March 12, 2015

Top News Stories –

Terry Pratchett, author of Discworld novels dies –
Sir Terry Pratchett, fantasy author and creator of the Discworld series, has died aged 66, eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds,” said Larry Finlay of his publishers Transworld.The author died at home, surrounded by his family, “with his cat sleeping on his bed”, he added. Sir Terry wrote more than 70 books during his career and completed his final book last summer. His death was announced on his Twitter account with a tweet composed in capital letters – which was how the author portrayed the character of Death in his novels – read: “AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.” [BBC]
Terry-Pratchett-twitter
Terry-PratchettTerry Pratchett

Spider that can give men four-hour erections found in Tesco bananas –
A mother was scared stiff after opening a bunch of supermarket bananas and finding rare spiders whose bite can give a man a painful four-hour erection. Maria Layton, 43, spotted the arachnids after opening the bag of yellow fruit she bought from Tesco. She found the bananas, shipped from Costa Rica, were infested with eggs from the Brazilian Wandering Spider – the most deadly in the world. [Daily Telegraph]
Wandering-spiderThe Brazilian Wandering Spider

Rumours are swirling in Moscow over the health of Vladimir Putin after the Russian president disappeared from view and put off a foreign visit.
Mr Putin has not been seen in public for a week and an official in Kazakhstan told reporters that he postponed a visit to the central Asian country on Wednesday because he had fallen ill. He will also not appear at an annual meeting of high-ranking officers from the Federal Security Service on Thursday, which he has attended in past years. Reporters last saw the president when he met Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, on March 5.
Vladimir_PutinVladimir Putin

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September 5, 2015

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Russia set to set up new police unit to deal with rowdy weddings –
Police in southern Russia have set up a new unit dedicated to keeping the peace at the region’s notoriously drunken wedding parties. A squad of 40 officers will be assigned to stop “uncontrolled expressions of joy” during marriages, during which well-wishers often have a habit of firing guns in celebration. The unit will operate in the North Caucusus region of Adygea, near the Black Sea coast, where one wedding reveller was fined 50,000 roubles last month (£500) for firing his pistol outside a registry office in the capital, Maykop. “The creation of the ‘wedding police’ should put an end to uncontrolled expressions of joy by people in wedding motorcades,” said Aleksandr Rechitsky, Adygea’s Interior Minister. [Daily Telegraph]

Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour makes chart history –
In the Lonely Hour has been in the UK top 10 for 67 weeks in a row – that’s the longest unbroken run of any debut album. It’s not left the top 10 since it was released in May 2014, when it debuted at number one with opening week sales of 101,000. The chart record was previously held by Emeli Sande, with her debut album Our Version Of Events. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day
Sam-Smith-2014Sam Smith

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List of albums which have spent the most weeks on the UK Albums Chart [List from Wikipedia]

Title Artist Released Peak Weeks
Queen’s Greatest Hits Queen 1981 1 895
ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits ABBA 1992 1 721
Legend Bob Marley & The Wailers 1984 1 684
Rumours Fleetwood Mac 1977 1 611
Bat Out of Hell Meat Loaf 1978 9 517
The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd 1973 2 457
The Sound of Music Original Soundtrack 1965 1 374
Queen’s Greatest Hits II Queen 1991 1 367
The Immaculate Collection Madonna 1990 1 338
Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits Simon & Garfunkel 1972 2 329
Bridge over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel 1970 1 328
South Pacific Original Soundtrack 1958 1 315
Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds Jeff Wayne 1978 5 313
Nevermind Nirvana 1991 7 301
Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman 1988 1 292
Tubular Bells Mike Oldfield 1973 1 286
Thriller Michael Jackson 1982 1 283
Face Value Phil Collins 1981 1 275
Brothers in Arms Dire Straits 1985 1 268
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 1967 1 261
Appetite for Destruction Guns n’ Roses 1987 5 261
Making Movies Dire Straits 1980 4 252
Hot Fuss The Killers 2004 1 247
Automatic for the People R.E.M. 1992 1 245
My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra 1997 7 244
Guns n’ Roses’ Greatest Hits Guns n’ Roses 2004 1 241
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 1995 1 237
Queen’s Greatest Hits III Queen 1999 2 234
Definitely Maybe Oasis 1994 1 231
Back to Black Amy Winehouse 2006 1 228
Off the Wall Michael Jackson 1979 3 224
Number Ones Michael Jackson 2003 3 223
Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette 1995 1 220
Sigh No More Mumford & Sons 2009 2 214
The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac 2002 6 213
Out of Time R.E.M. 1991 1 212
Never Forget Take That 2005 2 209
The Beatles 1962 – 1966 The Beatles 1973 3 206
Under a Blood Red Sky U2 1983 2 204
The King and I Original Soundtrack 1956 1 203
The Bends Radiohead 1995 4 203
Love Over Gold Dire Straits 1982 1 200

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