Turkey earthquake kills three - The Nation, Pakistan

An earthquake that shook northwest Turkey last night killed at least three people and injured nearly 100. The 5.9-magnitude quake struck at 11.15 pm local time was centred in the town of Simav. The tremor was felt as far as the Aegean tourist city of Izmir, the northwestern city of Bursa, Istanbul and the city of Edirne, close to the Greek and Bulgarian borders. There were no immediate reports of damage in the ancient city of Epheseus, which lies just outside Selcuk, about 55 miles south of Izmir. The quake was followed by about 50 aftershocks, the strongest with a magnitude of 4.6. Local authorities warned of more aftershocks in the coming days. Most of Simav was without electricity and telephone lines were down, reports said.

An average couple bickers 2455 times a year - IBNLive.com

London: Ever wondered how many rows does an average British couple have? Well, a survey says couples bicker 2,455 times a year.

The Sun cited the survey as saying that single biggest reason for an argument is not listening to what the other person is saying. This leads to around 112 rows a year.

There are other reasons too.

Getting annoyed over spending leads to 109 disputes and money in general causes further 108 arguments.

Snoring provoked 102 rows while 80 verbal altercations were about a partner walking mud into the home, the media report said.

There is more.

Reasons not to be ignored are driving too fast and what to watch on television. They cause arguments more than once a week.

Sex, either lack of it or the timing, leads to 88 conflicts a year. There are 69 arguments if one person has failed to say "I love you" enough.

The survey was of 3,000 people by esure home insurance.

"Bickering on a daily basis is all part of being in a normal, healthy relationship. The normal co-habiting couple will have to put up with each other's daily annoyances - even if they can prove to be very irritating," a spokesperson of the insurance firm was quoted as saying.

Prince William's friend Joss Stone joins Sir Mick Jagger's 'super-group' - Telegraph.co.uk

She has asked me to send her all that I know about the alleged affair, which is said to have happened before her relationship with Huhne.

The Cabinet minister must, meanwhile, look back to the visit of Pope Benedict in September with nostalgia. Then, all he had to worry about was meeting Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Asked about his faith by The Tablet, Huhne said: "I was brought up as a member of the Church of England; I still am." Ending the interview with a mea culpa, he said, piously: "Like most Christians, I am a sinner."

Kate Middleton's public life

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's spokesmen stress their desire for privacy, but Nicky Haslam, a friend of Prince William's stepmother, is not impressed.

"You can't have a private life if you are part of the Royal family," the interior designer tells me at the Spear's Design for Living Awards in Mayfair. "If you want a private life, don't marry into the Royal family, go and live quietly in Anglesey."

The Duchess of Cornwall's chum adds: "I'm sick of all this private-life stuff. It's like all these film stars who go on about wanting a private life. It's a double-edged sword."

Syrian forces kill five at protesters' funeral - Pakistan Daily Times

Syrian forces kill five at protesters funeral

BEIRUT: Syrian security forces killed at least five people after opening fire on a massive funeral procession for eight anti-government protesters slain the day before, a human rights activist said. A rights group has raised Fridays death toll to 44 most in the northern province of Idlib and the central region of Homs making it one of the deadliest days since an uprising against President Bashar Assads regime began two months ago. The government, meanwhile, put the toll at 17. The continuing bloodshed, which has claimed at least 900 lives, raises questions whether international sanctions and harsh words from the US and its allies will dissuade the Assad regime from using extreme force to crush the biggest challenge ever to its 40-year rule. Despite the violence, tens of thousands of people took part in the funeral for eight of those killed on Friday in Homs, local activists said. The funeral procession came under fire as the people marched from the Tal al Nasr cemetery, leaving two dead and dozens wounded. The latest deaths bring to at least 900 the number of civilians killed in the government crackdown, according to the National Organisation for Human Rights (NOHR) in Syria, whose chief Ammar Qurabi is currently in Turkey. ap

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Online bids for 'fashion roadkill' hat reach £80000 - The Independent

It threatened to upstage Kate and William on their wedding day, being compared to an upright toilet seat and a set of fallopian tubes. But last night, barely three weeks after being dubbed "fashion roadkill", the hat worn by Princess Beatrice was on course to sell for more than £80,000.

The Philip Treacy-designed headwear has attracted more than 100 bidders since it was put up for auction online. They include Duncan Bannatyne of Dragon's Den, as well as anonymous US bidders, whose fixation with the monarchy led to a flurry of late bids on Friday. And from Australia, the children's TV performers The Wiggles offered £17,500 for a chance to own one of the most polarising pieces of headwear ever seen. "We wear some pretty crazy costumes on stage but this hat beats them all," said Wiggles frontman Anthony Field.

Bidding is set to close today, after which the hat will be carefully dispatched to one "lucky" winner. However lucrative the auction proves, Clarence House insists the profits will bypass its own coffers, heading instead to the Little Bee Initiative, a charity founded by Princess Beatrice to raise money for Children in Crisis and Unicef.

The headwear, originally the subject of hostility and ridicule, has become a cultural sensation on the internet, appearing on the heads of numerous celebrities, including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Lady Gaga. Meanwhile, the "Princess Beatrice's ridiculous royal wedding hat" Facebook page has more than 142,000 endorsements.

Experts believe the hat's popularity in cyberspace could help its value to rise. "It is a piece of headwear forever immortalised online," said Harriet Quick, features editor of Vogue magazine. "As a piece of fashion, it is surreal, tangentially bizarre, different and eccentric. But it could also become extremely profitable."

For all the criticism levied at his creation, Treacy, whose hats also adorned the heads of the Duchess of Cornwall, Victoria Beckham, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and 31 other wedding guests, remained defiant. "The hat is a symbol of positivity," he said. "I hope people all over the world will be generous and the hat will benefit many."

Huhne Under Pressure Over Speeding Claims - Sky News

6:52am UK, Sunday May 22, 2011

Pressure is mounting on Energy Secretary Chris Huhne after Sunday newspapers have published more allegations surrounding a speeding ticket controversy.

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According to the Sunday Times, Liberal Democrat Mr Huhne has conceded he may have been driving his car on the day it was caught by a speed camera.

Essex Police have been looking into allegations that in 2003 he persuaded his then wife, Vicky Pryce, to accept speeding penalty points on his behalf so he could escape a driving ban - a charge he has previously denied.

The newspaper said it had obtained what it said was the driving licence of estranged wife Ms Pryce.

It is said to contain an endorsement for speeding on the same day the Energy Secretary is alleged to have been caught by a speed camera on the M11 motorway.

Mr Huhne is expected to tell police he "cannot be sure" if he was - or wasn't - driving that day after returning home from Stansted airport.

In 2003, as a member of the European Parliament, Mr Huhne routinely caught flights from Strasbourg to the airport in Essex.

The Energy Secretary has promoted bicycle riding

Read more about the formal investigation by Essex police.

Ryanair has been asked to provide their passenger records as lists would confirm whether or not Mr Huhne was in Essex at the time.

The Sunday Telegraph also claims Ms Pryce is expected to tell police that another woman also took points for Mr Huhne on her licence.

Meanwhile, Mr Huhne has been under fire following the disclosure that he faces a complaint about his general election expenses.

Two former Liberal Democrat councillors in his Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire have submitted a formal complaint to the official elections watchdog alleging he made a "false declaration" of his expenses.

The allegation is based on a recording of a local party meeting where treasurer Anne Winstanley is heard saying that the elections "have cost more than we declared".

Mr Huhne strongly denied the charge, insisting his expenses were in order.

As hours tick by, "Judgment Day" looks a dud | - Reuters

By Gabrielle Saveri

SAN FRANCISCO | Sat May 21, 2011 8:55pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - With no sign of Judgment Day arriving on Saturday as forecast by an 89 year-old California evangelical broadcaster, followers were faced with trying to make sense of his failed pronouncement.

Harold Camping, the former civil engineer who heads the

Family Radio Network of Christian stations, had been unwavering in his message that believers would be swept to heaven on May 21.

His Oakland, California-based network broadcasts over 66 U.S. stations and through international affiliates. With the help of supporters it posted at least 2,000 billboards around the United States warning of the Judgment Day.

In New York, retired transportation agency worker Robert Fitzpatrick was inspired by Camping's message to spend over $140,000 of his savings on subway posters and outdoor advertisements warning of the May 21 Judgment Day.

As he stood in Times Square in New York surrounded by onlookers, Fitzpatrick, 60, carried a Bible and handed out leaflets as he waited for Judgment Day to begin.

By his own reading of Bible, which was slightly different than Camping's, Fitzgerald expected the great worldwide event to begin at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

When the hour came and went, he said: "I do not understand why ...," as his speech broke off and he looked at his watch.

"I do not understand why nothing has happened."

Camping, who previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994, had said doomsday would begin at 6 p.m. in the various time zones around the globe.

NEW DAY COMES

That meant it would begin in Asia and Oceania, but with midnight local time having come and gone in those areas, taking them well into May 22, and no indication of an apocalypse, Camping seemed to have gone silent.

During the day, his Family Radio played recorded church music, devotionals and life advice unrelated to Judgment Day.

The headquarters of his network was shuttered on Friday and Saturday, with a sign in the door that read "This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!"

Camping, whose deep sonorous voice is frequently heard on his radio network expounding the Bible, could not be reached for comment.

The shades were drawn and no one answered the door at his house in Alameda, California.

Sheila Doan, 65, who has lived next door to Camping since 1971, said he is a good neighbor and she was concerned about Camping and his wife because of the attention his pronouncement has received.

"I'm concerned for them, that somebody would possibly do something stupid, you just don't know in this world what's going to happen," she said.

Tom Evans, a spokesman for Camping, said earlier this week that at least several tens of thousands of people listen to Family Radio's message.

The network is heard in more than 30 languages through international affiliates, according to Family Radio.

In recent weeks, dozens of Camping's followers had crossed the United States in recreational vehicles emblazoned with the May 21 warning. Volunteers also handed out pamphlets as far away as the Philippines, telling people God had left clear signs the world was coming to an end.

In Camping's description of Judgment Day, the Earth would be wrenched in a great earthquake and many inhabitants would perish in the coming months, until the planet's total destruction on October 21.

On Saturday, some atheists in different parts of the country held celebrations and get-togethers to mark the failure of Camping's May 21 prediction to come true.

In Oakland, the same city where Camping's network is based, over 200 people gathered at an atheist convention where speakers joked about the Judgment Day pronouncement and a vendor sold jewelry with the words "Good without God."

Cara Lee Hickey, 32, a Christian turned atheist, said Camping's prediction got people talking.

"I've heard a lot of name-calling, but most of it is from other Christians calling him a false prophet," she said.

(Additional reporting by Erik Tavcar, Jonathan Allen and Noel Randewich; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jerry Norton)