D Monday, October 5, 2009 METRO 55,000 people have already switched back to eircom. 1800 431 432 or www.eircom.net 56,265 residential & business accounts from 1st September 2008 to 31st August 2009 Something quite revealing is happening, more and more people across the country are coming back to eircom. In fact, in the last year alone over 55,000 people have switched back to Irelands leading phone and broadband provider. They came back for great service, real value and quality they can depend on. Call us today and find out why you too are better off with eircom. by joanne ahern Lawyers get students off plagiarism charges STUDENTS facing disciplinary ac- tion over charges of plagiarism are now turning to solicitors to defend them, a leading academic has said. Michael Laffan, associate professor of history at University College Dub- lin, told a Sunday newspaper that stu- dents who have presented ideas taken from websites such as Wikipedia as their own are often being let off the hook because universities are afraid of losing fees. We need to penalise the students who are directly ripping off some- times whole essays, copying and past- ing directly from the internet and not even bothering to change the font so that it is blatantly obvious. Mr Laddan added: But then they bring in lawyers and legal aid. The lawyers pick for every little angle to get them off the hook. The college authorities backtrack, and also dont want to lose the future fees of the students as the financial crisis worsens, and so the students inevitably get let off. Academics and employers alike are concerned that falling standards are not being addressed by colleges struggling with financial issues. nude models pose for photographer Spencer Tunick in the vineyard of Fuisse, France. Greenpeace asked Tunick to create a picture to highlight the impact of global warming on wine production Picture: AP vine-Looking specimens... 1bn to prevent italian landslides ITALIAN prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged 1billion to help areas threatened by landslides, after heavy rains and mud killed 22 people in Sicily last week. The death toll is expected to rise as 40 people are missing. Mr Berlusconi said the fund would be used for protection measures such as building reinforcement and flood barriers. 8 US troops killed in battle in Afghanistan EIGHT US troops were killed when insurgents stormed remote Afghan outposts near the Pakistani border, an official said yesterday. Contact with about 90 Afghan police has been cut off in the deadliest battle in the region in more than a year. Nato said at least two Afghan soldiers died in the attack, launched by militia from a mosque and a village in the Nuristan provinces Kamdesh district on Saturday. US commander General Stanley McChrystal had announced plans to withdraw troops from the remote area as part of a strategy to focus forces on population centres. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that dozens of Afghan police were killed along with the soldiers and 35 police were captured. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html