Washington, March 31: Harold “Terry” McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies, has been elected as the chairman of the US India Business Council (USIBC).
McGraw would replace PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi during whose tenure USIBC, the largest among American corporate sector doing business in India, played a key role in strengthening of the relationship between the two countries.
Mumbai, March 31: Hrithik Roshan has finally admitted that he has indeed tried to improve his singing skills when it comes to his humming of.
A song for the much-awaited movie Kites. “It was time to face the music, literally!” the actor says. “I have tried to sing for Kites.
And the idea was to be honest to the grammar and hence there is no lip-syncing involved here. I was very embarrassed and nervous.
I am hoping that I am not judged by the telecast sound quality,” he adds. Guess, on this one, it will not be his father.
Beijing, March 31: Workers recovered the bodies of 21 babies, some with hospital identification tags attached, from a river in eastern China’s Shandong province, state media said on Tuesday.
The workers found the babies dumped inside plastic bags, at least one of which was marked “hospital waste,” in a suburb of Jining city, Shandong province, the Beijing News and other media reported.
Islamabad, March 31: – Five soldiers and 20 Islamist insurgents were killed Wednesday in clashes in Pakistan’s tribal region near the Afghan border, a security official said.
The fighting started in the Bara area of the Khyber tribal district when a group of militants attacked a base of the paramilitary Frontier Corps with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.
“The clashes continued for around six hours, and our five men were martyred while around 30 were injured,” a senior corps official said.
Mumbai, March 31: The South film industries beautifull actress Trisha says “It was my dream to act with Kamal Haasan right from the day I entered film industry. I was on cloud nine when I was roped in for ‘Marmayogi’ (Tamil film). But the joy didn’t last long as the film was stopped due to unavoidable reasons.”
She further says “I am on cloud nine again because I am there in Kamal sir’s next film in Tamil. I signed the film simply after hearing the story over the phone. How could I reject an offer to work with such a genius?”
Mumbai, March 31: Bipasha Basu’s tantrums are growing quite frequent. Most recently, she stomped out of.
A dealers’ convention (organised by a brand she endorses) in Ahmedabad on Sunday night, after committing to it.
Reveals a source present at the event, “Bipasha was to make an appearance and the organisers were to pay her attendance fees immediately after.
She would be expected to attend, sit in for an hour, meet contest winners, give out prizes on stage, do some photo-ops and leave.
The actress came in more than an hour late. Nobody knows why.” Quick exit That wasn’t all.
Mumbai, March 31: Like a typical daddy’s girl, Sonam Kapoor was all blushes when her father Anil Kapoor showed up on the sets while she was shooting a romantic scene for the film I Hate Luv Storys.
Kapoor senior dropped by to see his daughter at work at the suburban sea-facing lounge where Sonam and co-star Sammir Dattani were ready to shoot a candlelight dinner scene, involving a proposal and a break-up.
New York, March 31: Barack Obama expressed the hope last night that a new regime of sanctions against Iran would be ready for passage at the United Nations “within weeks” while, standing at his side, the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, reaffirmed that Tehran must end its “mad race” towards acquiring nuclear weapons.
Washington, March 31: India has suggested close partnership with the US in cyber security, particularly against cyber terrorism, as the two countries take their economic and technological collaboration to the next level.
Indian Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot made the suggestion in talks with senior officials at the White House and in the US Department of Commerce during a week long visit, Indian officials said Tuesday.
New Delhi, March 31: Arshad Warsi, who has juggled roles as choreographer, actor and producer in over a decade in Bollywood, wants to do more dark roles. He also plans to direct a “quirky, action comedy”, something like British filmmaker Guy Ritchie’s movies.
“My next step will be direction. I am working on a script,” Arshad told IANS in an interview. “The film will be a quirky, action comedy. It will be a Guy Ritchie kind of film with effective one-liners and stuff.”
But before venturing into direction he wants to wrap up all his commitments.
Washington, March 31: US President Barack Obama has said he wants the ew set of sanctions against Iran to be placed within weeks and not in months.
“My hope is that we are going to get this (sanctions against Iran) done this spring. So I am not interested in waiting months for a sanctions regime to be in place. I’m interested in seeing that regime in place in weeks,” Obama said in response to a question at a joint White House press conference with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Mumbai, March 31: Tiger Woods might consider himself unlucky to be caught but no sportsmen around the globe is an absolute saint. Cricket that is considered to a gentlemen sport too isn’t as holy as one assumes it to be.
History boasts of names like Shane Warne, Ian Botham, Imran Khan who scored many brownie points for their deeds on as well off the field. Indians generally have enjoyed the reputation of being obedient sons or committed husbands. However, the ongoing Indian premier League might break that myth.
Mumbai, March 31: When the buzz was that Minissha Lamba was very unwell, one just presumed it was exhaustion after all the promotion work that she did for her new film.
But it was worse. The petite actress was down with a violent bout of food poisoning.
Sounding pale and out of sorts but jubilant about the fabulous reviews she got Minissha said, “On Friday Boman Irani and I were in Ahmedabad. I had this chaat. It tasted a little funny. But I didn’t want to look fussy. So I ate the whole thing. The next thing I knew I was throwing up repeatedly.”
Mumbai, March 31: It’s confirmed. Asin it is, as Salman Khan’s leading lady in Anees Bazmi’s remake of the Telugu hit Ready.
And it was never Deepika Padukone, as reported in a section of the press. “Asin plays the lead. I wonder where Deepika’s name came from!” says director Bazmi currently preparing for a month-long shooting of his new film Thank You in Canada.
Anees also denies that Salman ever asked him to sign Asin. “The role requires a chulbuli vivacious talkative and agile girl. Asin was the natural choice.”
Mumbai, March 31: Priyanka Chopra would be shooting in Brazil for Fear Factor. She has never visited that part of the world.And she’s all set to leave in July.
Says Priyanka excitedly, “I’m looking forward to shooting the show there. I haven’t seen Brazil. So July onwards I’m going to be basking in Brazilian territory.”
Says Priyanka, “I was getting a lot of television offers for the last couple of years. But the amount of time that those shows required didn’t suit me. Besides nothing excited me.
Mumbai, March 31: Justice J H Bhatia of the Bombay High Court has said that besides providing suitable work environment, the employers must give the workers more than the mimimum wages by adopting the principle of “equal pay for equal work”.
“Industry, which runs on capital, expects more returns whereas labour wants survival and satisfaction…unless the workers are paid well they cannot be satisfied and expected to perform. Hence employers must go beyond minimum wages and pay more,” the judge told a seminar here.
Mumbai, March 31: Over the last few weeks, there have been number horror/thriller flicks that have hit the screens.
After movies like ‘Click’, ‘Rokkk’, ‘Hide & Seek’ and ‘Shaapit’, one wonders whether ‘Hum Tum Aur Ghost’ may also be yet another horror flick, especially with the word ‘Ghost’ in the title. Isn’t that a worrying factor for the leading lady Dia Mirza?
“Not at all”, promptly says Dia, “See, it’s the first visual of the film that tells you everything. Forget the promo, I am just talking about a simple still or a standee here.
Mumbai, March 31: Katrina Kaif is undergoing a transformation for her role as an item girl in Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan. She is slowly turning aggressive and loud.
She has made sure her manner turns loud even when it’s 5am in the morning. She is also making an effort to look strikingly different in each of the item songs, which Farah and her assistant, Gita, have choreographed.
Karachi, March 31: Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik today said the exact date and place of his marriage with Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza have not been decided yet.
“It is (marriage) happening next month somewhere and I think parents will decide the dates. It’s entirely upto our parents wherever they will decide,” Shoaib said.
Shoaib said both the families were happy with the development, as was Sania.
“Well Inshallah, we are getting married soon and our families are very happy. We both are also happy,” he told ARY TV channel.
Karachi, March 31: Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf, who announced his retirement from international cricket on Monday, has kept the doors open for a comeback, saying he is only ‘retiring for the time being.’
“I’m retired for the time being,” Yousuf said while reading a written statement at a packed Karachi Press Club, but he refused to speak about the reasons behind his decision.
Despite a volley of questions from the media gathered at the press club, Yousuf chose to keep mum and repeated the written statement.
New Delhi, March 31: DMRC’s Inderlok-Mundka line, the country’s first standard gauge corridor, is likely to be inaugurated this weekend with the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety on Tuesday concluding his two-day inspection of the route.
Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety RK Kardam inspected the 15.1 km corridor that would benefit lakhs of people in the national capital’s west and northwest areas.
Washington, March 31: US President Barack Obama is spending considerable time on America’s relationship with India, Afghanistan and Pakistan to strengthen security in the “important region”, the White House said Wednesday.
“The President has spent considerable time on our relationships with India, Afghanistan and Pakistan to see security strengthened and our mutual goals worked on in an important region in the world,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at his daily news conference.
New Delhi, March 31: Lt Gen V K Singh, the seniour most infantry officer with vast experience in counter-insurgency operations and the present GOC-in-C of Eastern Command, will take over as the next Army Chief Thursday.
59-year-old Singh will take over from Gen Deepak Kapoor, who retired from service Wednesday.
He will be the 26th chief and will stay at the helm of the 1.13 million personnel-strong Army for over two years.
Mumbai, March 31: At least three guards posted at the Nashik Jail barracks housing Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur, accused of involvement in the 2008 Malegaon blast, have sought new postings, saying they are scared she will act on her alleged threat of using “black magic skills” to cast a spell on them.
Fed up of her frequent tantrums, jail authorities said they planned to move her to Yerawada Jail in Pune.
New Delhi, March 31: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked elite Special Protection Group (SPG) to ensure least inconvenience to the general public and to be unobtrusive without compromising security of those protected.
Complimenting the SPG on its 22nd Raising Day, the Prime Minister also released a commemorative postage stamp on the occasion.
The function, to which the media was not allowed, was also attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, an SPG protectee, Union Ministers AK Antony, P Chidambaram and A Raja.