Of Human Interest: News-lite

FLOWER POWER

A teenage Latvian girl faces 15 years in prison if she's convicted of assaulting Prince Charles with a red carnation.

The BBC reports that Alina Lebedeva, 16, a senior high school student from Daugavpils in eastern Latvia, tried to swat the British royal in the face with the flower as he mingled with crowds in the capital city of Riga. She was protesting proposed Latvian inclusion in NATO, the Afghanistan war and the British as "world enemies."

The Latvian president's bodyguards immediately detained the girl and took her to the police.

Charles was uninjured and reportedly reacted to the incident "with understanding."

MR. MAYOR

Abdul Haidous says he's proud of his first name -- he just didn't put it on the ballot.

Haidous, who appeared as A. Haidous on Tuesday's ballot, won the mayoral election in the Detroit suburb of Wayne, Mich.

"I'm proud of my Arabic name and I'm proud of my American name," Haidous, 57, told the Detroit Free Press. "I didn't want to confuse voters."

The mayoral election was the first ever decided directly by voters in this community of 20,000. In the past, the City Council has elected the part-time mayor. Haidous won 54 percent of the vote.

Haidous immigrated from southern Lebanon in 1959. He is married with five children and owns Al's Friendly Market.

INDIANA FAMILY HIT WITH DOUBLE WHAMMY

It's bad enough to be burned out of your residence, but what Leroy and Jennie Bruce went through is something for the record books.

Police in Boonville, Ind., say the couple recently lost everything they owned when their house trailer was gutted by fire. Friends and neighbors, with the help of the local media, managed to get enough donations to replace their household belongings with new merchandise, which they placed in a brand new trailer -- also bought with contributions.

But someone stole that new trailer, contents and all, according to the Warrick County Sheriff's Department. The family is now staying in a home provided by an area church.

(Thanks to UPI Feature Reporter Dennis Daily)

A VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH

The president of a Michigan college has reversed the decision of residence hall employees who ordered students to remove the American flag and other patriotic images from the door of their dorm room on the grounds that they might be "offensive" to others.

In a letter to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Michael Rao, president of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich., wrote: "I value everything the American flag stands for. To request its removal from anyplace on our campus would violate my personal standards and the values of the university."

According to FIRE, the collage the four roommates -- Don Pasco, Jeff Cech, Adam Trumble and Nick Dear --- put on their door included a U.S. flag, various pictures and articles relating to the war on terrorism, and a picture of the Statue of Liberty "giving terrorists the finger."

But dorm employees told them to take the display down because it was "offensive" to some students.

An article on the incident appeared in the campus newspaper.

Said Rao: "The university's removal of any items considered offensive or vulgar by some is not condoned. The university is taking steps to assure students in the residence halls that their right to post materials and express opinion on their room doors is protected."

REASONS TO CELEBRATE THIS WEEKEND:

FRIDAY: Cambodia celebrates its Independence Day today. The nation achieved independence from France in 1949.

SATURDAY: Happy birthday to the Marines. It was on this date in 1775 that the U.S. Marine Corps was established. Originally part of the Navy, the Marines became a separate unit in 1789.

SUNDAY: This is Veterans Day, also known as Armistice Day.

In Canada, it's Remembrance Day.

Today through Nov. 17 is American Education Week, by presidential proclamation. It's also FamilyCares Week, National E-Commerce Week, National Geography Awareness Week, Perioperative (OR) Room Nurse Week and Random Acts of Kindness Week.

This is Vox Populi Day, from the Latin term for "People's Voice." Today's a day to make your voice count.

Angola and Poland both celebrate their Independence Day today.

This is Concordia Day in the French West Indies.

And Tunisia's national agriculture festival, known as the Tree Festival, is today.

MONDAY: Today through Nov. 18 is National Children's Book Week and Shallow Persons Awareness Week.

And members of the Baha'i faith celebrate the anniversary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah, the religion's prophet-founder, in 1817.

(Thanks to Chase's 2001 Calendar of Events)

BY THE WAY...

In 1973, Spiro Agnew became the second U.S. vice president to resign. Who was the first?

John Calhoun, in 1832.