'Osama Bin Laden was looking to use 9/11 anniversary to strike US'

Washington:  Slain Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was looking to use the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks as another opportunity to strike the US, a top White House counter-terrorism official has said.

Newly published audio provides real-time view of 9/11 attacks

For one instant on the morning of September 11, an airliner that had vanished from all the tracking tools of modern aviation suddenly became visible in its final seconds to the people who had been trying to find it.

Tajikistan says it'll unfurl world's longest flag

Dushanbe, Tajikistan:  The Central Asian nation of Tajikistan plans to mark its 20th anniversary by unfurling what it says will be the longest flag ever made.

City authorities in the capital, Dushanbe, say the flag that will be paraded on Friday stretches 2,011 meters (1.3 miles) and weighs 860 kilograms (nearly 1,900 pounds).

NASA astronauts suddenly in short supply

Washington:  The United States does not have enough astronauts to meet the changing needs of human spaceflight in the coming years, warned a report Wednesday by a non-profit group that advises on science policy.

International court seeks Interpol help to arrest Gaddafi

The Hague, Netherlands:  The International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking Interpol's help in arresting fugitive Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo is asking the international police organization to issue so-called "red notices" for Gaddafi and says arresting him is a "matter of time."

Bahrain's job purges linger as protests continue

Dubai:  One afternoon in May, police in Bahrain led away security guard Mahdi Ali from his job at the Gulf kingdom's state-controlled aluminum plant. He claims he was blindfolded and beaten so severely that the bruises still have not healed.

'Drunk' Swedish moose found stuck in tree

Stockholm:  A seemingly intoxicated moose has been discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede.

Per Johansson says he heard a roar from his vacationing neighbor's garden in southwestern Sweden late on Tuesday and went to have a look. There, he found a female moose kicking about in the tree. The animal was likely drunk from eating fermented apples.

Massive supernova visible from Earth

London:  A supernova millions of light years away from the Earth has become visible with a pair of binoculars.

Star-gazers will be watching the most visible exploding star since 1954 in the skies above Britain this week. 

She called her ex-boyfriend 65,000 times

Amsterdam:  Dutch prosecutors are charging a 42-year-old woman with stalking after she allegedly called her ex-boyfriend 65,000 times in the past year. 

The 62-year-old victim from The Hague filed a police complaint in August due to the persistent phone calls. Police arrested the suspected stalker Monday, seizing several cell phones and computers from her home in Rotterdam. 

9/11 anniversary: 'Specific, credible terror threat' in US

Washington:  U.S. officials said Thursday they were investigating a credible but unconfirmed threat that Al Qaeda was planning to use a car bomb to target bridges or tunnels in New York City or Washington to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the first tip of an "active plot" around that date.

Delhi High Court blast: 48 hours on, no breakthrough in probe

New Delhi:  It's been almost 48 hours since a high-intensity blast occurred outside the Delhi High Court killing 13 people but investigators are yet find a breakthrough in the case. 

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) along with the Delhi Police is looking at all possible leads including two e-mails sent to various media organisations claiming responsibility for the blast.

Death toll rises to 13, kin shun VIPs

At RML, there are 19 patients in ICU — most injuries being in lower part of body

The death toll in Wednesday's Delhi High Court blast has risen to 13 with the death of two more persons at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital here on Thursday. Forty-year-old Pramod Kumar Chaurasia, a resident of Nangloi, died of injuries on Thursday morning, while 58-year-old E. Pratran died late in the evening. Four persons are said to be in a very critical condition.

IT conducts raid at former Tamil Nadu governor son's bungalow

Chandigarh: The Income Tax Department team conducted a raid at former Tamil Nadu Governor Gaganjeet Singh's son bungalow on Wednesday.

Till late night, the departmental officials were seen searching property and income tax related records at Singh's house situated at Barnala Sec 8.They even seized important official documents from bungalow situated in Mohali Sec 91.The raid was conducted under the chairmanship of Deputy Director Rajinder Kaur.

Parliament condemns Delhi HC blast

New Delhi: Parliament on Wednesday condemned in the strongest term the blast outside Delhi High Court, which killed at least nine people and injured more than 40 others.

Both Houses of Parliament condemned the blast soon after they met for their routine business. As per report, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12:30 PM when the Home Minister P Chidambaram made a statement in this regard. 

Who’s with who

Tennis champ Caroline Wozniacki has FOUND HERSELF QUITE A MIXED DOUBLES PARTNER — golfing sensation Rory McIlroy. She 21 and he 22 have been an item since they met at a boxing match in July and the two were, well, knocked out. with ‘carory’ as the peg, t2 takes a look at some new celebrity couples on the block

Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield Jim Carrey might have expressed his undying love for her on YouTube, trademark OTT style, but that isn’t stopping the new Spiderman from weaving a web around this girl. The lead pair from The Amazing Spider-Man have been spotted dining out at a Malibu restaurant recently. Linked ever since they were cast together, Andrew, 28, and Emma, 22, have often been spotted cosying up to each other.

I’m there, ticking and alive’

Churni in Rang Milanti You play an actress in Rang Milanti. Are there similarities between you and your character? My character Kamalini has a lot of attitude and is always in charge. I am more laid-back. Our spouses are freelancers, that’s one similarity... so we’ve both had to work on certain projects just to run the show. We’re both disarmingly truthful. And we’re both vulnerable… but then, who isn’t?

Hiding up in Telluride

The Descendants

In the local vernacular, the Telluride Film Festival is known as The Show. Each screening — of an Oscar aspirant, a restored classic, a provocative documentary, a slow and quiet piece of cinematic art — is its own show, but so is this town itself, a silver-mining outpost high in the San Juan Mountains long ago converted to an oasis of western-bohemian chic. The Show, which occurs every Labour Day weekend (this is the 38th edition), evokes the eager, collective do-it-yourself spirit of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland musicals, as a school gymnasium, a restored opera house and a pocket-size park on the main street are converted into movie theatres. There is also plenty of the business of show, manifested in the names of sponsors read out before every screening, and in the presence of renowned filmmakers and big movie stars on the streets.

THE PURSUIT

Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin in That Girl in Yellow Boots

Even as Bodyguard breaks records at the box office despite the bad reviews, the good reviews have struggled to get in the audience for Anurag Kashyap’s festival-trotting That Girl in Yellow Boots. But as has been the case with him for the past decade or so, Anurag sounds hopeful as he talks to t2 about the film closest to his heart. Over to Bollywood’s enfant terrible.

Anurag: I read the t2 review.

Jhunjhunwala effect

Mumbai, Sept. 7: Shares of Nikhil Gandhi-promoted Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company rose over 4 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today after its board approved the allotment of 1.05-crore convertible warrants worth Rs 81.9 crore to billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, his wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala and Utpal Sheth, another investor.

However, the share price of Pipavav Defence, formerly Pipavav Shipyard Ltd, closed 50 paise lower at Rs 76.80 on the BSE.

According to a notice issued by the company to the stock exchanges, each warrant priced at Rs 78 is convertible into one fully paid-up equity share of Rs 10 each of the company any time within 18 months from the date of allotment.

FM concern over bank loan quality

Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 7: Banks must ensure that their asset quality does not erode from the corrosive effects of high interest rates, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

A strict vigil is all the more necessary given the economy is passing through turbulent times, while the global economy struggles with the after-effects of 2008’s financial crisis, the minister said.

Higher costs drive up car prices

Plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia (left), heavy industries minister Praful Patel (centre) and Siam president Pawan Goenka in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 7: Car prices are moving up at a time buyers are staying away on account of rising loan rates and fuel prices.

Higher input costs have forced Toyota, Mahindra & Mahindra to raise their sticker prices, while GM is contemplating a review.

Toyota will hike prices by 1.5-2 per cent from next month, while M&M has already raised them by up to 2 per cent from August. Both say the rise will be for all its models.

Yahoo fires CEO Bartz

Bartz: In line of fire San Francisco, Sept. 7: Carol A. Bartz, Yahoo’s chief executive, was fired on Tuesday, ending a rocky two-year tenure in which she tried to revitalise the online media company. She went out with the same outspoken style she used while running the company. In an email she sent to employees from her iPad, titled “Goodbye,” Bartz wrote: “I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s chairman of the board.” Bartz was informed of the board’s decision while she was travelling to New York from Maine, according to a person familiar with the board’s action.

Russian ice hockey team lost in plane crash

Tunoshna (Russia), Sept. 7 (Reuters): A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport today, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition.

The crash of the Yak-42 aircraft , whose victims included foreign stars playing for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) team Lokomotiv, plunged the sports world into grief. It is likely to increase concerns about Russian aviation safety less than three months after a crash that killed 45.   

Mr Bean plans to hang up his boots

Atkinson as Mr Bean

London, Sept. 7 (PTI): The bumbling but adorable Mr Bean is planning to hang up his boots.

British actor Rowan Atkinson, 56, who popularised the character, says he believes he is too old to play the funnyman anymore.

Mr Bean first appeared on television in an ITV series which ran for five years from 1990. Despite the derision of some critics, the programme proved a huge ratings success, with viewing figures of more than 18 million, reports the Daily Mail. The character even made its foray into movies with Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie in 1997 and Mr Bean’s Holiday four years ago.

Suicide blasts kill 26 in Quetta

Islamabad, Sep 7: Twin suicide attacks targeting deputy chief of paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) killed at least 26 people and injured 45 others in Quetta just two days after the army confirmed arrests of three senior Al-Qaeda leaders from the city.

This was one of the deadliest attacks in Quetta, the capital of mineral-rich Balochistan province that borders Iran and Afghanistan. At least 11 people had been killed in a bomb explosion in the city on the day of Muslim festival of Id on August 31.

Wife and two children of FC deputy chief Brigadier Farrukh Shehzad and up to four officials of the FC, which had carried out operation to arrest the Al-Qaeda operatives, were among those killed in the attack, condemned by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is away to Kazakhstan on a two-day official visit.

One killed in bus firing

Asansol, Sept. 7: A youth shot dead a rice trader in a crowded minibus in Burdwan this afternoon for refusing to part with his bags full of cash and opened indiscriminate fire inside the vehicle before fleeing, but none of the other passengers were injured.

A schoolgirl sitting beside Madhusudan Roy, 40, said the youth, who was behind the trader, put a revolver to his back and demanded that he hand over the bags to him. “When he refused, the youth pumped a bullet into his back. The attacker then whipped out a pipegun from his pocket and fired with both guns at the bus roof and windows to scare the other passengers,” she said.

Surjya’s rape and terror salvo

Mishra with the son of a CPM worker who fled his Jayatala home. Picture by Goutam Chakraborty Baruipur, Sept. 7: Surjya Kanta Mishra today accused Trinamul workers of raping a woman, molesting several others and damaging the houses of around 200 CPM workers and supporters in South 24-Parganas’ Baruipur after the death of two brothers affiliated to the ruling party in a clash on Sunday.