Suspenders for PisaPISA: The Leaning tower should be wearing its supporting suspenders by October, experts said, but it is too early to say when it will be safe to climb the monument. Trying to keep the 12th century, 55-meter-high tower from leaning further, experts have girdled the monument in steel. Now preliminary work to attach a pair of steel braces to help straighten the tower has just begun, and the suspenders should be in place by the end of October. Once the 103-meter-long cables are stretched from the tower to anchors behind buildings on the north side of the tower square, excavation under the monument can begin as part of another plan to shift the tower by digging in the subsoil. The tower was closed to tourists in 1990, fearing it might topple over. It leans some four meters off the perpendicular to its South side.Czar's final journeyMOSCOW: The funeral procession for Russia's last czar, his family, and servants will begin at the police morgue in central city, where theirremains have been kept under a plastic dome for much of the past seven years. The modest procession will set out from the Yekaterinburg forensic medicine bureau on July 15. It will head for the church of the Ascension, built on the site of the house where Czar Nicholas II and his family were kept captive and then shot by Bolsheviks in July 1918. The funeral will be in the Peter and Paul cathedral, the traditional burial site of Romanov czars. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian orthodox church have said they will not attend. The church says it continues to doubt the identity of the remains, which have undergone sophisticated forensic tests in Russia, Britain, and the United States. The remains, were found in a pit in the Ural mountains at Yekaterinburg in 1991, and have been identified as those of Nicholas, his wife, three children, and four servants.Lennon's artSANTA ANA: Yoko Ono says she's simply paying a karmic debt by promoting the art work of John Lennon.Ono has created a touring exhibition of her late husband's drawings. "He used to promote my work like crazy, and now I can do the same for him," she said. "I think this is cosmically right in a way, that it's my turn now to be there for him." The exhibit consists of more than 100 pieces, including self-portraits. Some critics describe the work as mere doodling. But Lennon's work has remained popular with his fans. Paul Jillson, director of the tour, said he expects 12,000 people to see the show this week at Laguna hills mall.Sneaking for toiletsDETROIT: Americans are heading to Canada to sneak around US regulations and pick up high-capacity toilets. A US conservation law that took effect in 1994 limited toilets to 6 litres a flush. The older toilets allowed 13 litres. Plumbing suppliers in Windsor, Ontario, just across the border from Detroit, report they are increasingly see customers from Michigan. Some buy up to four toilets for remodeling projects or new homes. The toilets are availableduty-free in Canada because of the North American Trade Agreement.
