Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field bowed to weeks of intense criticism and pressure, announcing at services across Dublin that they planned to quit their posts as auxiliaries in the archdiocese.

They are the latest senior clerics to stand down after Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin James Moriarty and Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray resigned over the damning Murphy report.

It exposed the Catholic hierarchy's shocking inaction and cover-up of paedophile priests over decades. ( Read more... )
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Hundreds of stores will be opening on Christmas Day this year, with supermarket chains saying more customers than ever are treating it as just another shopping day.

Budgens, Sainsbury's, Safeway, Woolworths and ( Read more... )
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The Rev. Ciro Benedettini said the 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt. As the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar gasps rang out through the public and a commotion could be seen among the clergymen surrounding Benedict. The procession came to a halt and bodyguards rushed to the trouble spot.

Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also ( Read more... )
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In Lanzarote, one disabled sportsman is preparing for a special event of his own, one that proves that disability isn?t a barrier to incredible sporting achievement. Later this month, Geoff Holt, 43, will set sail in a wheelchair-accessible 60ft catamaran on a hazardous solo voyage across the Atlantic.

?The 2,700 mile journey will take me up to a month to complete, across some of the most hostile waters in the world,? he says. ?In completing this challenge, I will become ( Read more... )
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In a series of experiments, researchers observed the insects climbing a ladder while a high speed camera caught every stumble and missed step.

The locusts' task was made more difficult by having one eye painted over, or having their antennae or front leg sensors removed.

The scientists also watched what happened when a rung of the ladder was removed mid-step.

They discovered that, rather than "feeling" their way, the insects relied on vision to pinpoint ( Read more... )
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Medvedev said that Russia and the United States were close to a landmark deal on cutting arsenals of Cold War nuclear weapons, but that Moscow would still push ahead with the development of new strategic offensive weapons.

"Of course, we will develop new systems, including delivery systems, that is, missiles," Medvedev told the directors of Russia's three main state-controlled television channels.

Medvedev said Washington and Moscow had agreed most ( Read more... )
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Hundreds of people will be waxing their sticks on the beaches of north Cornwall and Devon, where 8ft waves are expected to start rolling in off the Atlantic around the 25th, according to David Foster of the British Surfing Association. An area of low pressure in the Atlantic and the high hovering over the UK will give light offshore winds and near perfect conditions. "Christmas Day has become a bit of a tradition in recent years," said Mr Foster. "A lot of people like to go and work off the ( Read more... )
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Tristram Jellinek combined the dual careers of actor and antique dealer with aplomb and in both professions he made his own distinctive mark. As a character actor who gave many a sharply etched cameo, he was a familiar face in feature films and on television. As an antique dealer, he achieved a reputation for having a keen eye for a bargain, backed by a very personal taste. To both careers he brought an attitude of fine critical discernment combined with fastidious application.

When Jellinek ( Read more... )
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The 60-39 vote on a cold winter morning capped months of arduous negotiations and 24 days of floor debate. It also followed a succession of failures by past congresses to get to this point.

Vice President Joe Biden presided as 58 Democrats and two independents voted "yes." Republicans unanimously voted "no."

The tally far exceeded the simple majority required for passage, but clearly showed the philosophical split between Democrats and Republicans ( Read more... )
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But no one is celebrating today.

Just hours after the soldier was buried as a hero in the southern state of Tabasco, with a televised ceremony that featured a grateful Navy Secretary presenting the dead man's mother with the flag that had lain on his coffin, gunmen burst into the family home and opened fire. The latest victims of this savage conflict: the marine's mother, sister and aunt. His brother died on the way to hospital.

Thus Mexico enters the festive season more fearful than ( Read more... )
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Steve Llewellyn was one of the greatest of the rugby league players who have adorned St Helens' wings over the years. There are only three players ? Tom Van Vollenhoven, Les Jones and Alf Ellerby ? who have scored more than his ( Read more... )
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Lavish weddings are nothing new. Ever since Grace Kelly glided down the aisle in 25 yards of silk taffeta to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, these glittering events have fascinated and appalled us in equal measure - but now we are following their example. British couples lavish an average of £16,000 on their "Perfect Day" - a 50 per cent increase since 1998. More women than ever are leaving reality behind to squeeze their 6ft-long trains into Cinderella carriages to live ( Read more... )
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The hostages' ordeal ended when police who had surrounded the post office in Wytheville ordered the suspect to let the hostages go and come out with his hands up.

Soon after, four people, including a man in a wheelchair, left the building.

State police Sgt Michael Conroy said the disabled man was the suspected gunman.

Earlier, police said the man holding the hostages had entered the building pushing a wheelchair.

Shots ( Read more... )
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The family have held the title of Vizier since circa 1818; collectors of manuscript books, recorders of the history of the Sokoto caliphate, authors of poems and literary prose-works, the viziers have sustained for nearly two centuries the tradition of high scholarship in classical Arabic.

It is for his works of historical scholarship that the wider world will remember Alhaji Junaidu. His subject was the Sokoto caliphate, a 19th- century Islamic reformist state which was the largest in pre-colonial ( Read more... )
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The airline's management filed a petition in London's Companies Court for E-Clear's winding up last Wednesday, hours before Globespan entered voluntary liquidation.

Globespan was believed to be owed more than £34m by E-Clear when the airline collapsed. Around £14m was being held by E-Clear for tickets that had yet to be used by Globespan customers, while confusion remains as to why an extra £20m was held by the credit card aggregation company.

A provisional date of 10 February 2010 ( Read more... )
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At that moment he ceased being the designated successor to the Iranian ruler Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and instead became persona non grata with the revolutionary regime.

The relationship between the two had been particularly close: Montazeri had been the pupil of Khomeini, who had fondly described him as "the fruit of my life." But after Khomeini took charge of the new Islamic republic he found to his dismay and displeasure that Montazeri was not in the business ( Read more... )
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Are you ready for the next Olympic Games? British Airways is. BA is the official airline partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and, to celebrate, the airline has launched a search for excellence called Great Britons, offering flights to make the winners? dreams come true. Great Britons winners are being chosen regularly up until the 2012 Games.

The competition is open to every UK resident aged 16 and over who needs support to develop their talent ( Read more... )
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But only now have we come close to realising her ambition, thanks to Barclays' (not so) quiet American. From the ashes of BZW, he turned the debt specialist Barclays Capital into a force to be reckoned with, making it the bank's most profitable division. Losing out to John Varley in the race to replace Matt Barrett as chief executive, his part of the business went from strength to strength. Reportedly never that keen on the planned all-share merger with ABN Amro (a lucky escape) ( Read more... )
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All nine members of the committee, including the Bank's Governor, Mervyn King, pictured, voted to maintain the £200bn asset-buying scheme announced in November, as well as deciding to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent.

While the MPC acknowledged that several setbacks had recently threatened global financial stability ? above all the crisis in Dubai ? the committee did not believe enough had changed in the past month to extend quantitative easing.

The previous month, the MPC was ( Read more... )
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John Sentamu, who was born in the country, said proposals which could see gay people put to death were "victimising".

A private member's bill is going through Uganda's parliament which would see gays and lesbians sentenced to a minimum of life in prison if convicted of having sex.

Sex with a minor would result in the death penalty, and people failing to report homosexuality taking place would risk up to three years in prison.

Dr Sentamu ( Read more... )
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