The mayoral primaries will take place after graduation, making publicity about absentee ballots a must.

The cause of a fire that destroyed a house just off campus Saturday has still not been determined, Philadelphia Fire Department Executive Chief Daniel Williams said yesterday. The fire broke out at about 6:15 a.m. Saturday at 210 S. 41st St. No one was injured, but the flames gutted the building and forced residents to evacuate.

Boosting the highest percentage of international undergraduates in the Ivy League and $7.5 million awarded annually in loans to foreign students, Penn - which also admitted its highest percentage of international students early this cycle - has become one of the most internationally diverse schools in the nation.

PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 31 - Twenty-four hours ago - before their match against Princeton - the Quakers were in both an enviable and precarious position. They were the No. 1 women's squah team in the country with only three matches left. But that meant that if they lost, they'd have only two matches to try to regain the top spot.

Penn Athletics' general-seating policy at last weekend's basketball game against St. Joe's should be a regular promotion.

There are many words you could use to describe Yale's John J. Lee Amphitheater, home of the Elis basketball team. Historic. Cozy. Church-like. If you're a Penn basketball player, you might have some other words to describe it, few of which are suitable to be printed in this newspaper.

It was a different team, with the same result. After being handed a 9-0 decision last weekend against No.1 Trinity, the men's squash team fell in the same manner yesterday evening against No. 3 Princeton. "All the guys are pretty disappointed; they could have come out a little better," head coach Craig Thorpe-Clark said of the match.

Imagine your grandma in military uniform, ready to be sent off to war. Sound strange? That's exactly what the grannies of the Granny Peace Brigade want. Last evening, activist Nina Huizinga spoke to a small - but committed - group of students on behalf of Philadelphia's Granny Peace Brigade organization.

When administrators say the future of academic departments is full of blurs, it's not because their crystal balls are foggy. The blurring, they say, is the result of a budding trend among universities to bridge traditionally divided fields by creating interdisciplinary programs.

The Princeton basketball team has pulled off an amazing statistical feat: they are first in the country in scoring defense and last in scoring offense. Despite their 9-7 record, I believe Joe Scott is doing his team a disservice with his coaching scheme. When Scott came to Princeton three years ago, he restored the Princeton offense to its unadulterated form.

A second-year male Penn Law student was arrested today after he fired 13-15 shots into the door of his downstairs neighbors' apartment at 4339 Pine Street, Lt. John Walker of the Philadelphia Police said. The Penn student - whose name will not be released until he is arraigned - is being charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, burglary and other related charges.

The current University review of Penn's hiring and admissions practices will likely result in all faculty, students and staff being mandated to self-disclose any prior convictions, and more-stringent background checks are also in the works, officials said this week.

By helen yoon Staff Writer wonhee@sas.upenn.edu The School of Nursing is getting a head start on its spring cleaning. Nursing faculty and staff have begun clearing out their offices in preparation for this summer's planned renovations to the Nursing Education Building.

Theft Jan. 26 - Two students reported that items, value undetermined, had been stolen from Meyerson Hall. Jan. 26 - Nicole Clark, 28 and Erma Williams, 26, both unaffiliated with the University, were arrested for theft after store employees at Urban Outfitters, located at 110 S.

Bill Gates's introduction of the new Windows Vista operating system Monday - which included dancers clad in Microsoft colors - pulled out all the stops. But it's the release of Microsoft Office 2007 that has Penn officials all abuzz. The newest version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite went on sale yesterday and will require an overhaul of some of Wharton's Operations and Information Management curriculum, OPIM professor Thomas Lee said.

Not everyone was happy to see Jack Bauer freed from a Chinese prison. In this season of Fox's hit show 24, Arab Muslims are portrayed as terrorists for the second time in three years - a characterization that has incensed Muslim-rights groups here on campus and across the country.

The Penn men's squash team knows not to let a shutout get to them - especially at the hands of a team with a 156-match winning streak. The Quakers have not hit many bumps this season, accruing a record of 7-1. But even after a shutout at the hands of No. 1 Trinity, high expectations are set for Penn's rivalry match against No.