Los Angeles: The dystopian universe of “The Hunger Games” returns to cinema screens Monday, aiming to harness the star power of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and convey an unambiguous message of youthful rebellion. After the phenomenal success in 2012 of the first film adapted from Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of novels, Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen, the teenage heroine pitched into a deadly battle for survival in the macabre post-apocalyptic kingdom of Panem. Produced by Lionsgate studio, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will be looking to match the stellar performance of the first installment of the franchise, which took in $693 million worldwide last year. The film makes its global premiere in...
November 12, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Tehran: The United States said Monday no state has the existing right to enrich uranium, as Iran and the UN watchdog agreed on a “roadmap for cooperation” over its nuclear programme. As France said world powers were still close to an agreement with Iran on its disputed nuclear drive, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Islamic republic of scuttling the latest efforts to end the deadlock. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, the top US diplomat insisted a deal with Iran would protect Israel and America’s Gulf allies, saying “war should be the last resort” and that no state has “existing right to enrich”. “The P5+1 was unified on Saturday when we presented our proposal to the Iranians… But Ira...
November 12, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Washington: Google’s flagship device Google Nexus 5 is now available at T-Mobile in its retail stores on November 20 for $450. Google started selling the unlocked Nexus 5 through its online store on Oct. 31 and quickly sold out of its initial supply of the handset. It is currently listing the 16GB model as being available to ship in 3 – 4 weeks. If that’s too long of a wait and you’re a T-Mobile customer, you’ll be happy to know that the carrier has just announced its launch plans for Google’s new flagship smartphone. T-Mobile will begin taking orders for the Nexus 5 online beginning on Nov. 14 and will have it in its retail stores on Nov. 20. The carrier will be charging $41.99 down with 24 equal month...
November 11, 2013 at 1:50 am | News Desk
Tehran: Diplomats insisted Sunday they were closing in on an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear programme despite the failure to clinch a long-sought deal in high-profile, marathon negotiations in Geneva. Israel meanwhile doubled down on efforts to avert a “bad deal,” as Tehran insisted it would not abandon its “right” to enrichment and Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was neither “blind” nor “stupid” about the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions. Hopes had soared after top world diplomats rushed to Geneva to join the talks, but then faded as cracks began to appear among world powers when France raised concerns over a heavy water reactor being built at Arak. But diploma...
November 11, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
Frankfurt: Legendary Swedish pop group ABBA could reunite next year to mark the 40th anniversary since they won the Eurovision Song Contest and were catapulted to global stardom, singer Agnetha Faltskog revealed on Sunday. “Of course it’s something we’re thinking about,” 63-year-old Faltskog told the German weekly Welt am Sonntag in an interview. “There seem to be plans to do something to mark this anniversary in some way. But I can’t say at this point what will come of them,” she said. ABBA formed in 1972 when Faltskog met guitarist and songwriter Bjorn Ulvaeus — whom she later married — and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Visitors sing karaoke with giant holograms of members of...
November 11, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
Helsinki: In just five years Nokia fell from dominating the mobile phone industry to abandoning the handset business, a swift fall from grace with lessons for market leaders. The story of Nokia, now at the toughest stage of the restructuring cycle, is a particularly salutary business case about the fast-moving, high-risk, high-reward, tech sector for hip consumer goods. The rapid decline, which is ending with the 5.44 billion euro ($7.5 billion) sale of the mobile phone division to Microsoft, owed much to Nokia growing too big, too fast and its management getting drunk on their own success, analysts say. Looking back after years of Apple iPhone dominance, some may have difficulty in recalling that Nokia, in its heyday in 2007 took more than...
November 11, 2013 at 1:03 am | News Desk
JUGON-LES-LACS (France): French riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of anti-tax demonstrators in northwest France on Saturday after protesters pelted them and tried to drive a tractor through a barricade, an AFP photographer said. One demonstrator was arrested in Jugon-les-Lacs, a commune in the Cotes-d’Armor region where some 700 people had gathered earlier in the day. A security camera was torched and some protesters pelted police, who responded with tear gas. Demonstrators chanted slogans against France’s Socialist government, which earlier this month suspended the application of the so-called ecotax. “People struggle to pay their bills at the end of the month, and now we’re going to ecotax them” said one...
November 10, 2013 at 1:13 am | News Desk
Quito: Think Galapagos and you think nature in its most pristine expression. But the destructive weather phenomenon called El Nino turns coral reefs there a sickly white and sea iguanas scrawny. And now, in an unprecedented experiment, scientists using unmanned submarines in the waters off the Ecuadoran archipelago are probing whether global warming is related to El Nino. There is not yet conclusive evidence of a link. But experts are very serious about the possibility that climate change is making El Nino — unusually warm water in the Pacific off the west coast of South America — more frequent and more intense. For hundreds of years, the weather system at the Galapagos did not have to worry about global warming, said Eduardo Es...
November 10, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Tacloban (Philippines): One of the most powerful typhoons in history is believed to have killed 1,200 people in the Philippines, the Red Cross Saturday, as rescue workers raced to reach towns devastated by tsunami-like waves. A day after Super Typhoon Haiyan whipped across the central Philippines with maximum sustained winds of around 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour, a picture emerged of entire communities having been flattened. Authorities said that, aside from the ferocious winds, storm surges of up to three metres (10 feet) high that swept into coastal towns and deep inland were responsible for destroying countless homes. “Imagine a strip one kilometre deep inland from the shore, and all the shanties, everything, destroyed,&rdqu...
November 10, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Geneva: If world powers and Iran fail to reach a hoped-for deal Saturday over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, a new round of talks will be held in seven or 10 days, Iran’s foreign minister said. “If we do not reach an agreement tonight, the talks will be resumed in the next seven or 10 days,” Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency IRNA. Iranian officials had previously said the talks were unlikely to continue Sunday, but could move on to another round if they did not finish on Saturday. US Secretary of State John Kerry (2L), EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (C) and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (2R) in Geneva Zarif’s comments followed initial optimism after...
November 10, 2013 at 1:01 am | News Desk
Pakistan Rupee Exchange Rate