Samad Mumbai, July 04: Akshay Kumar is for real. He’s playing a stuntsman in his next, and he actually came down to perform a stunt in Delhi to promote it, jumping off a 60-foot high structure.
But he looked very tired afterwards. “ Main thaka hua sirf lag nahin raha hoon, main thaka hua hoon ,” he admitted wearily. “But that’s the fun of it, yaar!”
Mumbai, July 04: This Diwali, movie aficionados will definitely have an overdose of Sanjay Dutt with three of his films releasing on the same day.
Ajay Devgan’s All The Best, Ashtavinayak Cinevision’s Blue and Eros’s Aladin are scheduled to release on October 16.
Mumbai, July 04: Meet the newest gal pals in Bollywood — Sonam Kapoor and Amrita Rao.The two young actresses have apparently bonded really well. In fact, we hear that the two spend a lot of time together, indulging in typically girlie activities like shopping, spa visits, partying and gyming. Recently the two girls went on a shopping spree at a popular designer’s store and literally ransacked the place.
Mumbai, July 04: There is a Shah Rukh Khan, a Salman Khan and Aamir Khan and then there is Saif Ali Khan… perhaps the only Khan who can’t dance! The actor tagged in the industry as a non-dancer has now excelled in this art and has left everybody awestruck.
Mumbai, July 04: Though she chose to be with her beau Saif when he was promoting his first home production, Bebo personally feels that her film Kambakkht Ishq is better than Love Aaj Kal.
Being aware of the fact that Love Aaj Kal has been generating a lot of buzz and excitement amongst audience, Kareena defends her film saying KI is a power packed film. When asked about it she smartly replied, “I believe Love is definitely fun, painful and dangerous. It’s a mixture of everything. But according to me Kambakkht Ishq is a power packed film which will rock Aaj and Kal.”
Mumbai, July 04: Literature and Salman Khan seem to be as different as chalk and cheese.Who could have thought that Salman would actually be a part of a film that brings Russian literature to Bollywood? The actor’s much-awaited period drama, Veer, is inspired by the Russian literary masterpiece Taras Bulba written by Nikolai Gogol.
The epic, Taras Bulba is the story of the Cossack patriarch Taras and his two warrior sons, who set off on an epic journey that finally ends in a war with the Polish.
Abu Dhabi, July 04: The General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Auqaf has submitted a request to Saudi Arabia to increase the UAE’s quota of pilgrims from 6,228 to 16,000 for this year’s Haj season.
Mohammed Obeid Al Mazrouie, head of the official UAE Haj Mission, told Khaleej Times that he expected the Saudi authorities to respond positively to the UAE’s request given the friendly bilateral ties.Al Mazrouie, also Executive Director of Islamic Affairs at the authority, added that Saudi Arabia increased the UAE’s quota of pilgrims from 6,000 to 10,000 last year.
Sharjah, July 05: Male attendants have six months to clear out of the women’s section in Sharjah’s malls, department stores, or even individual outlets that are women-specific.
The Sharjah Executive Council (SEC) has recently approved a Sharjah Economic Development Department (SEDD) proposal to ban male attendants from such outlets beginning January next year.
A top SEDD official told Khaleej Times that a circular in this regard will be sent out soon. That will leave about six months for necessary arrangements.
Abu Dhabi, July 04: Vehicle owners in Abu Dhabi have urged the the authorities concerned to request the malls and department stores to keep their parking lots open round the clock to resolve the parking problem.
Abdul Hamid Abdullah, a government department employee, says, “The managements of shopping centres and malls should open their car parks for the public so that the parking problem is resolved.”
Abu Dhabi, July 04: A number of humanitarian and development projects aimed at supporting children in Afghanistan have been planned by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (KBZF) and United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). An agreement to this effect was signed by the two organisations on Thursday.
Abu Dhabi, July 04: The Ministry of Labour (MoL) will immediately approve transfer of sponsorship of retrenched employees whose employers haggle over payment of end-of-service benefits and delayed salaries.
Speaking at the ministry’s open day on Monday, a senior MoL official said the ministry will suspend the establishment’s licence if a sacked employee lodges a complaint with the ministry, and if a court has issued a verdict in favour of the employee protecting his/her right to transfer of visa.
Dubai, July 04: Private international schools in the country will reopen for the new academic year according to their respective schedules. The school principals have conveyed this to the students’ parents, putting at rest a flurry of speculations.
Washington, July 04: ‘New York’, the first big Bollywood film to hit America after the industry strike, has won good reviews from US media with the New York Times praising its portrayal of problems faced by a Muslim minority.
“Indian films often deal with the problems faced by a Muslim minority. Transposed to the American context, those problems continue to resonate,” writes the influential daily about the film that opened across US last week.
Johannesburg, July 04: The African Union says it will halt co-operation with the International Criminal Court over its decision to charge Sudan’s leader with war crimes.
President Omar al-Bashir was indicted over alleged atrocities in the Darfur region in March.
But delegates to an AU meeting in Libya agreed a resolution saying they would not co-operate in his arrest.
Analysts say the move means the Sudanese leader can travel across the continent without fear of arrest.
The Sudanese government has been fighting rebels in Darfur since 2003.
Seoul, July 04: North Korea test-fired two Scud-type missiles on Saturday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said citing a government official, further stoking regional tensions after the North’s nuclear tests and threats to boost its nuclear arsenal in response to U.N. sanctions.
“North Korea fired two missiles, which appear to be a Scud type, at around 8 a.m. today,” Yonhap quoted the anonymous South Korean official as saying. “The missiles are estimated to have the range of about 500 km (310 miles).”
Mumbai, July 04: Move over Emraan Hashmi. Akshay Kumar has Hollywood hottie Denise Richards certifying that he is a great smoocher. And he seems to have practised it before with our very own desi sexpot Kareena Kapoor — not once but ten times over in his forthcoming film, Kambhaqt Ishq.
“What to do?” Akshay says in mock modesty. “It’s a new tag and I am fine with it. This role demanded a lot of kisses and I did it.”
Hyderabad, July 04: With little resistance coming for the laying off process, particularly from the government, Mahindra Satyam is now gearing up for yet another round of lay-offs. This time, the axe is likely to fall on senior employees at the mid-management level.
According to sources, the company has already informed the employees about its plan to shave off a ‘significant number’ of jobs.
Mumbai, July 04: A three-year old boy died after being hit by an elevator on his head in a building under construction at suburban Mulund, police said today.
The deceased identified as Tahzeeb Shaikh was playing on the first floor of the 22-storeyed building under construction building and he put his head in the lift passage when the elevator hit the boy while it was coming down, they said.
The parents of the boy were working as labourers in the same building and were busy on duty when the incident happened, police said.
Mumbai, July 04: An eye witness to the terror attack at Cama Hospital on November 26 last year today told a special court hearing the case that Pakistani gunmen Mohammed Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismael had made him “human shield” while trying to escape from the police.
“After hearing gun shots, I rushed to the terrace of the hospital but two gunmen (Kasab and Ismael) were already there and they told me not to close the door,” the witness, Chandrakant Tikhe, who works as generator operator and liftman at the hospital told prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
Mexico City, July 04: A strong earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted western Mexico Friday, officials said.
The quake was felt in the Baja California Sur and Sinaloa states. There was no report of casualties or serious damage, the National Seismological Service said.
The epicentre of the quake was located in the Cortez Sea, it said.
Mexico is among the most earthquake prone countries in the world.
–Agencies–
London, July 04: India’s Leander Paes was in sight of his second Grand Slam title of the year after he along with Zimbabwe’s Cara Black booked a final berth in the mixed doubles of the Wimbledon tennis championships here Friday.
In the semi-final, the top-seeded pair of Paes and Black won 6-4, 6-4 against the 12th seeded Stephen Huss of Australia and Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascal.
Paes, who won the French Open men’s doubles title last month, and Black took 73 minutes to wrap up the match in straight sets.
New Delhi, July 04: Over 20 international flights were delayed late Friday evening due to repair work being undertaken at the new runway of Delhi airport, officials said.
“The new runway is undergoing repair work and due to this all the flights are taking off and landing on the main runway 28. This has resulted in traffic congestion, which is generally very high during night hours when most international flights operate,” an official said.
The flights were delayed by more than an hour.
–IANS–
Islamabad, July 04: Pakistan has sealed its South Waziristan border with Afghanistan and imposed a curfew there to prevent Afghan militants from infiltrating into its territory in the wake of fresh offensives by US troops on the Taliban on the other side of the border.
The Pakistan Army has already deployed additional troops at the border on the directives of the federal government, the Online news agency said Friday.
A curfew has also been imposed in the border areas to stop the likely infiltration of Afghan militants.
Islamabad, July 04: Pakistani residents in the Hamza Banda area of Lower Dir district have ordered Taliban commander Mufti Aftab to leave the area immediately, a media report said Friday.
The Taliban commander along with his eight aides had entered the area some days ago, the Online news agency said.
The residents have formed a militia group with help from the local authorities to fight the Taliban.
Security officials said they have tapped a phone call from Aftab to his associates to carry out suicide attacks.
–IANS–
London, July 04: Striker Michael Owen completed his free-transfer move to English football champions Manchester United Friday.
The 29 year old underwent stringent medical tests before signing a two-year contract on what is believed to be a pay-as-you-play basis with a basic weekly wage topped up by bonuses.
“Michael is a world-class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question,” said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
“Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish.”