WORLD DIGEST || Betty White reveals political preference

Betty White reveals political preference

WASHINGTON

Betty White says she usually keeps her political views private but in this presidential election, she strongly favors one candidate.

As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo next week, White told The Associated Press she “very, very much favors” President Barack Obama in the election.

The 90-year-old actress said Friday she is very bipartisan and has stayed away from politics all of her life. She usually never says who she is for or against because she doesn’t want to turn off any of her adoring fans.

White says in this year’s election, she likes what Obama has done and “how he represents us.”

Her comments come after Hollywood turned out at George Clooney’s home to raise $15 million for Obama’s re-election, a record for a single fundraiser.

3 Boston University students killed

BOSTON

Boston University says the deaths of three students in a minivan crash in New Zealand are an “unprecedented tragedy,” the worst to hit its study-abroad program since it began in the 1980s.

At least five other students were injured in the Saturday morning accident, which police say happened near the North Island vacation town of Taupo when the van drifted to the side of the road and then rolled over.

Study-abroad program executive director Bernd Widdig says the university is supporting the students and helping parents who are traveling to New Zealand.

The university says those killed in the accident were Daniela Lekhno, of Manalapan, N.J.; Austin Brashears, of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and Roch Jauberty, whose parents live in Paris.

The New Zealand program involves courses at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology.

Sweethearts to wed after 60 years

DYERSBURG, Tenn.

Two residents of a Tennessee assisted-living center plan to marry today, more than 60 years after they first met.

The State Gazette reports that Peggy Schuster and the Rev. Henry Freund were college sweethearts in the early 1950s.

Freund said the couple often sat together in class at Rhodes College in Memphis (then Southwestern) and frequently dated. But they eventually went their separate ways and married other people.

While attending a church meeting in Memphis in 2001, Freund learned that Schuster had been widowed.

Freund, who had lost his wife, wrote his college sweetheart to offer sympathy. A decade later, Schuster gave Freund her email address and the couple, both in their 80s, began corresponding.

Freund said a spark that had survived for more than 60 years “burst into flames.”

Associated Press