August 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 am
Did you hear about the 8 year old Brazilian boy who’d always dreamed of becoming a judge? He just passed a law school entrance exam!
The news shocked Brazil’s legal profession and has prompted a federal investigation!
The Universidade Paulista, a multi-campus private university, issued a statement acknowledging that Joao Victor Portellinha de Oliveira had passed the entrance exam and that it initially enrolled him. But he was turned away from classes when he showed up with his father.
The University now claims that the fifth grader must graduate from high school before they’ll accept him into the university program. A university employee erred when they accepted Oliveira’s enrollment and said that the University fees would be returned to the family.
“I think they should have been more considerate,” the boy’s mother, Maristela, told the UOL news website. “At least they could’ve allowed him to visit the college’s facilities.”
The Brazilian Bar Association said the boy’s achievement should be a warning about the low standards of some of the country’s law schools.
Oliveira is two grade levels ahead of normal for his age, but his mother says he’s not a cloistered genius.
“He is a regular boy,” she told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. “He is very dedicated, likes to read and study, but he has fun and makes friends.”
November 30th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
An Indonesian businessman is complaining that polygamy is not so easy. The businessman’s attempt to make polygamy easier was rejected by the Indonesian constitutional court earlier this year.
Polygamy is legal in Indonesia but according to the countries marriage laws the only way that a man can take a second wife is to have it approved in court. To obtain approval the first wife must agree and either must be disabled or be unable to have children.
The businessman’s attempt to change the policy on Polygamy involved arguing that the conditions listed above effectively prevent polygamy and have caused many men to simply avoid registering their second marriages. Which of course means that children from these unregistered marriages could lose their inheritance rights and other benefits.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
How would you like to have been one of the custom officials opening up a package that had come from Hong Kong that had been marked “personal clothing” only to find about 300 live scorpions and spiders!
The scorpions and spiders had been packed in nets, bottles and transparent plastic boxes and were concealed under clothing and newspapers within the package. Tarantulas were also included in the spider tally.
“The scorpions almost bit the examiner,” Nelson Ebio, a port collector at the Central Mail Exchange Center, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It was the first time the post office had encountered such poisonous mail, he said.
The package had arrived from Hong Kong on a Monday, but it wasn’t clear who had sent the package or why although it’s been speculated that the package was intended for someone who collects these types of invertebrates and insects. My guess, having been involved in reptile keeping, is more along the lines that these creatures were being smuggled into the country illegally for the pet trade.
The spiders and scorpions have been handed over to Manila parks and wildlife officials.
The spiders and scorpions were later handed over to the parks and wildlife office.
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