BELFAST, Northern Ireland - In Ireland, they bury people quickly — and now they\'re harnessing the speed of the Internet to help families grieve across the globe.A Northern Ireland mortuary director has launched a pioneering service of broadcasting funerals on its Web site for mourners too distant, ill or busy to make it in person. It\'s reckoned to be the first of its kind worldwide."We have one camera to give you the perspective of the minister looking out to the congregation, one showing the hearse and cortege of mourners outside, and one that looks like you\'re sitting in amidst the mourners," said Jim Clarke of Clarke & Son undertakers in Newtownards, an eastern suburb of Belfast.The family-owned firm, founded in 1918 by Clarke\'s grandfather, began experimenting with streaming audio and video of funeral services two years ago at its other mortuary and chapel in another nearby suburb, Bangor.It is launching new software and a suite of cameras at its second funeral home in Newtownards this week — a development that, to the surprise of Clarke, has spurred international interest.Clarke said more funeral homes should take advantage of the Internet, particularly in places like Ireland, where funerals typically happen within three days of a death — and a tradition of emigration can mean cousins from Calgary to Canberra."It used to be that we\'d be asked: Is there any chance you can take a tape recording of the service for our friends in Canada? We always did that. Now we can offer so much more," he said.About 20 percent of the company\'s clients use the Web broadcast, or about 50 funerals so far at the two chapels beside the mortuaries, according to Clarke. It carries no additional charge.He said the service last year proved invaluable for two brothers — one living in New Zealand, the other in the United States — who had traveled back to Northern Ireland to visit an ill relative who then died."They said, `There\'s no way we can get our wives and families here at such short notice,\' and we had the solution to hand. It really removes a burden for some families," Clarke said.Just last week, he said, the funeral home negotiated with an internet service provider in New Zealand to upgrade one woman\'s connection temporarily to high-speed broadband so that she could see her sister\'s funeral without freezing screens or dropped audio.Not just anybody can log on to eavesdrop on the grief. The service requires special software downloads and password access controlled by Clarke & Son."We\'re trying to use the latest technology to help families in a time of need," Clarke said. "We\'re not trying to encourage morbid curiosity. There is far too much of that on the Internet already."
BERLIN - A brothel in Germany hopes to capitalize on the growing number of retirees by offering them a 50 percent discount for sex in the afternoon.The "Pascha" in the western city of Cologne has introduced reduced rates for sex sessions for clients aged 66 and above -- provided they can prove they are old enough."All clients need to do is show us some proof of age," said a spokesman for the brothel\'s managing director Armin Lobscheid. "A \'normal session\' costs 50 euros with us -- and we\'re now paying 50 percent of that for these older guests.""We don\'t earn as much money, but we\'re establishing ourselves across a broader range of age groups," he added.After testing the water with reductions for senior citizens once a week, the Pascha decided earlier this month to offer 50 percent off sex services between midday and 5 p.m every day."There\'s been plenty of demand and people have certainly been taking advantage of the offer," the spokesman said. "Older folks are more active than you think."The brothel\'s Web site is keen to stress this point."Life begins at 66!" it says in an advert for its "senior citizens afternoon" next to a picture of a motorcycle rider.
NEW YORK - A New York restaurateur has cooked up the world\'s most extravagant pizza -- a $1,000 pie topped with six kinds of caviar and fresh lobster.Nino Selimaj, who runs six pizza restaurants in the Big Apple, on Wednesday unveiled the Luxury Pizza, a 12-inch (30-cm), thin crust topped with caviar, lobster, creme fraiche and chives. Cut into eight, it works out at $125 a slice."I know this won\'t be for everyone but there are people in New York who can afford it and once tried, they\'ll be back for more. It is delicious," said Selimaj, who moved to New York from Albania about 29 years ago."Sure, some people will say it is just a publicity stunt but I have researched this for over a year and think there is a demand. I have already sold one," he told Reuters.Selimaj said Nino\'s Bellissima in Manhattan, the only one of his restaurants to offer the dish, needs 24 hours notice for the gourmet dish because it orders the caviar in advance."But where better to experiment with pizza than in New York where people love their pizza?" he asked.If diners are still hungry after the Luxury Pizza, they can always head over to nearby restaurant Serendipity, which sells a $1,000 ice-cream sundae called Golden Opulence that is covered in 23-karat edible gold leaf.
LONDON - A passenger in first class woke up to a shock when he found himself sitting near a corpse on a British Airways flight, British newspapers reported on Monday.Paul Trinder, 54, said cabin crew moved the body of the elderly woman from the economy section where she had died after take-off, the Mirror and Sun tabloids said."The corpse was strapped into the seat but because of turbulence it kept slipping down on to the floor," Trinder, a businessman, was quoted as saying. "It was horrific. The body had to be wedged in place with lots of pillows."The woman\'s daughter was also upgraded and spent the rest of the nine-hour flight from Delhi to London grieving next to her dead mother, the Sun reported.The Guardian newspaper said the incident happened last week.British Airways has apologized for any distress suffered, according to the reports. The Mirror quoted BA as saying: "We apologize, but our crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option they thought would cause least disruption."
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. restaurant chain Hooters, known for waitresses in low-cut blouses and short skirts, will open its first branch in Israel this summer, in the Mediterranean seaside city of Tel Aviv."I strongly believe that the Hooters concept is something that Israelis are looking for," Ofer Ahiraz, who bought the Hooters franchise for Israel, told Reuters Monday. "Hooters can suit the Israeli entertainment culture."At Hooters, waitresses the company calls Hooters Girls serve spicy chicken wings, sandwiches, seafood and drinks.Ahiraz said a specific location in Tel Aviv, Israel\'s most cosmopolitan city, had yet to be chosen, but he said it would not open restaurants near large religious populations, and they would not be kosher.He said his plan was to open as many as five Hooters restaurants in the next few years, including one in the southern resort city of Eilat.The Tel Aviv version of Hooters is expected to mimic most of the chain\'s other 430 restaurants in the United States and in 23 countries including China, Switzerland, Australia and Brazil.Ahiraz said, however, he expected some minor modifications to meet Israeli tastes since U.S. chains have had a mixed response in Israel.Food chains such as Starbucks, Dunkin\' Donuts and Hard Rock Cafe failed, Kentucky Fried Chicken closed many locations, while others such as Burger King and McDonalds have thrived by altering their offerings to suit the Israeli market."It shows that if you are flexible and listen to your customers you can be a success story," Ahiraz said.The opening of Hooters in Israel is part of the chain\'s global expansion. Privately held Hooters said it planned to open 17 restaurants in Colombia, Dubai, Guam, New Zealand and India in the next two years."International expansion is a major focus for our company, and we are very excited to add Israel to our family," John Weber, executive vice president of franchise operations for Hooters of America, said in a statement.
Fri Mar 23, 9:38 PMSAO PAULO, Brazil - A Brazilian housewife was convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison Friday for killing her husband, chopping his body into small pieces and frying it. Rosanita Nery dos Santos, 52, drugged her husband in his sleep, then stabbed him to death two years ago in Salvador, about 900 miles northeast of Sao Paulo, said police spokesman Idmar Bonfim.She then hacked Jose Raimundo Soares dos Santos\' body into more than 100 pieces, which she boiled and fried before hiding in plastic bags beneath a staircase in her house, Bonfim said. He said police discovered the body parts after receiving an anonymous phone call.Bonfim said the killing was either part of a black magic ritual or an attempt by the wife to collect life insurance worth about $34,000.Citing testimony from the woman\'s relatives, he said she may also have committed the crime "to avenge many years of humiliation from her husband." He did not provide further details.Santos denied killing her husband but said she chopped up his body, Bonfim said."She claims masked assailants entered her house, killed her husband and then forced her to cut up the body and fry it because that would prevent the stench of a decomposing body from alerting neighbors," he said.
Man pleads guilty to stalking woman he knew in grade schoolMarch 16, 2007BRIDGEPORT, Conn. --A Minnesota man pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges that he stalked and threatened to kill a former elementary school classmate in Connecticut.Anthony Perone, 20, of Fairmont, Minn., pleaded guilty to sending threatening letters to the home of the woman\'s grandparents in Bridgeport in May 2006, according to federal prosecutors.The letters included professions of love, cryptic clues about the sender, threats and colored-pencil drawings, including a drawing of a heart with a chunk bitten out of it, a rifle, and a tombstone bearing the woman\'s name.Kevin O\'Connor, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, said Friday that Perone pleaded guilty to two counts against him, and faces up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines when he is sentenced June 5.Perone and the victim attended third and fourth grade together, although she did not remember him until after she received the threatening letters. He told police he found her address at the library."For 20 years you lived a rich life with everything. Money, family. Being popular. It\'s now gonna end. Your gonna learn about suffering and having nothing. Pain you will feel. Fear, Being alive," one letter read in part.The letter was signed, "Love, Death Stalker."Both envelopes contained Perone\'s name and return address.Perone confessed to writing the letters and said he gave them to his mother to mail, according to an arrest affidavit. His mother told authorities she had no idea what was in the letters, so she added a name and return address to the envelopes and mailed them off.source
