New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) Bollywood star Aamir Khan had promised his fans that he will stop smoking after the release of his home production 'Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na'. The movie has been released and is declared a hit, but he is not able to keep himself away from smoking.

Aamir made a honest confession on his blog that he has begun smoking again and wrote: 'Bear with me folks, I'll give up once 'Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na' releases.'

Aamir posted this on his blog site www.aamirkhan.com June 18.

'Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na', debut vehicle of Amair's nephew Imran Khan, hit the marquee on July 4 and got overwhelming response at the ticket window. But the star has failed to keep his promise.

The actor was allegedly seen smoking while he was in the capital for a live-dial on Hindi news channel. The actor went out to an adjacent office complex to smoke since smoking was not allowed within the premises.

'Aamir was here to talk about his film 'Jaane Tu...' and went outside to smoke since it was not allowed within the office area,' a well-placed source told IANS.

Source: Yahoo news

Women feel bad about having one-night stands – and will consider romping with a man only if they think there is a chance it will lead to a long-term relationship, according to a new research.

According to Professor Anne Campbell from Durham University in the UK, the negative feelings reported by women after one-night stands suggest that they are not well adapted to fleeting sexual encounters.

Men are more likely to reproduce and therefore to benefit from numerous short-term partners.

For women, however, quality seems to be more important than quantity. Also for women, finding partners of high genetic quality is a stronger motivator than sheer number, and it is commonly believed that women are more willing to have casual sex when there is a chance of forming a long-term relationship.

In the research, Campbell looked at whether women have adapted to casual sex by examining their feelings following a one-night stand. If women have adapted, then although they may take part in casual sex less often than men because of their stricter criteria when selecting partners, they should rate the experience positively.

To test the theory, a total of 1743 men and women who had experienced a one-night stand were asked to rate both their positive and negative feelings the following morning, in an internet survey.

Overall women’s feelings were more negative than men’s. Eighty per cent of men had overall positive feelings about the experience compared to 54 per cent of women.

The study found that men were more likely than women to secretly want their friends to hear about it and to feel successful because the partner was desirable to others.

The predominant negative feeling reported by women was regret at having been “used”. Women were also more likely to feel that they had let themselves down and were worried about the potential damage to their reputation if other people found out.

Women found the experience less sexually satisfying and, contrary to popular belief, they did not seem to view taking part in casual sex as a prelude to long-term relationships.

The study is published in the June issue of Springer’s journal, Human Nature.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=dfeda213-a5a7-4c4b-b498-0fe5fb0db998&&Headline=Women+can%e2%80%99t+stand+one-night+stands

NEW DELHI: With increasing number of women climbing the competitive corporate ladder, companies seem to be leaving no stone unturned to lure them and are even offering existing employees an additional bonus as much as 25 per cent for referring a female employee.

The latest trend for India Inc is that it seems to be taking in larger women workforce as they bring their own perspective for things and have emerged as better professionals in any situations, experts say.

"Women bring in their own perspectives and also a diverse set of views to flow onto the table. We are giving a lot of preference to women and give them equal opportunities in all programmes," Oil exploration and production firm Cairn India director (HR and administration) P Senthil Kumar said.

Companies have also introduced certain women-centric incentives in order to attract more females to join the companies.

There is a lot of importance for cultural values in our country and that is one of the main reasons, we are providing more flexibility for women at work. Due to our initiatives, the population of female employees in the company has gone up to about 21 per cent last year as compared to just 13 per cent in 2004, information technology provider CSCs Associate Director (Human Resources) Anuj Kumar said.

Apart from flexible working hours, CSC has also an exclusive website for its women employees called Planet W. The site acts as a discussion forum to exchange ideas and get useful tips on diverse issues.

According to Kumar, the CSC's website was launched somewhere in August 2006 and has gone down well with the firms employees. Moreover, different courses on dieting and personal grooming are also offered for the fairer sex, he added.

Further, the company also provides regular health check-ups including those for screening breast cancer.

Majority of the firms in the country empathise with female employees and are also given different kinds of incentives. In many cases, female employees are considered to be better professionals, said Anand Varadarajan, a partner at Mumbai-based management consultancy firm ESP Consultant India Pvt Ltd.

Further, women are also recruited for operations side than just technical work, Senthil Kumar added.

Recently, internet major Yahoo! had launched an exclusive website for women. The site offers nine categories ranging from food, parenting to fashion and beauty. It also provides a blog platform for the users to share their thoughts.

You can count on us to bring attitude and personality and find humour in almost every topic we cover, Yahoo! Editor-in-Chief Shine Brandon Holley had said in a statement.

http://www.utvi.com/reports.php?article_id=112

Britain will honour Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and Formula one racing driver Lewis Hamilton for their contribution to the 'diversity agenda'.

Shetty will be presented with the Global Diversity Award-2008 at a glittering gala at the Riverbank Park Plaza hotel hosted by the Next Steps Foundation, tonight.

Shetty rose to fame last year after she was subjected to racist remarks and subsequent humiliation by some participants in the popular television reality show 'Big Brother'. She was praised universally for showing restraint and handling the issue with poise and dignity.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Any Burnham will be prominent among the 500 attending the event.

The event will highlight the European Year of Intercultural dialogue, an EU Commission initiative that invites EU nations to celebrate diversity in Europe.

MP Keith Vaz, Patron of the Next Steps Foundation and UK Ambassador for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue said, "I am very pleased that we are able to honour two such important contributors to the diversity and equality agenda in the UK and across the world. Both have faced adversity in their careers but have dealt with it with grace and dignity."

"I am delighted that we will be joined by two Cabinet Ministers. This signifies the importance with which they regard the issue of diversity."

"European champions will also be appointed during the evening. These are people who will be able to spread the message of what this year means for Europe. I hope that this evening helps to raise awareness," He added.

Source:http://www.utvi.com/reports.php?article_id=5317

Octogenarian Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Jyoti Basu attends celebrations to mark his 95th birthday in Calcutta.

Comminists withdraw their support to UPA Govt.

Source:HT

The Congress is counting on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and a bunch of small parties to pull the government through during the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha. But there are already indications that such support will not come easy, cheap or early.

Within hours of the Left announcing the pullout, one of these potential kingmakers, the two-MP JD(S), announced it would take a final decision on supporting the government only on the day before the trust vote. Another, the three-MP TRS, wanted the Centre to start the process for carving out a separate Telangana state. And the SP said it had kept its side of the agreement by pledging support to the government; it now expected the government to do its bit.

Congress floor managers on Tuesday spoke about having 236 members on the coalition’s side, and getting another 39 from the SP, taking its support past the magic figure of 272. But it was clear that the Congress could not take anyone for granted. The challenge will be to muster the numbers and keep its flock together in a situation where smaller parties increasingly figure they could be the only ones standing between the government staying or going.

The first sign of the difficulty of the task came from former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda. Even as Congress managers counted the JD(S) as a firm ally, Deve Gowda declared his two MPs would make a decision only on the eve of the trust vote.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who had earlier walked out of the UPA over the Centre’s reluctance to create Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh, laid down the condition for his backing: “We are ready to support,” Rao said. “(But) we want an announcement by the PMO in addition to a public statement by the Prime Minister (on the creation of Telangana) before lending our support”.

SP leader Amar Singh, who could deliver up to 39 MPs, made it a point to emphasise that his party would extend only issue-based, outside support to the government.

“We have responded to the request of the prime minister and now we hope that the PM will respond to our economic grievances,” Amar Singh said. The SP has made no secret of its desire to have a consultation mechanism to keep the party in the loop before the government takes a view on important policy issues.

Thupstan Chhewang, MP from Ladakh, is also expected to throw his weight behind the government. Apart from him, the Congress is counting on two other Independents, and some smaller parties.

In an indication of this uncertainty, the government is keeping the door open to seek support from parties that have not been on its side for many years. That these parties may not be averse to playing ball was apparent in the statement of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. “I am not committing support to them nor ruling out,” Omar said, adding that his party did not yet know enough about the implications of the deal to take a position.

Source: HT

Against the backdrop of the political turmoil in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday discussed progress on the Indo-US nuclear deal with President George W Bush who said the deal is important for both the countries.

Meeting in Hotel Windsor on Mount Poromoi hours before the Left parties would be withdrawing support on the nuclear deal, both Singh and Bush expressed mutual admiration for each other and spoke of the need for closer relationship between the two countries.

After their 50-minute meeting, the two leaders appeared before press in a relaxed mood and displayed lot of personal warmth.

The turbulent political developments back home did not appear to have any impact on the Prime Minister, who has staked a great deal on the nuclear agreement, when Singh said he was satisfied about the state of bilateral relationship which has truly acquired the characteristics of a genuine strategic partnership.

The leaders made the remarks after a meeting but took no questions.

Bush, who first spoke, said "We talked about the nuclear deal, how important it is for our respective countries."

Singh in his remarks did not refer to the deal but said the two countries have made progress in all areas including nuclear, defence, space co-operation and education exchanges.

The Prime Minister said the two leaders reviewed the state of Indo-American relations. "I'm very happy to convey to the President that our relationship has moved forward since our first meeting in July 2005 (when they okayed the nuclear deal). We have made progress in all areas. We have made progress in nuclear co-operation, defence co-operation and space co-operation and in educational exchanges.

Singh said India and US are working together in multilateral institutions for the success of Doha round.

"I'm satisfied about our state of relationship which has truly acquired the characteristics of a genuine strategic partnership.

"I thank the president for his personal and magnificent role in the evolution of our relationship. All I can say is our relationship has never been in such good shape as it is today.

"It is the intention of my government as I believe it is also the will of the Indian people, particularly the thinking sessions of the people that in this increasingly inter-dependent world that we live in whether it is the question of climate change and global economy, India and US must stand tall and work together shoulder to shoulder..That is what is going to be."

Bush described the meeting with Singh as a conversation among friends. "We talked about opportunities and problems and demonstrated our mutual respect. I respect the prime minister a lot. I also respect India a lot," he said, adding he and Singh discussed how important it was for the two countries to work together.

"The US is keen to work as friends with India in solving problems. The two countries should continue to work as friends," Bush said.

He said the two leaders talked about environment, free trade and the Doha round of negotiations.
"We discussed how important it is for the India and US to work together to find a common ground to make sure protectionist sentiments don't grow as a wall."

Bush reminded the prime minister that Indo-American population is proud of this relationship and his leadership.
"I'm proud of leadership of the prime minister. All in all, it was a good conversation between friends. I congratulate the prime minister," the US president said.

Source: HT