Wednesday, April 14, 2004

* Foreigners are being urged to flee Iraq in the face of a rapidly
rising surge of abductions. The ‘hostage carousel’ here took several
swift spins yesterday, with the freeing of seven Chinese captives
followed by the snatching and release of a group of Russian power
company workers and the seizure of four Italians. More than 40
foreigners from 12 countries have been kidnapped in recent days by
insurgents. The broad sweep of nationalities involved – Japanese, South
Koreans, Pakistanis, Czechs, Ukrainians and Americans among others –
prompted several governments and international organizations yesterday
to issue evacuation advisories. Nine Americans are presently missing. A
spokesman for US administrator Paul Bremer said yesterday that the FBI
was working with coalition forces and Iraqi security forces to seek out
the hostage takers and their captives. There would be no negotiations
to gain the victims’ release, he added. The asking rate by Iraqi
militants: US$10,000 for an American and US$5,000 for a non-American.

* Bangkok’s commuters got their first glimpse of the city’s new
US$7.5-billion  underground railway system which will start
running by August and help ease the country’s notorious traffic jams.
Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit expects around 300,000
people to use the subway daily. The first subway line, built at a cost
of US$2.5 billion by two multinational consortiums, includes 18
stations stretching from the northern suburbs to Chinatown.  When
all the lines are completed by the end of the decade, the system will
stretch 111km. It will complement the existing elevated two line
Skytrain system which connects Bangkok’s business, shopping and
nightlife districts. The authorities hope this will take a load off
Bangkok’s increasingly congested streets. Bangkok has been on a
gridlock with a growing number of vehicles being put on the streets
because of the booming economy. The subway is scheduled to officially
debut on Aug 12 to mark the 72nd birthday of Queen Sirikit. A high
degree of staff training and security has been emphasized in setting up
the system, which is built to American standards for fire safety and is
flood-proof as well, officials said. All areas are monitored on a
closed-circuit television.

* The US military is deeply concerned about piracy and possible
terrorist attacks in the world’s commercial shipping lanes and wants to
help countries responsible for policing them, US navy commander Steven
Mucklow of USS Cushing said yesterday. But he declined to comment
directly on the idea that US forces could be deployed in the Malacca
Straits – one of the world’s busiest waterways, which has been hit by
rising piracy. Both Indonesia and Malaysia have responded to
unconfirmed reports that Washington wants to send US Marine
fast-response units to help keep peace in the straits by saying
deploying foreign troops in their territory would threaten their
sovereign rights. The US commander in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas
Fargo, said at a congressional hearing last month that Washington is
working with regional governments on a joint initiative to combat such
threats. In a statement, the US Embassy in Malaysia said Admiral Fargo
had been misinterpreted in some reports and explained that he did not
say US forces would be deployed in the Malacca Straits.

* A loving marriage is equivalent to an extra US$100,000 a year in
income, according to two British researchers who have come up with a
‘happiness value’ index. Mr. Andrew Oswald, an economics professor at
Warwick University, and his colleague David Blanchflower of Dartmouth
College, worked on the project to assess how happy people were made by
different lifestyles. They estimated a good sex life alone was worth
about US$54,000. The academics also established that the greatest
contentment came from a monogamous relationship.  Other aspects of
life to which they gave a ‘happiness value’ included employment, race
and age. They found that the unhappiest age for British women was 37
and for men, 41. The research, published in the latest edition of the
Journal of Public Economics, drew on interviews with more than 50,000
people in Britain together with tens of thousands of responses from
America.  The study found that, on average, women were happier
than men, married people were happier than the single or divorced, and
first marriages were happier than second ones.

*****

Writing in the Sciences Faculty Panel

Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Lecture by Ewuare Osayande: “No More Stumbling Block: White Privilege
and

Black Self-Determination”

Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

Feminist Majority Screening: “Iron Jawed Angels”

SCI 199, 7:30 p.m.

Screamin’ Eagle Screening: “Resovoir Dogs”

LPAC Cinema, 10:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The women’s rugby team suffered their first loss on Saturday to Temple
University.  Nationally ranked Temple defeated Swat 37-10 in the
most challenging game this season.  Dena Henderson ’06 scored a
try, and freshman star Jane Sachs kicked the conversion and a
three-point penalty kick.  Come cheer as Swat takes on Kutztown
this weekend at home.

Thanks to Kirsten Vannice for providing the results

*****

The baseball team re-scheduled the Washington College for Wednesday,
April 14th with first pitch at 3:30 p.m.

The softball team rescheduled its doubleheader with Washington college
for Thursday, April 15th, starting at 3:00 p.m.

The women’s lacrosse game at Widener was cancelled.

*****

Today:

Golf at Holy Family, 1:00 p.m.

Women’s Tennis at F&M, 4:00 p.m.

Men’s Lacrosse at McDaniel, 4:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:

Baseball hosts Washington, 3:30 p.m.

Softball hosts Washington, 3:00 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse hosts Muhlenberg, 5:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A coupla months in the laboratory can save a coupla hours in the
library.”

–Westheimer’s Discovery

*****

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