AAMIR ALL SET TO BE FATHER AGAIN

Apparently, his wife Kiran Rao is three months pregnant


Kiran was recently admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in South Mumbai for fever, where it was discovered that she is pregnant.

Sources at the hospital, where she is consulting a doctor for her pregnancy
, reveal that Rao was admitted on May 31 for fever. "She was admitted to the fourth floor of the old hospital building. She was in the hospital for a week," said a source, on the condition of anonymity.

The source also confirmed that tests revealed Rao was three months pregnant and added, "During the hospitalisation, Aamir would visit her everyday. He used to come in late at night, after 9pm. It was obvious that he did not want any attention. During the week-long hospitalisation, the cause for fever could not be diagnosed, but it was treated. At the time of discharge, the pregnancy was normal and there was no reason to worry."

Aamir Khan remained unavailable for comment. This will be Aamir's third child after son Junaid and daughter Ira from his first marriage to Reena Dutta. He divorced Reena in December 2002 before remarrying in December 2005. Ever since, there have been rumours about Kiran’s pregnancy, but this time the rumours are true.

KARNATAKA POLICE CLUELESS ABOUT MISSING SCIENTIST

BANGALORE: Police Friday admitted that they hadn't made any progress in the operation that was launched a day before to find a missing senior scientific officer of the state-run Kaiga atomic plant in coastal Karnataka.

"We're yet to get any credible clue to track the missing scientist. The operation is on and hopefully we'll soon make some positive progress in our operation," Uttara Kannada District Superintendent of Police Raman Gupta said on phone from Kaiga, about 500 km from here.

L. Mahalingam, 47, a senior scientific officer working with Kaiga atomic power plant for the last 10 years, left home Monday morning for a walk but did not return. His wife Vinayakar Sundari lodged a missing complaint with the police on Monday evening.

A special search team was formed on Thursday to find the scientist.

"We're leaving no stone unturned to trace the scientist but the geography of the area is posing as a hindrance in our investigations. It is not easy to find a person in the deep forests," said Gupta.

Kaiga township is surrounded by the 1,000-acre Mallapur forest, where the police is currently carrying on their search operation.

Moreover, due to seasonal heavy rains, police personnel are finding it hard to negotiate a swelling Kali river in the Western Ghats, adjoining the township.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel stationed at the atomic power plant and forest guards are also assisting the police in their combing operations.

The police had already searched for Mahalingam in the 100-acre Kaiga township but failed to trace him.

JYOTI, WORLD'S SMALLEST TEENAGER

Jyoti, who is half the size of her two-year-old nephew, is treated as a celebrity in her home town of Nagpur.
She weights 12lbs - only 9lbs more than her weight at birth - and stands 1ft 11ins tall.
Jyoti, who is set to feature on Channel 4's Bodyshock programme on June 11, dreams of becoming an actress and is believed by many to be the reincarnation of a goddess.
"When I tell people my age they don't believe me," she said, "When I was three I realised that I was different to the rest of the kids.
"I thought that everyone was bigger and I should get bigger too."
She has her own mini grey uniform and school bag and even a tiny desk. But she looks like a doll next to her teenage classmates.
"I am proud of being the smallest girl. I love all the attention I get," she said. "I'm not scared of being small, and I don't regret being small.
"I am sure there are many people in this world who are dwarves like me. I'm just the same as other people. I eat like you, dream like you. I don't feel any different."
Jyoti insists on living as normal a life as possible including going to the local school.
"I used to get stressed and couldn't go out much but now I like going out and speaking to people," she said, "When I first went to school everyone was so big I used to get scared but I'm okay now, I like it. I have a different desk and chair that were made for me. I'm a normal student.
"I would like to be an actress when I grow up. My dream is to do films. Amge has already had a taste of fame in a pop video for Indian star Mika Singh."
Doctors believe Jyoti is a pituitary dwarf but have never been able to pinpoint her condition.

SYMONDS LOSES AUSTRALIA CONTRACT

SYDNEY: The prospects of Andrew Symonds rekindling his international career were dealt another blow on Friday when he was officially stripped of his playing contract for next season.
Symonds was one of 25 elite Australian players offered playing contracts for the 2009-10 season, starting next month, but the offer was revoked after he was sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup in England for disciplinary reasons.

Australia's national selectors announced on Friday that they were offering the contract intended for Symonds to fast bowler Shaun Tait, who was considered unlucky to miss out on the original roster.

"With Cricket Australia now withdrawing its previous contract offer to Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait has moved into a position where he has been offered a CA contract offer for 2009-10 under the rankings system CA uses to offer contracts to players," Australia's chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said in a statement.

"Shaun at his best is an important part of our One-Day International and Twenty20 make-up and I'm sure he will now seize the opportunity presented to him with this offer of a further Australian contract."

Local media have speculated that Symonds would soon announce his retirement from international cricket and quit Australia to focus on the lucrative Indian Premier League after he was sent home in disgrace for an alcohol-related incident in London.

Symonds has not yet made any decisions about his future but told reporters on his arrival home that he would make an announcement soon.

The 33-year-old has been dogged by off-field problems during his international career and only recently rejoined the team after undergoing counseling for alcohol problems.

Symonds revealed last year that he had started drinking heavily to cope with the pressure of constantly being in the spotlight as a professional sportsman.

Australia officials said the latest incident was relatively minor but they had no alternative other than to send him home because of his long record of ill-discipline.

MINISTER OFFERS 42 CRORES TO TIRUPATI

TIRUPATI: Karnataka tourism minister and Bellary mine baron Gali Janardhan Reddy will probably be better known for something else: with an offering of a diamond-studded crown worth Rs 42 crore, he became the biggest donor to Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati since the Vijayanagara kings 400 years ago.

The 20-kg stunner was a thanksgiving gesture, the minister said. Sources added that 32kg of `aparanji (pure)' gold went into its making, besides 70,000 diamonds weighing 4,000 carats. The 2.5-ft crown has a huge 890-carat emerald from Africa engraved in the centre which alone costs around Rs 10 crore.

The crown will be placed the Lord's idol during Abhishekam seva on Friday morning. It was earlier kept in the Vaibhavotsava Mandapam in Tirumala and special pujas were performed. After a ritual called Sahasra Deepalankara seva, it was taken around on a procession along with the deity, Lord Malayappa Swamy. Around 7pm, the crown was taken inside the sanctum sanctorum.

Keertilal Jewellers of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu took nine months to fashion the crown.

There are no records of more expensive donations to the temple and Gali's donation is considered as the costliest gift offered to the Lord after the Vijayanagara kings in the 16th century. The Vijayanagara kings ruled from Hampi not far from modern day Bellary.

With this offering, the total number of crowns placed with the Lord has gone up to seven. This precious crown has been added to the jewel treasury of Lord which holds over 11 tonnes of gold ornaments and vessels.

``I am in this position only with the blessings of Lord Venkateswara. This is only a small offering to the Lord. I believe in Madhava seva (service to the Lord),'' said Gali, who owns several iron ore mines.
The minister said his Brahmani Steels, once it starts operation, would employ 25,000 people. ``This I consider as manava seva (service to mankind),'' he said. Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy's son Jagan has a large stake in Brahmani Steel that is coming up in the Andhra chief minister's home district.

SLUMDOG STAR KID GETS NEW HOME ..BUT WITH A RIDER

Mumbai: The makers of the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire have bought a new home for one of the two child stars discovered in Mumbai's slums.

Both children lost their homes last month when authorities demolished parts of their slum.
The purchase of a 250-square-foot (23-square-meter) one-bedroom apartment for the family of Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 10, was completed Monday, said Nirja Mattoo, who helps oversee the Jai Ho trust set up by the filmmakers to help Azharuddin and his 9-year-old co-star Rubina Ali.
"They can move in," Mattoo told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
"I'm just waiting for their consent."

Ownership of the tiny apartment, which cost about 25 lakh Indian rupees ($50,000), will be transferred from the trust to Azharuddin when he turns 18, provided he completes school, Mattoo said.
"He has to complete an education. We are very clear about that," she said. She declined to say what would happen to the property if he does not finish school.
The apartment is located in Santa Cruz West, a suburb of Mumbai just north of the slum where the two children now live.
Mattoo said the trust is actively looking for a new home for Rubina.

The government has also started the process of giving both children apartments, and the family of Azharuddin, known as Azhar, hopes to get both, his mother said.
"After Azhar is grown up, he can stay in one," said Shameem Ismail. "Me and my husband can stay in the other. Both houses are small."
On Tuesday, Azhar's family toured the apartment the government has offered them in Malvani, on the northern outskirts of Mumbai. Ismail described the flat as "small but good."
"The only problem is it's far away from Azhar's school," she said. Azhar said he likes both houses.
"I'll take my friends to visit," he said, squatting with two friends in front of his shanty roasting jackfruit seeds in a fire built from old newspapers and sticks. The boys said they'd miss him.

PRABHAKARAN WAS TORTURED BEFORE BEING KILLED, SAYS REPORT

New Delhi: Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was tortured by the Sri Lankan military before being killed, a leading human rights body said in a report released on Wednesday.
The University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) quoted high-level military sources as saying that Prabhakaran was tortured in the presence of "a Tamil government politician and a general".

The torture, it said, took place probably at the headquarters of the army's 53 Division, which battled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before crushing it last month.

"Several army sources have said that Prabhakaran's (younger) 12-year-old son Balachandran was killed after capture. Our (sources) said that he was killed in front of his father," said UTHR, which has always been critical of excesses both by the military and the LTTE.

"These sources added that this information is correct unless officers at the highest level are fibbing to one another.

"Our sources in addition to several others have said that all the LTTE persons remaining in the NFZ (No Fire Zone) were massacred," it added in a 48-page report, an advance copy of which was made available to IANS.

Sri Lanka announced on May 18 that Prabhakaran, founder leader of the LTTE, was killed in a lonely coastal stretch in the northeastern district of Mullaitivu where the Tigers had massed their forces before going down.

His body was put on display, placed on a stretcher, the back of the head blown off.

Sri Lankan minister Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, a former confidant of Prabhakaran, had said that the LTTE chief was shot dead with 18 of his guards.

Prabhakaran's death marked the end of the LTTE's dragging conflict that claimed 90,000 lives since 1983.

UTHR said: "Information seeping into the public domain from within the army points to capture or surrender, but the official responses dismissing this are a rehash of stories that public no longer finds credible. It is left to an impartial enquiry to answer this and related questions."

UTHR pointed out that the government was evasive about the fate of Prabhakaran's wife Mathivathani.

It quotes a brigadier as saying: "We had to look for Prabhakaran's body because the world was interested in seeing it. But the body of his wife is not of any importance to us."

The UTHR report said: "That would be the fate of the unknown hundreds of civilians and militants killed in those last days (of fighting)."

According to the report, among the LTTE leaders who surrendered to the army included Baby Subramaniam, a member of the group since 1976 and one of Prabhakaran's oldest associates.

Others reportedly now in government custody included former eastern province political leader Karikalan, former spokesman Yogaratnam Yogi, former head of the LTTE international secretariat Lawrence Thilakar, political advisor V. Balakumar, Jaffna leader Ilamparithi and Trincomalee political leader Elilan.