Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

The lightest ever T-shirt bra 'as comfy as second skin'

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British retailer Debenhams has launched the lightest ever T-shirt bra

Weighing less than two ounces, the 18 pounds T-shirt bra has a moulded cup that is glued together rather than stitched.

Almost half as light as most bras, it weighs a fifth of the typical gel push-up varieties.

Trials found the lingerie gives the sensation of being naked under clothing, feeling like a "second skin".

"The search for a bra that fits, flatters and is comfortable is as hard as finding the right man. We're confident once women try this, they will never wear another T-shirt bra again," the Daily Express quoted Sharon Webb, Debenhams' head of lingerie buying and design, as saying.

Buddhist nun gangraped in Nepal bus

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A 21-year-old Buddhist nun was gangraped by five men inside a bus in eastern Nepal, media reports said Monday

The victim, a resident of Bhojpur district in eastern Nepal, was travelling by bus when she was attacked by the group, which also included the driver of the bus.

According to reports, when the bus reached Sabhakhola town in Sankhuwasabha district Saturday night, the five men dragged the woman inside the bus.

The attackers included two teens, aged 17 and 18.

The nun was rescued by an ethnic organisation, the Sanghiya Limbuwan Rajya Parishad, whose members also caught the five men and handed them over to police.

The woman was taken to the local health centre. However, its services proved inadequate and she was taken to the B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences in Dharan.

There was no immediate reaction from Nepal's Buddhist organisations.

Nepal is the birthplace of the Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and many communities still follow the custom of sending one member of the family to a monastery or nunnery to become a monk or a nun.

British woman convicted for 229th time

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A woman thief in Britain has been called the "worst female criminal ever seen" by a shocked judge who jailed her for her 229th offence

Penelope Russell, 42, was told by the judge at the Stoke-on-Trent crown court that he had never encountered a woman with so many convictions, the Daily Express reported.

In the latest theft, Russell robbed 74-year-old ­Dorothy Hall who was out shopping with her daughter in Tesco in Staffordshire. She stole the ­woman's handbag from her trolley.

She had also robbed another woman of her handbag a few days earlier.

The court heard that ­Russell's 227 previous offences included 129 for theft and 52 for fraud.

Judge Paul Glenn said: "You have a truly appalling record. I have never seen a female offender with so many convictions."

"You are a professional criminal and the public deserve a rest from you, particularly the female shoppers you so regularly target," he said."

Russell was jailed for two years.

Chinese mother jailed for drowning twins

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A woman in China was Tuesday sentenced to five years of imprisonment for drowning her twin sons in a bathtub after drugging them, Xinhua reported

The court showed leniency after hearing her plight, as according to the Chinese law a murder conviction can mean life imprisonment or a death sentence.

Han Qunfeng had quit her job to attend to her children full-time just days before the murder. She said she couldn't handle the pressure of raising the boys who were suffering from cerebral palsy. She said she regretted her act.

"My heart sank when I faced with such a sorrowful mother," said Xue Fengyan, chief judge in the trial.

Han was convicted of murder by the No. 1 People's Court in Dongguan city of Guangdong province.

She was found to have given her sons sleeping pills before drowning them in the bathtub when they were alone in their home last year. She had given birth to the twins in 1998.

After the crime, she tried to kill herself by drinking pesticide.


Brain dead for four months, woman gives birth to boy in S. Arabia

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In a rare case, a 38-year-old mother who has been brain dead for four months has given birth to a baby boy in Saudi Arabia's eastern Al Khobar province

A Gulf News report said that the baby boy was delivered 28 weeks and two days after conception and is in good condition at the Sa''ad Specialist Hospital.

"The mother was transferred to the hospital more than four months ago in a terrible state," Dr Samer Qarah, chief medical officer at Sa''ad Specialist Hospital, said.

"She was 11 months pregnant and was artificially fed and was given all necessary antibiotics," the Sabq news portal quoted him, as saying further.

With the mother brain dead, the medical team worked on preserving the baby''s life in compliance with religious and medical ethics.

After 28 weeks, doctors decided to perform a caesarean due to the baby''s condition worsening.

Man kills his ex-wife over property dispute, entombs her in wall

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An Australian man strangled his ex-wife, cut her into seven pieces with a saw, and then entombed her in a cavity he created in his hallway cupboard, because he was disgruntled over their property settlement, a Brisbane court has been told

Former noodle restaurant owner Jiagen Pan killed his wife, Linjin Cui, during an argument about money, at their former matrimonial home at Springfield Lakes, west of Brisbane, two years ago, The Herald Sun reports.

Detectives investigating the finding of blood at the Springfield Lakes went to Pan''s townhouse at Woodridge, and found him in the process entombing Cui''s remains.

Pan, 45, pleaded not guilty to murdering Cui, 32, but guilty to her manslaughter on August 12, 2009. He had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of misconduct with a corpse.

Prosecutor Caroline Marco explained that Pan went to Cui''s home, where he struck her about the head and face and strangled her.

Marco said Pan then used circular saws and handsaws to dismember the body before buying cement to use in entombing Cui''s remains, which had been cut into seven pieces and placed in two garage bags.

Marco told the court that Pan and Cui had divorced five months before her death, at the end of a seven-year marriage.

Pan had expressed bitterness at not getting what he considered was fair share in the divorce settlement and had accused Cui of being greedy.


Militants storm hotel in Kabul, 13 dead

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Thirteen people, including six attackers, were killed and eight others injured when Taliban militants stormed a luxury hotel frequented by foreign nationals in the Afghan capital, Xinhua reported Wednesday

Militants targeted the Intercontinental Hotel around 10.00 p.m. Tuesday with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

The ensuing exchange of fire between the militants and police lasted till early Wednesday morning.

Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi told reporters that the fighting has ended. Seven civilians were among the dead.

The fortified hotel is popular with foreign and Afghan officials. At least 60 guests were staying at the hotel at the time of the attack. It was not immediately clear if there were any foreigners among the casualties.

A witness had earlier said that at least two rockets fired by the militants hit the hotel compound.

Purported Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the media by telephone that the militant group was responsible for the attack.

Last week, US President Barack Obama announced a plan to withdraw some 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year and an additional 23,000 by the end of September 2012.

Sharapova thrashes Cibulkova to enter Wimbledon semis

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Sharapova thrashes Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 to enter semi-finals; Will face Sabine Lisicki next

Maria Sharapova stormed into the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time since 2006 here yesterday, blasting aside Dominika Cibulkova with an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 quarter-final victory.


Russia's Maria Sharapova during yesterday's Wimbledon quarter-final
against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in London. Sharapova won 6-1, 6-1.
PIC/Getty Images

Cibulkova, who had stunned World No 1 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the last 16, never looked like repeating that upset against Sharapova, who is the heavy favourite to repeat her 2004 triumph.

The 6ft 2in Russian fifth seed now faces German wildcard Sabine Lisicki in the last four for a place in the final.
Lisicki defeated French ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1.

Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova secured a place in the semi-finals for the second successive year with a 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 win over Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in a hard fought battle.


Kitne panda the? China wants to know

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China has counted its 1.34 billion people; now it's the pandas' turn.

After conducting a census of its human population last year, China is about to start a once-every-10-years count of giant pandas in the wild.



The official China Daily reported more than 60 trackers were trained at Wanglang National Reserve in the southwestern province of Sichuan, which is believed to have the largest number of wild pandas in China.

They will collect droppings for DNA analysis, which will allow zoologists to track individual pandas and accurately estimate the population, Chen Youping, director of the reserve's administrative bureau, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

The census is also expected to reveal more on living conditions, age structure and changes of habitat of the endangered species.

The last census counted 1,596 wild pandas in China, 1,206 of which were living in Sichuan.

Wild pandas are threatened by a loss of habitat, poaching and for being poor breeders. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two or three years.

Fertility rates of captive giant pandas of which there are more than 300 in China are even lower.

Xinhua said the trackers will start a pilot survey at the nature reserve this week that is expected to end by early July, before carrying out the nationwide panda census the fourth since they began in the 1970s.

The human census last year showed the country with the world's largest population had swelled to 1.34 billion.

1,596
Number of wild pandas in China, according to the last census conducted 10 years ago

Did you know?
Each panda is thought to defecate up to 40 times a day, leaving its own individual trail behind it which scientists can identify by running a DNA test

Bond girl banned from Burma for meeting Suu Kyi

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The military-backed government of Burma has deported Hollywood actress Michelle Yeoh, who stars as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie.

The Malaysian actress arrived in the country's main city, Rangoon, on June 22 and was deported the same day because she was on a blacklist, a government official said.


Michelle Yeoh stars as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie, The Lady

But Burma's repressive government has routinely rejected visa requests of journalists and perceived critics for years.

The Luc Besson movie about Suu Kyi's life, The Lady, is due for release this year, and Yeoh has said she hopes her portrayal of Suu Kyi will raise awareness about the Nobel Peace Prize winner's story.

Suu Kyi (66) spent most of the last two decades detained by the former military junta. She was released last year, just days after an election that her party boycotted and in which she was barred from being a candidate.

The vote was the nation's first in 20 years, and in March, the junta handed power to a civilian government.

But critics say little has changed and the new government is merely a front for continued rule by the army, which has been in power here since 1962.

Yeoh visited Burma in December and spent time with Suu Kyi for the movie, which was filmed in Thailand.

Yeoh, a former Miss Malaysia, shot to international fame when she costarred with Pierce Brosnan in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies as a tough but beautiful Chinese spy.

She has also starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha.

15
The years Aung San Suu Kyi spent under house arrest. She was released on November 13, 2010

Will Harry be King of Canada?

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Canadian monarchists want the third in line to British throne to move to Ottawa, in a bid to silence those who want an elected head of state

As third in line to the British throne Prince Harry may never be King of England, yet he could still be King of Canada, if royalists in the country have their way that is.

According to reports, they want Harry to up sticks and live in the Canadian capital Ottawa and give the British royal family a permanent presence in the Commonwealth country.



The suggestion is all part of a strategy amongst Canadian supporters of the British monarchy, who believe the move would silence those who believe the country should have an elected head of state and become a republic.

The Queen is currently the constitutional monarch of 16 Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

If the royalists fail to tempt Prince Harry to rule Canada, they would like Prince William, when he becomes King of England, to split his time living between the UK, Australia and their country.

Etienne Boisvert, spokesman for the Monarchist League of Canada, said, "Prince Harry, who has virtually no chance of becoming king, could set himself up here and found a Canadian branch of the Royal Family."

He added, "Or the future king could rotate six months in Canada, six in Australia, six in London."

The radical idea comes as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge prepare to visit Canada as part of a North American tour. The couple are expected to land in Ottawa later this week.

Bristol Palin: Mom 'knows' if she'll run for president

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Sarah Palin's oldest daughter says her mom has decided whether she'll run for president in 2012, but for now, the decision will remain within the family.

"She definitely knows," Bristol Palin said in an interview yesterday. "We've talked about it before, but some things just need to stay in the family."



Her remarks come as Sarah Palin prepares to visit Iowa today. She's scheduled to appear at the premiere of The Undefeated, a documentary about Palin's time as governor of Alaska and her rise on the national political scene.

There were reports that Palin planned to meet with Republican activists in the key 2012 presidential primary state during the trip, but Palin's political action committee, Sarah PAC, issued a statement strongly disputing that report.

"*Sigh* media making up things again," Palin said on Twitter.Palin won't stick around Iowa for long. She's set to appear with Bristol Palin at a book signing at the Mall of America in Minnesota tomorrow.

Gaddafi could face rape charges

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The International Criminal Court is still trying to link Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, his son and his brother-in-law to rapes, but it does not yet have enough evidence to do so, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said yesterday.

It has evidence that rapes have taken place in Libya's civil war, he said, but he cannot prove Gaddafi ordered them.

The court issued arrest warrants on Monday for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi on other charges.

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi is a close adviser to his father. His arrest warrant came two days after his 39th birthday. Al-Sanussi serves as Gaddafi's head of intelligence.

The warrants are "for crimes against humanity," including murder and persecution, "allegedly committed across Libya" from February 15 through "at least" February 28, "through the state apparatus and security forces," the court said in a news release.

The court could file charges against "one or two other names, but in principle the first investigation focuses on these individuals," Moreno-Ocampo said.

The court is not asking international forces operating in Libya to arrest the suspects, Moreno-Ocampo said, explaining that Libya has the primary responsibility to do so as a United Nations member.

NATO confirmed in a news conference that it was not seeking to arrest anyone, as that was not part of its mission.

Lt Gen Charles Bouchard of NATO gave a mixed assessment of the mission to protect civilians, saying Libyans were writing 'Thank you, NATO' on their roofs.

But, he said, Gaddafi's forces were using civilians as human shields, making NATO operations "more difficult, but not impossible."

Hit these topless 'sexpresso' bars for a steamy coffee!

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A recent boom in topless coffee bars in one of Washington's Counties has evoked concern from the local government, which is mulling banning under 18 people from using the stands

The so-called 'sexpresso' bars, where 'baristas' or waitresses wear nothing but panties and pasties have proved so popular in Port Orchard that five outlets have opened up in the last year.

The residents are considering much tighter restrictions on who can enter the topless bars that are fast becoming more popular than regular coffee shops, reports the Daily Mail.

Speaking to KATU.com, a barista said: "Sex sells, and we're the busiest coffee stand in Kitsap County."

She also added that the customers love her store.

Cashing in on the popularity, five bars with names such as Fantasy Espresso, Steamy Grounds and Espresso Gone Crazy have mushroomed in the last 12 months.

Speaking to the website, Larry Keeton of the County Department of Community Development said that the local government officials were due to hold a public hearing to decide if the bars should be given '18 only' status.

However, owners of the Sexpresso bars said the regulations would harm not just their own businesses, but also the chain of suppliers who they buy from.

"There's a smaller minority of people trying to speak for a large majority. There are a lot of vendors we all use, too. This just doesn't touch those in the stand, but out of the stand as well," Espresso Gone Crazy owner J.J. Wilson said.
Posted by Harshad at 7:05 AM

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