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Viagra laced fruit juices flowing in Malaysia!

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kuala Lumpur, Sept 14 (ANI): After being detected in coffee mixtures and sweets, Viagra has now been found in fruit juices.

After raiding more than 30 retailers and distributors dealing in the fruit juice, enforcement officers from the Health Ministry in Malaysia seized several hundred thousand ringgit worth of the product.

This followed after the ministry sent samples of the product for tests which confirmed the presence of sildenafil, reports The New Straits Times Online.

Sildenafil citrate, sold as Viagra, Revatio and various other trade names, is a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction.

According to a Health Ministry source, this was the first time they had encountered a case where sildenafil had been mixed with fruit juices.

The mixture is potent and deadly to people suffering from heart disease and high blood pressure.

“It was brought to our attention after several people complained to the ministry about the suspicious fruit juice,” the source said.

“The producer and distributor had claimed that the fruit juice had been produced from selected natural herbs which could improve sexual performance of men and women,” the source added.

Following test results, investigations were conducted to identify retailers and distributors involved in selling the fruit juice.

“More than 30 simultaneous raids were carried out nationwide. Officers were also concerned that the retailers and distributors would hide their stocks as the product had also been sold via direct selling,” the source said.

“At the raid at the company’s headquarters in Subang Jaya, three marketing officers and the store caretaker were questioned by authorities,” the source added.

Investigations revealed that the fruit juice had been in the local market for the past six months and had received good response from consumers.

The consumer needs to mix the powder with water before drinking. (ANI)

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London’s bridges clash over updates, tolls on Twitter

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): Britain’s most famous bridges are at loggerheads on Twitter, by teasing each other not only for their updates, but also over toll prices.

The famous London Bridge is relentlessly teasing its neighbour Tower Bridge for the tedium and pomposity of its updates.

On the other hand, the Severn Bridge and Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge have fallen out over tolls.

And it all started when the managers of Tower Bridge set up an official Twitter account to alert Londoners every time it was raised to let ships pass.

It repeatedly posted updates like: “I am opening for the SB Lady Daphne, which is passing upstream. I am closing after the SB Lady Daphne has passed upstream.”

But, soon someone set up a rival account under the name “I’m London Bridge”, and it’s first words on the site made it clear that it was at a war of words with Tower Bridge.

“Certain other bridges in London think they’re so cool getting a Twitter account. Well they’re not. I’m the coolest bridge in London. Official,” the Telegraph quoted it as saying on Twitter.

While London Bridge’s attempts to get a reaction from its more admired rival have so far proved unsuccessful, but it is still continuing the taunting.

In fact, its witty posts have attracted a decent audience – it has 1,400 followers, compared to Tower Bridge’s 1,900 – and spawned a host of imitators.

Last month, two of the bridges in West Country- the Severn Bridge and the Clifton Suspension Bridge- crossed swords over toll charges.

The Severn mocked the Clifton Suspension for its inability to accept 5p coins, provoking responses like-”You aren’t in Bristol so don’t get all uppity with me young pup” and “FIVE PENCE PIECES ARE EVIL AND NOT WORTH MY TIME.” (ANI)

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Recession-hit Brits’ new delicacy – cat food!

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 1 (ANI): Britons struggling to cope with the ongoing recession are munching on a new delicacy – cat food.

Pollack, once popular as a food for cats, has stormed up the “seafood charts”.

The popularity of the white fish – traditionally a cheap alternative to cod or haddock – has soared over the past year, reports the Daily Express.

According to fish experts, over 13,000 tons have been sold.

Salmon is a hot pick with Britons who ate away 600million pounds worth of it last year, followed by tuna, cod, haddock, and warm and cold water prawns.

Mackerel, Scampi and trout have also become popular. (ANI)

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Now a model to predict when stock markets will crash

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 29 (ANI): A team of physicists and financiers have shown that it is possible to predict when growth in any stock exchange will become unsustainable and the market will crash, by successfully predicting a steep fall in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Used for the purpose was a model that employed concepts from the physics of complex atomic systems, developed by Didier Sornette of the Financial Crisis Observatory in Zurich, Switzerland, and Wei-Xing Zhou of the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai.

Sornette, Zhou, and colleagues have revealed that their idea was that if a plot of the logarithm of the market’s value over time would deviates upwards from a straight line, it’s a clear warning that people are investing simply because the market is rising rather than paying heed to the intrinsic worth of companies.

The researchers say that projecting this trend may be helpful in predicting when growth will become unsustainable, and the market will crash.

They applied their model to the Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the combined worth of all companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the world’s second largest.

The index gained 50 per cent in just four months earlier this year.

It was in July that the team predicted that the index would start to fall sharply by August 10, and the index duly began to slide on August 4, falling almost 20 per cent in the subsequent two weeks.

The researchers, however, warn that anyone hoping to exploit the model for profit should think twice.

“If enough investors take action based on our predictions, the evolution of prices will probably be affected,” New Scientist magazine quoted Zhou as saying. (ANI)

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Jolie’s late mum left hefty inheritance to grandkids

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 25 (ANI): Angelina Jolie’s late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, has left a big chunk of her estate to her three grandchildren children, who were born before she lost her cancer battle in January 2007.

The actress passed away at the age of 56, following a lengthy fight against ovarian cancer.

And Bertrand has left her estate to her Oscar-winning daughter and son, James Haven.

As executors of the estate, Jolie and Haven put the final court papers in to a Los Angeles court earlier this month.

Bertrand had left her beloved grandchildren 100,000 dollars each, but only the ones she had met before her tragic demise.

Jolie and partner Brad Pitt’s adopted kids, Maddox and Zahara, as well as their biological daughter, Shiloh, will receive a large part of their grandmother’s will.

However, adopted Pax and twins Knox and Vivienne will not receive inheritance.

Pax was adopted two months after his grandmother’s death, while the twins were born in July 2008.

Bertrand also left money to her sister, brother, and nephews, reports Contactmusic.

Her estate’s total worth was 661,000 dollars. (ANI)

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Malawi kids ‘taking in 50 ciggies a day’

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 25 (ANI): Thousands of kids in Malawi are taking in 50 cigarettes worth of nicotine a day due to their employment as child labourers on the country’s tobacco fields, warns an organisation.

According to a study by Plan, the kids showed an array of nicotine poisoning symptoms, such as severe headaches, abdominal pain, muscle weakness and breathlessness.

California university medical professor Neal Benowitz explained nicotine poisoning, also called Green Tobacco Sickness, was more severe in youngsters due to their underdeveloped tolerance level against smoking as compared to adults.

“The brain of a child or adolescent is particularly vulnerable to long-lasting adverse neurobehavioral effects of nicotine exposure,” Sky News quoted Benowitz as saying.

The report said: “Child labourers, some as young as five, are suffering severe physical symptoms from absorbing up to 54mg a day of dissolved nicotine through their skin – the equivalent of 50 average cigarettes.”

Plan also revealed that some of the kids toiled up to 12 hours a day, without protective clothing and were paid less than the equivalent of 1p an hour.

The study further pointed towards a lack of research into the long-term effects of Green Tobacco Sickness in kids, but “experts believe that it could seriously impair their development”. (ANI)

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Pak editorial claims RAW hand in funding Baitullah Mehsud

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Peshawar, Aug.24 (ANI): An editorial in a Pakistani daily has claimed that intelligence outfits of India and Afghanistan funded late Tehrik-e-Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

It says that his death in South Waziristan has sparked off a battle among various Taliban warlords to control two billion rupees worth of Taliban funds and own arms and ammunition worth another million rupees.

In an article for the Frontier Post, Shumaila Raja claims there has been a constant flow of tens of millions of dollars from foreign enemy sources that keeps the Taliban machine rolling.

According to Raja, cash pipelines for Mehsud were sustained by Indian external intelligence agency RAW and the Afghan intelligence agency. He further claims that Mehsud was paying Rs.600 million to his fighters every year.

According to Raja, extensive reactionary attacks to Mehsud’s death are inevitable given the aura that he created around himself in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.

Raja is of the view that Baitullah Mehsud’s murder by a drone strike in South Waziristan could further inflame internal developments in Pakistan.

“The battle for the control of the Rs.3 billion treasure erupted within two days of Baitullah’s death,” Raja says, adding that one occasion when a Taliban commander informed Baitullah about the huge monetary offers he was receiving from the Pakistan Government, Baitullah said: “Money is not with the Government of Pakistan, money is with me, tell me how much you want.”

Officials have also conceded that Mehsud’s money power was such that it was difficult to buy off his key commanders. (ANI)

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UK primary school creates extra classroom in decommissioned aircraft

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 16 (ANI): An England-based primary school, which asked its pupils to come up with ideas for a new outdoor classroom, now has one in the form of a decommissioned commercial aeroplane.

The winged classroom, a refurbished Short S-360, is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, and students at Kingsland Primary School in Bucknall, Stoke-on-Trent, checked in for class in the aircraft for the first time on July 15.

Since its arrival at the school in March, the airliner has been transformed into a flexible teaching space, fitted with interactive whiteboards and laptops and complete with pull-down numbered seats and desks.

Headteacher David Lawrence said that staff at the school had invited pupils to offer ideas for a new outdoor classroom, and an aircraft was one of many quirky suggestions, with a tree house and a castle amongst other structures mooted.

Pupils were also involved in the interior design of the aircraft, in a project dubbed “The King’s Wings” by the school.

“When we realised we needed an extra classroom we asked the children what they wanted and one little boy said an aeroplane so we went and found one and have effectively recycled it to create the world’s first flying classroom,” the Telegraph quoted Lawrence a saying.

The 72ft (22m) long aircraft was lowered into position in the school grounds by a crane.

“What you’re seeing today is the end of 15 months worth of work,” Lawrence said.

“It would have been scrapped so we’ve rescued the aeroplane, which is also what the children thought was important because of the agenda for conservation and things like that.

“The children were talking about powering some of the inside of it with solar panels, and that could be something we develop later,” he revealed.

The headteacher said he was not worried that pupils might be distracted by the novelty of sitting down to lessons in an aeroplane.

“The day it came were really really excited and today they’re really excited because they’ve seen it for the first time and they really want to do lessons in there,” he said.

He said it was “such a buzz” for the children, and much more interesting than lessons in a portable cabin.

“In a couple of weeks it will just be part and parcel of what we do in school. So it’ll be, instead of having a lesson in the hall or the ICT room, it will be lessons in the aeroplane,” he said.

“The children’s imagination has been fired up by the idea and they are enthused and motivated, we are sure that this will lead to improved attendance, give us better and more opportunities for our creative curriculum and raise attainment,” he added. (ANI)

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‘I love you’ comes with a #163,424 price tag

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 13 (ANI): Those who say hearing the words ‘I love you’ is priceless, and can never equate with the biggest of luxuries, need to think again, for according to a recent research in a book, these invaluable words have a price tag of 163, 424 pounds.

The book, titled ‘You Are Really Rich, You Just Don’t Know It Yet’, has attempted to work out our real worth by putting a value on some of the priceless moments in life.

Authored by former ad executives Steve Henry and David Alberts, the book aims to show there are more important things than money.

“The book is about a new value system, an alternative to a purely financial system,” the Telegraph quoted Henry as saying.

He added: “Partly because, as a direct result of the credit crunch, people are exploring different ways of living, and they’re looking for something to replace money as a general criterion for value.”

Research specialist Brainjuicer carried out a study in which he asked over 1,000 people nationally what made them happy.

They were asked to rate 50 different life events and experiences and compare them with the pleasure gained from a lottery windfall.

Using a rating system a monetary value was calculated for those little things in life, which make us happy.

“We started looking at the things that make a real difference in people lives and saying there is more to life than worrying about belt tightening in a recession,” said Alberts.

“What it is doing is making us think twice about spending money and what we really want in life.

“It was interesting when doing the research that very few people mentioned money and people focused on family occasion, hanging out with friends, having a quiet time on their own, seeing grandchildren and visiting places they had never seen before as things that made a real difference in their lives,” he added.

Being in good health turned out to be the most precious possession with a value of 180,105 pounds.

And being told “I Love You” came second, and was worth 163,424 pounds.

Closely following it was being in a stable relationship priced at 154,849 pounds.

Living in the City proved to be worth much less than being in the country. (ANI)

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Brit women spend £1.1bn a month on make-up

July 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 13 (ANI): Despite the recession, British women are splashing out an extraordinary 1.1 billion pounds on make-up every month, according to a new poll.

The survey of more than 1,000 women by cosmetics firm Avon found that women carry an average of 57-pound-worth of cosmetics in their make-up bags, according to a new poll.

In the survey mascara was found to be the most popular item with 62 per cent of women saying it was an essential purchase, while 38 per cent considered lipstick a ‘must-have buy’.

Foundation came a close third with 37 per cent of women saying they couldn’t do without it, the survey showed.

Cary Cooper, professor of psychology and health at Lancaster University, believes that women probably spend on make-up to help cheer themselves up amid the recession

“During the recession, many people will feel low because of financial difficulties and may be worried about their job or a partner’s job,” the Telegraph quoted Cooper as saying.

“Many people buy luxuries in a time like this to make them feel better – whether that is chocolate or make-up.

“Women who feel low want to look better – they go for a haircut, have their nails done or buy new make up. It’s a common phenomenon.

“It may make them feel better at the time but it’s what psychologists call a temporary palliative – it doesn’t solve the problem but helps them to feel better in the short term,” he added.

In the survey, it was also found that women between the ages of 16 and 24 carry 69 pounds worth of make-up while 25 to 34-year-old have on average 71 pounds worth of cosmetics.

The survey showed that after this age, women’s spending on make-up drops off steadily with the over-55s carrying less than 35 pounds worth of product. (ANI)

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Emma Watson was nervous while kissing Rupert Grint in ‘Harry Potter’ film

July 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, July 11 (ANI): Emma Watson has revealed that she was nervous while doing the highly anticipated kissing scene with Rupert Grint in the final ‘Harry Potter’ film.

“Rupert and I were quite nervous that it might look ingenuous as we were so desperate to get it over with. Rupert and I felt the pressure of this kiss, there’s so much interest,” the New York Daily quoted her as saying.

However, the actress maintained that the scene was important, and that she had to put her best effort to do it properly.

She said: “This is ten years worth of tension and hormones and chemistry and everything one moment. We had to ace it.”

Yet it was difficult for Watson, she added: “Kissing is awkward, kissing is always awkward.”

The scene between Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley takes place in the seventh and last book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” in J.K. Rowling’s popular series.

Meanwhile, Fandango.com poll claimed that 59 percent of fans would prefer a kissing scene between Hermione and Ron played by Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, respectively.

While on the other hand, only 40 percent chose the kiss between Harry Potter played by Daniel Radcliffe and Ron’s sister Ginny Weasley, played by Bonnie Wright, which can be seen in new film ‘Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince.’

The film is scheduled for release on July 15. (ANI)

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Brit MP questions UK Govt. for spending money on Musharraf’s security

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 10 (ANI): A British parliamentarian of Pakistani origin has tabled a bill in the House of Lords against security being provided by Scotland Yard to former president Pervez Musharraf.

Lord Nazir Ahmed confirmed that five to six officers will accompany Musharraf wherever he goes. Quoting sources, Lord Ahmed said the detail would comprise of Scotland Yard agents.

Lord Nazir in his bill has questioned the British Government for spending money on Musharraf’s security, as there is no such practice for any other former head of state or government currently residing in the UK.

He disclosed that when Musharraf visited a music shop located at the Ilford Lane in East London and famous Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane for listening songs, six bodyguards from the Scotland Yard stood on alert outside the premises.

Lord Nazir further said only two guards are provided to former prime ministers of Great Britain while UAE rulers move without any security, then why could Musharraf not live without such arrangements.

Lord Nazir further raised the question of whether this sort of security is provided to other former heads of states, and if there is some financial contribution by the Pakistani Government in Musharraf’s case.

Lord Nazir said that while this might be a personal request by Musharraf, the question remains who will pay for the service?

He alleged that Musharraf bought flats worth of 1.4 million pounds in the UK and was keeping as many as six bodyguards. It is a question that has to be brought under the microscope.

The Dawn quoted Lord Nazir as describing the situation as “not normal” and that it “concerned him.” (ANI)

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Cockroaches, too, get fat eating unhealthy diet

July 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 4 (ANI): Just like humans, cockroaches too can get fat on an unhealthy diet, says a British researcher.

Patricia Moore, of the University of Exeter, came to this conclusion after studying how female cockroaches change their mating behaviour in response to their diet, specifically what they eat when they are young, as part of a decade’s worth of research.

“We already knew that what they eat as adults influences reproductive decisions,” Live Science quoted Moore as saying.

However, it was not known how the food consumed by the eternal pests in life shaped these decisions.

To find out, Moore’s team picked young female cockroach nymphs, and divided them into two dietary groups.

She revealed that the cockroaches in one group were fed a good-quality balanced diet of protein-rich fish food and high-carbohydrate oatmeal, while the rest were raised on fish food only.

She further revealed that both groups could eat as much as they wanted.

The difference in diets “was not quantity but variety,” Moore said.

When the nymphs became adults, the researchers switched the diets of some of them.

Half of the cockroaches raised with good quality diet lost their oatmeal, while half of the bugs fed poorly were promoted to a good-quality diet.

Moore said that 18 days after the switch, the diet control ended. While some of the surviving cockroaches were dissected, she said, the rest were allowed to live on and reproduce.

The researchers observed that while the lifespan of the members of both groups was about the same, the cockroaches on the poor diet were fatter and took longer to mature.

Moore said that the poorly fed bugs were storing up excess fat at the expense of their growth in case their dietary options got even worse.

“This was a surprising result, but it shows the importance of a balanced diet for healthy development,” she said

According to her, the effects of unbalanced meals continued throughout the cockroaches’ lives, even for the few that were switched to good-quality food.

She and her colleagues observed that females fed on a poor-quality diet were less willing to mate, and less likely to produce offspring.

Such females were also more picky, and spent more time considering possible mates, said the researchers.

Based on the study’s findings, Moore concluded: “Poor diets (during early life) have an effect on the way cockroaches respond to their environment and cannot be reset later on.”

A research article describing the study has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (ANI)

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Virtual world avatars provide clues to how trends spread

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 3 (ANI): University of Michigan researchers in the US are analysing information regarding the virtual world Second Life avatars to study how trends or “gestures” spread across this online community.

The researchers describe gestures as code snippets that Second Life avatars must acquire in order to make motions such as dancing, waving or chanting.

According to them, roughly half of the gestures they have studied thus far made their way through the virtual world friend by friend.

“We could have found that most everyone goes to the store to buy gestures, but it turns out about 50 percent of gesture transfers are between people who have declared themselves friends. The social networks played a major role in the distribution of these assets,” said Lada Adamic, an assistant professor in the School of Information and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The researchers will make a presentation on their findings on July 7 at the Association for Computer Machinery’s Conference on Electronic Conference in Stanford, California.

“There’s been a high correspondence between the real world and virtual worlds. We’re not saying this is exactly how people share in the real world, but we believe it does have some relevance,” Adamic said.

This study is one of the first to model social influence in a virtual world because of the rarity of having access to information about how information, assets or ideas propagate.

It has also shown that the gestures that spread from friend to friend are not distributed as broadly as ones that were distributed outside of the social network, such as those acquired in stores or as give-aways.

The researchers say that the early adopters of gestures, among the first 5-10 percent to acquire new assets. are not the same as the influencers who tend to distribute them most broadly. This aligns with what social scientists have found.

“In our study, we sought to develop a more rigorous understanding of social processes that underlies many cultural and economic phenomena. While some of our findings may seem quite intuitive, what I find most exciting is that we were actually able to test some rather controversial and competing hypotheses about the role of social networks in influence,” graduate student Eytan Bakshy, who will be presenting the findings at the conference.

The researchers examined 130 days worth of gesture transfers in late 2008 and early 2009. They looked at 100,229 users and 106,499 gestures.

The team obtained the data from Linden Lab, the maker of Second Life. Personally-identifying information had been removed. (ANI)

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Kendra Wilkinson ties the knot at Playboy mansion

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 28 (ANI): Kendra Wilkinson tied the knot with NFL player Hank Baskett at her former residence, the Playboy mansion.

The Playboy Playmate walked down the aisle at the Los Angeles property in the exclusive Holmby Hills on June 27.

The glamour girl was seen sporting more than 100,000 dollars worth of platinum jewellery, including drop earrings, a pendant and bracelet to match her white dress.

Attending the ceremony was her famous ex and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and fellow Playmate Bridget Marquardt.

“She was beaming,” People magazine quoted an eyewitness as saying.

Wilkinson, at the recent premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, said: “I feel great! We’re just ready to say our ‘I do’s’ and just go on our honeymoon and we’re ready to be married.”

Earlier this month, the couple revealed that they were expecting their first child. (ANI)

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Danielle Staub of ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ has real criminal past

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, Jun 25 (ANI): Reality TV star Danielle Staub of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ has been exposed to have a real criminal past.

The court documents posted on TheSmokingGun.com reveals that Staub was involved in a kidnapping and extortion case, which also involved drugs, reports the New York Daily News.

Staub, who had then gone by the name of Beverly Ann Merrill, had placed calls to a kidnapped victim’s father and threatened to cause bodily harm to the hostage unless he came up with some money.

The criminal complaint, dated June 24 1986 and filed in the U.S. District Court in Miami, also accused Staub of cocaine possession with intent to distribute.

As per the story revealed by the website, Merrill had been working with a distributor for a Colombian drug family named Daniel Aguilar.

The partners in crime were out about 24,000 dollars worth of cocaine after a deal went awry. Trying to recoup their loss, they kidnapped the man they blamed for the deal’s failure, named in the complaint as Carmen Centolella.

Then Merill placed calls to Centolella’s father demanding 25,000 dollars in ransom money – or else.

Feds traced the calls and then arrested the duo, who were caught red-handed in a Miami apartment with six kilos of coke and 16,000 dollars in cash.

She was indicted weeks later on eight felony counts, including extortion, cocaine possession, and narcotics conspiracy, and in order to receive a lenient sentence, she agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors and the FBI.

In November 1986, she was sentenced to five years probation, with her co-conspirator Aguliar getting 15 years in prison.

Even though she has denied her drug use and past as a prostitute on the show, saying only that she was a former pothead, documents on TheSmokingGun.com would seem to contradict her.

Papers have Staub admitting to working for an escort service and being ordered to continue treatment for her severe “Drug history and drug lifestyle”. (ANI)

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It was raining gifts for Bush and his gang during foreign visits!

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Jun 25 (ANI): A report submitted by the US State Department has revealed that the Bush administration received very generous gifts during their foreign visits.

When the administration decided to restore diplomatic relations with Libya, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a visit to Tripoli last year, the first time in more than 50 years, and Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi showered her with costly gifts, reports Politico.com.

According to the report submitted on June 24, Rice received a diamond ring, a locket with the Libyan leader’s photo in it, and other items amounting to 212,225 dollars.

Rice’s spokesman, Sean McCormack, got an 800-dollar Men’s RADO watch “with small likeness of Qadhafi’s face on watch face”.

But Qadhafi’s generosity was outdone by the Saudis, who lavished more than 750,000 dollars in gifts on Rice, President George W. Bush and other officials during their trips last year.

In January 2008, Saudi King Abdullah gave Rice a “gold, diamond and sapphire set with necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings”, along with a robe and scarf. The whole gift pack was worth 230,145 dollars said the State Department.

During the same January visit, the Saudis gave State Department Chief of Protocol Nancy Brinker 65,000 dollars in gifts, including an emerald and diamond bracelet.

Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, David Welch, and the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ford Fraker, each got 45,000 dollars worth of watches and other items.

Top White House staffers, including Stephen Hadley, Josh Bolten, Ed Gillespie, Dana Perino, William McGurn and Elliott Abrams each got jewellery and robes pegged at about 15,000 dollars a set.

During a March visit to Saudi Arabia, Vice President Cheney’s daughter, Elizabeth, got diamond and ruby jewellery with an estimated value of 85,000 dollars, while her mom, Lynne Cheney, got a 65,000-dollar set.

In 2007, Rice received two gifts of jewellery from the Saudis, with a total value of more than 310,000 dollars.

In February 2008 King Abdullah of Jordan gave the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, David Hale, “one Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo watch” valued by the State Department at 12,500 dollars.

Bush, who is an avid biker, received a black Mercedes mountain bike in 2008 from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa presented him with a “full carbon Black Gold XTR mountain bike”.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave the U.S. leader “a hydration system cycling backpack” and bib shorts marked with Bush’s name and Israeli flags.

By law, federal officials are required to turn such gifts over to the government, which either sells them or stores them at the National Archives.

A few items are retained for display at government offices or purchased by the recipient, but items such as food, liquor, cigars, were “handled pursuant to U.S. Secret Service policy”, which may be a diplomatic way of saying they were disposed of for security reasons.

The State Department revealed in the report to be published on June 25 in the Federal Register. (ANI)

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Antique idols seized, three nabbed in Uttar Pradesh

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Chandauli (UP), May 20 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh police had recovered at least 19 antique idols of Hindu gods, allegedly being smuggled out of the country and arrest three people.

Acting on a tip off, police laid a trap in Chandauli district and trapped the antique smugglers who tried to evade the police at a checkpoint.

“Three persons have been arrested. One person is from Bihar and two from Benaras. We recovered 19 antique idols. While investigating we found that they were taking the idols from Bodh Gaya to Benaras to sell. We found out that they are part of a big gang engaged in antique smuggling,” said Anand Kumar, a police official.

One of the three arrested persons revealed their modus operandi, but claimed ignorance about the actual worth of the idols.

“A person in Benaras wanted to buy the idols so we were going to sell them,” said Ramvilas.

Experts have been called to find out the exact period to which the idols belong.

Dealing in antiques is banned under the Antiquity and Art Treasure Act (AATA).

Under the Act, no object more than 100 years old can be taken out of the country without permission. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 100 years, AATA, acting, Anand Kumar, ANI, antique, Antiques, antiquity, arrest, Art Treasure, Art Treasure Act, Benaras, Bihar, bodh, Chandauli, checkpoint, country, district, exact period, gang, Gaya, hindu, Hindu Gods, ignorance, May, official, operandi, part, people, period, permission, person, police, police official, pradesh, Ramvilas, smugglers, smuggling, three persons, tip, trap, Treasure Act, uttar, uttar pradesh police, worth

‘Posh’ Victoria Beckham owns $2m worth of Hermes Birkin bags!

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, May 18 (ANI): Singer Victoria Beckham is a huge aficionado of Hermes Birkin bags.

According to the Daily Mail, former Spice Girl has nearly 100 Hermes Birkin bags, worth more than 2 million dollars altogether, reports New York Daily News.

The Birkin bag, named after actress Jane Birkin and designed by French fashion house Hermes, usually starts around 7,500 dollars.

Posh Spice has been seen carrying the pink ostrich skin and black crocodile versions and also owns Silver Himalayan style, which comes with a three carat diamond and is worth about 120,000 dollars. (ANI)

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Indian held with huge amount of ketamine in Malaysia

May 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kuching, May 6 (ANI): The Malaysian Custom Department has detained an Indian who was trying to smuggling ketamine worth 382,655 ringgits through the Kuching International Airport.

The 32-year-old, who flew in from New Delhi, was held when he was behaving suspiciously. The man has been remanded for four days.

His two bags contained nine stainless-steel milk boilers rigged to smuggle ketamine into the state.

State Customs director Rusmani Abdul Sukur said the department was tightening surveillance at all entry points due to the number of ketamine seizures this year.

“This the second largest haul this year,” the New Strait Times quoted Sukur, as saying.

Two months back, another Indian national was held with seven Kilograms of ketamine worth 245,000 ringgits at the same airport.

Ketamine is available on the streets for 300 ringgits per five grams.

The drug supply in Sarawak has dwindled after several top players were arrested over the past two years.

Narcotics police seized 4 million ringgits worth of assets belonging to drug dealers in the state. (ANI)

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