Month: March 2011

BP seeks business in UAE

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Sharjah, March 04: British oil major BP is seeking cooperation with the Sharjah authorities for exploring oil resources in the emirates.

Sharjah ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi Thursday met with the head of exploration at BP, Michael Dally, and Charles Proctor, president of BP in the Middle East and Pakistan.

They discussed the nature of cooperation between BP and the Sharjah Oil Council (SOC).

The meeting was also attended by Waleed Demas, Secretary General of SOC and Abdul Karim Al Mazem, General Manager of BP Sharjah Ltd.

–IANS–

Aguilera to play coach on music reality show

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London, March 04: Singer Christina Aguilera will soon appear as a singing coach on a new music reality series “The Voice”.

The show will be aired on NBC, starting April 26. She will join rapper and record producer Cee Lo Green and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine as a musical coach on the show, and is extremely excited, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Dannii Minogue’s son controls her life

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London, March 04: Dannii Minogue’s boyfriend Kris Smith says the couple’s lives are controlled by their son Ethan.

The Australian singer has a seven-month-old son with boyfriend Kris Smith, and their life has totally changed ever since they became parents, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“There are no words that could describe how it feels to be a dad. It turns your life upside down and nothing is ever the same, and you never, ever want it any other way,” he said.

Bieber, Gomez kiss and cuddle at shopping centre

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London, March 04: While others their age would hang around the food court or window shop, singer Justin Bieber and his girlfriend Selena Gomez cuddled and kissed each other at a local shopping centre, where they were on a shopping spree for designer wear.

The couple shopped in the high-end Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana stores in Beverly Hills, and indulged in public display of affection like never before. They were all eyes for each other as they kissed and cuddled in the Louis Vuitton store, reports dailymail.co.uk.

Ronan Keating to act in movie

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London, March 04: Singer Ronan Keating has revealed he has landed a role in an Australian movie, but refused to give more details about the project.

The “Boyzone” singer has recently been working as a judge on the Australian version of “The X Factor”, will return next month to shoot scenes for the top secret project, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“I am coming down April 7, because I am shooting my first movie in Australia. It’s an Australian movie… I’m very excited. I can’t tell you the title but I’m going to be on set April 10 in Sydney,” he said.

UN chief to appoint special envoy to Libya

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United Nations, March 04: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will soon appoint a special envoy to Libya, which is facing violent anti-government protests, Xinhua reported.

“The secretary general made clear he intends to name a special envoy shortly,” said a UN release after Ban’s video and telephone conference held earlier Thursday with regional organisations and UN agencies to discuss the humanitarian situation in Libya and along its borders.

Ban stressed that “political change must be locally owned and locally led”.

Charlotte Church breaks into karaoke at gay bar

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London, March 04: Singer Charlotte Church left drinkers at a gay bar stunned when she kicked off her shoes and got onto the stage to karaoke.

The 25-year-old headed to the Two Brewers gay bar in Clapham, south London, after the premiere of the “Wizard of Oz” show. She was there with a few friends, and she grabbed the microphone and belted out the Alannah Myles hit “Black Velvet” while dancing around the stage, reports thesun.co.uk.

Depp praises Jolie’s parenting skills

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London, March 04: Actor Johnny Depp has praised Angelina Jolie’s “shockingly great” parenting skills, saying he would probably be in prison if he had to cope with as much as she does.

The “Tourist” actor admits his co-star in the movie, who raises six children, Maddox, nine, Pax, six, Zahara, five, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, with her partner Brad Pitt, does a fantastic job of juggling her mothering duties with her career, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Kourtney didn’t want to stop breastfeeding

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London, March 04: Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian admits it was a traumatic experience when she stopped breastfeeding her 15-month-old son Mason.

“It’s traumatising! I mean, everyone would say, ‘It’s time, it’s time, come on.’ I started to stop a little bit, and I’m like, ‘Why am I doing this?,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted Kourtney as saying.

“I do have withdrawals. It’s really sad, it’s over. But I don’t know … whatever is meant to be,” she added.

–IANS–

Cinema helps one understand life, reality: Spanish filmmaker

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Miami, March 04: Cinema fulfils the “need for fiction” that is inherent in human beings and helps them “better understand life and reality”, Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba has said.

“Writers and filmmakers, with their stories, have enabled us to better understand human beings,” Trueba said during the presentation of his animated feature “Chico & Rita” in Miami.

Woman held for aiding teen’s ‘rape’

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Mumbai, March 04: The police arrested a 34-year-old lady tutor for allegedly aiding a youth in the locality to befriend and ” rape” her 17-year-old neighbour.

Kurla resident Harsha Kura allegedly also allowed Shahnawaz Shaikh (26) to use her flat at Belgami Road to commit the offence on several occasions.

An investigator said Kura resides with her mother and runs a private coaching class. “Shaikh who knew Kura asked for her help to get close to the girl,” the investigator said.

Book on sex: It has 200 blank pages

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London, March 04: What does every man think apart from sex? A British author says “nothing” and has written a book on it. Except that the book has just a cover and has 200 blank pages.

Sheridan Simove’s book is titled – “What Every Man Thinks About Apart From Sex”, the Daily Express reported.

Students across Britain have understood the joke and are flocking to bookstores to buy the 4.69-pound paperback.

2007 WC loss to Ireland was in my mind: Afridi

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Colombo, March 04: Four years ago, Pakistan were ousted from the World Cup by Ireland and skipper Shahid Afridi today said the ghost of that humiliating loss came back to his mind during their Group A match against Canada here today.

Gaddafi must leave, says Obama

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Washington, March 04: “Throughout all this, we will continue to send a clear message that it’s time for Gaddafi to go,” Obama said.”My approach throughout the convulsions that have swept through the Middle East is, number one, no violence against citizens; number two, that we stand for freedom and democracy. And in the situation in Libya, what you’ve seen is, number one, violence against citizens, and the active urging of violence against unarmed citizens by Gaddafi,” he said.”So let me just be very unambiguous about this.Colonel Gadhafi needs to step down from power and leave.

Shares open higher on US lead

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Washington, March 04: The share market opened higher today after a positive lead from US markets on the back of encouraging US economic data.

At 10.12am (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 41.0 points, or 0.85 per cent, at 4847.4 points while the broader All Ordinaries index added 40.3 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 4943.1 points.

On the ASX 24 at 10.12am, the March share price index futures contract was 42 points higher at 4844 points with 10,459 contracts traded.

IG markets research analyst Ben Potter said the mood looked postive across the board in early trading.

WikiLeaks-linked soldier Private Bradley Manning a hero, says Julian Assange

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London, March 04: The soldier suspected of giving secret US documents to WikiLeaks is an “unparalleled hero”, the website’s founder, Julian Assange, told Britain’s ITV News today.

Supporters of Bradley Manning, 23, claim that the army private is being held “in a hole” at a prison at Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia, a claim the Pentagon has denied.

“For him to now be in prison for 10 months in solitary confinement, without trial, is an abuse,” Assange told the news program.

Virginity on the rise among American youth

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Washington, March 04: Virginity is on the rise among young people up to the age of 24, according to new information released today by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Centre for Health Statistics.

Among youngsters between the ages of 15 and 24, 27 per cent of males and 29 per cent of females said they had never experienced any sort of sexual contact. In 2002, that figure was 22 per cent for both sexes. The CDC does not attempt to speculate about a reason behind the trend.

Cairo stock exchange ‘closed indefinitely’ after Egypt uprising

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Cairo, March 04: Egypt’s stock exchange, which suspended trading a month ago when nationwide anti-regime protests erupted, said overnight it will remain closed until further notice.

“Due to the latest developments in Egypt, (Egypt’s stock exchange) EGX decided to suspend trading next Sunday, 6th of March,” the bourse said.

The stock exchange, which closed on January 27, was due to re-open Sunday.

“Resuming of trading will be decided following the discussions with Egypt’s new prime minister,” it added.

——–Agencies

Dollar down in local trade

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Washington, March 04: The dollar opened lower against the US dollar this morning.

At 6.30am AEDT, the local unit was trading at 101.45 US cents, down from 101.70 cents at yesterday’s local close.

——–Agencies

Pope lifts blame for Christ’s death

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Rome, March 04: Pope Benedict XVI exonerates the Jewish people as a whole from responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a new book due to be published this month, prompting praise from Jewish groups.

The pope wrote that the condemnations of Jesus Christ came from the “aristocracy of the temple” in Jerusalem and from the “masses” who acclaimed Barabbas instead of Jesus – not from “the Jewish people as a whole”.

Extracts from the book, the second volume of a biography of Jesus Christ, were published by the Vatican’s official Osservatore Romano daily today.

Al-Jazeera allowed back in Baghdad

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Baghdad, March 04: Iraq has given pan-Arab satellite television channel al-Jazeera permission to reopen its bureau in Baghdad, a government official says, more than six years after it was originally banned.

“No restrictions have been placed on them, only what applies to all media in Iraq, not to provoke conflict. It is now a procedural matter as to when they re-open their bureau,” the official said.

Man ‘trapped ex’s mum in fold-out sofa’

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Florida, March 04: A Florida man who allegedly folded up a couch with a 66-year-old woman inside is facing a battery charge for the furniture imprisonment.

Mark Foreman, 53, was arrested on Wednesday after he forced the mother of his ex-girlfriend onto a mattress connected to a fold-out couch and then folded the mattress into the sofa with her inside, the Smoking Gun website reported today.

Mr Foreman had entered the woman’s home to use her bathroom.

Bomb kills 3 at Nigerian election rally

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Abuja, March 04: At least three people have been killed and 21 others injured in a bomb explosion at a rally being held by the ruling party near Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

Police say the bomb was thrown by people in a moving vehicle intending to target supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), AFP reported. The bomb, instead, exploded amid vendors separate from the rally.

“Some people in a moving vehicle threw an explosive at a rally organized by the PDP in Suleja,” Nigeria’s national police spokesman Olusola Amore said.

‘Iran non-oil export to hit $301bn’

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Tehran, March 04: Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister Hamid Safdel says Iran’s non-oil exports, excluding gas condensates, will reach $301 billion in a five-year period starting on March 21, 2011.

The head of the Trade Promotion Organization said that the non-oil exports of the county is expected to hit $43 billion in the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21), and the figure is also expected to top $50.5 billion in the year after.

Safdel went on to say that the government will support exporters in order to help them increase the amount of non-oil exports.

EU condemns killings in Ivory Coast

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Ivory Coast, March 04: The European Union has strongly condemned Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo and his men for killing seven women in a peaceful demonstration calling for his ouster.

Forces loyal to Gbagbo opened fire with heavy machine guns on a peaceful demonstration by hundreds of women in Abobo, an impoverished suburb of Abidjan, urging Gbagbo to hand over presidency to the internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara with 54 percent of the vote.