Special Reports

By admin • March 9th, 2010

After a dramatic walkout by Khayali, this week’s episode of Sony’s Comedy Circus Maha Sangram will see the exit of Rajesh Kumar and Rajeev Nigam.
According to our source, “The two had been very weak in their performances for the last two weeks, and had found themselves in the bottom. This week too, there was no [...]

NEW YORK: Women head governments, run companies and comprise about half the world’s workforce, but a global poll shows that one in four people, most of them young, believe a woman’s place is in the home.The survey of over 24,000 adults in 23 countries, conducted by Reuters/Ipsos and released on the eve of International Women’s [...]

ZURICH: A nationwide referendum is taking place in Switzerland on a proposal to give animals the constitutional right to be represented in court.Animal rights groups say appointing state-funded animal lawyers would ensure animal welfare laws are upheld, and help prevent cases of cruelty.
Opponents say Switzerland does not need more legislation regarding animal protection.
The Swiss government [...]

BOSTON: An Indian group that performs 300,000 free or subsidized eye surgeries a year for the poor will receive the world’s largest humanitarian prize, jurors said on Friday.Aravind Eye Care System, the world’s largest eye care provider, was chosen for the $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, awarded annually to an organization that does [...]

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s Islamic-leaning Hamas government has banned men from working in women’s hair salons.Thursday’s announcement comes amid a Hamas campaign to impose Islamic customs on Gaza’s 1.5 million people.
Since seizing Gaza in 2007, Hamas has taken gradual steps in that direction while avoiding a frontal assault on secularism. However, the movement is under growing [...]

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Thursday stuck to its 18-year ban on the import and sale of chewing gum, which has become an international symbol of the city-state’s image as a strict society.“The government stands by its decision to ban chewing gum,” Maliki Osman, parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of National Development, told parliament.
“Chewing gum has not [...]

Shoe trends this season are sexy, feminine, and fun. Check out some of the latest looks as well as classic styles that have remained popular.Your Favorite Accessory is always a great pair of dress shoes or even some good formal shoes.  C’mon, you know how good it feels to look down at your feet dressed [...]

RIYADH: A Saudi cleric’s fatwa last week calling for those who promote co-educational environments to be put to death has shocked international and Saudi communities, according to a report.According to the Arab News daily, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Barrak said recently that the mixing of men and women in the workplace or educational institutions was [...]

KARACHI: Holi, the Hindu spring festival of colours, is being celebrated in India, Pakistan and other countries of the region like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and others with a large Hindu diaspora. The day is marked with fun and merriment.Also known as Basanta Utsav (festival of spring), Holi is celebrated by Hindus by throwing colours [...]

Once in a while, we all find ourselves to be fashion victims and therefore we need to start learning how to shop the smart way. You know very well how out of hand the shopping can get, and later on when you realize what you bought, you also realize you have nothing to wear that [...]

MIAMI: A killer whale killed a 40-year-old female trainer in an apparent attack witnessed by horrified onlookers at Florida’s SeaWorld entertainment park, police and the park’s manager said.Authorities at first said the woman died after apparently falling into the whale’s tank, but an eyewitness claimed the animal leapt out of the water to grab her [...]

WASHINGTON: A new study has revealed that the use of language by young children and their adult caregivers decreases when they are watching television.Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, of the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, observed during the study that young children and their adult caregivers uttered fewer vocalizations, used [...]

JOHANNESBURG: Forget taxis that get stuck in Johannesburg’s dreaded traffic jams. Forget minivans that pack in passengers like sardines.South Africa will soon have the Gautrain — Africa’s first high-speed train that will link Johannesburg and Pretoria to the international airport. Foreign visitors flying into Johannesburg for the World Cup can expect to be met by [...]

PHILADELPHI: The U.S. government launched a program on Friday to encourage food retailers to operate supermarkets in low-income areas in an effort to fight childhood obesity by increasing access to healthy food.
The Obama Administration said it would provide $400 million for its Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which is modeled on a successful Pennsylvania program that [...]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla : The space shuttle Endeavour sailed away from the International Space Station on Friday after delivering a final connecting hub and an observation deck, completing U.S. assembly of the orbital complex.Four more shuttle missions remain to stock the station and deliver science experiments before NASA retires its three-ship fleet later this year. [...]

LONDON: Here’s some bad news for those who can’t get out of bed without sipping a hot espresso — a single cup of the caffeinated drink is enough to damage your heart, a new study has claimed.Italian researchers have carried out the study and found that the high amount of caffeine in a single espresso [...]

RIYADH: A Saudi court has sentenced an employee of the kingdom’s religious police to 120 lashes for marrying six women.The man said he was not educated enough to know that Islam does not allow men to marry more than four women at any one time, said an official at Ahad al-Massarha court in the southern [...]

GENEVA : Asian airports, with Seoul’s Incheon top of the list for the fifth year in a row, have been voted by travellers the world’s top five for passenger service, the global airports body ACI said on Tuesday.Singapore’s Changi was second in 2009 and Hong Kong third, both also for the second year in a [...]

KARACHI: Born as Asad Ullaha Khan, in 1797 in Agra, Mirza Ghalib was his pen name. His father, Abdullah Baig died in battle, when little Ghalib was just 5 years old. His uncle looked after the family for about 4 years, after which his mother brought up her two sons on a meagre pension of [...]

CAPE CANAVERAL: A pair of spacewalking astronauts hooked up plumbing on the newest room of the International Space Station, enabling it to come alive with power Sunday.It was the second excursion in three days for Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick. They have one more spacewalk to finish installing the Tranquility room and its attached observation [...]

WASHINGTON: Eating chocolate every day might protect you against strokes, says a new study.According to an analysis of available research, chocolate is rich in antioxidants called flavonoids, which may have a protective effect against stroke, but more research is needed.
Another study found that eating chocolate may lower the risk of death after suffering a stroke. [...]

RIYADH: The Saudi religious police are cracking down on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to banned celebrations of Valentine’s Day.A Saudi official says policemen are inspecting shops for red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red, and ordering storeowners to get rid of them.
Such items are legal [...]

LONDON: The constant use of Internet is reducing students’ ability to read and write properly and ‘rewiring’ their minds, researchers have observed.Professor David Nicholas, University College London, came up with a survey to determine how the virtual world made an impact on the brain.
Boffins found that younger people wandered from one page to the other [...]

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON: Google Inc plans to build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could pressure telecommunications companies to loosen their control of Web access in the United States.The Internet company has locked horns with the likes of AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc over the issue of [...]

WASHINGTON: People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.
Sugar may be to blame [...]

WINNIPEG, Manitoba: Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, scientists said on Friday in giving their early findings from the biggest-ever study of Canada’s changing north.The research project involved more than 370 scientists from 27 countries who collectively spent 15 months, starting in June 2007, [...]

LONDON : Global attention is turning away from the AIDS epidemic at just the wrong time and means a fresh wave of the disease could infect millions of people in high-risk countries, a leading expert said Friday.Alan Whiteside, director of the health economics & HIV/AIDS research division (HEARD) at Kwazulu Natal University said many African [...]

JAKARTA: Enraged by protesters likening him to a “big and stupid” water buffalo, Indonesia’s president has ordered the beasts and other animals banned at street rallies, a decision some Indonesians said shows their leader can’t handle criticism.The ban, issued Wednesday by Jakarta police, follows a demonstration last week in which protesters — who accused President [...]

WASHINGTON: More than half of Americans looked up health information on the Internet last year, U.S. government researchers reported.But only 5 percent used email to communicate with their doctors, the survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found.
Researcher at the center used a survey of 7,192 adults aged 18 to 64 questioned between January [...]

ABU DHABI: Camel sales have reached more than Dh60 million in the first two days of the ongoing Al Dhafrah Festival in Zayed City, Al Gharbia (Western Region), an official said.The 10-day festival organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) includes multiple activities reflecting the UAE’s heritage. The core activity of [...]

LONDON : The UK government launched plans on Monday to halve the number of smokers by the end of the decade and said it would consider removing branding from cigarette packets and banning cigarette vending machines.At the moment, 21 percent of the population smoke and ministers want to reduce that figure to 10 percent by [...]

LONDON: A gangster is using Internet social networking site Facebook to threaten people who he says he will target after his release, a newspaper reported Sunday.Colin Gunn, serving 35 years for conspiracy to murder after ordering the execution of two people, said he was allowed to set up the account by prison bosses, the Sunday [...]

CALIFORNIA: Tonight’s full moon will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It offers anyone with clear skies an opportunity to identify easy-to-see features on the moon.This being the first full moon of 2010, it is also known as the wolf moon, a moniker dating back to Native American culture and the [...]