Month: February 2009

People say I need to get a boob job, but I’m comfortable the way I’m

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Mumbai, February 28: Indian actress Freida Pinto Made it to the U.S. without doing the same old song and dance.

Though the 23-year-old former model from Bombay auditioned for melodramatic Bollywood roles, she’s going Hollywood with her film debut, playing a child of the ghetto in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Hood never looked so good.

How hard is it to break into India’s film industry?
It’s really difficult. You have to have a godfather or parents who can get you in. I got into modeling for the visibility factor, hoping that portals would open up for me to act.

Mom’s kiss killed 11-day-old

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London, February 28: An 11-day-old baby girl died after her mother unwittingly infected her with the virus which causes cold sores, probably through a kiss or breastfeeding, a coroner ruled.
An inquest on Thursday found newborn Jennifer Schofield died from Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). Her mother Ruth, 35, probably caught it late into her pregnancy, the coroner said, most likely for the first time in her life, meaning she had not developed immunity and nor had her child.

The virus attacked the baby’s major organs and she died within days.

Court orders Andhra ACB to file case against CM

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Hyderabad, February 28: The Anti-Corruption Bureau here has been ordered to register a case against Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and nine others for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
In a case related to the controversial Yellampalli irrigation project, a special court of the Bureau directed the ACB Director General on Friday to conduct a detailed investigation into the allegations and submit a report to it by March 26.

Rahman’s brush with death before the Oscars

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Mumbai, February 28: His double win at the Oscars has been celebrated and talked about. But not many know that A.R. Rahman had a close shave while rehearsing for his performance at the Academy Awards – a chandelier came crashing down seconds after the music maestro moved away from the spot.

Reaching 10,000 run mark means a lot, says Kallis

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New South Wales, February 28: South African cricketer Jacques Kallis has become the eighth player to join Test cricket’ 10,000-run club in the first Test against Australia at Wanderers.
‘It’s really important I think,’ Kallis said after Australia made 466 and South Africa went to stumps at 3-85 in reply, including 27 from Kallis.

‘Looking back at the career when I started if someone had said that I would have got 10,000 Test runs, I would have taken that with both hands and I probably wouldn’t have believed them.

Controversial question on Azamgarh scrapped

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Lucknow, February 28: A controversial question on Azamgarh’s alleged links with terror has been scrapped from the Uttar Pradesh civil services preliminary examination following objections from the Ulema Council, it was announced Saturday.
The Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission said in a statement: ‘After giving thought to the objections from a certain community, the question has been scrapped.’

The commission has also blacklisted the person who set the question, the statement said.

Anonymous letter threatens terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh

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Lucknow, February 27: Days after a caller from Pakistan warned of terror strikes in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, the police have received an anonymous letter naming sites where the attacks would take place, an official said Friday.

‘We received the letter Thursday night from a local journalist, who got a call on his mobile phone to collect the letter placed near a pole outside City Palace shopping complex in Saharanpur,’ district police chief Amit Chandra told IANS over phone.

Corporal punishment – and shattered dreams of children

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New Delhi, February 27: ‘I wish I could fly in the sky and come out in the light from this darkness,’ says 10-year-old Pradip, who left school last year after being beaten severely by a teacher, as tears swell in his eyes.

His father, a labourer, was not interested in sending him to school but Pradip’s mother supported him initially. In June 2008, Pradip was physically abused and thrown out of a local government school by his class teacher for not completing his class assignments.

Wages at IT multinationals start melting down

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Banglore, February 27: Software multinationals in India have begun freezing wage increases, slashing salaries and postponing merit-based hikes, a study by Indian consulting firm Zinnov has found.

‘Though Bangalore stands highest in its average salary for multinational R and amp;D firms, followed by Pune and Chennai, the economic slump is causing undue pressure on them to retain compensation levels,’ Zinnov director for advisory services C.S. Chandramouli, told IANS after the survey was made public.

Sania jumps 12 places to 75 in tennis rankings

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New Delhi, February 24: Sania Mirza leafrogged 12 places to be at 75th position in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) charts while Somdev Devvarman climbed four rungs to be at 150th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings on Monday.

Sania has made a stupendous comeback after being sidelined by a wrist injury much of last year, first winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi and then reaching the Pattaya Open final.

Playing conditions hold the key: Dhoni

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Christchurch, February 25: “The Rockstars of Cricket are coming,” read the banner at the AMI Stadium — three shadowy figures, set against a backdrop of orange, purple, and blue, strumming bat-shaped guitars.

New Zealand Cricket, which will earn $25 million in television rights from India’s tour, certainly didn’t hold back in selling its affluent and popular visitors.

Kallis won’t be dropped, says Arthur

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Johannesburg, February 24: Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, has said Jacques Kallis isn’t in danger of being dropped for the first Test against Australia in Johannesburg to make way for Ashwell Prince.

Arthur said Kallis had performed well enough on the tour of Australia to retain his place despite a difficult period with the bat last year by his standards.

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Flintoff confident of IPL participation

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Barbados, February 24: Andrew Flintoff has said he has no plans to pull out of the Indian Premier League in April, despite England’s concerns over the hip injury that has already forced him to miss Thursday’s fourth Test against West Indies in Barbados.

Meet the man who said Jai Ho

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Mysore, February 24: Jai Ho, these two words are on everyone’s lips today. The man who said these words is Vijay Prakash from Mysore. “It is with the grace of Goddess Chamundeshwari that the song won an Oscar and I am proud to be a co-singer.

I am grateful to my father, mother and brother for their unstinted support,” an emotional Vijay Prakash told TOI after Jai Ho won the Oscar.

Fiza seeks Sonia’s intervention

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Chandigarh, February 25: A day after former Haryana deputy chief minister Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammed denied disowning her,

wife Fiza demanded on Tuesday that Congress president Sonia Gandhi take action against the Kalka Congress MLA “for running down the dignity of a woman”.

In a brief fax sent to Mohali Police from the UK on Monday, Chand, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, categorically denied changing his Islamic faith and abandoning Fiza.

Haryana hurry for auction bid to bypass new norms

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New Delhi, February 24: The Haryana government hurrying to auction off what it calls the”remaining stones” of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi may be a bid to bypass a new set of guidelines that Haryana officials agreed to during a meeting with the central empowered committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court.

These are now under consideration of SC and will probably be taken up

during the hearings in the matter between March 18-20.

The state government, at a meeting with the CEC and the Forest Survey of India on January 7,

Boards have nothing new to offer

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Ahmedabad, February 24: The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board declared its plan of action on Monday to curtail invigilators from any misconduct for the forthcoming class X and XII exams beginning from March 17.

Slumdog was unstoppable: Anil

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Mumbai, February 25:We are on top of the world! When we stood on the podium, having bagged the Best Motion Picture Award, no one in the audience seemed disappointed.

It was as if they all knew that Slumdog Millionaire would have a clean sweep at the Oscars, which, let me reassert, is the most unpredictable of all awards. From my side, I never had sleepless nights before the ceremony. I was rather composed. Irrfan, Dev, Freida and I told each other that we needed to enjoy every moment of it. The Oscars don’t happen to everyone everyday.

Weekly Box-Office Report: Delhi-6: above Drona below Dostana

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Mumbai, February 25: Delhi-6 was surprisingly a big disappointment from Rakeysh Mehra after the brilliant Rang De Basanti . Somehow Mehra’s handling of social issues through the monkey-man metaphor didn’t gel well with the audiences.

Moreover audiences were expecting the world from Mehra post RDB. Clearly they came out of the hall disappointed. No doubt, the director attempted something different but couldn’t connect with the audiences seamlessly.

Aamir wouldn’t have fitted my film: Sanjay Kapoor

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Mumbai, February 25: Actor-turned filmmaker Sanjay Kapoor, who is busy with his film “It’s My Life”,

says he roped in Hurman Baweja for the lead role instead of Aamir Khan because the senior actor would not have fitted the character of a young boy.

Shahid Kapur in demand

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Mumbai, February 25: Today is Shahid Kapur’s birthday.

He turns 28. Reportedly Shahid will be hosting a small party at his Yari Road apartment in Versova this evening with his close pals who are not from the film industry. There will be a platter of vegetarian Rajasthani and Punjabi khaana to greet his friends.

DNA

Obama wants to watch Slumdog Millionaire

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Washington, February 25: After receiving accolades worldwide and sweeping Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire, the feel good film about a Mumbai tea boy, has now caught the fancy of US president Barack Obama.

Barack ObamaObama wants to watch British Director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which is made with a modest budget of USD 13 million and has so far grossed around USD 100 million.

Won’t allow terrorists to attack from safe havens

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Washington, February 25: Sending a strong message to Pakistan and Afghanistan, President Barack Obama on Wednesday asserted that terrorists will not be allowed to plot against the US from safe havens “half a world away”.

He also promised to forge a new and comprehensive strategy with US’ allies to defeat Al-Qaeda and combat extremism.

“With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al-Qaeda and combat extremism,” Obama said in his maiden address to the joint session of the US Congress.

Mumbai attackers’ phones traced to Italy, US

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Rome, February 25: Militants behind last year’s attacks on Mumbai used cell phones that were activated in the United States and paid for with funds sent from Italy, an Italian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Corriere della Sera daily said India sent the intelligence information to Italy and other countries so anti-terrorism investigators could attempt to expose any ties to the network behind the November assault that killed at least 179 people.

Islamabad acknowledged for the first time this month that the November assault was launched from, and partly planned in, Pakistan.

Day of reckoning has arrived, Obama tells Americans

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Washington, February 25: President Barack Obama has asked Americans to ‘confront boldly the challenges we face’, saying the ‘day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here’.

‘Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity,’ he said in his first speech Tuesday to a joint session of Congress.