GoldenPalace.com, an online casino which paid US$28,000 to the owner of a 10-year-old, partially eaten cheese sandwich thought to bear the image of the Virgin Mary, is sending the "religious icon" on a world tour. "By taking her all over, other people will have some of the pleasure that I did," said the former owner, Diana Duyser. "I'll miss her greatly because she was a comfort to me in times when it wasn't so easy," Duyser, a 52-year-old Baptist, said at a ceremonial exchange in Hollywood, Florida, on Wednesday. She was wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Passion of the Toast."
■ Canada
Iraq election role possible
Canada is considering a major role in preparing and monitoring Iraq's crucial elections early next year, despite its vigorous opposition to the US-led invasion in 2003, a report said Wednesday. Officials were discussing the proposal with Washington and the UN, days before US President George W. Bush visits Ottawa hoping to ease relations between the two neighbors, the Globe and Mail newspaper said. An announcement of a Canadian role in the Jan. 30 elections could come during Bush's two-day visit to Canada, due to start Tuesday, the paper said. The Canadian foreign ministry said no decision had yet been made -- but did not directly contradict the report.
■ United States
Student in knife rampage
A knife-wielding student injured eight classmates after going on the rampage early Wednesday at a high school in northwestern Indiana, authorities said. The injured students were taken to hospital where several of them were treated for lacerations, and one was treated for a hip injury. Three were treated and released, and the rest were expected to be discharged later Tuesday, said Jeni Bell, a spokeswoman for the Porter Health System in Valparaiso. The alleged attacker was taken into custody shortly after the 8am incident which triggered a lockdown at Valparaiso High School, 66km southeast of Chicago, according to police.
■ Haiti
US rescues 82 refugees
The US Coast Guard on Wednesday repatriated 82 Haitians who were picked up from a sinking vessel in the Bahamas as they apparently tried to make their way to the US. The 71 men and 11 women had been taken aboard a US Coast Guard vessel on Friday night, as their vessel took on water and started sinking, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The migrants were taken to Port-au-Prince Wednesday, the statement said. So far this year, the Coast Guard repatriated about 3,400 Haitians who tried to reach US shores, often on overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels.
■ Canada
Pot-smokers increasing
The number of Canadians who admit to having used marijuana recently has nearly doubled since the mid-1990s, according a government health study released on Wednesday. Fourteen percent of Canadians interviewed acknowledged having used cannabis in the past year, up from 7.4 percent in a similar survey in 1994, and 44.5 percent admit having used it at least once in their lifetime. The drug and alcohol addiction survey, funded by Health Canada, found pot use was highest in British Columbia, where marijuana growing is a major illegal business, and lowest in the small Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island.
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