Duke study analyzed responses on North Carolina's mandated End-of-Grade tests

Around the country and throughout the world, politicians and education activists have sought to eliminate the "digital divide" by guaranteeing universal access to home computers, and in some cases to high-speed Internet service.

However, according to a new study by scholars at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, these efforts would actually widen the achievement gap in math and reading scores. Students in grades five through eight, particularly those from disadvantaged families, tend to post lower scores once these technologies arrive in their home.

Minneapolis, Minnesota - They're calling it the parcel puppy. A Minneapolis woman is charged with animal cruelty after police say she tried to send a puppy through the mail.

The poodle-mixed pup is being held temporarily at the animal control office in Minneapolis but still belongs to the woman who allegedly tried to mail it - 39-year-old Stacey Champion.

"Clearly there wasn't a whole lot of thought that went into this," said Sgt. Angela Dodge with the Minneapolis Police Department.

Dodge said last Tuesday Champion took the puppy to the Loring Post Office. The puppy was in a box with a priority sticker on it.

Orange County, Florida - The unemployment rates in Central Florida are hovering in the double-digits and there hasn't been a lot of good news lately for job seekers. In honor of those who are working hard to get back to work, Pie-Fection, a new fresh-ingredient, made-while-you-watch pizza restaurant in Orlando, offered free pizzas to Central Floridians Tuesday who have lost their jobs.

"We're in a position now to give back to the community and that's what we like to do," said co-owner Jon Diaz.

Diaz and his business partner, Luke Fernbach, are recent college grads who grew up here in Central Florida, and today they teamed up with Workforce Central Florida to help folks like Isaac Crumpton find a job.

"I've got a lot of experience and a great attitude, but just haven't been fortunate enough to find something that just fits me," said Crumpton.

The uprising in Egypt, although united around the nearly universal desire to rid the country of the military dictator Hosni Mubarak, also presages the inevitable shift within the Arab world away from secular regimes toward an embrace of Islamic rule. Don't be fooled by the glib sloganeering about democracy or the facile reporting by Western reporters - few of whom speak Arabic or have experience in the region. Egyptians are not Americans. They have their own culture, their own sets of grievances and their own history. And it is not ours. They want, as we do, to have a say in their own governance, but that say will include widespread support - especially among Egypt's poor, who make up more than half the country and live on about two dollars a day - for the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic parties. Any real opening of the political system in the Arab world's most populated nation will see an empowering of these Islamic movements. And any attempt to close the system further - say a replacement of Mubarak with another military dictator - will ensure a deeper radicalization in Egypt and the wider Arab world.

The only way opposition to the U.S.-backed regime of Mubarak could be expressed for the past three decades was through Islamic movements, from the Muslim Brotherhood to more radical Islamic groups, some of which embrace violence. And any replacement of Mubarak (which now seems almost certain) while it may initially be dominated by moderate, secular leaders will, once elections are held and popular will is expressed, have an Islamic coloring. A new government, to maintain credibility with the Egyptian population, will have to more actively defy demands from Washington and be more openly antagonistic to Israel. What is happening in Egypt, like what happened in Tunisia, tightens the noose that will - unless Israel and Washington radically change their policies toward the Palestinians and the Muslim world - threaten to strangle the Jewish state as well as dramatically curtail American influence in the Middle East.

Andrew Mikel II admits it was a stupid thing to do. In December, bored and craving attention, the 14-year-old used a plastic tube to blow small plastic pellets at fellow students in Spotsylvania High School. In one lunch period, he scored three hits.

"They flinched. They looked annoyed," Mikel said.

The school district saw it as more than a childish prank. School officials expelled him for possession and use of a weapon, and they called a deputy sheriff to the scene, said Mikel and his father, Andrew Mikel Sr.

The younger Mikel, a freshman, said he was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault. The case was first reported by the Web site WorldNetDaily.

Former teacher Heidemarie Schwermer has lived without money in Germany for 13 years. Our writer finds out how she does it

Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children from the village of Lueneburg to the city of Dortmund, in the Ruhr area of Germany, whose homeless population, she immediately noticed, was above average and striking in its intransigent hopelessness.

Her immediate reaction was shock. "This isn't right, this can't go on," she said to herself. After careful reflection she set up what in Germany is called a Tauschring - a sort of swap shop - a place where people can exchange their skills or possessions for other skills and possessions, a money-free zone where a haircut could be rendered in return for car maintenance; a still-functioning but never-used toaster be exchanged for a couple of second-hand cardigans. She called it Gib und Nimm, Give and Take.

It was always Schwermer's belief that the homeless didn't need money to re-enter society: instead they should be able to empower themselves by making themselves useful, despite debts, destitution or joblessness. "I've always believed that even if you have nothing, you are worth a lot. Everyone has a place in this world."

The International Monetary Fund stands ready to help riot-torn Egypt rebuild its economy, the IMF chief said Tuesday as he warned governments to tackle unemployment and income inequality or risk war.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn also said rising food prices could have "potentially devastating consequences" for poorer nations, and warned that Asia's fast-growing economies faced a risk of a "hard landing".

Overall, according to the IMF managing director, widening imbalances across and within countries were sparking tensions that threaten to derail the fragile global economic recovery -- and could even spark armed conflict.

As Egyptian protesters gathered in their thousands demanding the departure of President Hosni Mubarak, Strauss-Kahn said: "The IMF is ready to help in defining the kind of economic policy that could be put in place."

President Obama, clearly frustrated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's intention to retain his hold on power until elections later this year, said Tuesday evening that he has told Mubarak that a transition to representative government "must begin now."

In brief remarks at the White House, Obama made no mention of Mubarak's announcement that he had decided not to stand for reelection. Instead, Obama said he had told the Egyptian president in a telephone call that this was a "moment of transformation" in Egypt and that "the status quo is not sustainable."

Obama's message appeared carefully calibrated to avoid publicly calling for Mubarak to stand down, while making clear he should stand aside. Administration officials say they are seeking a transitional government, with or without Mubarak as its titular head, formed by representative reform leaders and backed by the Egyptian army that will address legitimate grievances, restore stability and plan for a free election.

Cairo - The Egyptian army called Wednesday for an end to the massive demonstrations that have rocked this city and shaken President Hosni Mubarak's decades-old grip on power, but the sea of protesters showed no sign of dispersing.

With Mubarak promising to step down after elections this fall, military spokesman Ismail Etman said in a state television address that the protesters should focus on "returning normal life to Egypt."

"Your message has arrived, your demands became known," Etman said Wednesday morning. The television station then broadcast a printed message that read: "The armed forces call on the protesters to go home for the sake of bringing back stability."

But large crowds continued to gather in downtown's vast Tahrir Square, and--despite a surge of support for Mubarak at several counter-demonstrations--it seemed unlikely that the army's message would prompt the anti-Mubarak masses to disband.

A mysterious tunnel has been found under a Plymouth primary school's playground.

Engineers unearthed part of the tunnel under Weston Mill Primary School's playground after 'dips' appeared on the surface.

The school is next to Devonport Dockyard so there are already guesses from children and staff at the school as to where it might lead.

An investigation is being launched by Plymouth City Council to find out if the playground is subsiding. Officers are planning to send an expert underground to find out the cause of the dips.

Headteacher Alison Nettleship said the school discovered a dip before Christmas and called out structural engineers who reassured staff that the problem was not widespread.

She said the playground was scanned using 3D imaging before a five feet by eight feet wide hole was opened up by engineers over Christmas and a camera was sent down.

She said: "There are now steps going down the hole into a small open area and a tunnel.

"There is excitement about where the tunnel might lead. Nobody seems to know.