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National Express East Coast has begun operating intercity rail services on the East Coast Main Line connecting London with the north-east of England and Scotland after it was awarded the franchise earlier this year. GNER, the previous operator, had their contract terminated early when parent company Sea Containers Ltd encountered financial difficulties. GNER could not afford to pay the £1.3 billion premium it had promised the government, and whilst National Express have promised £1.4 billion, the larger contributions are scheduled for towards

A celebrity sex tape starring former American Idol finalist Jessica Sierra has been leaked to an internet pornography company, who is reportedly planning to release it. Sierra made her fame as a finalist on the 2005 season of American Idol, in which she was the third finalist eliminated. The new tape is reported to show her in a number of nude poses in a hotel room. The footage will be released later this month. Sierra is already suffering from negative press as she appeared in court on Sunday. She had been arrested after being kicked out the

University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow became the first underclassman in NCAA history to obtain the coveted Heisman Trophy Saturday night. The award was presented to him at a ceremony in New York City. He received 1,957 points and 462 first-place votes. Second in the voting was University of Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, who was also the runner-up in the Heisman voting last year. He received 1,703 points and 291 first-place votes. University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan and University of Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel ca

Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly smashed his first Test double century on the second day of the third Test cricket match between India and Pakistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore today. His double century took 324 balls and contained 26 fours and a six. This is also his highest ever score in Test cricket, surpassing the 173 which he made against Sri Lanka at Mumbai in 1997. He was out just before tea, bowled by Danish Kaneria while trying to sweep. He had made 239 off 361 balls with 30 fours and 3 sixes. The Indians were at 611 for 7 in 147

NASA have today announced that the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, mission STS-122, which is a module delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS), will be delayed until January 2nd, 2008 at the earliest, after scrubbing today's launch attempt, and an earlier attempt on December 6th. The decision to scrub the launch attempt was made at 7:24 a.m. EST by shuttle program managers. The reason behind the scrubbing is to allow shuttle engineers to spend time diagnosing and fixing the erroneous readings presented to the crew and Missio

Robert Pickton, one of Canada's most profilic serial killers, has been found guilty of all six counts of second-degree murder in connection of the deaths of women from the Downtown Eastide in Vancouver. The trial ran from January 22, 2007 to the reading of the verdict on December 9, 2007. Pickton had pled not guilty to all six counts against him, which were all originally first-degree murder charges. Pickton had been apprehended to police in February 2002. His pig farm in Port Coquitlam was the site of the investigation of the murders of Ser

Arsenal failed to move four points clear at the top of the Premier League table after they suffered their first league defeat of the season at the hands of Middlesbrough. The Gunners got off to the worst possible start after Middlesbrough were awarded a penalty by referee Howard Webb in the fourth minute. Stewart Downing converted it to give Boro the lead. Turkish forward Tuncay Sanli sealed the victory for Middlesbrough 16 minutes from time when he shot high into the net. Tomas Rosicky scored a consolation goal for the visitors in the fifth

Early afternoon saw a shooting in the church parking lot of New Life Church, an Evangelical Megachurch, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. According to a report quoting the church's pastor four people were shot by a gunman in the car park. At this time it is unknown if there is any connection with yesterday's shooting approximately 70 miles away in Arvada, Colorado, where a gunman shot two and injured two people at Faith Bible Chapel's missionary training centre in a dormitory.

Leaders of Africa and the European Union have ended their summit in Portugal by declaring a new era in relations aimed at confronting new global challenges. But they could not avoid sparring over some older issues involving human rights and conflict on the continent. The president of the European Union, Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, closed the summit today, saying African and European leaders have turned a new page in history. He says the leaders have adopted an agenda to confront serious challenges of security, governance, migrat

The United States Congress has launched its own inquiry into a decision by the U.S spy agency to destroy tapes of interrogations of terror suspects, with Central Intelligence Agency chief Michael Hayden testifying before lawmakers this week. The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, says Hayden will appear before his panel. "CIA director Michael Hayden is going appear before our committee on this coming Tuesday and talk about interrogation and techniques," said Rockefeller. During an appe

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the immediate release of 5 British hostages abducted in Baghdad, Iraq last May. For the first time since the 5 Britons were abducted on May 29 from a Finance Ministry compound by gunmen posing as police officers, a video released Tuesday by a group called the Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq showed one of the men being held. It was the first public evidence that the men might still be alive. "My name is Jason and today is the 18th of November," said one of the hostages. In that video, the ca

Before the Ministry of Education removed the title the "Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness" along the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, members of the public and politicians from Pan-Greens and Pan-Blues battled and demonstrated there, but 5 reporters were hit by a truck near the National Central Library when they made a SNG live report. According to witnesses and Chien-chiang Wang from Formosa Television, they witnessed the driver deliberately stepping on the accelerator after he hit a reporter and braked. Even though the suspect,