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Lily Allen has already retreated from her short-lived role as anti-file-sharing crusader. After starting a blog, It's Not Alright, to discourage illegal file-sharing, Allen tore the thing down mere days after its debut. But perhaps more interesting than the thought of the social-media-addicted Allen curbing back on her Internet presence was one chunk of her farewell post. As she wrote: "Just so you know, I have not renegotiated my record contract and have no plans to make another record (applause)." Lily Allen is quitting music? Forgive us if we think she'd have better luck quitting booze . . . or perhaps Twitter. For one thing, we've heard it before. Back in April, just days after Allen released her second album, It's Not Me, It's You, NME reported Allen said she was "definitely considering quitting music." As for what she might be doing with all that potential free time, Allen told NME last week that she is interested in acting and has been of...

NEW YORK: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off Western criticism Friday over a newly revealed nuclear enrichment plant, saying it was "perfectly legal."Iran had informed the IAEA international nuclear watchdog about the plant's existence and "should be encouraged for that. It was perfectly legal," he said at a press conference in New York. Denying that the revelation had plunged relations between Iran and Western powers into crisis, Ahmadinejad said he was "very hopeful" about talks with the IAEA in Geneva on October 1.

Saturday, September 26, 2009 DUBAI: Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has purportedly urged European nations to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, in a new tape posted on the Internet.He said that "an intelligent man does not waste his money and sons for a gang of criminals in Washington". The audio message, the authenticity of which cannot be verified, was contained in a video posted on Friday. It had German and English subtitles. Germans go to the polls in federal elections on Sunday. "It is shameful to be part of an alliance whose leader does not care about spilling the blood of human beings by bombing villages intentionally," he said, referring to civilian deaths in missile attacks against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "If you had seen the mass killings of your American allies and their helpers in northern Afghanistan ... then you would understand the bloody events in Madrid and London," Bin Laden said, referring to attacks in the t...

Saturday, September 26, 2009 PITTSBURGH: President Barack Obama asserted on Friday that he and other leaders of the world's 20 largest economies took actions that "brought the global economy back from the brink" and saved or created millions of jobs."We leave here today confident and united," he said at the conclusion of a two-day summit to deal with the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.He spoke as world leaders lined up behind sweeping promises designed to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns.The leaders agreed to leave stimulus programs in place for now until recoveries are firmer. "We must make sure that when growth returns, jobs do, too," he told a wrap-up news conference.World leaders lined up Friday behind sweeping promises to fix a malfunctioning global economic system in hopes of heading off future financial meltdowns. For now, they said, they would keep stimulus programs going ...

Friday, September 25, 2009 SYDNEY: A pair of Australian friends have broken the world record for endurance handshakes.Jack Tsonis and Lindsay Morrison clasped hands on Monday morning and started shaking for over 12 hours.They were trying to raise $10,000 for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Sydney's Wayside Chapel.Under rules from Guinness, the endurance handshakers were not required to look each other in the eye or exchange pleasantries during the attempt. However, they had to maintain a good grip on each others palms and continuously move them up and down… even when one of them was going to the toilet.

Friday, September 25, 2009 UNITED NATIONS: World powers leading talks to rein in Iran's suspect nuclear ambitions have upped the pressure on the Islamic republic, as momentum grew toward imposing new sanctions.As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appeared to make a major policy shift by countenancing tough new nuclear sanctions, the global powers said Wednesday they still had "serious concerns" about Tehran's nuclear program.Top diplomats from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- plus Germany called on Iran to meet its international obligations as they prepared for talks next week in Geneva."Iran's nuclear program remains a matter of serious concern to the international community," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in reading a statement from the six powers."We acknowledge the recent measures taken by Iran regarding its cooperation with the IAEA and ...

Friday, September 25, 2009 NEW YORK: A Colorado airport shuttle bus driver was charged under federal anti-terrorism laws with plotting to set off explosives in the United States and accused of acquiring the same bomb-making chemicals used in the 2005 London transit attacks.Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant under arrest in Colorado on another charge, was indicted by a grand jury on suspicion of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, authorities announced on Thursday.No potential targets were revealed, but U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the investigation had thwarted any imminent threat. Court documents also referred to unidentified co-conspirators who helped Zazi buy chemicals and with whom he was said to be urgently consulting on how to make explosives.Prosecutors allege Zazi received al Qaeda training in Pakistan on how to make bombs, possessed detailed notes on his laptop computer on how to assemble them, and accumulated large quantities of bomb-making chemical...

Friday, September 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: For the first time, the famed and feared Hope Diamond is on display au naturel. The doors were locked. Tense looking security guards took their positions.In rolled a cart, a white cloth covering its contents.Smithsonian Institution officials lifted the cloth. "The Hope Diamond naked," proclaimed Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem Collection.The world's largest blue diamond went on public display Wednesday, for the first time without its ornate setting.Perched atop a light gray display post, the 45.5-carat, walnut-size diamond will be on view by itself for several months while a new setting is prepared.Called "Embracing Hope," the new setting will surround the star gem in a ribbon of white diamonds. It was chosen from three proposals in an online vote, winning 45,000 out of a total 110,000 votes cast, said Cristian Samper, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.The new display is part of...

Friday, September 25, 2009 PITTSBURGH: Several protests have been staged around Pittsburgh as world leaders arrive in the city for the Group of 20 Summit.Protesters seeking human rights reforms in China gathered in a designated protest area near the site of the G-20 meeting.Several dozen people led by more than a dozen monks walked through downtown Pittsburgh to protest the regime ruling Burma.Earlier in the day, Oxfam America held a mock football game. A dozen activists wore Steelers uniforms bearing the names of world leaders to spotlight hunger issues.Later Thursday, a group called the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project is holding a march it calls a "People's Uprising." It begins outside downtown and will head toward the meeting site. It's unclear how many people will participate.

Friday, September 25, 2009 ANKARA: The death toll from floods triggered by torrential rains in a Black Sea coastal province in northeast Turkey rose to five, a local news agency reported. Turkish Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroglu was quoted by the report as saying that the death toll increased to five. The news agency reported earlier in the day that floods killed four people after a building on a stream bed collapsed in the Borcka town of the Artvin province late Wednesday. "Four people were killed in flooding. One person went missing. We assume that person is dead too. So, we can say death toll rose to five," Eroglu was quoted as saying. On Thursday morning, search and rescue teams recovered two bodies from the rubble of the three-story house that was wrecked by a landslide caused by the rains and floods in Borcka. The bodies of a 54-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl were recovered from the rubble of the three-story house, the report said. Two other peopl...

Friday, September 25, 2009 SINGAPORE: Actress Lindsay Lohan will host three days of concerts featuring Beyonce Knowles and Black Eyed Peas to coincide with Sunday night's Singapore Grand Prix.Lohan, 23, was a last-minute replacement after Pussy Cat Doll Nicole Scherzinger dropped out earlier this month. The concerts, known as F1 Rocks, run Thursday to Saturday and include No Doubt, ZZ Top, Simple Minds and N.E.R.D."It's a bunch of amazing performers whom I'm a really big fan of," Lohan said in an interview.Lohan said she's also a Formula One fan."I like to drive. I like cars. I like fast cars," she said. "I studied NASCAR for almost a year for Herbie. It was very hot inside those cars."Lohan starred in 2005 in "Herbie: Fully Loaded," a comedy about a Volkswagen Beetle on the racing circuit.Lohan's Hollywood Hills home was broken into last month, and last week police arrested Nicholas Prugo, 18, on suspicion of felony burglary...

Friday, September 25, 2009 KARACHI: Pakistan foreign exchange reserves swelling up process continues, as it was seen recording a significant increase by 1156 million during one week.State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data showed that foreign exchange reserves in the country has shot up to $14.47 billion, recording significant increase of $1156 million during the week ending September 19. State Bank reserves amounted to $10.94 billion, while those with the commercial banks $3.53 billion.Analysts said that following Pakistan’s international credit rating improvement, foreign investors have went into action in the stock market, which has resulted in the pouring in of forex in the country. Besides, the shrinking trade deficit was also positively impacting on the forex reserves, said the analyst.

Saturday, September 26, 2009 JOHANNESBURG: English cricket team has defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets with thirty balls to spare in their first ODI counter in ICC Champions Trophy late on Friday, Geo news reported.