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• Unearthed: An Aztec Pyramid
• Boy Scout Saves President!!!
• Chewing for Dollars
• A Dream Denied?
Billionaires on A Roll
Both the number of the world's billionaires and their total wealth have increased sharply in recent years, according to Forbes. The magazine reported a record 946 billionaires for 2007. Microsoft founder Bill Gates tops the list as the world's richest man for the 13th year in a row, with a net worth of $56 billion; Nebraska investor Warren Buffett follows close behind in the No. 2 spot, with a net worth of $52 billion. The U.S. leads the world with 415 billionaires, followed by Germany with 55, and Russia with 53. And after a 20-year reign, Japan has been surpassed by India as Asia's top spot for billionaires. India now has 36, worth $191 billion, while Japan has 24, worth $64 billion.
Unearthed: An Aztec Pyramid
Mexico City may be at least a century older than previously thought. Archaeologists recently unearthed the ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital. The ruins, which are about 36 feet high, were found in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City—once a religious and political center for the Aztec elite. Since the discovery of another pyramid at the site 15 years ago, historians have thought that the Aztecs founded Tlatelolco in 1325. But the pyramid uncovered in November may have been built as early as 1100, suggesting that the Aztecs began developing their civilization in central Mexico much earlier than believed.
Boy Scout Saves President!!!
A 15-year-old Boy Scout in the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is being hailed as a national hero after defending the nation's President from a would-be assassin. On January 8, Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim and several members of his scout troop were in the crowd waiting to greet President Maumoon Gayoom as he arrived on Hoarafushi, one of the Maldive islands. Mohammed says the attacker was behind him. "He pushed me and I pushed him back," he said. "Then I saw him take out the knife. It was wrapped in a flag, a Maldives flag. He took it, he unwrapped it, and started to move for my President. I tried to grab it." The knife sliced open Mohammed's hand, but the President was unharmed. Police have arrested the alleged assailant, who is said to be an Islamic extremist. Mohammed, who hopes to become a police officer, says he was never afraid.
Chewing for Dollars
Everyone wants Sue McNamara's job. Four mornings a week, she sits in a spotless room in a lab coat, chews gum, and talks about how it tastes. McNamara is a gum taster at Cadbury Schweppes Science and Technology Center in Whippany, N.J. "I have lawyer friends who tell me they want my job," she says. But these are not easy jobs to get. Only 10 percent of Americans are able to distinguish, say, between strawberry flavors that are green, gritty, or jammy, and the nearly 70 other ingredients in a wad of Bubblicious, Dentyne, or Trident. Cadbury weeds out hundreds of candidates in finding its tasters. Those who make the cut undergo six months of training to learn the terminology and measurement techniques used to evaluate gum.
A Dream Denied?
Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa, has been ruled ineligible to compete in this summer's Olympics in Beijing. (See Upfront's Oct.1, 2007, cover story.) Pistorius's severely deformed legs were amputated below the knee when he was 11 months old. Now 21, he sprints on specially designed prosthetics called Cheetahs. But a scientific study for the International Association of Athletics Federations (I.A.A.F.)—the world governing body of track and field—determined that Pistorius's carbon-fiber legs give him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes. Pistorius says he will appeal the I.A.A.F. ruling. "I feel that it is my responsibility, on behalf of myself and all other disabled athletes, to stand firmly and not allow one organization to inhibit our ability to compete using the very tools without which we simply cannot walk, let alone run," he said. "I will not stand down."
