briefly world

British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday sought to strike a delicate balance in his countrys ties with India and Pakistan....

Do not intend to lecture India,Pak on bilateral issues,says Hague

Islamabad: British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Wednesday sought to strike a delicate balance in his countrys ties with India and Pakistan,saying the UK would welcome better relations between the two countries but would not lecture them on how to resolve bilateral problems. Hague,who is on his first visit to Islamabad for talks with the Pakistani leadership,said the new British government is working to elevate relations with fast growing economies like India.

Monacos Prince to wed ex-Olympic swimmer

PARIS: Prince Albert of Monaco is engaged to marry Charlene Wittstock,a former Olympic swimmer for South Africa,a union that will give this wealthy Mediterranean principality its first crown princess since American actress Grace Kelly who died in 1982. The palace announced the engagement of His Serene Highness,52,and Wittstock,32,who also worked as a school teacher before moving to Monaco. The statement Wednesday did not indicate a planned wedding date but put to rest months of speculation that the two would tie the knot.

Turkey sounds upbeat about joining EU

ANKARA: Turkey President Abdullah Gul sounded an optimistic note on Wednesday about his countrys prospects of joining the European Union despite its recent turn toward the East. The man in-charge of expanding the European Union gave a mixed response,praising Turkeys progress in granting more cultural rights to the Kurdish minority and curbing the influence of the military on politics but saying the reunification of Cyprus needs urgent attention. We want the EU to support memberships of countries and to refrain from taking steps that would delay the process, Gul told the summit at Ciragan Palace,on the shores of the Bosporus strait.

Happy Meals: NGO says will sue McDonalds

Washington: American NGO has threatened to sue McDonalds for offering toys with their Happy Meals,dubbing the offer a deceptive marketing practice. The US-based non-profit group Center for Science in the Public Interest CSPI has said using toys to lure small children into McDonalds is an unfair and deceptive marketing and is illegal under various state consumer protection laws.

Website launches Beautiful Baby service

London: Want an attractive baby? Log on to beautifulpeople.com. The elite dating website,which only allows beautiful members and bans ugly,fat people from joining its ranks,has launched an online sperm and egg bank for people desperate to have attractive children. The portal,which was created in 2002 and has 600,000 members from 190 countries,has now launched a Beautiful Baby service,with the same stringent beauty requirements for the donors,The Daily Mail reported. Founder Robert Hintze said: Initially,we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people. But everyone including ugly people would like to bring good-looking children in to the world and we cant be selfish with our attractive gene pool. The website,which claims to be a game reserve of leopards and gazelles,compared with other sites it describes as jungles of hippos and warthogs,recently culled 5,000 members for gaining weight over Christmas.