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Priests sign 1.4M pounds record deal

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:05:00 +0530

Three middle-aged Irishmen who called themselves the Priests, and signed a 1.4million pounds record deal, released their self-titled debut album in Britain two weeks ago.

The album by Eugene O''Hagan, his younger brother Martin, and their long-time friend David Delargy has entered the charts at No5, and it was released in Australia this week.

O''Hagan, who runs his parish of Ballyclare and Ballygowan in Northern Ireland, is very humble with the prospect of landing at the top of the British album charts.

“If that happens it will be another little miracle,” the Australian quoted him as saying.

“We''ll live with it if we are and we''ll live it if we''re not. We''ll just be happy if people enjoy the record.

“It''s a bit unusual and unexpected,” O''Hagan said of their sudden fame.

“It''s exciting and bewildering, too. It''s not something we do every day of our lives but we''re getting used to it,” he added. (ANI)

Parents sue school over cheerleaders’ nude photo suspension row

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 07:05:00 +0530

Parents of cheerleaders from two Seattle-area high school have launched a legal attack against the district for suspending the girls from the squad after nude photographs of them circulated via text message.

According to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the families of two minor girls are suing Northshore School District for suspending them, and insist that the district violated girls'' due process rights.

In the lawsuit filed on November 17, the families allege it was unnecessary for school officials to share the photos with other staff members, and claim they were negligent in failing to report the matter to police as a potential case of child pornography.

Matthew King, the attorney representing the families claims that it was unfair to punish the cheerleaders but not the other students who received or forwarded the photos.

"We''re not technically challenging the sanctions as being too strict, we''re saying they weren''t evenly enforced across the school," Fox News quoted King as saying.

"There should have been some punishment meted out to those who were in possession of the photos. ... It seems like the girls are getting the brunt of it," he added.

King said he wants the disciplinary action expunged from the girls'' school records, the suspensions waved and an apology issued by the school.

However, Northshore School District attorney Mike Patterson dubbed the legal action “frivolous."

"It should never have gone to court and they (the families suing) should recognize that what happened here was created by their own doing," he said.

One of the pictures was taken three years ago and sent to the teen''s then-boyfriend. The other was snapped in June.

The lawsuits allege that the girls believed they had deleted the photos, but accidentally sent them to members of the football team. (ANI)

Emirates Airbus A380 ‘too quiet’ to allow sleep to pilots!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:47:00 +0530

Emirates Airbus A380 pilots are finding it difficult to sleep during rest breaks in the crew rest area – because the aircraft is “too quiet”.

The pilots are complaining that they cannot sleep in the crew-rest area in the rear of the main deck for they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers.

The lack of engine noise in the A380''s cabin compared with other long-haul airliners means they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers, such as crying babies, flushing vacuum toilets and call bells.

Sometimes, passengers also mistake the rest area for a lavatory, and pull the door handle.

Emirates senior vice-president, fleet, Capt Ed Davidson said that the have has asked Airbus for a solution. They have ruled out insulating the walls of the rest area, situated at the rear of the all-economy main deck.

"We are expecting to hear back from them by the middle of the month," Flightinternational.com quoted Davidson as saying.

He said that one option could be installing lightweight generators to create ambient noise.

"We''re getting a lot of complaints. It''s not something we expected.

"On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs but the cabin noise goes straight through them," he added. (ANI)

Gordon Ramsay''s alleged mistress Sarah Symonds sacked for being too indiscreet

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:46:00 +0530

Brit chef Gordon Ramsay''s alleged mistress Sarah Symonds has reportedly been sacked from her job for having been too indiscreet about her affair with him.

Symonds was working as the spokesperson for Ashley Madison Agency, an infidelity website specialising in hooking married people up behind their partner''s backs, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But, according to entertainment website TMZ.com, the 38-year-old was recently fired allegedly because she was not discreet enough.

Symonds came into the spotlight after she made claims of a seven-year affair with Ramsay, and is currently at her family home in Newport, Gwent, to escape the furore over her kiss and tell allegations. (ANI)

STD without operator’s help completes 50 years today

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:46:00 +0530

On December 5, 1958, the Queen made the first long-distance phone call without the help of an operator, making today the 50th birth anniversary of Subscriber Trunk Dialling or STD.

The Queen made the first STD call from the central telephone exchange in Bristol to the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and began by saying: "This is the Queen speaking from Bristol. Good afternoon, my Lord Provost,” reports The Telegraph.

And now, to commemorate the golden anniversary of STD, some of the original engineers are returning to the exchange to re-enact the call with Richard Pyle, deputy Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, who was a telecoms engineer at the time of the first call.

But this, time the engineers would not be using a traditional dial phone as used by the Queen, but instead they’ll use video-conferencing technology to see, as well as talk to, Edinburgh.

Brian Fox, a fresh faced engineer who had only finished his apprenticeship three months before, has revealed that he stood only a feet away from the Queen when she made that historic call.

He said: "It was one of the most important days ever in telecommunications history and a huge amount of work went into making sure the day went without a hitch. The walkway from Telephone Avenue was tented and full of flowers and a powder room for the Queen was hastily provided in a converted control room.

"We stood between rows of equipment as close as we could get and watched Her Majesty dial the number. When it was all over and the Queen was leaving the Duke of Edinburgh remarked, ''you can relax now chaps, it all works''!"

The Queen’s call is considered a major milestone in the history of communications.

While STD allowed Bristol customers for the first time to dial many other parts of the UK without an operator, International subscriber dialling or ISD was introduced in March 1963, when London subscribers were able to dial Paris numbers directly. (ANI)

Consumers don''t go by the hype surrounding a gadget

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:38:00 +0530

No matter how much hype surrounds a gadget, consumers’ opinions of the device would not be affected by the claims made by its creators, reveals an Aussie survey.

The survey conducted by PC Authority magazine involved 20,000 customers and ranked several hyped items last for reliability and service.

The survey, which lasted for a year named Sony mp3 Walkmans as the best music players, followed by iRiver and Samsung units.

However, despite all the hoopla surrounding Apple''s iPod range, it did not feature in the top three consumer favourites.

Apple had launched a massive marketing campaign promoting the 4th generation iPod nano, but still Sony''s mp3 players, with forgettable names such as "NWZE436FR", were favoured for their cheaper prices.

PC Authority editor Zara Baxter said the latest iPods were rated highly for reliability, but consumers were cunning enough to realise that other music players could do the same job for less money.

In fact, Apple''s much-hyped iPhone also missed out on the best Smartphone/PDA award, which was in turn given to Asus, followed by the BlackBerry the runner-up.

However, Apple was applauded for its MacBook laptop and PC range, with consumers happy with customer support and reliability.

Nikon won the award for best digital cameras, followed by Panasonic and Canon.

The best internet service provider award went to the relatively unknown Westnet, followed by Internode. (ANI)

Four Japanese cities in World’s top 5 most expensive spots for foreigners

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:36:00 +0530

Japanese cities have claimed four of the top five places on a list of the most expensive parts of the world for foreigners to live owing to the global financial insecurity.

The most expensive city in the world for foreigners was Luanda in Angola, which came as a surprise for many, but the top spot came in the wake of the rarity of expatriate products leading to high cost of living.

The list was compiled by ECA International, which consults companies on international assignments.

But, it was Japan that dominated the top end of the poll, with the capital Tokyo named the second most expensive place followed closely by the Japanese cities Yokohama, Nagoya and Kobe.

While none of the Japanese cities featured in the top ten last year, their promotion to the upper ranks of the league table reflect a strengthened yen in Japan that has resulted in a sharp increase in living expenses.

Japan''s status as one of the most expensive countries was due to the fluctuating exchange rates.

But, quite unexpected was London plummeting to 72nd place, after it stood at the 10th place in the same poll last year. The financial crisis has made London cheaper than dozens of cities including Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and Brussels. Last year London came 10th.

For the study, the researchers compared the costs of 125 consumer goods and services commonly purchased by expatriates in 370 locations around the world.

The goods and services covered in the survey ranged from groceries and electrical goods to clothing and motoring expenses.

Moscow emerged as Europe''s most expensive city for foreigners to reside, while Manhattan has stepped up from 54th place last year to 21st place due to currency fluctuations.

On the other hand, Islamabad emerged as the cheapest location in Asia, with goods and services costing around 70 per cent less than in Japan.

"Global economic events mean that throughout the world exchange rates are fluctuating and, in many cases, dramatically," The Telegraph quoted Lee Quane, general manager Asia at ECA International, as saying.

He added: "Depending on their salary calculation methodology, many companies will have to pay particularly close attention to these movements in order to apply appropriate cost of living indices to the remuneration packages of their international assignees." (ANI)

Most journalists jailed worldwide are bloggers

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:34:00 +0530

In what projects blogging as a dangerous business, an annual "prison census" survey suggests that most of the journalists jailed worldwide are associated with the Internet medium.

The survey report, compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), shows that about 45 per cent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors.

"Online journalism has changed the media landscape and the way we communicate with each other. But the power and influence of this new generation of online journalists has captured the attention of repressive governments around the world, and they have accelerated their counterattack," the Washington Times quoted CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon as saying.

He deduced from the survey’s findings that the carefree existence of bloggers might be a myth, at least in some parts of the world.

"The image of the solitary blogger working at home in pajamas may be appealing, but when the knock comes on the door they are alone and vulnerable,” he said.

The report suggests that 125 journalists were behind bars in 29 countries as of December 1, and 56 percent of them were bloggers or work online.

The new finding is surprising because only one blogger was jailed a decade ago.

The second largest category of those jailed this year comprised of print reporters, editors and photographers, with 53 per cent incarceration rate.

The rest was constituted by TV and radio journalists and documentary filmmakers.

“All of us must stand up for their rights — from Internet companies to journalists and press freedom groups. The future of journalism is online and we are now in a battle with the enemies of press freedom who are using imprisonment to define the limits of public discourse," Simon said.

The survey has revealed that about 60 per cent of such journalists have been charged with "subversion, divulging state secrets, and acting against national interests," though 13 per cent are being jailed with no formal charges.

The report said that at least 16 journalists worldwide were being held in secret locations.

China, Cuba and Burma were the countries with most jailed journalists, followed by Eritrea and Uzbekistan.

"The United States, which is holding photographer Ibrahim Jassam without charge in Iraq, has made CPJs list of countries jailing journalists for the fifth consecutive year," the survey stated.

"During this period, U.S. military authorities have jailed dozens of journalists in Iraq — some for days, others for months at a time — without charge or due process. No charges have ever been substantiated in these cases," it added. (ANI)

India should not increase the area of conflict: Pak UN Ambassador

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:34:00 +0530

Pakistan’s Ambassador to United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon has urged India not to widen the area of conflict between the two nations.

In a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Haroon hassuggested that US Secretary of State should be dispatched to the region to ease tension in the subcontinent which developed after the Mumbai terror attacks.

Ban-Ki-Moon has “no specific response” to a recent letter sent by Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon on last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai,said spokesperson to the UN Secretary-General Michele Montas.

“It is a general letter addressed to the Secretary-General and to all member states,” Montas told reporters in a press briefing.

“No action was required in the letter,” she added.

The Pakistan Ambassador, in his letter last week, urged the international community to play its role in averting a conflict in South Asia.(ANI)

Santa Claus’ and elves get health safety lessons to tackle Christmas strain

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:32:00 +0530

With the Christmas season going on full swing, the one concern environmental health experts have on their mind is the health safety of Santa Claus’ and elves working at the stores.

Taking into consideration the huge number of kids that they would have to balance on their knees, the experts decided to hold training courses for store Santas so that they do not have backaches sitting in the grottos.

The dozens of lessons, which are being staged by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, are for one day only, and they include lessons on how to adopt the correct posture while sitting on their chairs with the children on their knees.

Added to their sitting posture was the lesson on how to lift heavy presents without causing any injury to themselves, and the lessons also serve as a warning to the Santas that they could get injured on the job.

“Of course there’s only one Santa — but hundreds of stand-ins work in stores in the run-up to Christmas,” the Sun quoted a spokeswoman as saying. (ANI)