16 U.S. deaths in Iraq over past 3 days
American attack helicopters fired on Al Qaeda militants trying to slip past an Iraqi checkpoint on Friday, killing 17 of them in the fourth day of an offensive to oust the fighters entrenched in Baqouba, north of Baghdad. Separately, the U.S. military reported another American soldier killed, raising to at least 16 the U.S. death toll over the past three days.
Court hears chastity case
A teenage girl banned from wearing a chastity ring in class took her case to Britain’s High Court on Friday, arguing that her school had violated her religious freedom. Lydia Playfoot, 16, a student at the Millais School in Horsham, wears a ring as a sign of her commitment to abstain from sex until marriage. The school prohibits all jewelry except for ear studs as part of its uniform policy.
A beef with’Big Brother’
An Australian production company has apologized to Mexico for a segment of a “Big Brother” reality program that showed people throwing water balloons at the Mexican flag. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department this week sent protest letters to the program and the Australian government. In the June 15 episode, “Brother” participants wore oversized Mexican sombreros and droopy false mustaches and hurled balloons at a Mexican flag.
AND FINALLY
Campus comforts
It was not the academic program that swayed Yasunori Iwanaga to choose Fukuoka University of Economics. It was the hot spring in the dormitories. Iwanaga said he picked this university when he saw the spa in a brochure. The university’s resortlike new dormitories also boast private karaoke rooms, an English garden with pink roses and a swimming pool — all indicative of Japanese universities’ attempts to find new ways to attract students.
