A television channel has sparked a brief panic in Georgia when it aired a fake newscast reporting that a Russian invasion was underway.
The newscast on privately-owned Imedi television showed footage from the August 2008 Georgia-Russia war, reported that Russian tanks were headed for the capital Tbilisi and that Russian aircraft had bombed airports and ports. After the news bulletin, the channel announced that it had been false and aimed at exploring possible future events.
Local media reported that the false newscast provoked widespread alarm and a record number of calls to emergency services. The Interpress news agency quoted emergency services as saying the report caused multiple incidents of heart attacks and fainting. It said hundreds of residents of Gori, the Georgian city worst hit by the 2008 war, fled their homes and rushed to local shops for emergency supplies. Mobile phone networks were also briefly overloaded and ceased functioning as word of the report spread. A spokeswoman for President Mikheil Saakashvili, Manana Manjgaladze, said in remarks shown on Imedi that the newscast should have been clearly marked as a simulation and that it did not meet journalistic standards.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan News: Supreme Court has dismissed the defence ministry’s report regarding the missing persons’ case while seeking a comprehensive report in this regard.
The Defence Ministry submitted its report in Masood Janjua case today. Justice Javed Iqbal remarked that it seemed as if the ministry has played a role of a postman as the report lacked any evidence.
Justice Javed noted that as many as 198 persons have been recovered so far with Supreme Court’s efforts, adding that the verdict in Janjua’s case would be issued in a fortnight

Artie Lange Suicide updates :- It’s been reported that Artie Lange attempted suicide.

Artie’s mom called 911 on Saturday morning as she found the blood-drenched comedian in his Hoboken apartment. She came by his place to deliver food and discovered that her son had stabbed himself. Lange suffered six “hesitation wounds” and three deep plunges, but surgeons managed to save him despite the vast amount of blood.

The New York Post’s “Page Six” is reporting the Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange was hospitalized last weekend due to a suicide attempt.

Quoting from the report from Page Six:

“Troubled comic Artie Lange landed in the hospital after stabbing himself nine times in an apparent suicide attempt, sources told The Post.”

NEW DELHI: Row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday over the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry into the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that the report be tabled in the house.

A probe committee, Liberhan Commission is its report has held responsible three top leaders of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) for the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

In a leak report of Liberhan Commission, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former home minister LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been found guilty of Babri Mosque (Babri masjid) demolition.

Addressing the session Home Minister Chidambaram said there had been no leakage of the report. There was only one copy of the report and that was with the home ministry, he said.

The opposition led by the BJP stuck to its demand that the report be immediately tabled. BJP members gathered near Speaker Meira Kumar’s podium, raising slogans.

When the din refused to subside, the speaker adjourned the house.

New Delhi: Mirwaiz Free to Travel Wherever he Wants: S M Krishna,  On the issue of grant of visa to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to visit China, Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna on Friday said he was free to travel anywhere he wanted.

“He is free to travel wherever he wants,” Krishna told reporters outside Parliament House. He said the Ministry of External Affairs encouraged such visits whether these were to “Pakistan or China”.

The Mirwaiz will be visiting China as a guest of an NGO and will give a lecture there.

When asked if India was considering extradition of 26/11 accused David Coleman Headley, Tahawwur Hussain Rana and some of the accused based in Pakistan, Krishna said, “Investigations are still on. We are awaiting the report of the investigation.”

He said once the report was submitted, the government would take appropriate steps.

WASHINGTON: US Central Intelligence Agency interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a captured al Qaeda commander into giving up information, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Citing a report by the agency’s inspector general and unnamed former and current US officials, the newspaper said the tactics were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA’s secret prisons, ultimately became one of three al Qaeda leaders subjected to waterboarding, the report said. A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the classified IG report to be publicly released Monday, in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the paper said.

The report, written in 2004, offers new details about Nashiri’s interrogation, including episodes in which the detainee reportedly was threatened with death or grave injury if he refused to cooperate, The Post said.

In one instance, a CIA interrogator showed Nashiri a gun and sought to frighten the detainee into thinking he would be shot, said the paper, citing unnamed sources.

In a separate encounter, a power drill was held near Nashiri’s body and repeatedly turned on and off, according to the report. The federal torture statute prohibits US nationals from threatening anyone in his or her custody with imminent death, The Post noted. –

Gwyneth Paltrow was reportedly far from friendly on the sets of ‘Iron Man 2’, and clearly snubbed her co-star Scarlett Johansson and members of the production crew.

According to a source, some crew members said that Gwyneth, who plays Pepper Potts in the film, did nothing to make friends with Scarlett, playing the Black Widow.

And the crew actually preferred to be around her husband, Coldplay frontman, Chris Martin.

“Gwyneth is extremely cool at work. She’’s just a step above professional, too snobby,” Fox News quoted the on-set source as saying.

The source added: “Gwyneth is not friendly to anyone, and tends to make people feel awkward and uncomfortable. She wasn”t outright rude to Scarlett, she just didn”t ever speak to her. Gwyneth went out of her way to avoid Scarlett, and they had zero contact, at Gwyneth’’s choosing.”

In fact, the actress was not even warm with the hair and makeup staff and other members of the crew.

“Gwyneth would be very put out if hair and makeup were running behind or things were not on schedule. Usually, nothing was drastically late, but Gwyneth can instantly say something that lets everyone know she is put out,” the source said.

“Much of the crew didn”t mind hanging out with her husband, Chris, but if Gwyneth ever came around, they scattered! Chris is so chill and relaxed and she is just the opposite. Chris has been a crew favourite since the filming of the first movie,” the source added.

Jordan, a.k.a Katie Price, is reportedly facing the threat of being at the centre of a Spanish kidnap plot.

The glamour girl, worth 30 million pounds, was said to have caught the eye of Russian gangsters, who were allegedly planning to snatch her while she visits Marbella to promote her KP Equestrian range.

The 31-year-old has purportedly turned to her cage-fighter boyfriend Alex Reid for protection against any possible threat.

“The kidnap threat is a real worry and Kate feels much safer when Alex is around,” the Daily Star quoted a source as saying.

“He is a muscular man and a trained fighter who can watch her back at all times.

“Kate’s a tough woman but this is bound to really frighten her and convince her to take her ­boyfriend along for support.

“She will definitely feel much better having him on hand to ­double up as a bodyguard and scare off the mobsters,” the source added.

The star’s spokesman said the trip maybe dropped if the threat worsened, adding: “Kate would not make any trip unless she and the people around her felt 100 per cent sure of her ­security.”

Aussie singer Peter Andre has revealed that he’s in talks with La Toya Jackson to stage a concert as a tribute to late Michael.

In an interview to New! magazine, the ”Behind Closed Doors” hitmaker said he has been in “regular contact” with La Toya and hopes to “finalise” their plans next week.

“Over the last few weeks I have been in regular contact with La Toya Jackson about some kind of tribute for her brother, Michael,” Contactmusic quoted Andre as saying.

“Everyone who knows me knows how much I idolised Michael and how much his music influenced me, so I feel really honoured to be part of this.

“There isn”t anything quite set in stone yet but we have four or five ideas, including a tribute concert or a TV special.

“La Toya is flying to the UK next week, so we are going to meet up and hopefully put our ideas into action. La Toya is one of the few Jacksons I haven”t met yet, so I am really looking forward to spending some time with her,” he added.

Thandie Newton reportedly regrets starting her career at a young age, and getting into a troubled relationship with director John Duigan as a teen.

The actress flew to Australia at the age of 16 for filming her debut movie ‘Flirting’ in 1991, and, shortly afterwards, began a turbulent six-year romance with the director of the film, then 39.

However, now after recently working with schoolgirls at Oprah Winfrey”’’s Leadership Academy in South Africa, Newton realised how young she was when she started her love affair with Duigan.

And the ‘Crash’ star still wonders how the filmmaker could have dated someone so “vulnerable”.

“I was 16. I didn””t tell my parents about it (the relationship) but really young people who are vulnerable have to be looked out for. I””ve just been out to South Africa to Oprah”’’s Leadership Academy. It educates girls from impoverished backgrounds and I was taking part in an arts week,” The Daily Express quoted her as saying.

She added: “I looked at the 16-year-old girls there. How can it possibly be right to start a serious relationship with someone that age when you are so much older? I””ve been through a lot of therapy so I sort of know why people do things now.”