Singapore - Singapore's central bank on Monday launched a 200-million-Singapore-dollar (134-million-US-dollar) Islamic bond programme to promote the growth of Islamic finance in the city-state.

The bonds, called sukuk, are the first to be offered in a local currency by a non-Muslim-majority country.

"This sukuk is the sharia-compliant equivalent of Singapore government securities and is of the highest credit standing," said Heng Swee Keat, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, its central bank.

London, Jan 19 : Kate Winslet is planning to prepare a speech for the Bafta Awards ceremony to avoid repeating her ‘gushing’ Golden Globes acceptance.

Earlier this month, the 33-year-old British actress picked up two Golden Globes for ‘The Reader’ and ‘Revolutionary Road’ and the films have earned her two nominations for the Best Actress award at this year''s Bafta ceremony.

The ‘Titanic’ star was very emotional at the Golden Globes ceremony, telling the audience "I''m sorry, I have a habit of not winning things."

Washington, Jan. 19 : Two Methodist churches, which have stood on the same block on Capitol Hill for close to two centuries -- one congregation black and the other white, will create history on Tuesday, when they open their doors for the first time to all communities, ending decades of racial segregation.

London, Jan 19 : American actor/director Kevin Spacey has landed in an controversy after it was reported that his play’s lead actor Richard Dreyfuss had to be fed his lines through an earpiece.

The premiere of ‘Complicit’ was supposed to take place at the city''s Old Vic theatre on January 19, but it was pushed back until the following week because the show needed “more development time”, a spokesperson said.

London, January 19 : ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Rachel Stevens has revealed that she is far from being “a prude” and “loves doing sexy photoshoots”.

The actress, who partnered with professional dancer Vincent Simone to bag the second place in the dancing competition, said she enjoyed the photoshoots and would not shy away from any similar future endeavours.

“I love doing sexy photoshoots – they’re fun and I want to carry on doing them. Why not? I’m not a prude. I even did a nude shoot for charity once,” the Mirror quoted her as saying.

The ex ‘S Club 7’ singer further trashed allegations that she and her dance partner were more than good friends, insisting it only added to her relationship with fiance Alex Bourne.

London, Jan 19 : Plans of putting atheist slogans on buses in Italy, like the ones in Britain, have been blocked by the Roman Catholic Church.

The adverts reading ‘The bad news is that God doesn''t exist. The good news is that you don''t need him’ were supposed to appear on vehicles on the streets of Genoa.

The city had been chosen because it is home to the head of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, an outspoken opponent of artificial insemination and gay marriage.