BBC NEWS | Americas | Taste test for underwater cheese

BBC NEWS | Americas | Taste test for underwater cheese: "Taste test for underwater cheese
Cheese
Cheese producers strive for perfection - but usually on dry land
Canadian salvage divers are searching for an unusual treasure - a vast hunk of sunken cheddar cheese.

Cheese-maker Luc Boivin threw 800kg (1,700lb) of cheese in the Baie des Ha! Ha! in Quebec late last year, believing it would improve the taste.

However, food hygiene inspectors say Mr Boivin cannot sell his cheese without rigorous health testing.

And before it can be tested or sold, it must be found, and divers have so far failed, in the 40m (130ft) deep lake.

Mr Boivin's divers hope to satisfy the food standards authorities by finding the cheddar and taking samples from the cheese during its ageing process on the lake floor.

He suspects that the increased pressure and low temperatures at extreme depths accelerate the cheese-ageing process while keeping it perfectly cool.

'A few years ago, a fisherman came to us and said he'd found a piece of Boivin cheese at the bottom of a lake where he'd been diving,' Mr Boivin told the AFP news agency.

'He took it, hesitated, ate it and told us it was one of the best cheeses he'd ever eaten.'

Treasure hunt

His unorthodox decision aroused the ire of Canada's food standards authorities.

They insisted that cheese production must be carried out in licensed, fully hygienic facilities, which rules out the bottom of a lake.

Map of Canada

'We understand Mr Boivin's goal and we're open to innovation,' Normand Giguere, a Quebec provincial food scientist told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.

'But he has to respect Canadian regulations. This is a first.'

The underwater search for the cheese was inspired by the need to test whether the inhospitable conditions are actually helpful to healthy cheese consumption.

Yet after three dives, there is so far no cheese to be seen.

'We know where the treasure is,' Mr Boivin said, 'but it's tougher than we thought to find it.'"

Honduras crocodiles safe from hunters, not handbags

Honduras crocodiles safe from hunters, not handbags - Yahoo! News: "SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Reuters) - A writhing mass of
crocodiles slithers out of a muddy pond, the animals snapping
their blood-spattered jaws shut on hunks of raw horsemeat and
gulping them down in one."

Teacher Gifts Run the Gamut -- But No More Mugs, Please

Teacher Gifts Run the Gamut -- But No More Mugs, Please: "'Kids were giving teachers bracelets, expensive perfume and blouses,' said Dom Pendino of the Lower Merion Education Association, a Pennsylvania teachers union. Now a note goes out every year to remind parents to refrain from gift-giving. Teachers are required to turn over any presents they get (even brownies, they complain) to their principal."

Debate grows over teaching of abstinence | The San Diego Union-Tribune

Debate grows over teaching of abstinence | The San Diego Union-Tribune: "In public schools and after-school programs across the country, some children are being taught that saving sex until marriage can prevent emotional and health problems as well as poverty, substance abuse and suicide.

In addition to learning that romantic relationships can be sensitive and complicated, girls are told that they can lose a boy by offering too much advice, and that they can hang on to him by regarding him with amazement and 'wonder.'"

BBC NEWS | Europe | Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism': "A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said.

Members of the convent in north-west Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual.

Cornici was found dead on the cross on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.

On Saturday a priest and four nuns were charged in connection with her death.

...Mediafax news agency said Cornici suffered from schizophrenia and the symptoms of her condition caused the priest at the convent and other nuns to believe she was possessed by the devil.

...Father Daniel who is accused of orchestrating the crime is said to be unrepentant.

"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," AFP quoted the priest as saying.

"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practise in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," Father Daniel added. "

'Saint Death' booms in border drug war - Yahoo! News

'Saint Death' booms in border drug war - Yahoo! News: "...drug traffickers seek favors from Santa Muerte they could not ask of saints venerated by the Church in Mexico, the world's second largest Roman Catholic nation.

'They say 'Protect me tonight because I am going to commit a crime. I am going to ambush my enemies, I am going to smuggle drugs to the United States,'' Aridjis said."

'Butchered' waitress turns up alive?

China and the USA have this in common: murdering their own citizens wrongfully convicted. The USA is the only country in the industrialized world the continues to practice the death penalty.

'Butchered' waitress turns up alive? - Yahoo! News: "Wrongful convictions are not uncommon in China where a campaign has been launched to clean up the interrogation and trial process."

Sanitation problems plague mountaineers

Sanitation problems plague mountaineers - Yahoo! News: "'They think they're going out on a pristine climb and there's virus-laden poo all around them,' said Dr. Bradford Gessner, a mountaineer and one of the study's authors."

Brazilian doctors uncover 'Michelangelo code' - Yahoo! News

Brazilian doctors uncover 'Michelangelo code' - Yahoo! News: "Two Brazilian doctors and amateur art lovers believe they have uncovered a secret lesson on human anatomy hidden by Renaissance artist Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.

...Barreto and his friend Oliveira are not the first physicians to see depictions of human organs in the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican church where popes are elected.

Fifteen years ago, U.S. doctor Frank Meshberger pointed out the figure of God and his surrounding angels in the "Creation of Adam" panel resembled a cross-section of the human brain.

He believes Michelangelo was equating God's gift of a soul for Adam with the divine gift of intelligence for mankind."

Indian forced to 'marry' her father-in-law rapist

Indian forced to 'marry' her father-in-law rapist - Yahoo! News: "NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian rape victim is being forced by village elders to 'marry' her rapist -- her father-in-law, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Community leaders in Charthawal village, backed by local Muslim clerics, believe that by being raped, 28-year-old Imrana's 10-year marriage has been nullified under Islamic law, The Asian Age newspaper said.

Holding a special council on Sunday, village leaders ordered the mother of five to leave her husband, Noor Mohammed, and live with her parental family for seven months and 10 days and make herself 'pure' again, The Age said. It did not say how she becomes pure.

After that, she must 'marry' her father-in-law and live with him, along with his legal wife.

'She... will then be like a mother to Noor Mohammed,' the paper quoted local cleric Shamim Ahmad saying.

Her four brothers have agreed to the edict. She has not but in India, victims of crime often have nowhere to turn and with even her own family supporting the edict she may have little choice.

Police are now investigating and say they plan to arrest the father-in-law. They refuse to comment on the village elders' ruling, saying it is a sensitive religious issue.

"