Sun, May 13, 2007 - Page 7 News List

World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

■ UNITED STATES

Wolfowitz broke ethics rules

The World Bank executive board has concluded that bank president Paul Wolfowitz broke ethics rules in arranging a pay raise for his girlfriend and will try to end his tenure next week, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Citing unnamed senior bank officials, the newspaper said board members do not want to vote to fire Wolfowitz since that might provoke a rupture with the US. But they are inclined to adopt a resolution saying they have lost confidence in him, hoping that will persuade him to resign, the report said. Bank officials said the resolution will probably assert that Wolfowitz's continued tenure jeopardizes the bank's ability to raise funds for its campaign to eradicate poverty, the report said.

■ UNITED STATES

Calf born with two noses

Mark Krombholz had to look twice at his new calf, Lucy -- one time for each nose. "I didn't notice anything too different about her until I got her in the barn," Krombholz said. "And all of a sudden I went to feed her a bottle of milk and I thought maybe she'd been kicked in the nose and there were two noses there." The second, smaller nose sits on top of the first. "It's a functioning nose because the middle of her second nose, the flap would go in and out when she drank out of the bottle like that," Krombholz said. "It was kind of funny."

■ UNITED STATES

Man feigns mental retardation

A man was sentenced to 13 months in prison for pretending to be mentally retarded in order to claim disability benefits. Pete Costello, 28, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to defraud the government and to Social Security fraud. He began receiving disability benefits from Social Security, which pays a pension to the retired and disabled, when he was 8. He was ordered to repay the US$59,226 he has received since turning 18. Costello, who cannot read or write, dictated a letter to his public defender that was submitted to the judge before Friday's sentencing and filed in court.

■ UNITED STATES

Men caught in fish feces

Rescuers cut through a filtration tank filled with dense fish feces to reach four workers who fell into the sludge on Friday while cleaning the 5.5m tank at a western Massachusetts farm. The workers became trapped for 45 minutes after a bracket holding a plastic filtration pad collapsed as they stood on it to clean the tank, said Captain David Dion of the Turners Falls Fire Department. Dion said rescue workers cut a hole in the side of the tank and then slashed through the feces mix to pull out the workers. None of the workers appeared to have life-threatening injuries.

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