Month: February 2011

Royal Air Force airlifts 150 in second Libya rescue

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Tripoli, February 28: A British Royal Air Force C-130 in Malta Tens of thousands of foreigners have fled Libya since the unrest began

Three RAF Hercules aircraft have rescued a further 150 people – including 20 Britons – from the Libyan desert, the defence secretary has said.

The first and second aircraft have landed in Malta and the third is due to arrive shortly, said Liam Fox.

One plane suffered minor damage after coming under small-arms fire, the Ministry of Defence has since revealed.

Call for Protests in China Draws More Police than Protesters

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Beijing, February 28: A call for protests on Sunday in more than 20 Chinese cities resulted in a tiny turnout but an enormous law enforcement presence that led to police clashes with foreign journalists in Beijing.

The appeal urged protesters to walk slowly or stop in front of landmarks in their cities’ downtowns at 2 p.m. The idea was to emulate the spirit of the so-called Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia that kicked off protests throughout North Africa and the Middle East — but in a nation where a strong security force makes full-blown demonstrations almost impossible to organize.

Scandal-hit French foreign minister resigns

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Paris, February 28: Beleaguered French foreign minister Michele Alliot-Marie announced her resignation Sunday after weeks of criticism over her contacts with the former Tunisian regime, stressing she had committed no wrongdoing.

“While I do not feel that I have committed any wrongdoing, I have… decided to leave my job as foreign minister,” Alliot-Marie wrote in her resignation letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“I ask you to accept my resignation,” she wrote in the letter which begins with a handwritten “Dear Nicolas.”

Beckhams may send Brooklyn to British private school

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London, February 28: Soccer star David Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria, seem to be preparing to move from Los Angeles to Britain as they plan to send their eldest son Brooklyn to one of Britain’s elite independent schools that will cost 14,000 pounds a year.A source close to the family said the Beckhams plan to move back to Britain next year, reports dailymail.co.uk.

The couple, expecting their fourth child, have retained their Hertfordshire home, which is close to their families and was bought for 2.5 million pounds in 1999.

Rallies held in Canada to back Libyans

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Canada, February 28: Hundreds of Libyan-Canadian protesters have rallied in Toronto to express their solidarity with Libyan people as the revolution continues to rage in the African country.

With Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi still defiant in the face of massive public outcry over his 41-year-old reign, Libyan-Canadians, many worried about their families back home, staged rallies on Saturday, a Media correspondent reported.

Pattinson, Stewart’s onscreen child isn’t a newcomer

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London, February 28: Mackenzie Foy, who will be seen as the vampire-human love child of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the first part of the new Twilight film “Breaking Dawn”, is not media shy and handles it with confidence.When the film opens in November, the glare of the spotlight will be on Foy and she can handle it. She’s just 10 years old, but already a seasoned professional, reports peoplec.com.

Foy, 10, who will plays Renesmee, boasts an impressive resume filled with advertising and television work.

‘Islamophobia crime against humanity’

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Ankara, February 28: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has strongly criticized Islamophobia practiced in several European countries, especially Germany.

“Islamophobia is a crime against humanity as much as anti-Semitism is,” he told a crowd of Turkish immigrants in the German city of Duesseldorf, in a speech aired on Turkish television on Sunday.

Erdogan is scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday in Hannover, where the two will jointly inaugurate a technology fair.

Libyan capital remains peaceful amid nationwide unrest

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Tripoli, February 28: The Libyan capital Tripoli, which has about three million people, remains peaceful under the control of Muammar Gaddafi, after the north African country plunged into turmoil.The massive protests, demanding for an end to the 42-year rule of Gaddafi, broke out Feb 16 in the eastern city of Benghazi and rapidly spread all over the country.

Kate Hudson buys $6.44 mn London home

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London, February 28: Actress Kate Hudson and her boyfriend Matt Bellamy have reportedly bought a home in London worth $6.44 million.The couple – who are currently expecting their first child – have reportedly purchased a property in north London after the 31-year-old actress decided that Britain would be a “great place” to raise a family, reports femalefirst.co.uk

“Kate is ready to put down roots in Britain. She is in the process of filling out visa forms that will enable her to live in England with Matt for at least six months of the year,” said an insider.

Failure doesn’t kill you: Kevin Costner

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London, February 28: Hollywood actor Kevin Costner isn’t afraid to fail because he hasn’t been “impressed” with success.”I’m not afraid to fail and I’m not overly impressed with success. I’ve learned that failure doesn’t kill you,” contactmusic.com quoted him as saying.

The 55-year-old has starred in flop movies such as “Waterworld” and “The Postman”.

Costner believes he isn’t always a popular box office choice for studios because of economic restraints, though he also admits he won’t take on work that he doesn’t have full control over.

Sarkozy urges EU to adopt common strategy on Libya

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Paris, February 28: European countries should adopt a “common strategy” on issues related to violence-hit Libya, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in an address on national television.The ongoing political crisis in Arab countries has negative consequences, such as uncontrollable immigration flow to Europe, and rise of terrorism in the region, Sarkozy said in the speech, according to Xinhua.

“We have a duty to act with ambition … That’s why we asked the European Council to hold a meeting to make Europe adopt a common strategy on Libyan crisis,” he said.

Sri Lanka wary of Kenya: Mahela

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Colombo, February 28: Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene admitted on Sunday that Kenya, who defeated his team in a stunning 2003 World Cup triumph, still have players to cause another shock when the two meet on Tuesday.

Eight years ago, Sri Lanka lost by 53 runs to Kenya in Nairobi as the unheralded Africans went on to reach the semi-finals.

Jayawardene is one of three survivors from that game, along with skipper Kumar Sangakkara and spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Pakistan fined for slow over rate

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New Delhi, February 28: Pakistan have been fined for their slow over-rate during their 11-run win against Sri Lanka in the World Cup in Colombo on Saturday.

Match referee Chris Broad imposed the fines after Shahid Afridi’s side were ruled to be one over short of their target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration.

Afridi was fined 20 per cent of his match fee while his players received 10 percent fines.

——–Agencies

South Africa bowlers learning to love spin

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New Delhi, February 28: South Africa may boast deadly fast bowlers Dayle Steyn and Morne Morkel, but the speed-loving Proteas are falling in love with spin.

Slow bowlers Imran Tahir and Johan Botha claimed six West Indies wickets between them in their opening World Cup win on Thursday, with Botha even being tossed the new ball.

Fellow spinner Robin Peterson, who went wicketless in that game, believes that South Africa now fully appreciate the significance of the slow men in the pursuit of a first World Cup.

Dew factor will play key role, says Borren

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New Delhi, February 28: The Netherlands gave a mighty scare to England before losing their World Cup opening match and their captain Peter Borren said they would aim for an upset victory against an injury-ravaged West Indies in a Group B encounter here on Monday.

“We have got potential to win matches. We had played very well against England. Last two days, we had very good training session, we had good fielding and bowling sessions. All the players are in good shape so we are looking for another good performance against the West Indies,” Borren told reporters ahead of Monday’s match.

Planning, visualising improves eating habits

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Toronto, February 28: If you want to improve the way you eat, the best way to do so is to first make an action plan and then visualise yourself carrying it out, researchers say.

“Telling people to just change the way they eat doesn’t work; we’ve known that for a while,” says Bärbel Knäuper of McGill’s Department of Psychology.

“What we’ve done that’s new is to add visualisation techniques to the action plan,” adds Knauper, the journal Psychology and Health reports.

Salman Spends Time With British Model Hazel

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Mumbai, February 28: Bollywood star Salman Khan has found a female companion who he loves spending time with, says a media report.

The report says, Sallu and British model Hazel are getting close to each other rather well. She took him out for a bike ride in Pune about two weeks ago, post which they spent a lot of quality time together. The weather in that city is such that you can’t blame the two, but they have sure become the talk of town in Mumbai.

Ash Bonds With Dustin Hoffman

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Mumabi, February 28: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has worked with and met many distinguished luminaries of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles on her trips to Cannes and various other assignments across the globe. But she never got a chance to meet Dustin Hoffman.

Siddharth Denies He Is Deepika’s Boyfriend

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Mumbai, February 28: Siddharth Mallya has denied being Deepika Padukone’s boyfriend even though it is abuzz that he gifted his lady love Deepika a flat, says a media report.

Their frequent public appearances together led to people believing that they are meant for each other and suddenly there was another rumour about a flat of Rs 6 crore in Mumbai which Siddharth gifted to Deepika. However, Siddharth efficiently denied this saying, “Let me buy one for myself first. Please do let me know if you get it on the same price for my personnel.”

UNHCR: 100,000 flee Libya’s violence

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London, February 28: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres says nearly 100,000 people have fled the violence in Libya over the past week.

Guterres said in a statement on Sunday that these include Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans, Chinese and other Asians, half of whom have sought refuge in Tunisia and the other half have gone to Egypt.

“We call upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to enable these governments to cope with this humanitarian emergency,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

14-year-old raped, accused absconding

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Sirmaur, February 28: A 14-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a villager in Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh, police said on Sunday.

A case has been registered against Sandeep Kumar under section 376 and 506 of IPC on the complaint of the mother of the victim and a manhunt had been launched to nab the culprit.

Nishchint Negi, DSP, Rajgarh said the medical examination had confirmed that the victim was raped.

Tension gripped Baramulla town

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Baramulla, February 28: Sectarian tension on Sunday gripped Kunzar area of Baramulla district following desecration of a religious book for which one person has been arrested.

Two youths allegedly desecrated a holy book in Kunzar town on Srinagar-Gulmarg road, 35 kms from Srinagar on Sunday evening, official sources said.

The rival group torched a residential house but timely action by police and fire brigade department prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings, the sources said.

Transit of goods via Iran up 35 percent

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Tehran, February 28: About 8.382 million tons of goods worth $26.27 billion have been transited via Iran in the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (which began on March 21).

The figures indicate a 47-percent rise in weight and a 35-percent rise in value against the corresponding period of the previous year, IRNA reported on Sunday.

Iraq with 1,800,000 tons of goods, China with 1,266,000, and Turkmenistan with 924,000 tons of commodities had the higher amounts of goods transited via Iranian territories.

WI protests spread to other US states

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Wisconsin, February 28: Thousands of opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill gather for protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison.

Protests against a Republican governor’s plan to bust Wisconsin workers’ unions have spilled into nearly all 50 states, including Washington, New York, California, and Nevada.

Egypt’s imams protest junta’s dictates

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Cairo, February 28: Thousands of imams have staged a demonstration in Egypt against what they call state security agencies’ excessive interventions.

The protesters gathered in front of the offices of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Sunday, saying they have been dictated by the ruling junta about what to preach during Friday Prayers’ sermons.

The demonstrators also said they would submit a list of demands to the military council, stating that the popular revolution must give them the power to speak freely.