December 18, 2002

Unusual Punishment ABCNEWS.com - A Pakistani woman had her head shaved as a punishment for having an affair, and her 4-year-old daughter was made to marry the 5-year-old son of her lover, police said today. The punishments were handed down to Mumtaz Mai by a traditional village jury in the central province of Punjab on Monday, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Habib Ahmed Ghumman. It also ruled that her lover, Ghulam Mustafa, should surrender his bullock cart to Mai's husband. It does sound like her husband gets the best of this. A wedding for his daughter, a hair cut for his wife, AND a free bullock cart. 12:20:54 PM

Ahenakew apologizes for anti-Jewish remarks CTV, Canada - Saskatchewan native leader David Ahenakew held back tears Tuesday as he apologized for remarks he made last week in which he applauded Adolf Hitler for the Holocaust. Ahenakew said he has decided to resign from the senate of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and all other positions with the group. "I want to publicly state that words cannot describe how sorry I am and for the hurt I have caused. I want to extend my most sincere apologies to the Jewish community, to Holocaust survivors and your families. Such comment has no excuse," he told a news conference. Ahenakew, 68, then directed his apology to the people of Saskatchewan, to war veterans, his family, and to aboriginal peoples and leaders across the country. 10:16:47 AM

Iraqi oil worm on the loose The Inquirer, UK - VIRUS BUSTERS HAVE WARNED of a new worm on the loose that may pose a threat to systems world-wide. And just to make sure it gets itself noticed, the worm wiggles about under the label IraqiWorm, Iraq_oil.exe. The myNetWatchman system on Monday identified a worm-like surge in port scanning activity targeting TCP port 445. This port is associated with Microsoft's networking protocol when used with Windows 2000 and XP systems. The worm’s only objective seems to be to propagate. The nightwatchmen say they have not seen any malcious behaviour from the web wriggler. Also known as W32.HLLW.Lioten. 9:13:02 AM

Patent could give AOL an edge in messaging ZDNet.com - An AOL subsidiary has been granted a patent on the invention of instant messaging systems, meaning that AOL could potentially sue IM competitors such as Yahoo! and Microsoft. 9:08:32 AM

Four men, including Canadian resident, acquitted of terrorism in Rotterdam  Canada.com - A Dutch court acquitted four men, including a Canadian resident, Wednesday of conspiracy to attack U.S. targets in Europe, citing insufficient evidence and an improper police investigation. The ruling ended the first terrorism-related trial in the Netherlands since the Sept. 11 attacks last year in the United States. 8:23:46 AM

No jail time sought for teen in Norway DeCSS trial IT World.com - In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors called for Jon Lech Johansen, the 19-year old Norwegian charged with using and distributing DeCSS, a program that can be used to break the digital copy-protection mechanism of DVDs, to be given a three-month suspended jail sentence and made to pay 10,000 Norwegian kroner (US$1,400) in police costs, according to Johansen's defense counsel, Halvor Manshaus. A three-month suspended jail term means Johansen would not go to prison if found guilty -- unless he committed a crime within the next two years, in which case the three-month sentence would enter effect. 6:07:53 AM