SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. is pulling back from a system that disables programs on users' computers if it suspects the software is pirated, opting instead for a gentler approach based on nagging alerts.
Microsoft said late Monday it will roll out the new version of Windows Genuine Advantage with the first "service pack" for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008.
When computer users activate a copy of Windows Vista or try to download certain software from Microsoft's Web site, the Windows Genuine Advantage system scans their PCs for signs of pirated software. Today, if the tool finds an unauthorized copy of Vista, the glassy Vista user experience disappears and other features are suspended.
In the new version, PC users found to have a pirated copy of Vista will continue to be able to use their computers, but with unmistakable signs their operating system is a fake. The desktop wallpaper will turn black, and a white notice will appear alerting users to the problem. Each time they log in, they will be prompted to buy legitimate software, and every hour, a reminder bubble will appear on the screen.
Users with a high tolerance for irritation can put off switching to genuine software indefinitely, but those who relent and buy a real copy of Windows can do so at reduced prices — $119 for Windows Vista Home Premium, half the regular retail price.
"We want to make sure unwitting victims get a great treatment," said Mike Sievert, a corporate vice president in Microsoft's Windows marketing group.
Windows Genuine Advantage collects several pieces of information about a PC during the check, including the serial number on the hard drive and its IP address, but Sievert says none of that can be used to identify individual PC users.
In August, the Windows Genuine Advantage team at Microsoft accidentally updated its servers with computer code that wasn't quite ready for prime time. As a result, Microsoft said "fewer than 12,000" people who tried to validate software over a two-day period couldn't.
Some found legitimate copies of Windows hobbled after the tool labeled them pirated, and an outcry spread across Web forums and technology news sites.
Sievert said the glitch in August was unrelated to the change in how the Windows Genuine Advantage tool will work.
"Microsoft realizes it has to take a different approach with their customers," said Chris Swenson, a software industry analyst for market researcher NPD Group. "If you shut down someone's computer, you're going to anger customers."
Microsoft also said Monday the package of Vista updates will fix two holes in the operating system that have allowed pirates to create counterfeit copies — one that mimics the activation of software by computer makers before a PC is sold, and one that extends a grace period given to people who install new software, before they must activate it.
Sievert said Microsoft plans to offer an update for Windows Genuine Advantage that will run the piracy check regularly without the computer user initiating the process.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Young chimp beats college students
NEW YORK - Think you're smarter than a fifth-grader? How about a 5-year-old chimp? Japanese researchers pitted young chimps against human adults in tests of short-term memory, and overall, the chimps won.That challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that "humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions," said researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University.
"No one can imagine that chimpanzees — young chimpanzees at the age of 5 — have a better performance in a memory task than humans," he said in a statement.
Matsuzawa, a pioneer in studying the mental abilities of chimps, said even he was surprised. He and colleague Sana Inoue report the results in Tuesday's issue of the journal Current Biology.
One memory test included three 5-year-old chimps who'd been taught the order of Arabic numerals 1 through 9, and a dozen human volunteers.
They saw nine numbers displayed on a computer screen. When they touched the first number, the other eight turned into white squares. The test was to touch all these squares in the order of the numbers that used to be there.
Results showed that the chimps, while no more accurate than the people, could do this faster.
One chimp, Ayumu, did the best. Researchers included him and nine college students in a second test.
This time, five numbers flashed on the screen only briefly before they were replaced by white squares. The challenge, again, was to touch these squares in the proper sequence.
When the numbers were displayed for about seven-tenths of a second, Ayumu and the college students were both able to do this correctly about 80 percent of the time.
But when the numbers were displayed for just four-tenths or two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ. The briefer of those times is too short to allow a look around the screen, and in those tests Ayumu still scored about 80 percent, while humans plunged to 40 percent.
That indicates Ayumu was better at taking in the whole pattern of numbers at a glance, the researchers wrote.
"It's amazing what this chimpanzee is able to do," said Elizabeth Lonsdorf, director of the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. The center studies the mental abilities of apes, but Lonsdorf didn't participate in the new study.
She admired Ayumu's performance when the numbers flashed only briefly on the screen.
"I just watched the video of that and I can tell you right now, there's no way I can do it," she said. "It's unbelievable. I can't even get the first two (squares)."
What's going on here? Even with six months of training, three students failed to catch up to the three young chimps, Matsuzawa said in an e-mail.
He thinks two factors gave his chimps the edge. For one thing, he believes human ancestors gave up much of this skill over evolutionary time to make room in the brain for gaining language abilities.
The other factor is the youth of Ayumu and his peers. The memory for images that's needed for the tests resembles a skill found in children, but which dissipates with age. In fact, the young chimps performed better than older chimps in the new study. (Ayumu's mom did even worse than the college students).
So the next logical step, Lonsdorf said, is to fix up Ayumu with some real competition on these tests: little kids.
Creative Consumer: Beware of Those Holiday 'Sales'
By ELISABETH LEAMY ABC NEWS Consumer Correspondent
Dec. 3, 2007
The frenetic holiday shopping season is here. Personally, I haven't even dipped my toe in yet. But when I do, I know I'll see all sorts of misleading sales advertised.
Here's the bottom line, sacrilegious as it may sound to the shop-till-you-drop set: Not every sale is a bargain and not every bargain is on sale.
Say you buy a gallon of milk every week for $2.50. Then one day you walk into the supermarket and see a huge sign: "Today Only! Milk Just $2.50!" You would know that's ridiculous because that's what you always pay for milk.
But what about things you don't buy so often -- like refrigerators, stereos and winter coats? How will you know if the big sale claims are for real? To be a truly savvy consumer, you need to be a good comparison shopper. If it's any consolation, to be a good comparison shopper, you need to be a truly frequent shopper.
Retailers play games to get our greedy little hearts going. What do you think those "compare at" price tags are all about? You know, the ones where the store states its price right underneath the "compare at" price, which is supposedly what some other retailer charges. I know of a popular clothing store that marks its classic lines "50% off" one month, then "buy one, get one free" the next month -- and continues this cycle year round.
The New York attorney general cracked down on a store that claimed to be offering huge savings off the regular price. The attorney general's office ruled that since the store always offered the products at the sale price, that was the true price and the items weren't discounted at all.
Some retailers will actually mark merchandise up just so they can mark it down. That way, you think you're getting a great deal, but the store is charging the amount it always wanted in the first place. This practice is actually illegal in some jurisdictions, but it's hard to prove because consumer watchdogs can't monitor stores every day all year round.
Shop Smart Magazine, a publication of Consumer Reports, found major department stores claiming to offer more than 50 percent off on items like knives, toaster ovens, irons and dishes. But when the magazine checked the actual manufacturer's suggested retail prices for the items, the savings were much more modest.
Stores that offer a "low-price guarantee" in which they promise to beat their competitors' prices can be crafty too. Often these stores deliberately invent their own names and model numbers for their merchandise so it's difficult for you to shop and compare.
"Buy one, get the second at 50% off." Don't fall into this trap. If the extra item is something you really want, then great. But if you won't use it then don't pay the extra money. Same goes for jumbo-size products that you buy in bulk. If the medicine will expire or the food will spoil before you can use it, it's not worth paying the extra money to "supersize" it.
Do Your Homework
Let's revise the old rhyme. It should be "comparison shop till you drop."
If you have big-ticket purchases planned, check prices online before heading to the store, so you'll know when you spot a bargain.
Latest Battle in the Stars vs. Paparazzi War
The latest battle in the war between celebrities and paparazzi pits "America's sweetheart" Julia Roberts against a photographer she spotted videotaping kids near a Malibu, Calif., school attended by her 2-year-old twins.
Roberts chased the photographer and pulled him over. Then she insisted the photographer turn off the camera and gave him a piece of her mind, witnesses said.
"I am going to talk to you about the fact that you are at a school where children go," Roberts said sternly.
The shocking confrontation was the buzz of the entertainment shows. Roberts told "Access Hollywood" enough is enough.
"I just told him a school is not a place for a grown man to be crawling around trying to take pictures," the 40-year-old actress said. "I think there needs to be some kind of line. I don't think the magazines and the newspapers should show celebrities' children."
Roberts is not alone. Many celebrity parents have complained about paparazzi stalking their children.
"I get annoyed when my kids, you know, it's really hard to tell a 4-year-old why he's being, you know, a guy with a camera is running after him at the park," said actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Everyone Is Fair Game
Dealing with the paparazzi has always been a necessary evil for celebrity parents. Many remember an angry Princess Diana confronting an intrusive cameraman during a ski vacation with her young sons.
"As a parent I want to protect my children because I brought the children out here for a holiday and would really appreciate the space. We have had 15 cameras following us today," she was heard saying.
But in today's market the competition for pictures of famous children is even more intense, the gloves are off and kids are considered fair game.
"These stalkarazzis are trying to create incidents with kids to get a reaction from the famous parents or from the kids themselves," said publicist Ken Sunshine.
Under First Amendment protections, the photographers are usually on the right side of the law."What we find is as long as there is a market for these pictures, paparazzi are going to continue to do it," privacy expert Rick Avery said.
It's not just stars with children who have had it. George Clooney recently confronted a paparazzo when he was riding a motorcycle with girlfriend Sara Larson.
"How many people did you put in danger? Stop ignoring me," Clooney yelled at a photographer.
But will the celebrities ever win the war against paparazzi? Sunshine said that day might be coming soon.
"I think people at the highest level can't take it anymore and won't take it anymore," Sunshine said.
Roberts chased the photographer and pulled him over. Then she insisted the photographer turn off the camera and gave him a piece of her mind, witnesses said.
"I am going to talk to you about the fact that you are at a school where children go," Roberts said sternly.
The shocking confrontation was the buzz of the entertainment shows. Roberts told "Access Hollywood" enough is enough.
"I just told him a school is not a place for a grown man to be crawling around trying to take pictures," the 40-year-old actress said. "I think there needs to be some kind of line. I don't think the magazines and the newspapers should show celebrities' children."
Roberts is not alone. Many celebrity parents have complained about paparazzi stalking their children.
"I get annoyed when my kids, you know, it's really hard to tell a 4-year-old why he's being, you know, a guy with a camera is running after him at the park," said actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Everyone Is Fair Game
Dealing with the paparazzi has always been a necessary evil for celebrity parents. Many remember an angry Princess Diana confronting an intrusive cameraman during a ski vacation with her young sons.
"As a parent I want to protect my children because I brought the children out here for a holiday and would really appreciate the space. We have had 15 cameras following us today," she was heard saying.
But in today's market the competition for pictures of famous children is even more intense, the gloves are off and kids are considered fair game.
"These stalkarazzis are trying to create incidents with kids to get a reaction from the famous parents or from the kids themselves," said publicist Ken Sunshine.
Under First Amendment protections, the photographers are usually on the right side of the law."What we find is as long as there is a market for these pictures, paparazzi are going to continue to do it," privacy expert Rick Avery said.
It's not just stars with children who have had it. George Clooney recently confronted a paparazzo when he was riding a motorcycle with girlfriend Sara Larson.
"How many people did you put in danger? Stop ignoring me," Clooney yelled at a photographer.
But will the celebrities ever win the war against paparazzi? Sunshine said that day might be coming soon.
"I think people at the highest level can't take it anymore and won't take it anymore," Sunshine said.
abcnews.com
Who wants to marry a US citizen?
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Dec. 4, 2007
A California-based production company says it's looking for a network to air a new dating show that promises to set up American singles with immigrants looking to fall in love and maybe score a Green Card too.
In the midst of a national debate on immigration, "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen," could be seen as a mirror of national sentiment, a critique of the Byzantine bureaucracy foreigners must negotiate to become citizens or as its producer claims, just as fun.
In the tradition of "The Dating Game," which ran in the 1960s and 1970s, three legal immigrants looking to meet a citizen are quizzed by an American national, before they are chosen for a date.
"The show is basically a dating show with a twist," said Executive Producer Eddie Rivera.
The show's producers have filmed one bare-bones episode, which has been posted on the Internet and aired on a local cable station in Los Angeles.
"One will get to stay in the country; two others will possibly be deported," goes the tagline on an Internet promotion.
Rivera said that "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen" makes no promises of legal U.S. citizenship, and is only an opportunity to meet someone for a date.
"I think people will be surprised to see how the show really works. No one will get a free pass; we're not giving away the chance to be a citizen."
The show is being produced by Morusa Media, a company with no Web site. ABC News could find no evidence of its registration in California. In different reports the creator of the program has been called both Adrian Martinez and Adrian Rodriguez.
Rivera insisted the program was not a hoax and that the show's producers were in touch with several interested networks, though he would not name them. He said Morusa was an established company that was also behind an Internet radio site that plays music for pets called dogcatradio.com.
Falling in love and getting married, no matter how a couple meets, are the first -- and perhaps most enjoyable steps -- in a long succession of hurdles toward applying for U.S. citizenship.
Meeting someone through a game show is not an automatic disqualifier for citizenship, but it would raise flags with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for the department's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"If the game show is specifically to meet a U.S. citizen, it could call into question the legitimacy of a marriage. That's not to say that the marriage isn't necessarily legit; we'd just have to look at the case closely," Saucier said.
To become a citizen through marriage, both the national and foreigner have to provide documentary proof that they have been married. They are then interviewed to determine whether the marriage is legitimate or simply a ruse to gain citizenship.
Cathy, 29, a student and part-time bartender who declined to give her last name, said it took a year and half from the time she married her German journalist husband to the time she had her first interview with Homeland Security.
"We spent four hours at Homeland Security for a 15-minute interview, and when it was over he still hadn't been granted a Green Card. … We showed them pictures from our wedding, and they asked us each who everybody was. … We also brought photos from our honeymoon. … It was clear we had spent a lot of money on the wedding, and that we were legit."
In a sort of game show twist of its own, some couples when interviewed by Homeland Security are separated and asked personal questions about each other and then brought together again to compare their responses.
"We ask them questions that a reasonable person would know about their spouse. It is not the sort of deal where if you don't know what hair products your wife uses, you don't get in. … We're living in 2007, and people have a lot of different lifestyles; one spouse might maintain a residence on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast," Saucier said.
Last year, 339,843 people became legal permanent residents and received their Green Cards (a document that gives non-U.S. citizens permanent residence and the right to work) through marriage.
"The penalty for entering a fraudulent marriage for the purposes of gaining citizenship is five years and $250,000 fine," he said.
Two years after a couple has been approved, they must be evaluated again by the government. Even if a couple has divorced, if they can prove they tried to make things work as any other couple would, the foreign spouse is still eligible for citizenship, Saucier said.
Though the pilot episode of "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen" included only Latin contestants, the show's producers say casting will be open to all legal aliens.
"We've received a flood of e-mails. … The show isn't just about Hispanic immigrants, contestants can be Chinese, Bolivian, German," the executive producer Rivera said.
Some immigrant rights groups are already calling into question the motives behind the show.
"The existence of the show speaks to the problems with immigration legislation, and why people sometimes enter sham marriages to gain citizenship," said Arnoldo García, director of the immigrant justice program at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Dec. 4, 2007
A California-based production company says it's looking for a network to air a new dating show that promises to set up American singles with immigrants looking to fall in love and maybe score a Green Card too.
In the midst of a national debate on immigration, "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen," could be seen as a mirror of national sentiment, a critique of the Byzantine bureaucracy foreigners must negotiate to become citizens or as its producer claims, just as fun.
In the tradition of "The Dating Game," which ran in the 1960s and 1970s, three legal immigrants looking to meet a citizen are quizzed by an American national, before they are chosen for a date.
"The show is basically a dating show with a twist," said Executive Producer Eddie Rivera.
The show's producers have filmed one bare-bones episode, which has been posted on the Internet and aired on a local cable station in Los Angeles.
"One will get to stay in the country; two others will possibly be deported," goes the tagline on an Internet promotion.
Rivera said that "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen" makes no promises of legal U.S. citizenship, and is only an opportunity to meet someone for a date.
"I think people will be surprised to see how the show really works. No one will get a free pass; we're not giving away the chance to be a citizen."
The show is being produced by Morusa Media, a company with no Web site. ABC News could find no evidence of its registration in California. In different reports the creator of the program has been called both Adrian Martinez and Adrian Rodriguez.
Rivera insisted the program was not a hoax and that the show's producers were in touch with several interested networks, though he would not name them. He said Morusa was an established company that was also behind an Internet radio site that plays music for pets called dogcatradio.com.
Falling in love and getting married, no matter how a couple meets, are the first -- and perhaps most enjoyable steps -- in a long succession of hurdles toward applying for U.S. citizenship.
Meeting someone through a game show is not an automatic disqualifier for citizenship, but it would raise flags with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for the department's Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"If the game show is specifically to meet a U.S. citizen, it could call into question the legitimacy of a marriage. That's not to say that the marriage isn't necessarily legit; we'd just have to look at the case closely," Saucier said.
To become a citizen through marriage, both the national and foreigner have to provide documentary proof that they have been married. They are then interviewed to determine whether the marriage is legitimate or simply a ruse to gain citizenship.
Cathy, 29, a student and part-time bartender who declined to give her last name, said it took a year and half from the time she married her German journalist husband to the time she had her first interview with Homeland Security.
"We spent four hours at Homeland Security for a 15-minute interview, and when it was over he still hadn't been granted a Green Card. … We showed them pictures from our wedding, and they asked us each who everybody was. … We also brought photos from our honeymoon. … It was clear we had spent a lot of money on the wedding, and that we were legit."
In a sort of game show twist of its own, some couples when interviewed by Homeland Security are separated and asked personal questions about each other and then brought together again to compare their responses.
"We ask them questions that a reasonable person would know about their spouse. It is not the sort of deal where if you don't know what hair products your wife uses, you don't get in. … We're living in 2007, and people have a lot of different lifestyles; one spouse might maintain a residence on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast," Saucier said.
Last year, 339,843 people became legal permanent residents and received their Green Cards (a document that gives non-U.S. citizens permanent residence and the right to work) through marriage.
"The penalty for entering a fraudulent marriage for the purposes of gaining citizenship is five years and $250,000 fine," he said.
Two years after a couple has been approved, they must be evaluated again by the government. Even if a couple has divorced, if they can prove they tried to make things work as any other couple would, the foreign spouse is still eligible for citizenship, Saucier said.
Though the pilot episode of "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen" included only Latin contestants, the show's producers say casting will be open to all legal aliens.
"We've received a flood of e-mails. … The show isn't just about Hispanic immigrants, contestants can be Chinese, Bolivian, German," the executive producer Rivera said.
Some immigrant rights groups are already calling into question the motives behind the show.
"The existence of the show speaks to the problems with immigration legislation, and why people sometimes enter sham marriages to gain citizenship," said Arnoldo García, director of the immigrant justice program at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Hmmmm. Something's different about you
STOYSTOWN, Pa. - Police said a Somerset County man fled a traffic stop, went home, shaved his mustache and changed his clothes, and reported the truck he was driving as stolen.
Conemaugh Township police said they stopped Robert Sadlon, 50, for a broken taillight on Thanksgiving night and he ran off. Later, the same officer went to Sadlon's home near Stoystown to investigate the reported theft. There, he found a just-shaven Sadlon in different clothes.
Sadlon is charged with drunken driving, escape and related charges.
Conemaugh Township police said they stopped Robert Sadlon, 50, for a broken taillight on Thanksgiving night and he ran off. Later, the same officer went to Sadlon's home near Stoystown to investigate the reported theft. There, he found a just-shaven Sadlon in different clothes.
Sadlon is charged with drunken driving, escape and related charges.
Mafia boss arrested while watching Mafia TV show
PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - Italian police burst into the room of a suspected Mafia mobster in Sicily and arrested him as he watched a television show about the arrest of a Mafia boss, investigators said Friday.Police said Michele Catalano was watching the concluding chapter late Thursday of the TV mini-series "The Boss of Bosses," recounting the arrest in 1993 of real-life Cosa Nostra leader Salvatore "Toto" Riina, when he was detained.
They Catalano, 48, was suspected of being a senior commander serving under the latest "boss of bosses" Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who was arrested this month after nearly 25 years on the run.
Catalano faces charges of drug trafficking and extortion.
Lo Piccolo had taken over the reins of the Sicilian crime syndicate from Riina's successor Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested last year after 40 years on the run. The arrests have seriously weakened the Mafia, police say.
Politicians and cultural figures criticized Channel 5's mini-series for portraying Riina as a hero and lobbied its owner Mediaset, belonging to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, to take the final episode off the air. Mediaset declined.
Nicknamed "the Beast" for his brutality, Riina has been convicted on more than 100 counts of murder.
Santa Claus is coming to town -- for 34 microseconds
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Christmas is hectic for all but particularly for Santa, who must live in Kyrgyzstan and make his rounds at lightning speed if he is to deliver gifts to all the world's children on time, a Swedish consultancy has concluded.Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus's route around the planet includes stops at 2.5 billion homes, assuming that children of all religions receive a present from the jolly man in the red suit, Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco told AFP.
"We estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa leaves from Kyrgyzstan and travels against the Earth's rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents," he said.
Father Christmas has long been believed to reside at the North Pole, although a number of northern towns, including Finnish Rovaniemi, claim to be his true home.
But Sweco's report on Santa's most efficient route -- which takes into account factors like geographic density and the fewest detours -- shows that he wouldn't be able to make his round-the-world trip from there in time.
"He has 34 microseconds at each stop" to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh, Larsson said.
Santa's reindeer must travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time.
Another report circulating on the Internet suggested however that Santa's sleigh, weighed down with presents and travelling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that the entire contraption would burst into flames and be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second.
Miss China on top of the world
SANYA, China (AFP) - Pre-contest favourite Miss China won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country late Saturday, much to the delight of the audience, in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.Twenty-three-year-old Zhang Zilin was crowned the winner in Sanya, China. Miss Angola came second and Miss Mexico third at the beauty pageant, held on the southern holiday island of Hainan, dubbed China's answer to Hawaii.
Viewers in 200 countries were expected to tune in to watch the show, which saw Miss China take the crown ahead of 105 of the world's most beautiful and talented women.
The audience in the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre, specially built for when Sanya first hosted the event in 2003, roared in delight as Zhang was crowned the winner at the end of the two-hour-long contest, which was conducted mainly in English.
The secretary from Beijing was the pre-contest favourite with British bookmakers, along with Miss Dominican Republic.
At 182 centimetres (six feet), Zhang was also the tallest contestant.
"There are 1.3 billion people behind me," she said during the interview stage of the contest, referring to China's population.
"If I win I want to become a link between the Olympic Games (in Beijing next year) and the Miss World Organisation."
"I want to use the power and beauty of Miss World to support those in need," she said, speaking throughout in hesitant English, adding a few words in Chinese.
Zhang earlier told the contest her favourite pasttimes were the 100-metre hurdles and the high jump.
Fireworks exploded above the crown-shaped theatre, where visitors had paid up to 300 dollars for tickets, after the popular decision was made.
Miss Mexico had also been strongly fancied, while Miss Angola was an outsider.
"I want to tell you that I am a strong woman and also a dreamer girl and I don't accept failures in my life," Carolina Moran Gordillo, Miss Mexico, said earlier in the contest.
"This is my dream and I worked very very hard to get here," the 19-year-old student added.
Portuguese-born Miss Angola, Micaela Reis, 18, said she wanted to win the coveted crown so she could spread awareness about AIDS/HIV.
Contestants were rated on an array of disciplines including physical fitness, style, dress, personality and beauty.
The 106 were whittled down to 16, then five, with hotly tipped Miss Dominican Republic not making the final five despite strong support from the mainly Chinese crowd.
The 57th edition of the contest was being held on World AIDS Day as organisers wanted the annual showcase of gloss and glitz, seen by critics as a sexist throwback, to help increase awareness of the fight against HIV/AIDS.
To underline their commitment to AIDS awareness, organisers invited former South African president Nelson Mandela's eldest daughter Maki to serve on the panel of nine judges.
The Noble laureate's son Makgatho died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005, and the family has since been active in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
As well as being held on World AIDS Day, Miss World 2007 came a week after Chinese state media reported hotels in Beijing have been ordered to stock condoms in every room in response to a spike in new HIV infections in the capital.
British teacher arrives home from Sudan
LONDON - A British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project arrived home Tuesday after being pardoned and said she was "very upset to think that I might have caused offense to people."
Gillian Gibbons told reporters after arriving at London's Heathrow Airport that she was looking forward to seeing her family and friends.
"I'm just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher. I went out there to have an adventure, and got a bit more than I bargained for," Gibbons said at a brief news conference.
"I don't think anyone could have imagined it would snowball like this," she added.
Gibbons, 54, jailed for more than a week, was freed after two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the teacher sent the president a statement saying she didn't mean to offend anyone with her class project.
"It has been an ordeal but I'd like want you to know that I was well-treated in prison and everybody was very kind to me," she said. "I was very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time there. It's a really lovely place, and I managed to see some of the beautiful countryside while I was there."
Gibbons said she didn't want her experience "to put anyone off going to Sudan — in fact I know of a lovely school that needs a new Year Two teacher."
The incident was the latest in a tense relationship between the West and Sudan's president, an Islamic hard-liner who has been accused by the United Nations of dragging his feet on the deployment of peacekeepers to the country's war-torn Darfur region.
Al-Bashir insisted Gibbons had a fair trial, in which she was convicted of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, but the president agreed to pardon her during the meeting with the British delegation, said Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser.
Gibbons left Sudan Monday night, flying via Dubai to London.
"I'd like to thank the government for all they have done, the hard work behind the scenes, especially the two peers who went out there," said her 25-year-old son, John. "Everyone's been really great."
When asked her feelings about the offense she was accused of, Gibbons said: "I don't think I really know enough about it to comment really. It's a very difficult area and a very delicate area."
"I was very upset to think that I might have caused offense to people," she added.
Gibbons said she learned of the intense media coverage of the story on her second day in prison.
Asked if she was terrified of prison, she said: "That's an understatement."
"I was treated the same as any other Sudanese prisoner in that you were given the bare minimum," she said. "Then I was moved to another prison and there the Ministry of the Interior sent me a bed which is possibly the best present I've ever had."
What Britain and Gibbons' supporters said was a misunderstanding over the teddy bear escalated into a diplomatic flap between London and Khartoum — and the show of outrage in Sudan that puzzled many in the West.
Hard-line Muslim clerics in Sudan denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally aimed to insult Islam. A day after her Thursday trial, several thousand Sudanese massed in central Khartoum to demand that Gibbons be executed. Many of the demonstrators carried swords and clubs.
But it was never clear how deep anger over the incident really flowed among Sudanese, although the affair was influenced by the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled — a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.
"Common sense has prevailed," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement expressing delight over Gibbons' release.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband praised Gibbons, saying that "she's shown very good British grit in very difficult circumstances."
Gibbons, who was arrested Nov. 25, was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law for having the teddy bear project for her class of 7-year-olds at the private Unity High School. She could have been punished with up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.
In the project, she had a student bring in a teddy bear, then asked her pupils to vote on a name for it. They chose Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men. The students took the bear home individually to write diary entries on it, which were then compiled into a book with the bear's picture on it and the title "My Name is Muhammad," school officials said.
Gibbons' defenders said the project was a common one in British schools.
The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult Islam's prophet.
The private English-language school, with elementary to high school levels, was founded by Christian groups, but 90 percent of its students are Muslim, mostly from upper-class Sudanese families.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, part of the British delegation that met with al-Bashir, said the case was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and stressed that Britain respected Islam. He added that he hoped "the relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident."
Many Muslim groups in the West had sharply criticized Gibbons' arrest. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed her pardon.
"Gillian should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone held in jail. She had done nothing wrong," he said. "It will be wonderful to see her back in the U.K. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities."
Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.
But hard-liners in Sudan touted the incident as part of a Western plot to undermine Islam, echoing accusations from controversy raised early in the year by the publication of cartoon caricatures of the prophet in European newspapers.
Al-Bashir's opponents in Sudan have said his government likely let the Gibbons case move forward to stir up anti-Western anger at a time when he is resisting allowing Western peacekeepers in the Darfur peacekeeping force. He has said he will bar any Scandinavians from the force since newspapers in their countries ran the prophet cartoons.
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Associated Press Writer Alfred de Montesquiou in Khartoum, Sudan contributed to this report.
Gillian Gibbons told reporters after arriving at London's Heathrow Airport that she was looking forward to seeing her family and friends.
"I'm just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher. I went out there to have an adventure, and got a bit more than I bargained for," Gibbons said at a brief news conference.
"I don't think anyone could have imagined it would snowball like this," she added.
Gibbons, 54, jailed for more than a week, was freed after two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the teacher sent the president a statement saying she didn't mean to offend anyone with her class project.
"It has been an ordeal but I'd like want you to know that I was well-treated in prison and everybody was very kind to me," she said. "I was very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time there. It's a really lovely place, and I managed to see some of the beautiful countryside while I was there."
Gibbons said she didn't want her experience "to put anyone off going to Sudan — in fact I know of a lovely school that needs a new Year Two teacher."
The incident was the latest in a tense relationship between the West and Sudan's president, an Islamic hard-liner who has been accused by the United Nations of dragging his feet on the deployment of peacekeepers to the country's war-torn Darfur region.
Al-Bashir insisted Gibbons had a fair trial, in which she was convicted of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, but the president agreed to pardon her during the meeting with the British delegation, said Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser.
Gibbons left Sudan Monday night, flying via Dubai to London.
"I'd like to thank the government for all they have done, the hard work behind the scenes, especially the two peers who went out there," said her 25-year-old son, John. "Everyone's been really great."
When asked her feelings about the offense she was accused of, Gibbons said: "I don't think I really know enough about it to comment really. It's a very difficult area and a very delicate area."
"I was very upset to think that I might have caused offense to people," she added.
Gibbons said she learned of the intense media coverage of the story on her second day in prison.
Asked if she was terrified of prison, she said: "That's an understatement."
"I was treated the same as any other Sudanese prisoner in that you were given the bare minimum," she said. "Then I was moved to another prison and there the Ministry of the Interior sent me a bed which is possibly the best present I've ever had."
What Britain and Gibbons' supporters said was a misunderstanding over the teddy bear escalated into a diplomatic flap between London and Khartoum — and the show of outrage in Sudan that puzzled many in the West.
Hard-line Muslim clerics in Sudan denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally aimed to insult Islam. A day after her Thursday trial, several thousand Sudanese massed in central Khartoum to demand that Gibbons be executed. Many of the demonstrators carried swords and clubs.
But it was never clear how deep anger over the incident really flowed among Sudanese, although the affair was influenced by the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled — a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.
"Common sense has prevailed," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement expressing delight over Gibbons' release.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband praised Gibbons, saying that "she's shown very good British grit in very difficult circumstances."
Gibbons, who was arrested Nov. 25, was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law for having the teddy bear project for her class of 7-year-olds at the private Unity High School. She could have been punished with up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.
In the project, she had a student bring in a teddy bear, then asked her pupils to vote on a name for it. They chose Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men. The students took the bear home individually to write diary entries on it, which were then compiled into a book with the bear's picture on it and the title "My Name is Muhammad," school officials said.
Gibbons' defenders said the project was a common one in British schools.
The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult Islam's prophet.
The private English-language school, with elementary to high school levels, was founded by Christian groups, but 90 percent of its students are Muslim, mostly from upper-class Sudanese families.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, part of the British delegation that met with al-Bashir, said the case was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and stressed that Britain respected Islam. He added that he hoped "the relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident."
Many Muslim groups in the West had sharply criticized Gibbons' arrest. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed her pardon.
"Gillian should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone held in jail. She had done nothing wrong," he said. "It will be wonderful to see her back in the U.K. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities."
Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.
But hard-liners in Sudan touted the incident as part of a Western plot to undermine Islam, echoing accusations from controversy raised early in the year by the publication of cartoon caricatures of the prophet in European newspapers.
Al-Bashir's opponents in Sudan have said his government likely let the Gibbons case move forward to stir up anti-Western anger at a time when he is resisting allowing Western peacekeepers in the Darfur peacekeeping force. He has said he will bar any Scandinavians from the force since newspapers in their countries ran the prophet cartoons.
___
Associated Press Writer Alfred de Montesquiou in Khartoum, Sudan contributed to this report.
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