Kabul: US soldier kills Afghan guard

 

A US soldier shot dead an Afghan guard outside a military base in northern Afghanistan, apparently believing he was about to attack him, a local official said Sunday.

 

The incident on Thursday in Sari Pul province came less than a fortnight after an Afghan soldier shot dead four unarmed French troops at a base in the east of the country.

 

“A US soldier has shot dead an Afghan guard three days ago”, Sari Pul provincial security chief Sayed Jahangir said on Sunday.

 

“The American shot dead his Afghan colleague due to a misunderstanding. Apparently he thought the guard was trying to attack him.”

 

The victim was named as 22-year-old Abdul Rahim. He had been newly appointed as a guard by a private security company, Jahangir said.

 

A spokesperson from NATO s International Security Assistance Force refused to comment when contacted by AFP, saying the investigation was ongoing.

 

The January 20 incident prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to say his country would end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of 2013 — instead of the planned NATO deadline of the end of 2014.

 

Violence between foreign and Afghan soldiers has been growing more frequent, and is increasingly linked to “cultural incompatibility” and arguments, rather than Taliban influence, according to a NATO report.

 

‘Another Year’ released

LOS ANGELES: ‘Another Year’ a comedy film, has released.

The film is written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Jim Broadbent as Tom, Lesley Manville as Mary, Ruth Sheen as Gerri, Oliver Maltman as Joe, Peter Wight as Ken, David Bradley as Ronnie, Martin Savage as Carl, Karina Fernandez as Katie, Michele Austin as Tanya, Philip Davis as Jack (as Phil Davis), Imelda Staunton as Janet, Stuart McQuarrie as Tom’s Colleague, Eileen Davies as Mourner, Mary Jo Randle as Mourner and Ben Roberts as Mourner.

Movie synopsis: A married couple who have managed to remain blissfully happy into their autumn years, are surrounded over the course of the four seasons of one average year by friends, colleagues, and family who all seem to suffer some degree of unhappiness.

Heavy Snow Grounds Flights in Europe

LONDON: Europe saw little respite on Sunday from the Arctic conditions that have closed airports and disrupted travel on the weekend before Christmas, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year.

Britain’s busiest airport, London Heathrow, which was forced to close both its runways for much of Saturday because of heavy snow, was not accepting inbound flights on Sunday and said only a few planes would be leaving.

About 30 tonnes of snow was being removed from each parking stand around the planes, but ice was making it dangerous for the aircraft to be moved.

“There comes a point at which the weather has such an impact that it’s simply not safe to fly,” Andrew Teacher, spokesman for airport operator BAA, told.

The runway at London’s second busiest airport Gatwick was open but thousands of passengers were facing delays and cancellations, as they were at most other British airports.

In Germany, Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said 470 flights had been canceled on Sunday so far and a worsening of weather conditions was expected from noon onwards.

“The airport halls are packed with flight guests,” a spokeswoman said, adding that about 1,000 people were forced to stay at the airport overnight.

Snow blanketed northern France, delaying trains and forcing flights to be canceled.

At Paris’s main Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, where 700,000 passengers were expected, a quarter of flights were canceled and delays were running on average to at least an hour.

Britain’s Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said he had asked the government’s chief scientific adviser to assess whether the country was experiencing a “step change” in weather patterns due to climate change and if it needed to spend more money on winter preparations.

Britain traditionally experiences mild winters, but last year’s was the coldest for 30 years and this December is likely to be its coldest since 1910.

The Met Office said temperatures could hit minus 15 degrees Celsius in western Scotland later on Sunday and icy conditions were forecast across the country.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told: “As my colleague, the transport secretary, has said we haven’t been equipped over the last few decades in this country to cope with every aspect of severe prolonged cold weather. We may have to look again at that if these things are to recur frequently.”

The government and transport operators have faced criticism as the cold spells have seen trains delayed and canceled, roads closed and some drivers forced to sleep in their cars.

French Secretary of State for Transport Thierry Mariani urged the French to avoid driving after the government took considerable criticism earlier this month for not being better prepared for a snowstorm that trapped many people in their cars.

French TGV high-speed trains were running about 20 minutes late on Sunday with 2.4 million people expected to use the train system during the holiday period.

Karan Johar gets hate mail for supporting Housefull

Karan Johar has always been known to be generous towards his colleagues’ works, unless the colleague happens to be Ram Gopal Varma.
Little did he know that a harmless and warm congratulatory tweet to his friends Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone and Lara Dutta for their film Housefull would spark off a series of nasty comments barbs and innuendos from across the world.
Baffled and amused, Karan spoke from New York to say, “I normally wish all the best for all my colleagues and their work, both to the people and involved and on public platforms. In fact just some time after I wished the team of Housefull I also said good things about my friend Gurinder Chadha’s new film It’s A Wonderful Afterlife. No one seemed to mind that.”
From the minute that Karan tweeted about Housefull, his email, phone and SMS have been swamped by indignant angry and abusive responses.
Says Karan, “I know it’s free world. But it doesn’t mean people can say whatever they like. Many of the messages are downright abusive. I’ve praised so many films. But I didn’t even praise Housefull. I just congratulated the team. And I started getting abusive messages asking how I could support a film like this. Arrey, what I choose to support or not support is entirely my prerogative.”
Karan is clueless about what could’ve triggered off this reaction. Housefull producer Sajid Nadiadwala says he’s aware of the backlash on the internet. “Not only Karan Johar, even my friend Salman Khan tweeted about Housefull. While no one has any unkind thing to say about the film in print or on television, on the internet it’s a different matter. This is why I say, stay away from social network when it comes to my film.”
Unluckily for Nadiadwala almost all the members of his Housefull cast are on Twitter.
Says the harried producer, “They are all so active on Twitter, it’s scary. If you notice all the major troubles in our country lately, including the IPL scandal have started on Twitter. That’s why I’ve put a non-disclosure agreement on people working in my films.”
The next step for Sajid Nadiadwala is to ask his actors and technicians to stay off the social networks on websites as long as they are working in his films.
Says Sajid, “I cannot by contract persuade them to stay off social networking websites. But I can request them to do so.”
As for Karan Johar’s growing avalanche of hate mail for supporting Housefull, Karan says, “I don’t care what’s tweeted against me. It won’t stop me from supporting my friends’ films.”

dancing with the stars week 3

On the Week 3 results show, Buzz Aldrin was the second person eliminated from Dancing With the Stars season 10. I’d developed a real affection for Buzz this week, and it peaked during his sweet and visually powerful farewell montage. That was convenient. Sure, he seemed a little long-winded at times, but this isn’t a batty old man we’re dealing with. The self-proclaimed ”patriotic geezer” is a smart and fascinating guy whose verbosity was not particularly well-suited for reality television in 2010. More power to him for that. ”I will miss hearing his stories,” his partner Ashly told my colleague Lynette Rice after last night’s show. ”I wish everybody could hear what he was telling me.” Read EW’s post-show interview with Buzz and Ashly over at Hollywood Insider.

”Indiana” Jake Pavelka, who was in the bottom two with Buzz, seemed humbled by the scare, but he could have snapped out of the utter terror of possibly not getting the chance to Accept This Rose long enough to shake the spaceman’s hand. Attention! (Or as DANCMSTR would have it, ”a-season ten-sion”!) Stand up and salute the astronaut, everyone. Good cast, good cast. Who’s a good cast? You are.

Many viewers and 99 percent of the Internet thought Kate Gosselin, a terrible dancer, should have gone home before Buzz. After she was the last Star called safe, the heroic mother pretended to faint. ”No fainting! There’s no fainting in ballroom,” cried Tom. ”Most of the time.” Don’t cry for her, America: Kate assured a nation of rapt viewers that she was ”actually proud” of her paparazzi-themed paso doble. ”My internal scores say ‘Thumbs up!”’ she insisted as Tony weakly raised both of his own thumbs. It will be interesting to compare Kate’s internal score next week with the technical and performance scores the judges will attempt to beam in the general vicinity of her ego’s radar.

Evan and Anna performed their quickstep as the Week 3 encore, at DANCMSTR’s request. I loved the white-haired man in the front row who was clapping the entire time they were dancing in his corner. That would totally be me if I were ever at a liiiiiiive show. You only live once, right? And I must not have registered Anna’s sassy mid-dance wink on Monday night. Or maybe she didn’t do it then. I’ll never know, unless I check.

Reba stopped by! ”Three Russians and a Pole” (Maks, Val, Snejana, and Edyta) booted it up for ”I Want a Cowboy,” and Lacey and Dmitry put up a worthy fight to the title of Reba’s second number, ”Consider Me Gone.” Did anyone else think/fear that Lacey was barefoot? Nope! Nude heels! Those two are amazing. Reba was fab and all, but my favorite thing about her at the moment is that she’s clearly such a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars. Even her sequin-embroidered, pleathery top was in the spirit of the show. When Tom asked her who she was rooting for this season, she rattled off ”Erin, Evan, and Nicole.” Uh oh, said Tom, we now have some bitter contestants backstage. Whatever, Bergeron! The fact that she was even able to name three people automatically makes her my favorite results-night musical guest of all time.

Mary Carillo

Mary Carillo, I’ve never seen Mary Carillo as anything but a commentator who covers the sport with insight and wit and as much objectivity as she can muster when certain players aren’t on the court. I’ve defended her around the Internet for years against accusations of ineptitude and far worse. When it comes to Serena Williams, I’ve found her criticism a bit acidic, but fair, giving her the benefit of my doubt, if I had any doubt about her feelings at all.

Tonight, she crossed a line.

She actually said from the broadcast booth that the world No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion is trying to start a gender war and that she got away with threatening murder.

I spit out my tea.

This from an analyst who doesn’t understand that having the best serve and having the best service games won statistics are two different measures of ability and execution. One’s an opinion, the other, a quantifiable fact.

Serena committed no crime, Mary Carillo. She wasn’t arrested and charged. She wasn’t handcuffed or dragged out of Arthur Ashe stadium in shackles.

Pam Shriver came armed and ready, as though she knew Mary would take her rant to another level during Serena’s second-round match. Sounded like Pam read from a page, bringing facts to the table and let her colleague and all of us know that no man in the NFL who had an actual physical altercation with an official was fined more than $25,000.

Mary Carillo has driven fans away from tonight’s broadcast because they didn’t want to hear any more of her slanderous vitriol.

ESPN, do the sport a favor and fire Mary Carillo. And if you can’t or won’t do that, then ban her from calling another Serena Williams match for the rest of her tenure with your corporation.

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Mary Carillo was first posted on February 13, 2010 at 10:41 am.

Blasts in Baghdad, 36 killed

BAGHDAD: Three large car bombs rocked well-known Baghdad hotels on Monday, killing at least 36 people and ending a 1-1/2-month lull in coordinated assaults on the Iraqi capital as the country heads into a March election.

Police said at least 71 people were wounded in the separate suicide car bombings, which went off within minutes of one another. Some of the casualties were police. Health Ministry data showed a lower figure for the death toll.

The first blast occurred near an entrance of the Ishtar Sheraton hotel, a Baghdad landmark on the eastern side of the Tigris River. The shock wave blew open doors, shattered windows and sent thick dust swirling into the Reuters offices nearby.

A giant mushroom cloud of debris rose from the blast site as ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene. Helicopters buzzed overhead and soldiers blocked off entry.

Towering concrete blastwalls protecting the hotel along the Abu Nawas riverside boulevard fell like dominoes. The blast took place across from a park frequented by families and picnickers.

The building has not been a regular hotel for years and largely houses company offices and some media organisations, but some adventurous international tour groups began using it last year.

Zina Tareq, an Iraqi journalist who was in her office at the time of the blast, said she dived under a desk with the five-year-old daughter of a colleague.

“We heard a deafening sound. The ceiling collapsed on us and the windows shattered,” she said. Another colleague was wounded by broken glass.

Police said another blast went off just outside the al-Hamra hotel, which has been a hub for many Western journalists since the 2003 US invasion. One Western reporter said the hotel had sustained heavy damage. The Washington Post said three of its Iraqi employees were wounded.

Houses collapsed near the Hamra, and civil defence officials searched for survivors. The blast at the Hamra, like that at the Sheraton, ripped a giant crater in the pavement.

A final bomb appeared to have blown up near the Babylon hotel, which is used by Iraqi travellers and sometimes for government meetings.

The area around the hotel has been hit several times in the past year by mortar or rocket fire aimed at the U.S. embassy, located across the river in the heavily guarded Green Zone.

Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi put the death toll at seven killed with 51 wounded, citing Health Ministry data. Death tolls from major attacks have become a political football in the run-up to the March 7 vote.

The last major attack on Baghdad occurred on Dec. 8 when a series of car bombs killed more than 100 people. On Oct. 25 and Aug. 19, a total of around 250 people were killed in suicide assaults on government buildings.

The March ballot is a critical moment for the country as it emerges from the sectarian slaughter unleashed by the 2003 invasion and begins to sign multibillion-deals with global oil firms that could set the stage for future prosperity.

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Blasts in Baghdad, 36 killed was first posted on January 25, 2010 at 10:06 pm.

Blasts in Baghdad, 36 killed

BAGHDAD: Three large car bombs rocked well-known Baghdad hotels on Monday, killing at least 36 people and ending a 1-1/2-month lull in coordinated assaults on the Iraqi capital as the country heads into a March election.

Police said at least 71 people were wounded in the separate suicide car bombings, which went off within minutes of one another. Some of the casualties were police. Health Ministry data showed a lower figure for the death toll.

The first blast occurred near an entrance of the Ishtar Sheraton hotel, a Baghdad landmark on the eastern side of the Tigris River. The shock wave blew open doors, shattered windows and sent thick dust swirling into the Reuters offices nearby.

A giant mushroom cloud of debris rose from the blast site as ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene. Helicopters buzzed overhead and soldiers blocked off entry.

Towering concrete blastwalls protecting the hotel along the Abu Nawas riverside boulevard fell like dominoes. The blast took place across from a park frequented by families and picnickers.

The building has not been a regular hotel for years and largely houses company offices and some media organisations, but some adventurous international tour groups began using it last year.

Zina Tareq, an Iraqi journalist who was in her office at the time of the blast, said she dived under a desk with the five-year-old daughter of a colleague.

“We heard a deafening sound. The ceiling collapsed on us and the windows shattered,” she said. Another colleague was wounded by broken glass.

Police said another blast went off just outside the al-Hamra hotel, which has been a hub for many Western journalists since the 2003 US invasion. One Western reporter said the hotel had sustained heavy damage. The Washington Post said three of its Iraqi employees were wounded.

Houses collapsed near the Hamra, and civil defence officials searched for survivors. The blast at the Hamra, like that at the Sheraton, ripped a giant crater in the pavement.

A final bomb appeared to have blown up near the Babylon hotel, which is used by Iraqi travellers and sometimes for government meetings.

The area around the hotel has been hit several times in the past year by mortar or rocket fire aimed at the U.S. embassy, located across the river in the heavily guarded Green Zone.

Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi put the death toll at seven killed with 51 wounded, citing Health Ministry data. Death tolls from major attacks have become a political football in the run-up to the March 7 vote.

The last major attack on Baghdad occurred on Dec. 8 when a series of car bombs killed more than 100 people. On Oct. 25 and Aug. 19, a total of around 250 people were killed in suicide assaults on government buildings.

The March ballot is a critical moment for the country as it emerges from the sectarian slaughter unleashed by the 2003 invasion and begins to sign multibillion-deals with global oil firms that could set the stage for future prosperity.

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Blasts in Baghdad, 36 killed was first posted on January 25, 2010 at 10:06 pm.

My Super Ex Girlfriend

My Super Ex-Girlfriend; Fantasy comedy, USA, 2006; D: Ivan Reitman, S: Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, Anna Faris, Rainn Wilson

New York. Project manager Matt meets the nerdy Jenny Johnson in a subway and asks her out. Even though she is difficult, they start a relationship. He is however surprised when he finds out she is actually super heroine G-Girl. After she turns out to be arrogant and he falls in love with his colleague Hannah, he dumps Jenny. As a consequence, she uses her super-powers to turn his life into a nightmare. When Professor Bedlam, Jenny’s ex-boyfriend, tries to take her powers away, Hannah gets super-powers herself and battles with G-Girl. Though, Jenny returns to Bedlam and Hannah to Matt.

“My Super Ex-Girlfriend” has 2 funniest sex scenes in 2006. In the first, the nerdy Jenny, actually super heroine G-Girl, exchanges her clothes in hilarious fast-motion in the bathroom to hide her costume beneath her shirt. She then proceeds to approach Matt and rips his sleeves and pants. And when she is on top of him, the whole bed rocks left and right from her “power”. In the second one, they have intercourse while she is flying, which causes her to lose herself and almost fall down on the street from ecstasy. This unusual mix between “Superwoman” and “Fatal Attraction” is too thin to really be a great film, but it’s very entertaining and here and there shows that comedy veteran Ivan Reitman still has some good sixth sense for humor. The reason why Matt would suddenly end his relationship with G-Girl is unconvincing and serves only as a plot device, yet Uma Thurman is simply brilliant and contagiously energetic in her role, while the screenplay is refreshingly turning superhero cliches upside down – really, how often do you get a chance to see a super heroine who saves the world, but is privately actually a real bitch? Not really a great film, but because of those virtues, it’s pretty amusing.

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My Super Ex Girlfriend was first posted on December 27, 2009 at 11:57 am.

Obama Halloween

WASHINGTON: Obama Halloween,  A 1,000 pound pumpkin has been delivered to the White House and Obama volunteers Sunday painting pumpkins. On Saturday night, Obama hosted its first Halloween party. And as my colleague.

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