Culture

The United States Army has confirmed that private security guards of the North Carolina security services company Blackwater USA were employed in Iraq by military subcontractors, reversing earlier statements in which army officials denied knowledge of the contracts. Four security guards employed by Blackwater were killed by Iraqi militants in March 2004. Their families have sued the company, claiming the suit was the only way to disclose the events surrounding the deaths. Locating the contract awarded to Blackwater has proved difficult -- th

The winner of the British television reality show Celebrity Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Tony Blair during a meeting at the U.K. Houses of Parliament. The Bollywood actress observed prime minister's question time in the Commons before meeting Mr Blair himself. She thanked him for his support, describing him as "very sweet." The visit took place following an invitation by Labour MP for Leicester South, Keith Vaz, who led calls for action against the treatment of Ms Shetty during her stint on the reality

A federal court has upheld a ruling given in 2004 granting class action status for a suit against the American retail giant Wal-Mart. As many as 1.6 million or more women employees might file civil suits alleging Wal-Mart discriminated against their sex. Six women in 2001 claimed that the company paid them less than men. "It is time for Wal-Mart to face the music," said Brad Seligman, a lawyer representing the female plaintiffs. "Two courts now have ruled that Wal-Mart is going to have to face a jury ... We fully expect Wal-Mart to keep appe

The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and Cranbrook Art Museum debut Shrinking Cities. The project, which examines urban decline in cities across the globe is sponsored by Germany's Federal Cultural Foundation. Shrinking Cities includes contributions from more than 200 artists, architects, researchers, filmmakers, journalists, culture experts, and sociologists aimed not only at showing the effects of this global phenomenon but also exploring how to deal with it. The project, which began in 2002, involves local teams from four cities: Detro

According to news reports from Turkey, a number of the members of the Turkish security forces, though unofficially, are treating Ogün Samast, the assassin of Hrant Dink as if he were a national hero. For instance, after being taken into custody, Samast was filmed shoulder to shoulder with the Turkish police, in front of a Turkish flag and a quote from Turkey's founder Atatürk: "The nation's land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate." On January 24th, Ogün Samast was transferred to the Bayrampaşa prison, Istanbul's largest prison. Before the

Athens, Greece - The famous Greek cinema and theatre actor, Nikos Kourkoulos died at the Ericos Dynan Hospital of Athens, after a long-standing fight with cancer. Kourkoulos was the artistic director of the National Theatre of Greece since 1994. He died on Tuesday morning, according to doctor's announcement. Nikos Kourkoulos played in several movies, both in Greece and abroad while he was nominated for Broadway's 1968 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor for the musical "Illya, Darling". He played along with Greece's most promin

Actress Nicole Kidman was injured in a car accident while filming the movie, The Invasion. The car reportedly went off course, and ran into a light pole on West Sixth Street in Los Angeles, California. "The stunt driver apparently went off course and hit a light post," said Karen Smith, a officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. "Nicole Kidman was in the vehicle at the time of the accident and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. She was released shortly thereafter," said a statement issued by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Kid

Despite pleas from Big Day Out promoters to leave the national flag of Australia at home, many of the 55,000 music lovers have turned up to the Sydney event covered in it. Co-promoter Ken West caused a stir when the flag was "banned" from this year's Big Day Out in Sydney after organisers branded it a "gang colour" and symbol of hate. Organizers of the rock festival had planned to confiscate any flag or bandanna bearing the national symbol at the gate. The organizers defended their action claiming Sydney was "a hot bed of racism." They had al

A frilled shark was spotted off the coast of Japan on January 21, 2007 and taken to the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, Japan where it was filmed and later died. "We believe moving pictures of a live specimen are extremely rare," said an official with the Awashima Marine Park. The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is a member of a 350 million year old family, and characterised by an eel-like appearance with a distinctive protrusion of the gills. The 1.6m female specimen was spotted in shallow waters by a local fisherman who conta

A British church group has defended a city mosque accused of "extremism", following an investigation by Channel 4 television. The Saltley Gate Peace Group, an interfaith organisation based in Birmingham, has expressed "its undiminished support" for the Green Lane Masjid, featured in Channel 4's investigative Dispatches programme shown on Monday 15 January. While filming Undercover Mosque, a secret Dispatches''' reporter attended lectures at mosques run by key organisations whose public faces are presented as "moderate and mainstream" - but is

The American computer company Apple has reached 78 percent increase in its profits during the last quarter, which ended December 30, 2006. This fact is explained by great demand enjoyed by Apple's iPod digital music players during the Christmas and New Year sales period. As a result of successful Christmas sales, the very beginning of the financial year marked a double increase of the Apple's sales if compared to the $ 565 million profit reaped during the same period of the last year. The company gained the record-breaking $ 1 billion. The ove

Legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has confirmed that his son Abhishek and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai were engaged last evening at a private ceremony at the Bachchans' residence in Mumbai. It is believed that the younger Bachchan proposed to his bride-to-be in New York, soon after the Toronto premiere of his new movie Guru. The media had been following the romance between the two closely for some time past, but this is the first time they have come out in the open about their relationship. Rumours that the couple were planning to