Associated Press, Bangkok
Asian markets slid Tuesday on signs China's economy continues to slow and ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting that may bring new measures to prop up sputtering U.S. growth.

Stocks in Shanghai led declines in Asia after China's July trade figures showed a big drop in the growth rate for imports - an indication that rapid expansion in the world's No. 3 economy is cooling.

That dampened sentiment across the region, dragging most markets into the red. Weakness in China's demand for imports could dent its ability to help to drive a global recovery amid Europe's debt crisis and slack sales elsewhere.

Investors are also waiting for the outcome later Tuesday of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

The central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at a record-low level and investors are speculating it will announce new quantitative easing measures - market jargon for pumping more money into the economy - to reinvigorate a sputtering recovery.

"Whether Fed policymakers oblige the markets or not only time will tell. Though the markets may welcome such a move, it will only confirm that the U.S. has hit a soft patch. And that will not be good news," investment house India Infoline said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 48.74 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,623.79 after the government announced growth in imports for July slowed to 22.7 percent from 53 percent in June. Exports, meanwhile, continued to grow strongly.

Strength in the yen hurt shares of Japanese exporters, with the Nikkei 225 stock average off 34.09, or 0.4 percent, at 9,538.20.

South Korea's Kospi shed 0.4 percent to 1,782.85, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1 percent to 4,548.30 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng retreated 1 percent to 21,580.59.

Markets in Taiwan, India, Singapore and Indonesia also fell while benchmarks in the Philippines and Malaysia rose.

Shares ended higher overnight on Wall Street, but volume was low as investors awaited the Fed's assessment of the U.S. economy and any plans to resume stimulus measures.

In the U.S. on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average ended 0.4 percent higher at 10,698.75. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.6 percent to 1,127.79.

In currencies, the dollar slipped to 85.81 yen from 85.92 yen in New York late Monday. The euro dropped to $1.3143 from $1.3215.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was down 39 cents at $81.09 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 78 cents to settle at $81.48 on Monday.

People carry their belongings in Muzaffargarh.—AP

MINGORA: Landslides triggered by the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years are hampering already troubled relief efforts, with aid workers using donkeys or travelling on foot to reach millions in desperate need of help.

Poor weather has made it difficult for helicopters to deliver food to some parts of the Swat Valley and among the areas first hit by the deluge.

Many roads have been destroyed and landslides have added to the isolation of many areas.

“It's hard to get supplies there. I would like to emphasise we are moving by foot or donkey. We are making all kinds of possible efforts. We are unable to get in to most places of Swat Valley,” said Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

An army spokesman in Swat said there had been landslides that blocked the main road leading to the valley. Relief efforts have resumed but helicopters are not able to reach parts of valley because of rain, he said.

“We are using 100 mules to transport relief to far-flung areas where helicopters could not fly because of bad weather,” the army spokesman said.

The army has distributed nearly 100 tonnes of food and other relief goods to three areas of Swat.
Source : www.dawn.com

By Andrew Morton.

BY ADAM TSCHORN
LOS ANGELES TIMES
For months, Angelina Jolie's face has been looking out from billboards alongside a single question: "Who is Salt?"

The tagline refers to the new thriller, "Salt," about a CIA agent suspected of being a Russian spy. But the genius in the marketing, of course, is that we're asking the same thing about the actress herself.

Enter "Angelina," the unauthorized biography by Andrew Morton, who has penned biographies of Tom Cruise, Monica Lewinsky and Princess Diana.

Morton's "Salt" is a 35-year-old, second-generation Hollywood actor who has spent her entire life in the public eye, careening through a crazy-quilt of rumor, truth and half-truth regarding a fascination with death, heroin use, bisexuality, the serial inking of skin, the bedding of other women's men, the winning of an Academy Award, a U.N. goodwill ambassadorship and the top spot of Forbes' 2009 "Celebrity 100" list ... not to mention having a family of six kids with Brad Pitt.

If there is a celebrity today who merits the spadework of an unauthorized Morton biography, it's Jolie, with a potential audience that includes just about anyone who has gone through a supermarket checkout line, caught a Jolie headline and wondered, "What was she thinking?"

Morton can't say for sure what makes her tick. None of the principal players in the tale -- which begins in 1950 with the birth of her mother, Marcia Lynne Bertrand, and ends earlier this year with her charity work in Haiti -- appear to have cooperated with him, but Morton manages to advance a plausible theory nonetheless.

Morton points out early on that Angelina Jolie Voight, born June 4, 1975, is a Gemini -- complete with all the light/dark, good/bad, impulsive/reflective duality that the astrological sign entails. But, since the world is home to plenty of Geminis who haven't inked Billy Bob Thornton's name below their bikini line on a whim, there's clearly more at work.

If there's anyone to blame here, according to this book, it's the parents, since the bitter relationship between actor Jon Voight and Marcia Lynne (later Marcheline) Bertrand runs as a subplot throughout.

The book also reports, in addition to two marriages -- first to actor Jonny Lee Miller and later to Thornton -- pursuit by a besotted Timothy Hutton, a near-romantic encounter with Gary Sinise and a relationship with model Jenny Shimizu. And then there's the fireball of fame that is Brangelina.

It's at this point that the book seems to move into hyperdrive, with endless rounds of globe-trotting, location shooting, child-acquiring and philanthropic efforts. But the faster it seems to move, the harder it is to put down. Maybe that's because, like salt, we have a craving for explanation, for back story, and Morton's book offers a satisfying dose of both. Source: www.freep.com

BP officials say they plan to begin forcing cement down the blown-out Gulf oil well on Thursday.

The announcement came Wednesday night shortly after the energy company's plan was approved by National Incident Commander Thad Allen, the federal official in charge of the oil spill.

BP plans to shove cement down from pipes attached to ships a mile above the sea beginning Thursday. Earlier, crews were able to force down the oil with mud. Allen approved the plan, as long as it doesn't delay the ultimate solution of drilling a relief well that will cut off the leaking well far below the sea floor.

Earlier Wednesday, President Obama said he was heartened that "the long battle to stop the leak and contain the oil is finally is finally coming to an end" after BP announced hours earlier that its "static kill" had stoppered the flow of oil.

Crews began injecting heavy mud through the temporary cap and into the mile-deep well on Tuesday afternoon. After eight hours, they managed to achieve what engineers call a "static condition," in which the pressure of the mud from the surface and that of the oil pushing from the bottom are equalized.

"It's a milestone. It's a step toward the killing of the well," said BP spokeswoman Sheila Williams.


Crews still have to determine whether an area between the inner piping and outer casing of the blown-out wellhead is leaking — something they say they can't answer until they drill in from the bottom later this month.

"There's a lot of reasons why there's no 'Mission Accomplished' banner," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Washington.

"There's a lot of work to do," he said. "We're not leaving the area, and more importantly, we're not leaving behind any commitment to clean up the damage that's been done and repair and restore the Gulf."

Still, the plugging is progressing, giving officials high confidence that no more oil will leak into the Gulf, Allen said at a news briefing in Washington.

More than 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf after the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers, according to federal estimates.
See more ...

By Kwaku Alston, Ebony

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL , Associated Press
NEW YORK - First lady Michelle Obama is becoming a fixture on the Vanity Fair International Best-Dressed List — but it's soccer star David Beckham who earned a spot in the hall of fame.

The most eyebrow-raising choices on the magazine's annual list of top tastemakers are in the "originals" category, which includes cover girl Lady Gaga, John Galliano and Helena Bonham Carter.

Gaga channels the "Dada Catholic girl" in the spirit of Gypsy Rose Lee and Rosie, the Jetson's robot maid, the magazine says, while Bonham Carter, who says her favorite items of clothing is her "bloomers," is inspired by Vivienne Westwood and Marie Antoinette.

Galliano's finds his role model in Oliver Twist, and his favorite shoes are his "lucky biker boots."

Vanity Fair sends ballots to thousands of people, in the U.S. and abroad, believed to have the inside track on style, including designers, retailers, editors, socialites, photographers and entertainers. Amy Fine Collins, Aimee Bell and Reinaldo Herrera oversee the 71-year-old list, which the magazine inherited from the late fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert in 2004.

This year marks Mrs. Obama's fourth consecutive appearance, noting she has practically single-handedly revived arms, belts, cardigans, shifts, high hair and kitten-heel pumps, and it's the third year for France's Dior-wearing Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. British first lady Samantha Cameron is making her debut, with the magazine pointing to her wardrobe full of brooches, bib necklaces and the labels Phillip Lim and Erdem.

Fashion as a category is, of course, well represented with Tory Burch, Elber Albaz of Lanvin, Georgina Chapman of Marchesa, Stacey Bendet Eisner of Alice & Olivia, and Glamour editor in chief Cindi Leive making the cut, as well as Ralph Lauren's three adult children, David, Dylan and Andrew. Royals have their style ambassadors in Princess Mary of Denmark and hall of famer Germany's Princess Mafalda of Hesse.

Diane Kruger, Carey Mulligan, Javier Bardem, Martin Scorsese, Alec Baldwin, Pharrell Williams, siblings Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, and couple Ed Burns and Christy Turlington provide the star wattage.
Source : www.startribune.com

By NINIEK KARMINI ,Associated Press

By Antoaneta Becker
LONDON - The European Union's new sanctions against Iran over the Middle East country's nuclear development program appear to open a new space for Chinese companies to expand their investments in a country viewed as a rogue player by much of the western world.

With China now Iran's largest trade partner, some Chinese analysts predict a wealth of new geopolitical and business opportunities with Iran. But officialdom may still hesitate at the idea of Beijing being seen as a "free-rider".

China has signed agreements with Iran worth tens of billions of dollars to allow it privileged access to Iran's oil and gas sector. Courting the partnership of Iran, which possesses the world's fourth-largest reserves of oil and second-largest of gas, has been a long and arduous process, and Beijing would loathe to jeopardize it.

In recently published memoirs, China's long-time ambassador to Tehran, Hua Liming, admitted that his diplomacy in Iran after China became an oil importer in the early 1990s had been entirely dictated by energy politics. Last year, Iran accounted for 11% of China's oil imports, ranking third among China's main oil suppliers after Angola and Saudi Arabia.

Spurred by its energy needs, China has undertaken a range of investment projects in Iran, gradually filling the void left by Western firms forced out by international sanctions. With more than 100 Chinese companies present in Iran, they have helped to build Tehran's subway, power stations, ferrous metals smelting factories and petrochemical plants.

As bilateral trade reached US$21.2 billion in 2009, China became Iran's most important trade partner. On paper the European Union still ranks as Iran's largest trading partner, but if Chinese goods imported in Iran via the United Arab Emirates are considered, China has already overtaken the EU.

This has led some to believe that Iran's defiant attitude towards the west derives somewhat from a newfound confidence that China is now supplanting Tehran's traditional trade partners. "Who can blame Iran for being so ferocious with China behind its back?" says an opinion piece on one of China's largest Internet portals, China.com. See more..