Lover to die for killer kiss

A Chinese woman who killed her lover with a rat poison-laced kiss when she suspected him of being unfaithful has been sentenced to death, a newspaper said Thursday, Reuters reports from Shanghai.

Xia Xinfeng, from Maolou in the central province of Henan, passed a capsule with rat poison from her mouth to her long-time lover, Mao Ansheng, during a kiss, the Shanghai Daily said. Mao swallowed the capsule and died soon afterwards.

Nickelodeon for play time

When its television screens go blank on Saturday, the Nickelodeon cable network is advising its viewers not to fiddle with the buttons, but to go outside and play, AP reports from Los Angeles. After three hours, the children’s network will begin broadcasting at noon.

The effort is a part of its fourth annual worldwide ‘Day of Play’, an initiative to get children outside and play. Later in the day, kids can tune into the network’s ‘Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge’ and compare what they did with other kids whose exercise regimens have been spotlighted on the show.

US trims test questions

As US immigration officials narrowed the list of questions for a new citizenship test, Martin Luther King Jr made the cut, but Patrick Henry did not, AP reports from Washington.

Citizenship and Immigration Services on Thursday released the pool of 100 civics and history questions that could be asked of people wanting to become naturalised Americans. They will begin using the new citizenship test from October 1, 2008. Just as with the current test, applicants will have to answer correctly six of 10 questions asked orally and pass the English proficiency portion of the exam. About 42 civics questions were dropped or revised to reach the final 100.