A Chinese man launched an anti-Valentine’s Day campaign by buying up odd-numbered seats at a cinema in Shanghai to stop couples sitting together.
Others joined his online campaign and now there are no two seats together for the main showing of Beijing Love Story.
The man who started it all said it was just a joke and hoped couples would understand.
The campaign focused on a cinema in Shanghai’s fashionable Xintiandi district, an older part of the city full of shops, restaurants and bars.
The unnamed man started buying up odd-numbered seats at a cinema in Shanghai to stop couples sitting together
It was orchestrated by a man who split up with his girlfriend last year and decided to get his revenge on couples by targeting the prime-time showing of Beijing Love Story.
He bought odd-numbered seats and, within hours, others followed his lead.
The story was picked up by a number of Chinese newspapers, which showed a graphic of the cinema’s seating plan with no room for couples to cuddle up together.
The man behind the campaign said he hoped people watching the Valentine’s Day show at the cinema on Friday might find themselves sitting next to someone they do not know, sparking new relationships.
California Senator William Monning wants to make his state the first in the nation to require warning labels on soda and other sugary drinks.
Democratic Sen. William Monning’s bill proposed Thursday would require the warning on the front of all beverage containers with added sweeteners that have 75 or more calories in every 12 ounces.
The label would read: “STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.”
California new bill would require the warning on the front of all beverage containers with added sweeteners that have 75 or more calories in every 12 ounces
The new bill is backed by several public health advocacy groups.
The first proposal of its kind would put California, which banned sodas and junk food from public schools in 2005, back in the vanguard of a growing national movement to curb the consumption of high-caloric beverages that medical experts say are largely to blame for an epidemic of childhood obesity.
A growing body of research has identified sugary drinks as the biggest contributors to added, empty calories in the American diet, and as a major culprit in a range of costly health problems associated with being overweight.
More than a third of all US adults and nearly 17% of children between the ages of 2 and 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
State Senator Bill Monning, who sponsored the warning label bill and whose effort to push a state tax on sugary drinks died last year, said the new measure was crafted in such a way as to address criticism leveled at other measures.
CalBev, the California arm of the American Beverage Association said in a statement that it is misleading to suggest that soft drink consumption is uniquely responsible for weight gain.
“Only 4.0 percent of calories in the average American diet are derived directly from soda,” they said.
Some 200,000 people are told to evacuate their homes in Indonesia after Kelud volcano erupts on the island of Java, with at least two people killed.
Mount Kelud spewed ash and debris over a large area, including the city of Surabaya, about 80 miles away.
Two people died after their houses collapsed under the weight of ash, officials said. Some towns were said to be covered by 1.6 in of ash.
Three major airports in Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta were forced to shut down because of low visibility.
There are also fears that debris could damage aircraft engines.
Some 200,000 people are told to evacuate their homes in Indonesia after Kelud volcano erupts on the island of Java
Andi Wirson, general manager at the Yogyakarta airport, said: “The current conditions are that volcanic ash is now covering the runway, apron and tarmac. We have already measured the thickness of the volcanic ash, which is at 5 cm on the runway and tarmac.”
Indonesia’s disaster agency on Friday said that more than 100,000 people had evacuated to temporary shelters.
Many in Indonesia are quite used to volcanic eruptions, and are reluctant to leave their homes and belongings, correspondents say.
Officials said two people died after their homes, which appeared to have weak structures, could not withstand the weight of gravel and ash, and caved in.
Some of the evacuees tried to visit their houses on Friday morning to gather clothing and valuables, but were forced to turn back by the continuous stream of volcanic ash and rocks from the volcano, AFP news agency reported.
The 5,600 ft Mount Kelud – which had been rumbling for several weeks – erupted on Thursday evening.
However, the head of Indonesia’s Volcano and Geology Agency, Hendrasto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said the eruption was gradually subsiding.
Experts say the volcano tends to quieten down after a large eruption, and more big eruptions are unlikely.
Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry has designated northern Georgia a “NO VALENTINE’S DAY ZONE” in a post on the department’s Facebook page Wednesday night.
Men are “exempt from having to run out and buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars from the corner stores until February 18, 2014, due to ice, snow, freezing rain,” the tongue-in-cheek post said.
Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry has designated northern Georgia a NO VALENTINE’S DAY ZONE
It’s all in fun. But rescheduling the festival of lovers to Tuesday would give the ice-storm battered region time to get roads back to normal and make Valentine’s Day a safer affair.
Though it sounds like a pretty practical safety suggestion to motorists, it was more likely something else that drove Sheriff Scott Berry to the decision.
“I think he was just trying to cut the monotony,” dispatcher John Ogle told CNN.
Deputies have been practically snowed in at the office for a marathon 34-hour shift, and the sheriff wanted to give them something to smile at, John Ogle said.
Comcast has acquired Time Warner Cable for about $45 billion, creating a company that could control three-quarters of the US cable industry.
Comcast will pay about $159 per share for TWC in an all-stock deal.
The deal comes after Time Warner Cable rejected a $60 billion bid from Charter Communications last month, calling their offer “grossly inadequate”.
However, any merger is likely to face tight scrutiny from US regulators.
Time Warner Cable has been the subject of an eight-month takeover battle by smaller cable operator Charter Communications.
Comcast is the biggest cable television provider in the US and owns the NBC broadcast network, as well as the Universal film studio.
Comcast has acquired Time Warner Cable for about $45 billion
With 22 million of its own pay TV customers and Time Warner Cable’s 11 million, the combined entity will end up with about 30 million subscribers when the deal is complete.
Comcast argues that as it and Time Warner Cable serve different markets, their combination will not reduce competition for consumers.
Comcast operates mainly in the northeast, including its home town of Philadelphia and Boston, Washington and Chicago.
Time Warner Cable’s subscribers are centered around its New York headquarter, as well as Los Angeles, Dallas and Milwaukee.
In many of those areas, the new Comcast/Time Warner Cable group will face competition from rivals such as AT&T and Verizon.
However, Public Knowledge, a Washington-based consumer rights group, called on regulators to stop the deal.
It said the merger would give Comcast “unprecedented gatekeeper power in several important markets.”
Comcast and Time Warner Cable hope to make significant cost savings – of up to $1.5 billion in annual costs over three years, with half of that coming in the first year.
South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, who became a murder suspect, said Friday that he is consumed by grief on the first anniversary of the day that he fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home.
The rare statement by the double-amputee runner came ahead of the March 3 start of his trial for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, shot in Oscar Pistorius’ bathroom in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine’s Day.
“No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved – and continues to love Reeva,” said Oscar Pistorius, who told a court last year that he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for a dangerous nighttime intruder.
Prosecutors allege Oscar Pistorius, 27, who is out on bail, intentionally killed Reeva Steenkamp after an argument.
Oscar Pistorius said that he is consumed by grief on the first anniversary of the day that he fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
“The pain and sadness – especially for Reeva’s parents, family and friends consumes me with sorrow,” Oscar Pistorius said.
“The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”
The statement from Oscar Pistorius was unusual because his uncle, Arnold, has normally been quoted in statements from his camp, which has sought to shield the runner from intense media and public interest in a case that transfixed many people around the world.
Reeva Steenkamp’s mother, June, plans to attend the trial in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria. No members of Reeva Steenkamp’s immediate family have attended any of Oscar Pistorius’ previous court dates.
Oscar Pistorius also faces other firearms-related charges.
Oscar Pistorius was the first double-amputee to run at the world championships and the Olympics. He faces a possible life sentence with a minimum of 25 years in prison before the chance of parole if he is convicted of premeditated murder in Reeva Steenkamp’s killing.
A “catastrophic” winter storm is unleashing a second wave of heavy snowfall on the US Northeast, as hundreds of thousands of people remain without power in the states in its southern wake.
About 550,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark and almost 1,000 Friday flights are cancelled.
The ice storm has been blamed for at least 22 deaths, including that of a pregnant woman struck by a snowplough.
It is the latest miserable weather to pummel the winter-weary eastern US.
Early this month, Washington DC, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, New York and St Louis had recorded two to three times as much snow as normal by this time in the winter season.
This storm system has already dumped as much as 15in of snow in the Washington DC region and 8in around New York City by Thursday.
Up to another foot is forecast in a second snowfall that began on Thursday evening and is expected to continue through Friday morning, with the heaviest precipitation in the US states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The National Weather Service predicted the weather would ease by the weekend.
“Heavy snow will continue tonight… but will begin to taper off from south to north through the morning hours on Friday,” the official forecaster said.
The snow-covered streets in the nation’s capital were largely deserted on Thursday, after the federal government closed its Washington-area offices to spare its widely dispersed workforce the trouble and danger of the drive to work.
A second wave of heavy snowfall hits the US Northeast
On Friday, official Washington will start work two hours behind the ordinary schedule, the Office of Personnel Management said.
More than 6,500 US flights were cancelled on Thursday, according to airline-tracking website FlightAware.com. Another 1,000 on Friday’s schedule have already been grounded.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio was criticized for keeping schools open on Thursday despite the snow piling on the ground.
The head of the city schools teachers union said it was a “mistake” to have students, parents and school staff travelling under such conditions, while a prominent meteorologist and television personality opened a public spat on Twitter with the mayor.
“It’s going to take some kid or kids getting hurt before this goofball policy gets changed,” Al Roker of NBC wrote on Twitter from Sochi, Russia, where he is covering the Winter Olympics. Al Roker has a daughter in the city schools.
Bill de Blasio responded that many parents depended on schools to watch over their children while they work – and noted the city had closed schools only 11 times for snow since 1978.
“We were convinced that kids could get to schools this morning,” he said.
The multi-day storm has been blamed for almost two dozen deaths.
In New York City on Thursday, a pregnant woman was killed after being struck by a snowplough. Her baby was delivered in critical condition via caesarean section.
The storm moved into the north-east on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, leaving in its southern wake a wreckage of snapped tree branches and power lines coated in as much as an inch of ice.
Most of the remaining power cuts are in South Carolina and Georgia, where President Barack Obama declared a disaster, opening the way for federal aid.
Forecasters said it was one of the worst storms to strike Atlanta, the largest city in the South, since 1973.
A poll released earlier this week suggested that Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson could be a formidable competitor against current Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana).
However, Phil Robertson’s son, Alan, quickly shot down any speculation that his father would be willing to run.
“While Phil is humbled and honored that so many fellow Louisianans have confidence in him, he has no interest in running for public office,” Alan Robertson told The Hill in an email.
“He is interested in helping the electorate know more about the gospel of Christ, so they, in turn, can elect more godly men and women to serve and lead our great country.”
Phil Robertson could be a formidable competitor against current Senator Mary Landrieu
According to a Democratic poll from Tuesday, Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), lagged behind Mary Landrieu by one percentage point. In contrast, Phil Robertson beat Mary Landrieu by five points, garnering 46% of the votes to her 41%.
The poll also suggests that despite national controversy in December about anti-gay comments 67-year-old Phil Robertson for which A&E suspended him from his reality television show for over a week, have had little effect on how the Louisiana esteems the businessman.
While Bill Cassidy’s numbers were lower than Phil Robertson’s, many interpreted them as sign that the race was a dead heat.
Bill Cassidy is running against current state representative Paul Hollis and retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness. Some have speculated that former Louisiana politician and current Family Research Council President Tony Perkins may run.
Mary Landrieu has been in office since 1997 and currently holds a 37% approval rating, a major drop from her August 2013 numbers that gave the senator a 46% approval score.
Italy’s PM Enrico Letta has said he will resign on Friday after his Democratic Party backed a call for a new administration.
Party leader Matteo Renzi had earlier called for a change of government at a party meeting, saying the country could not go on in “uncertainty”.
Speculation has been rife that Matteo Renzi wants to take over as prime minister.
Matteo Renzi is eight years younger than Enrico Letta and was elected leader of the party in December.
Enrico Letta said in a statement that his decision followed “the decision taken today by the national leadership of the Democratic Party”.
He said he would formally submit his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano at the presidential palace on Friday.
Enrico Letta has said he will resign on Friday after his Democratic Party backed a call for a new administration
Matteo Renzi has previously accused Enrico Letta of a lack of action on improving the economy, with unemployment at its highest level in 40 years and the economy shrinking by 9% in seven years.
Correspondents say that although the prime minister has kept a careful lid on public expenditure, he has not been able to carry out much-needed administrative reforms and stimulate economic growth.
The latest political turmoil has so far had little impact on financial markets, in contrast with the volatility seen before the current coalition was formed.
Enrico Letta did not attend Thursday’s party meeting, which had been brought forward from next week.
At the meeting, Matteo Renzi thanked Enrico Letta for his “remarkable work” but said the country could not go on in “uncertainty”.
He said his proposal – a new government to take over until the end of the current parliamentary term in 2018 – was a way out of the “morass”.
Enrico Letta, 47, formed a coalition with the centre-right last year but there had been mounting speculation over his future after Matteo Renzi was elected party leader in December.
The Belgian parliament has passed a bill allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children without any age limit, by 86 votes to 44, with 12 abstentions.
When, as expected, the bill is signed by the king, Belgium will become the first country in the world to remove any age limit on the practice.
It may be requested by terminally ill children who are in great pain and who have no treatment available.
Opponents argue children cannot make such a difficult decision.
In the Netherlands, Belgium’s northern neighbour, euthanasia is legal for children over the age of 12, if there is parental consent.
Under the Dutch conditions, a patient’s request for euthanasia can be fulfilled by a doctor if the request is “voluntary and well-considered” and the patient is suffering unbearably, with no prospect of improvement.
Belgium passed a law decriminalising euthanasia for terminally ill people over the age of 18 in 2002.
Belgium parliament has passed a bill allowing euthanasia for terminally ill children without any age limit
Supporters of the legislation argue that in practice the law will affect an extremely small number of children, who would probably be in their teens.
The law states a child will have to be terminally ill, face “unbearable physical suffering” and make repeated requests to die – before euthanasia is considered.
Parents, doctors and psychiatrists would have to agree before a decision is made.
Protesters have lobbied politicians against the changes. Church leaders argued the law is immoral.
Some paediatricians have warned vulnerable children could be put at risk and have questioned whether a child can really be expected to make such a difficult choice.
But opinion polls have suggested broad support in Belgium for the changes.
Duck Dynasty‘s Willie Robertson left a 100% tip on a $5,000 bill while in Washington D.C. for Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on January 28, TMZ reported.
Willie Robertson, 41, went out to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in D.C. with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Senator Ted Cruz and a host of other well-known conservatives, TMZ said.
It appears that, when the bill came, Willie Robertson picked up the tab and left the enormous tip.
Willie Robertson went out to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in D.C. with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Senator Ted Cruz
However, Mediabistro’s TVNewser claims their sources told them that it was Sean Hannity who paid the tab and the large tip.
The restaurant, which normally closes at 11 p.m., stayed open until 2 a.m. to accommodate the group’s post-State of the Union discussion.
A second vicious ice storm in as many weeks caused widespread power outages in Southeast leaving more than half a million people in dark.
Georgia was the worst-hit state with almost 230,000 homes and businesses without electricity, according to figures reported by utility companies at 6:45 a.m. ET.
More than 200,000 customers were experiencing outages in South Carolina with 90,000 others suffering in North Carolina. Louisiana and Virginia also had thousands of people left without electricityl.
Almost 500,000 Georgia Power customers alone had been off the grid, but the company had managed to restore more than half of them.
The Southeast was suffering after being hit Wednesday by a huge storm that stretched from Alabama to Massachusetts.
The ice storm caused widespread power outages in Southeast leaving more than half a million people in dark
But during the night, those without power were not the only people suffering: Ice and fallen trees created dangerous driving conditions for crews trying to get people back on the grid, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
More than 3,400 flights into and out of U.S. airports were canceled Wednesday and 3,500 more were delayed. By 3:30 a.m. ET Thursday there were already more than 1,600 US cancelations for the day, according to FlightAware.
By early Thursday, the storm had begun its march up the East Coast, according to Kevin Roth, lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel.
In New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., it was expected to dump snow at a furious rate of two inches per hour, making tough work for even the most industrious snowplow crews.
The freezing rain had largely stopped in the South but this was due to morph into snow in parts of Georgia and Alabama, Kevin Roth said.
But with temperatures still below freezing, the ice which built up in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas on Wednesday was not expected to budge. And this was continuing to affect the states’ electricity infrastructure.
As much as an inch of ice built up in all these states, bringing down trees and weighing heavy on fragile power lines. The worst-affected areas were north and east Georgia, central and eastern South Carolina, and central and eastern North Carolina.
Barbie doll, which is made by Mattel, is flaunting her frame in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit‘s 50th anniversary issue that’s hitting stands on Tuesday.
Barbie will be featured alongside supermodels like Christie Brinkley and Brooklyn Decker as part of a campaign called Unapologetic.
Barbie doll is flaunting her frame in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s 50th anniversary issue that’s hitting stands on Tuesday
According to multiple reports, Barbie will actually appear as a cover wrap on at least 1,000 copies of the issue, with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit magazine proclaiming the iconic figure: “The doll that started it all.”
“As a legend herself, and under constant criticism about her body and how she looks, posing . . . gives Barbie . . . and her fellow legends an opportunity to own who they are,” said Lisa McKnight, Mattel’s senior vice president of marketing.
The campaign is a departure for 55-year old Barbie, which has been both beloved as a plaything and criticized as an unrealistic standard of beauty for decades.
Tom Jones will appear alongside Morrissey at a Los Angeles concert in May, it has been announced.
“I will be Morrissey Official’s special guest at his show at the LA Sports Arena on May 10th,” wrote Tom Jones on Facebook.
Cliff Richard will also appear as a special guest at a Morrissey concert in New York on June 21 at the Barclays Centre.
Missouri singer Kristeen Young will join the performers on both dates – the first confirmed shows for Morrissey since he abandoned touring last year.
Tom Jones and Cliff Richard will appear on separate dates in Morrissey concerts
Morrissey, who eventually cancelled more than 40 dates, suffered a number of illnesses while on tour including a bleeding ulcer, Barrett’s oesophagus and double pneumonia.
The 54-year-old singer is expected to release a 10th solo studio album later this year.
In January, Morrissey took a swipe at the music industry saying: “The majority of people have lost faith in the music industry… It’s all, now, solely a question of marketing.
“All success stories are safe and dreary, and you will never be taken by surprise by a hit song that sounds out of place.”
Greece’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 28% in November 2013, according to newly released government figures.
The jobless rate increased from 27.7% in the previous month. For those under the age of 25, unemployment hit 61.4%.
Harsh austerity measures have led the Greek economy to shrink by a quarter in four years.
However, other economic indicators have suggested that there are signs of recovery.
Before Greece received its first 110 billion-euro ($150 billion) bailout in May 2010, the jobless rate was under 12% here.
Slight growth is expected this year and the deficit now wiped out, apart from interest payments on the bailout.
Greece’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 28 percent in November 2013
Greek unemployment is more than twice the average rate in the eurozone.
According to official EU figures, the number of people out of work in the single currency bloc in December was 19 million, with the jobless rate at 12%.
Other economic figures such as retail sales, manufacturing activity and construction, have pointed to signs that Greece’s recession has bottomed out.
However, Greece’s unemployment rate is expected to rise further in the first three months of 2014 as firms continue to restructure and cut jobs.
With 1.38 million people officially jobless, turning around the country’s economy will take time, even if the recovery does start this year as Athens hopes.
Before the crash when Greece was growing at up to 5% annually, about 50,000 jobs a year were added to the economy.
At these rates it could take more than 20 years to reduce the jobless totals – without measures to encourage domestic and foreign investment.
Vladimir Putin has announced he backs Egypt’s military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in his “bid for the presidency”.
Vladimir Putin, meeting Field Marshal Sisi in Moscow to discuss an arms deal, said he was “aware” of his decision to run.
However, there has been no announcement on the matter from the Egyptian side.
General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi led the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi last July, and the new constitution calls for an election by mid-April.
Correspondents say Field Marshal Sisi would be likely to win, given his popularity and the lack of any serious rivals.
Vladimir Putin said: “I know that you, mister defence minister, have decided to run for president of Egypt.
“I wish you luck both from myself personally and from the Russian people.”
Vladimir Putin has announced he backs Egypt’s military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in his bid for the presidency
Field Marshal Sisi is in Russia to negotiate a $2 billion arms deal, after the US suspended some of its annual military assistance in response to Mohamed Morsi’s removal.
Field Marshal Sisi said: “Our visit offers a new start to the development of military and technological co-operation between Egypt and Russia. We hope to speed up this co-operation.”
No details have been released about the military discussions, although Russian media pointed to Egyptian interest in acquiring air defence missiles, MiG-29 jets and helicopters, among other weapons.
Two weeks ago Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) gave its public support to any presidential bid by Field Marshal Sisi.
However, last week, the military issued a denial after a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted the field marshal as saying he would run for the presidency.
The military said at the time that any announcement would “be done via clear and direct statements that cannot be doubted or misinterpreted”.
The 59-year-old former military intelligence chief was appointed head of the armed forces and defence minister by Mohamed Morsi in August 2012.
But after mass protests demanding Mohamed Morsi’s resignation took place on the first anniversary of his taking office, it was the field marshal who gave the president an ultimatum that he would have to satisfy the public’s demands or see the army step in.
Lorde proved that she really is just a typical teenager by sharing her acne-fighting skin care routine on Instagram.
Lorde, 17, shared a picture of her bare face with the captation: “In bed in Paris with my acne cream on.” Wearing her hair up in a bun and a black T-shirt, the precocious New Zealand singer took a closeup photo of her face with spots of a blemish-fighting treatment on chin and cheeks.
Lorde proved that she really is just a typical teenager by sharing her acne-fighting skin care routine on Instagram
Last month, rumors and speculation abounded online that Lorde (real name Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O’Connor) wasn’t actually 17, based on her more mature appearance. To prove the “Lorde age truthers” wrong, The Hairpin website then published Lorde’s birth certificate that listed her birthdate as November 7, 1996.
India’s lower house of parliament erupted in mayhem after a legislator used pepper spray to disrupt proceedings.
The MP from the governing Congress party, L Rajagopal, was protesting against a plan to create the new state of Telangana in southern India.
Some members had to be taken to hospital. L Rajagopal was suspended along with several other MPs.
The parliament has often witnessed unruly scenes but what happened on Thursday morning is unprecedented.
L Rajagopal smashed a glass and used pepper spray on his colleagues when Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde tried to table the bill to create Telangana, which will be carved out of Andhra Pradesh state.
Some unconfirmed reports said another legislator pulled out a knife. Several other MPs were reportedly involved in clashes with their opponents.
India’s lower house of parliament erupted in mayhem after a legislator used pepper spray to disrupt proceedings
The Press Trust of India (PTI) reported that four ambulances were called in and an unspecified number of members of parliament were taken to hospital.
Indian television showed members of parliament leaving the colonial-era building coughing and spluttering, some wiping their eyes.
“Members tried to use gas in the house… gas the house… I did not see, but I am informed that there was a knife, there was gas, there were other kinds of weapons,” PTI quoted Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath as saying.
“The circumstances and incidents which took place in the house are a big blot on our parliamentary democracy,” he added.
The entire session of the current parliament – which began on February 5 – has been disrupted by those against the creation of Telangana.
Telangana, with a population of 35 million, would comprise 10 of Andhra Pradesh’s 23 districts, including the city of Hyderabad.
Backers of the new state say the area has been neglected by the government.
Those against the idea are unhappy that Hyderabad, home to many major information technology and pharmaceutical companies, would become a shared state capital for 10 years after which it would remain with Telangana while Andhra Pradesh would have to develop a new capital.
Last month, lawmakers of the Congress party, which governs Andhra Pradesh, opposed a proposal to split the state.
The French emergency services found the dead bodies of a woman of 94 and a man of 55 locked in an embrace in the flat they shared in Bordeaux.
The authorities entered the flat after being alerted by a caretaker, whose suspicions were aroused by the smell on the stairs, local media say.
They had lived together for five years or more, since the woman took the man in from a life on the streets.
When a fall two years ago largely confined her to the flat, he stayed on.
Forensics experts believe the man, Didier Delavigne, died first and the woman, Elisabeth Devidas, died shortly afterwards, the French newspaper Sud Ouest reports.
The woman was found on Monday afternoon with her arm wrapped around her companion in their bed in the flat, close to Bordeaux railway station.
The French emergency services found the dead bodies of a woman of 94 and a man of 55 locked in an embrace in the flat they shared in Bordeaux
People who knew them told the paper they had made an “odd couple of iconoclasts”, walking hand in hand in the street at the start of their relationship.
“They say he was homeless and you could smell the wine from 10 metres away,” Heri Rananaivoson, the caretaker, recalled of Didier Delavigne, when he first made his appearance six or seven years ago.
But he seems to have changed after he met Elisabeth Devidas, for whom he initially ran errands before moving in.
“I saw him on the mend,” said Heri Rananaivoson.
“He stopped smelling of alcohol.”
The last time he saw Didier Delavigne, at the beginning of the month, he was “looking well”.
Mila Kunis arranged a surprise bash for Ashton Kutcher’s 36th birthday at La Poubelle restaurant in Hollywood on Saturday night.
“It was very small. Ashton has been going there for year and years,” an insider exclusively told Us Weekly.
“It’s one of his favorite spots, like home, so it was comfortable and they were well taken care of.”
Mila Kunis arranged a surprise bash for Ashton Kutcher’s 36th birthday at La Poubelle restaurant in Hollywood
Ashton Kutcher’s friends also helped to rent out the place for the night.
“They had been planning it for awhile. Ashton didn’t want a huge thing but they got a good group together,” the source added.
“He’s certainly changed from how he used to like to party years ago. This was more of a wholesome situation. They had a great time.”
The witness added that the couple of nearly two years “looked romantic together” as they feasted on T-bone steak, shells and cheese with lobster, quail, braised rib and short rib at the French bistro.
Prince William and his ex-girlfriend Jessica “Jecca” Craig reunited during a hunting trip in Spain taken last weekend with a group of pals.
According to Us Weekly, while Prince William went on hunting trip, Kate Middleton and their son Prince George stayed home in London.
Jecca Craig and Prince William were photographed on February 6, joking and chatting animatedly together along with a bunch of pals, including Prince Harry, arriving at the Seville airport.
Jecca Craig attended the royal wedding back in 2011 with boyfriend Captain Philip Kaye
Prince William led the pack of hunters with Jessica Craig, who looked casual in jeans, chucks and a green utility jacket. The troupe then took a helicopter to the countryside property of the Duke of Westminster to “shoot wild boar and stag”, the insider told Us Weekly.
Jecca Craig and Prince William were linked during his years at Eton, when the two were teens, and remained good friends in the years following. She even attended the royal wedding back in 2011 with boyfriend Captain Philip Kaye.
Prince William’s recent hunting trip has enraged animal rights advocates.
Senator Rand Paul sued the Obama administration Wednesday over the NSA’s mass collection of millions of Americans’ phone records.
Rand Paul , a possible Republican presidential candidate, said he and the conservative activist group FreedomWorks filed the suit for themselves and on behalf of “everyone in America that has a phone”.
The lawsuit argues that the bulk collection program that’s been in existence since 2006 violates the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. It calls for an end to the program, which was revealed by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden.
The Obama administration maintains that the program, begun under President George W. Bush, is legal. Courts have largely sided with the government.
Rand Paul sued the Obama administration over the NSA’s mass collection of millions of Americans’ phone records
President Barack Obama has called for reforms to the program in an effort to regain public trust. Others, like Rand Paul, have called for the end of this kind of surveillance.
Rand Paul dodged a question about his presidential ambitions during a news conference Wednesday. But his lawsuit is the latest effort to propel the debate over the once-secret surveillance program into the 2016 presidential campaign.
The surveillance debate has exposed intra-party tensions for Republicans. The party split on this issue between its leadership, which backs the program on security grounds, and libertarian-minded members who are more wary of government involvement in Americans’ private lives.
The Republican National Committee last month approved a resolution to end the surveillance programs. While some Republicans played down its significance, the nonbinding vote was seen as a nod to Republicans like Rand Paul.
The White House and Justice Department did not comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said they believe the bulk collection of phone records is legal.
