Month: February 2015

Swift’s short hairdo was planned

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Taylor Swift’s decision to cut her hair short seemed spontaneous, but the singer says she had been planning it for six months.

The 25-year-old got her long locks chopped last year in the presence of her friends.

“I actually cut my hair here (in London), in the O2 arena backstage. All my friends watched, including Ellie Goulding. I was planning it for six months.

“I was like ‘I’m doing it. I’m cutting my hair. I’m changing my hair for the first time ever’,” peoplestylewatch.com quoted Swift as saying.

–IANS

New Zealand’s Southee in injury scare

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In-form New Zealand spearhead Tim Southee suffered a shoulder injury today but team management said he would be fit for Saturday’s all-important World Cup game against Australia in Auckland.

The 26-year-old suffered a nasty blow when struck by a throw from team-mate Adam Milne during fielding practice at Eden Park and fell over in pain, clutching the back of his right shoulder.

The fall, and Southee’s reaction, received a light-hearted response from his team-mates but the swing bowler sat out the remainder of the team’s net session while ice was applied to his shoulder.

SpiceJet receives fund from new owner

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Budget carrier SpiceJet has finally received the much-need funding, with the new owner Ajay Singh infusing Rs 500 in the airline as part of his Rs 1,500 crore investment plan to revive it.

Singh paid Rs 500 crore to SpiceJet yesterday, sources said, adding that two more instalments will be paid to the airline by April.

Singh had early this week said that the airline should receive the second instalment his Rs 1,500 crore investment by Wednesday.

Singh had earlier infused Rs 100 crore in SpiceJet, which was used mainly to clear some tax dues.

Madonna falls off stage during Brit Awards performance

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Pop diva Madonna, who fell onstage at the BRIT Awards here, says she is “fine” after a scary tumble.

Madonna, 56, took to Twitter to blame her tight Armani cape behind her fall from the stage during her Wednesday night performance.

“Armani hooked me up! My beautiful cape was tied too tight! But nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up! Thanks for your good wishes! I’m fine!,” she wrote.

This was the pop superstar’s return to the awards ceremony after 20 years.

Sonam Kapoor: My biggest regret is I’ve not completed my studies

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A popular film actress and a fashionista, Sonam Kapoor says she has one regret in her life — that she didn’t complete her graduation. The 29-year-old, however, hopes to get her degree this year.

“My biggest regret is I’ve not completed my studies. But I’m going to finish my graduation this year. I’m going to fill in the forms to get my undergraduate degree in literature. For me, it’s one of those things that I regret the most,” Sonam said on the sidelines of L’Oreal Paris Femina World Awards 2015 here.

Elizabeth Taylor’s trustees sue auction house

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The trustees of Elizabeth Taylor’s estate have hit bosses at Christie’s Inc auction house with a lawsuit following a stand-off over millions from a jewellery sale.

The lawsuit alleges that the auction house mismanaged the sales of the late Hollywood icon’s “most prized and valuable possessions” (including her jewelry, wardrobe, and art collection) and stole proceeds earmarked for her AIDS foundation, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Sensex up 49 points; auto stocks gain

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A benchmark index of Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), Thursday was trading 49.19 points or 0.17 percent up in the early session ahead of Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s maiden budget for the department.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading 11.75 points or 0.13 percent up at 8,779 points.

Iranian woman receives human rights award in Geneva for hijab campaign

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An Iranian journalist who started an online hijab campaign, encouraging women to come out in the open without their headscarves, has been awarded a human rights award in Geneva.

According to the Guardian, Masih Alinejad, 38, launched Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women last year, attracting more than half a million likes on Facebook in a matter of weeks. Thousands of women took off their veils in public and sent in their photos to be published.

Tension in locality after auto driver murdered by gang

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Tension prevailed in nearby thatchanallur area after an autorickshaw driver was murdered by an armed gang, when he was returning after dropping school children.

Police said the 29-year-old auto driver died on the spot.

The gang who had come in a car, had made enquries about his whereabouts located him and then hacked him to death.

His relatives and friends blocked road traffic near thatchnallur, demanding arrest of the culprits. They also pelted stones at three government buses and a lorry,and forced closure of the shops in the area.

Oil market rebounds on US energy report

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Global oil prices rallied today as sliding US gasoline and distillates inventories eclipsed news that soaring crude reserves hit another record high last week.

Brent North Sea crude for April delivery jumped USD 1.04 to stand at USD 59.70 a barrel in London late afternoon deals.

New York’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April rose 65 cents to USD 49.93 a barrel.

The US government’s Department of Energy (DoE) said today that crude inventories rose 8.4 million barrels in the week to February 20 to a record 434.1 million barrels.

New York residents arrested over IS extremist plot

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Three New York residents have been arrested for plotting to join extremists fighting in Syria and two threatened to carry out attacks within the United States, officials said today.

Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Abror Habibov, 30, have been charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.

The teenage Saidakhmetov, a Kazakh citizen, was arrested today at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, before traveling onto Syria.

3 seamen seized in deadly pirate attack off Nigeria are free

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Three seamen held hostage for about three weeks after pirates attacked their tanker off Nigeria have been freed and will be repatriated, the ship’s management company says.

The men, two Greeks and a Pakistani, are currently undergoing medical examinations and receiving treatment in Nigeria, Aeolos Management said today.

They were abducted on Feb 3, when unidentified gunmen attacked the Maltese-flagged Kalamos tanker off Nigeria, killing the first officer.

‘Australian fighting with Kurds against IS killed in Syria’

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An Australian who travelled to Syria to join Kurds battling jihadists has been killed, a monitor said today, adding he was the first Westerner to die fighting alongside the Kurds.

“An Australian man was killed in an assault on Tuesday by the Islamic State against a position of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) near Tal Hamis in Hasakeh province,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

The Observatory had reported the fighter’s death yesterday, but was unable to confirm his nationality until today.

HSBC bosses say sorry for ‘unacceptable’ practices

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HSBC bosses today apologised for “unacceptable” failings at the banking giant’s Swiss division when they were grilled by British MPs over allegations it had helped rich clients dodge taxes.

Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver and Chairman Douglas Flint issued the new apology in an appearance before parliament’s influential Treasury Select Committee.

“I’d like to put on the record an apology from both myself and from Douglas for the unacceptable events that took place,” Gulliver told the committee.

“It clearly was unacceptable,” he said.

Iran ‘forever forbidden’ from having nuclear arms: Kerry

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Iran is “forever” banned from building a nuclear weapon under an existing international treaty, top US diplomat John Kerry said today, seeking to dismiss fears that limits on its programme imposed in a new deal may eventually be lifted.

“Please understand, there is no reduction (of restrictions) at any time that permits Iran to build a nuclear weapon,” Kerry told US lawmakers when pressed whether a deal with Tehran would eventually allow them to develop atomic arms.

Netanyahu: World powers ‘have given up’ in Iran nuke talks

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In his sharpest criticism yet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that world powers “have given up” on stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons in ongoing negotiations.

Netanyahu’s comments, at a meeting of his Likud Party outside of Jerusalem, come as he plans to address the US Congress on the nuclear negotiations.

Austria passes law on Islam, banning foreign funding

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Austria’s parliament adopted a legislation today amending laws on Muslim organisations to ban foreign sources of financing and require imams to be able to speak German.

The new law aims to promote what conservative Integration Minister Sebastian Kurz calls an “Islam of European character” by muting the influence of foreign Muslim nations and organisations, and offering Austrian Muslims a mix of increased rights and obligations in practising their faith in the central European country.

SAD-BJP alliance sweeps civic polls in Punjab

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SAD-BJP alliance today swept the civic polls in Punjab as it won 1,161 seats out of results declared in 2,037 wards, with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal describing the verdict as mandate in favour of “pro-people” and “development oriented policies” of the state government.

Out of 2,037 wards in 122 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats, SAD wrested control on 813 wards while its ally BJP won 348 wards, as per election results declared late evening.

Sadhus, mahants to boycott Holi

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Prominent sadhus, mahants, advocates and residents of Barsana have demanded that Barsana be declared a dry zone failing which they would not celebrate Lathamar Holi.

“We shall not celebrate Lathamar Holi on February 27 if Barsana is not declared dry zone,” Ramraj Das Baba, the Mahant of Sudama Kuti declared in the panchayat last evening.

Gopikas led by Vandana Shrotiya, who were supposed to play Lathamar Holi declared their full support for the agitation.

Turkey’s Erdogan mocks ‘men who wear skirts’

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today mocked men who wear skirts, in an apparent jibe at activists who wore female clothes at the weekend in a protest supporting women’s rights.

“They call themselves ‘men’. What kind of men are they? Men wear trousers, why are you wearing skirts?” he said at a televised speech at his presidential palace in Ankara.

Mangalore church attacked despite PM’s appeal

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A church in Karnataka’s Mangalore was vandalised on Tuesday night, just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to protect all religious minorities.

“A small stone of the size of 1-2 centimetres was thrown at the St Joseph Vaz worship centre near Deralakatte, damaging the windowpane, but no damage has been done to the idols of Mother Mary and Infant Jesus,” Mangaluru city police commissioner S Murugan told PTI.

Over the last two months, eight mosques have been stoned in the region, though no churches were targeted in recent months.

Volcanic ash forces Mexican airport closure

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Volcanic ash rained down on the runway of the Puebla airport in central Mexico, forcing the facility to close today and disrupting some US and domestic flights.

The Popocatepetl volcano began rumbling and exploding yesterday, spewing a column of ash and ejecting white hot rock as far as 700 meters (yards) from its crater, according to the National Disaster Prevention Center.

“The communities remain calm and the Popocatepetl is permanently monitored,” Jesus Morales, civil protection chief in Puebla state, told AFP.

France reforms seek to tackle Muslim radicalisation

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France set out a package of reforms today aimed at better integrating Muslims and preventing radicalisation in the wake of the recent jihadist attacks in Paris.

It outlined plans to set up a “dialogue forum”, tapping leading associations, intellectuals and other notable figures from the Muslim community for regular talks with the government.

Much of the focus will be on the training of Muslim preachers, trying to “encourage the emergence of a generation of imams fully engaged in the Republic”, an interior ministry source said.

Physically challenged VAO woman asst beaten, 2 arrested

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A physically challenged village woman assistant village administrative officer was assaulted by two persons, who have been arrested, police said.

The 30-year-old woman was waiting for a bus this afternoon at Athur when the two persons on a bike accosted her and passed some remarks. However she baorded a bus.

The two followed the bus, dragged her out and started beating her. Members of the public informed police, following which they were arrested.