Singing sensation Susan Boyle has become the first female artist to have a number one album in the United States and UK twice in less than a year simultaneously, her record company said.

Her album The Gift reached number one in the UK on Sunday, and has taken the top spot across the Atlantic. It comes after her debut album I Dreamed A Dream achieved the same success following its release last year.

The only other acts to have achieved this in the history of music were The Monkees in 1967 and the Beatles in 1969, Sony said.

Susan Boyle said: “I’ve never felt happier in all my life. This is an amazing result and one I never expected.” (PA)

Mine chiefs sentenced

Three former managers of a mine in southwestern Romania were sentenced to prison yesterday for their responsibility in two explosions that killed 13 miners in 2008, media reported.

The former director of the mine in Petrila, Aurelian Necula, was sentenced to seven and a half years, while health and security manager Gheorghe Rosu and mine aeration manager Dan Stefan Ungur were each jailed for six and a half years.

The three former mine chiefs, who have already appealed the sentence, were accused of not taking “the legal security measures” while danger was “serious and imminent”. Two explosions took place in November 2008 in the Petrila mine. The first at a depth of 950 metres killed eight people and injured nine others. Four hours later, a second blast killed five rescuers who had gone down to bring out the bodies. (AFP)

Ryanair passengers protest… in plane

More than 100 angry Ryanair passengers sat in a dark cabin for hours last night after it was diverted to Belgium, refusing to disembark until buses took them to their original destination in France.

The Irish low-cost airline said the plane was among four flights that were forced to land at the airport in Liege, southern Belgium, because fog forced the closure of the airport in Beauvais, France.The passengers from three of the planes followed a request by cabin crews to disembark in order to take buses that would drive them to Beauvais, but tourists in one aircraft refused to heed the call, Ryanair said. (AFP)

‘Merchant of Death’ pleads not guilty

Russia’s so-called “Merchant of Death”, accused of running a global arms empire, pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in the US yesterday, after being extradited from Thailand against Moscow’s wishes.

“He will plead not guilty,” a lawyer for Viktor Bout, 43, said in a New York federal court.

Judge Shira Scheindlin then ordered Mr Bout to remain in detention until a hearing set for January 10. Mr Bout faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and minimum of 25 years if found guilty. (AFP)

Frantic call

Europe issued a frantic “final call” for a single continent-wide 116 000 hotline for missing children, yet to be activated by all European Union member states.

“Every effort should be made to make 116 000 operational,” said Matthew Newman, a spokesman for the European Union’s executive Commission. “People on holiday anywhere in Europe should have the same number to call.”

Giving defaulting nations six months until May 25 to get the service up and running, he listed 13 states yet to sign up – Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Sweden.

In Britain the service is in partial operation. (AFP)

Italian students take to the streets

Thousands of students took to the streets of Italian cities today to protest a reform of the university system and budget cuts decided by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

There were more than 100 marches by students including in Milan, Rome, Florence, Palermo and L’Aquila, a historic city that was heavily damaged by an earthquake last year that killed more than 300 people.

Students are outraged over cuts of around nine billion euros and 130,000 jobs in the education system that the Italian government has engaged to carry out by 2013.

The reform will merge several smaller higher education establishments, bring external managers into university boards and reduce the mandate for deans. Critics say it is aimed simply at cutting costs.

Students in Rome marched from La Sapienza university into central Rome, with one banner reading: “What is Our Future In the Middle of All These Ruins?” (AFP)

Best lavatories in the world

Russia must regain its pre-revolutionary status as the country with the best lavatories in the world, an industry representative said yesterday, decrying the current state of the country’s toilets.

“Before the revolution of 1917 the quality of toilets in Russia was the best of the world,” Vladimir Moksunov, head of the Russian association of lavatory manufacturers, told reporters. He recalled that on April 9, 1699, Peter the Great published a trailblazing decree which made it a punishable offence to throw sewage into the street. The state of public lavatories is generally seen as a disgrace in Moscow, with citizens having to endure stinking and ageing facilities even though they usually have to pay for the privilege of using them. (AFP)

200 years underwater

Bottles of champagne recovered after nearly 200 years on the seabed were declared eminently drinkable by experts yesterday.

One who tasted the vintage bubbly billed as the world’s oldest drinkable champagne was lyrical, detecting hints of chanterelles and linden blossom. (PA)

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