Brasilia  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday called upon the United Nations to play a key role in the resolution of the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which has claimed hundreds of lives.

"The UN must exercise an important role. It is important for the Security Council resolution that defined the need for a peace agreement to be respected, both on the Palestine side and on the part of Israel," Lula said in his weekly radio programme, Breakfast With the President.

With the help of the Zadko Telescope, an enormous gamma ray burst that happened 11 billion years ago -- before planet Earth was formed was captured by Astronomers in Australia.

Dr. David Coward of the University of Western Australia, also the lead Astronomer behind the discovery informed that the image which they recorded is a window in time thus allowing them to look into the distant past to a time when the universe was very unusual.

Dr. Coward reported, "We are discovering the richness of this transient universe, one that is filled with brief but extremely bright flashes. If a similar explosion happened in our galaxy today, it could result in mass extinctions on Earth."

Stockholm  - Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera said Monday it had given notice to 1,200 Swedish employees.

The move was in line with a cost-cutting package announced in February 2008, and would mainly impact its broadband services.

A year ago, the group said it planned to cut 2,900 jobs of which two-thirds were to impact Sweden.

The measure was estimated to cost some 3 billion kronor (378 million dollars) of which slightly more than half was to be carried in 2008.

London/Belfast  - The warring parties in the Middle East can learn from the peace process in Northern Ireland by ending violence through dialogue, leading nationalist politician Gerry Adams said Monday.

Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, a party traditionally linked to the formerly terrorist Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary organization, said that forces opposed to dialogue had for a long time "perpetuated" the conflict in Northern Ireland.

With the aim to attract more and more customers, Sony Ericson recently unveiled its W508 Walkman phone. The highlight of this set is that the users are allowed to mange their music via PlayNow arena, TrackID, Shake and Gesture Controls without any hassle.

The users are also allowed to personalize the phone with eight changeable style-up covers and SenseMe depending on the mood.

It might be very surprising to know but on Saturday, from a ration shop at Gelda Nagar in Ghatkopar (West), Ghatkopar Police arrested two persons and seized fake soaps bearing well-known brands worth Rs 62.60 lakh.

The Police reported, "The goods seized include brands Lux, Santoor and Lifebuoy besides over 1.4 lakh wrappers and soaps."

The Police arrested Shivprasad Gupta (20) and Surendra Kumar Singh (43), while the mastermind is at large. The arrested men, who have remanded in police custody till
12th January, have been booked under the copyright and trademark laws.