Obama to ask his donors to help storm victims

LIMA, Ohio (Map, News) - Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Sunday he will tap his huge political network of donors and volunteers to help U.S. victims of Hurricane Gustav after it comes inland.

"I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there, if it becomes necessary," Obama told reporters after attending St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Lima, Ohio.

"I think we can activate an e-mail list of a couple of million people who want to give back," he said. Donations could include cash, goods and individual labor, he said.

Obama said he first would ask officials in the affected areas what is most needed, which may not be known for a few days.

"We don't want to solicit a bunch of canned goods that can't get there, or, you know, bottles of water where they already have water," he said.

Obama said he might visit storm-damaged areas once "things have settled down."

"The thing that I am always concerned about in the middle of a storm is whether we are drawing resources away from folks on the ground," he said, referring to the security demands his traveling entourage makes on local police and other officials.

Obama said he saw no problem with Republican rival John McCain's trip Sunday to Mississippi ahead of the storm's landfall. "I'm assuming that where he went, that wasn't an issue," Obama said.

Obama later conducted phone interviews with several Gulf Coast radio and TV stations, urging listeners to follow local officials' instructions about evacuations, his campaign said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

McCain orders convention changes because of storm

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Map, News) - John McCain ordered changes in the Republican National Convention that was to be a four-day celebration of his presidential nomination Sunday, to "redirect our efforts" to reflect the seriousness of Hurricane Gustav as it churned toward the Gulf Coast. President Bush, Vice President Cheney and prominent GOP governors decided to skip the gathering altogether.

"I pledge that tomorrow night, and if necessary throughout our convention, we will act as Americans and not as Republicans because America needs us now," McCain said.

McCain, his wife Cindy, and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, toured the emergency management center in Mississippi, a state that could be hit hard by the approaching hurricane.

The Bush White House and Republicans in general are still shadowed by criticism of their handling of relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast three years ago. Party leaders fear that televised scenes of celebrations and partying at the convention could subject them to similar criticism now.

"We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of the president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans," McCain told reporters.

Party leaders were considering shortening the big four-day event as Gustav approached the Gulf Coast with potentially deadly strength.

The McCain campaign was chartering a DC-9 jetliner from St. Paul for any delegates from the coastal region who wanted to return home.

The convention, a marquee event meant to send McCain into the fall campaign with a burst of energy and good feeling, already was becoming overwhelmed by alarming news of the hurricane just three years after deadly Katrina struck New Orleans.

GOP officials were tracking the path of the storm, trying to determine how to complete the official business of nominating McCain while also being sensitive to the thousands of people fleeing the Gulf Coast - more than 1,000 miles down the Mississippi from St. Paul.

Even as delegates streamed into the convention city, McCain and Palin got briefings from officials in Jackson. He was invited by Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

President Bush said he would go to Texas on Monday to see emergency workers. He said he wouldn't go to Louisiana right away because he didn't want his presence to interfere with emergency operations. "I hope to be able to get to Louisiana as soon as conditions permit," he told reporters after meeting with federal emergency officials in Washington.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger backed out of his convention visit in an unrelated budget dispute with California legislators.

All three - Bush, Cheney and Schwarzenegger - had been scheduled to address the convention on Monday, its opening day.

Democrats turned their attention to the storm as well. Presidential nominee Barack Obama offered to tap his sprawling network of donors and volunteers to help any victims of Gustav.

"I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there if it becomes necessary," Obama told reporters after attending St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Lima, Ohio. "I think we can activate an e-mail list of a couple of million people who want to give back," he said.

He said donations could include cash, goods and individual labor.

Obama said he might visit storm-damaged areas once "things have settled down."

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is scheduled to be the convention's keynote speaker, said Sunday, "We have to make sure the focus is on the South, on Gustav, make sure that all of the resources are there, and that anything that is done with regard to the convention doesn't take anything away from that and is done in a serious way."

He spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."

McCain said he had conferred by phone with Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Bob Riley of Alabama and Charlie Crist of Florida. Crist wasn't coming to St. Paul, even though he had been given a prominent speaking role, and the others weren't coming either.

McCain went to Mississippi as convention officials, GOP Chairman Mike Duncan, and McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis huddled to determine what to do about the convention. Republicans with knowledge of the deliberations said shortening their four-day national convention - and packing necessary work into a couple of days - was one option.

Several officials said various possibilities were being considered - including adding more public-service elements, and trimming back the pep-rally segments.

Canceling the convention altogether seemed highly unlikely, given that the party has to take formal steps to make sure McCain is nominated and can get on the ballot.

"We're going to have a convention. We have to endorse a candidate. But it may be a different convention than what we thought of a couple days ago," said Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman.

Mississippi Republican Chairman Brad White said most of his state's 39 delegates were to arrive Sunday. About 10-15 delegates, mostly from Mississippi's three southernmost counties, were staying home, he said.

He said he did not know of any delegates who planned to take the McCain campaign up on its offer of a chartered plane to fly home. "Keep in mind, those areas are under a mandatory evacuation, so right now they couldn't go home anyway," White said.

Democrats were paring back their activities in St. Paul.

Party spokesman Brad Woodhouse said the Democrats had canceled a "More of the Same" rally that had been slated for Monday. He said the tone of the Democratic rapid response effort would depend on the changes Republicans make in their convention program.

In other convention news, the Republican candidate's wife, Cindy McCain, said her husband's choice of Palin, a first-term Alaska governor little known outside her home state, was "a marvelous choice."

"They're a perfect match," she told ABC's "This Week" in a taped interview. Why? "Because she's a reformer. And she thinks outside the box, the way my husband does," Cindy McCain said. "You know, Washington is just a quagmire. It's a mess right now. And both of them have been serious reformers."

As to Palin's lack of national security experience, Cindy McCain said, "Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here. It's also about making decisions and be targeted in what she thinks. She has a great mind. And she has a very serious direction in where she goes."

Also defending McCain's running mate choice was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, passed over by McCain for the No. 2 spot. He called Palin "a maverick with a record of reform."

---

Associated Press writers Liz Sidoti, Charles Babington in Lima, Ohio, and Beth Fouhy in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

5 Fashion Trends Men Hate the Most

We all know that men are no longer those poor, lost souls when it comes to fashion or, as a matter of fact, to most things that have been, until now, deemed "feminine" par excellence. Which is why, since they do make the best cooks, hair and makeup stylists, and designers, we should probably also listen to what they have to say when it comes to some of the fashion trends that are sweeping the world (and dragging along millions of women in the process) like crazy.

Now, some of what follows are probably items that many women would not even consider donning in the first place – so don’t expect something new, or anything close to some sort of epiphany. However, having these five items together in the same place and, even more, with their many cons described by a man who certainly does know one or two things about fashion, like Simon writing for the Fashion Victims website is, could serve as a lesson for many girls/women out there who follow trends indiscriminately and, most often than not, completely sheepishly. On a side note, for at least three out of the five worst accessories this year, we can thank celebutante extraordinaire Paris Hilton and the likes.

Monroe piercing

Also known as cheek or upper lip piercing. Although its name clearly refers to one of the most emblematic women of modern times, Marilyn Monroe, and to her equally famous beauty spot, it seems that this piercing is no longer the "accidental" fashion statement it used to be, like, five years ago. This is all the more true in a time when unique rebelliousness no longer translates into anything that might make those around you picture you walking around the house with a nail gun, looking for potentially surprising places where to put an earring into.

Because today you can go a bit emo-ish for that dash at rebelliousness that you occasionally experience. Men clearly see it that way. Or, as Simon puts it, "When you’ve run out of original places to stud your head, don’t go random. That’s like a musician saying ‘wehhh, all melodies have been done before. I’m gonna play random notes wherever and I’ll be so different I’ll be cool.’ You’re not cool." Full stop.

Giant / bugeyed sunglasses


Nothing seems to ruin a wonderfully put together outfit or a perfectly shaped face like shades that look so heavy as if one’s head is this close to crumbling down under their sheer weight. As a general rule in the "science" of accessorizing, larger sunglasses can be perfect for certain occasions, when they can actually make you look twice as good as you actually do. But this is never the case with those black shades that cover two thirds of your face, leaving you looking not like the siren that you probably picture yourself but more like some alien type of creature come to feed off the blood of the innocent.

Simon has yet another description for women who are overtly fond of giant sunglasses, especially if they are also excessively skinny and wear quirky clothes – praying mantises he calls them. "You may be proud that not the smallest beam in the slightest crack of space will get in your deflector shield eye booth, but you look like a bug on hind legs. A bug! The stick thin skin-and-bones body type completes the preying mantis fashion statement." he writes.

Excessive makeup / foundation

This should have probably come first because if it’s a condition that is met, it can ruin everything else as well. We all know just how much trouble women go through in order to look as "natural" as possible, just like we’re way too familiar with the now legendary phrase of "give me 15 minutes to freshen up." However, when you take that timeframe and multiply it by, say, four, what you get is not a prettily made-up face on which some of the imperfections are barely visible, but a mask. And, for those girls/women out there who still think that men can’t tell the difference unless you’re standing in bright sunlight – they can, and they do.

"Here’s the problem: lots of cover up is actually worth covering up. You may think that a pimple mount of height X necessitates a layer of foundation of X + 1 thickness, but really you’ve managed to expand the ‘problem area’ to your entire face. You don’t look like porcelain, you look crusty. If you can’t tan, don’t manufacture a layer of grainy fakeskin. Some guys like pale chicks." Simon writes.

Pet accessories


Paris Hilton is hot, as she herself always says. So much so that, even if most would disagree with this statement, there still are plenty of women willing (dying) to follow in her footsteps by emulating whatever she does. Naturally, first thing on the list is her pet pooch, the fabulous Chihuahua Tinkerbell. So, faster than you can say "That’s hot!" the dog is no longer a companion but a genuine accessory which, as a rule, you must use wisely in order to make the best of your outfits. Aside from the PETA-ish implications of such a decision, this trend is almost always frowned upon. Because it’s simply not cool, just in case you were still wondering.

Cue to Simon: "Living. Creatures. Are. Not. Accessories. While I appreciate, on some level, the pimping out of an otherwise evolutionary abomination into some kind of social use, this is a problem. You have no idea of the statements you make when you walk around with these fashion rats, or the thoughts that go through every guy’s mind." We’ll just have to take his word on that.

High belts


This is arguably the weakest item on Simon’s list, unless we also mention that it’s a wrong trend to follow only in the case of certain body types. When used randomly or just for the sake of keeping up with what your friends are wearing, high belts can do more damage than good because, instead of emphasizing your torso and waistline, they make you look all bulky and, why not say it outright, fat. Disproportionate. Eager to hide those very flaws that you ironically make more obvious with that belt.

"There’s beauty in proportion, and nothing messes with that more than a blatant misplacing of a standard item. If you’re willing to constrict your ribs, do us all a favor and wear a corset." Simon writes, stressing that sometimes more is definitely… well, more.

Of course you can all disagree with all of the above, especially since, like all other worst/best tops, this one too comes with a high degree of subjectivity. Even more, in good circumstances, these five items can actually prove to be like the cherry on the cake instead of the straw that breaks the camel’s back. In the end, it’s all a matter of perspective and, most important, of taste. So don’t flaunt it if you ain’t got it, and choose what trends you follow wisely, always keeping your personality and what’s suitable for it in mind.

5 Styles Women Hate in Men

- Fashion taken to extremes
By: Elena Gorgan, Life & Style Editor


Women and fashion are such best friends that their coming together rarely leaves room for anything or anyone else. But that doesn’t mean they’re safe from the so-called "faux pas" phenomenon, also known as that common disease that affects those ladies who, out of their desire to be trendy, end up looking like just fresh out of a garage sale. Quite on the contrary. Now, since a few days ago we saw which the five trends men hate the most in women were, it’s time to turn the tables on them and analyze five of the styles that are generally over-abused by them, as well as explain why they’re not as cool as they seem to think they are.

The girls at All Women’s Talk drew up the following chart as some sort of payback to Simon's post that we already talked about. However, anyone is free to disagree with it, as well as to add new items that are not present in it, like wearing socks with sandals in the summertime, wearing cutoffs (pants and shirts) or see-through tees, cladding oneself all in tight leather, or whatever else comes to mind. So let’s begin with our countdown.


Backpacks with suits



A suit is generally seen as a sign of ultimate elegance, thus excluding from the very start the idea of comfort. On the other hand, you have the backpack which, as useful as it may be (and it is), seems to cry outdoors, practicality and freedom of movement. Whoever sees how these could ever come together needs to take a good look at the way people (to read, women) are looking at him on the street and go and buy himself a nice and fancy murse or a regular briefcase.

A bag as an accessory for men is not a new idea so what’s so wrong about this combo is not the combination itself, but rather the nature of the two elements. There are always ways to avoid looking this awkward, and they are so varied that it would be almost pointless to try to enumerate them all. But, whatever guys choose to carry their stuff to work in, they must remember that suit plus backpack almost always equals "high school kid playing dress up with his dad’s suit," as the girls from All Women’s Talk so delicately put it. And that’s just not cool.

Comb-overs

This one, naturally, applies to men who are already of a certain age. Be that as it may, nothing in this world can excuse a Donald Trump hairstyle – unless, of course, we’re talking about the Donald himself. Sure, losing one’s hair can be a pretty traumatizing experience and it’s only understandable that the man in question tries to do his best to make it less obvious.

Nevertheless, comb-overs are never the solution. Just because Trump can pull it off doesn’t mean that regular guys can too. And the explanation for this is pretty simple: given the Donald’s money, fame and reputation, he could as well go out of the house in nothing but a bathrobe (if Hugh Hefner does it, why couldn’t he?) and he would still be seen as the epitome of… whatever Trump stands for. For regular folks, however, the solution can only be either cutting the hair close to the head or going completely bald. Sometimes, they say, less is more, and this certainly applies in the case of hair of "follicly challenged" men.

Wacky ties

There was once a time when wacky ties were seen as a must in every guy’s wardrobe, as they were deemed the only accessory that could bring some spunk into an otherwise boring office outfit. That was back in the ‘90s so, unless you’re living in the past or you’re trying to set the trend (wrong one, this time), it’s best to keep ties as simple as possible. Make no mistake, women do love it when they see that you still haven’t lost touch with that child in you, but maybe wearing Tweety ties is not the answer to finding the key to their hearts.

"It may look cute for some, but wacky ties just look - well, wacky - on some men. Stick with the basics." write the girls who came up with this chart. However, we might as well mention that there are certain types of men who can, and do, get away with the craziest and most colorful ties and even bow-ties. They are usually cool by definition and, to them, fashion is not a science but rather the most natural way they have of expressing themselves. Needless to say, unless you happen to be among those very few lucky ones, you might as well stop trying to impress your work mates with your ties. Trust us, they’re not jealous of you because you have so many. Really, they’re not.


Too tight clothes


While girls are encouraged to wear clothes as tight as possible (actually, the word is "fitting"), few other sights are as laughable as that of a guy donning clothes two numbers too small, in what can only be a desperate attempt at looking buffer. Machos are all the rage right now, and have been so ever since we can remember, but those who flaunt it without having it are guilty of first degree wannabe-ism, and are treated by those around them accordingly.

Bear in mind that the opposite can also apply but, most often than not, it’s not a fashion crime that women frown upon as much as in the case of too tight clothes. Either way, it’s pretty obvious for women when a guy goes out and buys an S tee when he’s actually an XL, just to create the impression that he’s bulkier in the chest and arms area than he really is. If he also matches the tee with the "cocky walk" (you know, the one where he keeps his arms slightly farther away from the sides of his body, as if all those muscles are constantly getting in the way of him walking normally) and equally tight jeans, he should not be that amazed that chicks don’t swoon at his feet whenever he walks by. It’s never going to happen.

Funky facial hair


There’s rugged, and then there’s just… unkempt. Also, there’s facial hair, and then there’s the goatee. For some reason or another, men seem to think it’s ok not to shave for days, as if taking care of themselves would be some kind of favor they’re doing us women. Sadly, they’re wrong and, with each day that they conveniently forget to take care of their looks, their hotness factor goes down. Facial hair and unkemptness can only look good if the guy in question makes sure they do.

"You may not know about the meaning of fashion - but please, get rid of those goatees which make you look exactly what the name implies! If you need that ‘stache to keep your macho image, keep it trimmed - neatly!" say the girls from All Women’s Talk. Just like with the mullet and its many recent variations, facial hair is not for everyone because it can make a guy, if not the right type, look like a trucker, to avoid a more offensive term. So make sure you know in which category you belong and that you’re willing to take great care of your looks if you really want to go for facial hair.


These being said, it’s pretty clear that men, just like women, can sometimes be found guilty of falling victims to the trends they so much criticize. And, as in the case of the latter, the solution is never to overdo it – just stick to being yourself and doing/wearing whatever best suits you as an individual, and you will certainly not be stared at on the street, for all the wrong reasons.

Google: Britney Isn't Hot Anymore!

- The company updated Google Trends
By: Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

The Mountain View company rolled out a brand new update for Google Trends, the online service that shows you the most popular Google searches. Until now, the service displayed the hot searches for a certain period of time such as weeks, months or years. Now, the new function, codenamed Google Hot Trends, shows even more, refreshing the provided information several times per day. According to Reuters, the service will display the hot searches with one hour delay, meaning that you're now able to view the most popular searches conducted one hour ago using the Google search technology.

"There are events going on all the time that most of us aren't aware of happening. After we find what trends that are interesting, users will want to know why are they important?[…]We are helping you find an explanation: There is some investigation that has to be done by the user," Amit Patel, a Hot Trends software engineer, said according to Reuters.

In the past, the Mountain View-company returned some expected trends concerning the search queries conducted using its technology. At that time, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were the most popular keywords typed on Google, managing to beat IT-related searches such as Windows or Microsoft. Now, the trends are quite different as the most searched things are "avandia" and "jaclyn nesheiwat".

"Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. We then show you a graph with the results -- our search-volume graph -- plotted on a linear scale," the search giant describes its technology. However, the company shows only the US trends, meaning that it analyzes only the queries conducted from this country.

Russian pullback in Georgia 'far too slow': US

GORI ( 2008-08-22 13:28:04 ) :Russia promised to complete a partial pullback of troops from Georgia by the end of Friday but said an unspecified number of 'peacekeeping forces' would stay inside the country, angering the West.

A top US general visiting Georgia condemned the pullout as "far too little, far too slow."

"If they are moving, it's at a snail's pace," General John Craddock, head of the U.S. European Command, told reporters at Tbilisi airport, where he watched the arrival of a US military plane bringing in aid.

Russia and Georgia went to war after Tbilisi attempted on August 7-8 to retake the Russian-backed rebel province of South Ossetia by force, provoking a massive counter-attack from Moscow by land, sea and air.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that military units supporting its peacekeepers would pull back by the end of Friday to South Ossetia from Georgia proper. President Dmitry Medvedev made a similar pledge earlier this week.

But within a new Russian-controlled security zone inside Georgia, the Defense Ministry statement said "peacekeepers at special checkpoints in the quantities needed to ensure security will remain."

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he would not accept that. "There will be no buffer zones. We will never live with any buffer zones. We'll never allow anything like this," he told Reuters in Tbilisi.

Russia says it needs to maintain a force in Georgia to prevent further bloodshed and protect South Ossetians -- most of whom hold Russian passports -- from Georgian attacks. Tbilisi says Moscow is trying to annex its territory.

With the size of the new security zone unclear and the difference between regular Russian troops and Russian peacekeepers increasingly blurred, it was uncertain what Moscow's pledges actually amounted to.

"There are some checkpoints where one day they are federal troops and the next day peacekeepers," Kakha Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's Security Council, told Reuters.

The six-point peace plan brokered by France gives Russia the right to take unspecified additional security measures in Georgia pending the arrival of an international force.




Copyright Reuters, 2008

Sierra Leone agency wants ban on Blood Diamond film

FREETOWN ( 2008-08-22 03:51:45 ) :With the 2007 Hollywood movie 'Blood Diamond' still pulling big crowds into Freetown's movie halls, Sierra Leone's new promotion agency would like nothing better than to see it banned.

'This 'Blood Diamond' film is sending bad signals to the world about Sierra Leone,' the state-run Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIPA) said Thursday.

The agency is urging the government and other partners "to ban the film with immediate effect," SLIPA head Adeyormie Sandy told AFP.

Set at the height Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an unscrupulous diamond trader. The film shows gruesome scenes of fighting in Sierra Leone and details how rebels force civilians to mine diamonds for them to fund the war effort.

While the movie awakened the world to the problem of conflict diamonds, the promotion agency argues it hampers its efforts to rebrand Sierra Leone to lure new investors.




Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008

Convicted ex-rocker Glitter due in London

LONDON ( 2008-08-22 11:42:24 ) :Former glam rocker and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter was due to arrive in London on Friday morning, three days after being released from a Vietnamese prison.

A British foreign ministry spokesman confirmed Glitter's departure to London after Hong Kong refused to allow him in, and Thailand declared him persona non grata.

The 64-year-old was released from a Vietnamese prison on Tuesday after serving nearly three years for committing obscene acts with two girls aged 11 and 12.

He had initially been booked to fly to London that night via Bangkok, but refused to get on the plane to the British capital, instead spending 24 hours in a transit lounge in Bangkok before agreeing to take a flight to Hong Kong.

Chinese authorities refused him entry, however, and he was sent back to Thailand, where he had also been declared persona non grata.

"I can confirm that he has now left on the flight to London," the spokesman

told AFP Thursday evening.

Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, had reportedly been contacting countries around Asia in hopes of finding one that would allow him in, before finally being forced to return to Britain.

Once famous for his flamboyant bouffant wigs and silver jumpsuits, Glitter was arrested in 1997 and served prison time in Britain after taking his computer to a repair shop, where hardcore child pornographic material was found on its hard drive.

He was sentenced in 1999 to four months in prison on child pornography charges, of which he served two.

Keen to avoid the media, Glitter reportedly moved to Cuba and then Cambodia, where he was expelled in 2002, allegedly for trawling for underage sex.

Having settled in communist Vietnam, where a British newspaper reported he was living with an underage girl, he was arrested at Ho Chi Minh City airport in November 2005 while trying to leave for Thailand.

In March 2006 he was sentenced to three years in prison, the minimum term under Vietnamese law, which was later cut by three months.

The singer maintained his innocence, blamed a media conspiracy and claimed he was teaching the girls English and allowed them to stay overnight because they were scared of ghosts.

He continued to profess his innocence as he shuttled desperately among Asian airports.

"God, am I happy to be leaving Vietnam and that jail. I should never have been in there," he said on one flight, according to The Sun newspaper in Britain.

Although Britain has not announced any outstanding charges against the singer, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said he would be forced to sign a sex offenders register and warned that he should not be allowed to travel overseas again.

In the 1970s, Glitter racked up several hit songs including "I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am!)" and "Do You Wanna Touch Me?"

The 1972 hit "Rock and Roll" is still often chanted in British and US sports stadiums.

He has spoken about trying to revive his music career and penning a book that he says would exonerate him.




Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008

Akshay Kumar signed as the brand ambassador for Levi's

MUMBAI ( 2008-08-22 12:32:28 ) :After the unprecedented success of the Anees Bazmee directed Singh Is Kinng, Akshay Kumar is on top of the world. The film has not just upped his Bollywood status, but has also made him the advertiser's darling.

After endorsing brands like Thumbs Up and Grasim, Akshay has now been roped in as the Brand Ambassador for the American Jeans and casual wear manufacturer, Levi Strauss, for launching its brand Levi's 501 in India. According to reliable sources, Akshay has been paid a whopping sum for the endorsement of the jeans brand, whose ads have been shot in some of the most stunning locations of Los Angeles. These ads are expected to go on air from the last week of this month.


Copyright Aaj TV, 2008

Mandela home to become museum

CAPE TOWN: Nelson Mandela signed over his Cape Town home to be used as a living museum. The house was Mandela's only residence outside of prison. The former South-African president spent 27 years in prison. Wednesday 20 August 2008

Former South African President Nelson Mandela on Wednesday signed his Cape Town home over to the city for use as a living museum.

Jakes Gerwel, chairman of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, one of Mandela's three charity organisations, said the house had been Mandela's "only home outside of prison in the Western Cape."

The nobel peace prize laureate, who was South Africa's first black president, spent 27 years imprisoned in jailhouses in the province by the white minority apartheid government.

A frail, but smiling Mandela sat through Wednesday's proceedings without speaking.

City premier Lynne Brown said the project would see Mandela's home become "our investment for young people" and would in future host youth leadership programmes.

The Foundation also announced that Mandela's prestigious scholarship programme had been boosted by major donations, including 10.5 million rand (1.3 million US dollars) from South Africa's Absa Bank and 2.5 million pounds (4.6 million dollars) from the London-based Leverhume Trust.

The donations would provide a further 13 scholarships a year for young Africans.

Matt Damon, wife welcome 2nd baby girl

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Matt Damon and his wife Luciana on Wednesday announced the birth of their second child, a baby girl named Gia Zavala, US media reported.

"Everyone's doing great," Damon's rep, Jennifer Allen, told People magazine.

"She is a healthy baby girl."

Damon, 37, met Luciana at the Miami bar where she worked in 2003, when he was filming the movie "Stuck on You."

The couple married in December 2005. They live with their first-born daughter, Isabella, 2, and Alexia, 10, who is Luciana's daughter from a previous relationship.

Damon was voted People's "Sexiest Man Alive" this year and shared the Oscar for best screenplay writing with co-star Ben Affleck in 1997's "Good Will Hunting."

Georgian rebels demand Russian recognition

TSKHINVALI: South Ossetia will ask the Kremlin to recognise its independence from Georgia, the leader of the breakaway region told a rally including widows and mourning mothers in his war-ravaged capital on Thursday.

Eduard Kokoity, who styles himself president of a country not recognised by any other nation, told a rally of several thousand that Georgia had undermined its own statehood by trying to seize his region by force on Aug 7-8.

Widows and mothers in black, with photographs of their loved ones pinned to their chests, shed tears in the shadows of bombed-out houses on the central square of Tskhinvali as Kokoity lambasted Georgia and its Western backers.

The small, pro-Russian province in the Caucasus mountains, which broke away from Georgian rule in 1992 after a war, saw renewed fighting this month after Georgia tried to impose
control in a failed invasion repelled by Russian forces.

"I have already prepared an address to the President of the Russian Federation, to the Federation Council and State Duma, and to the heads of state of the international community, with a request to recognise our independence," Kokoity said.

"Georgia itself has driven a nail into the coffin of its statehood," said Kokoity, a former Soviet wrestling champion, who wiped away tears as he spoke under a beating sun.

"We proudly say today that we deserve to live in a free and independent republic of South Ossetia," he said. "The recognition of our independence is not a whim of the Ossetians; this is a security guarantee for our tiny people."

US pullout from Iraq may start by June: US army

WASHINGTON: US forces could begin withdrawing from Iraqi cities as early as June under a draft agreement reached between US and Iraqi negotiators, a senior US military official said Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agreement on the US status of forces still awaited final approval.

But the official said that under the draft agreement a withdrawal of US forces from Iraqi cities "could be as early as June, conditions permitting."

Putin vows $24b for Russian hi-tech: report

MOSCOW: Russia is to invest 600 billion rubles (24.6 billion dollars, 16.7 billion euros) in hi-tech industries over two years, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

"We have never put this kind of money into this area," Putin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

"Between 2008 and 2010 we expect to assign 600 billion rubles to various state hi-tech programs," he told the meeting.

Putin has said investment in the technology sector is key to Russia's efforts to wean itself off dependence on the export of natural resources, such as oil, gas and metals, whose prices can fluctuate wildly

Ricky Martin father of twins: representative

SAN JUAN ( 2008-08-21 10:16:59 ) :Latin pop star Ricky Martin is now father of twin baby boys, born by a surrogate mother, representatives for the spunky Puerto Rican crooner said on Wednesday.

Martin, 36, known for his hits "Livin' La Vida Loca," and "She Bangs," became a father a few weeks ago and plans to spend the rest of the year with the babies, according to a statement by Perfect Partners.

"In recent weeks, Ricky Martin became a proud father by the birth of twin sons. The children, delivered via gestational surrogacy, are healthy and already under Ricky's full-time care," the statement said.

"Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children."

No further details were released about the mother or the babies.

The singer, who has been active in children's causes through his Ricky Martin Foundation, maintains residences in New York and Miami.-




Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008

Storm Fay floods hundreds of Florida homes

FLORIDA: Emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets Wednesday to rescue central Florida residents trapped by rising floodwaters from a stalled Tropical Storm Fay, which soaked the state for a third consecutive day.

Calling the flooding "catastrophic," Governor Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs.

The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.

Flooding was reported in hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to 5 feet of standing water.

In three towns, rising waters backed up sewage systems. It wasn't immediately clear how many residents had been displaced or were stranded, but county officials reported making dozens of rescues.

The storm could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Hurricane Center said up to 22 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral on the state's central Atlantic coast.

By Wednesday evening, the storm's center had moved over the Atlantic Ocean, and its winds had picked up speed.

Forecasters expected the storm to strengthen slightly before turning back toward the mainland Thursday and hitting Florida for the third time this week.

But National Hurricane Center meteorologist Corey Walton said it was unlikely the storm would gain enough energy over the water to become a hurricane.

The erratic storm first struck Monday in the Florida Keys, then veered out to sea before traversing east across the state, briefly strengthening, then stalling.

For much of Wednesday, the storm barely moved, dumping inches and inches of rain over coastal central Florida.

If Fay strikes Florida again as expected, it would be just the fourth storm in recorded history to hit the peninsula with tropical storm intensity three separate times. The most recent was Hurricane Donna in 1960, said Daniel Brown, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

At least 21 killed in Madrid air crash

MADRID: At least 21 people were killed when a Spanair passenger jet crashed on takeoff at Madrid airport on Wednesday and 40 were hurt, a source at Spanish emergency services said.

A Spanish jet skidded off the runway and crashed at Madrid airport Wednesday and billowing smoke came from the wreckage, television images showed.

An emergency services spokesman, quoted by Spanish national radio, said the plane had been attempting an emergency landing just after taking off from the airport.

Eleven fire trucks were at the scene.

A spokesman for the fire service at Madrid's Barajas airport said the plane had a capacity of 166 passengers.

Spanair is Spain's second biggest airline after Iberia and is a subsidiary of Scandinavian carrier SAS.

Iraq to sign long-term oil deals

BAGHDAD: Iraq will soon sign its first big international oil deal since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a $1.2 billion oil service contract with China, oil minister Hussain Al-Shahristani was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

The deal covers a small field producing just 90,000 barrels per day and replaces an earlier deal signed under Saddam. But the terms described by Al-Shahristani give a clue to the tough line Baghdad is likely to take in deals with other foreign firms.

It replaces a production sharing agreement that would have given a Chinese firm a long-term stake in profits from the Adhab oilfield with a services contract in which the Chinese receive fees for work, but Baghdad keeps the future profits.

"We have held talks with [the Chinese] for a year, and the terms of the deal were changed to a service contract. The Chinese have agreed on that, with a value of $1.2 billion," Al-Shahristani told the An-Noor newspaper.

Foreign firms are keen to have access to the OPEC country's oilfields, the world's third largest. But with oil prices high Baghdad has been negotiating from a position of strength, while war has kept firms from setting up a presence in Baghdad.

The oil minister is traveling to China at the end of this month to discuss the deal, which was originally signed in 1997 between Iraq and the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC).

The original deal was valued at $670 million at a time when oil prices were much lower than today, but it would have become far more lucrative for the Chinese if they were allowed to keep the production sharing terms at today's prices.

Iraq had said in the past it would honour the Saddam-era deal with the Chinese, but wanted to renegotiate it.

Iraq now exports about 2 million barrels of oil per day, roughly equivalent to exports under Saddam, but says that it can quickly boost production when it begins repairing infrastructure that was neglected during decades of sanctions and war.

The high price of oil means Baghdad is flush with cash and has little need of foreign financing for projects, although it wants to import expertise and technology from foreign firms.

Iraq is negotiating six other short-term service contracts worth about $500 million each with foreign firms or consortiums, but those deals have been long delayed. A US diplomat said this week he expected most or all of them would be scrapped.

Foreign oil companies are seen as much keener on production sharing deals, which would give them a stake in future oil profits, rather than service contracts.Dozens of oil firms are expected to compete for long-term deals which the government says it hopes to open for bidding next year.

Shahristani repudiated a Saddam Hussein-era deal with Russia's largest private oil company LUKOIL, saying the contract was political and its terms "totally unfair".

"Relating to the Russian contract, it was signed with the former regime for political reasons and scrapped by the former regime also for political reasons," he said. "It is a totally unfair contract."

He said the field covered by that deal, Phase II of the West Qurna oilfield, was one of the biggest in Iraq.

LUKOIL has already been informed that rights to the field will be offered in a second round of bidding coming soon, he said.

He also said a deal was almost complete with a large global firm on a joint venture to produce natural gas to generate electricity at home while liquefying and exporting the surplus.

He did not name the company, but Shahristani has previously discussed negotiations with Royal Dutch Shell on a project that would collect gas Iraq now burns off at oilfields.

Bush defends terror war in speech to veterans

CRAWFORD, Texas: President George W Bush is defending his line-in-the-sand approach to the fight against terrorism, following presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama in a speech to a major veterans group.

His address Wednesday in Orlando, Florida, was to highlight themes Republican hopeful McCain has been using to argue that he is better qualified to be commander in chief than Obama, the Democratic nominee-in-waiting.

Bush, in remarks to the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, also was expected to address the conflict between Russia and Georgia, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said .

Yet it is the nearly seven-year battle against nebulous terror groups such as al-Qaida that has dominated Bush's presidency and will carry over to a new administration next year.

Bush was to travel to Florida from his Texas ranch, where he is spending most of the remainder of August.

The president also was stopping in New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi, to talk about recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and brought heavy criticism of the Bush administration for its sluggish response

Five Americans held as China steps up scrutiny

BEIJING: Five American blogger-activists and a foreign artist have been detained in Beijing as the government intensifies a crackdown on pro-Tibetan protests in the home stretch of the Olympics, rights groups said on Wednesday.

Students for a Free Tibet said authorities detained on Tuesday five self-styled "citizen journalists" who were in Beijing to promote Tibetan freedom. They said activist-artist James Powderly had also been nabbed.

The Beijing Olympics have not been dogged by the widespread demonstrations that authorities had feared. Several protesters advocating for Tibet independence have nonetheless managed to breach tight security, in one case hanging a "Free Tibet" banner outside the headquarters of the state broadcaster.

China is particularly sensitive to criticism of its rule in Tibet, the far-western region Communist troops entered in 1950.

"In relation to foreigners holding demonstrations in Beijing in support of Tibet independence, competent authorities have the right to handle these things according to law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference on Wednesday.

"I'd also like to emphasize that in China, activities that support Tibet independence will be strongly condemned by the Chinese people and will not be welcomed."

The Committee to Protect Journalists said China had blocked more than 50 websites carrying news or advocating on behalf of pro-Tibetan groups, including their own (www.cpj.org), before the Games began, reneging on pre-Olympics promises of Internet freedoms.

New York-based Human Rights in China says 24 protesters -- critics of the Communist Party and their family members -- had been detained or put under watch before the Olympics opened.

Many others had been captured in the months prior to silence dissent as global attention turned to the Olympics.

Beijing resident Dong Jiqin said his wife Ni Yulan was jailed in April when authorities began clearing out activists and others they felt may draw media attention away from the Games.

"I cannot watch the Games," Dong said from his cluttered apartment in the heart of the capital. "I'm afraid my wife isn't safe. We think the Olympics should be held, but I am just not in the mood to watch it."

In another case, petitioners Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, were sentenced to one year of "re-education through labor" after repeatedly applying to demonstrate in areas set aside for protests during the Games, Human Rights in China said.

"In China, as in other countries, applications for demonstrations must go through legal procedures," the Foreign Ministry's Qin said when asked about the two petitioners.

None of dozens of applications to protest has been approved.

"They wanted to see us stuck in jail so the Olympics would look better," said Dong.

Algeria bombing kills 43

ALGIERS: A bomb attack east of Algiers on Tuesday killed 43 people and wounded 38, the Algerian interior ministry said, in one of the bloodiest incidents in years in the OPEC member state.

A ministry statement carried by the official APS news agency, said the attack targeted a paramilitary gendarmerie training school at Issers, 55 km (34 miles) east of the capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

In recent months the mountainous region east of Algiers has seen numerous attacks by al Qaeda's north Africa wing, which is fighting to set up purist Islamic rule in the north African country, a major oil and gas supplier to Europe.

A suicide car bombing killed at least six civilians in Zemmouri, also east of Algiers, on Aug 10 in an attack on a coast guard barracks and an adjacent post of the gendarmerie.

The government said the attack may have been retaliation for an army ambush that killed 12 rebels in mountainous Kabylie region during the night of August 7 to 8.

Newspapers have said that ambush was part of the army's pursuit of rebels who orchestrated a suicide car bombing which wounded 25 people in Tizi Ouzou town east of Algiers on August 3.

That attack was claimed by al Qaeda's north Africa wing, the al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's attack.

The group has links with like-minded militants in other north African countries and is the most effective armed rebel organization in the country of 34 million, Africa's second largest country by area.

The group has claimed several attacks in the past including the twin suicide bombings of U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers in December 2007, which killed 41 people, 17 of them United Nations staff.

Algeria, an important supplier of gas to Europe, is emerging from more than a decade of conflict that began when in 1992 the military-backed government scrapped legislative elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win.

About 150,000 people have died during the ensuing violence.

The bloodshed has subsided in recent years and in 2006 the government freed more than 2,000 former Islamist guerrillas under an amnesty designed to put an end to the conflict.

But a hard core of several hundred rebels fights on as members of al Qaeda's north Africa wing, which was previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat or GSPC.

The group's leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel, told the New York Times last month that increasing numbers of young men around the region were joining the group out of persistent poverty and anger at what he called the West's war on Islam.

Russia not keeping its word on Georgia: US

CRAWFORD ( 2008-08-19 10:18:18 ) :The United States accused Russia on Monday of not keeping its word to start withdrawing its forces from Georgia and vowed to look into charges of 'ethnic cleansing' in the former Soviet republic.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, bound for crisis talks at Nato headquarters in Brussels, said Russian President Dmitry Medevdev had failed to fulfill his pull-out pledge under a France-brokered ceasefire plan."(I wonder) why the Russian president either will not or cannot keep his word," Rice told reporters on her airplane hours after the White House demanded that Moscow proceed with its withdrawal "without delay.""The Russians have said that their withdrawal would start at midday today. We will continue to closely monitor Russian actions in Georgia for confirmation of the withdrawal," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.But hours later, a US defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said in Washington those US officials monitoring the situation "have not seen any significant Russian movement out of Georgia today."US President George W. Bush, watching the crisis from his Texas ranch, stayed out of sight after ordering Rice to Europe to seek a common Nato position in support of Georgia and reaffirm US solidarity with its ally.Johndroe also said Washington would investigate charges, most recently levelled by staunch Georgia allies Lithuania and Poland, that Russian troops were guilty of "ethnic cleansing" as part of their offensive."That's a serious charge and we take it seriously and are looking into the matter," Johndroe told reporters, citing "charges from both sides" and stressing: "It's clear this was an ugly conflict on the ground."Russia made similar charges against Tbilisi shortly after the conflict flared up August 6 with a Georgian incursion into the breakaway region of South Ossetia and escalated with an all-out Russian offensive two days later.Johndroe declined to confirm reports, denied by Moscow, that Russia had rolled short-range SS-21 missiles into Georgia, but said any troops or equipment that came in when the conflict flared up August 6 must leave under the ceasefire."Let me be clear: If it rolled in after August 6, it needs to roll out" under the terms of a French-brokered ceasefire pact, said Johndroe. "That would be in keeping with the Russian commitment on withdrawal."The United States will help Georgia rebuild its battered infrastructure but also its security forces, said Johndroe, who declined to discuss possible US aid for specific military hardware like radar installations."I think it's premature to talk about any specifics of what that reconstruction effort might be. But there should be no doubt that the United States is committed to helping Georgia rebuild," he said.In Brussels, Rice was to hold talks with key Nato allies as well as European Union heavyweights including French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Fererro-Waldner, Rice's office said.She was also to sign a key missile defense shield pact with Warsaw that green lights the basing of US interceptor missiles on Polish territory -- a step that has drawn angry reactions from Russia.Moscow is furious at Georgia's attempt to join Nato, and alliance foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday to show their support for Georgia. But they remain divided on how to deal with a resurgent Moscow, with some western leaders unwilling to see ties with oil-rich Russia deteriorate any further.Rice said Washington would not try to speed up Georgia and Ukraine's path to membership in Nato, but said the alliance must make it clear to Moscow that it cannot prevent former Soviet countries from building closer ties with the West.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2008

Majority rejoice over Musharraf resignation: survey

ISLAMABAD: The Gallup survey (Pakistan) Tuesday revealed that 63 per cent people rejoice over President Musharraf's resignation, while only 15 per cent regret it. "20 per cent were ambivalent about saying they were neither happy or unhappy", the survey added. According to the survey, soon after Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday the poll was carried out by Gallup Pakistan (Pakistan Institute of Public Opinion) the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The sample size was approximately 560 men and women statistically chosen from major urban areas of the country comprising a cross-section of all ages, socio-economic and linguistic groups. Demands for Musharraf's resignation had been rising consistently since November last year when Musharraf suspended the constitution. According to Musharraf, the reason for imposing `emergency' was to safeguard Pakistan. In his resignation speech, he again cited Pakistan's best interests as the reason behind his departure. However, 70 per cent dispute Musharraf's claim to have resigned with the motive of Pakistan first. Instead, they said he resigned in personal interest-'Musharraf first' approach. The majority of Pakistanis, 64 per cent, also reject his claims of economic accomplishments and good government during his last nine-year tenure. Surveys have shown that, rightly or wrongly, majority of Pakistanis attribute current economic crisis and inflation to bad policies of Musharraf regime. The majority of Pakistanis take a pessimistic view of the past nine years, 70 per cent said it was bad or vary bad and only 18 per cent said it was good or very good. The remaining did not give a view. As his tenure comes to an end, 55 per cent Pakistanis expect that conditions in the country would improve with Musharraf's resignation, 19 per cent take a pessimistic view said conditions will worsen; 19 per cent expect no change. Although there is uncertainty as to whether charges will be pressed against the former President, for suspending the constitution among others things, 65 per cent support holding a proper trial while only 26 per cent are in favor of the "forgive and forget" option. On the issues of restoring deposed judges, 85 per cent want Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges to be restored immediately, 6 per cent oppose restoration, while 9 per cent advise not to take up the issue right now.

Musharraf resigns: Reactions from world leaders

LONDON: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said he will resign after nine years in office. World figures have been giving their reaction.Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesmanWe hope that the resignation will have a positive impact on strengthening the government and democracy in Pakistan. Afghanistan wishes a stable, democratic Pakistan based on the rule of law.Spokesman for the British PM Gordon BrownDuring President Musharraf's time in office we have seen a deepening of UK-Pakistan relations. We wish him well in the future. But relations between the UK and Pakistan don't depend on individuals and, as we have made clear, we support measures that promote strong democratic institutions which lead to greater stability, democracy and rule of law in Pakistan.David Miliband, British Foreign SecretaryPakistan is a vital friend of the UK and it is essential for Britain's security that it has a strong and democratic government with a clear mandate. The responsibilities on political leaders in Pakistan are now significant. They need to come together to ensure that the recently-elected government carries forward an economic and security agenda consistent with the long-term interests of the Pakistani people.Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese Prime MinisterWhat kind of changes does this bring to the "war-on-terror" and the Afghan situation? I don't expect any significant change for now. I would expect different things would occur later. But it is not a time for us to make predictions.Pranab Mukherjee, Indian Foreign MinisterIt is an internal matter of Pakistan. During my [recent] visit to Pakistan, I had, in fact, developed a personal relationship with the leaders of that country. From Nawaz Sharif to Asif Ali Zardari and Yusuf Gilani, I have cordial discussions with all of them and it seems to me that a positive approach could be made in improving our relations.Russian Ministry of Foreign AffairsRussia hopes that the resignation of Pervez Musharraf will have no negative consequences for the political stability of this great Asian state. We hope that the situation in Pakistan will not leave the limits of the constitutional framework and will remain within the framework of legality and respect for order.Spokesman for European CommissionThere is not a lot to say; the European Commission considers the resignation of Pakistan President Musharraf as essentially a matter of internal politics in Pakistan.Spokesman for German Foreign MinistryWe expect that we will continue to deal with a Pakistan government (and) with a Pakistani president in the future who does not only have an eye on the situation in Pakistan itself but also on regional stability and who does his part to contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan... Peaceful conflict resolution with its neighbors and decisiveness in fighting terrorism in all its forms are of crucial importance to us... Germany will continue to stand by Pakistan in the future as the country develops and stabilizes its democracy.Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign MinisterPolitical stability is now required in Pakistan following the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf [as] political instability in Pakistan is not in the interests of Pakistan nor the regional or international community... The Pakistani Government needed to renew efforts to deal with its security and economic problems. It is important that the government of Pakistan now moves with purpose to tackle the security and economic challenges facing the country… These challenges have regional and international implications... Australia - as a friend of Pakistan - would look to assist it in dealing with the challenges especially in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.(Courtesy: bbc.co.uk)

China's lunar satellite survives eclipse

BEIJING: China's first lunar satellite, which has been orbiting around the moon for nearly nine months, has withstood the test of a solar eclipse that cut its solar energy supply, state media reported. Scientists altered the Chang'e 1's orbit and temporarily turned off some functions before losing contact with the satellite for more than three hours on Sunday, the Beijing News reported. Signals sent by the satellite after the eclipse indicated it was operating "as expected" the newspaper reported, citing Liu Junze, a scientist at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. The ground control centre changed the satellite's orbit so that it would only be out of direct sunlight for 168 minutes instead of the 220 minutes it would have faced otherwise -- which would have exceeded the probe's power reserves, the report said. The eclipse occurred between 3:35 am and 6:44 am Sunday (1935 GMT and 2244 GMT Saturday), the report said. It was the second challenge for Chang'e 1 after it had to adopt similar tactics during an eclipse in February. Chang'e 1 is part of China's three-stage moon mission, which is expected to include a landing on the moon and the launch of a rover vehicle which will return to Earth with soil and stone samples around 2017, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Manissha have no regrets

MUMBAI: Bachna Ae Haseeno’ has hit the cinema halls, and is busy collecting the box office earning as well the reactions of the audiences. The much talked about movie has lived up to its expectations. The enormous star cast is well known, but we think many of us still are not well acquainted with the fresh tulip beauty, Manissha Lamba.The girl who started with an off-beat role in ‘Yahan’, to doing a second lead role in Bhandrakar’s Corporate, Lamba has come a long way.Manissha’s character in her latest flick ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ is being admired by millions. She plays a sweet romantic girl Mahi, who meets Raj (Ranbir) on her way to Zurich. You can’t simply ignore the confidence this girl has in her voice. Her costumes, which display mixing of Patiala salwars denim jackets and halter tops, are already becoming popular among the girls. At this, the actress laughs and replies, “Really, the clothes suit Mahi, the character I play. I didn’t think of making a fashion statement consciously, but sure if I become more visible thanks to them, it’s fun.”The actress completely denies of any moments of insecurity while she was shooting as there were other two beauties too on the sets- Bipasha and Ranbir’s real lady, Deepika. Supposedly there were no catfights, too bad.Talking about Bipasha, Lamba says, “even if she’s a successful actor, Bipasha is friendly, down-to-earth and very endearing. I didn’t get to know her too well, but I’d like to do more films with her.”And what about the freshest heartthrob of the nation, Ranbir Kapoor? “Well, he’s a very talented actor. He’s easy to get along with and a true gentleman. Working with him was fun and a fabulous experience,” she expresses.The girl doesn’t regret anything in her life. Eventually this graduate in English literature wanted to become a journalist, then how did she enter the field of acting? At this Manissha replies, “The growing process is on. I need to learn lot more from here. The three years that I spent in the profession have been worth a life-time experience. I’ve become more professional and aware of my surroundings.”The beauty who maintains a low profile is still single and in her own statement “ready to mingle”, so all you singles on a search out, keep dreaming!

NEW DELHI: India is acquiring sophisticated equipment to videotape rai

NEW DELHI: India is acquiring sophisticated equipment to videotape railway passengers travelling between Pakistan and India at the Atari and Munnabao railway stations. Media reports quoting Indian Home Ministry source said an integrated surveillance system will be established for this purpose. The Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) will record the arrival and departure of passengers at the two stations. According to details, top-end closed circuit television (CCTV) equipped with state-of-the-art camera with zoom lens and video converters, video management system software, high resolution LCD panel for round the clock control room monitoring will be part of the equipment being acquired by the Home Ministry.

Musharraf can go anywhere: Boucher

WASHINGTON: US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher has said that the former president Musharraf can go anywhere including United States. In an interview to American media Boucher said Pervez Musharraf was a friend of United States, adding that the US will continue cooperation with the new government in Pakistan.

Referring to Musharraf’s past role in war on terror that is said to have declined his popularity among masses he said, that was his own decision and the current government of Pakistan is committed to follow the footsteps of ex-president of Pakistan in war on terror. Responding to a question regarding Dr. Aafia Siddiqi he said that, US army apprehended her on 17 July this year as she was charged with firing on US army however only she can reveal as to where she remained for past five years.US forces did not torture Aafia and such reports are baseless, he added.

Israel cracks down on Arabic Harry Potter

HELD AL-QUDS: Harry Potter and Pinocchio are apparently not welcome in Israel, at least in their Arabic translations imported from Syria and Lebanon.Arab-Israeli publisher Salah Abassi told Israeli public radio on Monday that authorities ordered him to stop importing Arabic-language children's books from the two longtime foes of Israel.The ban includes translations of such books as Pinocchio and Harry Potter as well as Arabic classics."The trade and industry ministry and treasury warned me that importing those books is illegal," said Abassi, who imported the books through Jordan.The ban is based on a decree from 1939 -- when the area was under British mandate -- prohibiting the importation of books from countries that are at war with Israel.Abassi told the Maariv daily most of the books can be found only in Lebanon and Syria."If they were printed in Jordan or Egypt, which are friendly to Israel, I would lose no time in buying them there. Now the significance is that the Arabic reading public in Israel will not be able to enjoy the best literature," he said.

China to become world's biggest economy in 2035

China's economy will overtake that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by the midcentury, a study by a US research organization concluded.The report by economist Albert Keidel of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said China's rapid growth is driven by domestic demand more than exports, which will be sustainable over the coming decades."Its growth this decade has averaged more than 10 percent a year and is still going strong in the first half of 2008. Because its success in recent decades has not been export-led but driven by domestic demand, its rapid growth can continue well into the 21st century, unfettered by world market limitation."Keidel, who has worked as a World Bank economist and US Treasury official, said the rise of China to the world's biggest economy will happen regardless of the method of calculation.Under current market-based estimates, China's gross domestic product is about three trillion dollars compared to 14 trillion for the United States.Based on a more controversial purchasing power parity (PPP) measure used by the World Bank and others to correct low labor-cost distortions, he said China's GDP is roughly half of that of the United States."Despite this low starting point, if China's expansion is anywhere near as fast as the earlier expansion of other East Asian modernizers at a comparable stage of development, the power of compound growth rates means that China's economy will be larger than America's by midcentury -- no matter how it is converted to dollars," Keidel wrote.Keidel's calculations suggest that using the PPP method, China will catch up with the United States as an economic power by 2020, with an equivalent GDP of 18 trillion dollars.Based on the more commonly accepted market method, the turning point will come by 2035. By 2050, he estimated Chinese GDP at some 82 trillion dollars compared with 44 trillion for the United States.The dramatic economic change will make help China become a more important power in other areas including military and diplomatic affairs, according to Keidel."China's financial clout will spill into every conceivable dimension of international relations," he writes."Leadership of international institutions will gravitate toward China. This movement could include the equivalents at that time of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, regional international development banks, and more specialized bodies. Various headquarters could shift to Beijing and Shanghai."He said the United States "will have an important secondary influence, like Europe, but it will need to compromise and its sphere for unilateral action will be increasingly curtailed."However, the Chinese standard of living will remain lower -- with per capita GDP in China between half and two-thirds the level of that in the United States in 2050, according to the report.Keidel said poverty will remain a significant problem in China for decades despite considerable progress.

South Ossetia's president sacks government, declares emergency

MOSCOW: The president of Georgia's pro-Russian separatist republic of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, late Sunday dismissed his government and proclaimed a state of emergency in the rebel region, Russia's television reported. "I have signed three decrees including one on the resignation of the government, another on proclamation of a state of emergency in South Ossetia and the third on setting up an emergency committee to settle the consequences of the Georgian aggression," Kokoity told the channel. He accused his government of being slow in distributing humanitarian aid to the residents of South Ossetia, stressing that a public servant "must work for his people and not to make profit for himself." South Ossetia, which is officially part of Georgia but declared independence in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union, is determined to win recognition after the failure of a Georgian military operation to reclaim it by force. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday signed a peace deal a day after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and a week after Russian forces invaded Georgia in support of separatists in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions.

President Musharraf announces resignation

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf announced in a televised address to the nation Monday that he had decided to resign after nine years in power to avoid the threat of impeachment."After viewing the situation and consulting legal advisers and political allies, with their advice I have decided to resign," a grim-faced Musharraf said, backed by Pakistani flags and a portrait of the country's founder."I leave my future in the hands of people."Musharraf made the shock announcement after denying that any of the impeachment charges against him could stand and launching into a lengthy defence of his time in power."Not a single charge in the impeachment can stand against me," Musharraf said. "No charge can be proved against me because I never did anything for myself, it was all for Pakistan."He said that there was now law and order in the country, that human rights and democracy had been improved and that Pakistan was now an crucial country internationally."On the map of the world, Pakistan is now an important country, by the grace of Allah," he said.The President dismissed the “false allegations” being leveled against him by the coalition government and said he was neither afraid of the charges against him, nor shy to face these through impeachment. “For me it is always Pakistan first”, Musharraf said and added that politics of confrontation must come to an end and instead a policy of reconciliation be pursued. He stressed immediate measure be taken to arrest the economic downturn and said the nation has the resilience to withstand any challenge.He said it was not a time to show bravado, but to get serious as country’s dignity was at stake, the office of Presidency would bear the brunt.“For 44 years I have safeguarded the country and will continue to do so.” “No charge sheet can stand against me. Not even a single charge can be proven against me as I have full trust in Allah Almighty and I did everything with the belief of Pakistan First.” The President said he took all decisions with consultation, took all stakeholders onboard, on the most difficult decisions. “All stake holders, whether they were soldiers, politicians, bureaucrats, members of civil society, Ulema were consulted in all decisions. “I have nothing to worry about the charge sheet,” Musharraf said.

Heavy storms in Europe kill 6, injure scores

WARSAW: Heavy storms hit parts of Europe, killing at least six people, injuring scores and damaging houses, according to media reports Saturday. Southern Poland was hardest hit, with three deaths and 34 injuries when a tornado and heavy rain storms late Friday tore the roofs off homes, knocked down trees and overturned vehicles.Two of those killed were in the southern province of Silesia, where a man near Czestochowa died after a tree crashed into his vacation home and a woman was crushed by the ceiling of her house in Rusinowice. Separately, a woman in the central city of Lodz was electrocuted by wires pulled ripped off by heavy winds.In the Italian Alps, a guide found two bodies on the Monte Rosa peak in the Aosta region, at an altitude of 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) on Saturday. Authorities said the victims, a man from the Netherlands and another man from Britain, apparently froze to death during a storm that hit the mountain on Friday.Local Alpine rescue service personnel told Sky TG24 TV that the men had set out late Friday morning to climb the mountain, despite storm warnings. Authorities were working to establish their identities.Meanwhile, one death was reported in Austria, where a 41-year-old woman was killed Friday when she was hit by a falling tree in a small village in the province of Styria, the Austria Press Agency reported.The woman was part of a group of hikers taking cover from a hailstorm when the tree collapsed in a forest in St. Stefan.

Coalition forces kill 90 Taliban in Afghanistan: report

KABUL: A bomb struck the convoy of Afghanistan's education minister and parliamentarians on the outskirts of the capital Kabul, wounding a driver, a ministry spokesman said.Education Minister Mohamad Hanif Atmar was not hurt in the blast, which hit one of the last vehicles in a convoy that had just left an event to distribute books to nomad children, ministry spokesman said. A driver of one of the MPs was wounded, Elmi said, adding the minister continued his programme.Moreover, two Iranian nationals were kidnapped by Taliban in Herat. Unknown armed men kidnapped two Iranian businessmen in Afghanistan's western Herat province and police have yet to locate them, police spokesman in western region Abdul said."Riza Azimyan and Hasan Farsi were on their way between Herat and Islam Qala border town on Wednesday afternoon when unknown armed men took them away to unknown location," Ahmadi told Xinhua via telephone.Both the abducted people were businessmen and working for an Iranian road construction company building Torghundi highway in the province, he added. Afghan ministry of interior has said that the coalition forces in collaboration with Afghan troops killed 90 Taliban wihin last few days.

With 8th gold, Phelps swims into history … and now on to London

As teammate Jason Lezak stroked to the wall, Michael Phelps glanced up at the bubbled ceiling of the Water Cube. His smile seemed to stretch from one end of the pool to the other.
He whooped for joy. After nine days of immersion, Phelps was ready to dry off.
With Lezak's winning touch in the 4x100-meter medley relay, in the world record time of 3:29.34, Phelps achieved his goal of capturing eight gold medals in one Olympic Games. He punched the air while Aaron Piersol slapped his chest. Phelps hugged his teammates. He had eclipsed a storied record, Mark Spitz's seven golds of 1972. He had dominated his sport like no other athlete. Nine days, 17 races, seven world records, eight golds.
Incredible numbers, breathtaking numbers, surreal numbers, but no longer impossible numbers. Five years ago, when Phelps first plotted his record, it seemed like a presumptuous, wacky fantasy. He was like a baseball player declaring he would break Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. He was like an astronaut declaring he would step foot on Mars.
Once in a while we need someone who doesn't ask why but why not?
With single-minded dedication, Phelps took on history.
On Sunday, Phelps sprung from the starting block in third place but by the turn of his butterfly leg, he had regained the lead for the U.S. Lezak lengthened it, and the Americans beat Australia in the finale by seven tenths of a second.
In the end, not only were Phelps' arms and legs tired, so was his neck. Eight times Phelps stepped to the top of the podium to have a gold medal draped over his head.
He climbed into the stands to embrace his mother, Debbie, and two sisters, Whitney and Hilary, and their emotions poured forth.
"She cried, my sisters cried, I cried," Phelps said. "It's been a really fun week."
Certain athletes are linked forever as the signature stars of their Games: Jesse Owens in Berlin, Bob Beamon in Mexico City, Nadia Comaneci in Montreal, Carl Lewis in Los Angeles. Beijing belongs to Phelps.
He'll probably celebrate with a couple pizzas and a pile of pancakes. The U.S. has fallen in love with Phelps not only because he is a winner but because he is exactly what you see: An unpretentious 23-year-old young man who likes to eat, sleep, play video games and race. Son of a Maryland state trooper and a Baltimore principal, he's still the hyperactive little brother who found his second home at the pool.
"My mom and I joke - I think I was in middle school and an English teacher said I'd never be a success," he said.
He's not trying to be a renaissance man, just a renaissance swimmer, shredding the record book of his sport. After the Olympics, swimming leaves prime time and returns to its regularly scheduled 5:30 a.m. time slot, but with a higher worldwide profile. Phelps, swimming's first multi-millionaire, vowed to keep working to popularize it.
"I don't want this sport to be an every-four-years sport," Phelps said. "In between there's not the exposure I'd like. Over the past four years, it's skyrocketed. I'm honored to help this sport for the next generation of swimmers who will have it better than I have."
When he's doing his laps, staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool that stretches to infinity, he's not writing a novel or solving algebra problems. He is focusing on the force of his kick, the lift of his arms, the position of his head.
His coach, Bob Bowman, plays Mozart sonatas and manages a stable of thoroughbreds in his spare time. But when he chats with his protege, it's about the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Nationals.

"Michael is not into political issues," Bowman joked. "He's more likely to say, 'Oh, is this an election year?'"
Phelps does one thing better than just about anybody else has ever done one thing.
But he's not a tortured soul. He's an artist, but he's no Van Gogh. His medium is water, and Phelps, savant of the stopwatch, hits even his splits with metronomic precision.
In Beijing, Phelps won every kind of way. He won by cruising, winning the 400 individual medley by a body length. He won by the narrowest of margins, swooping to the wall with his final stroke in the 100-meter butterfly to out-touch Milorad Cavic by one one-hundredth of a second. He won when his goggles leaked. He won when Lezak saved the streak by streaking through the final leg of the 4x100 relay.
With 14 career golds, Phelps has surpassed four other Olympians who had held the record with nine.
A journalist from Finland asked Phelps to put it in perspective, considering that his own country has never won a single Summer Games medal, since the Olympics began in 1896.
"I'm just lucky to have the drive that I have, the talent that I have and the excitement for the sport," Phelps said, grinning in his endearing, sheepish way.
Incredible numbers, breathtaking numbers, surreal numbers, but no longer impossible numbers.
And Phelps will be back for more in 2012. Nine golds in London? Why not?

By LINDA ROBERTSON
McClatchy Newspapers

Pakistani scientists patent anticonvulsant drug

ISLAMABAD: A new anticonvulsant drug and its use in the treatment of a variety of disorders has been patented in USA. The team of researchers includes Dr. Iqbal Choudhry, Dr. Farzana Shaheen, Dr.Arun Ganesan, Dr. Shabana Usman Simjee and Dr. A. Mohsin Raza from the International Centre of Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi and Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Chairman Higher Education Commission. The invention is based on investigations on a plant, Delphinium, which has been traditionally used as anticonvulsant but without recognizing the source of its activity or structure of the active principle. The compound possesses potent anticonvulsant activity and is therefore potentially useful in the treatment or prevention of anxiety, mania, depression, panic disorders, epilepsy , Parkinson's disease, migraine, sleep disorders, neuralgia etc. In an effort to encourage scientists to patent their findings, the Higher Education Commission has developed a programme to encourage innovation. Under this programme, researchers can submit research ideas, published papers, thesis synopsis for evaluation for patentability. The submission remains completely confidential. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine patentability. In case an invention is determined to be patentable the inventor is encouraged to file for an international patent.