Kate Winslet Dating Ned Rocknroll

Kate Winslet is said to be dating Ned Rocknroll, who is Richard Branson’s nephew. The pair reportedly met whilst both were staying at Virgin tycoon Branson’s Caribbean holiday island of Necker. They were both on the Caribbean island last month when the main house was ravaged by fire.

Ned Rocknroll, used to be known as Ned Abel Smith until he changed his name by deed poll a few years back to Ned Rocknroll. Ned works for Branson’s space initiative, Virgin Galactic. He separated from his wife, heiress Eliza Cowdray, earlier this year and was apparently on the island to nurse his broken heart.

But if recent reports are to be believed Winslet and Ned have been dating since their island holiday. They were both pictured this week attending the memorial service for Branson’s father, Ted at the Royal Geographical Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London.

Winslets agent spoke to MailOnline today and neither confirmed nor denied the rumors;

‘As usual, I am making no comment on Kate’s private life.’

Queen Elizabeth becomes great-grandmother

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth, 84, became a great-grandmother for the first time when the wife of her grandson Peter Phillips gave birth to a baby girl, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.

Autumn Philips, a Canadian, gave birth on Wednesday.

“The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Princess Royal, Captain Mark Phillips and Autumn”s family have been informed and are delighted with the news. The baby”s name will be confirmed in due course,” the statement said.

Peter Phillips is the only son of the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, and her first husband Mark Phillips.

The baby is 12th in line to the throne.

Her birth also made Peter Phillips”s sister Zara an aunt. The royal family said last week that Zara, a successful equestrian athlete, was to marry rugby player Mike Tindall.

Peter and Autumn Phillips, who courted controversy by selling the rights to their wedding to Hello! magazine for a reported 500,000 pounds ($770,000), live in Hong Kong, where he works for the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Prince Charles Car Attacked During Student Protests

Prince Charles car was attacked in central London last night during student protests after British Prime Minister David Camerons government won a parliamentary vote to allow universities to triple tuition fees.

The heir to the throne and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who were both in the car, were unharmed. The limousine, bearing the royal coat of arms, had paint thrown at it in as the couple were being driven to a show at the Palladium Theatre. A window was cracked. Still pictures showed the royal couple in the car looking shocked.

The attack took place as thousands of students staged demonstrations around Parliament against the increase in tuition fees. Camerons Conservative-led government won the vote by 323 to 302 in the 650-member House of Commons, heading off a revolt by some members of the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partners, who had had pledged to oppose any rise.

Prince William still in love with football

BLACKPOOL: Prince William, who announced his engagement to fiancee Kate Middleton this week, took time off from planning the wedding of the year to watch the football on Saturday.

The prince, second in line to the throne, is the president of the Football Association, the sport’s governing body in England.

Wearing a baseball hat and glasses, William was spotted in the crowd at Bloomfield Road watching Blackpool beat struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 in the English Premier League.

A spokesman for the prince’s St James’s Palace office said he was enjoying a private weekend with friends which had been planned for a long time.

William, 28, is a search and rescue helicopter pilot with the Royal Air Force on the island of Anglesey, northwest Wales.

He returned to his RAF Valley base after announcing Tuesday that he will marry Middleton in

British units ‘under scrutiny over Afghan deaths’

KABUL: Three British military units in Afghanistan face questions about their conduct after details of their involvement in attacks on Afghan civilians emerged, a report said.

Of casualties caused by British forces, two-thirds involved troops from the three units, reported Britain’s Guardian newspaper, which obtained the information from the government through freedom of information legislation.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) released information about 21 incidents in response to the paper’s demands.

The information revealed that the Cold Stream Guards shot four civilians in Kabul over four weeks, while the Royal Marine commandos killed or wounded civilians eight times in six months.

And a third unit, the Rifles, were involved in three incidents last year.

Children were among the casualties and a man with mental health problems was attacked on

Oil inched up amid doubts about US, eurozone economies

SINGAPORE: Oil prices inched marginally higher in Asian trade Tuesday with investor sentiment clouded by worries about the US and eurozone economies, analysts said.

New York”s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, gained eight cents to 79.06 dollars a barrel and Brent North Sea crude, also for September delivery, was 10 cents higher at 77.60 dollars.

“There are a lot of mixed signals,” said David Johnson, a Hong Kong-based oil analyst with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

“There is not enough confidence in the US and Europe (economic) recovery… a lot of people are getting slightly concerned about what”s happening,” he said.

Skepticism over European banking-sector stress tests, which cleared all but seven European lenders, got a subdued welcome on stock markets on Monday while investors remained concerned about the pace of US recovery from the global slump.

However, latest data on Monday from the Commerce Department showed new home sales increased 23.6 percent to 330,000 units in June from a revised May rate of 267,000, a record low.

The housing sector was at the epicentre of the financial crisis that plunged the US economy into recession in December 2007.

Meanwhile, investors are waiting for the release of a weekly government report on US energy stockpiles regarded as a gauge of demand in the world”s
biggest economy.

Last week”s inventory data showed an unexpectedly big rise in crude stocks and investors expect the report to show a drop in energy reserves when the Department of Energy releases its report Wednesday.

Oil inched up amid doubts about US, eurozone economies

SINGAPORE: Oil prices inched marginally higher in Asian trade Tuesday with investor sentiment clouded by worries about the US and eurozone economies, analysts said.

New York”s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, gained eight cents to 79.06 dollars a barrel and Brent North Sea crude, also for September delivery, was 10 cents higher at 77.60 dollars.

“There are a lot of mixed signals,” said David Johnson, a Hong Kong-based oil analyst with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

“There is not enough confidence in the US and Europe (economic) recovery… a lot of people are getting slightly concerned about what”s happening,” he said.

Skepticism over European banking-sector stress tests, which cleared all but seven European lenders, got a subdued welcome on stock markets on Monday while investors remained concerned about the pace of US recovery from the global slump.

However, latest data on Monday from the Commerce Department showed new home sales increased 23.6 percent to 330,000 units in June from a revised May rate of 267,000, a record low.

The housing sector was at the epicentre of the financial crisis that plunged the US economy into recession in December 2007.

Meanwhile, investors are waiting for the release of a weekly government report on US energy stockpiles regarded as a gauge of demand in the world”s
biggest economy.

Last week”s inventory data showed an unexpectedly big rise in crude stocks and investors expect the report to show a drop in energy reserves when the Department of Energy releases its report Wednesday.

CJ takes notice of child”s death

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took a suo moto notice on a column appeared in print media about the tragic death of a minor child Sufian and directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab to submit report of this incident by August 2.

Accoding to the column, Saif-ur-Rehman, father of the deceased minor, went to a government hospital in Lahore to visit a patient and left his children in the waiting hall as the minor children were not permitted to bring in the ward.

Sufian was crawling when the air conditioner of the room fell upon him causing his tragic death.

The hospital administration promised Saif-ur-Rehman to pay compensation but he was still waiting for the same.

The columnist requested the CJ to take notice of the said incident.

Nato Secretary General calls on COAS

RAWALPINDI: Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at General Headquarters here on Wednesday.

The visiting dignitary remained with him for some time and discussed the matters of mutual interest, said a press release issued here.

Hajj balloting on August 11

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi on Wednesday said the balloting to select 80,000 intending pilgrims under the government scheme would be held on August 11.

He was talking to media persons after attending a summer camp, which was organized for journalists” families here at the National Press Club.

He said the ministry has received 83,000 applications from the intending pilgrims, adding “The number of intending pilgrims is likely to reach 88,000 as 2,000 to 2,500 applications are still in pipeline besides some requests by industrialists for their workers.”

This year, around 80,000 pilgrims would perform Hajj under the government scheme, while the same number of Hujjaj would be sent to Saudi Arabia through Hajj Group Organizers (HGOs), he added.

Kazmi said the ministry was expecting to get additional Hajj quota of 10,000 in the current month of Sha”ban, which would be equally distributed between private and government schemes.

The Saudi government was considering the requests to increase the allocation from different countries for the year 2010.

“The Saudi authorities have forwarded the requests of different countries to the Royal Court after completing the initial process. Now, we are looking for announcement of the Royal order, which hopefully will come soon,” the minister said.

He said the ministry has so far finalized the arrangements for the accommodation of 40,000 pilgrims out of 80,000 in Saudi Arabia, while, the process of hiring residential buildings for remaining 40,000 Hujjaj is underway.

Next Page »