The Philippines’ top fashion designers had a ball, dressing up the world’s most famous doll, as Barbie donned priceless couture pieces for a charity auction.

Ballet Philippines, a prestigious dance institution, auctioned 201 Barbie dolls and raised 1.5-million pesos (32,900 US dollars) for scholarships that will benefit underprivileged dancers.

Dozens of the country’s premiere designers created miniature versions of their signature looks, and what better model to have then tall, curvy Barbie who can look glamourous in any garb. The dress styles ranged from Hollywood glam to Mother Nature to Filipina senora.
The one-of-a-kind dolls came with hefty price tags. A doll in a black gown by designer Rajo Laurel embellished with a pearl and diamond brooch by Hans Brumann had an opening bid of 150,000 pesos (3,290 US dollars).

Kari Ann Peniche goes from Playboy Bunny to Hollywood wh*re. Kari Ann went to a private school in the Portland area and would always tell everyone that she was a virgin and a total good girl. Everyone new that was a lie. Now there is video proof. The girl has been a total sl*t her whole life. I have actually seen do c*ke off the top of a toilet in a strip club. It doesn’t get any DIRTIER than that. If you have seen the tape it wouldn’t be the first time she has done something like this. My buddy was actually had the same thing happen to him one night in Portland. Kari Ann and her friend got totally c*ked up and took him back to there apartment. They got all naked and were running and well you can imagine what happened next. She is a total wh*re and definitely needs to be on the Dirty. She f*cked Pauly Shore for God sake. Doesn’t get much worse than that.

KANDAHAR : Operations to push the Taliban out of their iconic Afghan stronghold of Kandahar are underway and will steadily build in the months ahead, military officials said on Thursday.

The military and political efforts against the Taliban around Kandahar, Afghanistan’s third biggest city and the militia’s spiritual capital, are the next step in the US-led strategy to end a war now in its ninth year.

“We have been making preparation and plans concerning Operation Omaid,” said General Sher Mohammad Zazai, Afghan army commander in the country’s south.

“We’re still working on the plan,” he said, without giving further details.

Kandahar is the next target in major military operations to eradicate the Taliban from areas they have controlled, in many cases in tandem with drug cartels, over the years since their regime was overthrown in 2001.

The commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, said the offensive had begun with initial military and political efforts, including operations to secure key roads and districts.

Taking a major step to weed out incompetence and strengthening, Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved cabinet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

This comes after Jonathan replaced Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and appointed Aliyu Gusau as a security adviser. Jonathan himself was appointed Acting President only on February 9 following a week’s long power vacuum following the illness of President Yar’Adua.

His continuing absence from office is said to be causing concern amongst investors regarding the country’s direction.

Yar’Adua’s failure to formally hand over to Jonathan upon his departure and the unclarified role played by the First Lady since his return has led to many prominent Nigerians calling for his resignation.

Lahore, Pakistan :- President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday became the first President to donate all his body organs, after signing a landmark bill to regulate transplant of human organs in the country. The President made the announcement of “donating his whole body” after his life, as he inked the document in a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, also attended among others by Federal Ministers and health experts.

President Zardari said he took the decision in light of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s philosophy of living for others. The President said Pakistan was singled out in the world community due to the notorious trade of organ transplant of body organs and urged the Parliament and the doctors to create awareness about the issue among the masses. He asked the doctor’s community to inform the government in case of any violation and help save precious lives.

“No law can be effective without people’s support,” the President said and sought the help of the masses in countering the illegal trade.
The law that now makes sale and unauthorised transplant of body organs punishable with up to 10 years in prison provides for a regulatory mechanism, including a high-level federal monitoring authority and evaluation committees, for the removal, storage and transplantation of human organs and tissues for therapeutic purposes.

The President said by using modern technology, Pakistan can be made a better place to live in and appreciated the political consensus evolved to make the legislation a success.

The bill states that any living donor, who is not less than 18 years of age, may voluntarily donate any organ or tissue of his body during his lifetime to another living person genetically and legally related. The other person must be a close blood relative of the donor and the donation of an organ or a part or tissue by a person for therapeutic purposes shall be regulated in the manner as may be prescribed.

The bill also provides for donation to be effective after death if a person aged at least 18 years, authorizes any medical institution or hospital approved by a 10-member monitory authority headed by the health minister and including heads of organizations of the medical profession and specialists.

It says transplants and removal of human organs shall only be carried out by recognized professionals after a written certification from an evaluation committee. The bill prescribes an imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to one million rupees for those involved in the removal and human organs without the prescribed authority as well as their sale. Contravention of other provisions of the law will be punishable with up to three years of imprisonment or with a fine of up to Rs 300,000, or with both.
A medical practitioner convicted for unauthorized removal of human organs for transplant will also be liable to ‘appropriate action’ by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, including removal from its register for three years for the first offence and permanently for the subsequent offence.

The bill further states that any person, who is not less than 18 years of age, may donate any of his organs or tissues for transplantation before his death – after a written authorization duly signed and verified by the respective evaluation committee – and authorize any medical institution or hospital duly approved by the monitoring authority for this purpose.
The evaluation committee, to comprise of a surgical specialist, a medical specialist, a transplant specialist, a nephrologist and a neurophysician and local notables having a good record of social service, would be notified by the federal government soon after the passage of the bill.

The monitoring authority would be headed by the health minister and consist of the health secretary as secretary of the authority. Members of the authority would include the Pakistan Army surgeon general, the Transplantation Society of Pakistan president, the Pakistan Medical Research Council executive director, the Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan president, the Pakistan Medical Association of Pakistan president, the Pakistan Society of Gastroenterology president, a surgical transplant specialist and any other important medical specialists whom the government may nominate as members.

SAN FRANCISCO : Social-networking star Facebook surpassed Google to become the most visited website in the United States for the first time last week, industry analysts showed.

Facebook’s homepage finished the week ending March 13 as the most visited site in the country, according to industry tracker Hitwise.

The “important milestone,” as described by Hitwise director of research

Heather Dougherty, came as Facebook enjoyed a massive 185 percent increase in visits in the same period, compared to the same week in 2009.

By comparison, visits to search engine home Google.com increased only nine percent in the same time — although the tracker does not include Google property sites such as the popular Gmail email service, YouTube and Google Maps.

Taken together, Facebook.com and Google.com amounted to 14 percent of the entire US Internet visits last week, Dougherty said.

Google has been positioning challenges in recent months to Facebook and the micro-blogging site Twitter by adding the social-networking feature Buzz to its Gmail service.

In what could signal an escalating battle between Facebook and Google, the leading social-networking service celebrated its sixth birthday earlier this year with changes including a new message inbox that echoes Gmail’s format.

Facebook boasts some 400 million users while Gmail had 176 million unique visitors in December, according to tracking firm comScore.

GUJRAT PAKISTAN :Kidnapped British Child Sahil Found

British boy in Pakistan Sahil Naqash who was kidnapped from his grandmother’s house in Jhelum was rescued near Kharian town of Punjab.

According to the details, family members of Sahil and British High Commission have confirmed the regain of the child. Sahil has been handed over to Jhelum town administration.

BEIJING China : Twenty-five people have been killed in a coal mine fire in central China, local authorities said on Tuesday, the latest deadly incident in the country’s hazardous mining industry.

The city government said the blaze in a mine in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, was sparked when cables caught fire late Monday in one of the main pits.

Six miners were saved, but the rest died.

Police have detained at least three mine managers and frozen their assets and those of the facility after an initial investigation revealed the mine was operating illegally, the government said.

China’s coal mines are among the most dangerous in the world, with safety standards often ignored in the quest for profits and the drive to meet surging demand for coal — the source of about 70 percent of China’s energy.

Earlier this month, more than 30 miners were killed in a flood at a coal mine in the Inner Mongolia region in northern China.

A key militant commander among two others killed during a clash with security forces in Swat.
On a tip off, the security forces carried out an operation at Khawazakhela and killed militant commander Naseeb Zada and two of his accomplices namely Khalid and Jaja.
Security forces have also recovered huge cache of arms from their possession. The killed militants belonged to outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

The Obama administration continued to criticise Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
In an interview taped on Friday and broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the announcement an insult to her country. It was insulting. And it was insulting not just to the vice president, who certainly did not deserve that. He was there with a very clear message of commitment to the peace process solidarity with the Israeli people. But it was an insult to the United States, said Clinton. It was not just an unfortunate incident of timing but the substance was something that is not needed as we are attempting to move toward the resumption of negotiations. This was an affront, this was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region. We just now have started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy between the Palestinians and the Israelis and for this announcement to come at that time was very, very destructive, said Axelrod. The timing of Israel’s disclosure, after Palestinians agreed to indirect peace talks, embarrassed Biden and raised questions over whether Israel’s settlement policy could harm US-Israeli security cooperation on the question of Iran.