Csernókné Jezerniczky Éva

Court Puts Brakes on Driving Test Conman
LONDON (Reuters) - Learner drivers, stumped by three-point turns and terrified by …1…centers, were ideal partners for a British conman jailed …2…Friday for impersonating other people to take their driving…3… .

While many struggle to pass once, Danny Sorhaindo paid…4… take the practical test 99 times, charging his "…5…." 550 pounds ($1,000) a time for his driving expertise.

One …6…even paid Sorhaindo for a driving license which they …7…gave away as a Christmas present, police said.

Authorities …8…caught up with Sorhaindo and he was sentenced to nine months in …9…by London's Kingston Crown Court after pleading…10… to conspiracy to obtain property by deception.

"All the officers who worked on this case were horrified at the ease with which Sorhaindo was able to impersonate so many others," London Police's Chief Inspector Mike Harper said.

Man Gets 10 Years for Heroin-Soaked Clothes

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Colombian man has been sentenced to 10 years in U.S. prison for trying to smuggle in three kilograms of heroin that had …11…soaked into his clothes, authorities said on Friday.

David Jose Hernandez, 65, …12…nabbed at the Houston airport on May 29, 2002, when…13… arrived on a flight from Caracas, Venezuela, and customs agents…14… a "very strong vinegary odor emanating from his…15…," U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said in a statement.

"Further …16…resulted in the discovery the clothing contained in the luggage…17… apparently been soaked in heroin," the statement said. Hernandez …18…he knew nothing about the drug, but was arrested.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chemist …19…in Hernandez's trial in November that he leached three kilograms …20…heroin out of the clothes, the statement said.

Dome Robbers Refused Right to Appeal Conviction

LONDON (Reuters) - Two men jailed for their part in an attempted diamond …21…at London's Millennium Dome were refused the right to …22…their convictions Wednesday after claiming the judge had nodded …23…during their trial.

Raymond Betson and William Cockram, both jailed for 18 years …24…plotting what police said would have been the …25…heist in history, claimed the judge had distracted the jury …26…snoring loudly, rendering their convictions unsafe.

But judges sitting…27… London's Appeal Court Wednesday refused the men permission to appeal…28… convictions. They will give their reasons Thursday.

The two …29…were however given permission to proceed with an appeal …30…their jail terms.

In a plot worthy of James Bond, Betson and Cockram were convicted …31…two other men of conspiring to steal diamonds worth 200 …32…pounds ($366 million) from the Dome, escape along the River Thames in a …33…and smuggle them out of the country.

Among the…34… they had hoped to steal was the Millennium Star, at 77 carats …35…of the world's largest gems.

The robbers may have …36…inspired by the Bond film "The World is Not Enough," which featured a speedboat chase to the Dome -- showpiece of Britain's year 2000 celebrations.

The audacious plan was foiled by the Flying Squad, …37…had switched the real diamonds for fakes and were …38…in wait.

Edmund Romilly, counsel for 41-year-old Betson, told the court Wednesday the judge had fallen …39…on a number of occasions during the trial, which …40…in February 2002.

"Not only did he fall asleep in full view of the jury, he was also snoring," he said.

Romilly argued that the judge's behavior had distracted the jury and given them the impression he was uninterested in the proceedings. This had reflected prejudicially on the people being tried, he said.

Lord Justice Rose, who was hearing the appeal along with Mr Justice Poole and Mr Justice Davis, said the trial judge had admitted falling asleep but did not accept "snoring audibly."

The appeal against the jail sentences will continue on Thursday.

3.

Report: N. America, Europe May Cool in Warmer World

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Parts of Europe and North America could get drastically colder if warming Atlantic …1…currents are halted by a surprise side-effect of global warming, scientists …2…on Wednesday.

The possible shut-down of the Gulf Stream is one …3…several catastrophic changes -- ranging from collapses of fish stocks to more frequent …4….fires -- that could be triggered by human activities, they said in a …5…launched in Sweden.

"In the worst case it (the Gulf Stream) could shut…6…. ... it might even happen this century," said Stefan Rahmstorf of …7…Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. "This would trigger a …8…cooling, but not an Ice Age."

Climate models indicated a surge of …9…water into the North Atlantic from a melting of northern glaciers caused …10…global warming could stop the current that sweeps warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico toward Europe.

"The Eastern coast of Canada and the United States would also be…11… . This is sometimes wrongly perceived as a European problem by American politicians," …12…told Reuters.

He said the Gulf Stream had collapsed about 20 times …13…the past 100,000 years, most recently at the tail of the last …14…Age about 8,000 years ago after an abrupt melting of icecaps.

If …15…Gulf Stream stopped, average temperatures might fall by 5-10 Celsius (10-20F) in Scandinavia or by 3-4C …16…Germany.

By contrast, global warming, widely blamed on emissions of gases like …17…dioxide from cars and factories, is expected to raise global average temperatures …18…1.4-5.8C by 2100.

The U.N. Kyoto Protocol on limiting global warming hinges on Russia's yes or…19…. Moscow is undecided and President Vladimir Putin said his country might benefit from warmer …20…weather, though a halt of Gulf Stream would make northwest Russia colder.

Rahmstorf's …21…was included in a new book, "Global Change and the Earth System: …22…planet under pressure," which looks at the impact of the surge in the …23…population to six billion people, ranging from stripped forests to rising temperatures.

"A …24…finding is that change will not be progressive. There will be abrupt …25…and tipping points," said Will Steffen, executive director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program which issued …26…book based on work by 5,000 scientists.

"Never before have we seen…27… range of change or the rate of change at the same time," …28…told Reuters.

"You can get to a point where forests are too …29…and too dry and sudden fires rip through them," he said, …30…to blazes last year in nations from Australia to France. "Global warming may make these events more frequent."

And another report indicated that fish stocks might not recover even if nations ban fishing. Depletion of cod stocks, for instance, lets smaller species flourish and these may prey on the young of any surviving cod and prevent stock recovery.

4.

South China Farms Ever Ripe for Pandemic

NANZHENCUN, China (Reuters) - Fowl breeder Chen Huaping thinks SARS, as flu-like …1… go, is mere chicken feed.

He witnessed the wrath of …2…flu -- potentially more infectious -- in October, when a freshly …3…yellow duckling dropped dead in his backyard 20 miles …4…the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

Within a week, …5…bug had wiped out 300 of his 500 baby…6….

"I took the body to a veterinarian and he…7…, 'If they catch a flu, you might as well …8…let them die off. You can't cure it.' When …9…die, they die fast."

No need to tell that …10…breeders devastated by avian flu this winter in South Korea, Japan …11…most alarmingly Vietnam, where the World Health Organization …12…the bug had hurdled the species barrier and …13…at least five people.

Chen, 45, boasts that he …14…never fallen sick on the farm. But his lifestyle …15…the sort that makes epidemiologists cringe.

He lives beside …16…mucky pond in a tree bark cabin abutting a corrugated steel shelter, …17…the ducks waddle up the banks to …18…and scatter their droppings on the way down.

LETHAL NEW STRAINS

Small …19…like his, squalid and teeming with fetid animals, are …20…believed to make southern China and other densely populated …21…across Asia caldrons for lethal new flu strains.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, …22…flu-like illness that first swept out of Guangdong …23…year to claim 800 lives around the globe, was…24… the latest warning sign.

In response to new suspected…25…, Guangdong has declared war on the civet cat and …26…species, based on lab evidence that they harbor a coronavirus …27…to the SARS pathogen. Rats, meanwhile, are the target …28…a spring cleanup drive.

But the rural breeding grounds …29…mutant flu offshoots have not changed.

Scientists, though often stymied in …30…attempts to connect the dots, commonly point to …31…triangle of contagion linking man, bird and pigs.

As the …32…goes, viruses of farmers and fowl may co-mingle or …33…genes. An avian flu byproduct can then incubate in pigs, …34…in turn re-infects humans.

Farmers and traders go …35…to mix with city folk who hop the globe …36…jet, while trucks haul their teeming flocks to faraway…37…. Thus the scale of disease mushrooms.

"A pandemic influenza…38… certainly much bigger than SARS," said microbiologist Malik Peiris, a SARS …39…at the University of Hong Kong.

NEXT BIG PANDEMIC

The prospect of …40…next big pandemic haunts Southeast Asia. Asian flu in 1957-58 …41…Hong Kong flu in 1967-68 killed 4.5 million people…42….

Scientists in recent years have even traced the 1918-19 "Spanish flu"…43…, in which 40 million to 50 million people perished, …44…to southern China.

Doctors emphasize that Guangdong, home to 90 …45…people, is but one of many places where new viral …46…may emerge. The deadly West Nile and Ebola viruses …47…out in Africa.

"But what is unique in the southern China …48…or that part of Asia is the live animal …49…scenario," said Peiris.

"They can exchange viruses, they can amplify …50…those markets and you have humans coming into repeated …51…with animals, a wide diversity of people."

The …52…vulnerable may not be farmers or traders. SARS studies, …53…example, have revealed a relatively high infection rate among food …54…workers, who tend not to be as exposed.

This…55… civet cull marked what many observers consider the first …56…crackdown on unhygienic markets in Guangzhou. Many experts said…57… was long overdue.

Now one big question is how…58… the government can go in tidying up the animal …59…business without stripping people of their livelihoods. Another is …60…the clean-up can even work, as long as people and animals live in close quarters.

5.

Woman's 25-Year Hunt for Son Ends Happily

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (Reuters) - For more than 25 years, Uruguayan Sara Mendez chased down false leads …1…searched the world for her infant son, who had …2…snatched away in the night by a group of…3… .

Her hunt ended on Tuesday when a DNA test …4…that a man raised by an adoptive family in Argentina …5…the son of Mendez and Mauricio Gatti, …6…accused leftists who had fled to neighboring Argentina to …7…Uruguay's brutal 1973-85 dictatorship.

"The search has ended, but …8…another stage begins: that of a mother and a…9… who are starting to get to know each other," Mendez …10…a Uruguayan television station after learning the test results.

…11…source close to the search said the son, whose…12… was not revealed, had brought his mother flowers when …13…met and bore a striking resemblance to the…14…, who died from cancer a decade ago in Europe.

In a …15…that opened up old wounds as South America deals …16…its bloody authoritarian past, Mendez alleged that Uruguayan soldiers …17…into her Buenos Aires apartment in 1976, arrested her …18…abducted her 20-day-old son, Simon.

About 170 Uruguayans disappeared …19…the dictatorship, the majority of them in Argentina, as …20…officers around the troubled region coordinated efforts to crack …21…on suspected leftist guerrillas.

Tiny Uruguay's death toll from …22…repression paled in relative comparison to Argentina or Chile, …23…thousands were jailed and many more went into exile, …24…to return.

Mendez spent five years in jail and …25…began the search for her son when democracy returned …26…Uruguay in 1985. False clues led her to a …27…named Gerardo Vazquez, who then refused to take DNA …28…to confirm he was her son.

A personal plea …29…Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle in 2000 finally convinced Vazquez …30…take the DNA test, which proved negative.

But a…31… Argentine military officer then told an Uruguayan journalist that …32…baby had been abandoned in a clinic and given …33…an adoptive family. The subsequent search led to the …34…living in Buenos Aires.

Batlle, who has made reconciling Uruguay's turbulent …35…a major focus of his presidency, congratulated Mendez on …36…happy reunion.

"The whole country should be content and …37…because of what has happened, the fruit of an …38…by a mother who never lost hope," the president said.
Irish Prefer Pub to Church, Survey Says

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Going to the pub is a more important part …39…life in Ireland than attending church, the authors of …40…survey on social attitudes said Tuesday.

Only 22 percent …41…people in the Irish Republic view regular church-going …42…important, compared with 35 percent who said going to …43…pub at least once a week was a priority, …44…survey by Mintel Ireland said.

It also indicated that …45…with the most money to spend were more likely …46…hand it over for a pint of beer than…47… it in a church collection plate.

"As you become…48…, your likelihood of being a regular church-goer decreases," said Mark O'Connell, managing …49…of Mintel Ireland.

"It seems the higher up the …50…you go, the more difficult it gets to pass …51…the eye of the needle."

People questioned in British-ruled …52…Ireland were more abstemious, with only 20 percent listing …53…as a priority -- although the number of regular church-goers …54…not much higher at 23 percent.

The authors of …55…survey, "Irish Lifestyles: The Rise of the Immoral Majority," …56…it showed the rapid advance of consumerism in both the Republic …57…witnessed an unprecedented economic boom in the latter half…58… the 1990s − and Northern Ireland.

"Owning a flash car …59…a mobile phone, being a member of a private …60…club and having a home computer are the new ….61…of Irish success on both sides of the border," …62…report said.

Older people living in rural areas were …63…likely to attend church than young citydwellers.

"Traditional values…64… a successful marriage, children, financial security and regular attendance …65…Sunday worship have all taken a back seat in …66…households."

The report was based on recent interviews with …67…than 2,000 people in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

6.

Surgeons Cut Out the Blushes

LONDON (Reuters) - Hot under the collar?

A London clinic is charging stressed professionals $5,680 to drill a hole in their armpits, snip away their nerve endings and eliminate their blushes for good.

Its …1…include television presenters and financiers, fearful that any sign of weakness could damage their…2….

"We're talking about professional people whose lives have been blighted …3…blushing," Anthony Mitra, surgical director of the exclusive Highgate Private Hospital in north London, told Reuters.

In the 40-minute….4…, surgeons drill a hole near the patient's armpit and …5…a telescope to view the delicate procedure which involves …6…the nerve endings at the base of the neck …7…trigger blushing.

Mitra said business was brisk.

Recent …8…included a TV presenter and bankers who said they …9…opted out of front-line jobs on trading floors and …10…a lower profile due to their excessive blushing.

"If …11… negotiating a deal or a contract and you blush, …12…you give your position away. When you're in business, …13…only emotions you want to convey are the ones …14… in charge of," Mitra said.

Patients are kept overnight, …15…Mitra said the effects of the treatment were immediate. The …16…does not leave any visible scars. Side-effects …17…include increased sweating.

Mitra said patients were an …18…mix of men and women and that celebrities sometimes …19…the clinic, though he declined to name names. "Whoever …20…blushing was a serious problem?" he said
Nation of Dog Lovers Divided Over Tail Docking

LONDON (Reuters) - Dogs are a man's best friend − but British animal lovers are divided over whether docking …21…tails amounts to cruelty.

Owners and breeders are howling in protest over suggestions from …22…British government that a ban on canine tail docking …23…be included in new animal welfare legislation due toward…24… end of the year.

But the Royal Society for …25…Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) says the practice is …26…and amounts to little more than mutilation in the …27…of cosmetics.

"If you take a dog's tail off, …28…take away its ability to express itself," Chris Laurence, …29…RSPCA's chief vet, told Reuters. "We all know about …30…wagging their tails when they're happy. It's a bit …31…preventing a human smiling or frowning."

There are two …32…used for tail docking, which can only be done …33…a vet.

"Banding" is the most common and involves …34…a ligature around a puppy's tail to cut off …35…blood supply causing it to drop off after three days.

The….36… way is for a vet to simply cut the …37…off.

The Council of Docked Breeds, a group set…38… to protect tail docking, argues that the practice has …39…carried out for centuries to avoid tail damage and …40…reasons.

"It is not cruel. Dogs, which are asked …41…hunt and work as they are bred , …42…from the most appalling tail injury if they are …43…docked," a spokesman said. This year's winner of Best ..44…Show at Crufts, Britain's world famous dog's show, was …45…standard poodle that had had its tail docked, he…46….

"People do not want to exhibit their dogs with …47…long tail because they don't like the look of…48…," he said.

Docking is outlawed in 13 European countries, ….49…it is allowed in the United States, which Laurence …50…was "way behind the times" by permitting canine ear-cropping.

7.

Wordsworth Fans Get Daffodil Hotline

LONDON (Reuters) - Tourists wandering through Britain's Lake District hoping to spot "a host of golden daffodils" can now call a telephone hotline to identify the best place to see the wild blooms.

The local tourist board in Cumbria, northern England, set up the hotline Monday as part of this …1…bicentenary celebrations of William Wordsworth's untitled poem that has become …2…as "Daffodils."

In April, 1802, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy …3…to Gowbarrow Park by Ullswater, in the Lake District -- a walk that provided …4…inspiration for the poem he wrote two years later.

According …5…Cumbria Tourist Board Chief Executive Chris Collier, Ullswater is not usually the best …6…to see the carpets of wild daffodils.

"Over Easter,…7…. views at Dora's Field in and around Rydal will be …8…spectacular," said Collier.

Dora's Field was bought by Wordsworth and …9…with thousands of daffodil bulbs in memory of his …10…daughter.

Collier added that she was unaware of any …11…flower hotline in Britain, claiming a first for the …12…daffodil.

The tourist board said the daffodil hotline was…13… used 10 years ago.

The Royal Horticultural Society recently …14…that wild daffodils were under increasing threat from cross-pollination…15… more common varieties.

The telephone hotline is on 08705 133059.

Protesters Condemn 'Immoral' Waitresses

TUNCELI, Turkey (Reuters) - Only "moral" waitresses will be allowed to work in Tunceli, eastern Turkey, following mass protests demanding that women serving drinks quit their jobs, the city's mayor …16…Tuesday.

Hasan Korkmaz said most of the 20 waitresses working …17…Tunceli's 10 beer halls left the mainly Kurdish city late …18…Monday, a few hours after the demonstrations.

Some 5,000 …19…and women spilled onto streets and shouted: "We don't …20…waitresses in our bars," and "Tunceli, defend your honor."

"Since …21…waitresses came to work in Tunceli last year people have …22…that they have had immoral relations. It's natural the …23…have responded in this way," Korkmaz told reporters.

"Waitresses …24…work in our city only if they behave morally," …25…said.

Residents blame the women for inciting a brawl …26…week among jealous suitors that left two men dead …27…four wounded.

Muslim Turkey strictly separates state and religion, but …28…tradition, especially in conservative eastern regions, can prevent women …29…working and attending school.

Honor killings, in which women …30…killed for "shaming" their family, still occasionally occur …31…the east.

Monday's protest broke out after local political …32…officials, civic groups and union leaders held a news conference and …33….the waitresses of flirting with male customers and disrupting …34…peace.

"These waitresses have (caused) the collapse of honor …35…have ruined the peace of families. They should …36…Tunceli," the groups said in a joint statement.

The…37…, most of them unmarried or divorced, moved from cities …38…western Turkey last year after fighting between government forces …39…Kurdish rebels in Tunceli subsided.

Three women have refused….40… quit and remain employed by the halls, Korkmaz said.

Smooth-Talking Criminal Fools Police

LONDON (Reuters) - Red-faced British police on Wednesday promised to find out why officers allowed a burglar to walk free after they accepted his made-up story over the telephone.

Newspapers reported that the mix-up started when a…41… neighbor called police in Manchester after he saw a …42…loitering near a friend's van.

Instead of sending out a …43…car, officers asked that the suspect be put on …44…telephone -- and then accepted his story that he was not ….45…a crime.

Police later admitted the smooth-talking criminal made …46…with 600 pounds ($1,000) worth of tools from the…47… .

"It is extremely embarrassing...I was appalled by the…48…," a Manchester Police spokesman told BBC radio.

"I'm determined …49…will put this right and mount a full investigation…50… find out what went wrong," he said.

Carole Curley, …51…of the owners of the burgled van, told…52… Daily Mail: "This is an absolute disgrace. A crime was being …53….and police could not send anyone out".

The police…54…. said the force was overstretched on the night of …55…embarrassing crime, but was "determined to catch the perpetrator".
8.

Calendars
Since the genesis of civilization, people have kept track of the days by the procession of daylight and darkness and of the changing seasons in order to know when to plant crops and to get …1…for winter. Sometimes they kept the record by notching…2… stick or knotting a cord once every day. They …3…watched the changing positions of the sun and stars, …4…changes of the moon, and the habits of plants …5…animals. The making of an exact calendar, however, perplexed …6…for ages because the divisions of time by days, …7…, months, and years did not seem to fit together…8….

The Sumerians of Babylonia were probably the first people…9… make a calendar. They used the phases of the…10…, counting twelve lunar months as a year. To make …11…for the difference between this year and the year…12… the seasons, they inserted an extra month in the calendar ….13…every four years. The early Egyptians, Greeks, and Semitic…14… copied this calendar. Later the Egyptians worked out …15…calendar that corresponded almost exactly to the seasons.

The…16… Romans also used a calendar that was based on …17…Moon. The year in this calendar was 355 days…18…. The months corresponding to March, May, July,and October …19…had 31 days; February had 28 days; and …20…rest had 29. An extra month was added about …21…fourth year. The high priest regulated the calendar. On…22… calends, or day of the new moon, he announced …23…the people the times of the nones (first quarter) …24…ides (full moon) for that month.

Most of the holy …25…celebrated or noted in Pagan and Christian religions are…26…, meaning that they are celebrated on the same day …27…year. Other sacred or festival days are movable and …28…every year as the equinoxes and solstices vary by …29…much as a day from year to year.

Many …30…the traditions and customs practiced on holy days and …31…celebrations can be traced back to the Druids. The natural …32…teemed with life: animals, stones, plants, rivers and wells …33…endowed with feelings which mankind had to respect and …34…to terms with. These customs were so firmly embraced …35…the hearts and minds of the people that when ….36…was established the Church of Rome integrated and sanctified…37…. The Church slowly drew the people in by allowing …38…festivals to continue with a coat of Christianity overlaid…39… them. The magical powers believed to be associated with …40…places were transferred, their powers now attributed to God.