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London, :: Salma Hayek turned party planner when the women hired to organise her daughter Valentina’s second birthday bash quit two days before the celebration. "I was terrified. I wanted her (Valentina) to love it and I hired somebody to plan it for me, because it''s my first time and she had gone to some that I was really impressed (by) and I didn't want her to feel that I did a lesser party. She quit two days before the party, once everybody was invited. I have no idea (why)... She left me with nothing,” the Daily Express quoted Hayek as saying. "And the worst part was I told Valentina that Barney was coming... and she was so excited... I invited the people, she knows the whole programme and I have nothing. “I said, ''I'm gonna do this, I'm taking over... I decorated it myself... I got the tables and the little chairs... All the stuff we cooked in the house "I tried to get a Barney and they told me, ''No, no, no, that''s il...

BRATISLAVA: NATO members the Netherlands and Denmark said Friday they will not send more troops to Afghanistan unless its Nov. 7 presidential runoff creates a legitimate government and until President Barack Obama decides on a new strategy.Dutch Defense Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop said his country, with 2,160 troops in Afghanistan, is awaiting the final election results "because the legitimacy of the Afghan government is key," as well as a decision by the Obama administration."I think most countries are waiting for the American decisions," van Middelkoop said at a meeting in Bratislava of the defense ministers of the 28 NATO countries.The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was briefing NATO ministers — including U.S. Defense Minister Robert Gates — on his view of the war in Afghanistan at the meeting.Danish Defense Minister Soeren Gade said allies won't increase troop levels until they are assured the new government in Kabul ...

Friday, October 23, 2009 JEDDAH: Saudi Arab banned the entry of Muslims from across the globe into the country from October 29 to November 28 and any airliner not complying, would be fined heavily.The kingdom took this decision for the convenience of the Hajj pilgrims and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has intimated all its offices and travel agents.The PIA said in its circular that Muslims having visit visas from the KSA should not be flown into the country; while, there is no ban on the non-Muslims entering the country.

Friday, October 23, 2009 SYDNEY: A 6.0-magnitude quake hit the Santa Cruz islands in the South Pacific on Saturday, US seismologists said, but there was no immediate warning of a tsunami.The quake struck at a depth of 35 kilometres (22 miles) almost 390 kilometres north-northwest of Luganville on the island of Santo, part of the Vanuatu archipelago, at 2:14 am (1514 GMT Friday), the US Geological Survey said. No tsunami warning was immediately issued as a result of the tremor, which followed a series of huge quakes last week that triggered a region-wide tsunami alert. The Pacific is still recovering from an 8.0-magnitude earthquake and huge tsunami that crashed into Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga on September 29, wiping out villages and resorts and killing 184 people.

Friday, October 23, 2009 JAKARTA: A strong 6.0-magnitude quake struck Indonesia's Papua province on the island of New Guinea on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no reports of damage.The quake struck at 8:15 pm (1115 GMT), three kilometres (two miles) east of Manokwari at a depth of 35 kilometres, the Survey said.A senior official with Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorological Agency played down the seriousness of the quake.Indonesia's measurements suggested, "people felt the shaking but it doesn't mean there's any damage," said the agency's technical chief, Suharjono."There are no reports of damage or casualties. Those living in Manokwari felt several seconds of shaking and there was some panic, especially at the hospital," he said.A news agency reporter in the city confirmed there were no signs of damage to buildings, although panicked residents had scrambled for high ground, fearing a tsunami, and electricity supplies w...

Friday, October 23, 2009 BERLIN: A group of wealthy Germans has called for the resumption of wealth tax to help the country bounce back from an economic crisis. The petition has been signed by 44 people who want to convince the government of the newly re-elected Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to raise taxes. Peter Vollmer, a signatory to the group's online petition said he had inherited "a lot of money I do not need". Dieter Kelmkuhl, a 66-year-old retired doctor and signatory, said it was time for the wealthy to come to the aid of their country. He claimed that if the 2.2 million Germans who have personal fortunes of more than £450,000 paid a tax of five per cent this year and next, it would provide the State with €100 billion.

Friday, October 23, 2009 MANILA: The Philippines is seeking international help in fighting an outbreak of a deadly bacterial disease following two devastating tropical storms, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Filipino health authorities said 1 963 people had developed leptospirosis and 148 of them had died. The Philippines health department has ordered 1.3 million people to take antibiotics to bolster their defences. The outbreak has occurred in areas of Manila that remain flooded nearly four weeks after tropical storm Ketsana struck. The disease is transmitted mainly by exposure to animal urine in water in flooded areas and can lead to renal failure.

Friday, October 23, 2009 HUA HIN: Thailand is implementing a security lockdown for the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)with observers warning it cannot afford a repeat of chaotic scenes that saw two previous meetings cancelled.The nation is mobilising an 18,000-strong security force and invoking a harsh internal security act to prevent protests in the resort town of Hua Hin.The summit, which will begin today starts Friday, was originally due to be held in Pattaya in April but was cancelled because of chaotic anti-government protests in support of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.A summit between the 10 ASEAN nations will be following by a meeting with partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.With closer economic ties on the agenda in the wake of the global economic crisis, all invited delegations have confirmed they will attend.Thailand will symbolically hand over chairmanship of ASEAN to Vietnam on Sunday but official...

Friday, October 23, 2009 MOGADISHU: Mortar bombs killed at least 30 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday after rebels launched shells at the president's plane and African Union (AU) peacekeepers responded with heavy artillery fire.President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who was leaving for a summit in Uganda, was not hurt. But residents and medical workers said at least 30 people died and scores more were wounded in one of the heaviest exchanges to rock the city for weeks.Farah Olow, a shopkeeper in the sprawling Bakara market, told sources by telephone that six people were killed by a shell that demolished a home there."They were taking cover in a concrete building, but such big shells can penetrate the strongest house," he said. "We can't go out to count how many more are dead. Bombs are raining on us."Bakara, which is notorious for its open-air weapons bazaar, has long been viewed by the government and the AU force AMISOM as a stronghold of hardli...

Friday, October 23, 2009 NEW DELHI: In its first test since parliamentary elections four months ago, India’s ruling Congress party on Thursday emerged victorious in the assembly elections in three crucial states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. In the industrial western state of Maharashtra, the Congress retained power for a third consecutive term defeating the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance. It also swept north-eastern Arunachal Pradesh and got a slender victory in northern Haryana in the outskirts of national capital New Delhi. The Congress along with its ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won 145 seats out of 288 in Maharashtra. The Haryana results came as a bit of a surprise for the Congress, which advanced polls by over seven months to cash in on its Lok Sabha performance, in which it had won nine out of the 10 seats. The party managed to win only 40 of the 90 seats, falling short of a simple majority. These elections were be...

MIRPURKHAS/Pakistan: A farmer has successfully grown mango trees in Mirpurkhas that can bear fruit throughout the year. The mangoes can be seen hanging by these trees even in the winter season.Mir Ali, a farmer of Mirpuskhas, has prepared saplings of mango trees in Dehkak area which can bear fruit in all the seasons of Pakistan.These saplings are now being sold on a small scale.Regular saplings of mango trees are sold for Pak/Rs50 to Pak/Rs60 while the price of these have been fixed at Pak/Rs100.