Culture

American actor Peter Boyle, well known for his "Holy Crap!" role on Everybody Loves Raymond, died Tuesday from Bone marrow cancer at the age of 71 at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, New York. He suffered from bone marrow cancer and heart disease. Boyle suffered a stroke in 1990. He also had a heart attack while taping an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in 1999. Boyle played the character Frank Barone, who is the father of Ray Barone (played by Ray Romano), on Everybody Loves Raymond. The sitcom ran from 1996 to 2005. Source

Canadian jazz star Diana Krall has given birth Wednesday to twin boys named Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James in New York City, where the couple live. "We are ecstatic!" and the "mother and sons are doing splendidly," reads a statement released by Krall and her husband, English musician Elvis Costello, best known for songs such as "Pump It Up" and "Alison". The twins are Krall's first children. Costello already has a child from an earlier marriage. Costello, 52, and Krall, 42, shared the birth of their two sons on their third weddin

At approximately 8:10 AM CST December 6, 2006 a factory owned by the FALK Corporation exploded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The blast could apparently be felt up to thirty miles away. A plume of smoke was seen rising from the explosion site, and the area around the factory was reported to smell of burning wood. The explosion apparently occurred when a container of 72,000 gallons of propane exploded, destroying the building. Three people are confirmed dead and forty-six injured, with one person suffering life-threatening injuries, according to a

Apple Computers announced today that it's long awaited iTunes store is available to New Zealanders. They also launched the online Apple Store New Zealand which provides Apple products, such as iPods, Mac minis, etc. New Zealand is number 22 on the number of countries who have the iTunes store and the tenth music download store in New Zealand. The launch means that New Zealanders can now download music to transfer to their iPods, legally. However the music is only available to iPod's as converting the music to the MP3 standard for other MP3 pla

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has been pronounced guilty under the Arms Act for possession of illegal weapons, in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case by a TADA court in Mumbai . The Special TADA court in Mumbai found the actor guilty of charges framed under the Sections 3 (possession of firearms and ammunition, i.e. registered 9 mm pistol, without proper licenseSection 3, Indian Arms Act) and 7 (have in his possession for transferof prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition, i.e. AK-56 rifleSection 7, Indian Arms Act) read with Section 25 9imprisonment o

The French actor Philippe Noiret died of cancer on Thursday afternoon, as reported by the Artmedia agency. He is most known for his roles in Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Il Postino and 125 other films in French, Italian and English. He was born in Lille, northern France, on 1 October, 1930. He married the actress Monique Chaumette in 1962.

Nine people are confirmed dead in a fire in a leather bag factory in Kolkata's South 24 Pargana district in Topsia area. Eighteen people were seriously injured and admitted to the National Medical College and Hospital. Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said that the fire broke out at about 3 a.m. local time, when the victims were inside the factory and all the doors were closed. Director General of Fire Brigade Gopal Bhattacharjee said that it was an illegal factory in Kolkata located at third floor of the building. At

UK Home Secretary John Reid contradicted the Prime Minister’s opinion that foreign policy and the war in Iraq are not the reason some Muslim youth turn to terrorism. Reid is reported as saying in an interview with the London Evening Standard "I do believe that foreign policy is sometimes a motivating factor in radicalisation of young Muslims and the potential recruitment to terror…It is better to be frank about it. To say it isn't a cause isn't to say it has nothing to do with the whole process." Blair has said repeatedly that the idea that

Otaki, a small town located in the North Island of New Zealand, has been subject to vandals who have smashed around 70 windows in the local primary school, Otaki Primary School. The smashed windows resulted in the closure of the primary school today. It is expected that the school will be open tomorrow. The primary school was not the only property damaged. The police are reporting that the library, memorial hall, law offices, tyre factor, butchery and the citizen's advice bureau were all attacked, with other attacks possible. The police say

A group of 13 teenage boys raped a 13-year old school girl in Zurich last weekend, reports the website of the German language newspaper 20 Minuten. The report says that the girl was raped repeatedly and the act was filmed on mobile phones. Six of the suspects are Swiss nationals, two come from Serbia and Montenegro, one comes from Italy, two from the Republic of Macedonia, one from the Dominican Republic and one from Bosnia and Hercegovina. All live in Zurich. All the suspects were arrested on Thursday. Police secured 3 mobile phones. Polic

Five contractors, four Americans and an Austrian, working for Crescent Security Group were kidnapped in Iraq after their convoy was attacked and hijacked by militants. At least 2 of the American men have been freed by police officers, but the security guard from Austria, a 25 year-old former soldier, has been killed. His body was found in Safwan, Iraq according to a police officer for the Basra, Iraq police force. "Police were able to free two of the foreigners kidnapped and they are in good health," said the Basra provincial governor, Mohamme

Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie in a recent interview with the press acknowledged that playing slain journalist Daniel Pearl's wife in the new movie, A Mighty Heart, was a challenge in itself as she has to portray her strength amid the loss of her husband. Jolie said she wants to make the world understand this woman and her family. Dan Futterman portrays Pearl and Jolie plays Mariane Pearl who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002. He was on a research assignment on Islamic militants in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. "W