A South Korean passenger jet was grounded just before taking off so that crew members could catch a sparrow that was flying around in the cabin, airline officials said on Wednesday.

"The bird got in through an open airplane door and was spotted during boarding," said Cho Hyung-chul, a spokesman for Korean Air Line. The passengers on the flight were asked to leave the plane as the airline tried to prevent the bird from taking the domestic flight.

"The bird was captured and set free," Cho said.

The flight's 123 passengers were put on board a different plane and sent on their journey, which was delayed for nearly three hours, the airline said.

Birds are a growing problem for the global airline industry, with an increasing number of planes getting damaged after hitting flocks of birds.

(Reporting by Christine Kim, writing Jon Herskovitz, editing by Miral Fahmy)

Irish parents struggling to buy schoolbooks and uniforms in the face of a deep recession may now have to worry about sending their children to school with a toilet roll as well as a packed lunch.

Pupils at a primary school in the southern county of Cork are being asked to bring their own toilet paper to school to help save money, one of the starkest examples yet of the death of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy.

"The letter was sent out just as a way of balancing books here in the school and not intended as a demand," said Catherine O'Neill, principal at St John's Girls National School.

O'Neill said the request was made because of cuts to government grants for books and computers. She added that parents were responding well.

"I've done a quick tour of the classrooms this morning and I'd say at least half the pupils have brought them (toilet rolls) in," she told national broadcaster RTE.

"I have no doubt that there are an enormous number of schools out there that are doing the same thing."

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; editing by Andras Gergely and Mark Trevelyan)

Relevé Entertainment is proud to announce an outstanding line-up of speakers and presenters for the first annual THE MERGE SUMMIT, to be held in Los Angeles, CA, August 20-22, 2009 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. 
                                 

A three-day conference event designed to merge the sacred and the secular by bridging the gap between ministry and entertainment, THE MERGE SUMMIT was developed to provide a platform for men and women of faith to interface, glean from and partner with executives, artists, and talent in the entertainment industry.

A county judge said Monday that the ministry of televangelist Joyce Meyer must publicly release the employment records of a former security chief accused of killing his wife and two sons.

Joyce Meyer Ministries had requested that the 400 pages of documents sought in the case against 32-year-old Christopher Coleman be kept confidential, fearing that their release could compromise the privacy of the alleged killer and others who still work at the St. Louis-based ministry.

But after hearing the ministry’s argument, Judge Andrew Gleeson declared, “We are a society where courts are open,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"We have nothing to hide," responded Michael King, the lawyer for the ministry.

The confidentiality "is to protect my client from other litigation,'' he clarified, saying the employment documents are confidential under Missouri law. The attorney also said the disclosure of Meyer's flight manifests is a "security concern" because the popular life coach is a "national figure," as reported by the Post-Dispatch.

Dim lights

Joyce Meyer Ministries had been named as one of the “respondents in discovery” in the lawsuit against Christopher Coleman, who has been charged with the first-degree murders of his wife and two sons.

Coleman was working as a security guard for Joyce Meyer Ministries until he resigned not long after his family was found dead in his home on May 5.

According to investigators, Coleman had called police from a gym that day and asked a police officer who had investigated prior threats related to the family to check on them after calls to the house allegedly went unanswered.

When police got to the house later that morning, they found the bodies of Coleman’s 31-year-old wife, Sheri, and children, 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin, all strangled with some type of wire, rope or cord. Spray-painted across the walls of the house, meanwhile, were obscenities that appeared to have been directed at Sheri Coleman, including the words “punished,” “wh*re paid,” “u have paid,” and “I saw you leave, [expletive] you, I am always watching.”

Though some of the Colemans’ neighbors said the family had received threatening letters and that their mailbox was tampered with, police arrested Coleman around two weeks later after more evidence came forward.

The week before, Coleman had resigned from his position at Joyce Meyer Ministries after being questioned about a violation of the organization's moral conduct policy, according to Roby Walker, a spokesman for Joyce Meyer.

Walker would not say what policy Coleman allegedly violated but reports have alleged that he was romantically involved with a woman from Largo, Fla., and had visited her while traveling with the ministry.

Coleman, who pleaded “not guilty” on May 20, has since remained in jail and denied bond by the judge.