Asian News International

Actress and International fashion icon, Sonam Kapoor , who was recently crowned the country’s first Disney Princess graces the Best Dressed October cover of Verve which is out on stands.

Sporting a Gucci leather crop top with a sketch and roses printed skirt by new designer Kristy De Cunha, Sonam Kapoor looking every bit the vintage dream talks about how it feels to be called impeccably dressed and gets candid on fashion, life, love and the movies in the special issue.
Sonam Kapoor

The rupee fell by 15 paise to 61.20 against the dollar in early trade on Friday due to fresh demand for the US currency from banks and importers amid a weak opening in local equities.

Dealers said besides increased demand for the American currency from importers, the dollar’s strength against other Asian currencies overseas, put pressure on the local unit.

The rupee had gained 35 paise to close at over one-week high of 61.05 against the dollar on Thursday on persistent selling of the US currency by exporters and some banks amid a surge in local equities.

A new research has revealed about the discovery of a pulsating dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns.

The study at NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) found that the object, previously thought to be a black hole because it is so powerful, is in fact a pulsar, the incredibly dense rotating remains of a star.

Researcher Fiona Harrison said that this compact little stellar remnant is a real powerhouse and since they never saw anything quite like it, they all thought an object with that much energy had to be a black hole.

Facebook Inc, which closed its acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Monday, has no near-term plan to make money from the service, said Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

The 87th Academy Awards has set a new record with 83 film entries in the foreign language category.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the list of countries throwing their hat into the Oscar ring continues to grow, as last year it was 76, while there were 71 submissions made in 2012 for the foreign-language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The five nominees, that will be drawn from that list, will be announced on Jan. 15, when the full list of nominees for the 87th Academy Awards are revealed.(ANI)

Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal’s spokesperson has revealed that the world number two would continue a course of antibiotics in a bid to be fit for the remainder of the 2014 season as his recovery from appendicitis is going satisfactorily.

Nadal returned to the court for the first time since Wimbledon last week in Beijing before he was diagnosed with appendicitis ahead of the Shanghai Masters .

Nadal was able to play his second-round opening match against compatriot Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday but lost 6-3, 7-6 before returning to Spain for tests in Barcelona, Sport24 reported.

Frustrated with the US Congress’s refusal to vote through crucial reforms at the International Monetary Fund, IMF chief Christine Lagarde has promised a show if they do — a belly dance.

The reforms, which aim to strengthen financial resources of the global crisis lender and give more voting power to emerging economies like China, have been endorsed by all the world’s economic powers but one.

Terrorism experts have warned that Islamic State militants may use Ebola as a biological suicide weapon to spread the epidemic in western countries.

Military analysts said that the terror group could send infected militants to the West sparking widespread outbreaks.

Capt Al Shimkus of the United States Naval War College said that individuals exposed to the infection become carriers of the disease.

He also said that it does not take much effort to use these infected militants as the virus carriers.

A new study has found that a combination of five important healthy behaviors helps in reducing the risk of developing bowel cancer.

Researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke quantified the impact of combined multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors on the risk of developing bowel cancer, and found that the impact was stronger in men than in women. Lead author, Krasimira Aleksandrova, said that the data gave an additional incentive to individuals, medical professionals and public health authorities to invest in healthy lifestyle initiatives.

New study has revealed that neurons in brain cells are responsive towards oxytocin that plays a major role in social and sexual behavior of individuals.

The neurons, found in the prefrontal cortex, may play a role in other oxytocin-related social behaviors such as intimacy, love, or mother-child bonding.

Miho Nakajima of The Rockefeller University discovered a population of neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex that express the oxytocin receptor.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has granted an ‘A’ certificate to upcoming Telugu comedy “Current Theega”, due to the presence of a special song featuring porn star and Bollywood actress Sunny Leone.

“The members of the censor board enjoyed watching the film. If it was not for Sunny’s item song, ‘Current Theega” would have got ‘U’ certificate,” read a statement from the production house.

“But since the expectations of Sunny’s song is high among audiences, the film’s producer Vishnu Manchu thought otherwise and the film was certified ‘A’,” added the statement.

Mandira Bedi, who had the popular character Gutthi from “Comedy Nights With Kapil”, played by Sunil Grover, walk the ramp to showcase her latest sari collection on the ramp, says the loud cheers were testimony to the popularity of the character.

“I wanted a lovable character who appeals to people across the board. Gutthi is absolutely adorable. And she does cut across a cross-section of admirers,” Mandira said.

Her show was held as part of a fashion event Oct 5.

A day after it rebounded around 400 points, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday fell 191 points or 0.72 percent in the early morning session as automobile, metal and bank stocks plunged.

Heavy selling pressure was observed in capital goods, consumer durable, oil and gas and healthcare stocks. However, healthy buying was observed in information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) scrip on the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The continuing firing across the Pakistan, India border “comes at the cost of souring bilateral relations for years to come”, said a Pakistani daily Friday.

An editorial in The Nation said that the two neighbours have “returned to their old habits; cross-border skirmishes”.

“An event that would be a national emergency in other parts of the world is a casual occurrence which has ebbed and flowed since the ceasefire was signed in 2003,” said the daily.

The editorial rued that this has “become far too common”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is eyeing a majority government in Haryana, has launched a high-pitched poll campaign by pressing its top leadership into campaigning to realise its target of ‘Mission 60 plus’ seats in the state.

While Prime Minister Modi during his three visits has already addressed eight public meetings covering various parts of the Congress-ruled State, a number of other top BJP leaders have also been involved in the campaign.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will jump into the BJP poll campaign in Maharashtra during the weekend, a party official said here Friday.

Over the next two days, she is expected to address rallies in Dahanu, Karjat, Akola, Nashik, Thane, and Mumbai, for the Oct 15 elections.

Her Mumbai meetings shall take place in Vile Parle, Kandivali and Dahisar where significant chunks of Gujarati population are based.

Five Dalit women, who were retuning home after day’s work, were allegedly raped by two youths in Kurmuri village in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, police said yesterday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Piro, K K Singh said that two youths waylaid the women engaged in ragpicking while they were retuning home after day’s work and forced them to drink liquor by displaying weapon to them last night.

Two minors with them were also forced to take liquor with the women, he said.

Afterwards the youths raped the women who belonged to Dalit community, the DSP said.

Despite condemning the Islamic State (IS) actions in the Syrian town of Kobane and declaring that it is “on Kobane’s side,” Turkey has refused to yield to the violent protests demanding more action against the IS and send more troops to save the town from falling into the hands of the group.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared on Thursday that the nation supports Kobane but refused unilaterally to send ground troops to save the town, reported the CNN.

Taylor Swift’s “1989” will be out soon and the singer says the new album is different from her previous work.

She has famously explored what she calls “crazy love” in her past work.

“Emotionally speaking, it’s not a heartbreak record. My music is derived from what’s happening in my personal life, and I haven’t had my heart broken,” the 24-year-old was quoted by people.com as saying.

Usually a maximum of four films releases on Friday but the Tamil box office will witnesses a maximum record of 10 releases which are slated to hit the screens Friday, which is not a healthy trend, as per trade expert.

The 10 releases films which are slated to release are ” Alamarama, ” Gubeer”, ” Jamai”, Nee Naan Nizhal”, ” Kurai Ondrum Illai”, ” Muyal”, “”Panduvam”, “Vangakaraia, “Vennila Veedu” and “Yavum Vasapadum”.

Actor Gopichand, who is riding high on the success of his recent Telugu release “Loukyam”, has taken a break from shooting to spend time with his pregnant wife Reshma, who recently had her baby shower.

“Gopichand has stopped shooting for a while. He wants to stay with his wife and look after her. He was extremely busy the last few weeks with the promotions and release of ‘Loukyam’. He plans to spend the next few weeks with Reshma,” a source close to the actor told IANS.

Gopichand married Reshma May 12 last year.

He currently has a yet-untitled Telugu film in his kitty.

–IANS

Men are the “weaker sex” in terms of death and disability caused by osteoporosis as their bone health is simply being ignored by the healthcare systems, shows a study.

According to researchers, men are not being adequately diagnosed or treated for osteoporosis, with those suffering a hip fracture twice as likely to die compared to women.

Country’s leading two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday launched two new products in the market to cash-in on the festive season.

The company launched 100 cc Splendor Pro Classic, which has a cafe racer styling, priced at Rs 48,650 (ex-showroom Delhi) and another 100 cc on-road-off-road bike Passion Pro TR at Rs 51,550 (ex-showroom Delhi).

Commenting on the launches, the company said: “Having kicked-off the festive season with record 6-lakh plus sales in September, Hero MotoCorp has lined-up a slew of new products, including refreshes and variants in the festive season.”

Mahindra Lifespaces Developers, the real estate arm of Mahindra Group, today launched its second affordable housing project under its ‘Happinest’ vertical at Boisar near here.

“Our intent is to provide good quality housing at affordable rates. We have decided to undertake two pilot projects – one in Chennai, which we have already launched in August and the second one is in Boisar (in Maharashtra),” company’s Managing Director and CEO Anita Arjundas told reporters here.

Hardcastle Restaurants, McDonald’s franchisee for West and South India operations, will invest up to Rs. 850 crore to add 250 outlets of the US fast food chain within 3-5 years.

“We will invest Rs. 800-850 crore in the next three to five years to open 250 outlets in the West and South regions.

This investment includes adding 175 to 200 McCafe coffee shops,” Hardcastle Restaurants Vice-Chairman Amit Jatia told PTI.

McCafe, which was introduced in India in October 2013, is opened within a McDonald’s outlet. At present, Hardcastle operates 192 McDonald’s outlets.