Lohan’s dad said that his daughter had sent him a  text message to enquire about his health, but she’s adamant his claims are not true.

In a post on her Twitter, she writes, “My father is a liar… is all false!”

In an annual speech before his advisory assembly, or Shura Council, the Saudi monarch said he ordered the step after consulting with the nation’s top religious clerics, whose advice carries great weight in the kingdom.

“We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society and in every aspect, within the rules of Sharia,” Abdullah said, referring to the Islamic law that governs many aspects of life in the kingdom.

The right to vote is by far the biggest change introduced by Saudi King Abdullah, considered a reformer, since he became the country’s de facto ruler in 1995 during the illness of King Fahd.

The kingdom’s great oil wealth and generous handouts to citizens have largely insulated it from the unrest sweeping the Arab world. But the king has taken steps to quiet rumblings of discontent that largely centered on the eastern oil-producing region populated by the country’s Shiite Muslim minority.

Mindful of the unrest, which reached Saudi Arabia’s doorstep with street protests and a deadly crackdown in neighboring Bahrain, Saudi King Abdullah pledged roughly $93 billion in financial support to boost jobs and services for Saudis in March.

Seizing on the season of protest in the Arab world, Saudi women’s groups have also staged public defiance of the kingdom’s ban on female driving. Saudi authorities went relatively easy on the women, who took to the roads earlier this year and gained worldwide attention through social media.

Abdullah said the changes announced Sunday would also allow women to be appointed to the Shura Council, the advisory body selected by the king that is currently all-male.

The council, established in 1993, offers opinions on general policies in the kingdom and debates economic and social development plans and agreements signed between the kingdom and other nations.

women still cannot drive and the sexes are segregated in public.

Saudi Arabiaheld its first-ever municipal elections in 2005.

The kingdom will hold its next municipal elections on Thursday, but women will not be able to vote or run in those contests.

In announcing the reforms, Abdullah sought to ground his decision in religion.

“Muslim women in our Islamic history have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice,” he said, citing examples from the era of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.

He said the members ofSaudi Arabia’s clerical council, or Ulema, praised and supported his decision.

He also acknowledged the yearning for greater social freedoms in the kingdom.

“Balanced modernization, which falls within our Islamic values, is an important demand in an era where there is no place for defeatist or hesitant people,” he said.

In January, a group of female activists launched a campaign on social networking websites to push the kingdom to allow women to vote and run in the municipal elections.

The White House says Saudi Arabiais taking an important step ahead in expanding women’s rights by allowing women to vote and run in local elections.

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor says this reform recognizes the “significant contributions” that women make in the Muslim kingdom. He says the announcement will give Saudi women more ways to participate “in the decisions that affect their lives and communities.”

Vietor says theU.S.is behindSaudi Arabiaas it puts into place this change and other reforms.

Los Angeles prosecutors say Lindsay Lohan will return to court Thursday so a judge can consider whether she violated her probation while serving house arrest.

District Attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons says Lohan’s case is expected to be called at 10 a.m., but no other details were available. She says her office has not received any documents laying out the specific allegations against the 24-year-old actress.

Celebrity gossip site TMZ.com reports that the actress tested positive for alcohol on one of the two tests she took last week. Sources also told the website that the L.A. County Probation Department will ask Judge Stephanie Sautner to put her in jail immediately.
Lohan talks about life under house arrest

Her spokesman Steve Honig says he could not comment on the hearing.

Lohan has been on house arrest since last month. She had been expected to serve 35 days of a four-month sentence for violating her probation on a 2007 drunken driving case by taking a necklace from a store without permission.

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West Indies survived a daylight robbery by Harbahajan Singh and Suresh Raina to end the first day of the series in slight ascendance, if at all. A damp pitch with uneven bounce, early wickets, a counterattack, a collapse, a spectacular catch, watchful anxious end, the first day had it all.

The tone was set when India took the gamble of batting first on a moist pitch to allow their two spinners best use of a surface likely to break. Ravi Rampaul removed the openers in an unbroken eight-over spell in the heat and humidity of Kingston, getting at least one early wicket for a fourth time in his last five innings. Rahul Dravid looked as solid during his 40 as he had during his two match-winning fifties five years ago at the same venue. Devendra Bishoo, playing his third Test, then intervened to remove VVS Laxman, Dravid and MS Dhoni – close to 23,000 runs between them – in the space of 20 deliveries.

The way Harbhajan and Raina ran away with the initiative in a 146-run stand from 85 for 6, only bandanas and eye patches were missing. Even they couldn’t see Fidel Edwards, though, who came back with a spell of seriously quick bowling to help West Indies take the last four wickets for 15 runs. A spell of attrition followed, but it was just as tense, and Ishant Sharma came away with Lendl Simmons’ wicket.

In between there were unremarkable maiden Test innings for Abhinav Mukund and Virat Kohli. The first to fall in the morning, which now seems days ago, was M Vijay, who might as well have been wearing his IPL kit when he slapped a full and wide delivery straight to point. Abhinav, his state-mate and prolific run-getter in domestic cricket, came close to edging thrice before he played one on for 11.

Dravid and Laxman, batting together for the first time since the Boxing Day Test in Durban last year, handled the misbehaving pitch – length balls reared towards the bat handle, short ones hardly reached the keeper, and the spinners extracted appreciable turn – well during their 34-run stand. Bishoo then came on with immediate impact. He began with a perfect legbreak, just short of driving length, on off, and produced the outside edge from Laxman 17 minutes before lunch. After the interval Dravid hit Bishoo for two boundaries before the bowler got his own back with an edge off a full legbreak. Dhoni played a premeditated forward-defensive, and the extra bounce again took the shoulder of the bat. Not only was the bowling good until then, the captaincy too had been positive.

Harbhajan, though, played havoc with West Indies’ minds. After watching Raina avoid an over full of hostile bouncers from Edwards, Harbhajan tore into Bishoo. What made it even better, and perhaps rattled West Indies more, was that it all featured little slogging. He hit his fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries for fours: over the bowler’s head, a late-cut, and over midwicket. In the next over he cut Edwards for another four.

Raina, perhaps relieved at making it to the other end, pulled out two beautiful extra-cover drives off Bishoo’s next over. Darren Sammy called back Rampaul, who tried to bowl fast and into Harbhajan’s ribs. Harbhajan got inside the line twice and glanced him fine for fours before smacking another through extra cover. A clueless Bishoo served a full toss and a long hop in the next over, both of which Raina hit for fours. With barely a risk taken, the partnership now read 56 in 6.2 overs. Bishoo’s figures had gone from 3.2-2-11-3 to 7-2-44-3. Harbhajan was 36 off 22, Raina 25 off 28.

It was sensational stuff, and West Indies were blown away. Rampaul and Sammy brought some sanity back to proceedings, but by then Harbhajan and Raina had their eyes set on big innings. While Harbhajan still kept hitting the boundaries, Raina dropped anchor, and followed Harbhajan to a half-century with two lovely push-driven straight fours off Sammy.

Lest it be thought that the pitch had become a featherbed, Rampaul produced two nasty ones to beat Raina even with the partnership about 70 runs old. Again the ball kicked from a length, and beat the outside edge. The batsmen, though, chose the last over before tea, bowled by Bishoo, to make a statement, slogging the hell out of him for 17 runs. That made it 150 runs for the second session, but Bishoo hadn’t been entirely negated.

With Edwards breathing fire after tea, Bishoo ran in from deep backwards square, and to his left, and then flew further to his left to claim a top-edged hook from Harbhajan. There was more where that sharp bouncer came from. Edwards was searing quick. He operated at two lengths, either full and swinging in or aimed at the throat. Praveen Kumar fell to the full one, Amit Mishra to the bouncer. Raina, stranded at the other end, could have chosen to either trust the doughty Ishant Sharma or go for the big ones. He went for the latter, and found Bishoo again at deep backward square leg to fall for a second score in the 80s in his nine-Test career.

In reply West Indies were austere, India accurate. For one hour they went without a boundary, Praveen Kumar and Ishant were a bit mindful of not conceding too many runs too. There was an interrogation on, but it didn’t quite reach a level where it could break the likes of Colonel Nathan R Jessep down. The truth, it seemed, lay in balls turning square and bouncing up and down. Who can, and who cannot, handle it?

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First,it was Akshay Kumar who took over Emraan Hashmi’s character of Dawood in the sequel, and now, Dabanng girl Sonakshi Sinha has joined the race to play Mandakini, Dawood’s love interest in the film.

While media reports suggested that it would be Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor or Deepika Padukone to pair up with Akki in this Milan Luthria directed film, yet it looks like Sonakshi might be the one to romance the actor on screen.

Ekta Kapoor and Milan Luthria are taking their time to choose the leading lady.

They want the girl to be perfect. Initially,they wanted a leading lady to essay the role of Mandakini. But now,they are considering Sonakshi Sinha.

The fact that Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi are already working for two films together seems to be working in favour of Sonakshi.

Akshay and Sonakshi are already doing Shirish Kunder’s Joker and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Rowdy Rathod to be directed by Prabhudeva together.

The casting apart from Akshay,however is not final yet.They are still looking for the parallel hero in the film.Once the second actor is finalised, Ekta and Milan will take a call on who will play the leading lady, said the source.

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Bigger, bolder and beyond Bollywood – that’s the mantra of the second edition of the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), which will open with Aamir Khan’s adult comedy “Delhi Belly” on June 30.

The festival, which will be held in London till July 12, will celebrate the burgeoning era of of alternative Indian cinema, where movies are going beyond song and dance-based entertainment to challenge, shock, generate debate and present a more realistic view of modern India.

“In addition to showing great movies, we also aim to help get these films talked about and screened more broadly in cinemas in Britain, in the same way that Iranian cinema has been. London, of course, has a huge Asian audience for these movies, but many non-Asian Britons would also like to find out more about the 1.2 billion strong India of today, and cinema is a great way to do this,” Cary Rajinder Sawhney, festival director, said in a press statement.

Following the opening night screening of “Delhi Belly”, co-produced by Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures, the festival will go on to showcase the work of filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap and Rituparno Ghosh.

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This comeback will be a whammy for Karisma Kapoor. For Vikram Bhatt’s “Dangerous Ishq”, the actress is going to play five roles in five different lifetimes spanning a whole gamut of India’s mythological and historical events.

Karisma will start by playing Mirabai, a devotee of Lord Krishna, and then move forward in time, that includes the partition era, Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the present day politics.

Reluctant to reveal the details, Vikram Bhatt, who is busy researching the women characters of ancient medieval and modern India, says: “Yes, Karisma’s character will go back into four different eras and lifetimes, plus there’s a role in present times. So, it’s actually a total of five roles. The story opens in 1498 and then moves through various eras to contemporary times.”

Karisma’s part in “Dangerous Ishq” crosses all the historical and cinematic boundaries ever crossed by female actors. Apparently, Karisma was told she would require intense research and preparation for the parts and she was game.

Says Vikram: “Karisma has always been a very hard-working and capable actress. But in terms of challenges posed to her performing abilities, I feel there have been not too many golden opportunities. I feel this is the right time for Karisma to do ‘Dangerous Ishq’. It takes her to a new level as an actor.”

There’s also the added challenge of doing heavy-duty action sequences for the first time. Though Vikram doesn’t talk about it, it is understood that she would be doing major action sequences requiring training in the martial arts. Karisma has taken on the challenge quite happily.

The film, written by Amin Haji, would have Karisma sharing screen space with five leading men. And this time, it is believed the guys being considered are not the Vikram Bhatt regulars like Aftab Shivdasani and Dino Morea.

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Rosanna Arquette will soon be a bride for the fourth time.

The 51-year-old actress, older sister of actors David Arquette and Patricia Arquette, is engaged to her boyfriend, Todd Morgan, Radar Online reports.

Todd, an investment banker, proposed to his ladylove last week, according to the website.

“Rosanna was kind of taken aback but absolutely thrilled when Todd proposed,” a source told Radar. “She’s completely in love and had no hesitation in accepting. She didn’t think she would ever get married again and was happy with the way things were between her and Todd.

“But Rosanna is, at the heart of it, a real romantic,” the source continued. “She’s willing to give marriage another go.”

Rosanna, 51, was previously married to director/composer Tony Greco, composer James Newton Howard, and John Sidel, with whom she has a daughter, Zoe Blue Sidel.

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