Of Human Interest: News-lite

HARRY POTHEAD

Officials at St. James Palace confirm a tabloid newspaper report that 17-year-old Prince Harry was sent off to a rehab clinic for a day after he admitted smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol.

The BBC quotes a spokesman saying the stern action by Prince Charles, Harry's father, resolved the matter and that the young prince hasn't indulged since.

The News of the World newspaper reported Harry had smoked pot on the grounds of his Highgrove home during parties he threw and had imbibed as a local pub. The behavior is said to have taken place last summer, when Harry was 16, while his father and his older brother, William, were both away.

A member of the estate's staff turned Harry in to his father.

A spokesman for the Featherstone Lodge Rehabilitation Center in Peckham, south London, said Harry came for a couple of hours and talked to several people in recovery.

MONKEY BUSINESS

Thousands of people across India are flocking to Hindu temples to see a baby who is said to resemble the monkey-faced god Hanuman.

The 11-month-old boy with a 4-inch tail has been named Bajrangbali, another name for Hanuman.

Iqbal Qureshi, the child's maternal grandfather, who lives in Kharar town just outside Chandigarh in northern Punjab state, is taking Bajrangbali from temple to temple, where people offer money to pay their obeisance. He told journalists that his grandson was the Hindu deity's reincarnation.

Women and children have been offering money and bowing before the baby to pay their respect.

Hindus believe in miracles and reincarnation and Hanuman is among the most popular of Hinduism's more than 1,000 gods and goddesses.

ANIMAL STORY

Officials at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., are trying to figure out how one of their female bonnethead sharks managed to give birth when none of them have had any contact with any male of their species for more than three years.

"It was a big surprise," zoo director Lee Simmons said. "When we solve it, the mystery, it's going to make a very, very interesting scientific paper."

Simmons said the sharks were just babies, about 6 months old, when they were captured. He said the only possible explanation he can think of for the mysterious birth is that somehow one of the females retained sperm in her reproductive organs until she was mature enough to reproduce. "It (sperm retention) is a long shot but statistically probable," he said. "Next would be a virgin birth."

The perfectly formed bonnethead pup was born earlier this month and lived for about five hours.

Simmons said though no male bonnethead has been in the Scott Aquarium shark tank, some much smaller, egg-laying epaulette sharks did bunk with the bonnetheads for a time. "Genetically, there's a huge distance between them -- we think anyway," he said.

The zoo had planned to introduce a male bonnethead into the tank within the next couple of weeks. Ultrasounds have since been performed on the three females, and none is currently pregnant.

REASONS TO CELEBRATE THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: Today through Jan. 19 is Man Watchers Week. (Web site: manwatchers.com)

This is National Clean-Off-Your-Desk Day. It's also National Thank God It's Monday Day.

Japan celebrates Coming-Of-Age Day today.

And it's Army Day in Uzbekistan.

TUESDAY: This is Humanitarian Day, celebrated on the anniversary of the birth of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

And today through Jan. 19 is National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week.

WEDNESDAY: This is Just Do It Day -- Make The Connection. It's a day to plan a vacation or journey with a new travel companion rather than travel solo. (Web site: joylinks.com)

It's National Nothing Day, a day on which nothing is observed, celebrated or honored.

Today is Religious Freedom Day, by presidential proclamation.

This is Haru-No-Yabuiri in Japan today. Employees who worked over the holidays are given the day off.

And Malawi celebrates John Chilembwe Day in honor of the man who led an uprising against the British in 1915.

THURSDAY: Today is Get To Know Your Customer Day. (Web site: hyken.com)

This is also Judgment Day. (Web site: wellcat.com)

And Poland celebrates Liberation Day, the anniversary of Warsaw's liberation from the Nazis in 1945.

FRIDAY: Today through Jan. 25 is the Week of Christian Unity.

This is Arbor Day in Florida. It's also Lee-Jackson Day in Virginia, commemorating the January birthdays of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson.

And today is Pooh Day, celebrated on the anniversary of the birth, in 1882, of author A.A. Milne.

(Thanks to Chase's 2001 Calendar of Events)

BY THE WAY...

Who is credited with introducing Laurel and Hardy to film audiences?

Filmmaker Hal Roach, born on this date in 1892.