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The healing process after her surgery last week is yet not even half-complete. But Katrina Kaif, recovering quietly from surgery at her Mumbai home, stubbornly decided to go and join her family in London for the annual Christmas-New Year vacation, which she had promised herself for months now. Katrina flew out of Mumbai early Wednesday morning after getting a reluctant go-ahead from her doctors at Breach Candy hospital. Wincing in pain she said a few hours before departure, “The pain will remain for a while. But the process of healing is on. I got my doctor’s consent in Mumbai and I’ve another doctor in London who’s fully aware of my condition. The doctors said the pain would be the same in Mumbai or London. And as long as I’m very careful about not exerting myself I’ll be fine. So I’m off.” Katrina had gone into a depression earlier during the week when she felt she wouldn’t be able to join her sisters and brother in London because of her medical condition. On Tuesday after visiting ...

NEW YORK: State police say a daylong standoff at a small-town post office has ended with three hostages being released and a suspect in custody. Authorities late Wednesday ordered the suspect to let the hostages go and come out with his hands up.Soon after, the four left the building in Virginia, including a man in a wheelchair. State police Sgt. Michael Conroy says that man is the suspect.Earlier, state police said the man holding the hostages had entered the building pushing a wheelchair. Conroy says authorities believe all the hostages are out. Officers are still checking the building in western Virginia.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 NEW YORK: Was it only a decade ago that a blackberry was a mere warm season fruit? That green was, well, a color, and reality TV was that one show sandwiched between music videos on MTV?There were, of course, huge political and social upheavals that roiled the world in the past decade, but there also were the gradual lifestyle changes that people do not always notice when they are happening; kind of like watching a child grow older. Here is an alphabetical look at 50 things that changed our lives since the beginning of the millennium:AIRPORTS: Remember when you did not have to take off your shoes before getting on a plane? Remember when you could bring a bottled drink on board? Political terror changed all that.ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: From acupuncture to herbal supplements to alternative ways of treating cancer, alternative medicine became more mainstream than ever.APPS: There is an app for that! The phrase comes from Apple iPhone advertising, but could apply...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 SYDNEY: Australian holidaymakers were evacuated Thursday from a campsite in the path of raging wildfires, a day after an inferno destroyed 13 homes in the country's southeast, officials said. Fire crews in Victoria state were on high alert as strong winds and searing temperatures prompted extreme fire warnings, with four blazes burning out of control in the Gippsland region north of Melbourne. "It's going to be extremely hot, we're looking at the spot forecast of temperatures of up to 40 degrees (Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit)," a spokesman for the Country Fire Authority (CFA) told state radio. "Humidities will be low, and the wind will be out of the north gusting up to 55 or 60 kilometres (34 or 37 miles) an hour, which is a bad fire day." Camping areas in East Gippsland were evacuated and the CFA warned the main highway between Sydney and Melbourne could be closed as conditions worsened. Officials did not say how many ...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 BEIJING: The cold snap in northwest China's Xinjiang that started on Tuesday has continued, bringing a white Christmas to most parts of the far western regions, is now spreading to northern and central China. The National Meteorological Center said the blizzard that began in most parts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Tuesday night had stopped, but temperatures had kept plunging. Thursday morning's low temperature in the north of Xinjiang averaged minus 30 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the cold snap, a result of extremely cold air temperatures in western Siberia, was moving south, bringing wind and snow, and would drop temperatures by an average 10 degrees Celsius in the northwestern provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The center has forecast heavy snow in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning over the next couple of days. The cold is ...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 NEW YORK: Air pollution may double the risk that an elderly person will be hospitalized for pneumonia, according to a new study."We have shown that air pollution exerts a strong effect on hospital admissions for pneumonia," Michael Jerrett, of the University of California, Berkeley, who was involved in the study, noted in an interview.About 600,000 people are hospitalized for pneumonia in the United States each year. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in the elderly.The study -- led by researchers at McMaster University in Canada and reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine -- looked at health data from 345 people who had been hospitalized for pneumonia within a two-year period. All of them were 65 or older and lived in Hamilton, Ontario.Hamilton is home to a large industrial steel-making complex. Residents living near the complex are exposed to high levels of tiny, floating particles known as particulate mat...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 SANAA: Thirty-four suspected Al-Qaeda members were killed in an air raid launched at dawn Thursday by the Yemeni army against a meeting place of the terror group in Chabwa province east of Sanaa, a security source said.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 CAIRO: Arab League chief and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa has ruled out running for president of Egypt in elections due to be held in late 2011.Moussa, who had been tipped as a possible candidate, said in an interview published in a newspaper on Wednesday it was not possible to mount a challenge."The question is, is it possible? And the answer is, the road is closed," he said.Speculation has mounted over who will succeed 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak, who is expected to seek another term in 2011, health permitting. Mubarak's 45-year son Gamal has been tipped as a possible successor.Moussa, aged 73 and praised by many Egyptians and Arabs for criticism of both Israel and past U.S. Middle East policies, was quoted in October as not ruling out such a bid.Analysts say constitutional rules make an independent nomination almost impossible.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 BEIRUT: Security officials say police have detained a man suspected of shooting this week at a bus heading from northern Lebanon to neighboring Syria.Monday's shooting left one Syrian passenger dead and raised concerns about the timing — coming just days after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's highly charged visit to Syria.The officials say the suspect, identified as Shawki al-Nazer, had argued in the past with the bus driver. He opened fire on the bus from a nearby rooftop.The officials said on Wednesday the suspect had no political motive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Hariri has blamed Damascus for the 2005 assassination of his father. Syria denies involvement.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 RIADH: King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Egyptian President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak co-chaired talks held by the Saudi and Egyptian sides in Riyadh, Tuesday. They discussed current developments at the Arab arena topped by the developments of the Palestinian cause, Islamic and international issues and Saudi-Egyptian cooperation.The talks were attended by Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, a number of senior princes and officials.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 CAIRO: Prominent religious leaders say social habit of wearing niqabs has no roots in Islamic law. 'Any girl is free to wear the niqab as long as she understands that when asked to reveal her face she should do so accordingly,' sheikh says Egypt's three most prominent religious leaders have backed a government ban on the niqab, or full face veil, in dormitories and examinations, saying it had no basis in Islam. In October, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, the head of al-Azhar, a major seat of Islamic learning, issued a religious edict barring the niqab in Azhar-run all-girl schools and in dormitories. The minister of higher education subsequently banned it in university examinations. "Al Azhar is not against the niqab but against its misuse," the government-run al-Akhbar newspaper cited Tantawi on Tuesday as saying. He said it was a social habit that had no roots in sharia (Islamic law). Earlier this week, Tantawi joined Mufti Ali Gomaa, ...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 GAZA: Hamas announced on Wednesday that the German mediator involved in the talks to release kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit had delivered Israel's offer. Media outlets in the Gaza Strip reported Wednesday that a Hamas delegation would head from Gaza to Cairo today, and then to Damascus, where they would meet with members of Hamas' political wing there to discuss their response to what Israel has put on the table. At the center of Israel's demands is an insistence that between 100 and 130 of the Palestinian prisoners who are to be released in exchange for Shalit - individuals convicted of direct responsibility for the deaths of Israelis - will be expelled to the Gaza Strip or abroad and barred from returning to the West Bank. However, Hamas is insisting that all released prisoners be allowed to return to their homes. Hamas is expected to respond favorably to Israel's offer, but will demand that the number of expelled prisoners be redu...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 LONDON: Britain's flagship Muslim organization on Wednesday attacked a government pledge to reform a war crimes law used to try to arrest visiting Israeli dignitaries, saying the move could hurt Britain's image in the Middle East.The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "deeply disappointed" that the country's foreign minister, David Miliband, promised to change the law so that judges could no longer issue secret arrest warrants against Israeli officials or military officers, saying the move was biased toward Israel."You appear to be committing the government to the path of selective compliance with the enforcement of international law," the council's Secretary General Muhammad Abdul Bari wrote in a letter to Miliband. "This is surely not in the best interests of our country as it will add a further dimension to the double standards that our government is seen to have in relation to the politics of the Middle East....

Thursday, December 24, 2009 DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday accused Israel for log jamming peace talks and called for renewed Turkish mediation between his country and Israel."Israel is the main cause for the deadlock in peace. The Israelis want negotiations devoid of principles, that is to say endless talks," he said at a joint press conference with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.He said Turkish mediation between Syria and Israel last year had been "honest, fair and objective," adding: "We now want this mediation more than ever."Israel's once strong ties with Turkey have become strained since the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara launched an unprecedented barrage of criticism of Israel over its deadly offensive on Gaza.Outrage over the offensive also scuttled Israel's Turkish-mediated indirect talks with Syria.Erdogan meanwhile hailed Turkey's fast expanding relations with Syria as model for it...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 LONDON: The Government will consider changing the law to ensure Israeli politicians can enter the UK without fear of arrest, Harriet Harman confirmed yesterday. The Commons Leader made the promise after a British court issued an arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni at the weekend. Foreign Secretary David Miliband also backed calls for legal reforms, saying it was vital that senior figures from Israel could visit the UK and have a 'proper dialogue'. Miss Harman told MPs yesterday 'We should be in no doubt that it's important for Israel's leaders to be able to talk to Government ministers in this country. They are important strategic partners.' Her pledge followed a warning from the Israeli government that without changes to the law Britain would cease to have a major role in the Middle East peace process. The warrant against Miss Livni, now the Israeli opposition leader, was apparently granted by a London cour...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 MANILA: A wooden-hulled boat smashed into a fishing vessel in Manila Bay before dawn Thursday, leaving 37 people missing dead, a Philippine coastguard spokesman said.

Thursday, December 24, 2009 DENVER: The parents in Colorado's "balloon boy" hoax were handed jail sentences on Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the incident.Richard Heene, 48, showed no emotion as Judge Stephen Schapanski handed him a 90-day sentence -- which will begin in January -- before a packed courtroom in Fort Collins, outside Denver."This in simple terms was an elaborate hoax that was devised by Mr and Mrs Heene," Schapanski said."What this case is about is deception and exploitation -- exploitation of the Heenes' children, exploitation of the media, exploitation of the feelings of people. And it was all about money, making money."Under the terms of the sentence, Heene will serve 30 days behind bars while the remainder of the term will be "work release," allowing the father-of-three to be free to work during the day but spending his nights in a jail cell.Heene, who had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of ...

Thursday, December 24, 2009 MOSUL: A pre-Christmas attack on a church killed two people in the Iraqi city of Mosul Wednesday while a Sunni Arab candidate died in a bombing in Fallujah, the first such murder ahead of March polls. They were among 13 people killed in violence across the country, despite security forces ramping up their presence ahead of Christmas and the Shiite commemoration ceremonies of Ashura. In Mosul, two people were killed and five others wounded Wednesday morning when "a handcart used to carry flour, left across the street from the Syrian Orthodox church of St Thomas, exploded," witness Hamis Paulos said. A hospital official in the main northern city said the two people killed were Muslims, based on examination of their identity papers. "Christians are being targeted during Christmas time -- the security forces, police and army must provide security, the police and army are responsible for this," said Father Abdul Massih Dalmay of the church. ...

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 BERLIN: Former Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher has reportedly signed a one-year deal to drive for Mercedes in 2010. German newspaper says on Wednesday that the seven-time champion, who retired in 2006, signed the deal at the team's offices in Brackley, England, on Tuesday.Schumacher, a former Ferrari driver, has been heavily linked with a move to the former Brawn GP team, which won last year's drivers' and constructors' titles.The 40-year-old German driver attempted a brief return in August to replace injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa but a serious neck injury kept him from driving.