the Rogers Communications Inc. is hoping more Canadians cut the cord from its land line phones and pick up a cell phone with the push of a new service released on Wednesday.

The company’s cell phone business, Rogers Wireless, announced that it will begin to roll out a so-called “unlicensed mobile access” (UMA) which will allow users to access unlimited calling in their homes through a connection to the Internet.

While a high-speed connection is required, it does not have to be through Rogers, and the company will cover the initial cost of the router with rebate offering. The service is priced at $15 for unlimited local calling and $20 for unlimited calling across Canada, not including the cost of the cell phone.
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The Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” hauled in $43.8 million to rank as Hollywood’s top movie for the third-straight weekend, fending off “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” which opened a close second with $42.5 million.

“The Dark Knight” has soared to a $394.9 million haul in just 17 days, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Warner Bros. release should sail past the $400 million mark by Monday or Tuesday, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner.

That would be on the film’s 18th or 19th day of release, another record for “The Dark Knight,” which had an all-time high opening weekend of $158.4 million. The previous $400 million record-holder was “Shrek 2,” which hit that mark in 43 days.

“It’s a film that is just rewriting the record books every day and redefining our notions of what a blockbuster can be,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
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THE TALKS on a new national pay deal broke down in the early hours of Saturday morning after unions rejected proposals which would have seen wages rise by 5 per cent over a 21-month period.

However, a deal would also have involved a six-month pay pause for most private-sector employees, an 11-month pay pause for more than 300,000 staff in the public services and a 12-month pause for those in the construction sector.

The unions believed that at a time of rising food and fuel prices this deal would have done nothing for low-paid workers, and that the annualised increase of 2.8 per cent was much less than the expected rate of inflation. Read more » »

UK AIRPORT manager BAA has begun legal action against Ryanair to force it to pay it a recent 15 per cent increase in airport charges at Stansted airport in London.

Ryanair wrote to the BAA in May to inform it that it would be withholding the increase in airport charges at Stansted, which took effect on April 1st.

In a document lodged with the Securities and Exchange Commission late last week in the US, Ryanair claimed that the increase constituted “excessive pricing” and was an abuse of BAA’s “dominant position in the London market and contrary to the public interest”.

This is part of a long-running dispute between Ryanair and BAA in relation to airport charges at Stansted. Ryanair plans to ground 15 aircraft there this winter in protest. Read more » »

Fla - Standing with Florida Senator and former astronaut Bill Nelson 20 minutes north of the spiritual home of America’s space program in Cape Canaveral, Barack Obama committed to keeping NASA exploring the outer reaches of the cosmos for years to come - reversing a pledge to cut funding for new space flights.

Obama recalled watching American astronauts emerge from the Pacific ocean after space flights as a boy in his Native Hawaii. “When I was growing up, NASA inspired the world with achievements we’re still proud of,” he said. “Today, we have an administration that sets ambitious goals for NASA without giving NASA the support it needs to reach them.”

Obama promised to expand the space program by reestablishing the National Aeronautics and Space Council to help formulate a vision for the next stage of space exploration. What’s more, he claimed that cuts to the new shuttle program that he’d originally planned to make were now called off. Read more » »

JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writer

She might be known worldwide as the Material Girl, but there’s more than a little of the small-town Michigan girl left in Madonna.

The pop superstar arrived in this northern Michigan resort town Saturday to introduce her documentary, “I Am Because We Are,” a highlight of the Traverse City Film Festival. The event was co-founded by filmmaker, author and fellow Michigan native Michael Moore.

Hundreds of fans cheered from behind barricades as Madonna, wearing a black dress, high heels and sunglasses, stepped out of a black sport utility vehicle that pulled up in front of the State Theatre. She hugged a waiting Moore, who sported an orange baseball cap, and posed for photos with him.
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Reuters - Actress Christina Applegate, famed for playing ditzy daughter Kelly Bundy on TV comedy “Married … With Children,” is fighting breast cancer, but expected to make a full recovery, her spokeswoman said on Saturday.

Applegate, 36, was diagnosed with cancer during a regular MRI, spokeswoman Ame Van Iden said in an email.

“Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery,” Van Iden said.

Applegate, whose mother battled both breast and cervical cancer, has been an advocate for breast cancer research.
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