Washington, Nov 12: Europe erupted in cheers to celebrate Barack Obama’s election as the 44th US President, but the continent is seeing its share of insensitive racial blunders, too.

Over the past week, a number of European lawmakers and journalists have made comments regarding America’s Black president-elect, suggesting that some otherwise respected public figures in Europe are far from enlightened on racial matters, The Washington Post reported.

London, Nov 12: A female vicar, who told colleagues that she was a swinger and conducted church services while drunk has been banned from religious roles for 12 years by the Church of England.

At a tribunal in London, the Reverend Teresa Davies, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, was found guilty of inappropriate conduct.

London, Nov 12  Companies in Europe have begun to roll out an advanced biometric system from Japan that identifies people from the unique patterns of veins inside their fingers, a technique which is being touted as the most secure form of identification.

According to a report in the Times, finger vein authentication, introduced widely by Japanese banks in the last two years, is claimed to be the fastest and most secure biometric method.

Developed by Hitachi, it verifies a person’s identity based on the lattice work of minute blood vessels under the skin.

The pattern of blood vessels is captured by transmitting near-infrared light at different angles through the finger, usually the middle finger.

Landikotal (Pak), Nov 12 : In yet another incident of its kind on the second consecutive day, suspected Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) on Tuesday set on fire a truck carrying a US military jeep to Karachi near the Machni checkpost in Khyber Agency.

The Afghan driver of the truck is missing. After the incident, in the ensuing clashes, three people were killed in the Kas Ghundi locality of Machni, reported the Daily Times.

Earlier, on Monday the Taliban had hijacked 15 trucks carrying wheat and two Humvee military vehicles to Afghanistan in Jamrud.

Washington, Nov 12: Cell phone text messaging could be used to reduce kids'' chances of becoming fat later in life, by helping them monitor and modify their own behaviors now, a new study has suggested.

The study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that self-monitoring of calorie intake is important for the long-term success of weight loss and weight control.

"Self-monitoring of calorie intake and expenditure and of body weight is extremely important for the long-term success of weight loss and weight control," said Jennifer R. Shapiro, Ph. D., assistant professor of psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine and principal investigator of the new study, which is published in the November/December

New York - Christopher Ciccone has little in common with his sister, ultra fit and apparently ageless pop star Madonna.

The 47-year-old Ciccone is so reserved he comes across almost as shy. He's wrapped in an oversized hooded sweatshirt, and the wrinkles show around his eyes, making him look personable.