News Bytes

Researchers create germfree cat
Cat lovers with allergies may soon be able to have a cat anyway. According to official reports, Californian researchers have created a hypoallergenic cat that won't cause allergies because the allergenic proteins have been removed from the fur and saliva. A hypoallergenic cat will be available for roughly $4,000. The American animal welfare association was pleased by these news since countless people with allergies simply abandon their cats. Approximately 30 million people in the US are allergic to cats. According to the New York Daily News, a family from New York is among the first customers. They even have to pay an express-fee of $2,000 and $1,000 transport and insurance fees for their pet that they want to name "Atchoo."

Are the Hawaiian islands disappearing?
Wonderful beaches, beautiful women wearing flowers, keen surfers etc. - all that will have disappeared into the Pacific in a hundred years? At least that's what researchers of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in the US are saying. They have calculated that up to 75% of the northwestern Hawaiian islands' land area will have disappeared by 2100 due to the rising sea levels that are a consequence of global warming. This endangers a lot of very rare endemic animals and plants that could survive up to now due to the islands' isolated location. Endangered are, among others, turtles, seals and the monk seals of Trig Island. One way of saving the islands would be to raise them with additional sand, which would have to be done very carefully in order to protect the ecosystem. No one seriously believes that the US will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cuba cuts off electricity and water to US Diplomatic Mission
The main facility of the US Diplomatic Mission in Cuba is said to have been cut off from electricity for days - it is the only building in the street with that problem. After talking to the Cuban government didn't work, the building is now being powered with a generator. The Mission also accuses the Cuban government of continuously cutting off the water supply. A government spokesman in Havana said this was the answer to the US attempts of teaching Cuba about human rights. Authorities in Havana had also found ways of preventing the US from informing the public before this. When they installed illuminated electronic signs on the building's façade, the Cubans set up 138 flagpoles with black flags to hide the messages.

Survival Guide fro Soccer World Cup
That's how Americans are - they always want to be prepared in order to avoid culture shock. "Survival Guide Germany" or "Germany for Dummies" are some of the books that are currently sold in high numbers in New York's book stores. Here, American soccer fans get all necessary information before departing for Germany to see the World Cup. The books contain practical advice that no American - and no German - would ever have thought of all by himself. For example: "never lean against a German car - cars are sacred in Germany. Avoid packing material that is not biodegradable. Never wear swimming trunks in a sauna. Never call anyone between 8pm and 8:15pm, that's when the news are on TV."

"Better not be too friendly towards complete strangers," is the advice of Richard Lord, author of "Culture Shock." Because everything that is part of a friendly "hello" in America - wide smile, showing that you're pleased to meet the other person, asking how the other one feels - all that makes Germans rather suspicious. "Germans will think that you want something from them or that you aren't quite normal." In the best case scenario, they would just label youa "superficial American."

If you want to have look: www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558689303