Mid Day International News |
- Some India bound flights cancelled amid UK snow chaos
- President Kennedy 'took virginity of intern'
- Lipstick, mint: Queen's handbag items spilled
- Demi Moore checks into rehab in Utah
- 9 dead in Kandahar car bomb attack
- Shipwreck woman seeks Rs 5.8 cr for losing her baby
- Sexagenarian Tagore's paintings mesmerise Paris
- Qatar pays record Rs 1,220 cr for painting
- Strauss-Kahn's sex scandal to be a film
| Some India bound flights cancelled amid UK snow chaos Posted: Some flights to Mumbai scheduled to depart from London's Heathrow airport tonight were among half of scheduled 1,300 flights cancelled as authorities grappled with the fallout of snow and icy conditions across transport links in Britain. Conditions of several arterial roads were described as "treacherous", as tempers ran high at Heathrow when hundreds of flights to destinations in Europe, US, India and other countries were cancelled. Trains were also delayed, and cars abandoned on clogged motorways. According to information from Heathrow, the following India-bound flights tonight were cancelled: 9W117 to Mumbai, AC6004 to Mumbai, UA9822 to Mumbai, VS9117 to Mumbai, IT002 to Delhi. Other India bound flights tonight were described as "scheduled". Snow conditions also adversely affected flights from other airports in Britain. Many people spent the night in cars when traffic grounded to a halt on roads as swathes of snow swamped Britain amidst severe warnings by the weather office. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the arterial M25 and M40 motorways, with drivers forced to spend the night in their cars. Authorities at the Heathrow airport cautioned that due to adverse weather across the UK and Europe, "Heathrow is operating a reduced flight schedule today. If you are travelling today or over the next couple of days, please check your flight status with your airline before setting out and allow extra time for your journey to the airport as the road and rail networks may be affected," a Heathrow statement said. Drivers stranded in cars overnight described difficult conditions this morning as British officials struggled to reopen roads. Road traffic was disrupted from yesterday evening as snow hit southern Scotland and parts of Wales before moving south-east through England. Over 10,000 tonnes of salt were being spread on London roads to facilitate movement. Heathrow's chief operating officer Normand Boivin said the decision to introduce a revised flight schedule taken to minimise disruption to passengers. Similar disruptions in air traffic have been reported across Europe. Flights from Rome and Amsterdam's Schiphol airports to UK destinations, and Saturday morning flights to Amsterdam from Birmingham, Manchester and Heathrow were cancelled or delayed. The British Airways said it would allow passengers scheduled to fly on Sunday to re-book for journeys between Monday and Thursday. In many parts of Europe, temperatures have fallen as low as -30 C in some parts, and scores of people have died, including more than 100 in Ukraine.
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| President Kennedy 'took virginity of intern' Posted: Then US president John F. Kennedy took the virginity of a White House intern in a side room a few feet away from where staffers were drinking at an after-work party, the Daily Mail Sunday quoted a new book as saying. Mimi Alford, now a 69-year-old grandmother, related how Kennedy led her into "Mrs Kennedy's room" during a personal tour, where he proceeded to have sex with her. The retired New York church administrator's tell-all memoir also details how, during a passionate 18-month affair with Kennedy, he told her to perform a sex act on his friend as he watched. And she claims the then 45-year-old Kennedy also stuffed party-drug amyl nitrate, more commonly known as poppers, under her nose after telling her it would enhance their sex life. But during their romance, she said he never properly kissed her and that she was often forced to play "a waiting game" as to when she would see him. Alford's book "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F Kennedy and Its Aftermath" tells the story of when the 19-year-old debutante from New Jersey landed a job in the White House press office. It was just four days into her internship that she was invited for a midday swim in the White House pool, where Kennedy exercised to ease his chronic back pain, and where they spoke briefly, the Mail said. Later that day, she was invited by his best friend Dave Powers to an after-work party. After drinking several cocktails, Kennedy took her on a "personal tour", where she says he moved "closer and closer" until he was standing above her, guiding her onto the edge of a bed. She wrote in the book: "Slowly, he unbuttoned the top of my shirtdress and touched my breasts. Then he reached up between my legs and started to pull off my underwear. "I finished unbuttoning my shirtdress and let it fall off my shoulders." She said Kennedy pulled down his trousers, but kept his shirt on, and paused when he noticed she seemed reluctant. He asked her if she had done this before and she initially replied "No" but then changed her mind and said "Yes". After intercourse, she said: "He hitched up his pants and smiled at me." She claims he pointed her to the bathroom and went back to the West Sitting Hall where they had met. She said: "I was in shock. He, on the other hand, was matter-of-fact, and acted as if what had just occurred was the most natural thing in the world. On the ride home, it kept echoing in my head: I'm not a virgin anymore." She went swimming with him again the next week and, although he "barely acknowledged" her arrival, they later ended up in another bedroom which was, she says, the start of the affair. She said: "The fact that I was being desired by the most famous and powerful man in America only amplified my feelings to the point where resistance was out of the question. That's why I didn't say no to the president. It's the best answer I can give."
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| Lipstick, mint: Queen's handbag items spilled Posted: The contents of the Queen's ubiquitous handbag have long been the source of mystery and rumour. But a royal biographer has disclosed that, alongside everyday items including a mirror and lipstick, on Sundays there is a �5 or �10 note for the church collection. Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind the Throne, claims that also among the bag's secrets is a portable hook used to hang it discreetly under tables.  What's in your bag? Contrary to popular belief, the Queen does sometimes carry a �5 or �10 note in her classic Launer handbag to donate to the church on Sundays. File Pic/ Getty Images Bedell Smith said there was "no more familiar symbol" of the Queen than the classic Launer handbag on her left arm at every occasion from informal walkabouts to state dinners. Her knowledge is pieced together from anecdotes of ladies-in-waiting and those who claim to have peeked inside the handbag. Bedell Smith said the handbag usually contained reading glasses, mint lozenges and a fountain pen, but rarely cash except for the "precisely folded" �5 or �10 note on Sundays. A dinner guest at the Berkshire home of Jean Wills, one of the Queen's cousins, is said to have been surprised to see the of the monarch spit into a suction cup. "I watched the Queen open her handbag and remove a white suction cup and discreetly spit into it," the guest is quoted as saying. "The Queen then attached the cup to the underside of the table. The cup had a hook on it, and she attached her handbag to it." And Bedell Smith wrote: "At the end of a luncheon or a dinner... she has the somewhat outre habit of opening her bag, pulling out a compact and reapplying her lipstick. The Queen tomorrow marks her accession 60 years ago. Kate takes on photography The Duchess of Cambridge Kate has plans to display her own skills with a camera. A keen photographer for many years, the Duchess is considering staging an exhibition of her photographs in aid of her new patronages. She is understood to be working on her portfolio of pictures in the hope of putting on a show of her photographs in the next few years.
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| Demi Moore checks into rehab in Utah Posted: Actress Demi Moore is reported to be on "total lockdown" in rehab while being treated for an eating disorder and addiction issues. The 49-year-old is claimed to be receiving treatment at the $1,600-a-night (Rs 78,000) Cirque Lodge facility in Sundance, Utah.  Demi collapsed at her home in California on January 23, and is rumoured to have been inhaling huge quantities of nitrous oxide -- which has been dubbed 'hippy crack' by the media. A source said, "She's on total lockdown and only talking to a small group of people. It became clear to her that her way of coping with her stress was not working and she needed more help." Her estranged husband Ashton Kutcher was reported to have visited her at home in LA last week. The insider claimed: "Ashton knows the addict has to want to get help for themselves. There is a lot of noise around Demi right now, and Ashton wants her to know he is there for her and supports her no matter what. Both he and her ex-hubby Bruce Willis had previously visited Demi in hospital following her collapse.
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| 9 dead in Kandahar car bomb attack Posted: A car bomb attack on police headquarters in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar has killed at least nine people, including five policemen. Some 19 others were wounded in the blast in a car park outside the police building, the local government said. The blast -- thought to have been caused by explosives hidden inside a parked car and detonated remotely -- was strong enough to shatter nearby windows. Noone has yet said that they carried out the attack. The explosion "took place near a busy shopping area", the provincial government said. "It was a heavy explosion, it shook windows. There was gun fire for few minutes afterwards," said a local resident. Children were reported to be among the dead and wounded.
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| Shipwreck woman seeks Rs 5.8 cr for losing her baby Posted: A woman who suffered a miscarriage is suing owners of Costa Concordia -- that ran aground off the Tuscany coast -- for mental and physical damages Rome: A pregnant woman who miscarried after the cruise ship wreck off the coast of Italy last month is set to sue the vessel's owners for $1.2 million (Rs 5.8 crore) in damages. The 30-year-old Italian, identified only as Cristina M, was four months pregnant when she set off on the Costa Concordia cruise on January 13.  Though she escaped the sinking ship in a lifeboat, she was admitted to hospital last week with a miscarriage. Her doctors said she likely lost her baby because of the intense psychological stress suffered both during the night-time evacuation and when her lifeboat smashed up against rocks as it headed for the nearby shore. Cristina M's lawyers will add her to a class action lawsuit against Costa Crociere and seek $1.2 million (Rs 5.8 crore) in damages for the miscarriage. The 1,14,500-tonne liner with more than 4,200 people aboard ran aground on rocks off Tuscany's Giglio Island and lurched on to its side as passengers were settling down to dinner shortly after the start of a Mediterranean cruise. Up to 32 people are feared to have died in the disaster, which has led to a host of legal claims against the stricken ship's parent companies. Costa Crociere and advocacy groups representing survivors have struck a deal in which around 3,000 survivors are to receive $13,500 (Rs 6.56 lakh) each plus the cost of the cruise and expenses. Six passengers in the United States however are suing Carnival Lines, Costa Crociere's parent company, demanding compensation totalling $430 million (Rs 2,100 crore). In France, a number of passengers have rejected the deal and filed legal complaints with the French courts, and in Germany, a group of 19 tourists have filed criminal charges against the captain Francesco Schettino. Underage porters aboard Concordia Prosecutors are investigating claims that underage crew were employed on doomed liner Costa Concordia. A tip-off to Italian coastguards told them to search for youngsters aged between 13 and 16 who slept in the hold and worked as porters. Owners Costa Cruises strongly denied any of the crew were employed illegally. It appears the owners are now keen to salvage the ship in one piece and put it back into service.
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| Sexagenarian Tagore's paintings mesmerise Paris Posted: The French capital was buzzing with activity last week as the world of fashion and glamour had descended upon Paris to witness this year's spring summer collection designs by top designers.
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| Qatar pays record Rs 1,220 cr for painting Posted: Oil-rich Qatar has bought Paul Cezanne's painting The Card Players for more than $250 million (Rs 1,220 crore), by far the highest price yet paid for a work of art. Previously, a Jackson Pollock -- No. 5, 1948 -- held the record, sold for $140 million in pre-recessionary 2006.  Costly game: Paul Cezanne's The Card Players has fetched the highest price paid yet for a piece of art Vanity Fair magazine points out that only four other versions of Card Players exist -- Cezanne painted them as a series in the 1890s. They are all housed in world-class museums, including the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "The purchase is just the latest bid in Qatar's effort to become an international intellectual hub," the magazine wrote, adding that it "upends the modern art market." According to the Gulf Times, Qatar has the third highest density of millionaires in the world after Singapore and Switzerland. The sale, which took place last year, was confirmed to the magazine by multiple sources only last week. Qatar's royal family declined to comment and all other players involved in the sale signed confidentiality agreements. The Card Players bought by Qatar is one of three that shows two men at a table playing cards. "$250 million is a fortune," Victor Wiener, a fine-art appraiser told Vanity Fair. "But you take any art-history course and a Card Players is likely in it. It's a major, major image." Cezanne inspired Cubism and helped pioneer abstract art, and Picasso called him "the father of us all."
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| Strauss-Kahn's sex scandal to be a film Posted: French actor Gerard Depardieu -- best known for urinating in the aisle of an airline -- will play the former chief of the International Monetary Fund Controversial US director Abel Ferrara says he is to make a film on the sex scandal that destroyed Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn's political career -- with Gerard Depardieu in the starring role.  Up for the role: Gerard Depardieu will portray the role of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (below) when he was charged with sexually molesting a hotel maid in New York last year. File pics A film about sex and politics, it would co-star Isabelle Adjani as Strauss-Kahn's wife Anne Sinclair, said Ferrara. Strauss-Kahn, who was seen as a Socialist contender for the French presidency, was forced to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund last May after he was charged with sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid. Charges were later dropped, but he remains dogged by sexual scandal in France. Sinclair, a former television anchor and the multi-millionaire heiress to an art fortune, has stood by her husband throughout.  Ferrara said the film would be shot in New York, Paris and Washington. In recent months, the project had been frequently rumoured -- and just as frequently denied by Ferrara's producers Wildbunch. This time, however, Ferrara said that he was the director and no one was going to stop him talking about his film. He had met Depardieu at the Deauville film festival last September and said he was everything a filmmaker could expect from an actor. The script was already written, he added. Ferrara is perhaps best known for the hard-hitting 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, starring Harvey Keitel as a corrupt New York cop. His films are often dark, violent stories dealing with the underside of life.
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