The singer’s record producer Rob Fusari has said that the ‘Poker Face’ singer moves on from one man to another with no real love.

She recently ended her relationship with boyfriend Speedy, and is apparently not upset at all.

“In terms of her break-up, that sort of stuff doesn’t faze her. She’s got a little bit of a Tin Man heart,” the Sun quoted Fusari as saying.

He said: “I’m not trying to sound mean but she eats them up and spits them out. To her men are like candy – take the wrapper off, chew it up a few times.”

GaGa reportedly started off her romance with 31-year-old Speedy after meeting him on the set of her Love Game music video but broke up last month. (ANI)

“At the time the police were advised by Defoe, and on no less than five occasions by my office, that Defoe was not disqualified and that his detention was unlawful,” he added.

Freeman further said that Defoe had to face lots of trouble following his arrest and accused the police of misplacing his car.

“Instead, in addition to being locked in a cell, the police were unable to recall where his car had been impounded and were not prepared to return his car keys (which also contained house keys) until he produced documentation to his vehicle,” he added.

Freeman also said that the claim was not for money, but for principle and any damages awarded to Defoe would be donated to charity.

Meanwhile, Essex Police has apologised for the issue, and informed that an official investigation is being carried out to sort of the mistake.

“We’ve formally apologised, acknowledging our mistake, which was due to an inputting error. An internal investigation is under way to determine why this error occurred and to ensure that a similar mistake is not repeated in the future,” an Essex Police spokesman said. (ANI)

‘I’m doing a major project called ‘Pa Ma Ga Re Sa’, which is a modern musical love story. It will be my first Bengali film and it is special because it is based on ‘Abhimaan’. It is basically an adaptation of the film,’ Rohit told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

‘The film has Gauri Karnik, who was seen in ‘Sur’ before. And former Miss India (Earth) Reshmi Ghosh will be seen as the other woman. It is being directed by Surajit Dhar,’ he added.

The first schedule of the film has already been shot and Rohit, who has recently stepped in as the host of the third season of TV dance reality show ‘Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa’, will soon head to Kolkata to shoot a few more scenes of it.

Rohit has joined ‘Jhalak…’ midway and is co-hosting the show with TV actress Shweta Tiwari.

‘This show is very close to my heart. I watched the first season, hosted the second and now I’m hosting the third mid-way. I think even the producers have grown to like me and I’m really excited to be back on the host’s seat,’ he said.

On the Bollywood front, the actor has a bouquet of films like ‘Mittal Vs Mittal’, ‘Apartment’ and ‘Alibaug’ in his kitty. And the actor, who had made his first stint with the arclights with popular TV show ‘Swabhimaan’, is excited about essaying different roles in each of these movies.

‘In ‘Mittal Vs Mittal’, I’m playing an abusive husband to Rituparna Sengupta, in Jagmohan Mundra’s ‘Apartment’, I’m playing a very jovial, guy-next-door sort of a role and in ‘Alibaug’, my role is of a doctor who cheats on his wife. As an actor, I can’t draw a line and decide a set kind of roles that I want to do, I have to be diverse and I am enjoying doing it,’ said Rohit, who also featured in hit film ‘Shootout At Lokhandwala’.

Besides this, he is also toying with the idea of scripting his next directorial venture, which will be a remake of Basu Chatterjee’s 1981 classic ‘Shaukeen’.

Chatterjee’s film, about the adventures of three old men in Goa, starred Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and A.K. Hangal, but Rohit’s ‘grand wishlist’ for the cast of his ‘glamorous’ version of the film includes Rishi Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Boman Irani.

‘We are trying to finish the scripting of this mad comedy. Though the idea of the film will be based on ‘Shaukeen’, the reason for their adventures would change and the setting would be more glamorous – maybe they would go to Las Vegas instead of Goa.

‘As for the cast, I hope these people in my wish list would want to work in the film after hearing the script,’ said Rohit.

According to sources, it was Aamir, who took the lead in messaging all his colleagues, SRK included, asking them to support the cause of the producers. And then it took a Karan Johar to arrange a meeting in his house for the two superstars to meet in private and sort out their differences. One is not sure whether all animosity had been banished, but this much is true, that both SRK and Aamir have decided to put aside their differences for the moment and come forward to support the producers in their fight against multiplexes, over revenue sharing. The two superstars, along with the rest of the film fraternity was present at a suburban fiver star yesterday, when SRK and Aamir met the media and presented the producers case against the multiplexes. Hence, this much is true, the ban, which came into effect on April 4, continues, with neither side willing to concede an inch. It takes a lot to get the entire film fraternity on one platform, but this seems to be one of those rare moments when rivals have let go of their differences to fight for the Hindi film industry as a whole.

In view of the interest that is being generated in using photographs as a base for construction of history photographs have indeed risen into eminence as a vital tool for construction of history, all over the world, and in India as well. It would not be out of context to inform that Asit Sen the comedian of yester years had a famous photography studio in Gorakhpur, in UP. Lets then rewind to the world of photographs.

COOLIE: Manmohan Desai was indeed one of the futurists who had the vision to understand its importance and he used it with panache in this film. The romance of Rishi Kapoor and Shoma Anand when it blossomed in the adulthood was on account of the pieces of a snap that both of them had from their childhood. The reference to it was in fact made in the song as well “Tasveer ka ek tukda tera paas hai aur ek mere pass”.

NASEEB: Manmohan Desai again returned back to the importance of photograph as the element to bring about a turn in the flow of the movie and he did it again in NASEEB. When Amjad Khan on the verge of death handed over the photograph of Pran’s innocence to Rishi Kapoor it culminated in the climax of the film.

JAANE BHI DO YAARON: One of the biggest laugh riots ever produced by the Hindi cinema, it brought out in distinct relief what important role a photographer can ply in the day-to-day life, more so if it is political life.

TRIDEV: Director Rajiv Rai had Shekhar Suman in the role of a photographer who was killed in the film as he had become privy through his camera to a discussion that had brought the existence of Amrish Puri into question

.

GARAM MASALA: John Abraham and Akshay Kumar starrer film tried to explore the world of fashion photography in a humorous manner, but in a subtle manner also commented on the nature of job that fashion photographers handle these days.

DELHI 6: The character of Cyrus Sahukar as a photographer in this film again went on to underline the dubious halo that photographers have come to associate with their image.

GHAJINI: Aamir Khan’s mega hit film again revolved around construction of the past based on the photographs that he used to click; it was a sort of reconstructing the history of self through the photographs.

AA DEKHEN ZARA: Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu starrer film took on its own after discovery of a camera by Neil in the movie.

The first African-American President of the US is currently ranked 13th, while the top position is held by a person who goes by the name ‘Moot’, the founder of 4chan.org, a website for posting images and discussions anonymously.

Gandhi, who is leading the ruling Congress party’s bid for a re-election in the coming Parliamentary polls, is ranked 43Â?ahead of Tata (102), the maker of the world’s cheapest car Nano and Ambani (169), who the publication referred to as ‘petrol prince.’

The 203 finalists includes seven people of Indian origin. The four others are are cola-queen Indra Nooyi of Pepsico, movie moghul Ronnie Screwvala of UTV, public face for Washington’s Troubled Asset Relief Programme Neel Kashkari, and Harvard-educated management consultant Ram Charan.

Besides, Slumdog Millionaire-fame British filmmaker Danny Boyle, who hit the headlines with the Oscar-winning movie shot in Mumbai slums, is also among the finalists.

Time would publish the final list later in the year. In a continuing online poll on Time’s website, Screwvala is currently top-ranked among Indians at 33rd overall place, Nooyi is at 89, Kashkari 187 and Charan 193.

The site of moot (pseudonym), the highest ranked person at present, is said to have been started in 2003 by a then 15-year-old student from New York City.

On Gandhi, 62, who has figured on Time’s 100 most influential people list twice before, the publication said that the “the Italian-born head of India’s most influential political party is beloved by her constituents, not only because of her family history (she came to power after her husband Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated) but also because of her efforts to combat poverty.”

However, in a negative for her, the Indian National Congress party President “has been bogged down by a public spat with one of her rivals,” it said, without specifying who her rival is.

Among those from outside India, the prominent names include US First Lady Michelle Obama, former US President George Bush, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and US finance secretary Tim Geithner.

Sarah Palin, who ran for US vice-president’s office, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s army chief Ashfaq Kayani, Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and US treasury chief Ben Bernanke are among other finalists.

Besides, high-profile businessmen like Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim Helu, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs, Jeff Immelt and Michael Bloomberg also find a place in the list.

There are celebrities from media, entertainment and sports such as Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwazznenger, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Kate Winslet, Rafael Nadal, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Jay Leno.

Interestingly, the finalists also include the alleged scamster Bernie Madoff and Thomas Beatie, who is popularly known as The Pregnant Man and has become a sort of icon in the transgender community with his second baby due in June.

About Obama, Time said: “He overcame the Clinton machine, the McCain brigade and America’s racial history to win nearly 53 per cent of the vote and a shot at what’s beginning to seem like the least enviable job in the world.”

But, “for a guy whose campaign was renowned for order, Obama’s Cabinet appointments have been a tad messy. But let’s face it: he’s the most powerful man in the world,” it added.

Â?PTI

These music composers are busy creating new lyrical jingles and songs lauding the achievements of major political parties and even individual candidates in the fray.

For instance, budding singers and music composers in Rajkot have come together to make the most of the election fever.

“The words of the song have been changed keeping election in the mind. I feel the song which has already won an Oscar award will benefit the Congress party and also will make an impact with the voters,” said Kinjal Joshi, a singer.

With an aim to spice up its election campaign, Congress party has bought the rights to play ‘Jai Ho’, the Oscar-winning song from the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Congress leaders said this particular song which means ‘Let Victory Prevail’, will be played during rallies in villages, rural towns and even cities to lure the voters.

Indeed, the elections have been a sort of blessing in disguise for the music composers. Until the other day, they were reeling under the current economic downturn.

“We do not owe allegiance to any of the parties. We have kept in mind the requirements of the political parties and accordingly we have composed the songs. If the parties like these, we will be paid well and it will improve the prospects of artistes like us,” said Utpal, a music composer. By Suresh Parikh (ANI)

The troubled star of Australian cricket star has also revealed his battle with the bottle, and how he considered quitting cricket besides the deep bouts of depression that left him reeling.

Symonds will get a new look for his new life this month, allowing his signature dreadlocks to be cut for leukaemia charity World’s Greatest Shave, The Herald Sun reports.

Symonds and Johnson were one of the glamour couples of the Australian cricket team before the exiled all-rounder requested time and space to confront his depression.

But they have again become close after Symonds underwent routine counselling sessions with a leading sports psychologist.

Those around the cricketer have described the move as positive.

“Being old fashioned and all that sort of thing, when I first went into counselling I didn’t think it was going to be for me, but I’ve completely changed my mind about that whole profession,” Symonds said.

On the cricket pitch, Symonds remains committed to forcing his way back into the Australian team for the Ashes Tour of England in August.

“There were days when I was drinking too much and binge drinking, using it as an out or as an excuse if I’d had a bad day or something hadn’t gone right. The answer for me is controlling it and knowing when to have a beer and what’s appropriate. And I believe I’ve done that well now,” he said. (ANI)

Struggling to come to terms with life as one of Australia’s most recognized sportsmen, Symonds is undergoing counseling for alcohol abuse, and says that he is making some sort of a recovery.

The all-rounder took a break during the Bulls Shield game against Victoria and spoke of his desire to win back his baggy green, binge drinking, the ill-fated interview with Roy and HG, and the breakdown of his relationship with girlfriend Katie Johnson.

The warning signs were loud and clear. From his decision to go fishing in Darwin to getting carried away on radio, Symonds was crying out for help.

“They didn’t sit me down and tell me I was diagnosed with depression. But I was affected somehow. There was no piece of paper that said I had depression . . . but I may have. A deliberate part of counselling is they don’t sit there and try to destroy you with some computer read-out or way that they’ve analysed you,” The Sunday mail newspaper of Queensland quoted him, as saying.

“But I had bad days and really bad days, and then I had great days and really great weeks. It’s all part of my personal development and improving. These bushfires and this terrorism stuff towards the Sri Lankans, it puts things into perspective. Walking out there and scoring no runs is pretty unimportant if you have had your house burnt down and you have lost your family,” he added.

“Things like that have helped me realize what’s important in life,” Symonds said.

His counselling rock is Deidre Anderson, renowned for working with Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman.

“I’ve become more tolerant of the way I’ve got to live. That’s the thing that used to frustrate me. (Counselling) really helped. I’ll see it right through because it’s been great for me,” he says.

He admits he had a problem and is taking steps to fix it.

“Yeah, there were days where I was drinking too much and binge drinking, using it as an excuse if I’d had a bad day or if something hadn’t gone right. The answer for me is controlling it and knowing when to have a beer and what’s appropriate. I believe I’ve done that well now,” he says. (ANI)

The Victoria Secret’s model was condemned by designer Wolfgang Joop last month for being “too heavy” to model.

However, the 35-year-old catwalk queen revealed that she has never been the type to diet- insisting that her kids and pop star hubby Seal are more than enough to keep her in shape.

“I was never a diet sort of person. But when I started to model, I knew already that I would have to watch what I ate and for example, stop eating wiener schnitzel (Austrian dish of fried veal),” the Daily Express quoted Klum as saying.

“My children are my best workout and I am of course also busy with my husband,” she added. (ANI)

“It was the responsibility of the Indian Government to get the things back. But they woke up pretty late. Last Saturday, only the government announced that they are making strong efforts. Still if the Indian Government wants, they can intervene in the matter and make a strong bid,” said Tushar Gandhi.

Tushar had earlier appealed to Indians for money to buy his great-grandfather’s belongings that are up for sale as, he said, they are part of Indian heritage that ought not to be frittered away to wealthy collectors.

“A small mistake can rob us of our national heritage. I pray nothing of this sort happens and we accomplish our mission. I hope that before it goes under the hammer some miracle will happen and an angel will fulfil our wish of getting things back,” he said.

After failing to mobilise sufficient funds for the auction, Tushar persuaded the Indian Government to intervene in the matter.

The Indian Government is reportedly holding talks with the Antiquorum Auctioneers to take the items off the auction.

Indians view the items as part of their national heritage and want them to be kept in a museum.

Some non-resident Indians have also offered to buy back the items, amid concern that time may be running out for the government to persuade the owner or the auctioneers to sell them the objects.

The auction, the largest collection of Gandhi’s possessions on sale at a time, is expected to fetch some 300,000 dollars.

The belongings of Mahatma Gandhi that are up for sale include trademark wire-rimmed glasses, a pair of sandals, a pocket watch, a bowl and a plate.

Tushar had informed that the Zenith pocket watch was gifted to Gandhi by Indira Gandhi. Gandhi used the plate and bowl for his last meal.

Tushar has launched a “people’s initiative” to raise funds to buy the items. But he is disappointed with the response from the government and the corporate sector. (ANI)

The ‘Wedding Crashers’ star is soon to tie the knot with observant Jew Sacha Baron Cohen.

She decided to embrace Judaism as a mark of respect to her fiance and his parents.

And now, she has confessed that she’s happy that she adopted the faith because she loves the traditions of Judaism.

“I sort of fell in love with Judaism. I love the rituals and it’s all about family, which is what I believe to be the secret to happiness,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

Although the couple has not decided upon a wedding date, Fisher, who gave birth to their daughter Olive in 2007, has insisted it will be soon, saying: “I do have to get married.”

And she’s already making big plans when it comes to her wedding dress, and has said that she’d like to make it herself. (ANI)

The Herald Sun quoted Chappell as saying that Johnson is a rare jewel in Australian cricket.

Johnson took eight wickets for the match and made 96 not out in Australia’s first innings at the Wanderers.

“He’s really precisely what you’re looking for. He’s a bowling all-rounder and they’re pretty bloody hard to find. There are a hell of a lot of batsmen who can bowl a bit, but there aren’t many genuine bowlers who can bat like Mitchell Johnson,” Chappell said.

Chappell, who some months ago predicted Johnson would score a Test century, said he could achieve the same sort of status as legendary Australian all rounder Alan Davidson.

Johnson’s career numbers of 536 runs at an average of 29.77 put him in the true all rounder class. After 19 Tests Johnson has taken 86 wickets at an average of 27.55.

Of the nine Australian fast bowlers who have taken 200 Test wickets or more, only Dennis Lillee (91) and Jeff Thomson (88) had more wickets at the same stage of their careers. (ANI)

It was for the first time that the 33-year-old actress was playing the protagonist in the big screen adaptation of Sophie Kinsella’s books about Becky Bloomwood.

Isla plays a financial journalist who struggles to keep her shopping addiction under control.

And the actress was so scared with the responsibility that she found herself waking at the crack of dawn to mentally prepare for a day on-set.

“(I would wake up) between 4.30 and 5.30,” The Daily Express quoted her as telling Moviehole.net.

She added: “I’d never been the lead in a movie before, obviously there’s the fear that goes along with being responsible for the tone of the film, then there’s the actual physical endurance side, and that was sort of like running a marathon.” (ANI)

Odgers’ head of international sports practice Simon Cummins said one major advantage of this comprehensive, if laborious process, is that it eliminates any suggestion of an old school, jobs-for-the-boys approach.

Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, commissioned Odgers, The Telegraph reported.

“Hugh was keen on making sure that it is a very open and transparent and objective process. The idea is that by using a third party, he can introduce an extra bit of rigour,” Cummins said.

“We have a list of 38 people to call and get their views – everybody from Strauss though to Botham, Hussain and ECB chief executive David Collier.

We want to look at the whole 360-degree feedback on each candidate.

Perhaps in the past it might have been a question of satisfying personal preferences, but that’s not the way we operate,” he said.

An advertisement on the ECB’s website states that the new coach will be expected to promote “the highest standards of behaviour and discipline.”

But Cummins emphasises that he is not looking for some sort of martinet. The experiences of Ray Jennings with South Africa and Greg Chappell with India suggest disciplinarians do not necessarily get the best out of their teams. (ANI)

The former Big brother star wants Jack Tweed, whom she’s going to marry today, to look after her sons Bobby, five, and Freddie, four – because they have grown close to him.

However, the boys’ real dad, TV presenter Jeff Brazier believes that Tweed, currently on prison parole after attacking a man with a golf club, is not the kind of person he wants his kids to look up to.

Brazier is refusing to allow Tweed any formal access rights.

Goody’s friends fear that the reality TV star will soon be too weak to negotiate with her ex.

However, Goody has said that she will use lawyers if necessary to try to get Brazier to agree to a deal.

“This is a very sensitive situation and he is finding what’s going on difficult to deal with,” News of the World quoted a friend, as saying.

“He loved Jade for a period and obviously is devastated about what she’s going through-but some tough decisions need to be made.

“Jeff disagrees with Jade, and doesn’t think Jack is the sort of role model who should be in his boys’ life going forward.

“It might be unfair but he views Jack as immature and irresponsible, and doesn’t trust him enough to be a good dad to his two young children,” the friend added.

Goody has already accepted that Brazier will get full custody of the boys.

However, the terminally ill celebrity is desperate for Tweed and her mum Jackiey to continue being involved in their upbringing.

And Goody’s PR advisor Max Clifford made her wishes clear-in words that are set to infuriate her ex.

“Jeff obviously is the boys’ natural father. It will be a combination of Jeff, Jade’s mum, Jack and Jade’s grandparents,” Clifford said. (ANI)

Clooney, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, has visited Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region many times to highlight the plight of refugees there.

He is presently travelling the African state of Chad with two journalists in an unofficial capacity, as part of his pledge to help publicise troubles in the area.

A New York Times journalist recently suggested in a column that the U.N. had decided to “pull” Clooney’s “security escort” as they traversed the eastern Chad border, leaving the group open to kidnap or attack.

The journalist even termed the move “petty and mean-spirited”.

Responding to the accusations, U.N. officials have said that since Clooney is not travelling as part of his role as a goodwill ambassador, he does not qualify for official protection.

Michele Montas, a spokeswoman for the organisation, cast further doubts on the newspaper report by saying that the U.N. mission in the West African country does not have any armed military police, and that it relies on local police and a European Union peacekeeping force, EUFOR, for escorts.

“We are still trying to ascertain the facts. The U.N. could not provide the sort of security details you are talking about,” the Daily Star quoted her as telling a news conference.

“So it could be EUFOR. EUFOR has been advised of the presence of Mr. Clooney and they indicated that they would be prepared to provide Mr. Clooney with support if required within the area of its operations,” she added. (ANI)

The Hollywood heartthrob, who was named a “Messenger of Peace” by the United Nations last year, will try to work a plan with the president to help put an end to a long and gory battle, which is believed to have consumed millions of innocent refugees.

“We want him (Obama) to appoint a high-level, full-time diplomat to negotiate and work hard every day for a peace treaty,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

The 47-year-old, who is presently on the road of the neighbouring African nation of Chad, further revealed not much had changed since his first visit to the region in 2006.

He said: “I was here three years ago and in some ways there’s not a whole lot of difference. It’s sort of status quo. The problem is that the status quo is unacceptable.” (ANI)

Gates’ comments at the close of a NATO meeting contrasted with those of Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who said he was worried that the peace deal was tantamount to surrender by Pakistan.

“We have said all along that ultimately some sort of political reconciliation has to be part of the long-term solution in Afghanistan,” the Daily Times quoted Gates, as saying.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that a broader regional approach was needed to help put down the insurgency in Afghanistan.

The focus would be on more involvement from Pakistan, but could include Iran one day, he said.

He said the suggestion does not mean that NATO plans to enter into dialogue with Iran immediately, but that Tehran could be involved “at a certain stage … in a regional approach toward Afghanistan”.

Gates told reporters in Krakow, southern Poland, later that up to 20 nations have offered to boost their civilian or military commitments to Afghanistan and more are likely to do so soon. (ANI)

Speaking on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, the singer said that he was into excessive drug and alcohol.

“I would either go out at night or party [while on tour with the Backstreet Boys," Us magazine quoted him as saying.

He added: "I didn't do a lot of morning drinking or anything of that sort. It would sort of be an occasional thing, but a lot of occasions that I would kind of make excuses to just go out to drink and party. It would be excessive."

Drugs "kind of came later in life. Alcohol kind of kicked it off and then, once the alcohol kind of wasn't doing it for me, I would lean on other things."

The 29-year-old pop star said that he couldn't stop despite "rude awakenings, warning signs, DUIs."

He said: "I got the DUI and I realized that it was wrong. I decided to go and sort of punish myself. I went to the classes, did the community service and did everything that I was required to do. Then I would end up in a situation where I was like, 'Ok well I'll stop for six months and then after that, I would feel like it's OK to get back into it.' And sort of fool myself in a way."

However, now Carter is thankful to a healthy lifestyle that helped him turn his life around.

"Working out definitely helped my self esteem, and it definitely made it easier for me to kind of push it aside. I just started replacing drinking and the parties...with healthier things like sports, video games," he said.

And now, Carter, who was diagnosed with a weakening of the heart muscle called cardiomyopathy, is sober.

"My goal in life is to be the best person that I can be and try as hard as I can. I make mistakes, but...I realize that I'm human and...I don't punish myself for those mistakes. [I] continuously try to be that better person,” he said. (ANI)

Nielsen, who was hit with a barrage of questions at the team’s training session in Potchefstroom on Wednesday, including whether he thought his team were now “timid”, was quoted by the Herald Sun as saying: “I’m certainly not saying it’s timid.”

“It’s more difficult when you are not holding the mantle of being the team that has just won the last series we’ve played. That’s something we’ve got to get used to. South Africa have just won the series in Australia. It’s more a perception of Australia being cocksure over a long period of time. The fact that we have won a lot of series and won a lot of cricket games that people see us as being that way,” he added.

“And now you’re telling us that we’re maybe not as cocksure as we should be. But inside the group we are very confident. We feel as though we’ve got a good group ready to play good Test-match cricket,” Neilsen said.

But South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher is expecting the normal war of words to erupt before the first Test starts in Johannesburg next Thursday.

“There’s always hype about when South Africa meet Australia in a series, lots will be said beforehand,” Boucher told The Star newspaper.

“They have a few loopholes in their squad, there’s no doubt about that. You only have to look at their side to see that,” he said of Australia’s inexperienced lineup.

“But they are still a very good team. As a great cricketing nation, they would have been badly hurt by what happened over there and they will come back harder here.

“In the past, they’ve been fond of talking big before a series. They did it again before the last one in Australia.

“It will be interesting to see how they go about that sort of thing before this series.” (ANI)

According to a report in National Geographic News, the sinkhole, which lies in Little Salt Spring, 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Sarasota, is being explored by a team of underwater archaeologists led by University of Miami professor John Gifford.

Archaeologists have been recovering primitive relics from the spring since 1977, when divers found the remains of a large, now extinct tortoise and a sharpened stake that may have been used by a hungry hunter to kill the animal 12,000 years ago.

In 1986, Gifford and his colleagues recovered a skull with brain tissue from what he thinks was an ancient burial in shallow water near the spring.

He continues to work with DNA samples to determine the date of the find.

Gifford and other archaeologists found more from the tortoise this past July, along with the slaughtered remains of a giant ground sloth.

The discovery of the sloth’s bones could indicate that Little Salt Spring was a sort of ancient butcher shop where hunters often killed and their prey and prepared meat when this was dry land.

“This is a warehouse of environmental, natural, historical, and archaeological remains in a very, very well preserved environment,” said Roger Smith, Florida’s state underwater archaeologist.

“That’s why it’s a world-class site. I would call it a portal back into time,” he added.

When Little Salt Spring was formed during the last Ice Age, sea level was lower and what is now the Florida peninsula was much wider. Sources of freshwater were scarce.

Ancient Native Americans came to the sinkhole to drink the water and perhaps find a meal.

“Florida was much drier than it is today,” Gifford said. “Essentially, Little Salt Spring was an oasis,” he added.

Gifford and his divers worked last summer on a ledge about 90 feet (27 meters) below the surface where the stake and tortoise remains were found.

Gifford’s divers will return to lower depths of Little Salt Spring soon, but will wait until their recent finds have been analyzed.

They hope to eventually uncover evidence of campfires on the ledge.

“There may be lots of stuff-basketry, woven fabrics, wooden implements-that you wouldn’t otherwise find in an archaeological context,” said Bruce Smith, curator of North American Archaeology at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Finding fragile wooden artifacts would “open a new window” of understanding how early Native Americans lived, Smith added. (ANI)

Mickey, who won the award for ‘The Wrestler’, revealed on Barbara Walters show that, when he was left alone and was almost on the verge of breaking down, his dogs were the only ones to be by his side.

“I sort of self-destructed and everything came out about fourteen years ago or so … the wife had left, the career was over, the money was not an ounce, The dogs were there when no one else was there,” People magazine quoted Mickey as saying.

Mickey revealed that after his wife Carre Otis left, he faced a major blow and he had only his dogs to make him feel wanted.

“What happened was, I was not in a really good place in my head and my heart, and I think when the wife left, it all came down and I didn’t want to be here,” Mickey said.

“Look, there’s always a weak way out. I’ve always known that. Yeah, I didn’t want to be here, but I didn’t want to kill myself. I just wanted to push a button and disappear,” Mickey added.

Mickey revealed that while he was on the verge of becoming suicidal, he realized that he had to live for his loving dogs, the only ones, who stood by him.

“I think I hadn’t left the house for four or five months, and I was sitting in the closet, sleeping in the closet for some reason, and I was in a bad place, and I just remember I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, if I do this, And then I looked at my dog, Lowjack, and he made a sound, like a little almost human sound. I don’t have kids, the dogs became everything to me. The dog was looking at me going, ‘Who’s going to take care of me?’” Mickey said. (ANI)

The ladies revealed they were facing a “tough” time on compromising their plush life styles while dealing with the new economic realities.

“What was hard for me was giving up my live-in maid five days a week,” Fox News quoted housewife Ramona Singer as saying.

Countess Luann De Lesseps added: “I’m miss buying my tiaras.”

But housewife Alex McCord was said to be sort of doing her bit to better the situation, saying: “It’s important to go out to dinner.” (ANI)

The Oscar nominee, who has struggled with weight since she was a teenager, insists she hasn’t been slimming down for the big ceremony.

When asked if she was dieting, Winslet said, “N.O. (I) absolutely do not. I’m very sort of relaxed and vocal about these things. I have not done a stitch of exercise since October. I literally have not had the time.”

“I’m just going to eat normally, I’m not going to make cuts.

“If I’m keeping it together it’s by a wing and a prayer. I just want to enjoy this,” she added.

The 33-year-old actress is winning accolades for her role in The Reader, and is tipped to win the Best actress at the Oscars.

She has already scooped two awards in Golden Globes and walked away with Best actress gong at the Baftas. (ANI)

Then just like with Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal, Ronaldo was at the centre of a gob-smacking incident, The Sun reported.

Pictures seemed to show him spitting at Savage, though the Derby star insisted: “Nothing happened.”

“If you have got pictures showing that sort of thing, it was definitely something I wasn’t aware of. I’ve got absolutely no problem with him,” he added.

After a virtual second-string United line-up had beaten Derby to earn a trip to Fulham or Swansea, Rams chief Clough insisted United could complete a clean sweep of the major honours.

They have already won the World Club Championship and are targeting the Premier League, Champions League, FA and Carling Cups as well.

Clough said: “It is on. If anyone can do it, United can. They made seven changes today but would have scored four against Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal or anyone playing like that.” (ANI)

Putting pen to paper is said to help the brain ‘regulate emotion’ and reduces feelings of anxiety, fear and sadness.

During the study, Dr Matthew Lieberman, a neuroscientist at the University of California, and his colleagues discovered that the act of putting feelings into words is often cathartic because it inhibits parts of the brain linked to emotional turmoil, and increases activity in the region to do with self-control.

The quality of the verse or prose written has no bearing on the effect on the author. In fact, the researchers suggest that the less vivid and descriptive the piece, the better.

And now, they hope to develop therapies based on their findings that could be used to ease social fears and phobias.

Lieberman said that expressing yourself in print was ‘a sort of unintentional emotion regulation’.

“It seems to regulate our distress. I don’t think that people sit down in order to regulate their emotions but there is a benefit,” the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

“I think it could play a role in why many people write diaries or write bad lyrics to songs – the kind that should never be played on the radio,” he added.

Lieberman proved the therapeutic power of writing by scanning the brains of 30 individuals while they described distressing pictures.

He found that the act tended to reduce activity in the amygala, a part of the brain connected with emotion and fear and increased activity in the pre-frontal cortex, the mind’s regulator.

This suggests that the mere action of writing about an emotion was a way of calming down the brain and re-establishing mental balance.

“If you ask people then they don’t think that it serves an emotion regulation but when you look at the brain that looks like what is going on,” he added.

“The more frontal activity we see, the less amydala response. There seems to be a see-saw affect,” he added.

Lieberman outlined his findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in a lecture called Putting Feelings Into Words. (ANI)

The researchers came to this conclusion while studying how human adults and infants, lemurs, and monkeys think about numbers without using language.

Elizabeth Brannon, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the university, is looking for the brain systems that support number sense with a view to understanding how this cognitive skill develops.

“Number is one of the more abstract domains of cognition: three coins and three loaves of bread are very different concepts,” she said.

“Yet, many studies show that babies, even in the first year of life, can tell the difference between quantities,” added the researcher, who appeared on a Friday afternoon panel at the AAAS annual meeting called “Comparative Cognition: The Science of Mental Evolution.

She revealed that she tested 500 babies per year through her testing lab at Duke, as well as macaques, lemurs and the odd undergraduate.

Computer touch-screens and sets of brightly coloured dots were used in most of the experiments, she said.

Elizabeth said that after seeing the same number of objects repeated in different-looking sets, both infants and macaques could recognize the novelty of a new number of objects.

She pointed out that both college kids and macaques could do a rough sort of maths by summing sets of objects without actually counting them, and that their speed and accuracy were about the same.

She said that the finding that the evolved brain has some fundamental sense of number without language was a bit surprising.

“There are all sorts of reasons why number would be useful for non-human animals in the wild. In foraging situations animals need to make decisions about how long to stay in a given patch of food and when to move on. Territorial animals may need to assess the number of individuals in their own group relative to competing groups to decide whether to stand their ground or retreat,” she said.

Elizabeth believes that understanding the biological basis of our number sense might also help early childhood educators.

She revealed that her study was targeted at finding out how the human brain changes to accommodate symbolism as a child learns the names of numbers and begins to grasp more abstract manipulations.

“If the nonverbal number sense is really providing a critical foundation for math achievement, then this will suggest teaching methods that provide more grounding in the nonverbal quantity system,” she said. (ANI)

The couple first began dating last March, but briefly split in July.

“Mandy is one of those genuinely sweet angelic people you wish to meet your whole life,” Adams told Us magazine then, adding “unfortunately I am allergic to paparazzi and have found the best antidote to that sort of nonsense is staying behind the guitar and typewriter.”

Moore, 24, crossed into movies with featured roles in films such as “License to Wed,” “A Walk to Remember,” “Saved” and “American Dreamz.”

Adams, who played in the band Whiskeytown during the 1990s before turning solo, is known for his song “New York, New York,” which appeared on his album “Gold,” released in 2001. (ANI)

Rising three times higher than Mount Everest, Olympus Mons was active at least 40 million years ago, and perhaps more recently.

Magma may still be close enough to the surface to support heat-loving bacteria like those found near hydrothermal vents on Earth.

But, bacteria likely need water to live in, too.

Now, according to a report in Discovery News, Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan think they may have found it, locked in thick layers of clay-rich sediments beneath the mountain.

Spreading out over an area about the size of Arizona, Olympus Mons’ massive lava flows are bunched up in the southeast, and stretched out in the northwest.

In a detailed computer simulation of the volcano, the researchers found the volcano would only assume its oblong shape if the erupted lava piled on top of layers of weak, water-laden sediments.

Scientists aren’t certain how old Olympus Mons is, but it’s likely that its first eruptions were billions of years ago.

If so, it could have formed in a time when Mars was much warmer and wetter, and trapped a large reservoir beneath it.

Whether or not that reservoir is still warm – and whether is contains life – remains a tantalizing uncertainty. No heat signatures have yet been detected from satellites orbiting the planet, but their instruments can’t penetrate into the subsurface.

“If we were to go there and shove a probe a meter below the surface, you’d get a very different picture of heat flow,” said Brian Hynek of the University of Colorado at Boulder, suggesting the mountain is probably still warm.

Though the blackest depths of a volcano might not seem like the best place to go alien-hunting, life on Earth has been found subsisting two miles down in the crust, and a mile beneath the ocean floor.

“So finding life a mile or so below Olympus Mons’ lava flows is well within the realm of possibility,” Hynek said.

The flows may even act as a kind of insulating blanket, keeping water and heat in, and Mars’ cold, corrosive surface conditions out.

“It’s the natural place I’d go first on an astrobiological expedition to Mars, given that it’s the place where volcanism is strongest and youngest on the planet,” McGovern said. (ANI)

The study, by University of Florida researchers, was based on DNA analysis from living flowering plants.

It focuses on diversification in the rosid clade, a group with a common ancestor that now accounts for one-third of the world’s flowering plants.

The forests that resulted in the rapid burst, provided the habitat that supported later evolutionary diversifications for amphibians, ants, placental mammals and ferns.

The burst of speciation over a 5-million-year span was one of three major radiations of flowering plants, known as angiosperms.

“Shortly after the angiosperm-dominated forests diversified, we see this amazing diversification in other lineages, so they basically set the habitat for all kinds of new things to arise,” said Pamela Soltis, study co-author and curator of molecular systematics and evolutionary genetics at UF’s Florida Museum of Natural History.

“Associated with some of the subsequent radiations is even the diversification of the primates,” she added.

The study is the first to show the evolutionary relationships of these plants and provide evidence for their rapid emergence and diversification.

Because the diversification happened so quickly, at least in evolutionary terms, molecular methods were needed to sort out the branches of the rosid clade’s phylogenetic tree, a sort of family tree based on genetic relationships.

Only after sequencing many thousands of DNA base pairs, are genetic researchers able to tease apart the branches and better understand how plant species evolved.

The study’s authors sequenced 25,000 base pairs of DNA and sampled a broad range of 104 species from the rosid clade.

According to Doug Soltis, co-author and chair of UF’s botany department, “I think one thing that becomes very clear from our phylogenetic trees when you look at them closely is that it’s not just one big explosion of species within the flowering plants. There’s a series of explosions.”

The rosid clade’s diversification is one of at least three bursts in the early evolution of flowering plants.

More than 300,000 species of angiosperms exist, classified into an estimated 15,000 genera and more than 400 families.

Understanding how these plants are related is a large undertaking that could help ecologists better understand which species are more vulnerable to environmental factors such as climate change. (ANI)

Which according to NASA is a penumbral (partial) lunar eclipse, will be visible on February 9, 2009 in India. In penumbral eclipse there will be a partial shadow of earth on the moon. The Eclipse will be visible at Moonrise along the western coast of India in cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Cochin, Trivandrum, Pune and Chennai. Partial lunar eclipse will be visible in Kolkata, Patna, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, Delhi, Shimla, Bhopal and Srinagar.

The timing of the Penumbral eclipse according to NASA in all places in India is given from 18:09 to 22:08. Middle Eclipse will be at 20:08.

There is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, Chandra Grahan, on February 09, 2009. The Eclipse will be visible in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. The eclipse will be visible at moonrise in Gulf countries, along the western coast of India and Eastern Europe. In Australia and New Zealand the lunar eclipse will begin on the midnight of February 09, 2009 and end early morning of February 10, 2009. The eclipse will be visible at moon setting along the pacific coast of United States of America. It is not visible along the Atlantic Coast.

In penumbral eclipse there will be a partial shadow of earth on the moon. It is a sort of partial eclipse.

Here are the timings of the lunar eclipse around the world on February 9, 2009 as per local timings:

India

Delhi – From 18:09 to 22:08
Mid Eclipse will be at 20:08 (local time)

UAE

Dubai – From 16:39 to 20:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 18:38 (local time)

Hong Kong

Victoria – From 20:39 to 00:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 22:38 (local time)

Nepal

Khatmandu – From 18:09 to 22:08
Mid Eclipse will be at 20:08 (local time)

Indonesia

Jakarta – From 20:39 to 00:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 22:38 (local time)

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur – From 19:39 to 23:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 21:38 (local time)

Singapore

Singapore – From 20:39 to 00:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 22:38 (local time)

Thailand

Bangkok – From 19:39 to 23:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 21:38 (local time)

Australia

Adelaide – From 22:09 to 02:08
Mid Eclipse will be at 00:08 (local time)

Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – From 22:39 to 02:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 00:38 (local time)

New Zealand

Christchurch – From 00:39 to 04:38 on February 10
Mid Eclipse will be at 02:38 (local time)

United States

In most of the United States the eclipse will be at moon setting and it is not visible along the Atlantic Coast.

Chicago – From 06:39 to 10:38
Mid Eclipse will be at 08:38 (local time)

Image courtsey NASA

The Dancing On Ice host confessed that she wears six-inch stilettos during her bedtime romps.

She said that sex in shoes is the only way to break in a pair of new heels.

“I love wearing new shoes during sex – and not just because it’s kinky,” The Daily Star quoted her as saying.

“I’m not a foot fetishist or anything, and I do enjoy saucy games with my hubby, but I have found the best way to break in new shoes is to wear them during sex.

“It’s become a sort of rule whenever I get a new pair of shoes. I always wear them in the bedroom before I take them outside.

“Every girl loves a new pair of six-inch heels and I’m no different, so we’ll have to see what Dan gets me for Valentine’s,” she added. (ANI)

Former pacer Mike Whitney insisted there had been similar physical spats like the Clarke- Katich clash in the past, but said there had always been a private pact to keep blow-ups behind closed dressing room doors.

Clarke and Katich had to be separated in the dressing room after the SCG Test against South Africa last month when Katich grabbed Clarke by the throat during an argument over the singing of the team song.

“I was really shocked when I heard about this. Things like this in my day would never have got outside the dressing room,” the Courier Mail quoted Whitney, as saying.

“I was quite surprised. This sort of thing should certainly not be for public consumption. This is a sign this team is under pressure, probably more pressure than any Australian team I can remember for ages. That pressure seems to have mounted really heavily and obviously tensions have frayed in the dressing room,” he said.

Another former Australian fast bowler, Jason Gillespie, could barely believe the incident had left the time-honoured confines of the dressing room.

“I am very disappointed that this has got out. It is not the done thing. I am not worried about scuffles – that can happen in any team or workplace. Blokes have disagreements from time to time – that is just life – but I am just disappointed it all got out of the dressing room,” he said.

The altercation was sparked after Clarke had wanted the team song sung early in celebrations so he could leave the rooms.

But sources close to Clarke insisted that the vice-captain had not pushed for the early singing of the song solely so he could leave to be with model girlfriend Lara Bingle.

It is believed younger members of the Australian team were lobbying Clarke to leave the rooms early so they could attend private celebrations.

Clarke, who captained Australia in Melbourne yesterday, claimed there was no lingering ill feeling and the incident was not a sign of team disharmony. (ANI)

And taking a tablet once a week could cut the risk by almost half, the researchers added.

The study of more than 300,000 people found that those who had taken aspirin at least once in the previous 12 months were more than a third less likely to develop cancer in the middle or lower parts of the stomach than people who had taken none, reports the Daily Express.

Those who had taken any other sort of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, such as ibuprofen, were 32 per cent less likely to suffer the cancer, the study found.

People who took them weekly saw their risk drop by 43 per cent.

The study has been published in the British Journal of Cancer.

The research followed people for around seven years and analysed their use of painkillers.

Study author Dr Christian Abnet, based at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland in the US, said: “We found that the risk of middle and lower stomach cancer was lower in people who had taken aspirin, and this risk lowered the more regularly they took it.” (ANI)

Time and again, India and Bangladesh have accused the locals living along the border on either side of indulging in smuggling and trespassing the porous border.

The Border Security Force (BSF) guarding the 4,000-kilometer border with Bangladesh said that cattle smuggling has turned out to be a major problem that needs to be tackled at the earliest.

“The BSF would seek the help of the government to sort of the menace,” said M L Kumawat, Director General, BSF..

The BSF and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) have had many rounds of talks to sort out issues related to border fencing, cross-border insurgency, infiltration, smuggling of fake currency, weapons, narcotics and of cattle between the two countries. But the problems continue.

India has decided to speed up the construction of the border fence, which it is building to prevent the unauthorized movement of people, animals and goods across the border.

Bangladesh has pointed out that according to the 1974 bi-lateral peace treaty neither side is allowed to build defensive works within 150 meters of the frontier.

India has constructed the fence being far back from the border with the result thousands of Bengali Indians have been cut off from the rest of mainland India.

Also indigenous Assamese fear that they will be reduced to a minority if unabated infiltration of Bangladeshi people into the region continues.

Security analysts also say that the issue is not mere cattle smuggling, but insurgents using the porous borders to infiltrate men and arms into India.

“The fact is it is more serious, it’s not just cattle smuggling, the question is if cattle can be smuggled so easily, one can imagine that considering the porous border. it is anybody’s guess as to amount or extent of arms inflow from the other side,” said Wasbir Hussain, conflict expert and security analyst.

India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km frontier, regarded as one of the world’s most fluid borders. More than 1,500 miles of the border have been fenced with barbed wire and concrete by India around Bangladesh during the past seven years under the 1.2 billion dollars project. In Assam, 197km of the 263km border has been fenced. (ANI)

Johansson, 24, admits that she looks forward to being older and feeling like “she’s been through life”, in an interview at LA’s posh Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“I don’t feel sexy, not right now,” the Mirror quoted her, as saying.

“I think there is kind of an ingenue thing that women play when they are in their 20s. They are sort of these whimsical, sort of transient characters, and it’s like that in life.

“Women in their 30s, and actors in their 30s, suddenly take on far meatier roles. They are playing mothers and wives and women who have been through a life – before the place that they are at that moment.

“And I look forward to that time when I’ll be able to have more of a life that I have experienced to put into the roles,” she added. (ANI)

Devotees visiting the Sandali mosque near Taj Mahal offer eatables to these cats following the general belief that this gesture, which follows performing prayer at the mosque, would enable them to have their wishes fulfilled.

The belief is these cats have been bestowed with divine powers and thus they are offered milk, biscuits, meat, fruit, and many other delicacies by the devotees after their wishes are fulfilled.
These cats stay at the mosque like pets and at times would sit in the laps of those offering eatables to them once their wishes are fulfilled.

“Devotees feed these cats and also love them. These cats come and sit in the laps of those whose wishes are fulfilled,” said Noor Mohammed, a local resident.

People from other faiths also visit the mosque for fulfillment of their wishes and feed the cats.

“Many people come to this mosque. They make a wish and once their wishes are fulfilled, they give food to these cats,” said Ghias-ud-Din, another local resident.

According to the local belief, the 17th century mosque was built by Mughal ruler Shahjahan and houses the tomb of one of his four wives Sandali Begum, after whom the mosque was named.

Teeming with cats of different colours and sizes, the mosque has become an attraction for the devotees, who come from far and wide to make a wish at this place of worship. By Brijesh Kr. Singh (ANI)

Firstly he labelled the move “un-Australian” as it denied a NSW player a place in the decider, before upping his criticism on radio on Friday night with the rather distasteful comment that is being investigated by Cricket Australia.
Fox Sports, however, quoted McCullum as saying: “Mate, people are entitled to their opinion and I certainly wasn’t offended by it at all. There’s nothing you can do about it. I was over here to enjoy the occasion and certainly did that and it was just a great game to be a part of. I’m not worried what people have to say and certainly not offended by it at all.”

McCullum didn’t have much impact on the game, hitting 10 from 11 balls opening the innings, but he hopes he can continue to

While Symonds’ future in national colours is uncertain, the two players could line up against each other in the upcoming one-day series between Australia and New Zealand.

McCullum said he hasn’t felt the need to contact Symonds over the matter.

“No not at all. I didn’t even know it happened until I turned up (on Saturday), so I try not to concern myself with that sort of thing. I had a job to try and do and that’s what my focus was on. What people say is what people say and they’re entitled to their opinion.” (ANI)

Her better half had allegedly hand picked the present, and paid a reported 5,000-dollars for it

“Mr. Obama came in himself and picked out a pair of earrings for Michelle, which were sort of long and dramatic, and the diamond dangled at the bottom,” the Chicago Sun Times quoted Sherry Bender, owner of the Goldsmith Ltd., as saying.

But the mum-of-two had later returned to the store to exchange the earrings, picking up new ones instead, reportedly worth around 12,000 dollars.
Bender added: “Michelle came in, returned the earrings, looked around and picked out something a little more classic, with bigger stones, that was twice the price. She wanted to check with her husband first — then Barack came back in and bought what she wanted — which happened to be what I suggested originally!”

Bender, who designed the earrings continued: “It was pretty ypical of a married couple. But that was what was cute about it.”

However, Michelle’s spokesmen refused to reveal details about her hubby’s birthday present last year. (ANI)

In a move calculated to pile pressure on ministers, drinks firm Diageo has hired Hamilton to promote its message of encouraging responsible alcohol use rather than the “Draconian” and “blanket” approach of the Government.

The driver, in an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, said it was better to make people aware of the dangers of alcohol, as “no one likes being told what to do”.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has declared war on Scotland’s booze culture, proposing to raise the minimum age for buying drink in off-licences from 18 to 21, introduce alcohol-only checkouts in supermarkets, set minimum prices and end two-for-one deals.

There are also plans to make pubs and clubs pay a ‘social responsibility fee’ for the policing of antisocial behaviour in hotspot areas.

The SNP is expected shortly to unveil its final proposals for tackling problem drinking, which is estimated to cost Scotland 2.25 billion pounds a year.

But the drinks industry and supermarkets are vigorously opposed to many of the proposals.

Diageo, maker of Johnnie Walker and owner of brands such as Guinness and Smirnoff, last night revealed that 24-year-old Hamilton had joined its campaign.

Hamilton said: ” We’re not telling people not to drink, just to make sure that they make the right decisions. There are some youngsters out there for whom I’m a sort of role model so hopefully they’ll look at me and see what is good for me can be good for them.”

“I’m in a position where I am able to get a positive message out and, hopefully, youngsters will listen to what I have to say because behaving responsibly with alcohol is a part of my life too,” the Scotsman quoted him, as saying.

Hamilton, however, was careful not to directly criticize the Scottish Government.

Rachael Robertson, head of government affairs at Diageo, said: “Lewis Hamilton is a big role model. We can use the skills we employ to sell our product to push the message of responsible drinking, to change attitudes towards alcohol and its misuse.”

A 10,000-signature petition has been handed in to parliament, objecting to the ban on selling alcohol to under-21s and there is an online campaign to fight the proposals.

Retailers are also preparing to take the Scottish Government to court over plans to introduce a minimum pricing policy.(ANI)

Proud owner Frederick Stephens, a 78-year-old grandfather-of-four, has been using it on a daily basis ever since he bought it in the Sixties.

He paid 250 pounds for it at a time when microwaves were still “life-changing” additions to the family kitchen.

Stephens recalled that he and his wife Francis needed a demonstration on how to use it, as there were very few microwaves on the market at the time.

He said that the microwave had broken down only once in over four decades, and even then its repair only required a simple lightbulb to be replaced.

“I use it all the time to heat up ready meals and to do my Horlicks before I go to bed every night. It’s marvellous really. I’m so surprised it has lasted this long. It was a real novelty when we bought it as there weren’t many around in those days,” the Telegraph quoted Stephens, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, as saying.

“At the time it was life-changing and since then it’s become one of those everyday things you wonder now how you could ever live without,” he added.

Stephens, who believes that his Panasonic NE-691 model must be the oldest in the UK still in everyday use, has revealed that the microwave has been a big help heating up his meals and nightly hot milks since he was widowed in 2005.

“It’s a slice of history and is amazing to think how long it’s lasted. At the time of buying it there were so few around we had to have a demonstration in the shop on how to use it and it was like looking at the future,” he said.

“We must have eaten thousands of meals over the years which have been heated in it. Francis used to cook the Christmas puddings in it, and would make food in it for the kids.

“Even the shop which sold it has gone now, but the microwave itself is still going strong. We’ve definitely had our moneys worth.

“It’s never had to have any sort of maintenance and the only thing that’s ever gone on it is the lightbulb for the door, and even that only cost a couple of quid,” he added. (ANI)

Rumours had started that Agnetha Faltskog, 58, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 63, had fought during their 70′s heyday, but the two have insisted that there was “no truth” in them.

“We competed, but to good effect,” the Sun quoted Lyngstad as saying.

The two showed a united front as they picked up a lifetime achievement award in their native Sweden.

They along with their other band mates Benny Andersson, 62, and Bjorn Ulvaeus, 63, have sold 370 million records, and after they split in 1982, they reunited last year at the premiere of movie Mamma Mia! (ANI)

The England and Wales Cricket Board sanctioned a three-week Indian Premier League window, prompting optimistic noises from IPL chairman Lalit Modi, and several English players, but it appears it is unlikely to result in a stampede for their services.

The month-long transfer window closed last night with little trading done, and all attention now turns to February 6, player auction, The Guardian reported.

A preliminary list of those under the hammer is due to be released today, and is unlikely to contain more than half-a-dozen Englishmen.

Even Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, who have attracted interest from most of the eight franchises, are unlikely to inspire the sort of huge deals last season clinched by Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings: 1.5million dollars) and Andrew Symonds (Deccan Chargers: 1.375million dollars).

English players who are signed will miss the second half of the season, and forfeit approximately half their fee as a result. Pietersen and Flintoff will undoubtedly get contracts, unavailability for the business end of the season will seriously hamper the prospects of the Test fringe players.

For the moment, the one Englishman certain to play a part is Graham Napier, the 29-year-old Essex batsman, whose 16-six blitz (152 from 58 balls) against Sussex last June captured the imagination of Twenty20 aficionados worldwide.

Napier will go into a Mumbai squad that can already boast the big-hitting prowess of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar. (ANI)

John Payne, who is a grandfather, has arthritis and walks with a limp, and he wanted to buy the 1.50 pounds slingshot to launch maggots into the water.

Payne, a retired foreman of nearby Bremhill, had at first thought the store assistant was being humorous, but when she insisted on seeing some identification, he realised she was being serious.

He said he was left “utterly humiliated” by the episode in Melksham, Wilts.

“At first I thought the assistant was trying to be humorous. But when I cheekily replied, ‘Do I look 18′? she asked if I could prove it – then asked me to verify this with some sort of ID,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

“At this point I realised she was serious.

“I’m 73 with grandchildren probably older than her. I understand the girl had a job to do, but she should show discretion,” he added.

A store spokesman insisted the assistant was joking.

“I’m sure she was having a bit of fun,” he said. (ANI)

McCullum is playing for NSW in the last Twenty20 contest of the campaign at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night.

According to cricket commentator Peter Roebuck, the timing is significant.

“Winning is not important. Both finalists, Victoria and NSW, have already qualified for the lucrative Champions League showdown due to be staged in India later this year. Several NSW players have signed for Indian outfits and might be obliged to stick by them in those finals,” says Roebuck.

Fearful of sending a weakened team to the finals, thereby reducing their chances of making a motza, NSW have offered terms to the swashbuckling Kiwi. Nor could any time be wasted.

“By signing McCullum, the Blues have improved their chance of pocketing the money in India,” says Roebuck in an article for the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The IPL and the ICL are full of watered-down stories of that sort. It has opened doors for hundreds of gifted youngsters,” he says.

Traditionalists argue Australian domestic cricket ought to be reserved for sons of the soil on the grounds that its primary purpose is to sift talent.

“McCullum is not a hack likely to prod around like a medical student at a belly. He is a match-winner. Although his appearance might not greatly improve relations between the states involved, he is entertaining and can change the course of contests,” Roebuck says. (ANI)

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has asked Samir Abu Hamza to apologise for his statement, saying it has no place in modern Australia.

During a 2003 lecture also posted on the Internet last year, Hamza told followers that under Islamic law, men could demand sex from their wives.

Despite Australian laws requiring consent, it was impossible for a man to rape his wife even if she refused to have sex, he said.

He also said that Islamic law allowed men to hit their wives as a last resort, but were not allowed to leave them bruised or bloodied,

“Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia – under no circumstances,” Rudd was quoted by the Herald Sun, as saying.

“… Australia will not tolerate these sort of remarks. They don’t belong in modern Australia, and he should stand up, repudiate them and apologise,” Rudd added. (ANI)

According to a poll reported by the Daily Star, religion has replaced race as the biggest equality issue, with six in 10 Brits thinking it is more divisive.

Mass tension have grown following terror attacks from Muslim fanatics, including the 7/7 Tube bombings in 2005.

But critics say that they are angered over the fact that Muslims are refusing to fit into the British way of life.

English Democrats’ chairman Robin Tilbrook said: “As far as I’m concerned, what we want to be about is having an integrated society.

“If people don’t want to integrate, they shouldn’t be here. It’s not at all right to have what’s really a sort of ghetto situation developing – it’s going to lead to trouble,” he warned.

“We can’t have a single society with lots of different rules.” Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: I’m not surprised because there are already Muslim enclaves all over the country. They keep themselves to themselves anyway,” he added.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission poll found 67 percent of Muslims would not be happy for their child to marry someone of a different religion. But marrying someone from a different race bothers them less, with 61 percent content with the idea.

The shock results come a day after commission chairman Trevor Phillips said Britain was “by far” the least racist country in Europe. The commission said the poll confirmed Brits are “increasingly at ease with racial diversity”. (ANI)

Singh resigned from the party, complaining of humiliation and suffocation. He claimed that he should have been accorded the respect that leaders with a huge public following deserve.

Addressing journalists in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, Singh opted to publicly explain his agony through media.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party has insulted me. I have never felt so humiliated [in my political career] as I have been feeling today. I have learnt from my reliable sources that a meeting of the core group was held in Delhi and it was decided that I should be shown the exit door. Returning to BJP earlier, I think, was a mistake,” Singh said.

Kalyan blamed the BJP for sidelining its leaders who have enjoyed huge public support.

“Leaders like Madan Lal Khurana in Delhi, Uma Bharati in Madhya Pradesh and Babu Lal Marandi in Jharkhand and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in Rajasthan had huge public support. But still all of them have been sidelined by the BJP,” said Kalyan Singh while offering his full support to Shekhawat in his fight against corruption and “I am also with him on this issue.”

“It is people to see that a leader (like himself) who has the potential of winning 60 MPs in elections is being meted out such a treatment by the party. The leaders who have nurtured the party, they are being sidelined,” Singh added.

“But, let me also admit, that “yes” there has been a meeting involving Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh, Rajju Bhaiya and myself. But neither am I going to join any political party nor form a new party. All I can say (about the meet) that I have formed new friendship. But I have not got into any sort of agreement with anyone. I am not going to join any party,” said the Kalyan Singh while adding that “if at all I had to contest an election it would be from Etah”.

Forecasting the fate of BJP in the wake of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Kalyan said: “At present, Indian politics is divided into two segments-the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA. And, I don’t see the BJP-led segment is able to form government in the coming elections.”

Asked if could reconsider his decision to quit party if Atal Behari Vajpayee tomorrow asked him to, Kalyan Singh said: “I have quit the party forever. But I still maintain deep “Shraddha”(respect) for Atalji. In case, Atalji decides to contest from Lucknow constituency, I would still support him despite not being in the BJP.”

Replying to a query that if he informed senior BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee before taking his decision, Kalyan Singh said: “No, I haven’t. But I hope he would come to know about it.”

The firebrand Lodhi leader has been a major support for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the State, largely divided between Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party. (ANI)

Gilchrist, who played 287 one-day internationals during his nearly decade-long career, was quoted by Fox Sports as saying: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, I always felt that pressure came from within, it is not a matter of the headlines or the air time that you received.”

“Obviously that initial knock of his of 80-odd off 40 balls was very exciting. I was there watching it and I loved it. It was terrific, a great spectacle but for him just try now not to think that every time he does it, he has to produce that sort of result because the reality is it does not work that way,” he added.

“So for him to relax and try to stay true to the processes he normally goes through and the results will come again eventually,” Gilchrist said.

NSW coach Matthew Mott said players such as Warner had to be nurtured.

“I think if he comes off one in three (innings) that is an extremely good effort at the top of the order,” he said.

Ahead of Warner’s first match on his home ground in national colours, Mott said the 22-year-old simply had to come to grips with the pressures of international cricket.

The five-match one-day series against the Proteas is locked at 1-1 with Australia welcoming back a refreshed Mitchell Johnson for the SCG clash.

Meanwhile seamer Stuart Clark and opener Phil Jaques step up their campaigns for selection in Australia’s tour of South Africa next month by returning to Sydney grade cricket this weekend.

They are returning from respective elbow and back injuries and have a Sheffield Shield match for NSW against Tasmania starting Friday week in Newcastle to further press their claims. (ANI)

A rep for the actress confirmed that Nagra, 33, who plays Neela Rasgotra on NBC’s medical drama ER, wed Stenson, 34, wed her beau of seven years in Hollywood in a traditional Sikh ceremony.

Nagra told People in 2007 that she met Stenson “on a couple of jobs I did before I came out [to the U.S.].”

The actress, who was born and raised in Leicester, announced in December that she and Stenson were expecting their first child together this summer.

ER executive producer John Wells, this week told reporters at a press conference that the star’s pregnancy will actually be incorporated into some of the final episodes of the show which bows out this year after its fifteenth season.

“We were trying to juggle how that was going to work because she is starting to show. And what seemed sort of tragic at first – when we talked about it – there was a tremendous feeling of, ‘Oh, there’s this one [story] that we haven’t done,’ so it’s actually very exciting,” People quoted him, as saying. (ANI)

The ‘Hero’ hitmaker received flak by movie reviewers after her 2001 debut film ‘Glitter’ turned out to be a big box office debacle.

And now, the 38-year-old crooner is making her big-screen return in the drama, where she is playing the role of a welfare case worker looking after a teen-mum coping with her abusive childhood.

“(My character) Mrs. Weiss is sort of the eyes of the audience, the people who don’t know anybody like this in their lives,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

“Yes it’s her job … but even someone who goes through that every day and sees these horrific things, she hears something that changes her.

“I was just glued to this book when I read it in, I guess ’98, and it stays with you,” she added.

Based on a best-selling novel, Carey’s emotional comeback was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

And now, filmmakers are reportedly in talks with studios to find a distributor for ‘Push’. (ANI)

The ‘Titanic’ star plays Winslet’s husband in their latest film ‘Revolutionary Road’, directed by the actress’ real-life husband Sam Mendes.

“I was very comfortable with the situation. It felt like a kind of a family – a sort of weird twisted family,” The Sun quoted him as saying.

Speaking at the film’s European premiere in London’s Leicester Square, the 34-year-old actor said that it was very natural to kiss his “best friend.”

“I was entirely too used to that from doing that film (Titanic) with her, so to me it was very natural,” he said. (ANI)

The average Briton now swears a staggering 14 times a day, with 90 per cent of the adults no longer affected by the use of expletives.

According to the critics, increasing use of expletives on television has led to the bad language.

Broadcaster Esther Rantzen, who is also a patron of Campaign for Courtesy, admits that there is too much swearing on television and something has to change

“It is becoming ludicrous and banal. We don’t want society to go that way too,” the Daily Express quoted Rantzen as saying.

Celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and controversial presenter Jonathan Ross are being blamed for the increasing use of bad language.

“This sort of language is damaging our culture and the way we speak to each other,” said John Beyer, of Mediawatch UK,

“Children as young as four, five and six are copying it and it is undermining our language. There is no place for unnecessary swearing on television,” he added.

Conservative MP and Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe said: “I think it is clear that the amount of swearing in society has been enormously influenced by the amount of swearing on television, in films and even in books.”

“The fact remains that there are many people who do not like casual and consistent swearing and are offended by it when they hear it in public. But these days sometimes all you can do is stare in disbelief when you hear this kind of language.”

Seventy-eight per cent of the people surveyed even admitted to swearing regularly for no reason whatsoever, while the overwhelming majority – 98 per cent – admitted that they swore when they lost their temper. (ANI)