Foreign journalists expelled from Tibet

China has expelled journalists from Lhasa in Tibet and suspended permits for foreigners to travel to the region.

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association has issued a statement saying reporters from at least six Hong Kong media groups were ordered to leave Lhasa by plane.

The association called the expulsion unacceptable and said it contravened new government regulations allowing greater access for foreign journalists prior to this year's Beijing Olympics.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said it had details of two dozen foreign reporters who were expelled from Lhasa and other Tibetan areas.

Some reporters were told they were barred due to police action, the club said.

Extended government censorship of the Internet and international television broadcasts since the protests began last week was also hampering journalists, it said.

The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reported that staff from international non-governmental organizations were also ordered to leave Lhasa by Monday, raising fears that troops could toughen their crackdown on the protestors once a deadline for protestors to surrender passed at midnight Monday.

Spitzer call girl, an aspiring singer, says she’s no monster

NEW YORK, MARCH 13: She left a broken home on the Jersey Shore at 17 and came to New York City to work the nightclubs as a rhythm and blues singer. Now, at 22, she is the unwitting, and as yet unseen, star of the seamy drama that is the downfall of Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York.

Kristen, the prostitute described in a federal affidavit as having had a rendezvous with Spitzer on February 13 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, has spent the last few days in her ninth-floor apartment in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. On Monday, she made a brief appearance in federal court, where a lawyer was appointed to represent her. She is expected to be a witness in the case against four people charged with operating a prostitution ring called the Emperor’s Club VIP.

In a series of telephone interviews on Tuesday night, she said she had slept very little over the past week, with all the stress of the case.

“I just don’t want to be thought of as a monster,” the woman said as she told the tiniest tidbits of her story.

Born Ashley Youmans but now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré, she spoke softly and with good humor as she added with significant understatement: “This has been a very difficult time. It is complicated.”

She has not been charged. The lawyer appointed to represent her, Don D Buchwald, told a magistrate judge in court on Monday that she had been subpoenaed to testify in a grand jury investigation. Asked to swear that she had accurately filled out and signed a financial affidavit, she responded affirmatively.

A person with knowledge of the Emperor’s Club operation confirmed that the woman interviewed by The New York Times was the woman identified as Kristen in the affidavit. Buchwald confirmed various details of Dupré’s background but would not discuss the contents of the affidavit.

Dupré said by telephone Tuesday night that she was worried about how she would pay her rent since the man she was living with “walked out on me” after she discovered he had fathered two children. She said she was considering working at a friend’s restaurant or, once her apartment lease expires, moving back with her family in New Jersey “to relax.”

She did not say when she had started working for the Emperor’s Club, or how often she had liaisons arranged through the ring. Asked when she met Governor Spitzer and how many times they had seen each other, Dupré said she had no comment.

Music is her first love, and on the MySpace page, Ms. Dupré mentions Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra, Christina Aguilera and Lauryn Hill among a long list of influences, including her brother, Kyle. (She also lists Whitney Houston, Madonna, Mary J. Blige and Amy Winehouse as her top MySpace friends.) In the interview, she said she saw the Rolling Stones perform at Radio City Music Hall on their last tour after a friend gave her two tickets. “They were amazing,” she said.

On MySpace, her page says: “I am all about my music and my music is all about me. It flows from what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen and how I feel.”

She left “a broken family” at age 17, having been abused, according to the MySpace page, and has used drugs and “been broke and homeless.”

“Learned what it was like to have everything and lose it, again and again,” she writes. “Learned what it was like to wake up one day and have the people you care about most gone.

“But I made it,” she continues. “I’m still here and I love who I am. If I never went through the hard times, I would not be able to appreciate the good ones. Cliché, yes, but I know it’s true.”

Dupré’s mother, Carolyn Capalbo, 46, said that after her daughter finished sophomore year in high school, Dupré moved to North Carolina. “She was a young kid with typical teenage rebellion issues, but we are extremely close now,” Capalbo said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Fibre goes green at fashion week

News Clip, NEW DELHI:

The so-called 'shallow' fashion fraternity is becoming environment conscious - as many as nine designers will showcase eco-friendly collections during the India Fashion Week.

The 11th edition of the fashion extravaganza is scheduled for March 12-16 at Pragati Maidan.

Intending to contribute their bit in protecting the planet, designers Charu Parashar, Shubhra, Khushali Kumar, Amit GT, Rahul Reddy, Abhijeet Khanna, Ekta and Ruchira, Alpana & Neeraj of the label 'Azara' and Ashish, Viral and Vikrant of 'Virtues' will display outfits made up of Birla Cellulose, an environment-friendly fibre.

"We have always innovated fibres which are in harmony with nature. Designers using heavy metal free fibres for their collections would promote eco-fashion," said Vijay Kaul, chief marketing officer, Fibre Business, Aditya Birla Group.

"It would encourage more designers to embrace green fashion across the country and help conserve the environment," Kaul said. Their fibre is biodegradable.

Though eco-fashion will burn a deeper hole in the pockets of customers, style gurus say the fibre will be a huge hit.

"For such a vital cause - saving mother earth - money becomes secondary. When one doesn't mind splurging on other luxury items, why not for a cause of the highest order?" asked Parashar.

"Moreover the fabric is just magical, it falls beautifully and is very comfortable. Apart from silhouettes I have also done a lot of furnishings. There is an array of choices for customers and I am sure they will fall in love with it," she added.

Said Kumar: "It is interesting to experiment with fabrics."

The creative experts said that the 'magic fibre' promises good business.

"Natural fabrics are a huge hit abroad. Contrary to synthetic ones they find them more exotic. I am sure it would attract lots of international buyers," said Alpana.

"Because of threats like global warming, people are reverting to their roots and sporting eco-fashion. In our country also it is catching up. Also, there is a great demand for cruise wear and resort wear. So I am expecting good business," she added.

Last year as well, designers Siddartha Tytler, Deepika Govind and Anita Dongre displayed eco-friendly collections to convey the message that the environment needs to be protected.

And in the exhibition area, Anita Ahuja's stall stood tall, offering eco-friendly, colourful and trendy accessories and bags made out of recycled plastic.

Commenting on the steps taken by the fashion fraternity to protect the environment, Rathi Vinay Jha, director general of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), said: "It is wonderful to see that Indian designers are increasingly getting involved in working on issues of social and environmental concern.

"This is in line with the FDCI's objective of generating environment-friendly products and increasing the use of recycled material."

172 Magazines Granted Permission To Launch In India

Expect rush of foreign publications in India, particularly in the print media space.

Over the past year, we've seen the plans to publish Fortune magazine, the Economist, Rolling Stone, among others. Now the I&B minister PR Dasmunsi has told the Rajya Sabha that as many as 172 foreign magazines in the speciality/scientif ic/technical sector have been given permission to launch Indian editions.

Apart from this, permission has also been granted for publication of 107 magazines by Indian co's having Foreign Direct Investment - some of them 100 percent FDI. As of now, only news and current affairs publications are subject to an FDI limit of 26 percent. While I'm not foretelling the death of print media yet, it's likely that some of these publications will also have their own websites for Indian readers.

Of the ones mentioned above, Rolling Stone India is already preparing its site.

Defeat of Team

After the shameful defeat of Team India, the team members were not able to show their faces to people and they chose not to go in public and rather just pack up in hotel rooms.

Dravid could not resist for too long to be in the hotel room and still not be able to go out shopping. So he disguises himself as another man and goes out. He meets a woman at the exit of the hotel who greets him

“Hi Dravid!”

Surprised for having been caught he comes back and makes himself up as Muslim woman - in Burkha etc and goes out. Yet the same woman greets him

“Hi Dravid!”

Dravid comes back determined to give it yet another try with the make up of a Hippie wig and shorts etc. All in vain, the same lady catches him again and greets him

“Hi Dravid!”

Bewildered by now, he could not help asking, “How did you recognize me?”

The lady replied : “I am Sachin !!!!

Quit-Smoking Drug May Raise Suicide Risk

News Clip Courtesy : Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) -- There's increasing evidence that the smoking-cessation drug Chantix is linked to serious "neuropsychiatric" side effects, including agitation, depressed mood and even suicide, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked Chantix's manufacturer, Pfizer Inc., to make the warning about these potential problems more prominent on prescribing information and on the drug's label. The agency is also working with Pfizer to produce a Medication Guide for patients, officials said.

"We have become increasingly concerned as we have seen a number of compelling cases that truly look as if they are the result of exposure to the drug and not to other causes," Dr. Bob Rappaport, director of the FDA's Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Rheumatology Products, said during an afternoon teleconference.

"These cases involve abnormal behaviors, changes in mood, and suicidal ideation and suicide," Rappaport said.

The FDA knows of 491 cases of suicidal behavior associated with Chantix, said Dr. Celia Winchell, a team leader in the FDA's Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Rheumatology Products.

"Of these, 420 are from the United States," Winchell said. "There are 39 that involve completed suicides, 34 in the United States."

According to Pfizer, 5 million patients have taken Chantix, whose generic name is varenicline.

Friday's warning follows a Nov. 20 FDA statement that the agency was "evaluating post-marketing adverse event reports on Chantix related to changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and actual suicidal behavior."

At that time, Pfizer said there had never been a cause-and-effect relationship shown between Chantix and these symptoms. The company also said that part of the problem may be due to nicotine withdrawal.

Last month, Pfizer agreed, after consulting with the FDA, to update packages of Chantix sold in the United States to more prominently display a warning that users should be monitored for suicidal behavior, depressed mood, and other mental health symptoms.

The FDA approved Chantix in May 2006 as a smoking-cessation drug. It acts in areas of the brain affected by nicotine and may ease withdrawal symptoms and block the effects of nicotine if users resume smoking.

On Friday, FDA officials advised patients to tell their doctor about any history of psychiatric illness before starting Chantix. The drug can cause current psychiatric illness to get worse even if it is under control. Chantix may also cause the recurrence of an old psychiatric illness, the officials warned.

Patients should also report changes in mood and behavior to their doctor. Symptoms to look out for include anxiety, nervousness, tension, depressed mood, unusual behaviors and thinking about or attempting suicide, the FDA officials said.

In most cases, these symptoms developed while taking Chantix, but they can also appear after stopping the drug, the officials noted.

"We are continuing with the review process over the next several months as we try to pin down to what extent these problems are being seen with Chantix," Rappaport said.

Vivid, unusual, or strange dreams may occur while taking the drug. Patients may also experience impaired ability to drive or operate heavy machinery, the officials said.

More information

For more on quitting smoking, visit Smokefree.gov.

Broke homeowners linked to arsons

Authorities in economically stressed cities see an increase in torched houses. Is the nation's mortgage mess transforming more Americans into criminals?

Arson is nothing new in Detroit. It's a time-honored weapon of the angry, vengeful, distressed and dispossessed in a city that gets hurt harder and sooner than others, making it a perfect place to spot early evidence of stress from the real-estate meltdown.

The Detroit Fire Department can't draw a definitive link between its rising arson rate (151 arrest warrants in 2007), rising foreclosures (up more than 65% last year) and falling housing prices (the region's median house price dropped 17.3% in the past four years, to $145,173).

But Capt. Steve Varnas of the department's arson section says he sees a connection: In 2005, the city issued only 80 arrest warrants for arson -- about half the number last year. "Things were going great," Varnas says. "There were fewer desperate people in 2004 and 2005."

Across the U.S., homeowners are searching for ways to escape from mortgages they can't pay -- or don't want to. A few are turning to arson, but it's too soon to turn anecdotes into meaningful statistics. Consumer pressure and state laws require speedy settlements, which means insurance companies are quick to pay up and slower to complete complex arson investigations. Definitive answers will come later.

But the signs of trouble are there if you're looking for them:

The FBI reportsthat arson grew 4% in suburbs and 2.2% in cities from 2005 to 2006. The 2007 numbers aren't out yet.

In California, a state hit particularly hard by foreclosures, insurance companies must tell the state within 60 days if they suspect a fire is "questionable." Last year, more than 120 reports were filed, and in 14 foreclosure was named a possible factor. The previous year, just 70 reports were filed, with seven citing foreclosure, says the state insurance commissioner's office. (Not all reports become arson cases.)

Arrest warrants for arson in Detroit rose 89% between 2005 and 2007. "We are up to our eyeballs in arsons," says Varnas, of the Detroit Fire Department. "We're not only dealing with hardened criminals. We're dealing with desperate people."

A trend -- or arson as usual?

In Stockton, Calif., where foreclosures are rampant, Deputy District Attorney J.C. Weydert is wondering whether he's looking at an arson trend or just a coincidence.

Weydert, a prosecutor with San Joaquin County's Economic Crimes/Insurance Fraud Unit, usually handles a residential arson case every two or three years. "Now I've got two in the pipeline," he says.

Santana's total deal exceeds $150M

Johan Santana reached a preliminary agreement with the Mets Friday night on a record contract, according to a major-league source, all but completing the trade that will send the two-time Cy Young Award winner from Minnesota to New York in exchange for four young players.

The Mets locked up Santana for the next seven years, signing him to a six-year, $137.5 million extension on top of the final year of his current deal, which is valued at $13.25 million. The total value of the package is $150.75 million, making his new average salary more than $21.5 million — a record for a pitcher on a long-term contract.

Santana, who turns 29 on March 13, needs only to pass a physical to make the trade official. But the most difficult elements of the transaction — the trade and contract negotiations — are finally complete. Santana is scheduled to take his physical Saturday morning, Twins GM Bill Smith said, according to The Associated Press.

The Mets needed Major League Baseball to grant a two-hour extension of the 72-hour negotiating window to persuade Santana to waive his no-trade clause, forsake free agency at the end of the season and approve the deal.

Without a new deal, Santana, who will turn 29 next month, could have become a free agent after the World Series. Minnesota offered him an $80 million, four-year extension this offseason, but he turned it down.

Santana was present for the final stages of the talks, according to two sources close to the negotiations. He was adamant that he deserved a vastly superior deal to Giants lefty Barry Zito, who signed a seven-year, $126 million contract as a free agent last off-season.

In return for Santana, who was eligible for free agency at the end of the season, the Twins will receive outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra.

Cubs right-hander Carlos Zambrano held the previous salary record for a pitcher under a multi-year deal — $18.3 million per season over five years. Zito is earning $18 million per season in his deal with the Giants.

Santana's new average trumps both of those numbers, leaving Indians left-hander C.C. Sabathia — who is eligible for free agency at the end of the season — as the next in line for a monster score.

The only players with larger packages are New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez ($275 million), Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ($189 million), Boston outfielder Manny Ramirez ($160 million) and Colorado first baseman Todd Helton ($141.5 million).

Santana is 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in eight major league seasons, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006 with the Twins. He has been less successful in the playoffs, going 1-3 with a 3.97 ERA.

The left-hander slipped a bit last year, finishing with a 15-13 record that included marks of 0-5 against AL Central champion Cleveland and 1-3 vs. Detroit. He dropped seven of his final 11 decisions as his ERA rose from 2.60 to 3.33 ERA, his highest since 2001. He also allowed a career-high 33 homers — most in the AL.

He joins a rotation that includes three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez, right-hander Orlando Hernandez and a pair of 15-game winners from last season: John Maine and Oliver Perez.

The Mets also agreed to a $1,025,000, one-year deal with left-handed reliever Pedro Feliciano that avoided an arbitration hearing. A key member of the bullpen, Feliciano was 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA and two saves in 78 appearances last season. He asked for $1.2 million in arbitration and the Mets offered $880,000.

News Clip : The Associated Press contributed to this report.