Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan expecting first baby kids

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, famous for her role in hit film Bride & Prejudice, is pregnant.

It will be the first child for the 37-year-old actress and her actor husband Abhishek Bachchan, 35, who married back in 2007.





The news was broken by Abhishek's father, actor and producer Amitabh Bachchan, who tweeted today: 'NEWS NEWS NEWS!! I am going to become a grandfather. Aishwarya expecting... So happy and thrilled!!!'

Amitabh later wrote that the news had only just been confirmed.

Aishwarya and her husband, who attended this year's Oscar ceremony in Hollywood, are known as a 'super couple' in their native India, having both starred in a number of hit Bollywood films.

The actress has won two Filmfare Awards (the Hindi equivalent of the Oscars) and crossed over into English-speaking cinema, appearing in 2004 hit Bride & Prejudice and The Pink Panther 2 alongside Steve Martin in 2009.

21-year-old Californian wins Miss USA crown latest news

LAS VEGAS – America's latest Miss USA winner is a California model and self-described history geek, obsessed with Britain's monarchy of centuries past but also a fan of "Star Wars."

Alyssa Campanella of Los Angeles says on Twitter that she was born in the wrong time period and played the popular pig-exploding game Angry Bird backstage on her iPad before the pageant Sunday night.





She hopes to keep modeling after her run as Miss USA is finished, depending on how she does representing the country at Miss Universe in September in Brazil.

The celebrity she'd most like to meet, now that she's one herself? Pastry chef Buddy Valastro of TLC reality show Cake Boss.

"I love to bake cakes, and he's an Italian, and he acts like I do in the kitchen," the 21-year-old said after beating 50 other hopefuls in Miss USA's 60th pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

"Right now, I'm still kind of like — whoa," Campanella said.

She strutted across the stage in a blue bikini with white polka dots, then donned a dark turquoise Sherri Hill evening gown with beading on its top. After making the final four, she answered a question about legalizing marijuana by saying she didn't think it should be fully legalized as a solution to help ailing economies.

She also professed a love for history after E! News anchor Giuliana Rancic asked her about it during the pageant.

"I'm obsessed with the Stuart and Tudor era," Campanella said. "Whenever I go to Barnes & Noble I'm always in the history section and that is where you will find me."

"I watch `Game of Thrones,' I watched `Camelot' — I know those are fantasy but I also watch the Tudors, so I'm a huge history geek," she said.

She said she grew up watching "Star Wars."

Campanella said during a news conference after the pageant that the win validated her decision to quickly move to Los Angeles from New Jersey after losing an apartment more than a year ago.

"The downs happen for a reason," she said. "The path that I'm on now is the path that's been meant to be."

Campanella, a former Miss Teen USA runner-up from 2007, when she represented New Jersey, said she has been competing in pageants since she was 15 because of her mom.

"I was going through a tough time in high school and she thought it'd be a great way for me to meet other girls throughout the state," she said. "It's Mom's fault."

Originally from Manalapan, N.J., Campanella began modeling at age 16, graduated from high school a year early and received a scholarship to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, according to her personal website.

Campanella said she thought the marijuana question posed to her from "Real Housewives of New Jersey" housewife Caroline Manzo was fair, given that she represents California.

"Well, I understand why that question would be asked, especially with today's economy, but I also understand that medical marijuana is very important to help those who need it medically," she said during the pageant.

"I'm not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war," she said. "I mean, it's abused today, unfortunately, so that's the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it's OK."

Marijuana has been legal for medical use in California for about 15 years.

Miss Tennessee Ashley Durham was the first runner-up, while contestants from Alabama and Texas placed third and fourth.

Campanella, a natural blonde, said she dyed her hair six years ago for a part in a play, for a "fiery" character with whom she found she had traits in common.

"It's really brought out the true Alyssa Campanella, I feel, and that's why I really enjoy being a redhead," she said.

Campanella replaces Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih. The 25-year-old from Michigan teared up as she walked across the stage for a final goodbye.

The pageant had three competitions: swimsuit, evening gown and interview question.

The contestants were whittled to 16 after the show's opening number, in which the beauty queens introduced themselves one-by-one. The top 16 were picked by preliminary judges through competitions and interviews during the week before the telecast. Celebrity judges picked the top eight after the swimsuit competition and the top four after the evening gown portion.

Durham appeared to stumble as she answered a question from celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito about whether the First Amendment should protect burning religious books, as it protects burning the flag.

"I know that some people view it as a freedom of speech, however, burning the American flag is not patriotic at all," Durham said. "No American citizen should do that, and you should also respect other religions. I'm a Christian and a faithful person. I would personally not appreciate someone burning the Bible, and that's just a line you do not cross."

Miss Kentucky Kia Ben-et Hampton won Miss Congeniality USA, while Miss Arizona Brittany Dawn Brannon won Miss Photogenic USA.

Libya says NATO airstrike hits residential area (hot news)

TRIPOLI, Libya – The Libyan government said at least four civilians were killed Sunday in a NATO airstrike that hit a residential neighborhood in the capital, adding to charges that the alliance is striking nonmilitary targets.

Journalists based in the Libyan capital were taken by government officials to a neighborhood where rescue efforts were under way at a destroyed building that appeared to have been partially under construction.





Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said the damage was caused by NATO rockets and bombs. He wasn't immediately able to provide the number of casualties, but said there were no military facilities anywhere near the damaged building.

"There was intentional and deliberate targeting of the civilian houses," said deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim during a visit to the site shortly after reporters arrived. "This is another sign of the brutality of the West."

NATO, which has a mandate to protect Libyan civilians, rejects allegations it targets civilians.

"We are conducting operations with utmost care and precision to avoid civilian casualties. Civilian casualties figures mentioned by the Libyan regime are pure propaganda," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Saturday.

Journalists who were taken to a hospital were shown at least four people said to be killed in the strike, including two young children. It was not possible to independently verify the government's account of what happened. Foreign journalists in Tripoli are not allowed to travel and report freely and are almost always shadowed by government minders.

On Friday, Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi accused NATO of a "new level of aggression," and claimed that the military alliance intentionally targeted civilian buildings, including a hotel and a university. He has called on the United Nations to take action to stop NATO's daily bombing runs.

Libya's Health Ministry says 856 civilians have been killed in NATO airstrikes since they began in March. The figure could not be independently confirmed. Previous government tolls from individual strikes have proven to be exaggerated.

Late on Saturday, NATO announced that it had mistakenly struck a column of Libyan rebel vehicles in an airstrike near an eastern oil town two days earlier and expressed regret for any casualties that might have resulted.

The alliance has accidentally hit rebel forces before in its air campaign to protect civilians in the civil war between Gadhafi's military and the fighters trying to end his more than four decades in power.

The rebels also have complained that NATO's strikes have not helped them gain decisive momentum against the Libyan leader's better trained and equipped military, which still has firm control over most of western Libya. The rebels control much of the east.

The alliance statement gave no figures on casualties from Thursday's airstrike, but said it regretted "any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident."

NATO said its forces spotted a column of military vehicles near the frequent flashpoint town of Brega where forces loyal to Gadhafi had recently been operating and hit them because they believed they posed a threat to civilians.

International military forces have had some trouble in hitting government troops because of their proximity to civilians. Gadhafi's troops have also used civilian vehicles, making them difficult to distinguish from rebel forces.

A doctor in the nearby city of Ajdabiya said the bodies of four rebel fighters were brought to his hospital around the time of Thursday's strike, but it was not possible to confirm whether they were killed in the bombardment.

A rebel military spokesman, Abdel-Rahman Abu-Sin, said Saturday that they appreciated NATO's efforts and understood the difficulty in differentiating between the two sides along shifting front lines.

Thursday's airstrike was similar to one in April during which NATO hit a convoy of rebel tanks, killing at least five fighters. NATO officials said at the time they did not know the rebels had any tanks, a statement that raised eyebrows as footage of the fighters with tanks had been on YouTube for weeks.

world news 24 hours


A coalition including France, Britain and the United States launched the first strikes against Gadhafi's forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. NATO, which is joined by a number of Arab allies, assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31.