco had been dated back to ca. 650 BC.