News, Daily news, Newspaper, Paper, Weather, World news.

Attack on Sri lakanan Team

2009-03-03T09:57:00.006+05:00

On March 3 -2009. Near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. 4 guns loaded terriost attack on sri lakanan team when they are on move towards stadium for 2nd test match.

4 security persons are killed during the attacks.while almost 6 player are injured.They moved to local hospital for the treatment.

Local official said that they found bullets, rocket launcher near the side. police control the area & searching start.

As per PCBA official match will be canceled & it will a great lost for Pakistani cricket. In the past many teams refused to come pakistan because of law & order situation.

Pakistan condemn this attack & many official said, its a pay back from Ra after Mumbai attack

Slumdog Millionarie wins 8 Oscars at the 81st academy Awards

2009-02-24T17:27:00.002+05:00

Holly wood director Danny Boyle Moive "slumdog Millionarie" wins eight Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards.

Oscars for Best

Picture

Director

Music(Song)

Music(Score)

FilmEditing

Sound Mixing

Cinematography

Writing

Egypt jewels on display

2009-02-19T11:52:00.004+05:00

Egypt official said on wednesday that its their plan to put on public display crown jewel that are the belongings of dynasty who ruled the country for 150 years.

The jewels are locked & their keys are in custedyof Central Bank & they will sohw in a musemum of Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

As per egypt culture ministerthat these jewels will be display first time after the 1952 revolution, jewels will show at the royal family museum of jewellery.

Moreover a former royal palace that is transformed into a museum in 1986.muhammad ali that ruled from 19 century till 1952 untill the fall of the monarchy.

Aussies good enough to beat any team, says Ponting

2009-02-17T22:29:00.001+05:00

Hopefully, I can turn things around there. It’s all in my hands and I know what I have to do to have success here,” he said.Ponting has managed just 172 in 14 innings in India, with his worst performance in 2001 when he scored 17 in three Tests, falling five times to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.“There is a bit of a void in my international career here in India. There’s no doubt about that,” the Australian skipper said at his first press conference since arriving in India on Sept 22.

“Even on the last tour (in 2004) when we managed to win the Test series, I missed the first three Tests with a broken thumb and came back for the last one and we managed to lose that Test match.“So hopefully there are a lot of runs ahead for me here,” added Ponting, who has made 10,099 runs in 119 Tests with 35 hundreds during his career.Ponting made 11 and 12 in his only Test in India four years ago when his side lost by 13 runs on a turning Mumbai track.

The Australian captain is one of the four players in the current squad to have played a Test in India, the others being batsmen Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich.But Ponting said his side were capable of putting in a winning performance if they played to their potential.“We are confident the younger faces are going to be good enough and their skills good enough to stand up in Test cricket in India,” stressed Ponting.“I think even over the last 12 months when we have been missing some of our more experienced players we have still managed to show our best cricket is good enough to beat everybody.

“We go into every game confident to play at a certain level, and we’re good enough to beat anybody we play against,” Ponting said.Ponting noted that a weeklong training camp in Jaipur helped the team get acclimatised to Indian conditions, especially the pitches. The camp included a two-day game against the Rajasthan Cricket Academy XI in which Australia’s batsmen had difficulty against young spinners.

“We did struggle against spin, but we are confident for the first Test,” he asserted.Ponting also urged the teams to play in the right spirit to avoid a repeat of the ill-tempered series between the two teams in Australia early this year.“The important thing is that the captains are responsible for what happens on the field. We are responsible for our teams and the way we play our cricket,” expressed Ponting.Australia clinched the four-Test series earlier this year 2-1 amid deteriorating relations between the two sides.

The Indians, unhappy with umpiring decisions in the second Test in Sydney, almost abandoned the tour when off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was accused of making racist comments against Andrew Symonds.“We have addressed it a number of times, particularly after the Sydney Test. We all understand what is acceptable and what is not,” said Ponting. “Both teams have a responsibility in this series to make sure everybody is playing the game in the right way.”Australia, who trained for a week in Jaipur, open the tour with a four-day fixture starting in Hyderabad on Thursday.The opening Test begins in Bangalore on Oct 9, followed by back-to-back matches in Mohali, New Delhi and Nagpur.Australia clinched the four-Test series on their previous tour in 2004, their first success in India in 35 years.—Agencies.

West Bank settler violence a challenge for Israel

2009-02-17T22:27:00.000+05:00

ASIRA AL-KIBLIYA, West Bank: Armed with guns, slingshots, knives and stun grenades, Jewish settlers pelted the house of Palestinian Nahla Makhlouf with stones, uprooted young trees and painted the Star of David on her walls.In Makhlouf’s West Bank village of Asira al-Kibilya, Palestinians brace for possible attack by their Jewish settler neighbours from nearby Titzhar almost every weekend. But the latest attack exceeded their expectations.

“They sprayed some sort of tear gas through the window. It smelled strong and made our eyes run and made it hard to breath, especially for my baby,” said the 33-year-old mother of four.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reacted strongly to the Sept 13 attack, saying he would not tolerate “pogroms” by Jewish extremists who are determined on religious grounds to stop Israel swapping occupied land for peace.

Last week, an outspoken Israeli critic of the settlements was wounded by a pipe bomb outside his Jerusalem home, in what Olmert said was evidence of “an evil wind of extremism, of hatred, of violence” threatening Israeli democracy.Settlers and the Israeli army said the Asira assault was triggered by the wounding of a nine-year-old settler boy by a Palestinian whom he had disturbed in the act of setting fire to a house in the Yitzhar settlement while the family was away.But settler vigilante violence is growing, according to a recent UN report, which recorded 222 incidents in the first half of 2008, versus 291 in all of 2007.

Some half a million Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem. Their presence, viewed by major powers as illegal under international law, is partly shielded by a 790-km barrier Israel has been building since 2002.In a newspaper interview on Monday, Olmert broke new ground by urging Israel’s withdrawal “from almost all the territories” captured in the 1967 Middle East war in return for peace.

But Olmert says Israel plans to keep major settlements in the West Bank in any peace deal, and would have to compensate the Palestinians for land lost.The Palestinians say they cannot have a viable country of their own if it is chopped into pieces by Israeli settlement islands and the snaking walls and fences of the new barrier.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called the settlements “an obstacle to peace” which must go.Some settlers justified the attack on Asira, saying the army failed to protect them against a violent infiltration.“If the Israeli army had done what it should, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

They should either have prevented that infiltration or carried out a raid after,” Renana Cohen said.Dani Dayan of Israel’s mainstream settlers’ organisation says the Arabs do not want peace. A Palestinian state would be a “launching pad” from which they would conduct “ethnic cleansing” against the Israelis, he argues. Many Israelis feel the same.Most settlers oppose vigilante violence. But most agree that withdrawal would be “a sure recipe for war”, as Dayan puts is, because there will no “peace-loving Palestinians taking over”.A younger, more aggressive breed of religious ideologues vows a violent response to any eviction threat, warning a heavy price would be exacted for any bid to close settlements down.Residents of Asira say the settlers need no provocation or pretext.

Attacks on Asira date back three years, Makhlouf said.Palestinians complain of unremitting harassment, such as the burning of their olive trees and stoning attacks on farmers in the fields, as a prelude to land-creep and confiscation.The garden and rooftop of Makhlouf’s neighbour, Ahmed Dawood, were littered by stones rained onto his house in the settler rampage. The water tank was holed by four bullets.Dawood’s son and a labourer in his field were shot and wounded. The army, he said, made no effort to stop the attack.“I complained to the soldiers and they shouted back ‘Get inside’ and started shooting,” he said.“We have nothing to protect ourselves with. We just take precautions such as putting metal grids on the windows. But the solution is to have them uprooted from here.”—Reuters.

Communal clashes erupt in Orissa: Christians’ houses set on fire

2009-02-17T22:24:00.000+05:00

BHUBANESWAR, Sept 30: One woman was killed and more than a dozen people injured, some critically, after religious clashes in eastern India between Hindus and Christians, officials said.Violence broke out at a village in Orissa's Kandhamal district after Hindus attacked Christians, setting fire to their houses and burning a church, according to the chief administrator of the district Krishan Kumar.

One woman was seriously injured in the clashes and died on her way to the hospital, police said. “She was stabbed to death and there were several injury marks,” S. Praveen Kumar, a senior police officer said.The violence followed a string of attacks on Christians in three states which has left at least 33 people dead and dozens of churches damaged in the last month. Christians have responded with some violence in Orissa state.

The clashes were sparked by the issue of religious conversion in Orissa's poor tribal region, home to many Christian missionary groups. Hindus have opposed the Christian missionaries' conversion of lower-caste Hindus.Religious clashes have also been reported in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka states which are both headed by a Hindu-nationalist governments.Clashes first erupted in Orissa last month after the killing of a Hindu leader linked to the main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Police suspected Maoist rebels but many Hindus in the region blamed Christians.The attacks on Christians in India have been condemned by Pope Benedict, and Roman Catholic bishops have urged the European Union to treat persecution of Christians as a humanitarian emergency.—Reuters

SRK to name his dog Aamir?

2009-02-17T22:23:00.002+05:00

The cold vibes between Aamir and SRK have been witnessed by many since many years and both of them keep on cracking comments and jokes at each other whenever they get a chance.
Aamir received wrath of many when he called his dog Shahrukh on his blog, however SRK kept mum during the whole episode, but now he is back with revenge as he is joked that he wants to name his dog Aamir.

SRK said, “Gauri gets upset when I crack jokes about naming my dog Aamir. She thinks why should I bring myself down by doing or saying such things? I understand that she doesn’t want me to lose my dignity, but sometimes I think it is absolutely necessary as people ask for it.”
He goes on to explain, “Aamir had said it was a joke that his dog was named after me… and I said if it was a matter of [a] sense of humor, then my joke would have been that I also wanted to name my pets after Aamir, but my pets vehemently refused. My wife said people don’t understand your jokes, so please refrain from doing so… though I felt it was quite funny but I didn’t say it at that time. Nobody said anything about stooping low, etc. Stooping low would be a height joke.”

SRK also expressed his views on Aamir being against of SRK being number one, “I will confront Aamir and ask him why he said such a thing. I accept a lot of things, but I think this is not funny. When I say I am number one, I definitely don’t mean it in arrogance. I say it with a sense of humor and a sense of humility. But I guess it will take a lot for Aamir to understand that.”
Well that’s SRK at his wittiest best against Aamir, and now lets wait for Aamir’s witty comments.

Priyanka wooing a Scottish actor?

2009-02-17T22:21:00.001+05:00

move over Hurman Baweja and more recent Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka’s latest rumor man is from Scotland - actor Gerard Butler( seen in the movie 300).
Priyanka got to know Gerard during the launch of Atlantis resort in Dubai.
A friend of Priyanka tells, “Since November, Priyanka and Gerard have kept in touch via phone calls and SMSes.”

Even Priyanka’s representative was quizzed about this issue and she said, “Priyanka and Gerard hit it off really well in Dubai and have maintained their friendship ever since.”
The duo was recently spotted enjoying a lunch together in Chicago, where our Piggy Chops is shooting for Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s your Rashee.
Well I’m confused with Priyanka’s various Dostana’s.

shahrukh shoulder surgery successful

2009-02-17T22:18:00.002+05:00

Bollywood baadshah SRK was operated for a shoulder injury today at Breach Candy Hospital and his surgery was successful. The King Khan will be discharged in another 48 hours, however he will not be able to work for almost 4-6 weeks.
SRK while filming the movie ‘Dulha Mil Gaya’ last year suffered froma muscle tear in his left shoulder.
The one and a half hours long operation was carried out by shoulder specialist Dr Sanjay Desai by utilizing arthroscopic method.

Dr Desai said, “All went well. He is out of anesthesia. The situation is under control and he is doing fine.”
Before going inside the operation theater SRK said, “Surgeries are not new to me.I work a lot and get injured every now and then so I’m not bogged down. In fact, I’m pretty fine.
SRK underwent previous surgeries for his back and his knee.
We wish SRK a very very speedy recovery, before the IPL kickstarts.

Aishwarya Rai’s amazed attendees at “Pink Panther 2″ Berlin Premiere

2009-02-17T22:15:00.003+05:00

It had been a very hectic day for Aishwarya Rai during her schedule on Berlin Premiere of “The Pink Panther 2” on February 13, Friday. After the routine media conference in the morning, Aishwarya really got herself prepared for the afternoon premier of the launch of the movie in pink gown and arrived on the dais along with co-actors like Steve Martin and Jean Reno at the Berlinale Palast.

The storyline of the movie rotates around Inspector Jacques Clouseau that makes a group with International detectives to check an International Thief from stealing artifacts of historical importance

Tanushree Dutta in her hottest avataar

2009-02-17T22:12:00.004+05:00

Our space had informed you that Lara Dutta has done a hot photoshoot for the February 2009 issue of ‘Maxim’ but call it a visual treat from the magazine or their policy of creating a hype among the reader, the magazine has replaced A hotter and more sizzling Tanushree Dutta for the month of February 2009. In this shoot, the Bong sexy kitten shares some of her Love Moments With Maxim and Share some views about her Valentine.

The magazine has used the photoshoot of Lara Dutta at the end of last month. So, the readers are nowhere at a loss. Check out the hot hot pics of Tanushree Dutta for Maxim.

Divya Dutta in a new image for ‘Delhi 6′

2009-02-17T22:10:00.002+05:00

Lot is being said about ‘Masakalli’ Sonam Kapoor in ‘Delhi 6’ but little do cinegoers know that versatile actress Divya Dutta is all set to surprise the audiences by flaunting an absolutely new look in the film. She plays a pivotal role in the film and has gone for a complete makeover for her role.

She has donned a daring new gypsy look with tattoos all over her neck and arms and has gone four shades darker than her normal fair and glam self. Her look has been changed so much so that she used to get the first ‘call time’ since it used to take 4 hours to complete her make-up!!
“Yes it took us one and a half hours to get to location and 4 hrs for my make-up; it was exhausting but I loved the end result. All the effort was worth it. It is very different and nothing looked like this before” laughs the actress.

Not only her new transformed look but her performance has also impressed all her co-stars, team and Rakyesh the director of ‘Delhi 6′. But then, the lady has always given impressive performances so far and so forth!

Max Stardust Awards 2009 Glittered With Stars

2009-02-17T22:04:00.008+05:00

In the period of cinema awards around the Globe, whether it is Golden globe or Oscar awards, Bollywood no way is behind in this frenzy and the latest event occurred on the line is Max Stardust Award that occurred on last Saturday dated 14th February 2009 in Mumbai.
Nearly, every big star was seen at this function performing, receiving award or sitting among guests.

The best movie awards was given to the “Singh is Kinng” to Akshay Kumar. And his wife twinkle was also present at the event. Amitabh received best actor award and Priyanka Chopra bagged the trophy for Female Star of the Year. There were all, the list is countless including Kangana Ranaut with beau Adhyayan Suman, Kareena Kapoor and boyfriend Saif Ali Khan, Ameesha Patel, Fardeen Khan, Salman Khan, Neha Dhupia, Celina Jaitley, Amrita Rao and more.

A chilling action sequence for the climax of ‘Kites’

2009-02-17T21:59:00.001+05:00

Sources say the climax of Hrithik Roshan’s romantic thriller ‘Kites’ has a nail-biting action sequence inspired from ‘Bad Boys 2’ and ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’. Director Anurag Basu recently shot a difficult action sequence in Santa Fe in New Mexico. The scene required around a month of preparation and was shot over three days.

The scene was initially directed by Dick Ziker, but the Roshans weren’t quite pleased with his work and reshot the scene with action director Spiro Razatos and they were happy with the final result.

It is a scene similar to Bad Boys 2 where the villain pushes cars off an automobile mover (the vehicle that transports cars from the factory to the dealer) during a car chase. The rented a garage for a month where he kept second-hand cars that he purchased. These cars were modified to make them look new.
No, wonder, the film’s marketing and distribution rights have reportedly been sold for a whopping amount of Rs. 110 crores to Anil Ambani’s Big Pictures.

world weather news link

2009-02-16T13:57:00.000+05:00

http://www.weathernews.com/

Heated attempts by hackers to penetrate FIA network

2009-02-16T13:31:00.000+05:00

The Federal Investigation Agency has foiled multiple attempts to hack its computer networks which occurred within minutes of the Interior Ministry's disclosure regarding its findings on the Mumbai attacks.

The hacking attempts occurred last Thursday, the day Prime Minister's advisor on Interior Rehman Malik held a press conference and laid bare Islamabad's findings into Mumbai terror links.

Since then, the FIA's cybercrime wing has recorded several more attempts by hackers to infiltrate the Agency's networks which hosts sensitive information.

Agency officials are said to have be taken aback by the swiftness of the attacks.

Sources claim that the investigators have managed to locate the origin of the cyber attack, adding that the attempted operation was launched beyond Pakistan's borders.

It is also believed that a number of such attempts are motivated by the curiosity to find the list of questions forwarded by Islamabad to Indian authorities for further information to the Mumbai saga.

The investigations meanwhile are trying to ascertain if the attempt was an isolated event or something more complex, following various bids to hack into its databases.

They are not willing to disclose any further details about the hackers or point of origin citing the sensitivity of the matter.

The FIA's computers are host to a variety of sensitive information regarding banned outfits, militants arrested in connection with various terror attacks, counter-insurgency operations, etc.

Peru’s ‘Milk of Sorrow’ wins top Berlin film prize

2009-02-16T13:27:00.000+05:00

BERLIN: The Berlin Film Festival wrapped up Sunday after handing its Golden Bear top prize to a Peruvian director for 'The Milk of Sorrow' about the scars left by two decades of civil strife in her country.
The moving drama by Claudia Llosa, 32, was the first competition entry from Peru in the 59-year history of the Berlinale.
'This is for Peru, this is for our country,' she said, hoisting the statue in the air and joined on stage by her lead actress Magaly Solier.

The Spanish-Peruvian production is Llosa's second feature. She later told reporters that she hoped the prize would ensure its distribution in cinemas around the world.
'We need this prize,' Llosa said. 'It is important for us that people get to know our film.'
The picture tells the story of Fausta, who drinks 'the milk of sorrow' as an infant after her mother's brutal rape during the 1980 to 2000 war between the Peruvian army and Shining Path guerrillas.
As a grown woman, Fausta must face the fears that bloody period left behind, symbolised by her struggle to give her mother a proper burial after she dies early in the film.
'I have to thank my mother to no end, all the women, and all of you — I dedicate this prize to my mother and all of Peru,' Solier said, before singing a song from the movie in her native Quechua language.

A truth and reconciliation commission established in 2001 in Peru recorded nearly 70,000 murders and countless rapes and abductions during the government's battle with the Maoist militants.
Oscar-winning Scottish actress Tilda Swinton said the jury's decision had been unanimous. The German press hailed the choice.

'They not only honoured explorations of the human soul that were as sensual as they were painful, but also their unostentatious social relevance,' the daily Tagesspiegel said Sunday.
'The Milk of Sorrow' beat out favourites including 'The Messenger' starring Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as GIs tasked with notifying loved ones of soldiers who have fallen in battle in Iraq.
The film picked up a screenwriting prize for its Israeli-born director Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon.

The Silver Bear prize for best actor went to Sotigui Kouyate of Mali for his role in 'London River' as a Muslim father searching for his son in the wake of the July 2005 public transport bombings in the British capital.
The 72-year-old thanked the festival, saying that 'every organisation like the Berlinale that allows people to meet and encounter each other's cultures does a good deed for the world today.'
Austria's Birgit Minichmayr captured the prize for best actress as a woman in a doomed relationship in the German drama 'Everyone Else,' which also shared a runner-up prize for best picture with 'Gigante' by Argentina's Adrian Biniez.
Iran's Asghar Farhadi won the Silver Bear for best director for his drama 'About Elly' about a woman who vanishes on a beach getaway with friends.

In an incisive look at relations between the sexes in the Islamic republic, the disappearance leaves a group of chic urbanites weaving an intricate web of lies to keep up the appearance of maintaining traditional social mores.
Eighteen pictures were in competition for the Golden and Silver Bear prizes in what critics said was a lacklustre year at the festival.
Swedish arthouse hero Lukas Moodysson garnered boos with his flat, incoherent 'Mammoth' starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams, and critics savaged British director Sally Potter's 'Rage,' a send-up of the fashion industry featuring Jude Law in drag as a supermodel called Minx.

Festival director Dieter Kosslick, who has just extended his contract until 2013, defended his choices against the howling critics.
'One of the duties of a film festival is to follow a director on his or her career,' Kosslick told the Hollywood Reporter this week. 'They don't only make masterpieces.'
The 11-day festival ranks second only to Cannes in size and prestige.
The Golden Bear last year also went to a Latin American film: 'Elite Squad,' a Brazilian drama about police brutality.

Communal clashes erupt in Orissa: Christians’ houses set on fire

2009-02-16T13:26:00.001+05:00

BHUBANESWAR, Sept 30: one woman was killed and more than a dozen people injured, some critically, after religious clashes in eastern India between Hindus and Christians, officials said.Violence broke out at a village in Orissa's Kandhamal district after Hindus attacked Christians, setting fire to their houses and burning a church, according to the chief administrator of the district Krishan Kumar.One woman was seriously injured in the clashes and died on her way to the hospital, police said. “She was stabbed to death and there were several injury marks,” S. Praveen Kumar, a senior police officer said.The violence followed a string of attacks on Christians in three states which has left at least 33 people dead and dozens of churches damaged in the last month.

Christians have responded with some violence in Orissa state.The clashes were sparked by the issue of religious conversion in Orissa's poor tribal region, home to many Christian missionary groups. Hindus have opposed the Christian missionaries' conversion of lower-caste Hindus.Religious clashes have also been reported in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka states which are both headed by a Hindu-nationalist governments.Clashes first erupted in Orissa last month after the killing of a Hindu leader linked to the main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Police suspected Maoist rebels but many Hindus in the region blamed Christians.The attacks on Christians in India have been condemned by Pope Benedict, and Roman Catholic bishops have urged the European Union to treat persecution of Christians as a humanitarian emergency.—Reuters

Punjabi Idol

2009-02-14T15:36:00.000+05:00

2009-02-14T10:17:00.001+05:00

Microsoft offers reward to catch worm maker

2009-02-13T17:40:00.000+05:00

SAN FRANCISCO: microsoft on Thursday announced it has formed a technology industry posse and put a bounty of 250,000 dollars on the heads of those responsible for a vexing computer worm.
The nasty computer code known as ‘Conficker’ or ‘Downadup’ has been spreading quickly, wriggling into millions of computers worldwide and threatening to commandeer or crash systems.
Microsoft is working with computer security specialists and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to track down whoever unleashed Conficker.
‘The best way to defeat potential botnets like Conficker/Downadup is by the security and domain name system communities working together,’ said ICANN chief Internet security advisor Greg Rattray.

Microsoft promised to pay 250,000 dollars for information that leads to the capture and conviction of the people that launched the malicious code on the Internet.
‘We hope these efforts help to contain the threat posed by Conficker, as well as hold those who illegally launch malware accountable,’ said George Stathakopoulos, general manager of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group.

‘Microsoft’s approach combines technology innovation and effective cross-sector partnerships to help protect people from cybercriminals.’Cyber threats are evolving rapidly, compelling technology firms and academic researchers worldwide to increasingly collaborate to coordinate defenses.
The posse bent on corralling Conficker includes Symantec, F-Secure, VeriSign, Afilias, Internet Systems Consortium, and the Shadowserver Foundation.
‘I am heartened to see this group of companies and researchers working together night and day, cooperating in some cases with their direct competitors, to cap the damage from this worm,’ said ISC president Paul Vixie.

‘We’ve aligned a huge pool of talents and resources. We’ve got a lot to do yet, about this attack and likely future attacks, but if we keep on working together like this, we’re going to make real progress in Internet security.’
Microsoft said it is offering a cash reward because the Conficker worm is a criminal attack. Anyone that knows about Conficker’s origins is urged to contact police dealing with international law enforcement in their country.

Advice about defending against Conficker is available online at microsoft.com/conficker.
The worm, a self-replicating program, takes advantage of networks or computers that haven’t kept up to date with Windows security patches.
It can infect machines from the Internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks carrying data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defenses that make it hard to extract.
Microsoft says it is aware of the Conficker ‘worm family’ and has modified its free Malicious Software Removal Tool to detect and get rid of infections.

Malware could be triggered to steal data or turn control of infected computers over to hackers amassing ‘zombie’ machines into ‘botnet’ armies.
A troubling aspect of Conficker is that it harnesses computing power of botnets to crack passwords. Security specialists recommend hardening passwords by mixing in numbers, punctuation marks, and upper case letters.

Repeated ‘guesses’ at passwords by a botnet have caused some computer users to be locked out of files or machines that automatically disable access after certain numbers of failed tries.
‘When botnets start being controlled through global, randomized domain names, you know things are heating up in cybercrime,’ said Afilias chief technology officer Ram Mohan.
‘Attackers are evolving and deploying ever more sophisticated techniques.We need to stay together to provide a unified front against future attacks.

Passive smoking linked to dementia: study

2009-02-13T17:36:00.000+05:00

PARIS: exposure to second-hand smoke boosts the risk of dementia and other cognitive problems, even among people who have never smoked, the largest study of its kind reported on Friday.
Ill effects on non-smokers of constant exposure to tobacco smoke include an increased risk of lung cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and death, earlier research has shown.
As for the impact on brain function, active smoking has been found to impair the mind but the evidence for passive smoking has until now been sketchy.
Using new methods in the largest clinical trial to date, a team led by Cambridge University professor David Llewellyn found that even people who had never smoked but kept constant company with smokers performed less well in cognitive tests.

The investigation focussed on nearly 5,000 adults over the age of 50 who were former smokers or who had never smoked.
The volunteers were divided into four groups according to their exposure to passive smoking.
This was determined by saliva samples, which were tested for a by-product of nicotine called cotinine.

Cotinine lingers in the saliva for about 25 days. The higher the levels of cotinine, the higher the exposure to recent second-hand smoke.
The volunteers then took neuro-psychological tests that assessed brain function and cognitive abilities, focusing on memory and the ability to work with numbers and words.
Using the lowest cotinine group as a benchmark, the researchers found a clear and progressively stronger link between impairment in brain function and exposure to second-hand smoke.
In the most-exposed group, the risk of cognitive impairment was 44 per cent higher than the benchmark group.

Factors such as age and medical condition, including a history of heart disease, that could have skewed the outcome were all taken into account.
‘A similar pattern of associations was observed for never smokers and former smokers,’ said the study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
‘Given the ongoing international policy debate on exposure to second-hand smoke, this is a topic of major public health significance.’

Governments in North America, Australia and Europe have progressively enacted ‘smoke-free’ legislation for the workplaces, bars, restaurants and other public places over the last 15 years.

Reeves shakes up suburbia in star-studded film

2009-02-13T17:33:00.000+05:00

BERLIN: keanu Reeves plays a young, tattooed shop assistant who turns the suburban world of his quiet neighbour upside down in Rebecca Miller’s new film ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.’
Pippa Lee, played by Robin Wright Penn, has just moved to a retirement community with her successful publisher husband Herb, a man 30 years her senior where her life revolves around serving perfectly cooked lamb and decorating her home.But as she befriends ageing neighbours and enrols in a pottery class with women old enough to be her mother, she starts to question her role as respectable mother, wife and hostess.

The arrival of Reeves’ character Chris, an unkempt 35-year-old who drives a beaten-up van and sports a giant Jesus tattoo on his chest, brings her angst into focus.‘Chris is part of her dream,’ Reeves told reporters at the Berlin film festival, where the film — which also features Monica Bellucci, Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore and Alan Arkin as Lee’s husband Herb — screened this week.

‘In this film, freedom means the possibility to experience yourself to go find yourself,’ said Reeves, who appeared on the red carpet in Berlin with a full beard.Asked whether he preferred the beard to the Jesus tattoo of the film, he told Reuters, ‘Probably the beard is going to win.’
Reeves said he had not been able to refuse when Miller, the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, had asked him to be in the film, based on her novel of the same name.Supporting actress Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather, director Elia Kazan, used to work with Arthur Miller, told Reuters, ‘It does have a special significance as my grandfather and her father were real comrades for a while and collaborators. So it meant a lot to me to be able to work with her on that note.’

Wright Penn called the strong female cast ‘a blessing’, saying, ‘We waited a year to do this movie because we didn’t have the actors. We just didn’t have anybody that was absolutely right for it, no one would sign on. So patience is the virtue.’

In her film, Miller takes viewers from Lee’s life as a wife to her childhood and adolescence, letting them witness Lee’s own disbelief at the traumas she has hidden inside.
The film is Miller’s follow-up to ‘The Ballad of Jack and Rose’, which showed in Berlin in 2005 and starred her husband Daniel Day-Lewis. Asked about the similarities between Lewis and Reeves, Miller chuckled and said, ‘They are both very committed and talented actors. And very different.

New York plane crash kills 49

2009-02-13T17:29:00.000+05:00

NEW YORK: commuter plane crashed into a house in New York state unleashing a fireball and killing all 48 passengers and crew and one person on the ground, officials said Friday.
Flames higher than nearby houses lit up the night sky for hours.
Firefighters from a nearby fire station were quickly at the scene, but despite what one local official called 'heroic' efforts, were unable to get to the passengers and crew trapped in the inferno.

The Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 plane, operated for Continental Airlines, came down about five minutes before it was due to land in Buffalo after a flight from Newark, New Jersey.
New York state governor David Paterson said '44 passengers were killed along with four crew members and at least one person on the ground.'

An Erie County official said Continental Airlines flight 3407 crashed at 10:20 p.m. in Clarence Center, New York as it neared the runway.
Air traffic controllers desperately tried to make contact with the pilot as the plane, run by Colgan Air for Continental, approached Buffalo.
One controller asks another plane to look for it, according to a conversation aired by local television station WGRZ. He then asks someone to contact police on the ground.
'This aircraft was five miles out and now all of the sudden we have no response from this aircraft,' he said.

The Buffalo News newspaper reported 12 homes were evacuated due to the risk from the burning jet fuel.
County Emergency Coordinator David Bissonette told reporters the plane have landed right on the house.
'The fueslage of the plane lies directly on the footprint of the house,' Bissonette said. 'It basically dove right into the top of the house ... clearly a direct hit.'

'It's remarkable that it only took one house, as devastating as that was. It could have easily wiped out that entire neighborhood in a streaking run type of thing,' he said. Nearby homes suffered only minimal damage.
Erie County Executive Chris Collins told CNN television the plane was carrying 5,800 pounds of jet fuel and turned into a fireball on impact.

Bissonette said the only recognizable part of the plane remaining is the tail.
The smoldering wreckage was too hot for investigators to approach and FBI agent Laurie Bennett said the collection of evidence would not begin until the scene was deemed safe.
She said there was no way of knowing what caused the crash.

One witness, who gave his name only as Tony, told a local television station that the plane flew right over his car, 'nose down.'
'Left wing was slightly down, pitched sideways, if you will,' he said. 'It was on a direct line down.'
David Luce, who lives near the crash scene, told the Buffalo News he heard a huge explosion and saw flames up to 50 feet in the air.

'It sounded quite loud, and then the sound stopped,' Luce said. 'Then one or two seconds later, there was a thunderous explosion. I thought something hit our house. It shook our whole house.'
'There was the initial boom, and then these cannon shots ... these loud secondary explosions, and they went on for about 10 minutes.'
After a few minutes, Luce said he walked out to take a look at the wreckage and saw the house was destroyed.

'The house was already flattened. There was no house, just a pile of rubble and still burning,' he said.
There was snow and sleet in the area at the time of the crash, which is not unusual for the area this time of year.
Continental Airlines pledged its full support to Colgan Air, 'so that together we can provide as much support as possible for all concerned.'
'Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the family members and loved ones of those involved in the flight 3407 tragedy,' the airline's chief executive, Larry Kellner, said in a statement.

Hollywood is short-changing its heroines

2009-02-13T17:27:00.000+05:00

LONDON: hollywood heroines are being increasingly portrayed as neurotic, idiotic and obsessed by men, weight and weddings, a professor at Oxford University has claimed.Dr Diane Purkiss argued that over the past five decades the film industry has made its female characters “dumber and dumber”.

The latest slew of chick-flicks, including He’s Just Not That Into You and Confessions of a Shopaholic, fall prey to the “worst kind of regressive, pre-feminist stereotype of misogynistic cliché,” she added.“It’s a sad day when you look back at Bridget Jones with some affection,” said Purkiss. “But although Bridget Jones was far less emancipated and intelligent than, say, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, she was a great deal better than the inane women we are getting nowadays. We really have reached a nadir in the way women are portrayed on screen.

That is, I hope it is a nadir and doesn’t sink further.”Purkiss points to the shortlist for leading actress at the Bafta (British equivalent of the Oscars) awards to support her argument. Angelina Jolie has been nominated for her leading role in Changeling, Kristin Scott Thomas for I’ve Loved You So Long, Meryl Streep for Doubt and Kate Winslet for both The Reader and Revolutionary Road.

(On the night it was Winslet in The Reader).“During Hollywood’s golden age, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn and Bette Davis could play fully formed characters at the same time as being funny and entertaining,” she said. “Now, the only way for a woman to have a complex character on screen is to be depressing, tormented and self-sacrificing.”Today’s “vapid” depiction of women is, said Purkiss, markedly different from that during the industry’s golden age. “Hollywood films used to delight in featuring strong, interesting women,” she said, pointing to Rosalind Russell’s role as a feisty journalist in Howard Hawks’s 1940 hit His Girl Friday.

Hollywood had to respect women in those days, because for cinema’s first five decades women made up the majority of the movie-going audience,” said Purkiss. “In 1939 four of the top 10 highest-grossing films were about women, including Gone with the Wind.”Relationships between men and women on the silver screen also used to be portrayed as far more equable, said Purkiss. “Hollywood used to enjoy pitting their romantic leads against each other in equally matched power struggles,” she said.

“Most of the films that Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made together, for example, revel in the fun that can be had when two equally intelligent and powerful people try to gain the upper hand.”Nowadays, however, said Purkiss, for every Juno, Little Miss Sunshine or The Devil Wears Prada there is a glut of films that “reduce women to explicitly anti-feminist stereotypes”, such as 27 Dresses, Made of Honour and What Happens in Vegas.But Hollywood is not entirely to blame, according to Purkiss, who claims studios are tapping into the real-life problems facing contemporary women.

“When feminists had hope that they might achieve an equal playing field between the sexes, female protagonists on screen were grittier, gutsier and courageous. Now women are gloomier about feminism’s ambitions, so it’s a relief to temporarily visit a world where the biggest problem is what dress to wear.”But according to Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women & Hollywood, a marketing company specialising in films featuring women, the dumbing down of women on screen has a more earthy motivation. “One-dimensional female characters are created because the men making and directing the films are only interested in one thing: that these women titillate male audiences on the least challenging, most obvious of levels,” she said. “That’s how scripts are generated in Hollywood now, and how a myopic view of women has been formed,” said Silverstein.

“Fewer than 10 per cent of Hollywood films are written by women and fewer than six per cent are directed by women,” she went on. “The fact is that these men don’t want to find strong women sexy. They don’t want women in films who are fully formed and who deal with interesting issues.“I cringe when I watch the sorts of films being made about women nowadays. It bothers me that this is the stereotype being screened across the world. Films have a great deal of power to affect how society thinks.”Silverstein believes women need to take some responsibility for the way they are portrayed on screen. “We’re complicit in going to see these films.

There are films being made about women that don’t focus on shopping, boyfriends and weight loss,” she said, highlighting Kelly Reichardt’s award-winning film Wendy and Lucy. “Women need to support those films showing women in a more complex way.”But box-office analyst Jeff Bock is more optimistic about the selling power of strong female characters. He said the successes of the film version of Sex and the City and Mamma Mia! had been “a game-changer”.“These are industry-changing performances,” he said. “We’ve awoken a sleeping giant.”Bruce Snyder, the president of US distribution at Fox, agreed. He said the success of these films was turning women-led films “into event titles, making a picture’s opening look more like [that of] a male action movie than a genteel female movie”.—Dawn/Guardian News Service.

87,000 weapons unaccounted for in Afghanistan

2009-02-13T17:26:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON, Feb 12: thousands of US weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launchers, may be in Taliban or Al Qaeda hands in Afghanistan because of lax controls, congressional auditors warned on Thursday.The Pentagon has failed to track an estimated 87,000 weapons given to Afghan security forces, one-third of the 242,000 shipped by the US government between December 2004 and June 2008, the Government Accountability Office said.A 46-page report by the GAO, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, said there had been no monitoring of a further 135,000 weapons donated by Nato allies to the poorly paid and corruption-rife Afghan army and police.

Defence Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Pentagon had already taken action on the report’s recommendations for tracking of serial numbers and physical inventories of weapons given by both the United States and allies.“We take our responsibility with regard to accountability of weapons seriously,” he told reporters. “I think the record will show that our performance on this has improved over time for any number of reasons.” Under-staffed US military officials neglected to record serial numbers or conduct on-site inventories once the weapons were delivered, the report said.“Given the unstable security conditions in Afghanistan, the risk of loss and theft of these weapons is significant,” said the evaluation, which was submitted to a House of Representatives hearing on Thursday.

Asked if US weapons could already be under Taliban or Al Qaeda control, GAO international affairs director Charles Johnson cited military reports about “the theft of weapons and weapons potentially being sold to enemies.” The chairman of the House subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, John Tierney, said he would not want to explain to a grieving parent “why their son and daughter died at the hands of an Afghan insurgent using weaponry we provided.” “That’s what we risk if we were to have tens of thousands of weapons we provided washing around Afghanistan, off the books,” the Democrat said at the hearing.

The report mirrored GAO findings in August 2007 that the Pentagon had lost track of nearly 200,000 weapons given to security forces in Iraq.Having toured Afghanistan last August, GAO inspectors wrote: “Lapses in accountability occurred throughout the supply chain.“This was primarily due to a lack of clear direction from Defence and staffing shortages.” Lack of manpower has long worried US commanders in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is expected shortly to decide on a request from General David McKiernan for up to 30,000 extra troops to combat the resurgent Taliban.

Aside from M-16 rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars, the GAO report found inadequate oversight of 2,410 night-vision goggles issued to the Afghan National Army.The Pentagon waited 15 months, until October 2008, before it started monitoring the end use of the high-tech devices, which give a crucial edge on the nocturnal battlefield, and 10 remained unaccounted for.The GAO said that at the Afghan end, corruption and illiteracy were major impediments to keeping track of the weapons.Security was often risible, with just a wooden door and a miniature padlock guarding an arms room in one northern Afghan police station visited by the GAO inspectors.

At the Afghan army’s central weapons depot in Kabul, the team found “guards sleeping on duty and missing from their posts.” A subsequent audit by the US military found 47 pistols had been stolen from the depot.—AFP

Shahrukh Khan said i am not the hero of Billu Barber:

2009-02-13T17:23:00.000+05:00

Shahrukh Khan: who is geared up for the release of his home production Billu, said in an interview that he is not the main lead of the film. Billu is a remake of a Tamil film Kuselan that had Rajnikanth playing Shahrukh’s role. In the promos of the film Rajni was projected as the hero of the film and when the audiences watched it they were plainly disappointed to see their hero as a mere sidekick of the actor in the barber’s role.

“At the outset, let me clarify that I am not playing the title role of the barber in my film. It is Irrfan Khan who is playing the protagonist,” said Shahrukh.
“It’s for the first time that I’ve had an opportunity to work with a director of his calibre (Priyadarshan). He’s one of the fastest directors around and has a great vision about every film that he sets out to direct,” he adds,his three dance numbers with Deepika, Kareena and Priyanka have been used as good marketing tool for the film which has gained fast publicity. Was it meant purely for publicity purpose or what?

“We needed to have the medley of songs in Billu Barber because I play a superstar who is working with all the top actresses. Luckily for me, all the actresses agreed to be part of the song and adjusted their dates accordingly. In fact Kareena shot for the song just a day after I had asked her to oblige. I am indebted to all the actresses,” clarifies SRK.

Red Hot Freida Pinto

2009-02-13T17:18:00.000+05:00

she is clad in a simple salwar kameez as Latika in Slumdog Millionaire or she walks her way down the red carpet in stunning designer-wear, our very own desi beauty is sure making news, alking about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ star Freida Pinto, the girl is on a high. She is now the girl of the high fashion magazine “Vanity Fair – The Vanities Girls Section” and will be seen on the cover page of March 2009 issue. Every month, in The Vanities Girls, VF chooses a ‘promising’ young actress and gives her a full-page portrait. Freida chosen one for the March 2009 issue.

England Government banned Producer of Fitna

2009-02-13T12:00:00.000+05:00

The contoversial film Fitna's " film against Islam" producer Geert Wilder has been banned by the british government.

In this film the feelings of Muslims community was badly hurt.British Muslim Minister Shahid Malik, Lord Nazir Ahmed & other muslim community appreciates the government for not allowing Dutch Producer.

Minister shahid malik said that government of britian against the extremism & Muslim community is satisfied about the decision which has been taken by all three major political parties of the britian.

Lord Nazir commenton this decision that "we are welcome the government decision & the BNP & other fascist groups have bombarded my office with threating emailsand telephone calls to my staff & myself. I have made my views clear to Black Rod& the leader of House that this film created hatred & dissatisfaction among muslims"

American First lady on Vogue's Cover

2009-02-12T15:19:00.000+05:00

"Michelle Obama"american first lady is the cover girl of a fashion magazine"Vogue" in its march edition.it is the second time that an american first lady had taken place of a model on a vogue cover. In 1998 , hillary Clinton was the first.

As per Mrs Obama , she is very well aware about her wardrobe."iam not prentend that idon't care about it.iam very practical in this matter.

Mrs Obama wearing a magenta silk dress designedby JasonWu for the cover.In her interview with vogue ,she talked about her role as a social hostess

Al Qaeda involved in attacks:Indian Official

2009-02-12T12:14:00.001+05:00

Al Qaeda involved in attacks;that statement is given by the head of india's elite National Security Gurad(NSC)

NSC director General J. K. Dutt told in international seminar organised by the "National Bomb Data Cente that Mumbai terror attack was a daring attempt by the Taliban, Al Qaeda & we want to shape our policies of three sovereign nations that include the oldest and the largest democracy.
mr Dutt said," there is growing concerns over the covergence of the objectives of terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda and LeT.The mumbai terror attack of november 26 last year represents this covergence of interests.

Mr Dutt comments came a day after a video recording a top Al Qaeda commander warning india of more mumbai-style terror attacks if it tried to attack Pakistan.

Slumdog Millionaire wins 14th Annual Critics Awards

2009-02-11T11:41:00.000+05:00

slumdog millionaire win awardof Best Composer at Santa Monica
ARR hailed as Super Star of Indian Music on the inlay cards of Slumdog Millionaire, won many critically acclaimed awards for the best original score for Slumdog Millionaire, a broadway film directed by British director Danny Boyle.

Composer A.R. Rahman accepts the best composer award at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards on Thursday Jan. 8, 2009 in Santa Monica, Calif.

composer A R Rahman accepts his award for Best Composer for Slumdog Millionaire during VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards. Rahman stated, "This is for India!" as he accepted his award. The movie also generated a nomination for best song, but that prize went to an absent Bruce Springsteen for his title song for The Wrestler.

slumdog millionaire was the final answer at VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards on Thursday, as the sweeping drama about an improbable winner of India's version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire took the top prizes at the closely watched Oscar barometer.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-02-10T09:26:00.000+05:00

(Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a sprawling epic painted in broad strokes by the gifted visionary David Fincher.

Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, an individual born with a most unique condition,In this offbeat lyrical tale. It seems that Button is aging in reverse which presents a strange set of challenges for him, particularly when it comes to romance. He meets his soul mate in the form of dancer Daisy (played by Cate Blanchett), but the catch is, he's never really in physical sync with the love of his life until they're both in their 40's. Beyond that, Button‘s life is rather ordinary, but in a way, that‘s the whole point.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Forrest Gump scribe Eric Roth has turned it in to a long story (the movie pushes three hours), but I was always intrigued by it. Thematically, this film does have a bit in common with Forrest Gump, but whereas that picture pulled at the heartstrings and had simpleton Forrest meeting famed historical icons, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is more interested in depicting it's main character as a man with a seemingly normal life, only under abnormal conditions.Roth's screenplay doesn't always engage on a human level.

It is a bit cold and dreary, but somehow, I remained transfixed by the movie. There's just something magical about it, and I attribute that to David Fincher, a brilliant director and a master of tone. As was the case in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrester, Fincher avoids the overly sentimental traps you might be expecting. It's low key, restrained, and almost morose in nature, but it isn't without it's charms and poignant moments. The final act of the film in particular, really moved me.
The special effects in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are positively astonishing. The various technical processes used to age Brad Pitt are mind boggling and I can say without hesitation that I've never seen anything quite like it. It's been reported that Pitt was involved in every facet of this performance. Through make-up, motion capture, and other visual wizardry, you will believe that his Benjamin Button is aging in reverse.

As terrific as Pitt is in the picture, it is Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson I was thinking about after the film ended. As free spirit Daisy, Blanchett is simply luminous. She has so many memorable moments here that it would be near impossible to point them all out, but it's her act of love and kindness towards an elderly Button that broke my heart. Another great performance from one of our very best actresses. Henson is feisty and sweet as Queenie, the gentle soul who takes care of Button from birth. As Button's mother figure, Henson brings a lot of warmth to the film. Filling out a stellar supporting cast are Julia Ormond, Jason Flemying, Elias Koteas, and Jared Harris.
The title of this film says it all. This is a curious (and haunting) movie about life, death, and love as told through the eyes of a man with a most unusual condition. It's a flawed film to be sure, but there's no denying that it's a technical marvel filled with passion, poignancy, and outstanding performances.

Review: Bedtime Stories

2009-02-10T09:25:00.001+05:00

Adam Sandler's latest movie finds the funny man collaborating with the fine folks at Disney – if you can believe that! The end result is the gentle but tepid family film Bedtime Stories.
In Bedtime Stories, Sandler plays Skeeter Bronson, a hotel handy man who entertains his niece and nephew by telling them fantastical stories that feature elements inspired by his own underappreciated existence. As the children become more and more enamored by his tales of fancy, they begin adding their own little twists to the stories.

To Skeeter's great amazement, many of these odd twists – including a massive gum-ball storm - become a reality. Is there a higher power at work, or are these strange happenings merely bizarre coincidences?Bedtime Stories is harmless enough. In fact, it is by far the least crude of Sandler's infantile catalog, and this is coming from a fan. Infantile and Sandler go together like chocolate and peanut butter. If you're like me and worship his earlier roles in dopey but laugh-out-loud slacker efforts like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, than you know exactly what I'm talking about. Then there's the other Sandler. The one who appeared in Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish, and Reign Over Me. The one with a true thespian waiting to be exposed. Bedtime Stories leans more towards the former, although Sandler does dial it down a notch in a noble effort to appease the kiddies in the audience.

Bedtime Stories actually benefits from some surprisingly noteworthy supporting players including health nut Courtney Cox, sweet Keri Russell (Felicity), goofy Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and a smarmy Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential).
Bedtime Stories was directed by Adam Shankman and while this is a far cry from his single best film (the infectiously entertaining Hairspray), it is far more tolerable than The Pacifier and Bringing Down the House.

I wish Shankman would have been more creative in his showcasing of the Bedtime Stories themselves. Sadly, they are rather short-lived. As for Sandler, he has a few cute moments, but more often than not, he's upstaged by his more engaging co-stars. This isn't a bad movie, but it is a fairly forgettable one.

Review: The Unborn

2009-02-10T09:24:00.001+05:00

The Unborn is the worst kind of a horror movie. The kind that starts off fairly promising then quickly degenerates into a steaming pile of dog crap.
In The Unborn, the lovely Odette Yustman plays Casey Beldon, a woman haunted by horrific visions. Many of these visions revolve around a creepy young boy. (At last a BOY not a girl - this much originality you have to grant it). Could there be a connection between a terrified Casey and this strange child? Take a wild guess.
The Unborn was directed by David S. Goyer. The same David S. Goyer who co-developed screenplays for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight with Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. If Goyer's awful directorial efforts (Blade: Trinity, The Invisible) prove anything it's that he's much better suited writing screenplays with really talented co-writers. I know that sounds harsh, and the truth is, I take no pleasure in making such a comment. I actually met Mr. Goyer at Comic-Con a couple of years back, and it was an absolute delight. Not only is he a gracious individual, but it's perfectly clear that he has a true passion for film (and comic books). Unfortunately, The Unborn further suggests that directing is probably not his calling.

The Unborn certainly features a few moments worth mentioning. There's a dog with an upside down face, a freaky sequence in which an immobile senior citizen arches his back and does a strange spider walk through the corridors of a sinister looking hospital, and a creepy scene in which Casey has an out of body experience, literally. But unfortunately, these moments don't add up to anything, because the glue holding the rest of the picture together doesn't stick. The Unborn shows no patience whatsoever and as it makes it's way to a ridiculous climax, I found myself giggling more than anything else. I generally don't like my supernatural thrillers this funny.

With obvious winks at the Asian horror craze and a demonic tinge that screams The Exorcist, The Unborn goes for unbridled terror and misses the mark badly. Even classy veteran stars like Gary Oldman and Jane Alexander are unable to stop this baby from going belly up.

Universal Hollywood to re-open backlot

2009-02-10T09:22:00.000+05:00

Universal Studios in Hollywood are set to re-open their backlot this coming summer, nearly a year after fire destroyed it in 2008.Variety reports that the Los Angeles based studio has also added sets while redesigning the lot, such as a gas station, a firehouse, a London Street, as well as a modern urban cityscape, complete with glass and steel facade structures. That cityscape will be the largest modern urban backlot shooting location in Los Angeles, the studio said. Additional sets will apparently remain in construction and are planned to open in 2010.

Sex and the City 2 film confirmed

2009-02-10T09:21:00.000+05:00

It's official folks. Variety have confirmed that there will be a SEX AND THE CITY movie sequel coming. Therer is no word on when it will come, but it's coming and New Line president Toby Emmerich has been aiming to fast-track the project in hopes of a summer 2010 release.All of the cast will return: that's Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Carrie Bradshaw herself Sarah Jessica Parker.Writer/ director Michael Patrick King will also return

Bare-chested Bloom pictured on set of new film

2009-02-10T09:20:00.001+05:00

The Sun have some pics of Orlando Bloom on the set of his new movie in Los Angeles. The Troy star was pictured filming SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS sporting some awesome tattoos on his bare chest, and donning long locks as he plays a rock band's front man.

Jessica Simpson Wears Short Shorts, Brushes Off Haters

2009-02-10T09:18:00.000+05:00

Jessica had an off night," her rep said of the Grand Rapids meltdown, but she bounced back strong. "She's a perfectionist and wanted to start some songs over."
"She always wants to give the best performance for her fans."
Call her curvy or fat, in the photos below, our Caption Contest subject looks pretty darn good. Looks, not sounds. Click to enlarge pics of her performing in Wisconsin:

New Details Emerge in Chris Brown Arrest

2009-02-10T09:15:00.000+05:00

After an incident that saw Chris Brown arrested on what should have been a celebration the biggest night in music, new details have come into play.
The singer is under investigation for domestic violence, allegedly against his girlfriend Rihanna, and cops say additional charges may still be filed.
Brown rented a silver Lamborghini - the car in which he allegedly fought with Rihanna - from Platinum Motorsport in L.A. for $2,000 a day. That vehicle has since been impounded as evidence, with Chris footing the bill of course.

Meanwhile, TMZ has confirmed Rihanna is alleged victim in the Chris Brown case and the allegation is that she was assaulted with a deadly weapon. The crime report gives the victim's name as Robyn Fenty - her real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

Chris Brown and Rihanna and a pre-Grammy Awards party just a few hours before the incident in which he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in a silver Lamborghini.
Law enforcement sources say the crime report calls the incident assault with a deadly weapon - though the exact nature of the weapon is still a mystery.
Sources also say the typically book a suspect for the most serious crime he or she can be charged with - it's then up to the D.A. to file any additional charges.

Given there were allegedly visible injuries to Rihanna, the crime of making criminal threats may be viable - and is punishable by up to nine years in prison.
Domestic abuse, by contrast, only carries a maximum of four years.
On a lighter note (if there can be amid such a sad story), the completely unsubstantiated rumor going around the Internet regarding the cause of Chris Brown's alleged (and completely despicable) act of violence is this:
The fight started because Rihanna gave him herpes. Wow.

SRK invites 400 barbers for Billu Barber premiere

2009-02-10T08:59:00.000+05:00

SRK is going the Aamir way in promoting his latest flick Billu Barber. Latest buzz is that SRK has invited over 400 barbers to attend the premiere of the flick. This comes amidst the rumors that Hairdressers Association are pestering SRK and gang to change the barber word from the flick’s title.
Priyadarshan, director of the flick says, “Instead of having celebs over for the premiere of Billu Barber, Shah Rukh has planned to invite 400 barbers and their families to the premiere. His idea is to welcome barbers for the premiere on February 12, as the film revolves around Irrfan Khan, who plays a barber. Things are just getting organized for the premiere and the office is also in talks with the barbers’ association to get everything sorted for the big day.”

However Uday Takke, president of Hair Dresser association says, We want Billu Barber to be called Billu Hairdresser as barber is a derogatory and insulting term. We choose hairdressing as a profession because it is an art. Also there are many women hairstylists if Billu Barber becomes a hit, women hairdressers will be called barbers too!”
However SRK on the issue says, “Oh wow! So much for freedom of expression. We have not made this film to disrespect anyone. As a matter of fact, when a title of the film is kept after the protagonist, it is only to honor that character.”

Aamir off for an year

2009-02-10T08:58:00.001+05:00

After a hectic last year with Ghajini, Aamir has decided to take an year long break from acting once Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots is finished.
A source says, , “It is true that Aamir is finally taking a year off after Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots is complete. He is currently in Bangalore shooting for the film. Actually, he was planning to take a sabbatical last year after Taare Zameen Par, where the double responsibility of directing and acting sapped him.

But then he was coaxed into doing Ghajini and then began his physical reorientation, the muscle-building and body-toning that really exhausted the method actor. But Aamir is now ready to take the long-pending break. He won’t be doing any films for the next one year.”
However Aamir’s production house, Aamir Khan Productions will not be on a break and will keep on working.
Will miss you Aamir.

Amisha Patel Forgives Kareena Kapoor!

2009-02-10T08:56:00.000+05:00

Amisha Patel and Kareena Kapoor met recently at Tusshar Kapoor’s bash. They shared cold vibes as boyfriends Saif Ali Khan and Kanav Puri met each other liked long lost friends.
An eyewitness says, “Kareena and Saif had already arrived and were seen chatting with people when Ameesha and Kanav arrived with a gang of friends after Kanav’s birthday party.
Kanav and Saif know each other well so when they met each other, they started chatting like long-lost friends. But though Bebo and Ameesha exchanged cordial greetings they didn’t speak at all after that. Their vibes were freezing.”

Ameesha says, “I have no problems with Kareena and will always be polite to her though it’s true we didn’t chat but just exchanged hellos.
I am very fond of Saif who is extremely well-mannered, a thorough gentleman and a gem of a person. He’s also a friend of Kanav’s as Kanav and Soha used to study at the same school in Delhi.
So when Kanav and Saif met up again at Tusshar’s party, both got along like a house on fire. Last year, when Saif and I were shooting for Lazy Lamhe and Saif and Kareena were dating, Saif had wanted to do something special for her so I went out of my way to accommodate him and wind up early. I even attended the music launch of Refugee.

I don’t belong to camps nor am I part of industry battles. I know Kareena earlier said that she hadn’t given as big flops as I had but I don’t hold anything against her for saying those things about me.”
Ameesha adds that she would love to do a film with Bebo if offered.

Rajasthan Royals is not Shilpa’s V-Day gift

2009-02-10T08:55:00.000+05:00

Recently Shilpa and her beau Raj exclaimed that the stake in IPL’s Rajasthan Royals was their Valentine’s Day gift for each other. But the leggy lass is expecting more gifts for valentines.
When Shilpa was asked about her Rajasthan Royals V-day gift, she said, “Please! I’m sure there’re other gifts awaiting me for Valentine’s Day.”
Quiz her if she is expecting a marriage proposal and she says, “That’s mine for the asking anytime. Now that Raj is shifting business interests in India we just need to find the right moment to take the plunge.”

Ask her about the Bollywood and Cricket merger, she says, “t had to be that way. Shah Rukh Khan and then Preity Zinta went for the IPL. For me, the right moment to do so was when Raj was ready for it. Now I must make sure I’ve enough time to devote to the Rajasthan Royals. I’ll be there for their first match in March and all subsequent matches. Yeh mera vada hai (I promise that). “

SRK’s Billu Barber now only Billu

2009-02-10T08:53:00.000+05:00

SRK doesn’t believe in creating controversies, be it his private life or his latest flick Billu Barber, negotiating with the Hairdressers union SRK has removed the word Barber from his movie and now the movie is only called Billu.
SRK says, “I had a discussion with the association of hair dressers and salons in Maharashtra. And I’ve pokes to the associations in other cities on the phone. I don’t think we were wrong in ever using the word ‘barber’ and that is what be stand by. But they have their own take on that. The film has been made with a good feeling. So, I’d rather not hurt anyone, because it’s not going to affect my film.

We will put a piece of paper on the word ‘barber’ on the posters and hoardings which belong to the production which is Red Chillies, wherever it can be done. It’s a little expensive to try and change the posters which we couldn’t have done.”
Why didn’t SRK try explaining the situation to the union and he says, “If they understood that they wouldn’t have had an issue with it. In this case I was very clear that there is no legality involved and I would just like to make sure that people aren’t unhappy. I think I’m also a little mellow since I’m going for my surgery, so I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Ranbir and Deepika Get Cosy at a Cinema Hall

2009-02-10T08:50:00.000+05:00

Ranbir and Deepika hit a rough patch in their relationship just like every couple. Seemed like they had a tiff over something so to forget things they decided to go for a film.
A source reports an eyewitness account, “An eyewitness says, “It was a late-night show for Marley and Me. The hall had only a handful of people present.
Ranbir and Deepika got the best seats in the house right in the last row in the corner with ample privacy. The couple looked a little distant.

Ranbir was pre-occupied on his phone and Deepika was looking very bored. At some point, they began talking and then made up and made out.
The people who were present at the screening at some point screamed at them to ‘get a room’, which was ignored by Ranbir.”
After the film Ranbir and Deepika made their way to the car park where Ranbir’s brand new Range Rover was waiting with his driver. Ranbir ordered the driver to get on the back seat while he and Deepika sat in the front and made their way towards Bandra

Afghan war primary focus: Mullen

2009-02-10T08:42:00.001+05:00

NEW YORK: The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said Monday the United States was still ‘not done’ in Iraq but that the military's primary focus was now the war in Afghanistan.
‘You have turned it around in Iraq,’ Admiral Mike Mullen told several hundred soldiers at the Fort Drum US Army base in New York state.
‘A year or two ago we were not in a situation where it looked like we could succeed. Now we are,’ Mullen said referring to the US surge of troops credited in part for improved security in Iraq.
But he added: ‘We're not done in Iraq. Al-Qaeda is still there, still a problem, although greatly diminished.’

Mullen said he was hopeful the number of US troops in Iraq could be reduced over the next few months but that more forces would be needed in Afghanistan to fight a spreading insurgency.
‘Our focus is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan,’ he told enlisted men and women of the 10th Mountain Division, which has deployed large numbers of soldiers to Iraq.
‘It's gotten worse in Afghanistan. Violence is up. The Taliban is back. More than anything else there's governance issue which is not going well.’

The admiral said while he anticipated more troops would be sent to Afghanistan as requested by the commander of US forces there, it was unlikely the force would surpass a total of about 66,000 —nearly double the roughly 36,000 now deployed there.
‘From my perspective right now, I don't see us growing a force well beyond the 20,000 to 30,000 (additional troops) for Afghanistan,’ he said.
Officials have said the military has prepared for the possible deployment of three combat brigades, about 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers, to Afghanistan.

Mullen's comment indicated the US presence in Afghanistan would not expand to a level similar to the force in Iraq, where about 144,000 troops are deployed.
He said military means alone could not defeat the insurgents in Afghanistan, but that like Iraq ensuring security for the population was a vital precondition to other efforts by the State Department and other agencies.
‘The military side of this (is) a necessary condition without which success cannot be generated,’ he said.
Mullen said Afghanistan in some ways presented a ‘tougher fight than Iraq,’ citing complex tribal politics and al-Qaeda safe havens along the border with Pakistan

PIA wins National Hockey Championship

2009-02-10T08:39:00.000+05:00

LAHORE: A 59th-minute equaliser by international Dilawar Hussain helped Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) retain the title after playing a 1-1 draw against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in the last league encounter of the 56th National Hockey Championship’s final round at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday.

The champions in need of at least a draw in their last match lifted the trophy on a +22 goal difference against NBP’s goal difference of +14. Both teams had 22 points each in their nine outings. In fact, PIA’s overwhelming victory of 9-1 over Punjab earlier gave them an edge.

The bankers must be cursing themselves for the defeat, as PIA took advantage of their rival’s errors. NBP dominated the proceedings as far as the moves were concerned.
Both teams played a defensive game in the first half of play with unimpressive attacks. The two teams reached halftime without ticking the scoreboard.

But the second session saw both throwing caution to the winds. The bankers were more anxious for a goal and their efforts bore fruit soon. NBP broke the ice in the 41st minute when international Mohammad Atiq converted the second short-corner by dodging goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad and the other defenders in the cage.
But then PIA too launched some good attacks. Still their strikers faced a rock wall as it wasn’t that easy to break through NBP defence. PIA, however, got Final standings

their breakthrough in the 59th minute. The equaliser was scored by their captain Dilawar Hussain through a penalty-corner. NBP suffered another big loss when their international Haseem Khan missed a golden opportunity in the 67th minute. After receiving a fine pass at the 25-yard line, he sent the ball well off the left pole. PIA got their second penalty-corner soon after but ended up wasting it. Still they were happy with the draw as it enabled them to lift the trophy.
Earlier, penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas fired all three goals to help Wapda earn third place by beating Army 3-0.

The win took Wapda’s points tally to 19. Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) with 18 points were expecting third place but came fourth instead.
Sohail, declared the championship’s top scorer with 16 goals, opened their account in the 12th minute to double the lead in the 18th. Wapda had made it 3-0 when Sohail cashed in on another short-corner in the 32nd minute. There were no goals scored in the second half.
In the other matches, Navy defeated Port Qasim 4-3 after a well-contested match. Port Qasim led the first half 3-1 but Navy stormed in the second session of play to turn the tables on their rivals.

Falak Zaman (24th and 38th mins), Rao Nadeem (42nd and 50th mins) were the scorers for the winners. Wasif Raza (12th min), Mohsin (28th min), Javed Mazhar (33rd min) reduced the margin for the losing side.

Punjab chalked up a 4-2 win against Railways after leading by 2-0 at halftime.

Rizwan Butt (fifth min), Imtiaz Panu (27th min), Gohar Ali (60th min), Ali Raza (66th min) were the scorers for Punjab. Kashif Idrees (48th min) and Khurram Shahzad (63rd min) reduced the margin for Railways.

Google brings e-books to mobiles

2009-02-10T08:38:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON: Google is making its vast online library of books available for mobile phones.
‘We are excited to announce the launch of a mobile version of Google Book Search, opening up over 1.5 million mobile public domain books in the US (and over half a million outside the US) for you to browse,’ the company said.
The Internet search giant, in a post on Thursday on the Google Book Search blog, said mobile versions of the books could be read on devices such as the Apple iPhone or T-Mobile G1, which is powered by Google's Android software.

‘These new mobile editions are optimised to be read on a small screen,’ Google said. ‘With this launch, we believe that we've taken an important step toward more universal access to books.’
Google's announcement comes just days ahead of the expected unveiling by Amazon of a new generation version of its popular electronic book reader, the Kindle, at a New York press conference on Monday.
Amazon is also planning to make its online store of e-books for the Kindle available on mobile phones, the New York Times reported on Friday.
‘We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones,’ Drew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman, told the Times. ‘We are working on that now.’ The Amazon spokesman did not provide any further details.

Google will initially only be offering books in the public domain —those which are not under copyright —for mobile phones.
Amazon, on the other hand, offers the latest releases and 230,000 titles in all, including 103 of the 112 current New York Times bestsellers.

IBM helps companies secure web businesses

2009-02-10T08:36:00.000+05:00

KARACHI: The IBM is helping the companies secure their web businesses. This was announced by an official of the IBM in a statement issued here on Monday.
It was pointed out that the new solutions help to lower risk and cost associated with today’s highly dynamic and interactive web experiences The statement said that the IBM announced new capabilities designed to address the security and compliance concerns of businesses creating dynamic and interactive Web sites.
It said that as companies infuse more Web 2.0 content into their global, online presence, they are seeing an increased risk of security vulnerabilities.

Using IBM Rational AppScan, companies can now test Web 2.0-based applications to identify security vulnerabilities on a frequent basis, helping to make the Web experiences they provide to customers more secure from hackers. The new features also enhance customers’ abilities to address.
The statement said that helping to secure online businesses from Web 2.0 and SOA vulnerabilities. It said that according to the newly released 2008 IBM X-Force Trend Report, Web applications remain the ‘achilles heel’ for the security industry.
In fact, more than half of all vulnerabilities disclosed in 2008 were Web application based. Many of these vulnerabilities can be prevented or avoided by taking a preemptive approach to security, the statement said.

It said that despite these shortcomings, companies increasingly rely on their Web presence to serve as the face of their business, drive collaboration and community-building, and generate new opportunities in today’s global economy.
To remain competitive, organizations are using a new set of Web 2.0 capabilities, derived from technologies such as the Adobe Flash platform, or Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), to create interactive and graphically rich Web sites. However, due to the dynamic and changing nature of these technologies, companies are facing new challenges for meeting the compliance and security needs of their online businesses.

The statement said that hackers and other cyber criminals target Web 2.0 technologies because of their prevalence across the Web. With IBM Rational AppScan Standard Edition 7.8, IBM is introducing new functionalities that enable companies to scan and test rich, Flash-based Web content and applications for security defects before the content is deployed. This new software can also scan Web sites built with Ajax technology.

Grammys show Plant, Krauss a whole lotta love

2009-02-10T08:34:00.000+05:00

LOS ANGELES: The 51st annual Grammys was an all-ages affair ultimately dominated by a rock legend who took up with a younger bluegrass singer on a whim.
The unlikely pairing of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss that produced the hit album 'Raising Sand,' on Sunday won five Grammys including album of the year. The former Led Zeppelin frontman, previously best known for his high-decibel shrieking and rock star theatrics, found more docile Nashville melodies with Krauss.
While accepting the Grammy for album of the year, the 37-year-old Krauss, perhaps wanting to remind the audience that Plant's rock star hadn't entirely matured, said there's 'never a dull moment' with the 60-year-old singer.

'Raising Sand,' produced by T Bone Burnett, bested fellow nominees Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, Coldplay and Radiohead. Their 'Please Read the Letter' also won record of the year.
'I'm bewildered,' said Plant. 'In the old days we would have called this selling out, but I think it's a good way to spend a Sunday.'
In a performance-stuffed live broadcast on CBS, the subject of age, and intertwining musical realms, was always close at hand.
Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus, sang a duet of Swift's 'Fifteen.' The 66-year-old Paul McCartney, with 40-year-old Dave Grohl on drums, sang the Beatles classic about a girl who ''was just 17.'
Stevie Wonder performed with the Jonas Brothers, and even a nine-months pregnant woman, the rapper M.I.A. hobbled out on the stage to join the dapperly dressed Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I. in a 'rap summit' performance of T.I.'s 'Swagger Like Us.'
Before the night's end, Plant and Krauss seemed to be in a three-horse race with Lil Wayne and Coldplay, a trio of acts of wildly different sounds.

Lil Wayne, who led the field with eight nominations, won three awards, including best rap album for 'Tha Carter III,' for which he literally hopped on stage to receive. (His tally came to four Grammys if you count his inclusion on 'Swagger Like Us,' which won best rap performance by a duo or group.)
Coldplay also took home three awards, including best rock album for 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.'
'We've never had so many Grammys in our life,' said lead singer Chris Martin, perhaps so excited he got confused (they had already won four over the years). 'We feel so grateful to be here. I'm going to tear up.'
The Grammys this year offered a CBS telecast without a host and, unexpectedly, without several performers.

Rihanna and Chris Brown, both nominated for awards and scheduled to perform, were absent after the Los Angeles Police Department announced that Brown, who is dating Rihanna, was the subject of an investigation into a felony domestic violence battery from around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
Brown turned himself in to police late Sunday and was released after posting bail. Police booked the 19-year-old R&B singer on suspicion of making a criminal threat.
To fill in for Rihanna's scheduled performance, the Recording Academy hastily put together an ensemble of Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban performing Green's 'Let's Stay Together.'
One of the night's superior performances, it reflected the comments of producer T. Bone Burnett, who explained while accepting the award for record of the year: 'Good things happen out of nowhere.'

'Things happen; you have to be nimble,' said Recording Academy president Neil Portnow after the show, explaining he didn't know of the absences until Sunday afternoon. 'We think to ourselves, we've got the greatest musical talent in the world in the same place at the same time.'
The broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles sometimes had the appearance of a bubble. No mention was made of economic troubles across the country or of the music industry's continuing declining sales. Though download sales are rising, album sales dropped 14 percent last year.
Even the election of Barack Obama was hardly referred to. Following the inauguration and the Super Bowl, it was just about the only major broadcast of late not to feature Bruce Springsteen, whose 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' won for best rock song.
Besides the expected will.i.am mention of Obama ('congratulations,' will.i.am said), Portnow was one of few to mention Obama. He noted musicians had supplied ''the soundtrack to history' and that the new president is, after all, a two-time Grammy winner for his readings of his books.
Such awards, though, never make it into the televised broadcast, which this year included awards for only a dozen of the 110 categories.
Among the unseen awards was a posthumous award for George Carlin in the comedy album category for 'It's Bad for Ya,' a recording of his final HBO comedy special. Al Gore, adding to his extensive awards tally, won for the audio book of his 'An Inconvenient Truth.'

Inflation eases to 20.52 per cent

2009-02-10T08:33:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s inflation eased to 20.52 per cent in January 2009 from three decades high owing to slight deceleration in food prices, suggested data of Statistics Division.
The inflation measured through Consumer Price Index (CPI) decelerated in the month under review from 23.34 per cent in December 2008 on the back of decrease in perishable and non-perishable items coupled with the stable oil prices in the past month.
The downward trend in inflation has started since October 2008, when it touched all time high of 25 per cent. The government has estimated a yearly target of 20 per cent by end June 2009 from its earlier projected target of 12 percent.

The central bank increased its benchmark interest rate five times in the last 18 months to tame the core-inflation (non-food non-energy) but it still remained at a higher side clearly indicating that this policy did not yield the required results.
The SBP kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 15 percent in its monetary policy announced on December 31 last, which will be followed by another one in April.
The statistics showed that core inflation slightly increased to 18.9 per cent in January from 18.8 per cent in December.

The core inflation is rising on account of surging house rents and sub-indices related to medical care. The house index rent rose by 18.21 per cent and medical care cost by 14.36 per cent.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin said that the core-inflation would start downward trend when the headline inflation reached to around 18 percent in the next few months.
He said that the core inflation was stubborn due to the rising house rent. However, he claimed that the measurement methodology of the core inflation would remain unchanged.
The food inflation was up by 21.61 per cent in January 2009 over the same month last year. However, the food inflation dipped by 2.04 per cent during the month as compared to the previous month of December 2008.

The food inflation has started a downward trend after reaching an all time high of 35 per cent in October 2008. However, it is feared that the substantial increase in sugar and wheat prices might reverse the downward trend.
Prices of non-perishable food items witnessed decrease of 0.60 per cent and perishable items 12.26 per cent in January 2009 over the previous month of December 2008.
Despite substantial decline in oil prices, the transport fares soared by 25.22 per cent in January 2009 over the same month last year. The cost of text books and tuition fees also increased by 17.06 per cent in the month under review over the last year.

The statistics showed that the inflation measured through sensitive price index -- a weekly indicator -- was up by 20.75 per cent in January 2009 compared to 16.28 per cent in the same period last year.
The inflation in the wholesale manufactured products also witnessed increase by 15.69 per cent compared to 15.53 per cent over the same month last year.

FBI woman officer accused of sexual abuse

2009-02-10T08:30:00.000+05:00

NEW DELHI: An Indian suspect being probed in the wider conspiracy to stage the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai has accused a woman officer of the FBI of sexually abusing him during interrogation, Indian news reports said on Monday.
The probe by the US agency took an unusual twist with Faheem Ansari, one of the accused, saying a woman officer of the American agency who interrogating the Mumbai suspect had physically abused him.

Ansari, who was picked up by the Uttar Pradesh police early last year in another terror attack has moved the court over his unusual accusation.
Ansari's lawyer Ejaz Naqvi filed an application before an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. He alleged that a lady FBI officer, who had interrogated the accused, had ‘sexually harassed him all through the night'. No details of the nature of the alleged harassment were given.
The US investigating agency is handling part of the probe mandated by the death of American citizens in the November 26-29 carnage. Moreover, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said FBI would give evidence, if necessary, in the trial. ‘Our investigation has been helped by FBI. If necessary, FBI will give evidence in the trial,’ he said.
The Mumbai court issued a notice on Monday to the city police's Crime Branch and directed it to file their reply to the application by February 26.

The application also made a plea for Ansari to be sent for medical check-up as he has developed ‘itches and wounds all over his body’.
‘Ansari had been interrogated by three FBI officers out of which one of them, a lady officer, had sexually abused him,’ Naqvi told the court.
Ansari had earlier filed an application seeking action against the city police for allegedly allowing the FBI to interrogate him.

Ansari is a suspected activist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and is the prime accused in the attack on the Central Reserve Police Force camp at Rampur on January 1, 2008.
The bizarre allegation could be an attempt by Ansari to derail the investigation. However, given the notorious incidents of Abu Ghraib in which women officers were found to have abused Iraqi male prisoners Ansari has made a potentially serious charge.

Ansari had earlier filed an application seeking action against the city police for allegedly allowing the FBI to interrogate him. The Crime Branch will have to file their reply on whether any foreign investigating agencies like the FBI had been allowed to interrogate the accused in the November 26 terror attacks case.
‘According to Indian law, no foreign agency can be allowed to interrogate an Indian suspect and we have sought relief from the court,’ Naqvi said.

Ansari and his alleged associate Sabauddin Ahmed, are presently in the custody of the Crime Branch till February 17, which is investigating whether the duo were responsible for providing data regarding locations targeted by terrorists during the November 26 attacks.
Both were arrested in 2008 in connection with the 2007 New Year eve attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. The lone captured gunman, Pakistan's Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, arrested in the November 26 terror strikes is also presently in police custody till February 13.

STORY TIME: Let it snow

2009-02-08T18:12:00.000+05:00

She smiled at me, somewhat smug, as if she knew something I didn’t, and was not at liberty to divulge to my ignorant self that knowledge.
I stared at her, and said impatiently, “What is it, Daadi?”“Ah, but that is for you to discover, my child,” was her reply. I was beginning to get annoyed. My grandmother, who we addressed as Daadi, had just told me of a ‘treasure’, that was hidden somewhere on top of the Torghar Mountain, on the plains of which we lived.
According to her, whoever found the mysterious treasure would put an end to the misery which had befallen the people of Dera Nagarshah some eight years ago. I wanted to be that person.
I stared at her suspiciously, wondering whether she was just exploiting my fertile imagination or trying to send me on a wild goose chase. As her solemn eyes readily stared back at me, I asked her, “So Daadi, if there really is a treasure up there, how come no one has ever tried to look for it before?” I asked casually, not wanting to give her the impression that I was interested in doing the task.

“That, my boy, is because no one else knows about it,” was her answer.
“Oh, are you suggesting it might be a ‘Divine Revelation’, this piece of knowledge that only you possess?” I inquired sceptically.
“Maybe,” she replied, this time with a hint of seriousness on her face. Her eyes bore into mine.
“You know it’s got to be you, don’t you boy?”
Not understanding the significance of her words, I nodded. I desperately wanted to be the saviour of my people. I, 12-year-old Asfandyar Wali, did not want my family or my friend Saadiq’s for that matter, to continue suffering. Eight years ago, when I had been a mere tyke, all water supplies to my village got cut off. Daadi claimed there was a way to make God happy again — the so-called treasure. I was willing to try it. The previous year, my little sister Kako had died because of dehydration. I did not want to lose another sibling.

The next day, after a heated argument with my parents — which included Mum tearfully saying, “Asfi, you are our only son. If something happens to you, what will become of us?” and my patiently explaining that it was for their own good — I set off on my journey.
I climbed the mountain, a long, tedious process which took me an entire day. Finally, at the onset of dusk, my fingers gripped the last rock, and I hoisted myself on top of the mountain. I gaped at my surroundings. The land was barren, and there was no bird or animal in sight, much less a plant.

But in the midst of the wasteland, stood a tree, bare of leaves and fruits — except for a single apple which seemed miraculously fresh. I gazed at it intently. I had not eaten a proper meal since the previous day. I plucked the inviting fruit off and bit into it. Ah! How sweet its juice was. Overcome with emotion, I said a quick prayer to God, thanking Him.
Suddenly, a heavy wind began to blow. The sky turned grey with clouds. I became frightened, and thought I should best get home. So, I began climbing down, albeit with a heavy heart, for I felt I had disappointed Daadi, not having completed the task of finding the treasure.
Upon reaching the plains, I felt a small pellet of ice fall on me. I looked up, and before I knew it, I was being pelted by snow.
I ran home and saw everyone gathered outside, holding their hands out for snowflakes. They were in a state of utmost bliss. I saw Daadi and my smile turned upside down. Running towards her, I whispered sadly, “I’m sorry, Daadi, I didn’t find the treasure.”
Her face broke into a huge smile. “But you did, my child. You see…” she said, pointing at the snow, “He in the heavens is no longer angry with us.” I realised she was right. The drought had finally ended .

World Bank to provide $2 billion this year

2009-02-08T18:10:00.000+05:00

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank will provide Pakistan $2 billion this year for poverty alleviation and development programmes, an official said.
‘The Bank Group plans to provide up to $2 billion in credits during this fiscal year to support economic growth and the government’s poverty-focussed programmes,’ World Bank country director Yusupha Crookes said.
‘These projects will support the immediate challenges in education, health, safety nets and community-led development, while laying the foundation for investment in infrastructure to foster long-term growth and job creation.As the macroeconomic situation improves, additional … financing will also become available.’

According to a statement issued here, World Bank Group managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the conclusion of her visit that Pakistan was moving in the right direction and its reform programme would lay the foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth.
Acknowledging the government’s efforts to correct macroeconomic imbalances, particularly in light of global financial crisis, she praised launching of a safety net programme, the Benazir Income Support Programme and emphasised the need to focus on long-term development agenda.

‘The World Bank is committed to supporting Pakistan in line with its vision for equitable progress and rapid development. We are committed to working with the government during this difficult time, protecting the most vulnerable groups and carrying out critical reforms that will set the basis for higher, inclusive and sustainable economic growth,’ she said.
Okonjo-Iweala during her visit held meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and the government’s economic team to discuss the macroeconomic situation and infrastructure development, expansion of power production, social protection, and education, particularly for girls.
She participated in roundtable discussions on infrastructure, NWFP, and implementation challenges.

During discussions with the representatives of the private sector, she noted the importance of public-private partnerships and using the infrastructure gap as an opportunity to build regional linkages.
With civil society and community leaders from the NWFP, the Bank’s official expressed sympathy with those who were struggling to cope with an increasingly difficult situation and emphasised the need for improving conditions.
She appreciated the government’s stabilisation programme and signalled the Bank Group’s strong support to the economic team.

She cautioned that the global economic situation posed challenges and the government would need to maintain its strong reform programme, saying that revenue mobilisation would be ‘key to underpinning growth’.
She said that the long-term vision was important and continued investment in infrastructure, expanding the export base, enhanced regional cooperation, agriculture development and results-based education development would be critical for realising growth and poverty reduction.

Iranian drama breaks hearts at Berlin fest

2009-02-08T18:08:00.000+05:00

BERLIN:An Iranian drama about an emigre who returns home looking for love joined the hunt for the Golden Bear for best picture at the 59th Berlin Film Festival Saturday.
‘About Elly’ by 36-year-old Asghar Farhadi tells the story of Ahmad, who has divorced his German wife after years living in Europe and takes a trip to the Caspian Sea to make a fresh start.
His friends, a group of fellow 30-somethings, invite the beautiful kindergarten teacher Elly along on the trip in a thinly veiled attempt at matchmaking.
But the getaway takes a tragic turn when Elly vanishes from the beach, exposing hidden tension within the group and a unique kind of love triangle.

Farhadi’s last film, the drama ‘Fireworks Wednesday’, was a hit on the international festival circuit. ‘About Elly’ was to premiere in Berlin and Tehran Saturday tonight.
He told reporters in Berlin that while the film sheds light on the dynamic between the sexes in today’s Iran, the emotions it stirs could appeal to viewers outside.
‘I wanted to make a story that was universal one that everyone could connect with, not just contemporary Iranians,’ he said.

‘To my mind, these kinds of problems can be found everywhere. I’ve tried to go below the tip of the iceberg, beneath the surface of the water to see where they are coming from.’Farhadi said he had based the story on a friend living in the northern German city of Hamburg who was trapped in an unhappy marriage.
The strong cast features Golshifteh Farahani who was last seen in the spy thriller ‘Body of Lies’ with Leonardo DiCaprio.
‘Our work with Mr Fahradi was a sort of a workshop,’ Farahani said, adding that the picture was based on significant improvisation.

‘It was a sort of a collaboration and a partnership.’Also in competition Saturday are the German drama ‘Storm’ about the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, and a supernatural murder mystery by France’s Bertrand Tavernier set in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and starring Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman, ‘In the Electric Mist’.
Two European contenders entered the race Friday: ‘Ricky’ by French director Francois Ozon about a baby with an extraordinary ability, and ‘Little Soldier’ by Denmark’s Annette K. Oleson on a woman returning from a mission in a warzone who tries to save a Nigerian prostitute.
Both pictures received mixed reviews from film industry bible Variety.

It said ‘Ricky’ was ‘an uneasy mix of comedy and the grotesque’. While Variety’s reviewer Alissa Simon was intrigued by the explosive subject matter in ‘Little Soldier’, she was disappointed by its execution.
‘Despite the film’s considerable technical craft and involvement of powerhouse thesps (actors), the earnest, overly schematic script fails to connect emotionally,’ she said.
The Golden Bear will be awarded February 14 by a jury led by Scottish actress Tilda Swinton. The 11-day festival wraps up the next day.

Liverpool reclaim top spot, Chelsea draw with Hull

2009-02-08T18:06:00.000+05:00

LONDON: Substitute Fernando Torres produced a stoppage-time winner at Portsmouth to send Liverpool back to the Premier League summit on Saturday as Chelsea’s fading title hopes faltered further with a home draw against Hull.
Despite clinching last weekend’s win over Chelsea with late goals, the striker was only deployed by manager Rafa Benitez in the last 14 minutes at Fratton Park.
After twice coming from behind, the Reds were lucky to claim the three points when Torres headed home Yossi Benayoun’s cross.

‘He’s really important, we are very happy he’s back from injury,’ winger Dirk Kuyt said.Manchester United can wipe out Liverpool’s one-point lead at West Ham on Sunday in one of the club’s two games in hand over their title rivals.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, is emerging as a title challenger, registering a club record seventh consecutive away win at Blackburn to snatch third place from Chelsea, which was held 0-0 by Hull.
‘Hopefully we will turn the corner. You cannot give up on the title when you see the talent that we’ve got within the club,’ said Chelsea’s assistant manager Ray Wilkins. ‘We will keep plugging away until it is mathematically impossible to catch anybody. It is going to be difficult to catch Manchester United but we will try.’

Sam Allardyce’s first loss in 10 matches as Blackburn manager means that Rovers remain in the relegation zone alongside Middlesbrough, which lost 1-0 at Manchester City, and West Bromwich Albion, which was beaten 3-2 by Newcastle.
Everton is within three points of fifth-placed Arsenal after a 2-0 victory over Bolton ahead of the Gunners’ game at north London rival Tottenham on Sunday.
Sunderland enjoyed a 2-0 victory over 10-man Stoke and Fulham drew 0-0 at Wigan.
On the south coast, Benitez’s selection gamble _ starting with Torres, Kuyt and Xabi Alonso on the bench – appeared costly in the 62nd minute when David Nugent put Portsmouth ahead by shooting under the advancing Pepe Reina.

Fabio Aurelio levelled within seven minutes, blasting home from Alonso’s indirect free kick inside the penalty area.
Kuyt was then harshly ruled offside after finding the net before Hermann Hreidarsson headed Pompey back in front.
Liverpool’s substitutes combined to equalize again, with Kuyt turning in a cross from Torres, who went on to snatch the winner.

Benitez defended his decision to rest Torres due to concerns about his match fitness since coming back from hamstring problems.
‘Torres is part of the squad, but without the other players we would not be where we are,’ Benitez said. ‘We showed the quality we have in the squad. We could have lost but we deserved to win it.’

Villa found the net four times at Ewood Park – but goals from Emile Heskey and Gabriel Agbonlahor were disallowed either side of James Milner’s 27th-minute opener.
Milner fired a left-footed shot through a crowd of players and Agbonlahor’s angled strike found the net after taking a deflection off Ryan Nelsen in the 90th.
‘We’ve been playing strongly,’ Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill said. ‘There is a good drive and determination about the team.’

While the momentum is with Villa, Chelsea continues to slide and find themselves four points behind leader Manchester United having played two games more than the defending champions.
John Terry squandered Chelsea’s best chance after two minutes. The captain’s header from Frank Lampard’s free kick was parried by Hull goalkeeper Matt Duke and Terry then put the rebound over the crossbar.
Chelsea should have been awarded a penalty in the second half when Andy Dawson appeared to handle, and Hull manager Phil Brown conceded: ‘We got away with it.’
Manchester City’s Craig Bellamy scored six minutes into the second half to claim his second goal in three matches since joining from West Ham.

Middlesbrough was denied any chance of a first win in 13 matches by Shay Given as the Ireland goalkeeper stopped Afonso Alves four times on his City debut.
Striker Jo failed to impress at Manchester City, but scored twice on his Everton debut and the Brazilian also won a penalty five minutes before half time that Mikel Arteta sent past Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Newcastle’s players delivered the perfect result for Joe Kinnear after their manager was hospitalized for an undisclosed illness earlier in the day.
With assistant Chris Hughton in charge, goals from Damien Duff, Peter Lovenkrands and Steve Taylor helped lift some of the gloom.

Holbrooke to raise AQ Khan’s release in Islamabad

2009-02-08T18:04:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration's new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke is likely to raise Dr AQ Khan’s release with the Pakistani government when he visits Islamabad next week, the official Voice of America radio reported on Saturday.
The radio, which receives policy guidelines from the US State Department, quoted a senior US official as telling reporters that while Ambassador Holbrooke's portfolio centers on the Afghan conflict and related activity in Fata, ‘he retains the flexibility to discuss all issues on the bilateral agenda.’

Meanwhile, Pakistan Embassy in Washington braced itself for an onslaught of media criticism and behind-the-door official pressure on this issue, particularly if the government or a superior court in Islamabad endorses the Islamabad High Court’s decision to set Dr Khan free.
The embassy almost burst under pressure in January 2004, when Dr Khan confessed his involvement with a clandestine international network of nuclear proliferators extended from Pakistan to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

The US media blasted Pakistan while anti-proliferation groups demanded punitive action against the country.
‘It was a difficult situation but our predecessors dealt with it professionally,’ said a senior Pakistani diplomat who conceded that the embassy is expecting a similar reaction to Dr Khan’s release.
Already, several US lawmakers are backing a call by Congressman Howard Berman to link the issue with a multi-billion dollars aid package for Pakistan that may be introduced in Congress within weeks.

Indian lobbies on Capitol Hill, who were already demanding economic sanctions on Pakistan because of the Mumbai terror attacks, have redoubled their efforts, insisting that Pakistan cannot be trusted as an ally.
David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector who now heads an anti-proliferation lobby called the Institute for Science and International Security, said that Dr Khan’s lenient treatment will not deter would-be traffickers.

‘Too many network members are getting off with little punishment,’ he added.
The general feeling in Washington is that while the Obama administration will avoid publicly criticising the Pakistani government: it will try to quietly convince Pakistan to reverse the decision.
A State Department official, Gordon Duguid, told reporters that the US Embassy in Islamabad intends to pursue the matter with Pakistan authorities.
Diplomatic observers say that Washington feels that Pakistan’s newly elected government needs time to establish itself and does not want to rock the boat.

‘While US policy makers do see Dr Khan’s release as a disturbing development, they do not want to destabilise Pakistan,’ said one such observer.
‘It has nuclear weapons and it has extremists and the Americans want to keep the two separate.’

Thatcher’s daughter scorns tennis star

2009-02-08T18:02:00.000+05:00

LONDON, Feb 7: The daughter of former British premier Margaret Thatcher called a French tennis star a “froggy golliwog guy”, a BBC presenter said on Saturday, in the first full account of how a sensitive race row flared.Carol Thatcher was this week dropped from her roving reporter role on “The One Show”, the main BBC1 television channel’s daily prime time topical programme, over the comment.

The full details of her off-air remarks have been shrouded in mystery.But writing in Saturday’s Sun newspaper, co-presenter of “The One Show” Adrian Chiles said the comments referred to French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.“Carol was in full flow, talking about who’d win the Australian Open (tennis championship),” Chiles told the paper.“ ‘You also have to consider the frogs,’ she said. ‘You know, that froggy golliwog guy’.” “Frogs” is a common British insult for French people.Chiles added that Thatcher went on to say: “ ‘If I was Prince Harry, I’d get shot for saying that’.” Prince Harry, the second son of heir to the throne Prince Charles and the late princess Diana, was heavily criticised last month after being caught on film referring to an army colleague as a “Paki”.The “golliwog” comments have provoked intense debate in Britain about whether they are racist.

They come as the BBC, Britain’s public service broadcaster, battles to recover from a major row in October over offensive remarks by top presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand.Ross was suspended for 12 weeks for the remarks about Brand having slept with the granddaughter of Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, while Brand resigned from his BBC radio show.In a fresh controversy on Friday, the presenter of top-rating BBC television car show “Top Gear”, Jeremy Clarkson, apologised after calling British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”.The word “golliwog”, referring to a black doll-like character, was once widely used including as the emblem of a leading make of British jam, but in recent decades has been dropped for being racist.—AFP.

Iraq:12 People in suicide attack

2009-02-06T14:53:00.000+05:00

Tursday 5-Feb:12 people killed in a suicide attack in the Iraqi province of Diyala , northeasr of Baghdad.

In the suicide attack twelve people were kiiled & 11 wounded.The attack took place in a restaurant, "an official based at security force headquarters in the province of Diyala.
The attacker struck in a khanaqin, a mianly kurdish towm near the iranian border.

COVER STORY: Gone today, hair tomorrow

2009-02-03T09:56:00.000+05:00

From head to toe, every part of the human body has its own significance and beauty attached to it, without any of which a person would be incomplete.Historical findings and records show that in every culture and part of the world, among the essentials of human beauty have been beautiful facial features and healthy-looking silky hair. Psychologically speaking, factors like hair, nose, eyes, etc., do play an important role in creating and completing the image of someone in our mind.When we talk about common beauty-related issues in both males and females, we usually find men distressed by the thinning of their hair.

Normally, due to ageing, the balding progress is faster and more intense in men than women.But sometimes, due to some very important hormonal and genetic reasons, this age-related hair loss can occur much before its usual time. When this happens in a more profound manner, it is known as ‘male pattern baldness’.There has been an increase in the cases of men losing a lot of hair well before their middle age, with even some young boys in their late teens and twenties facing the problem of male pattern baldness.Due to my professional responsibilities, I usually come across people from both genders but I have been taken aback by the number of young men I have come across who suffer from severe hair loss and were in the same age group, i.e., between 20 to 30 years of age.

On speaking about his hair loss problem, one of them, a software designer by profession, aged 24, said, “At times I get depressed to see that I am loosing my hair in an uncontrolled manner and it scares me to think where this would lead me to.”Here we explore the causes and the curative procedures available these days for hair loss.

WHY BALDNESS?Normally, hair loss is not an unusual thing to happen to anyone. At an average, a person looses about 100 hairs a day. However, with any variation in the level of the male hormone testosterone, male pattern baldness will most likely aggravate. Testosterone isis chemically-altered inside the body into another very potent hormone called dihydro-testosteron or DHT.When DHT acts on the hair which is already genetically-prone to get weaker from roots, it causes them to go thin and then fall off finally. Due to hormonal effects, the thinned hairs do not grow in the normal manner and find it hard to sustain longer. Inherited DHT genes play an important role in causing male pattern baldness.

The genes, usually called ‘balding genes’, may not necessarily be inherited by all the off-springs. This explains why hair transplantation which transfers non-balding hairs (that is, those that are not genetically sensitive to DHT) to bald areas, is so successful.Even on the new parts of scalp, which were previously bald, these hairs retain their non-balding qualities. Research on hair loss has shown that the genetic outlook contributing to hair fall mostly affects specific parts of the scalp, generally the temples, top and front of the head, then it may spread to the whole head. In some cases of baldness, it affects in the form of bald patches as well, and in those cases the reason for baldness can be any fungal infection, nervous disorders, use of a toxic chemical, certain medicines, severe radiations as used in cancer therapy, any injury or trauma to the affected site or decrease in the level of red blood cells in the body (anaemia).

In conditions of anaemia, the affected areas of the head get deprived of the normal flow and quantity of blood, which diminishes the supply of oxygen and nourishment, thus weakening the hair follicles in the scalp. Besides these factors, researchers are still exploring unexplored biological reasons that may be related to baldness or abnormal hair loss.For those affected by baldness there is still a ray of hope.

The fact that besides the balding sites, fortunately in many cases, there are few parts on the scalp that contain non-balding type hair, which prove to be a great source of help in re-growing hairs on the bald sites. There are horseshoe-shaped fringes of hairs around the bald area on the scalp. These fringes of hair are commonly found at the back of head and are genetically not sensitive to the effects of DHT hormone. That is why these non-balding hairs are currently being successfully used in hair transplantation procedures in various innovative and effective ways.

IN THE BEGINNING...It all started in 1939 when a Japanese dermatologist Dr Okuda introduced a unique method of re-growing hair lost from specific sites of the face -- scalp, eye brows and moustache -- with the use of minor grafts. This method was believed to be the origin of today’s modern practice of hair transplantation which, later in the 1950s, went into experimentation stages by Dr Norman Orentreich, who brought the concept of replacing the hairs on the back and sides of the scalp to the balding areas.His extensive research and experiments revealed that if genetically bald resistant hairs are transplanted into the bald sites, they promote new hair growth at a normal rate.

This idea has helped in formulating the concept of hair transplantation and today it is being successfully and safely performed around the world as a normal outpatient surgical procedure.

HOW IT WORKS Hair transplantation has many forms and techniques, which definitely require skilled and qualified hands for safe results. For instance, selecting the right clinic or hospital is definitely a significant as well as critical thing to do. Among the most frequently used forms of hair transplantation, follicular unit hair transplantation is a widely and effectively used method. The pattern of hair growth is natural, such that they grow from one point area on the scalp in the form of groups of two to three hairs which are irregular in pattern, much like the grass which grows in a fertile field.Scientifically, these growing units are referred as ‘follicular units’. Physicians can use these follicular units from the back and sides of the scalp where the hairs are much bald-resistant in nature. By relocating these carefully taken follicular units in small grafts, the bald areas can re-grow hairs. Since every follicular unit of scalp tissue is surrounded by its small glands (which produce hormones), blood vessels, nerves and regenerating tissue covering, it is very important that the graft follicular unit should be incised carefully without causing any damage to its self-sustained unit.

Since it is a very sensitive and long procedure, it is usually performed in two to four sessions or as per the requirement. This procedure has many advantages over other procedures as it uses small donor graft sizes of minimum scalp tissue and can be taken through minute incisions. This helps in decreasing the extent of trauma given to the donor scalp and increases the number of possible grafts to be transplanted in one session. This hair transplantation procedure also gives more natural looking results even if observed from a close range. Most of the different forms of hair transplantation being practiced today are more or less similar to the follicular unit hair transplantation procedure.

ON THE PAKISTANI FRONTLike in any other part of the world, a good number of people suffering from baldness are also present in our country, and they desperately dream to get their hairs back someday. Regardless of the obvious burdening effects of this cosmetic procedure on one’s pocket, hair transplantation is currently one of the most aspired and approached cosmetic procedures in Pakistan.Interestingly, this treatment option for baldness was first widely accepted by the people in the show business who were then greatly used for marketing purposes to show magical outcomes of hair transplantation.At present, there are numerous clinics have mushroomed that claim to offer the quality hair transplantation procedures. However, it is essential that before embarking on fulfilling the dream of having a head full of healthy-looking hair, one should do proper research and crosscheck the credibility and certifications of the physician who is approached for the procedure. However, for those who are happy and comfortable with whatever hair that is left on their scalp, hair transplantation is nothing but an unwanted luxury.

Prof Masood Hussain Khan turns 90

2009-02-03T09:53:00.000+05:00

One of the most redoubtable linguists and scholars of Urdu, Prof Masood Hussain Khan, turned 90 on January 28 this year. I cannot say for sure whether he celebrated his birthday for he lives in India, but his students, colleagues, fans and the lovers of Urdu all over the world celebrated it in their own ways. For instance, Prof Dr Mirza Khalil Ahmed Beg, an Indian linguist and scholar, celebrated it by writing an article on Prof Masood Sahib and his services for Urdu, paying tributes to extraordinary erudition of the nonagenarian scholar who truly deserves it.Prof Masood Sahib has come a long way since he began his literary and scholarly odyssey some 65 years ago.

Orphaned at the age of two, Masood Sahib himself must have known very little what destiny had in store when he began his career in 1943 at All India Radio, Delhi, as programme assistant: he was to rise to eminence as a research scholar, critic, poet, lexicographer, university teacher and, above all, linguist who advanced a new theory on Urdu’s birth, contradicting all theories hitherto popular among scholars.Prof Masood’s magnum opus, ‘Muqaddama-e-tareekh-e-zaban-e-Urdu’, describes in detail the history of Urdu’s origin and development.

On account of coherence and plausibility, the book is considered to offer one of the most acceptable theories on the genesis and development of Urdu. He proved his theory with historical and authentic evidence, taking into account the formation of Indo-Aryan languages. Keeping in view the theories of historical linguistics and ancient sources, he proved that Urdu was born in and around Delhi.

According to him, four vernacular dialects, namely Brij bhasha, Mewati, Haryanvi and Khari boli, exerted their influences on Urdu during its long formative phases and among them Haryanvi and Khari boli were the ones that proved to be more decisive. Later, the same language reached Deccan in the 13th and 14th centuries AD with the Muslim armies and slowly but surely gained refinement over the centuries and a standard Urdu language emerged.Before Masood Sahib, Muhammad Hussain Azad, Hafiz Mahmood Sheerani, Shamsullah Qadri, Mohiuddin Qadri Zor, Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, T. Grahame Bailey and some other scholars had presented their theories on Urdu’s origin but none found favour with Masood sahib. So he set out to find for himself the truth. His advantage? A keen study of the Indo-Aryan linguistics and an understanding of the Shaurseni Prakrit that later developed into dialects, such as Khari boli, spoken in and around Delhi. In his opinion, the emergence of these modern Indo-Aryan dialects could not have begun earlier than 1000 AD and, therefore, Hafiz Mahmood Sheerani’s theory that saw Punjab as the cradle of Urdu and premised that Urdu was a language that was brought to Delhi by Muslim armies after the conquest of Punjab, was not plausible.

First published in 1948, the book, originally his PhD dissertation, has run into many editions in India and Pakistan.Phonetics is the other forte of Prof Masood Hussain Khan’s. He was the first to analyse the words of Urdu from a phonological point of view. During his stay in London, Masood Sahib had had a chance to benefit from the insights of Prof J. R. Firth who was the first to introduce the concept of ‘Prosodic Phonology’. Basing his DLit thesis ‘A phonetic and phonological study of the word in Urdu’ on Firth’s theory, he carried out research that was published in 1954.

Said to be a rare feat of descriptive linguistics, it was translated into Urdu and published by Prof Mirza Khalil Beg in 1984.Another sphere of Masood Sahib’s scholarly interest is literary criticism but at the beginning of his literary career he used to scoff at the then prevalent trend of criticism that indulged in flowery language and had become too rhetoric. The so-called ‘impressionistic school of literary criticism’ used to eulogise literary works in a way that reeked of romanticism and based evaluation on subjectivity rather than on any literary theory. ‘Stylistics’ is a significant branch of applied linguistics.

During his stay in the US, Masood Sahib was inspired, says Prof Khalil Beg, by the theory of stylistics presented by Prof Archibald A. Hill. He then began applying linguistics to Urdu literary criticism and wrote many articles on Ghalib, Iqbal and Fani, not only presenting the linguistic critical analysis of their poetry but also laying the foundations for what came to be known as linguistic criticism in Urdu which later served as a launching pad for other critics such as Gopi Chand Narang, Mughni Tabassum and Mirza Khalil Beg.His assertion that Prem Chand’s Urdu novel ‘Gaodaan’ is not Prem Chand’s original work in Urdu but a translation of Prem Chand’s Hindi novel by the same title and that it was rendered into Urdu by Iqbal Bahadur Varma Sahar took the literary world by storm. Many doubted Masood Sahib’s intentions. Manik Toula, a Prem Chand scholar, said Masood Sahib was trying to ‘disown’ Prem Chand as an Urdu writer. Even scholar of Gian Chand Jain’s stature accused Masood Sahib of ‘literary Jihad’. But the evidence brought to light by Masood Sahib was so genuine that it had to be accepted that the Urdu rendering of ‘Gaodaan’ began only after Prem Chand’s death.Masood Sahib commands respect of Urdu researchers when it comes to editing classical Urdu texts.

Aside from other rare manuscripts discovered and edited by Masood Sahib, ‘Qissa-e-Mahr Afroz-o-Dilbar’, edited and annotated by him, is a work that brought to light an important rare ‘daastaan’. He has a rare insight into Dakani and Dakaniyat. He calls the Dakani dialect of Urdu ‘the Old Urdu’. A remarkable work of his on Dakani is the compilation and publication of a Dakani Urdu dictionary that has been compiled on the basis of a large number of rare and unpublished manuscripts, citing the couplets of Dakani along with the words and meanings. He also worked on an Urdu dictionary that was being compiled by Delhi’s Taraqqi-e-Urdu Bureau but it could not be published.

When he came to Pakistan in the early 1980s, the Urdu Dictionary Board consulted him on their flagship dictionary. Born in Qaimganj, district Farkhabad, UP, on January 28, 1919, Masood Hussain Khan belongs to a family that has been prominent due to its educational, literary and political services. His paternal uncles are just as well known and legendary as the living legend that he himself has become. They are: Dr Zakir Hussain Khan, the educationist who finally rose to be President of India; Dr Yousuf Hussain Khan, the professor at Usmania University and Urdu’s renowned critic who later became pro-vice chancellor at Aligarh Muslim University; Dr Mahmood Hussain Khan, the professor at Karachi University who later became Dhaka University’s vice chancellor and held other important posts such as minister.After quitting the All India Radio job within six months of joining it, he joined Aligarh Muslim University’s Urdu department as lecturer.

In 1962, he became chairman at Usmania University’s Urdu department where he served till 1968 when he was made the head of the linguistics department at Aligarh. Between 1973 and 1978 he served Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia as vice chancellor and remained Aligarh’s Urdu University’s vice chancellor for quite sometime. Aside from editing many literary and research journals, he remained Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind’s acting general secretary during 1969-1970. He has a large number of books to his credit including his autobiography ‘Wurood-e-masood’ and the collection of his poetry ‘Do neem’

The vagaries of camp life

2009-02-03T09:52:00.000+05:00

Caught between the Taliban and the Pakistan Army, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Fata are making do in camps established by the NWFP government. Even here, their fate is uncertain, as the government remains vague about how long it will continue to support the IDPs.Over 400,000 people have fled Fata in recent months. According to Jamil Amjad, director general of the NWFP Disaster Management Authority and former provincial relief commissioner, over 52,000 people are being accommodated in 11 camps.

These are located in Peshawar, Noshera, Lower Dir, and Charsadda, while another “spontaneous camp” in Malakand is housing 5,000 families.Katcha Garhi itself currently houses 1,800 families from Bajaur Agency and another 800 families from Mohmand Agency. According to Sadeeq Ahmad Khan, district administrator for the camp, Katcha Garhi was initially meant to serve the IDPs until Dec 31, 2008. With financial support from UNHCR, that deadline has now been extended. Support and services are also available from Red Crescent, Edhi Foundation, and the Benazir Income Support Programme.According to Mr Amjad, the 11 IDP camps are expected to stay functional for another nine months, until September 2009. “We will host the IDPs through the winter since they have no chance of returning in the harsh climate, especially since their homes have been destroyed,” he says. However, no formal plans for camp closure or repatriation have been finalised.Meanwhile, over 15,000 displaced families living with friends or relatives have been registered in nine districts of the Frontier province.

For the moment, the government is identifying these families and offering some assistance, but there is a fear that these IDPs will soon seek out camp accommodation as well.Azka Khanum, a resident of Bhai Cheena village in Bajaur, says that she initially stayed with distant relatives after arriving in Peshawar last September. “Soon after we came here, we started to feel like a burden on our relatives,” she says. “They were kind, but they’d ask us about our plans to return home. Since we couldn’t give them an answer, we moved into this camp instead.” As more people flee violence in the tribal belt, camps such as Katcha Garhi may begin to seem like a merciful option.Until now, however, the mercy of Katcha Garhi seems hard to come by.

Wandering through tented enclaves, one hears complaints about deplorable health standards at the camp.“They have one doctor on duty, and he gives out the same tablet for different ailments,” says Ameena, who originally hails from Kausar village in Bajaur.Nearby, Azka Khanum points to her sister who is holding an infant swathed in warm blankets. “My nephew had a major operation just before we had to leave for Peshawar,” she says. “Now that he’s here, the boy isn’t being able to recover.

He has trouble breathing and persistent diarrhoea. He doesn’t even have the energy to even cry or shiver.”Ameena and Azka Khanum both complain that they are very worried about the health of their family members because they have no money with which to visit doctors in the city and have little faith in the camp’s health and sanitation services.Indeed, the World Health Organisation has itself stated that over 50 per cent of the camp’s inmates suffer from respiratory infections while 19 per cent have acute diarrhoea. Children, in particular, are also suffering from malnourishment.

There is also a sense throughout the camp of a life interrupted. The women, in particular, are beginning to feel claustrophobic. “We’re imprisoned in this camp,” says Ameena from Kausar village. “At home, we could roam in the fields and in the courtyards of our homes. Here, to maintain purdah, we stay in the tent.”For their part, the men are distressed by the conditions in which they have to maintain their families. Hayat Khan, who hails from Khar village in Bajaur Agency, dislikes the way families are not kept together within the administrative enclosures of 10 tents each. “No one knows who’s who,” he says. “Strangers from other villages are in the tents near ours while our relatives are living in tents at the other end of the camp.”Thankfully, most amenities are regularly available. Camp administrator Sadeeq Ahmed explains that the IDPs receive food rations as well as non-food items such as blankets, jerry cans for water, sheets, ground mats, and a kitchen set for communal spaces.

Azka Khanum confirms that food items -- oil for cooking, flour, and lentils -- are regularly available, though she complains that the quality of the flour is poor. In another part of the camp, Yahya Abdullah, who also hails from Bhai Cheena in Bajaur and has been at Katcha Garhi since late August, confirms that food rations are well apportioned. “There’s sometimes problems with water,” he says. “It makes me miss our tube well in the village.”Formerly a public school teacher, Yahya insists that options for young children displaced by the war against terror are the most depressing. He teaches at Katcha Garhi’s school, which currently accommodates about 1,400 children, including 600 girls. “There are only six of us (teachers),” says Yahya, “and we have about 140 kids in each class,” he says. “This is no way to learn … and no way to live.”

HOPE & FEAR: In limbo: Fata’s displaced thousands

2009-02-03T09:49:00.000+05:00

Thousands of people displaced by anti-terror efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) are now caught in limbo between their villages in the tribal belt and refugee camps in the Frontier province, between the Taliban and the Pakistani government.Each person has a story of frantic flight, present suffering, and a life left behind. More importantly, most internally displaced people (IDPs) are increasingly willing to admit that they are wrestling with two emotions: rage against the government for destroying their homes in the course of military operations and frustration with the Taliban for occupying their lands.Sakina Bibi, a confident woman in her mid-twenties with a fondness for bangles and nose rings, has spent her life in Nawagai, Bajaur Agency.

In September, after the Pakistan government had launched a military operation to root out militants, she fled Nawagai with eight children, her sister-in-law, and one elder from her family. For the past four months, she has been living in Katcha Garhi, a camp for IDPs in Peshawar.Sakina finds it difficult to talk about why she left Nawagai -- when asked, she simply says, “bombs fell, rockets came again and again, so we left.” Her reticence may stem from the fact that she has little reason to ever return to Nawagai and is worried about how to settle down in Peshawar.“My family owns no lands,” she explains. “We used to sell fruit and vegetables on stalls so now we have nothing to return to.”

Her family has twice tried to rent a small house in Peshawar, but to no avail. “The city people don’t want us living near them. They think we’re dirty and that we’re thieves. All of us are out of work, too, so I don’t know how we’d pay the rent even if we got a place.”Like many of the other refugees from Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, Sakina is caught in limbo: between her home village of Nawagai and the city of Peshawar; between the Taliban and government security forces.

This sense of being stranded, of being nothing more than collateral damage in an abstract war, permeates the narratives of most IDPs at Katcha Garhi.“We didn’t risk losing our lands to the Taliban”Attired in a velvet shalwar kameez sprinkled with gold sequins across its floral pattern, Ameena looks incongruous amongst the grey light and sullied white tents at Katcha Garhi. She explains that she left her home village of Kausar in Bajaur Agency in a rush during a celebration associated with the holy month of Ramazan. “The bombing started and some nearby houses were demolished,” recalls Ameena. “We didn’t think -- we just left.”Ameena confirms that militants affiliated with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had taken up residence in her village before the government launched a military operation in Bajaur. But she also insists that the military operation caused more havoc in her life than the Taliban ever did.“When the Taliban first came, we shied away from them because they were strangers in our village,” she says. “When they came around to our houses, we would hide our men from them and wouldn’t even give them water.

No one was in favour of them and we didn’t want to risk losing our lands to them.”The sentiment towards the Taliban gradually evolved, however. Ameena explains that people warmed to them over time because they promoted Islam. “They also never did anything against women and children,” she says. “They never forced themselves into our houses.”Her resigned tone changes when she starts describing the military operation that began in August 2008 in Bajaur Agency. “Our lives were going along as normal, and then suddenly there were aerial raids all the time. We were so scared, we couldn’t eat.

We were in constant tension about the army showing up so we didn’t till our lands. After a week or so, we were suffering from hunger and thirst while our elders fell sick. It was when our neighbour’s house was crushed by heavy artillery that we decided to leave for Peshawar. The army caused more trouble for me than the militants ever did.”“No one was ever scared of the Taliban”Azka Khanum, from Bhai Cheena in Bajaur, agrees with the sentiment that life was bearable under the Taliban, but destroyed by the Pakistan Army’s military operation.She insists that there were no Taliban in her village. “There was some talk that the Taliban had come to Bhai Cheena, but we never saw them physically and there was no threat from them,” says Azka. “Once in a while, someone would drop pamphlets in our courtyards that said that women should cover themselves properly. Since, by custom, we already do purdah, we didn’t mind that they were correcting us. Those of us women who used to walk in the fields started to become more careful, but no one was ever scared of the Taliban.

They never did anything forceful.“The government said the Taliban were bad,” adds Azka, “but we didn’t have any issues until the military operations started.” She remembers how bombing began one evening without any prior warning, forcing her family to hire a car at a day’s notice to flee the village.“The government isn’t targeting the Taliban,” says Azka, her voice raised. “We don’t hear about any Taliban deaths. We’re the only victims.” As she speaks, Azka apologises for her tone and insists that she doesn’t favour the Taliban over the government. “We’re just caught in the middle -- we want both the Taliban and the government security forces out of our village.”“I’m not sure who’s fighting who”Yahya Abdullah, a public school teacher who also hails from Bhai Cheena, shies away from black and white categorisation emphasising that the situation in the tribal areas is more complicated than it seems. “I’m not sure who’s fighting who,” he says. “All I know is that I’ve been made a refugee in my own country.”Like others from his village, Yahya is hard-pressed to complain about the Taliban.

“They didn’t do anything wrong in our village,” he says. “They’d only take action against criminals. Most importantly, they’d deal with anyone who seized lands -- if someone had an ongoing land dispute, the Taliban would intervene and implement the community’s solution.”The only thing Yahya feels was suspicious about the Taliban was their interest in stocking weapons. “There were always weapons in our village -- people keep their own at home -- but never so many as there are now. We used to ask each other, ‘Where are all these weapons coming from?’”“The Taliban didn’t start the fighting”To illustrate how confusing the war between the military and the militants is for residents of the tribal agencies, Yahya’s brother Mohammad recalls the day the Pakistan Army arrived in Bhai Cheena.“I was walking down the road, and I saw that the army had arrived, being led by a tank.

A local Taliban commander approached the army officers and asked them to retreat. When the forces did not withdraw, the Taliban made an announcement on the mosque’s loudspeaker telling the army to withdraw without destroying local homes and shops or offending women and children.“Within seconds, the army started shooting and helicopters started bombing. The Taliban then began to fight the government forces, and the only thing that stopped this clash was a downpour.“I’m a simple man, but from what I understand, the Taliban didn’t start the fighting. They were trying to save our village but the army didn’t listen.”“I just want it to stop”Hayat Khan, a young man with a henna-red beard from Khar in Bajaur Agency, cares less about who initiated the clash between militants and government forces. “I just want it to stop so that I can go home,” he says.Like Yahya, though, Hayat stresses that the unfolding in scenario is tricky to resolve.

He recalls what happened when his village formed a lashkar to drive out the Taliban in the hope that their absence would keep the Pakistan Army away too. “Our plan didn’t work,” he despondently admits. “The Taliban began attacking the lashkar instead of the government forces and so we ended up with a bigger mess of three-way fighting.”Despite having experienced the “mess of three-way fighting,” Hayat does not think that Fata residents can be involved in plotting a solution to the tribal predicament. “The Taliban commanders and the army officers should meet and find a solution,” he says. To justify the exclusion of tribal residents, he explains that their maliks (village heads) could not be relied on to act as effective representatives. “Forget about our maliks,” he says. “They’ve either been targeted by the Taliban or they’ve joined the Taliban for money.”“Why didn’t the government stop them in the beginning?”Ishaq Rahmatullah, an elderly man from Charmang in Bajaur, also expresses little faith in his village head. “Before any of this trouble started, the security situation in our village began to deteriorate. Village elders were being kidnapped, but the maliks didn’t say anything. They were scared that they too would disappear. Our people didn’t join the Taliban, but our malik supported them.

The end result is that we’re now caught between the Taliban and a government operation.”Ishaq explains that elders of the Charmang village were suspicious about how the situation was evolving from the very start. “When the Taliban first started settling down in Pakistan, they were attacking security checkpoints, but the government was absent. They were visible then, and not as organised. Why didn’t the government stop them in the beginning?”Frustrated by his own narrative, Ishaq insists that he has not seen government forces hurt any Taliban commanders or vice versa. “It’s all a drama -- no army officers or Taliban have died, but the ordinary people are losing their lands and missing a harvest.”

US to boost Pakistan’s anti-terror capability

2009-02-03T09:48:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON, Sept 30: The United States has assured Pakistan that it supports the country’s ‘sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity’ amid tensions between the two allies over cross-border raids into Fata.The US assurance — included in a joint statement — followed talks in Washington on Monday between US and Pakistani teams aimed at consolidating a long-term relationship between the two nations.During the talks “the United States affirmed its support for Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity”, said the statement issued by the US State Department.

The talks between US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were part of what is called the ‘elevated strategic dialogue’ between the two countries.The talks focussed on security cooperation, defence ties, the war on terror and economic assistance to Pakistan, particularly for creating jobs in the restive tribal region.“The United States is dedicated to providing Pakistan with the training and equipment it needs to fight terrorism, including support to enhance Pakistan’s counterinsurgency and counterterrorism capabilities and increased cooperation with Pakistani security forces,” the statement said.

The talks were held against the backdrop of cross-border attacks by the US-led coalition forces in Fata. Although aimed at suspected terrorist hideouts, the raids also killed scores of civilians, forcing Islamabad to protest the incursions.After a raid by US ground troops early this month, Pakistan warned that its troops would retaliate if they saw foreign troops crossing its border. Last week, Pakistani troops reportedly fired warning shots at a US helicopter trying to enter Pakistan.

The incursions also led to demands by Pakistani opposition parties to seek assurance from the United States that it would respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the joint statement addresses this issue.But while assuring Pakistan to respect its territorial integrity, the United States also made it clear that it expected Islamabad to play an effective role infighting terrorism.The two sides renewed their intention to work together to combat the threat of terrorism and violent extremism by expanding security cooperation. They also vowed to work together to develop and modernise the tribal belt.

Mr Qureshi and Mr Negroponte reaffirmed their commitment to a wide-ranging, substantive and long-term strategic partnership between Pakistan and the United States, the statement said.The two sides also condemned the Sept 20 suicide bombing on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which killed 53 people.“They acknowledged that terrorism and violent extremism pose a common threat to Pakistan, the United States, and the international community.”The strategic dialogue followed a decision in March 2006 to establish a forum for such talks.

The dialogue was initially featured once a year but later the frequency was increased to twice a year. The first round took place in April 2006 in Washington.During Monday’s meeting, the United States called for resumption of the Jirga process with Afghanistan and for Pakistan’s commitment to hold the next Regional Economic Cooperation Conference meeting in Islamabad later this year.
The Pakistani government expressed its appreciation for the US-backed new Friends of Pakistan initiative, which would help Pakistan face its challenges in the years ahead.Building on the August 2008 bilateral economic dialogue, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to increased economic cooperation. Pakistan outlined its economic stabilization measures and reforms to foster economic growth and opportunity. The US expressed support for Pakistan’s plan to stabilise its economy and welcomed Pakistan’s commitment to implement comprehensive reform measures.

The US expressed its determination to continue efforts to promote Reconstruction Opportunity Zones legislation, currently pending in Congress. The establishment of such zones would improve stability and security by stimulating jobs, infrastructure and legitimate economic alternatives in underdeveloped areas, the statement said.The two sides emphasised the need for improved regional cooperation and integration in the energy sector. They reaffirmed their commitment to address Pakistan’s growing energy needs by expanding technical assistance and promoting investment in Pakistan’s energy sector.Cooperation in education and science and technology were reviewed, and both resolved to make best efforts to hold energy and education dialogues by the end of the year.

No change in Pentangular Cup as PCB proposal rejected: One-day version scrapped

2009-02-03T09:46:00.000+05:00

LAHORE, Sept 30: While Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has failed to convince the regional heads to alter the set-up of the forthcoming Pentangular Cup — which comprises four-day matches, its one-day version has been totally scrapped because of no budget allocation in 2008-09 for the same.Due to some bad experiences in the previous edition of the Pentangular Cup, the PCB had proposed a different format to the regional heads in a meeting in Islamabad last Saturday but they rejected the idea.

According to information, the PCB had proposed certain alterations in the Cup format including naming the provincial teams on former cricketers.The PCB officials were of the view that since the last Cup edition had seen lop-sided contests between under-strength Balochistan, NWFP sides with powerful outfits of Punjab, Sindh and Federal Areas, the tournament was deprived of its competitive edge.According to the PCB’s proposal, leading 75 players of the country could represent five teams of equal strength in the Pentangular Cup to make it more exciting and competitive.

The whole idea, however, failed to make sense with the regional heads.PCB’s Director Domestic Cricket Sultan Rana, when contacted, told Dawn that it was decided at the Islamabad meeting to continue with the previous system. He, however, shied away from making a comment when asked if PCB’s proposal really failed to convince the regional heads. All he could come up with was that “Due to shortage of time, the debate could not be held at length but another meeting in this regard is now summoned for Oct 4.“Hopefully, all five teams will be announced soon after the meeting,” he added.

The Pentangular Cup will now start from Oct 22 instead of Oct 21.To a question, Sultan said the PCB had planned to hold the Pentangular One-day Cup as well but the idea has now been dropped since no amount was allocated for the event in the 2008-09 budget last June.To select the best available players for the home series against India in Jan-Feb 2009, the PCB has decided to hold the Pentangular Cup prior to the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

Australia still world’s best outfit: Dhoni

2009-02-03T09:45:00.000+05:00

BANGALORE, Sept 30: India’s ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni cautioned his teammates on Tuesday against taking a new-look Australia lightly in the upcoming Test series, saying that even without stalwarts like Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist the world champions were the best in the world.“It’s not about whether you have an experienced player or not. It’s about guys who will go out in the middle, take up responsibility and do well,” Dhoni said.“So, that’s what you need out there. The team that will be victorious will be one that will play consistent cricket. Of course, experience does count but Australia have quite a few talented players who have played well,” he added.

Dhoni said the home side would do well if they take one match at a time instead of rushing through with their plans for the series.“You can’t really be at your best if you are too desperate to perform,” the wicket-keeper batsman said when asked if the hosts were looking to settle a few scores against Ricky Ponting’s side. “It’s not about settling things, (and if) you get desperate, that can hamper your performance.”Australia won a four-Test series 2-1 four years ago to record their first series victory on Indian soil in 35 years.“Rather than getting desperate and wanting to settle things out there, we will rather take it match by match,” he told reporters after the second day of the preparatory camp atM Chinnaswamy Stadium here, where the first Test starts on Oct 9.Dhoni said Australians played well when they toured India last time in 2004 and with India also in good form, the series should offer loads of excitement to the fans. “While Australia are the top-ranked side, India also play really well (against it), and at the same time, there is some aggression on the field creating hype,” he said.—Agencies.

Aussies good enough to beat any team, says Ponting

2009-02-03T09:44:00.000+05:00

HYDERABAD (India), Sept 30: Australian captain Ricky Ponting vowed on Tuesday to make amends for his own past failures in India during the upcoming Test series.Ponting, one of the seven batsmen to have completed 10,000 Tests runs, has averaged a dismal 12.28 in eight matches in India since his maiden visit with Mark Taylor’s side in 1996.“I’ll work really hard for the next week to make sure I am as good as I can be. Hopefully, I can turn things around there. It’s all in my hands and I know what I have to do to have success here,” he said.Ponting has managed just 172 in 14 innings in India, with his worst performance in 2001 when he scored 17 in three Tests, falling five times to off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.“There is a bit of a void in my international career here in India.

There’s no doubt about that,” the Australian skipper said at his first press conference since arriving in India on Sept 22.“Even on the last tour (in 2004) when we managed to win the Test series, I missed the first three Tests with a broken thumb and came back for the last one and we managed to lose that Test match.“So hopefully there are a lot of runs ahead for me here,” added Ponting, who has made 10,099 runs in 119 Tests with 35 hundreds during his career.Ponting made 11 and 12 in his only Test in India four years ago when his side lost by 13 runs on a turning Mumbai track.

The Australian captain is one of the four players in the current squad to have played a Test in India, the others being batsmen Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich.But Ponting said his side were capable of putting in a winning performance if they played to their potential.“We are confident the younger faces are going to be good enough and their skills good enough to stand up in Test cricket in India,” stressed Ponting.“I think even over the last 12 months when we have been missing some of our more experienced players we have still managed to show our best cricket is good enough to beat everybody.“We go into every game confident to play at a certain level, and we’re good enough to beat anybody we play against,” Ponting said.

Ponting noted that a weeklong training camp in Jaipur helped the team get acclimatised to Indian conditions, especially the pitches. The camp included a two-day game against the Rajasthan Cricket Academy XI in which Australia’s batsmen had difficulty against young spinners.“We did struggle against spin, but we are confident for the first Test,” he asserted.

Ponting also urged the teams to play in the right spirit to avoid a repeat of the ill-tempered series between the two teams in Australia early this year.“The important thing is that the captains are responsible for what happens on the field. We are responsible for our teams and the way we play our cricket,” expressed Ponting.Australia clinched the four-Test series earlier this year 2-1 amid deteriorating relations between the two sides.The Indians, unhappy with umpiring decisions in the second Test in Sydney, almost abandoned the tour when off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was accused of making racist comments against Andrew Symonds.“We have addressed it a number of times, particularly after the Sydney Test. We all understand what is acceptable and what is not,” said Ponting. “Both teams have a responsibility in this series to make sure everybody is playing the game in the right way.”Australia, who trained for a week in Jaipur, open the tour with a four-day fixture starting in Hyderabad on Thursday.The opening Test begins in Bangalore on Oct 9, followed by back-to-back matches in Mohali, New Delhi and Nagpur.Australia clinched the four-Test series on their previous tour in 2004, their first success in India in 35 years.—Agencies.

Indian FM says stock market ‘sound’

2009-02-03T09:43:00.001+05:00

NEW DELHI, Sept 30: India’s finance minister rushed on Tuesday to assure jittery investors that the country’s stock market was “sound” amid fears that the global financial crisis could broaden.“There’s nothing to worry about the Indian market,” Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after US lawmakers rejected a 700-billion-dollar bailout for Wall Street banks.Indian shares clawed their way back into positive territory on Tuesday, closing up 2.1 per cent, on investor hopes that the bailout would ultimately be approved after stocks slid over 3.5 per cent earlier in the day.Indian shares closed up 264.68 points at 12,860.43.Despite the close, India’s stock market has plunged by nearly 40 per cent this year, after a five-year bull run, as risk-averse overseas investors have dumped Indian shares and fled to perceived safe havens like government bonds.“We’re suffering the consequences of turbulence around the world.

The Indian market is a sound, attractive and well regulated market,” Chidambaram said.But he voiced concern about rejection of the bailout by the US House of Representatives and said he hoped legislators would pass it swiftly.“We’ll be greatly helped if a bailout package is quickly approved by the US Congress,” he said, adding, “It’s agreed by everyone a bailout is necessary.”Earlier, Asia’s third-largest economy insisted it would largely escape fallout from the US-led financial turmoil thanks to its still mainly insulated economy.But lately, policymakers have changed their tune, with the government’s Economic Advisory Council warning no country can “expect to emerge unscathed.

The credit crunch and a recession in the United States, India’s main export market, could push down Indian growth to 7.5 per cent or lower in this financial year to March 2009, economists say. The economy grew by nine per cent last year.The Congress-led government, which faces general elections by May 2009, is monitoring events “round-the-clock,” Chidambaram said, adding “regulations in place are adequate. But if the regulations have to be tweaked, we will do so.”Chidambaram also said all Indian banks were “well-capitalised and regulated” and “no Indian depositor need be apprehensive.” His comments came after some depositors with Indian bank ICICI the country’s second largest were reported starting to pull out money.—AFP

Stocks end down, volume falls below 1m

2009-02-03T09:41:00.002+05:00

KARACHI, Sept 30: The trading volume on the Karachi Stock Exchange on Tuesday fell to a new all-time single-session low at 0.986m shares as investors watched the fresh massive plunge on world equity and financial markets after the rejection of Bush’s $700 billion bail-out package by the US Congress rather than making fresh commitments.

The world markets have been well on the recovery path following closely the official moves about the passage of the bail-out package, but reports of its rejection by the US House of Representatives sent bearish signals the world over causing the crash of markets, analysts said.The foreign investors who still long positions in some of the local shares were, however, worried over the rejection of the bail-out package as it will further block their moves to get out of the local market, they added.However, being under floor, the local market was saved from any massive selling or price crash but the only victim was the daily turnover figure, which maintained its falling trend.

The prevailing turmoil on the world markets could further delay the removal of floor on the index, some analysts said, but some others said the long Eid holiday week ahead may witness some positive developments on the world financial markets and the post-Eid opening of the local market could be positive.“The positions in MK-2 at Rs15 billion though down by 22 per cent from Rs19 billion after the index was capped on Aug 27, are not on the higher side but investors fear the CFS could be lower than it,” said a leading analyst Tabish H. Rajabali.The KSE 100-share index shed another 3.12 points at 9,179.68 as compared to 9,182.80 a day earlier but its junior partner the KSE 30-share index was again held unchanged at the previous level of 10,064.44.The fall of the daily volume below one million shares is the lowest in the trading history of the KSE and reflects investor apathy to take fresh positions at this stage, floor brokers said.

They said the current lower levels reached by all those shares, which ensures higher capital gains, were also neglected by those who could take financial risks.Minus signs again dominated the list in dull trading, under the lead of National Foods, which fell by Rs6.55 at Rs397.Royal Bank, Capital Asset Leasing, Network Leasing, Habib-ADM Sugar and Al-Ghazi Tractors followed them, off by 55 paisa to Rs1.99.Leading gainers were led by Millat Tractors and Pak Datacom, up by Rs3.90 and Rs1.70 followed by Escort Bank, Standard Chartered Modaraba and Gharibwal Cement, up by 60 paisa to 99 paisa.Trading volume fell to record low of 0.985m shares as losers held a modest lead over the gainers at 13 to nine, with 73 shares holding on to the last levels.

Southern Electric led the list of actives, unchanged at Rs3.90 on 0.220m shares, followed by Gharibwal Cement, up by 99 paisa at Rs18.99 on 0.115m shares, Elite Capital Modaraba, lower 50 paisa at Rs3.25 on 0.102m shares, Pak Elektron, easy by 19 paisa at Rs40.80 on 0.79m shares, Standard Chartered Bank, off 31 paisa at Rs10.89 on 0.76m shares, Shakarganj Sugar, unchanged at Rs11.84 on 0.36m shares and Nishat Chunian, unchanged at Rs12.78 on 0.35m shares.S.S. Oil also unchanged at Rs6.50 on 0.27m shares, Bosicor Pakistan, unchanged at Rs8.70 on 0.25m shares and Millat Tractors, higher by Rs3.90 at Rs229 on 0.23m shares.FORWARD COUNTER: Engro Chemical came in for stray support and was quoted higher by five paisa at Rs181.65 on 0.232m shares followed by MCB Bank, static at Rs238.26 on 0.01m shares and OGDC, also steady at Rs95.92 on 500 shares.DEFAULTER COMPANIES: Five shares came in for stray buying but most of them ended higher under the lead of Taxila Engineering, up by Re1 at Rs2.50 on 1,000 shares followed by National Asset Leasing, higher by 19 paisa at Rs0.60 on 500 shares and Al-Qaim Textiles, up by 25 paisa at Rs1.25 on 2,000 shares.

Others were held unchanged.DIVIDEND: Al-Khair Gadoon, cash 10 per cent, United Distributors, bonus shares 15 per cent, Buxly Paints, 10 per cent, Dawood Capital Management, bonus shares 10 per cent, Crescent Modaraba, six per cent, Goodluck Industries, cash 20 per cent, Aruj Garments, 15 per cent, Mirree Brewery, cash 50 per cent, bonus shares 10 per cent and Standard Chartered Modaraba, 16 per cent.

Spacecraft sees snowfall on Mars

2009-02-03T09:41:00.001+05:00

WASHINGTON, Sept 30: In an unprecedented discovery, Nasa’s Phoenix Mars Lander has found snow falling from clouds on Mars, scientists said on Tuesday.A laser instrument collecting data on how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars detected snow from clouds about four kilometres above the spacecraft’s landing site.

The instrument found the snow vaporised before reaching the ground.“Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,” said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied meteorological station on Phoenix. “We’ll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.”Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided dramatic evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.Phoenix touched down in the Martian arctic on May 25. Phoenix data also suggested the presence of calcium carbonate, the main composition of chalk, and particles that could be clay. Most carbonates and clays on Earth form only with water on hand.“We have found carbonate,” said William Boynton, of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyser.

“This points toward episodes of interaction with water in the past. We are still collecting data and have lots of analysis ahead, but we are making good progress on the big questions we set out for ourselves,” said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson.The Phoenix Lander started digging trenches into Martian soil after touching down near the planet’s north pole on May 25, revealing a white substance that scientists said was ice in June. Now scientists want to examine whether that ice ever thaws to assess whether the environment has been favourable for life, a key aim of the mission.—AFP

Gurkhas win legal battle to settle in UK

2009-02-03T09:39:00.000+05:00

LONDON, Sept 30: Former Gurkha soldiers from Nepal won the right to settle in Britain on Tuesday, in what their lawyers hailed as an “historic victory” for the veteran fighters.Ending a two-year legal battle, the High Court in London ruled in their favour in a test case affecting some 2,000 Gurkhas who retired from the British army before 1997.“Today is a wonderful, terrific victory day for the Gurkhas of Nepal,” said their lawyer, Martin Howe.“It’s a victory for common sense. It’s a victory for fairness... It’s a day that will go down in history for the Gurkhas.” Until now, only Gurkhas who retired after 1997, when their base was moved from Hong Kong to England, had the automatic right to settle in Britain.

All other foreign soldiers in the British army have a right to settle in Britain after four years of service anywhere in the world.Around 200,000 Gurkhas fought for Britain in World Wars I and II, and about 3,500 currently serve in the British army, including in Afghanistan and Iraq.More than 45,000 have died serving Britain.Judge Nicholas Blake underlined the “moral debt of honour” and gratitude which Britain has to the Gurkhas for their long military service, wounds sustained in battle, conspicuous acts of bravery and loyalty to the crown.

Howe said the case had seen “a torrential outpouring of affection and concern” from ordinary British people — and called on the government to allow the affected Gurkhas in immediately.“We call today on our government to respect the views of the people of Britain, to respect this judgment fully and immediately allow the men and women affected by this judgment to come into this country,” he said.Subas Gurung, 47, a former staff sergeant in the Gurkha Transport Regiment, said outside the court that the British government’s stance was “very unfair.” “I’m very, very happy to hear the verdict,” said the Gulf War veteran who was decorated with the British Empire Medal for his service peacekeeping in Cyprus in 1991.

All the soldiers who retired before 1997 who were badly affected now can join with us which is very, very good news for me and people like me who are back in Nepal.“We joined together, we worked together, we should be able to get the right treatment together as a group,” he said.He added: “The British people really supported this case. If they had not supported so well, this day probably would not have come.—AFP

60 rebels, 6 soldiers die in Sri Lankan battles

2009-02-03T09:38:00.000+05:00

COLOMBO, Sept 30: Fighting in the embattled north left 60 rebels and six soldiers dead on Tuesday, military officials said.The Sri Lankan navy sank two Tamil Tiger rebel boats off the northeast coast as government troops captured the second Tamil Tiger rebel runway, 500-meters long and 50-meters wide in the northern Panikkankulam area, the defence ministry said.T

he capturing of the LTTE runway comes days after the guerrillas bombed in September a key military base in northern Vavuniya, an area controlled by the government.The Tiger separatists are believed to have five Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft smuggled onto the island in pieces and re-assembled there, military strategists say. Separately, the Sri Lanka navy sank two Tamil Tiger boats amidst sea battles off the north-east coast, according to Naval officials.The escalated ground and sea battles in the north came 24 hours after an explosion injuring two people in Colombo.

The explosion took place on Monday afternoon while hours later 21 people were injured following a grenade blast in Kattankudi, in eastern Batticaloa.

Communal clashes erupt in Orissa: Christians’ houses set on fire

2009-02-03T09:36:00.000+05:00

BHUBANESWAR, Sept 30: One woman was killed and more than a dozen people injured, some critically, after religious clashes in eastern India between Hindus and Christians, officials said.Violence broke out at a village in Orissa's Kandhamal district after Hindus attacked Christians, setting fire to their houses and burning a church, according to the chief administrator of the district Krishan Kumar.One woman was seriously injured in the clashes and died on her way to the hospital, police said. “She was stabbed to death and there were several injury marks,” S. Praveen Kumar, a senior police officer said.

The violence followed a string of attacks on Christians in three states which has left at least 33 people dead and dozens of churches damaged in the last month. Christians have responded with some violence in Orissa state.The clashes were sparked by the issue of religious conversion in Orissa's poor tribal region, home to many Christian missionary groups. Hindus have opposed the Christian missionaries' conversion of lower-caste Hindus.Religious clashes have also been reported in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka states which are both headed by a Hindu-nationalist governments.Clashes first erupted in Orissa last month after the killing of a Hindu leader linked to the main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Police suspected Maoist rebels but many Hindus in the region blamed Christians.The attacks on Christians in India have been condemned by Pope Benedict, and Roman Catholic bishops have urged the European Union to treat persecution of Christians as a humanitarian emergency.—Reuters

Slumdog writer to pen Adams rom-com

2009-02-02T09:36:00.001+05:00

SLUMDOG MILLIONARE screenwriter Simon Beaufoy is to write LEAP YEAR, a new film set to star ENCHANTED actress Amy Adams. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the rom-com, which Anand Tucker is directing, revolves around Adams' character, an uptight woman who travels to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day, Feb. 29, following an Irish tradition in which women propose to men on that day and the man must say yes.

When weather derails her trip, she enlists the help of a surly Irish innkeeper to make an unexpected cross-country trek to pull off the perfect proposal in time

Notorious writer takes on Run DMC next

2009-02-02T09:35:00.000+05:00

Cheo Hodari Coker, who wrote this year's biopic NOTORIOUS, based on the life and death of rapper The Notorious BIG, is to pen an adaption of Bill Adler's "Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC --

The Authorized Biography."Adler, the group's former publicist, will executive produce, so says The Hollywood Reporter.The trade says that DJ Classicz president Dallas Jackson optioned the book recently and will produce with partner John Davis."It's an extraordinary rags-to-riches journey that I'm eager to bring to the screen," Jackson said. "And I'm hoping to have Run, DMC and Russell Simmons' involvement. This will be a big movie about the 1980s hip-hop movement that took over the world."

Adam Sandler in Green Hornet?

2009-02-02T09:34:00.000+05:00

Two different people in the industry told me that Adam Sandler has a brief but key role in the movie as a certain surprise superhero...I heard which one, too, but I don't want to ruin it. Sandler and Rogen have another project together as well.

Rodriguez producing new Predator film

2009-02-02T09:33:00.000+05:00

The folks over at Bloody Disgusting are reporting that Robert Rodriguez is all set to produce a brand new PREDATOR movie.

The film will not be a direct sequel. Oh no. Instead, this is going to be another reboot, just like Universal's THE THING redo, which was announced by the trades this morning. Nobody else is as yet attached, but the site did have this to say about the proposed plot. More than one predator?

SRK to undergo shoulder surgery

2009-02-02T09:31:00.002+05:00

Shahrukh had hurt his shoulder during an action scene during the shoot ‘Dulha Mil Gaya’ at Mehboob Studios, but he did not make a big issue out of it and continued with his physiotherapy sessions at Nanavati hospital before leaving for Los Angeles for the shooting of ‘My Name Is Khan’.
However, delaying the shoulder surgery despite doctors’ advice, has aggravated King Khan’s condition and he cannot push the surgery ahead anymore. Due to this surgery, SRK may probably have to skip the promotion of his forthcoming film ‘Billu Barber’.

SRK said, “I am in a lot of pain. I may do the surgery in India I haven’t decided that as yet. I wanted to finish shooting for MNIK and also wait for the release of Billu Barber (February 13).
But surgery is imminent, so I may have to go in for the operation before the film releases, which is sad… Though I do wish I could have it post-13th, I may have to do it earlier. The doctors feel that it should be done immediately, so I am not sure.”

Talking about the pain, the Badshah of Bollywood said, “I have torn my tendons and it hurts only when I laugh. Insha Allah, all will be well post-surgery after a couple of months of immobility. Right now, it’s very painful to shoot or even move around but I have a few promises and commitments to keep.”

Shahid Kapoor riding high with his new bike

2009-02-02T09:31:00.001+05:00

Biking had always been Shahid Kapoor’s passion. While shooting for ‘Ishq Vishq’, Shahid would go with choreographer Ahmed Khan for long bike rides on the Western Express Highway. The dude always wanted a bike for himself but was waiting for a nod from his parents.

Finally, the devoted son got the permission from his parents after he assured them that he would ride safely and Shahid felt his dream come true with a midnight black, air cooled, sports bike with high torque speed and 1670cc machine, costing around Rs. 15 lakh.

Shahid has a thing for classy, understated and subtle stuff and so he chose black colour for his bike. He is very possessive about it and insists on cleaning it himself. He has been biking a lot these days especially at nights and also while going for his shoots. With his hopes pinned on ‘Kaminay’ must say, Shahid is riding high these da

Preity Zinta Turns 34, Wants To Clean Mumbai!

2009-02-02T09:28:00.000+05:00

Preity will be working hard on her birthday. “The Punjab Cup matches go on right up to Feb 2. So I’m in Punjab. But for my birthday, I have sneaked back to Mumbai for a day. My thoughts on my birthday are, I want to stop thinking and start doing things. It breaks my heart to see the slums in Bandra just opposite where I stay. People live like animals there!”

High on her list of priorities for her birthday today is a determination to do her best to clean out her city. “After Slumdog Millionaire, I realised, ‘Shit, this is how Mumbai is being seen in the West! I want a clean Mumbai. First of all, we need to look into the problem of illegal immigrants. In India, ‘Mehmaan Bhagwan hota hai.’ I urge immigrants to come to Mumbai through the right channels and they’ll be welcome. There are slums coming up all over Mumbai because of arbitrary migrants.”

Says Preity, “We don’t want slums on Mumbai’s roads. In the book Shantaram, an Australian man came and lived in the Mumbai slums without anyone knowing about him. Shantaram was a good man. But what if he was a terrorist? How do we tell the undesirable immigrant from the desirable? I think we need ID cards for every Mumbai-kar eye scan, fingerprints, the works. If Mumbai can’t take any more outsiders, we must stop it.”

She continues, “I believe workers who are brought in to build flyovers make their homes under these under-construction flyovers. Why not hire construction workers from Maharashtra? Why are we outsourcing so much of the workforce in Mumbai? Why are we paying taxes when we aren’t getting the right administration?”

SRK and Manoj Kumar Forget Their Bitterness

2009-02-02T09:26:00.000+05:00

Since the release of Om Shanti Om, legendary actor Manoj Kumar was not on talking terms with SRK for making him a laughing stock in his flick. He even dragged SRK and Farah Khan to the court. But all is well now with the two actors making up.

SRK recently gave a visit to Manoj and spent a lengthy four hours with his family. He joked with his grandkids and enquired about the health of Manoj’s mom-in-law.
Manoj Kumar says, “Look, there wasn’t ever an epic war between us that we wouldn’t meet again. He made a mistake and apologized for it. My 94-year-old mother-in-law had to be recently operated upon, and Shah Rukh wanted to meet her. My mother-in-law used to make khakras for Gandhiji. She is a former MP from Congress and Shah Rukh’s mother was a social worker, that’s how they met.”

Manoj further adds, “Shah Rukh asked me why I was not making films anymore. I asked him what his problem was if I don’t make any and just rest at home. We joked about it. It was nice to meet him, I hardly interact with present day stars. I’ve just spoken to Aamir Khan over phone. And imagine, I haven’t met Salman since the last 19 years, despite his father, Salim Khan, being one of my closest friends

Data theft topped a trillion dollars in 2008

2009-01-31T22:22:00.000+05:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Workers turned ‘cyber moles’ and crime syndicates armed with malicious software are looting digital data from businesses as losses reportedly topped a trillion dollars in 2008.
California computer security firm McAfee presented the findings Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with a warning that the world's dismal financial straits are exacerbating data theft woes.

‘Based on the survey findings McAfee conservatively estimates that the global damage from data loss to top one trillion dollars,’ said McAfee chief executive Dave DeWalt.
‘This report is a wake-up call because the current economic crisis is poised to create a global meltdown in vital information.’
Insights for the first-ever worldwide study ‘on the security of information economies’ were gathered from more than 800 chief information officers in Japan, China, India, Brazil, Britain, Dubai, Germany and the United States.

The companies surveyed estimated they lost a combined 4.6 billion dollars worth of intellectual property last year, and spent approximately 600 million dollars repairing damage from data breaches.
‘Companies are grossly underestimating the loss, and value, of their intellectual property,’ said Eugene Spafford, a US university computer science professor who is executive director of The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS).
‘Just like gold, diamonds or crude oil, intellectual property is a form of currency that is traded internationally, and can have serious economic impact if it is stolen.’

Pressure on firms to cut costs is resulting in weakened computer security measures, making them more tempting targets for information thieves, according to CERIAS, which analyzed responses in the study.

Thirty-nine per cent of the CIOs in the study said they believe vital company information is more vulnerable because of current economic conditions.
There has been an increase in ‘cyber mafia gangs’ breaking into corporate databases, according to the study.
‘Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting executives using sophisticated phishing techniques,’ the study states.

‘Phishing’ refers to deceptive emails or other online ruses that trick people into revealing passwords, account numbers, or other sensitive information.
Such attacks customized to harpoon specific powerful executives are often referred to as ‘whaling.’
The dour economy also raises the chances of companies being looted by employees out to supplement shrinking paychecks or improve job prospects with future employers.
An increasing number of financially challenged employees are using their corporate data access to steal vital information,’ the study contends.
The study also pinpointed China, Pakistan, and Russia as data theft ‘trouble zones’ because of legal, cultural or economic factors.

Flying Animal

2009-01-31T22:19:00.001+05:00

Believe it or not, but the flying fox is really a bat! It is called the flying fox because it has red-brown fur and a head like a fox. It is about one foot long.
During the day, these flying foxes, or fox-bats, hang upside down from the branches of trees in large numbers, so that the trees have the appearance of carrying heavy bunches of some extraordinary looking fruit.

The vampire bat is another one of these mammals. Surprisingly, these bats are not large, their bodies being a little larger than those of mice.
With its sharp front teeth the vampire bat makes a small incision, similar to a razor cut, in the flesh of its sleeping victim, and draws blood until its appetite is satisfied. Or it may be slapped away as soon as the alarmed victim awakes.
Contrary to the many fanciful and spine-chilling stories that have been told about these creatures, their bite is not fatal. The bite may, however, transmit a disease to man or beast, and if much blood is sucked the effect is very weakening.

The sizes and habits differ from bat to bat, so does their colouring. Most species are a mousey colour. Some are brownish-yellow on the underside, or nearly white, and one is orange coloured.
Bats do not make nests. The young ones, referred to as pups, are born blind, and quite bare of fur. The pup clings tightly to the mother when she goes out hunting for food for the first few weeks. Then when the little one is better able to be left on its own, the mother hooks it up by its toes in the cave or hollow tree trunk until she returns. After about two months, the youngster is sufficiently grown up to fend for itself.

Zoologists place all the different kinds of bats into one order — Chiroptera (meaning hand-winged). Odd as it may seem, bats have the same number of ‘fingers’ as we have, but they are strangely formed.
The thumb is very short, and instead of having a nail, the thumb has a claw or hook which is used when the bat is not flying or to scramble about on a tree. The bones of the palms of the bat’s hand are very long, and the finger bones, also very long, are joined to them. This great length of bones is to support the ‘web’ of the wings.

The web stretches from the shoulders down the two bones of the arm, over the bones of the hand, and down the tips of the four fingers. Then, from the underside of the arms, it reaches down to the legs, as far as what would be our ankles, and between the legs to join on to the tail.
As a matter of fact, if you were to take away the ‘webbing’ of a bat’s wing you would see a little animal with two arms and hands and two hind legs!

COVER STORY: By all means

2009-01-31T22:16:00.000+05:00

You are a FAILURE: You embarrassed me in front of everyone. You can’t imagine what I went through when your teacher showed your report card!” Faizan’s mother exclaimed at him because the 14-year-old had failed in the final examination.
His parents, in fact the whole family, were depressed because of Faizan’s so-called ‘sin’. They, like the society at large, think that failing, particularly in an examination, is a ‘sin’. The reaction of his parents, siblings, teachers and even friends made Faizan confused and depressed.
Looking around us we see many cases where people feel so dejected after failing at something that they end up taking an extreme and stupid step that they may regret later. But scolding, thrashing and punishing are not the right ways to treat such a person.

A failure should be treated, not in a harsh way, but in a consoling and tender way. Those who think their entire life is ruined because they failed to do something properly need proper guidance and support. Having failed once does not mean one will always fail, or even failing repeatedly at something doesn’t not mean that one is not good at anything else.
The fear of failure is the greatest obstacle on the road of success. If you are scared that you will fail at something, you will end up either not trying at all or putting in a half-hearted attempt.
The first thing that should be kept in mind before attempting anything is that failure isn’t a crime. Failure is merely a stepping-stone to success. Everyone fails at something or the other, at some point in life. We should not take failure to heart but learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat them.

Treat failures as learning experiences that should turn you into a better person as you can now identify your mistakes and shortcomings. Once you know why you failed, you should find ways that can make you succeed the next time. Stay positive and keep trying until you succeed. Remember when a baby takes his first steps, he falls — but he gets up again and keeps trying until success is achieved.
We can also learn from the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States who led the nation through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War. After failing as a businessman, he moved on to politics but failed in his initial attempt to become a member of the Illinois General Assembly. He then studied law and became a lawyer.

He returned to the political arena and, in 1855, he ran for the Senate but was defeated again. The next year Lincoln went after the vice-presidency position but was defeated. This didn’t deter him and, finally in 1960, he became the president. He had a taste of failure initially which made him more determined to become successful.
Many people feel depressed when they fail to achieve something that is important to them. But failure is a learning tool. Always accept failures positively because they help you gain confidence.
We all know about Thomas Edison, the renowned inventor. Edison also failed many times before he finally became successful in inventing the light bulb. Did he stop trying? No he didn’t. If Edison had stopped trying, the world would be pretty dark right now.

And there is the shinning example of everyone’s favourite author J. K. Rowling. About 12 publishers rejected Rowling’s first manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stones. But today, according to Forbes Magazine, she is the first billionaire author in the world.
Failing 12 times in a row would get anyone down but she didn’t stop and finally got a green signal from Bloomsbury, a small British publishing house in London for the publication of her first book. And now Rowling is ranked 14th in Telegraph’s list for 2008’s “100 most powerful people in British culture”. Isn’t it exciting?

If you always cry over the mistakes that you made, you will never get anywhere in life. So there’s no use crying over spilt milk. If you want to live life to the fullest, your plan of action should be target-oriented.
A confident individual always looks forward and keeps his/her eyes on the target/destination. They consider failures as part of their journey towards success. And positive thinking is the best way to get out of the gloominess of failure.
They Speak....
Failure Success Failing a venture does not make you a loser. Here a few youngsters talk about failure and how they deal with it
“Failure can trigger success. If you fail, you question yourself and then you struggle to excel in that area. This helps in progress. Failure is good, only if it doesn’t become a habit.” — Asma Siddiqui

“Failure may sound like an easy thing to deal with, but it can leave permanent scars on a person psychologically. Not everybody can face it. At times when those who fail do not get the support they need from their family and friends, and get scolded, thrashed and even disgraced for this ‘so-called’ sin. But as Robert F. Kennedy said, ‘Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly’. We should keep this in mind.” — Zeeshan Ahmed

“When I was 17, I failed my math exam during my first year at college. I simply hate trigonometry and this mishap posed a major setback to me. But due to the caring and loving behaviour of my family, specially my elder sister, I somehow learnt to deal with the situation and finally cleared the examination in the next attempt.” — Furrukh Azeem

“I was very depressed when my application was rejected for a scholarship programme. For a moment I thought I will never re-apply for it but my teacher was of great help. He supported me and made me realise the importance of failure in life. I still remember his words, ‘Don’t you know that in a race everyone runs but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize, but if you fail, do your best next time. Everyone who competes can’t win.’ I studied hard and in the next semester I not only got my university scholarship but I also secured first position in my class.” — Ali Ahmed

“I was jobless for about two months after my bachelors. I did my BBA from a reputable institute with a good GPA. I applied for every single opportunity that was available at the time and was more than sure about getting my desired job. But with the passage of time my confidence decreased and and I became very depressed. This was a tough period for me — both financially and mentally. But I took this phase as a learning experience and changed my job hunting strategy. Soon, I got an excellent job with good remuneration. Now I am pursuing my masters along with my job.” — Saima Shah.

Musharraf offered for job in Washington

2009-01-31T22:14:00.000+05:00

WASHINGTON: Former President Pervez Musharraf has been offered a job in Washington: Pakistan chair at the Middle East Institute.
Mr Musharraf also met former US Vice President Dick Cheney who is still in Washington although the Bush administration has completed its tenure on Jan. 20.
The US State Department has indicated that Mr Musharraf might have met senior officials at the Pentagon during his three-day stay in the US capital.

The department’s spokesman Robert Wood told a briefing that he’s not aware of the meetings Mr Musharraf may have had with US officials but he asked reporters to check with other departments, saying that ‘one place to start would be the Pentagon.’
Mr Musharraf arrived in the US earlier this month. This week, he spent three days in Washington where he met American scholars, think-tank experts and friends. He leaves for home from New York on Saturday evening.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani also attended a reception hosted by the Middle East Institute.

The institute’s head, former US ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain, also urged Mr Musharraf to be their next scholar-in-residence on Pakistan.
The institute is willing to create a special Pakistan chair, should Mr Musharraf accept the offer.
Sources close to Mr Musharraf said the former president seems interested in the offer, which will give him the chance to write another book on his experience as the head of a country considered key to US security.

Only a few Pakistanis were invited. Mr Musharraf did not address the gathering but the guests did talk to him in small groups.
Besides Ambassador Haqqani, Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large Riffat Mahmood, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, former State Department officials Robin Rafael and Daniel Markey, and scholars Steve Cohen and Marvin Weinbaum also attended the reception.
Ambassador Haqqani, when asked to comment on his meeting with Mr Musharraf, said he attended the reception and shook hands with him but said it was normal for diplomats to attend such events.

The US administration provided full protocol and security to the former president.
Asked who paid for Mr Musharraf’s security arrangements, the State Department spokesman said he’s a former head of state and urged the journalist who asked the question to check with the Pakistan Embassy in Washington.
The embassy, however, said they did not pay for Mr Musharraf’s security.

Three Indian arrested in Lahore

2009-01-30T22:40:00.000+05:00

January, 30 2009 LAHORE-City : police with the cooperation of intelligence agencies has foiled a deadly plan to carry out large-scale bloodshed through a series of terrorist activities and arrested three RAW agents here on Thursday.The terrorists were assigned target by the Indian agency to destabilise the law and order situation especially in the provincial capital.

Police recovered remote control bombs, explosives and sensitive documents besides huge cache of sophisticated weapons and maps/drawings of different sensitive installations from their possession.The arrested terrorists are identified as Muhammad Fayyaz alias Feja, a resident of Mundyanwala, Burki, Muhammad Akram alias Mian Akram and Shahzad Bhatti of Mauza Ludhar, Burki.Capital City Police Chief Pervez Rathore said this while addressing a Press conference at Police Lines Qilla Gujjar Singh here on Thursday.DIG investigation Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera, SSP Investigation Zulfiqar Hameed, DSP CIA Umer Virk and other senior police officers were also present on the occasion.Pervez Rathore said that the arrest of the terrorists was a big success of the police which foiled nefarious designs of the anti-Pakistan elements.

He said that the arrested terrorists during investigations confessed their involvement in smuggling across the border from Pakistan to India.Terrorists have further confessed that during their visits to India they had managed to establish their contacts with Indian Intelligence Agency RAW, he added.He said that RAW officials used to help the terrorists in crossing the border from Gate number 139.The CCPO said that the arrested terrorists used to provide photographs of important places of the provincial capital and other cities to the Indian agency RAW.

They had carried out bomb blast near FC College underpass on November 17, 2006 in which two persons lost their life and more than two dozens others got injured, he said.‘They were smugglers and used to cross the Pak-Indian border for the purpose’. During their frequent visits to India, they met with RAW officers and started working for the said agency against Pakistan, he added.

The CCPO further said that they were in contact with the RAW officers including Kumar, Bakhshi, Chopra, Vijay, Mehta (bomb expert), Chaudhry Pertaib and Sharma at their Ranjeet Avenue Private Society, Amritsar, office in India.‘On the instructions of the said officers, the said terrorists had provided them photographs/maps and drawings of an under construction bridge of Saryali, Mochi Gate, Lahore, Jamia Qudsia Chuburgi Chowk, Lahore, Azam Cheema Masjid Aqsa, Bahawalpur, Jamia Masjid Millat Park Chowk, Faisalabad, and important buildings, like mosques of Mansehra, Muridke, and Cheecha Watni against millions of rupees. These places were their next targets’.Giving details, he said that they reached India, handed over photographs of Jamia Masjid Aqsa, Bahawalpur and briefed the RAW officers about the mosque and activities of religious leader Azam Cheema.The RAW officers gave them target of killing Azam Cheema by planting bomb in the said mosque against Rs 300,000 and handed over them a bag carrying remote control bomb.

They reached Bahawalpur, planted bomb in the premises of the mosque but they removed it and threw the bomb in a local canal when they came to know that Azam Cheema was not visiting the mosque, he added.Similarly, the CCPO said, the agents got training from RAW officer Mehta who previously gave them a bag carrying remote control bomb weighing 5/6 kg explosive to hit the target in 2006.They later reached Lahore from India and stayed at the residence of Shahzad Bhatti alias Feja. They then went to FC College underpass in a car and carried out the blast, he said.

He said that they crossed the border seven times and held meetings with the RAW agents to get training from its officers.He while answering a query said that the terrorists crossed the border to India about 6 to 7 times but Pakistan Rangers failed to arrest them because of the involvement of Indian Border Security Forces, who opens gate number 139 after checking the schedule of patrolling of Pakistan Rangers along the border.To a query, Pervez Rathore said that City police was facing tough time from the terrorists as the people were feeling themselves insecure due to bomb blasts in different parts of the City.He called an emergency meeting of the senior police officers and assigned a target to the DIG Investigations to trace the anti-social elements.The DIG later constituted a special team of CIA police officers headed by the SP CIA Umer Virk and comprising DSP Khalid Abubakar, Inspector Tariq Ilyas and other officials which traced the said terrorists and arrested them.

Iranian cycling for peace in Pakistan

2009-01-30T22:33:00.000+05:00

QUETTA, Jan 29: An Iranian couple, who have been on a cycling mission for peace for two years, arrived Quetta on Wednesday after visiting several countries.Talking to journalists at the Khana-i-Farhang on Thursday, Jafar Idresi and his wife Samiya said they had travelled to Turkey, France Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, China and India before coming to Pakistan, covering about 10,000 kilometres. They planted 73 trees during the journey.

They said they had been warmly welcomed in all the countries they visited. The couple will leave for Iran via Taftan border on Friday.

Harry Potter stuntman injured

2009-01-30T22:31:00.000+05:00

A man is in hospital with serious back injuries after being injured on the set of the latest Harry Potter film.
Paramedics were called to Leavesden Studios near Watford, where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is in pre-production.
The man, in his 20s - who is a stuntman according to press reports - was taken to hospital after Wednesday's accident.

Warner Bros said he was not a member of the cast, and did not comment further "out of respect for his family".
In a statement, the company added: "The person has been taken to hospital and we are awaiting further news."
An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: "Paramedics were called to Leavesden Studios... after a man in his 20s sustained a significant back injury.

"He was stabilised at the scene and taken to Watford General Hospital."
The hospital refused to comment on the man's condition, but said he had been transferred to another hospital.

Blagojevich ousted as Illinois governor

2009-01-30T09:38:00.000+05:00

CHICAGO: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was removed from office on Thursday after the state Senate unanimously convicted him on impeachment charges, including an accusation he tried to sell the US Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.
The Illinois Senate, acting as a jury, voted 59-0 to oust the second-term Democrat immediately. The lawmakers also voted by the same margin to bar him from ever holding public office again in America's fifth most populous state.

Before the vote, members of the Senate, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 37-22, called Blagojevich 'devious,' 'cynical,' 'crass,' 'corrupt,' 'inept,' 'a liar,' 'a hypocrite' and 'irresponsible.'
Blagojevich had pleaded with the body hours earlier, asking, 'How can you throw a governor out of office who is clamoring and begging and pleading with you to give him a chance to bring witnesses in to prove his innocence? ... A crime has not been proven here.'
He later told reporters outside his Chicago home he was 'saddened and disappointed but not at all surprised' by what happened. 'It was a fixed deal from the beginning.'

He skipped the chance to make a formal defense during the proceedings because, he said, the rules restricted him from calling the witnesses he needed or playing in full the federal government wiretapped conversations that led to charges involving Obama's Senate seat.
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn was sworn in almost immediately, saying, 'The ordeal is over' and urging people to 'to make the sacrifices necessary to address the serious challenges we have before us: The integrity challenge, the challenge of our economy, the challenge of making sure that we pay our bills.'

Quinn has expressed concerns about the state's budget ills, about which he says he has been told little, and a 7.6 per cent unemployment rate that is above the national average.
Blagojevich has not been indicted on criminal charges. The security detail assigned to him as governor left his Chicago home immediately after he became an ex-governor.

PATTERN OF CORRUPTION
Blagojevich's arrest drew attention to a pattern of political corruption in Illinois, becoming a distraction for the incoming Obama administration, which operated its presidential transition office in Obama's home state.
The governor's impeachment was unprecedented in Illinois and he joined only seven other state chief executives to be convicted after impeachment. Arizona's Evan Mecham in 1988 became the first governor impeached since the 1920s and, like Blagojevich, the Republican said his accusers were politically motivated.

Blagojevich was among four of Illinois' past eight governors hit by criminal charges. His immediate predecessor.
Republican George Ryan, is in prison after being convicted of corruption charges.
Illinois' senior US senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, said the state needed a fresh start after Blagojevich, by not resigning, put Illinois through 'weeks of turmoil at a time when many Illinoisans wanted to share in the joy of having just elected one of our own to the Presidency. Today, the Illinois Senate came to the only reasonable conclusion: Blagojevich can not continue to serve as our governor.'

'Clearing this up may give the state some room to focus on its pressing financial and economic challenges,' said Ted Hampton, a Moody's Investors Service analyst.
Those challenges included underfunded pensions, a large employee benefit burden, cash-flow troubles and an ailing economy, he said.

'Whoever is governor needs to get together with the Legislature to fix the budget,' said John Kenward, an analyst at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, which has the state's 'AA' rating on a watch list for a possible downgrade.

On Monday, a spokesman for the governor's budget office said the state's current deficit was $2.5 billion. But the state comptroller's office said the situation was likely worse as Illinois' unpaid bill backlog stands at $2.1 billion.

Glam Slam: SAG Awards Style

2009-01-29T18:38:00.000+05:00

LOS ANGELES, Calif. “Yeah, now that’s something to talk about,” Brad Pitt said of his lovely lady Angelina Jolie.Â We couldn’t agree more. Angelina dazzled in a cornflower blue satin Max Azria at last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. The gown featured a low cut back, which showed off her tattoos. I love that Angelina knows what she likes and she sticks with her signature style… simple and elegant, not too much jewelry.
Also in blue?
Kate Winslet showed off her curves (and the girls!) in her form-fitting cobalt Narciso Rodriguez.
“The Wrestler’s“ Evan Rachel Wood wowed in her teal, one-shouldered Monique Lhuillier.
“Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto chose a floaty silk chiffon Marchesa in pewter.
Christina Applegate led the bold color brigade with her emerald green one-shouldered Emanuel Ungaro.
Amy Adams chose deep purple Giambattista Valli, Claire Danes rocked red Nina Ricci and “Doubt” star Viola Davis was a vision in yellow by David Meister.
The white gown trend, which was so big at the Golden Globes continued.
“I love my dress tonight. It’s Azzaro and I just I feel really nice in it,” Anne Hathaway said about her white gown. “I’m not really a girlie girl, but who doesn’t like to have their hair and makeup done and put on a fabulous frock?”

Anne accessorized her crystal embellished gown with a half a million dollars worth of Cartier jewels.“Benjamin Button” star Taraji P. Henson worked a Marilyn-esque white Herve Leroux and Olivia Wilde chose a creamy satin Ralph Lauren gown. Teri Hatcher took a fashion risk with her white one-shouldered Monique Lhuillier, which paid off.

Her fellow “Desperate” divas didn’t fare so well… at least in my book.
HATED Eva Longoria Parker’s look. Her tangerine Jenny Packham should be burned. Didn’t love the color. Too much fabric going on and don’t get me started on the prom hair.
I wasn’t a fan of Marcia Cross’ black and navy Carolina Herrera strapless gown either. I thought it was over the top to the point of being fussy.

Thriller’ Director Sues Michael Jackson

2009-01-29T18:33:00.000+05:00

January 28, 2009
LOS ANGELES, Calif.
“Thriller” may be headed to Broadway, but first Michael Jackson’s song and groundbreaking music video may be headed to court.
John Landis, the acclaimed director who co-wrote the video and shot “Thriller,” is suing Jackson,claiming the pop star has failed to pay him royalties for the project for the past four years.

2009 Miss. Triumph Show in Mumbai

2009-01-29T18:30:00.000+05:00

Triumph International added to the global warming by presenting hot-hot models wearing their latest 2009 spring and summer collections at a show, that took place recently in Mumbai. It was the best time for the models to walk with poise, showcasing company’s latest collection, with its third stand alone store inaugurated in New Delhi a week ago.

The Managing Director of Triumph International, Mr. Thorsten Allenstein, was beaming with pleasure at the fashion show! The showman knew that the show was a smash hit and the designs were applauded for their appeal, comfort and vibrant colors. The models were, although not very pretty but surely elegant with fine hair and hot stats! Accordingly, the creation displayed in their designs overshadowed their choice of models!!
We have brought you the pictures of this successful show of Triumph International; and eager await your precious comments.

Breath Taking performances of Bollywood stars at screen awards

2009-01-29T18:27:00.000+05:00

Sizzling performance by bollywood starts on 15th Annual Nokia Star Screen Awards.

Stunning Priyanka Chopra comes on the stag with her hits numbers like ‘Pardesi girl’ from her recent films, newbie Anushka Sharma with her hit number ‘Dance Pe Chance’ stole evryone’s heart with her dancing skills.

Ever Gorgeous Katrina Kaif she performed on her rocking numbers from ‘Singh is Kinng’ and ‘Race’. Last but not the least, rockstar Arjun Rampal looking dashing in washed out jeans and a black fitted ganji impressed everyone with his performance and the show comes on its climax , when arjun Ramapal call Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra on stage to join him.

More over the darker side of the show when verbal fight between Sajid and Farah Khan and Ashutosh Gowarikar.

Nomination of BollyWood Film"Slumdog Millionaire" in ten Oscar Categories!

2009-01-29T18:25:00.000+05:00

After Winning Golden Globe, The good new for ' Slumdog Millionaire" is nominated in Ten Categories for the Oscar awards including nomination for the best picture,the best director for Danny Boyle. The movie is also nominated in best adapted screen play, cinematography, editing, original score, sound editing and sound mixing. Amazingly the movie scored two out of three nominations for best song “Jai ho” (A.R Rahman) and “O Saya” (A.R Rahman and M.I.A).

An other big movie with 13 number of nominations is the “”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” The nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Brad Pitt.

A.R. Rahman, the 'Slumdog Millionaire' composer and the muisc director is very happy about the nominations and expressed his joy in the words. “Slumdog Millionaire has paid magical dividends for so many people around the globe. I am deeply honoured to be a part of a film that has inspired so many,” Other than Danny Boyle who are nominated for best director are Stephen Daldry for “The Reader,” David Fincher for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Ron Howard for “Frost/Nixon” and Gus Van Sant for “Milk.

Sanjay Dutt’ adopt new hairstyle for ‘Luck’

2009-01-29T18:22:00.000+05:00

Bolly world Star Sanjay Dutt adopt a new hair style as it become a trend in bolly world now a days.Hair, no doubt is very important aspect of a stars’ personality, but there a very strange phenomenon of trimming hair is catching up in Bollywood as it did happen never before. After long stylish hair of Salman Khan in Veer, Amir Khan’s shaved head in ‘Ghajini’ now it is turn of Sanjay Dutt, he comes with new hair style for his 2009 movie ‘Luck’.

Soham Shah the director of the moive after some creative discussion with Aalim, the hairstylist changed Sanjay Dutt into a man with one of the most daring hairstyle of Bollywood. Alim told, “This is one of Sanjay’s most daring and dashing looks! It’s a very different side lock with three triangles opposite each other. Sanjay can carry off anything larger than life…his aura is really huge!” Sanjay Dutt hair style glance of this

Kareena, Katrina and Yana has been roped in Miss India Worldwide pageant finale

2009-01-29T18:20:00.000+05:00

On 31 Jan Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Yana Gupta have been roped in the grand finale of PC Jewellers Miss India Worldwide pageant to be held at Pragati Maidan and Deepak’s Tijori Entertainment is hosting the show with Kaleidovision.
Bollywood beauties attend the finale to add glamour and glitter to the event.

“At the finale of the pageant, there will be a mix of beauty, talent and glamour, with Bollywood beauties shaking a leg with the participants; host Deepak Tijori said at the press conference here Wednesday that it will be an evening to remember,”

More over the 20 finalists will go through a 10 day grilling regime.

As per Mehar Bhasin , who will look after the grooming of the contestants“Training is not going to be a cakewalk for them. They cannot take it easy because they will have to go through a tough and hectic regime of around 14 hours a day ,”

“Finale finalists will undergo an exclusively designed training and grooming regime that includes fitness, diction, psyche, aptitude, hair and make-up sessions. The training will enhance their confidence not only for the finale, but for further rounds to be held on the international stage as well,”

model-turned-actors Milind Soman and Rahul Dev will take care of their fitness & Beauty expert Blossom and Samantha Kochhar will take care of their beauty and hair.

While shooting for ‘Kites’,Hrithik injured yet again

2009-01-29T18:19:00.000+05:00

On Tuesday Hrithik Roshan, injuired at the Filmistan Studio in Mumbai while doing a stunt shot.He was breaking a glass with a rod and one piece of glass flew and hurt him.

It was only last October when Hrithik Roshan injured his knees while shooting for a dangerous car stunt in Las Vegas for his home production ‘Kites’.

Towards the latter half of 2008, Hrithik underwent surgery in the US and spent nearly two months recovering but his rendezvous with injuries continues.

The Bollywood moive 'kites' is about to an indian boy's romatic affair with a lantia girl as they do not understand each other’s language.The movie has US-based Spanish model Barbara Mori opposite Hrithik. The moive directed by Directed by Anurag Basu,

The stunts while doing his movies is not new for the Roshan lad.Though it is a minor injury, In the past Hrithik was injuiredWhile shooting for ‘Krrish’ and ‘Dhoom 2’, he had torn the ligament in his right knee and continued working despite the pain.

Aishwarya and Akshay Kumar awarded Padma Shree

2009-01-29T17:58:00.000+05:00

The Government of India awarded on 60th year of the indian republic made two Bollywood proudwhen two leading stars of Bollywood were awarded top civilian honours Padma Shree to Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

The other Bollywood recipient of the prestigious Padma Shree is none other than the legendary Helen.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has popularized Indian cinema across the globe and has given much to Indian entertainment industry and though Akshay Kumar has done mainly commercial cinema yet his success and hits cannot be ignored. To be known that a few days ago, Akshay had been refused to take the popular choice best actor award.

Jaya Bachchan Ready for Adoption!

2009-01-29T17:56:00.000+05:00

Now before you jump to conclusions when you read the word adoption, let me tell you that we are not talking about the child-adoption but the adult adoption. Yes Jaya Bachchan is doing an interesting film which will be a remake of a 2004 Tamil film directed by Revathy Verma.
The Hindi version of the film will have Ayesha Takia, Madhavan and Raveena Tandon along with Jaya Bachchan in a pivotal role.

Revathy confirms,”Jayaji’s confirmation is a big achievement for us. She is a great actor and we are looking forward to working with her. She is rarely seen on the big screen, so it is great to see her.”
Phir Tum Mil Gaye is about a 20-something girl who ‘adopts’ a mother from an old age home. “We always hear of couples adopting babies from orphanages, here it is the reverse process of a young girl wanting a mom. The mother’s character is extremely optimistic,” points out Revathy.
While casting, the name of Jaya to play the mother who is up for adoption was topmost in Revathy’s mind. “When we were in talks for the Hindi version, one thing was sure that she would be in the cast.

“We sent a bound script to her office and waited with bated breath. We were delighted when she said yes.”

Preya has had a brush with B-Town being part of Priyadarshan’s Bhaagam Bhaag crew. “Shooting for Phir Tum Mil Gaye begins from April 3 in Mumbai. We have also planned another project after this with Aziz Mirza as director,” she says.