The leaders of the tightly knit Jewish community have formed the policy with the principals of the area's 43 Jewish private schools. The policy says any student with home access faces suspension or expulsion because even one Internet-corrupted student could sway others, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, who has long discussed the dangers of the Web, said children are not mature enough to use the Internet and are susceptible to sites sexual in nature.

"Kids can become addicted to the point where it's almost like a drug addiction or an alcoholic addiction," he said. "Even though there might be some value -- research, schoolwork -- the negatives so far outweigh the positives."

The Marines were on a foot patrol Thursday when a device fashioned from several artillery shells exploded. The deaths bring the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq to 2,123, CNN reported.

The Marines had been taking part in Operation Shank, aimed at clearing insurgents from central Iraq before the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.

The unconfirmed report claimed that the explosions occurred while coalition forces surrounded the house in which al-Zarqawi was hiding. American and Iraqi forces are looking into the report. (Jerusalem Post)
 

Pakistan nonetheless hailed the conference as a success, with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf thanking the nearly 80 attending nations and international agencies for "helping Pakistan in this hour of need." He said the gesture "will never be forgotten."

The $3.4 billion in new pledges raises the total aid pledge to $5.8 billion — slightly more than the government said it needed to rebuild from the quake.