This parrot from London chatters in Urdu

London: A parrot in Britain has learnt to speak in English and Urdu as well after the bird's owner trained him to utter Islamic phrases.
Two-year-old African grey Mittu can say the traditional Muslim greeting 'Asalaam Alaykum' and speak other religious passages meaning in the name of Allah, as well as the more customary "who's a pretty boy?", Daily Mail reported.
According to Mittu's owner Ghaffar Ahmed, his beloved bird can say "come here", "hello, how are you?" in Urdu along with other religious words.
"He (the parrot) speaks Urdu and English. I don't know how many bilingual birds there are in the Britain but there can't be many," says Ahmed, 36.
"My in-laws live in Bradford and a family, who they know, were looking to re-home the parrot as he was becoming too much of a handful.
"They wanted him to go to a home that spoke the same language, so we said we'd have him on board and ever since then he has become part of the family.
"He says a few words including 'Asalaam Alaykum', 'Bismillah', which means - in the name of Allah - and 'Shabaash' - which means well done," he said.
Ahmed tells Mitto likes making all sorts of noises, as this bilingual bird can bark like a dog and make the noise of the refrigerator alarm!
Image: Wikimedia Commons

British who became dad at the age of 13 marries son's mother

London: A 22-year-old man in Britain who became a dad when he was just 13 years old has finally tied the knot with the mum, a media report said.
Michael Fernandes, now 22, and Cheryl Holden, 24, proved wrong all doubters who said that the relationship would not last.
They married in Manchester, with first son Liam, eight, the best man and second son Bryan, three, a pageboy. Third son Archie, who is one, was also taken along.
Landscape gardener Michael had proposed to Cheryl in 2009 but the hard-up pair could not afford to marry until they won a competition to pay for it and take along 40 guests.

Was it murder? Was it suicide?

Jabalpur: The students and the staff of the medical college were in for a shock on Sunday when they saw a monkey hanging from the ceiling here on Sunday.

According to anti-poaching incharge, R K Kumhare, they got the information about a monkey hanging from the ceiling in one of the halls on the third floor of the medical information.

He said that when they reached spot they saw a monkey hanging from the ceiling and atleast 4-5 monkeys surrounded him as if mourning his death. 

What made the matters worse was that when they tried to remove the monkey and take him away, the other monkey got aggressive and did not let the officers take the dead monkey. The team had a hard time removing the dead monkey from the campus. 

It is rumoured that some monkeys attacked this monkey and later hanged him.   

UFO seen at China airport

Beijing: Air traffic at an airport in China was restricted for about an hour after a UFO was spotted over it, media reports said on Thursday.
The UFO was seen over the runway at Chongqing Municipality's Jiangbei International Airport, following which flights were disrupted, Shanghai Daily reported.
Air traffic was restricted for about an hour from 12.30 p.m. The restriction was lifted after the UFO left, the news daily said.
Authorities in Chongqing have not offered an explanation for the unusual phenomenon.
Airport officials, however, were of the opinion that it could be a sky lantern or a large balloon. A sky lantern is used by Chinese when they pray for good luck.

NRIs in LA march for Anna Hazare's cause

Mumbai: Carrying Indian flags, posters and banners with anti-corruption messages, several hundred non-resident Indians (NRIs) in Los Angeles held a rally to express solidarity with Anna Hazare's movement in their homeland.
According to one of the organisers, Bhairavi Doshi, who is from Mumbai and has been settled there for nearly two decades, the rally was held on Sunday.
"Indians settled or working in the US are supporting this fight against corruption in India. We wanted to let people in India know that we are with you and we will do everything to support you guys. Be strong, we are getting closer and closer to winning this battle," Bhairavi told IANS in an e-mail.
"The participants raised slogans supporting Hazare, who has become a much-admired figure among Indians here," said another participant, Amit Sonpal, who is originally from south Gujarat.
Sonpal said Hazare's crusade against corruption had generated tremendous interest among Indians in the US.
"We are keenly watching the movement on internet, Twitter, as well as through some international television channels beamed from India," he said.
The duo said over the next few days, they plan to hold similar rallies in other parts of the US West coast to drum up support for Hazare's cause.
Hazare has been fasting since Aug 16 for a strong anti-corruption bill and his protest site now is the sprawling Ramlila Maidan in the heart of Delhi.

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Padmanabhaswamy temple: 'Snake will kill family of one who opens last vault'

Thiruvananthapuram: A group of priests who conducted an astrological examination or 'devaprasnam’ at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple has concluded that family members of those who open its yet untouched vault B would die, said an expert on Thursday.
The temple, among the richest in the world, has six vaults. Five of these were opened on the orders of the Supreme Court and a treasure trove estimated to be more than Rs1 lakh crore was discovered.
Vault B was not touched by a committee that was appointed by the court for stock taking of the temple's treasure last month.
The astrological examination that began at the temple on Monday involved discussions among the members of the team headed by Mathur Narayanan Renga Bhatt, an expert in conducting rituals.
The discussions, held in the open, concluded that it would be best that vault B was left unopened because it was believed that it could only be opened by "God".
The experts concluded that if anyone opened the vault, one of his family members may die either due to a snake bite or consumption of poison.
Stocktaking of the temple's treasure started after TP Sunderarajan, a former Indian Police Service officer, approached the apex court alleging mismanagement of temple affairs.
Sunderarajan, 70, died on July 17.
The erstwhile Royal family of Travancore oversees the functioning of this prestigious temple, through an executive committee.
Aditya Varma, scion of the erstwhile royal family, earlier said that the discussion and astrological examination related to vault B was done after receiving numerous letters from devotees and also from various Hindu organisations.
According to the records of the temple, on the main door of vault B a picture of a snake is etched and it signifies danger.

Virender Sehwag secretly visited London ahead of Lord’s Test?

London: India's opening batsman Virender Sehwag made a secret visit to London before the Lord's Test last month to meet his surgeon Andrew Wallace for a shot of injection on his injured shoulder.
According to the reports, Sehwag, who cut short his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint in May to have a torn shoulder blade operated on by Wallace, wanted to get fit for the third Test.
After his last month's secret trip, Sehwag returned to Bangalore's National Cricket Academy where he was undergoing rehabilitation over the past fortnight.
Sehwag will get a first chance to test his shoulder when he along with his opening partner Gautam Gambhir, who missed the second Test with a jarred elbow, will open the Indian batting in the two-day match against Northamptonshire Friday morning at Wantage Road. The duo are on course to make their return to Test duty next Wednesday.
Fast bowler Zaheer Khan is also expected to join them at Edgbaston in a match India must win to avert series defeat. Zaheer pulled up his hamstring on the first day at Lord's and could not bowl in the remaining of the match and was also ruled out of the second Test.
Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh have already been ruled out of the remainder of the series with injuries.