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Eco urges vote against Berlusconi
Semiologist Umberto Eco has appealed to Italians to vote against media magnate Silvio Berlusconi in Sunday's general elections. In the online magazine ,  Eco declares that the vote will be "a moral referendum against the establishment of a de facto regime, against the ideology of showbusiness, and to safeguard plurality of information in our country".

Princeton gets first female president
Princeton University trustees have chosen the Ivy League institution's first woman president. Shirley Tilghman, a senior molecular biology professor and a member of the university¡¯s faculty for the past 15 years, will take over from Harold Shapiro in June.

ExxonMobil gives $6.9m to US institutions
The ExxonMobil Foundation has given more than $6.9 million in unrestricted grants to 224 colleges and universities in Louisiana, New York, Texas and Virginia to match educational gifts made in 2000 by the company¡¯s employees.