Actor Neil Patrick Harris to host 2015 Oscars

LOS ANGELES: Award-winning US stage and screen actor Neil Patrick Harris will host the next Oscars show, organizers announced.

The star, who has hosted both Broadway's Tony and TV's Emmy awards shows in the past, will front the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday. 

The high-profile hosting job is a prime gig in Hollywood, at the climax of its annual awards season. Harris will follow Ellen DeGeneres last year and a who's who of showbiz over the decades. 

"It is truly an honor and a thrill to be asked to host this year's Academy Awards," said the star of 2005's "How I Met Your Mother," in an Academy statement. 

"I grew up watching the Oscars and was always in such awe of some of the greats who hosted the show," added Harris, whose latest film "Gone Girl" came out this month in the United States. 

He added: "To be asked to follow in the footsteps of Johnny Carson, Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres and everyone else who had the great fortune of hosting is a bucket list dream come true." 

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said: "We are thrilled to have Neil host the Oscars. We have known him his entire adult life, and we have watched him explode as a great performer in feature films, television and stage. 

"To work with him on the Oscars is the perfect storm, all of his resources and talent coming together on a global stage," added the pair, returning for their third Oscars show in a row. 

Industry journal Variety noted that, with the Oscars job Harris will have done three of the four so-called EGOT full house of hosting duties -- the Emmys, Oscars and Tonys, with only the Grammys to go. 

Harris, who hosted the Tony awards and the Emmys in 2009 and 2013, has been nominated for four Golden Globes and won five Emmys, including four for hosting the Tonys. 

The Academy Awards are televised live in more than 225 countries around the globe. Organizers will announce nominations for the Oscars on January 15. 

Hosting awards shows is more difficult and prone to pitfalls than many imagine. 

Recent questionable Oscars hosts have included James Franco and Anne Hathaway who were widely panned in 2011, and Seth McFarlane whose "We saw your boobs' song raised eyebrows, not in a good way. 

Over 200 Pak lawmakers suspended for not declaring assets

ISLAMABAD: Over 200 lawmakers of Pakistan's Parliament and provincial assemblies were on Wednesday temporarily suspended by the Election Commission for failing to submit the annual details of their assets.

Under the Constitution, the lawmakers are bound to report every year the details of their wealth by September 30 which can be extended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for 15 days.

The ECP had set October 15 as the deadline for the submission of assets.

A total of 210 lawmakers failed to submit their details of assets and liabilities.

In a notification issued at the end of deadline, the ECP directed that those failing to comply cannot attend the session of their respective assemblies during the period of suspension.

However, the members can get their membership restored anytime by fulfilling the legal obligation.

Those suspended included 40 members of the National Assembly, two members of the Senate, 98 members of the Punjab assembly, 28 members of the Sindh assembly, 33 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, and nine members of the Balochistan assembly.

Among the prominent members suspended are chief of right wing Jammat-i-Islami Sirajul Haq and Chairman of National Assembly Committee of Foreign Affairs Awais Khan Leghari.

The majority of those suspended belong to ruling PML-N of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

US's fight against ISIS finally gets a name: 'Inherent Resolve'

WASHINGTON: It may be less punchy than previous nicknames for US conflicts in the Middle East; remember Operation Desert Storm andits thunderous attacks on Saddam Hussein's occupation army; but the Pentagon has finally named its fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve. 

The naming process, which took weeks of quiet deliberation behind closed doors at US Central Command and at the Pentagon, is part of a package of administrative moves under way to organize a long-term military campaign. 

But that name, Inherent Resolve.  It sounds, well, inherently bland. 

It's less awe-inspiring than any of the names chosen for US military operations in Iraq over the past two decades such as Desert Shield, Desert Storm or Desert Fox, for example. It appears to convey the no-drama approach that marks President Barack Obama's style. 

The staff of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the final decision on the name, said Dempsey spokesman, Col. Ed Thomas. Thomas offered no details about the process. 

Central Command, which is executing the campaign, took a stab at explaining the choice. 

"Inherent Resolve is intended to reflect the unwavering resolve and deep commitment of the U.S. and partner nations in the region and around the globe to eliminate the terrorist group ISIL and the threat they pose to Iraq, the region and the wider international community," it said, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group. 

Military operations are routinely given official names, in part for administrative reasons. 

But they are meant also to bolster public support and international credibility. The US-led effort to protect Kurds who fled their homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, for example, was called Operation Provide Comfort. A US military disaster relief mission in Bangladesh that same year was Operation Sea Angel. 

The US military's effort against Ebola in West Africa is called Operation United Assistance. The name for the US role in an international air campaign in Libya in 2011 was Odyssey Dawn. 

The naming of the current air campaign in Iraq and Syria comes as Obama and his military advisers wrestle with directing a coalition of partner nations toward a common goal: destroying the Islamic State group. It has been slow going thus far, with officials cautioning that it could drag on for months or years. 

The US has more than 1,400 military personnel in Iraq, mostly in Baghdad, but Obama has ruled out sending combat troops. The US says it has no troops in Syria. 

The US has a long and difficult history of military involvement in Iraq, beginning with the George H W Bush administration's initial response to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. 

That effort was dubbed Operation Desert Shield to deter Saddam from invading Saudi Arabia; in early 1991 that transitioned to a US-led air and ground campaign, Operation Desert Storm, which successfully expelled Iraqi troops from Kuwait but left Saddam in power in Baghdad. 

In December 1998, in response to Saddam's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors, President Bill Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox — four days of airstrikes against weapons installations and command headquarters in Baghdad. 

Promising to "shock and awe" Saddam's forces, President George W Bush launched Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, an air-and-ground campaign that quickly toppled Saddam's regime but opened the door to a homegrown Sunni insurgency that turned the war into an eight-year struggle. 

The practice of naming military operations goes back at least to World War II, when code names were assigned mainly to preserve security. The code names were classified, unlike the nicknames of modern operations. 

In a 1995 article in Parameters, a US Army War College academic journal, Gregory C Sieminski wrote that the Pentagon's Vietnam-era guidelines for naming military operations cautioned against counterproductive name choices, specifying that they must not express "a degree of bellicosity inconsistent with traditional American ideals or current foreign policy" or convey "connotations offensive to good taste or derogatory to a particular group, sect or creed." 

There should be no fear that Operation Inherent Resolve is too bellicose. 

Sieminski argued that careful naming of military operations can provide a public relations boost and help shape what he called a war of images. "In that war, the operation name is the first — and quite possibly the decisive — bullet to be fired," he wrote. 

BJP's 'Brand Modi' Strategy to Pay Big in Maharashtra, Haryana, Show Exit Polls

New Delhi: Banking on Brand Narendra Modi is likely to pay rich dividend for the BJP, the NDTV's poll of polls - which aggregates the results of four polls in Maharashtra and three in Haryana - shows.

The party, which dumped allies in Congress-ruled Maharashtra and Haryana to contest elections on its own, is set to be the single-largest party in both states. 

In Haryana, it looks good to win 48 of the 90 seats, a comfortable majority. And in Maharashtra - which saw a four-cornered contest after two major alliances split over seat sharing - the BJP is set to win 125 of the 288 seats, miles ahead of the number 2 party. Ironically, that is the Shiv Sena, the BJP's ally till last month, set to win 70 seats. 

Together, all things equal, they would have had a towering majority. Now, the BJP is likely to fall 20 seats short of a majority - the half-way mark in Maharashtra is 144. 

Its political options would include a reconciliation with the Shiv Sena or then joining hands with the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party or NCP, which is set to get 35 seats. 

In the run-up to the elections, both the BJP and the NCP emphatically denied any such possibility and Prime Minister Modi sharply attacked the NCP, which ruled Maharashtra for the last 15 years as a partner of the Congress. 

Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Narvnirman Sena or MNS is not in the reckoning - it will have to settle for fewer seats than before.

The Congress' dream run in both states is ending. It is likely to be reduced to an insignificant 42 seats in Maharashtra. In Haryana, it could have to settle for an equally ignominious 12 seats, with Om Prakash Chautala's INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) coming in second to the BJP with 25 seats.

The BJP went for broke in these elections, building its pitch around Mr Modi and his message of development. In neither state did it project a chief ministerial candidate and said it was confident that what it calls the "Modi wave" from the national elections earlier this year endures.

The PM averaged three rallies a day in a blitz of 27 public appearances in Maharashtra and 12 in Haryana.

Story First Published: October 15, 2014 20:25 IST    

Western Iran Earthquake Injures 16

Tehran:  A strong 5.6 earthquake rocked two cities in western Iran on Wednesday, injuring at least 16 people but causing only minor damage to homes, US and Iranian sources said.

The quake occurred just after 5:00 pm (1330 GMT), with the epicentre 51 kilometres (32 miles) east of Dehloran in Ilam province, close to the border with Iraq, according to the US Geological Survey.

It hit at the relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society gave the injured toll, saying the cities of Dehloran and Abdanan, and a total population area of 65,000, were affected.

"No deaths are reported," it said in an initial statement, classifying damage to houses and residential areas as minor.

But the statement said that, due to cold weather, Abdanan's governor had issued an appeal for tents for families whose homes had been damaged.

Story First Published: October 16, 2014 05:37 IST    

Troubled Argentine City Halts Gun Sales

Bueno Aires:  The mayor of the Argentine city of Santa Fe on Wednesday temporarily banned the sale of arms and ammunition in a bid to stem violent crime, much of it linked to drug trafficking.

So far this year, 117 homicides have taken place in the city of Santa Fe, 470 kilometers (290 miles) north of Buenos Aires.

The figure tops the previous record of 116 deaths in 2007. There were 106 killings in 2013.

In a statement, Mayor Jose Corral said he was suspending the sale of arms and ammunition for 90 days.

Many Argentines are worried about violent crime in the country and the problem is especially acute in Santa Fe province, where drug trafficking is a major issue.

In Rosario, the province's largest city, local media say the problem is confounded by political disputes, corruption, poverty and soccer hooliganism.

More than 80 per cent of Argentina's soy, wheat and corn are exported through Rosario's ports.

Story First Published: October 16, 2014 05:47 IST    

Mosquito-Borne Chikungunya Virus Likely to Reach Mexico: Health Ministry

Mexico City:  Mexico is very likely to join the list of countries to register cases of the painful mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya, a senior health ministry official said on Wednesday.

Chikungunya is spread by two mosquito species, and is typically not fatal but can cause debilitating symptoms including fever, headache and severe joint pain lasting months.

There is no current treatment for the virus, which was detected for the first time in the Americas late last year, and no licensed vaccine to prevent it.

Given that the virus has already shown up in much of the Caribbean, Central America and the United States, it is also likely to reach Mexico, Pablo Kuri, the deputy health minister in charge of disease prevention, told Reuters.

"It's very probable that at some point, we'll have confirmed cases of chikungunya," he said, noting that six cases have already been detected, but those people had contracted the virus in the Caribbean and El Salvador.

He said that Mexico is home to the mosquito species that carries the virus, adding to the likelihood of its arrival.

"There's no reason we shouldn't have chikungunya in Mexico," Kuri said.

Last month, El Salvador said it had detected nearly 30,000 cases of the virus. In the United States, locally transmitted infections - as opposed to infections in Americans traveling abroad - were reported for the first time this year.

Chikungunya, a virus more commonly found in Africa and Asia and transmitted by the same daytime-biting aedes aegypti mosquito that causes the more deadly dengue fever, was first detected in the eastern Caribbean at the start of 2014.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Story First Published: October 16, 2014 06:17 IST