News In Brief
LOOK, BUT DO NOT TOUCH
As museums go, the one in Zendagan, Afghanistan, was such a bomb - literally - that experts were put to work dismantling it. At the request of the Taliban movement, UN specialists defused hundreds of live land mines, mortar shells, rockets, grenades, and other ordnance left over from various battles in the war-ravaged country. The exhibit was meant to teach residents the explosive potential of various devices they might come across in their travels. But any one of them, if it had blown up, could have set off a chain reaction, destroying the town.
MAY WE SEE YOUR PROOF, SIR?
Two Japanese are currying no favor with the Indian subcontinent because of their application for a patent. Hirayama Mokoto and Ohashi Sachiyo seek recognition as the "inventors" of the spicy powder that flavors the food of hundreds of millions of south Asians. If successful, they can claim royalties on all products containing it that enter Japan. The government of India reportedly views the matter "with concern."
Where US college presidents enjoy the most pay, benefits
By corporate standards - given their responsibilities and the size of the academic communities they serve - college presidents hardly earn off-the-chart incomes. A recent survey by the Washington-based Chronicle of Higher Education fixes the median salary at $175,389, although some are considerably higher, especially at schools offering doctoral degrees. The 10 colleges where the study found presidents earning the most pay, including benefits, in 1997-98:
Washington and Jefferson College $1,052,673
University of Pennsylvania 529,677
New York University 528,000
Claremont Graduate University 478,820
Vanderbilt 472,000
Columbia 452,500
Johns Hopkins 446,419
Hofstra 407,828
George Washington 404,014
Tulane 383,908
- The Chronicle of
Higher Education
(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society