Bench warrant issued for Lindsay Lohan
September 21, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Entertainment, World News
LOS ANGELES: A bench warrant was issued Monday for actress Lindsay Lohan after she tested positive for drugs, but court officials said she won’t be taken into custody until at least Friday after a hearing.
Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Eldon Fox will decide at that time whether Lohan violated her probation and should be sent back to jail or back into locked-down drug rehabilitation. The L.A. County Probation Department delivered its report on the alleged violation to Fox, and her probation was revoked.
Lohan admitted on her Twitter feed that she failed the test. “Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test and if I am asked, I am prepared to appear before judge Fox next week as a result,” she wrote. “This was certainly a setback for me but I am taking responsibility for my actions and I’m prepared to face the consequences.”
Lohan spent part
Afghanistan starts long wait for election results
Security was back to normal and the streets were quiet in the Afghan capital , following parliamentary elections marred by violence.
Afghan officials hailed the parliamentary vote on Saturday as a success despite low turnout, attacks that killed 14 people and widespread fraud that could undermine the result and test the government’s credibility.
Taliban attacks and attempts at vote-rigging were reported across the country. While there was less violence, attacks were more widespread than during a deeply flawed presidential vote last year and reached into once peaceful areas. Voters appeared hesitant after a series of rocket attacks, beginning with a pre-dawn strike near the main headquarters of NATO-led troops and the U.S. embassy in the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban said on their website after polls closed they had conducted more than 150 attacks, fewer than the 272 blamed on insurgents during last year’s presidential poll. People who voted said the polling went better than expected.
The election was being closely watched in Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals after nine years of war.
A flawed poll would also weigh on Obama when his administration faces mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war, with violence at its worst since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.As well as the low turnout and violence, thousands of reported attempts at fraud threatened to undermine the poll’s credibility, and that of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.It will not be clear for several weeks who among the almost 2,500 candidates have won the 249 seats in the wolesi jirga, or lower house of parliament. Early results will not be known until at least Oct. 8, with final results not due before Oct. 30.Poll observers expect thousands of complaints, which must be lodged within 72 hours and could delay the process further.
Facebook fuels American flag business in Pakistan
KARACHI: In Pakistan a row about Facebook, censorship and religious sacrilege means booming demand for replica American and Israeli flags to go up in flames at protest rallies.
That means one thing for 31-year-old Mamoon ur Rasheed — business — and he is working long into the night to churn out the paraphernalia beloved of Islamic activists taking to the streets.
“I have nothing to do with any political party, but it is really enjoyable when you see your work on TV screens,” a laughing Rasheed told media.
“I”m busy every day making banners and placards for different religious and political parties, but work gets a boost — especially when international controversy concerning Muslims breaks out,” he said.
When a Facebook user decided to organise an “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day” competition to promote “freedom of expression”, it sparked a major backlash among Islamic activists in the South Asian country of 170 million.
Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and the row sparked comparison with protests across the Muslim world over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.
Several thousand Pakistanis have taken to the streets at the behest of right-wing religious groups, who turn to Rasheed when they need flags to burn and banners to write.
“Generally, we receive orders for banners for a couple of demonstrations a day, but due to the blasphemous drawings issue, the number of orders for flags and banners has increased by 10 to 12 per day,” said Rasheed.
“Flags are made for burning. They symbolise what our clients want to express and we are paid for it, so I”m happy to see our work go up in flames.”
Rasheed owns a workshop where he employs four craftsmen to paint flags and write calligraphy, and a small printing press.
“We have received continuous orders for American and Israeli flags. Normally we paint them but when demand surges into the hundreds we print these flags to get them to our clients in time,” he said.
In the wake of the Prophet Mohammed controversy, Pakistan blocked hundreds of web pages to limit access to “blasphemous” material, banning access to US-based Facebook and YouTube — the two most popular websites in the country.
A court in the eastern city of Lahore ordered the block on Facebook until at least May 31, when it is scheduled to hear a petition from Islamic lawyers.
Volcanic ash closes some UK airports
May 16, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
LONDON: A dense cloud of volcanic ash drifting from Iceland forced the closure of airports in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Sunday.
All airports in Northern Ireland shut down at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT; 8 a.m. EDT), along with others in northern England — including Manchester and Liverpool — as well as Prestwick in Scotland, the National Air Traffic Service said.
Dublin”s international airport planned to close from 7 p.m. (1800 GMT, 2 p.m. EDT) until at least 9 a.m. (0800 GMT, 4 a.m. EDT) on Monday.
British and Irish aviation authorities could not say when or if other airports would have to close, but they expected London”s airports — including Heathrow, Europe”s busiest — to remain open until at least 7 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT), and Shannon, in western Ireland, to be open until 11 p.m. (2200 GMT; 6 p.m. EDT).
The German Aerospace Center sent up a test flight Sunday to measure the ash concentration, and the country”s air traffic control said flights in Germany would not be affected by volcanic ash before Wednesday.
Ash can clog jet engines. The April 14 eruption at Iceland”s Eyjafjallajokul volcano forced most countries in northern Europe to shut their airspace April 15-20, grounding more than 100,000 flights and an estimated 10 million travelers worldwide and costing airlines more than $2 billion.
In southern Iceland, activity at the volcano fluctuated throughout Sunday, but had not particularly intensified, civil protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said. He blamed the closures on shifting winds.
“What really changes the situation is the weather pattern,” he said.
The Icelandic weather service said “presently there are no indications that the eruption is about to end.”
“No major changes are seen in the activity, the ash cloud is slightly higher than yesterday,” the agency said.
Airlines complained bitterly over the air space closures last month, calling them an overreaction. The European air safety agency last week proposed drastically narrowing the continent”s no-fly zone because of volcanic ash to 120 miles (190 kilometers) like the one used in the U.S. The proposal still must be approved.
Virgin Atlantic”s president, Sir Richard Branson, criticized the most recent decision by British authorities to impose a no-fly zone.
“The closing of Manchester airspace once again is beyond a joke,” Branson said in a statement. He said test flights have “shown no evidence that airlines could not continue to fly completely safely.”
A spokesman for Britain”s Civil Aviation Authority said Branson”s remarks were “surprising” because a meeting of representatives of airline and engine manufacturers last week had agreed to find a way to ensure planes could fly safely in the volcanic ash.
“We as an organization can”t just say, ”Oh, I”m sure it”s all right, go fly without evidence it”s safe,”” Jonathan Nicholson said.
British Airways, facing cabin crew strikes beginning Tuesday, said it had canceled a small number of flights out of Manchester. The airline”s chief executive, Willie Walsh, is to meet with Transport Secretary Philip Hammond on Monday.
Eurostar, which runs trains between Britain and continental Europe, said it was adding four extra trains — an additional 3,500 seats — between London and Paris on Monday.
Britain”s weather service has said it expects the winds, blowing from the northwest, to shift midweek, which it says would redirect the ash away from Britain.
Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) erupted in April for the first time in nearly two centuries. During its last eruption, starting in 1821, its emissions rumbled on for two years.
eroglu
April 18, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
DERVIS EROGLU, who supports Turkish Cypriot independence, claimed victory in the north’s ‘presidential’ election on Sunday.
Eroglu won more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off and beat incumbent Mehmet Ali Talat, according to preliminiary results.
Eroglu, who wants more autonomy for each community in any peace settlement, rules out concessions key to Greek Cypriots in reunification talks.
Any stalemate on Cyprus will further complicate Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU.
Diplomats have said an Eroglu victory could slow the pace of U.N.-backed reunification talks
Talat has led the talks from the Turkish Cypriot side since they began in 2008.
Eroglu, now the ‘prime minister’ in the north has said he will continue to negotiate, but his advertised positions are not acceptable to Greek Cypriots.
“Talks will continue because I want peace more than those who say that I don’t,” Eroglu told supporters at a rally after preliminary results indicated he had won.
“I seek a solution based on the realities of the island and a solution that all of us can live with.”
Eroglu wants more independence for each community in any peace settlement, a stance at odds with the basis of talks until now that the island should be a federation of two zones with an effective central government. He has also ruled out any Greek Cypriot return to land now held by Turks.
The conflict not only hampers Turkey’s bid to join the EU, but also complicates decision making on defence issues between the EU and NATO, of which Turkey is a member.
nadal
April 18, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MONACO – Rafael Nadal’s title drought is over.
Nadal won his first tournament in nearly a year on Sunday, defeating Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-1 in an all-Spanish final at the Monte Carlo Masters.
The second-seeded Nadal overpowered Verdasco with a stunning display of attacking clay-court tennis to earn his sixth straight victory at Monte Carlo, but his first title since the Rome Masters in May 2009.
“Last year I didn’t play well but won; this year the level is completely different,” Nadal said. “I have been playing well since the start of the season.”
He was relieved to win again after losing consecutive Masters semifinals on hard courts at the BNP Paribas Open and the Sony Ericsson Open.
“It was a lot of work. A lot of work,” Nadal said. “For sure, this year is really special for me. One of the most special because I had a little bit of a hard time for the last year.”
Nadal is the only player to win six consecutive titles at the same tournament since tennis turned professional in 1968, and the 23-year-old has tied top-ranked Roger Federer with 16 Masters titles, one behind Andre Agassi’s record.
“I was a little bit nervous — I didn’t win a tournament for a while,” said Nadal, who last year lost to Robin Soderling at the French Open and battled knee problems that sidelined him for more than two months.
He was glad to be back playing his best on his favorite surface.
“Probably one of my best (performances) on clay,” Nadal said. “One of my best levels on clay for sure.”
He sealed the win on his first match point with a forehand pass and fell to the ground, rolling on his back as he savored his victory.
“It was emotional for me today, it was my best week for a long time,” Nadal said. “It’s unbelievable, Monte Carlo is my favorite tournament.”
It was his 32nd straight win at Monte Carlo since his third-round loss to Guillermo Coria in 2003, and the relief at clinching his 37th career title was evident as he sobbed into a towel when he sat down.
Although Federer didn’t play at Monte Carlo, Nadal’s win and early form on clay will make him a favorite to reclaim his French Open title at Roland Garros when the tournament starts late next month.
shashi tharoor
April 18, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who was under a cloud for his alleged involvement in the Kochi IPL cricket franchise bid, resigned late on Sunday night.
Amid mounting political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned the first-time Minister to his residence after a meeting of the Congress Core Group, and asked him to step down.
An official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said: “Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of State for External Affairs, has submitted his resignation from the Union Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister has sent his resignation to the President with the recommendation that it be accepted. [President Pratibha Patil has accepted the resignation].”
Mr. Tharoor’s fate was sealed at a one-on-one meeting between Dr. Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi just before the meeting of the Core Group of senior Ministers.
The Core Group that met for over two hours discussed the floor strategy in Parliament. The government faces Opposition-moved cut motions on the Finance Bill against increase in prices of petroleum products announced in the budget and against the price rise of essential commodities.
He drove in his private car into the 7 Race Course residence of the Prime Minister at 9.45 p.m., minutes after the Core Group meeting ended. He left 25 minutes later without speaking to the media.
With the issue threatening to snowball into a major embarrassment for the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government, the Prime Minister, who returned from a foreign tour on Saturday, decided to take a call but not before giving a hearing to Mr. Tharoor. The beleaguered Minister met Dr. Singh in the afternoon for over 45 minutes and explained his role in the row.
On a day of fast moving developments, Mr. Tharoor’s Dubai-based executive friend, Sunanda Pushkar, “voluntarily” offered to surrender her sweat equity worth Rs. 70 crore in the Kochi IPL consortium, prompting the BJP to slam the move as “admission of guilt.”
uk airspace
April 18, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
UK Airspace Ban Extended To 1pm Sunday
A restriction on flights in and out of the UK has been extended until at least 1pm Sunday due to the volcano ash cloud drifting from Iceland
Forecasters said there is no sign that a change in wind direction will clear British airspace of the cloud of ash.
The National Air Traffic Service said airlines would continue to be subject to restrictions for as long as ash billows into UK airspace.
And Britain’s air travel nightmare shows no signs of ending as meteorologists said the wind could keep the ash cloud over Europe for up to five days.
The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
Meanwhile, test flights at lower altitude than usual are taking place in the Netherlands and other European countries to assess the impact of volcanic ash on planes.
More than a million Britons are stranded abroad as they wait for the cloud to pass.
But Sky’s Michelle May at Manchester airport said even if flights do get under way this weekend it will be a long time before travel is back to normal.
“Once it does all reopen, it’s going to be up to two weeks before major airports are functioning properly,” she said.
“All the crews and planes are in the wrong places because they haven’t been able to get where they need to be.”
Scientists in Hvolsvollur are trying to monitor what is going on inside the volcano.
Sky’s Greg Milam, who is close to the volcano, said they are trying to get an idea of whether the intensity is lessening.
“What they will be hoping is that the wind might at some point change direction and strength and bring some respite to Europe,” he said.
“This sort of eruption could go on for days, weeks, maybe months.
“As long as this continues to happen and the ash continues to be thrown up with such intensity it is very difficult for anyone to predict what will happen next.
“The big fear here is that the nearby sister volcano Katla could erupt.
“It is much bigger, the flooding would be worse and the ash cloud would also be much worse.”
A light dusting of ash has settled in parts of Scotland and in the Thames Valley area, but the Health Protection Agency says any minor symptoms are likely to be temporary.
Britain extends flight ban until 1200 GMT Sunday
April 17, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
LONDON: Britain has extended a ban on most flights in its airspace until at least 1200 GMT Sunday due to the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, air authorities announced.
“The volcanic ash cloud from Iceland is moving around and changing shape,” the National Air Traffic Services said in a statement Saturday.
“Based on the latest information from the Met Office, NATS advises that the restrictions currently in place across UK controlled airspace will remain in place until at least 13:00 (UK time) tomorrow.”
“We will continue to monitor Met Office information and review our arrangements in line with that,” it said.
Closures of French airports extended
April 16, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
PARIS: Airports in Paris were closed until at least 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) Saturday because of a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, the French aviation authority said.
The DGAC civil aviation authority also announced the closures of several smaller airports.
Thousands of extra passengers meanwhile swamped Eurostar”s Paris to London high-speed train services on Friday, the eve of school holidays in many parts of France, while a rail strike disrupted some national services.
Paris”s Charles de Gaulle airport, France”s main international hub, and two other airports in the capital will remain closed until 1200 GMT on Saturday, said a DGAC statement, extending the previous closure order by six hours.
Airports north of a line running from Brittany in the northwest to Strasbourg on the border with Germany were also to remain shut.
Some planes were allowed to land at Charles de Gaulle and the other main Paris airport Orly, up until 1600 GMT on Friday to enable some passengers who had been blocked there to travel, the authority added.
The latest closures took to 35 the number of airports in France either closed or due to be closed on Saturday.
At Charles de Gaulle passengers slept on the benches of cafes or gathered in confused groups.
“We haven”t had any news since last night,” said Elisabeth Lindley, trying to get back to Manchester, England.
