News In Brief

May 22, 2001

IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO

"A lot of people have been calling us fools," Adesoji Babalola said. And why would that be? Because the Nigerian Navy officer and his fiancee, Ayakpo Okosisi, found $87,000 at the scene of an armored car accident near Ibadan, the nation's second-largest city - and didn't keep it for themselves, even though they currently can't afford a church wedding. Instead, they returned the cash to an Ibadan bank. "Once it was not ours, it would have been immoral to take it away," Babalola told reporters. Happily for the couple, a reward is being offered by a rival bank whose money wasn't involved but that was impressed with their honesty.

Italian entry wins top honors at the Cannes Film Festival

Director Nanni Moretti won the Cannes festival's prestigious Palme d'Or award for "The Son's Room," about a family torn by the death of a son. It marked the first time since 1978 that an Italian film has won the award at Europe's premier movie competition. Selected awards:

Palme d'Or: "The Son's Room" Nanni Moretti (Italy)

Grand Prize: "The Piano Teacher," director Michael Haneke (Austria)

Best Director: Joel Coen, "The Man Who Wasn't There"; David Lynch, "Mulholland Drive" (US)

Best Actor: Benoit Magimel, "The Piano Teacher" (France)

Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert, "The Piano Teacher"

Screenplay: "No Man's Land," Danis Tanovic (Bosnia)

Technical Contribution (Sound): "What Time is it Over There?" and "Millenium Mambo," Tu Duu-Chih (Taiwan)

- Reuters

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor