Irritability ‘key to bipolar disorder’

New York, June 29: Parents, please note — want to know where your child is suffering from bipolar disorder? It’s simple for a study says that irritability
should be considered when diagnosing for the condition.

Researchers at Bradley Hospital in Providence have found that some kids with bipolar disorder experience manic episodes without extreme elation — one of the hallmarks of the disorder — and are diagnosed based on irritable mood.

Can comedies spin magic again at the box office?

Mumbai, June 29: Making a comedy became a sure-shot success formula at the box office in 2008, but it hasn’t worked well for filmmakers so far this year with biggies like “Chandni Chowk To China” and “Billu” biting the dust at the ticket window.

But many still feel that the genre hasn’t lost its charm and will prove its worth with upcoming films like “Kambakkht Ishq” and “Dil Bole Hadippa”.

Govt receives demand for creation of 10 new states

New Delhi, June 29: The Centre has received demands for creation of at least 10 new states, including a separate Mithilanchal in Bihar, Saurashtra in Gujarat and Coorg in Karnataka.

A senior Home Ministry official said the demands were mostly received from organisations like Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) and some other organisations and individuals.

Teens sell sex to purchase designer wear

Hong Kong, June 29: An increasing number of Hong Kong teenagers are selling sex to earn money for designer clothes, in a trend called “compensated dating”, a survey released on Sunday indicated.

One in 10 students questioned said they believed schoolgirls were involved in the practice and 6.6% said they knew fellow students who had done it.

87% of the 3,000 interviewees said they believed teenagers got involved in the practice to earn money to buy branded products. Police have arrested several men in recent months for allegedly working as pimps for schoolgirls as young as 13.

Rs. 50 million on Mehsud’s head

Islamabad, June 29: Pakistani authorities on Sunday announced rewards for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of 11 militant commanders, including a bounty of Rs. 50 million for local Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

According to an advertisement issued by the North-West Frontier Province government, Maulvi Faqeer Muhammad, the Taliban deputy chief based in Bajaur tribal region, carries a reward of Rs. 10.5 million.

Both Kat, Kareena have sexy bodies: Akshay Kumar

New Delhi, June 29: Akshay Kumar has worked with both Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in several films, but can’t decide who is better. The action king says both are “wonderful actresses” and have “sexy bodies”.

“Both Kareena and Katrina are really good but who is the better among them depends on their roles in the films. Otherwise, both of them have sexy bodies and are absolutely wonderful actresses,” said Akshay when asked to choose his favourite of the two.

West Indies defeat India by eight wickets, level series

Jamaica, June 29: West Indies levelled the series 1-1 by defeating India by eight wickets at the second one-day international at Sabina Park Sunday. The game was dominated by West Indies from the start. A painstaking 95 from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his defiant 101-run ninth-wicket partnership with Rudra Pratap Singh helped pull India out of a hole and reach a decent 188 after being 82 for eight.

Iran sparks new row with Britain over election

Tehran, June 28: Iran has detained several local British embassy staff, sparking a new row with Britain on Sunday that underscored the hardline leadership’s effort to blame post-election unrest on foreign powers, not popular anger.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband demanded the release of all the staff still held and said his European Union colleagues had agreed to a “strong, collective response” to any such “harassment and intimidation” against EU missions.

Hasina was served toxin-laden food in detention: AL leader

Dhaka, June 28: A senior ruling Awami League leader has alleged that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was served “poison-mixed” food in a sub-jail where she was
detained under emergency rules during the military-backed interim government.

“She became sick in prison as she was provided with poison-mixed food,” a private television channel quoted Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, the parliamentary deputy leader, as saying at a function in the city yesterday.

Megan admires body doubles for ‘Transformers’ sequel

London, June 28: Model-turned-actress Megan Fox is in awe of her and co-star Shia Labeouf’s stunt doubles after they escaped death during an explosion gone wrong on the sets of their movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”.

The 22-year-old admits there were moments during the shooting of the “Transformers” sequel that almost ended in tragedy when stunts went awry, and remembers one particular scene when the crew came close to losing two members of the team, reports dailyexpress.co.uk.

Man arrested in Uttar Pradesh with hashish

Lucknow, June 28: A man was arrested in Varanasi Sunday evening and over 10 kg of cannabis, worth Rs.20 lakh, was recovered from him, the Uttar Pradesh police said.

“Acting on a tip-off, we arrested Kedarnath Agarwal and recovered the drugs. He also confessed to sourcing the drugs from Chapra district of Bihar and smuggling it to various parts of the country,” police inspector Shailendra Singh of the Special task Force (STF) told IANS by telephone.

“We have got the names of other criminals involved in the trade and hope to make more arrests soon,” he added.

–Agencies

Honduran president taken to Costa Rica by force

Mexico City, June 28: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya accused his military of abducting him and spiriting him to Costa Rica in his first televised interview after a coup Sunday morning.

“There is no justification for this coup,” said Zelaya in an interview with a Venezuelan broadcaster that was also carried by CNN.

Hondurans had been set to vote in a referendum Sunday that would have registered support for constitutional changes that could have let Zelaya stay in office past the end of his term, which expires in November.

No hurry in changing anti-gay law: Govt

Thiruvananthapuram/ New Delhi, June 28: A decision on repealing a colonial-era law which criminalises homosexuality would be taken only after consulting “all sections” of the society, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.

The gay community demands repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which provides imprisonment of 10 years for unnatural sex, including that of homosexual nature, even between two consenting adults.

Cricket, a bridge over India-Australia’s troubled waters

Melbourne, June 28: Cricket has sometimes been hailed as an overhyped sport. But this is the one time when many in Australia are hoping the game will work its charm and help mend bridges with Indians.

“Cricket’s about friendship and love for the game. While we’re here to try to do both, Cricket Victoria is trying to foster the game at the community level and involve students in far-flung areas who are mostly Indians,” Greg Shepperd, the Delhi Daredevils coach, told IANS at the impressive Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

‘Hindus asked to pay Rs 6 mn jiziya in Pak’

Islamabad, June 28: An unidentified caller claiming to represent the Taliban demanded Rs 6 million as “jiziya” from the minority Hindu community of Battagram district in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province on Sunday.

The caller made the demand during a phone call to local Hindu leader Parkash. He asked Parkash, a doctor, to collect Rs 6 million from the Hindus in Battagram and pay the amount to the Taliban.

According to media reports, the caller said all minorities living in Battagram must pay “jiziya” or a tax levied on non-Muslims.

Special prayers in Hyderabad to invoke rains

Hyderabad, June 28: Faced with a severe crisis due to the failure of monsoon, the people from different religious faiths in Andhra Pradesh were offering special prayers to seek divine help to invoke the rains.

Thousands of Muslim men, women and children- some of them accompanied by their cattle- gathered at the sprawling Mir Alam Idgah in Hyderabad on Sunday and offered “Namaz-e-Istesqa” for the rains.

Hundreds of Muslims offering Namaz-E_ Istesqa at Idgaah Mir Alam Hyderabad for Rain. Some of them crying during the Namaz

Woman, lover commit suicide in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, June 28: A 25-year-old woman and her lover “committed suicide” after their family reportedly opposed their affair, at a park in the posh Banjara Hills area here, police said on Sunday.

The victims were identified as Laxmipati (29) and Farida Begum (25), both natives of Narayanpet in Mahabubnagar district, police said adding the duo came to Jalagam Vengala Rao park here and committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance either late last night or this morning.

BSES office ransacked, Sonia pulls up Delhi CM

New Delhi, June 28: Oppressive heat coupled with lack of rains is making life tough for the resident of Delhi. As demand for electricity keeps on rising, authorities have resorted to power cuts across the city.

But now the anger is spilling on to the streets with residents of the National Capital protest against massive power cuts.

A group of agitators ransacked a BSES office in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar following power cuts in the area.

The protestors also blocked roads near Vikas Marg and burnt some tyres.

Pakistan remains among top 10 ‘failed states’: Report

Washington, June 28: Pakistan, split down the middle with terrorist attacks and facing an economic crisis, remains among the top 10 failed states, says an index prepared by the renowned Foreign Policy journal.

The country, placed ninth among all countries last year in terms of its overall achievement, has improved its position only by a notch – it is placed 10th in the index for 2009 published in the July-August issue of the journal.

The annual exercise, now in its fifth year, is carried out by the journal and Fund for Peace, an independent research organisation.

UK calls embassy detentions in Iran ‘unacceptable’

Corfu, June 28: Britain’s foreign secretary on Sunday described the detention of British Embassy employees in Iran as ‘harassment and intimidation,’ calling it unacceptable.

David Miliband, who is on the Greek island of Corfu for a meeting of foreign ministers’ from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Britain has protested to the Iranian authorities about the detentions, which he said occurred Saturday.

“This is harassment and intimidation of a kind which is quite unacceptable,” Miliband said. “These are hardworking diplomatic staff.

Role reversal: Now woman circulates man’s nude pictures

Kuala Lumpur, June 28: A Malaysian man is appealing to his former girlfriend to stop circulating his nude pictures and to destroy them.

Ng Lum Heng, 44, has sought the help of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) Public Services and Complaints Department after the woman e-mailed his nude pictures to his wife, friends and colleagues.

Paes, Bhupathi to cross swords in Wimbledon mixed doubles

London, June 28: The one-time Wimbledon men’s doubles champions — Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi– will be at the opposite side of the net Sunday in the mixed doubles third round here.

Bhupathi with compatriot Sania Mirza beat Britons Colin Fleming and Sarah Borwell 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the second round here Saturday. The 13th-seeded Bhupathi and Sania are the Australian Open mixed doubles champions.

Muslim world grieves for Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson’s sudden death at age 50 provoked an outpouring of emotion from Muslims and Arabs who paid tribute to the pop star whose conversion to Islam and brief residence in the Gulf helped cement his popularity among a global fan base.

Tata rolls JLR cars into India

Mumbai, June 28: Two of Britain’s most luxurious and elegant auto brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, were on Sunday launched here at prices as rich as their features, although their Indian owner Tata Motors swallowed a Rs 2,500 crore loss on account of them.

Tata will sell the Jaguar, which had its origins in a motorcycle sidecar company, XF and XKR series for between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 92 lakh, while Land Rover’s Discovery and Range Rover would be priced between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 89 lakh.