The Akbar of bollywood Hrithik Roshan is again in the eye of the storm. The actors love making scene with his co-star Monikangana Dutta in the film Guzaarish is becoming another source of worry for Hrithik’s family. Sussanne Roshan is getting increasingly worried about Hrithik’s roving eye. After his link up with Barbara Mori, Sussanne is leaving no chance to protect Hrithik from his leading ladies.
Now, the love making scene in Guzaarish is her latest worry. Though, the director of the film, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, wanted Hrithik to spend some quality time with Monikangana Dutta in order to make the lovemaking scene an easy affair, but Sussanne is not ready to accept this idea.
With Hrithik’s personal life getting into his profession, the actor has a valid reason to be a worried man at the moment.
The sizzling beauty Deepika Padukone is on cloud nine these days. Last night, she was the privileged Bollywood personality to have dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and 20 cabinet ministers at the PM’s residence at 10 Janpath, in Delhi. The dinner was organised in honour of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his wife Miyuki Hatoyama, who are currently on a visit to India.
The Japanese PM and his wife are huge Bollywood fans and expressed their desire to meet Deepika. They loved her in her debut film, Om Shanti Om(2007).
When Deepika got a call from the PM’s office asking her if she would like to attend the dinner, she immediately agreed. Pleased as punch, she even took a day off from the shooting of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se in Goa to make it for the dinner. She wore a saree by Manish Malhotra for the occasion. We spoke to Deepika before the dinner. She said, “It is a privilege and honour for me to be invited for this dinner. I am excited and nervous at the same time.”
Aamir Khan made a hat-trick with his third Christmas release in a row3 Idiots after, Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Ghajini (2008) has brought huge cheer to the box office. Breaking his own film Ghajini’s record, 3 Idiots is fast racing to be amongst the biggest blockbusters of all times.
Trade sources state, “3 Idiots has set a new record for Paid preview shows by grossing Rs. 2.25 crore nett. The previous record holder Ghajini did a business of Rs. 1.75 crore net. The reports are very good and the film is a winner all the way and just remains to be seen if it can do blockbuster business. Three Idiots has hit the box office like a hurricane and has smashed many first day records at the box office
The first day business was an unimaginable Rs. 12.75 crore nett. The previous record for the first Friday was Rs. 9.25 crore nett recorded by Ghajini last December.” Another trade pundit however adds, “It must also be noted that the 3 Idiots first day was a Christmas Day holiday while Ghajini first Friday was a normal day but even accounting for that, it is still a phenomenal collection.
This takes the 3 Idiots total to 15.50 crore nett with paid previews (2.75 crore nett) and the weekend seems to be heading for 37-39 crore nett collections which is truly mind boggling.”
The Kapoor guy Ranbir Kapoor is being tipped by producers as being the hottest likely star for 2010. The likeable young man is said to have been offered a 50cr contract by UTV. “UTV is very happy with the way Ranbir’s Wake Up Sid fared at the box office,” said a source, “His forthcoming movie Rajneeti is also with UTV and the producers have taken a liking to this young actor whom they dub as the Next Big Thing in Bollywood. So they have offered him a three-film deal worth Rs50 crore which he has apparently signed.”
Ranbir is currently filming in the US with co-starPriyanka Chopra for Anjaana Anjaani, which seems destined to be another hit romantic comedy. There is quite a long filming schedule ahead for the stars in New York.
Now officially single, Ranbir had a strange experience recently when out dining with Imran Khan. At this point, he still hadn’t shaved off his Rocket Singh beard. A precocious young woman came into the restaurant and recognising Imran immediately rushed over to his table, demanding that Ranbir, whom she didn’t recognise, take photos of her with Imran. She then returned to her table, not giving a moment‘s thought to the bearded one she‘d left behind. When her friend pointed out that the bearded guy was in fact Ranbir Kapoor, she then rushed back to the table apologising profusely and then demanded that Imran take photos of her with Ranbir. The two stars said they laughed about it afterwards.
Here is the biggest news for all you Shahrukh Khan & Hrithik Roshan fans out there. The news which was going around as a rumour for quite some time now has been finalised. Yes, the biggest news on the block is that Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan are going to co-produce ‘Krrish 2′, and SRK will play the negative role. It will be a wonderful experience to witness the class & charisma of both the superstars after Karan Johar’s K3g.
AC Milan’s star striker Ronaldinho has been named World Player of the Decade by prestigious British magazine World Soccer, which recently picked Barcelona’s Lionel Messi as the Player of the Year.
The Brazilian forward, who was the member of the 2002 world cup winning team and 2006 Champions League with Barcelona, finished ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo in the voting determined by votes cast by the readers in the 10 annual votes between 2000 and 2009.
Barcelona, the European League champions won the team of the year and Pep Guardiola, who was just one season in charge of Barcelona won the manager of the year ahead of former Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath and Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson.
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Pop legend Michael Jackson’s famous moonwalking shoes and fedora hat will go under the hammer and the items are expected to fetch over $19,000 (12,000 Pounds).
The black Sebago shoes, each of which has the words “Rock My World Billie Jean” written on the sole, are to be sold at auction house Bonhams, London Wednesday, reported mirror.co.uk
They were worn by the late star for a New York show the day before the 9/11 attacks. The shoes will be auctioned along with a fedora hat that Jackson wore at the same gig and the items are expected to fetch over $19,000 (12,000 pounds), reported mirror.co.uk
Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra has revealed that much-awaited film “3 Idiots”, releasing Friday, will be the first Bollywood film viewers can download legally.
“This is the first film ever that you can actually download and watch on YouTube after 12 weeks from now,” said Chopra.
He said that he planned to release the film on YouTube for those who can’t afford multiplexes.
“I’m providing this facility for those who can’t see it on big screen and watch pirated movies. I just want them to discourage pirated prints. They just need to wait for 12 weeks and after that they can legally download the movie and watch it,” said Chopra.
“Tomorrow if there is a facility to watch movies on mobile phones, the film will be available there but in appropriate time. We can’t harm our theatrical business by releasing at DTH,” he added.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, the film stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan.
The FBI assisted local authorities in a futile attempt to get cooperation in a 2005 child molestation case against Michael Jackson from a boy who accused the pop star of molesting him in 1993, documents show.
The documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the Freedom of Information Act also reveal that Santa Barbara police had concerns about a possible terrorist attack related to the 2003 arrest of Jackson, which led to a request for FBI assistance. The FBI concluded there was no threat.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the 1993 case. Instead the then 12-year-old boy refused to cooperate with officials and accepted a multi-million dollar settlement from Jackson. Jackson was acquitted of all charges in the 2005 case, which went to trial.
The documents show that the FBI and Santa Barbara officials met in 2004 with Jackson’s 1993 accuser, but were unsuccessful in getting his cooperation.
The heavily redacted FBI documents do not reveal the name of the boy that officials met with. “Victim indicates that he has no interest in testifying against Jackson,” according to the documents, “and would legally fight any attempt to do so”.
Prior to the FBI’s interview with the accuser, the documents show that the FBI helped Santa Barbara prosecutors with “interview strategies for a victim who alleged that Michael Jackson had abused him in 1993″.
The documents also quote the boy as saying that he “believed that he had done his part”, presumably referring to his initial involvement with law enforcement before agreeing to a civil settlement with Jackson that is believed to be $20 million.
During the 2005 trial it was known that the FBI’s behavioural and forensics units had consulted on the case, but the file released Tuesday reveals that various arms of the FBI assisted the Santa Barbara district attorney’s office.
The FBI examined Jackson’s motor vehicle records to see if he “transported a minor across state lines for immoral purposes”. The agency went to London and Manila to investigate other accusations that Jackson had engaged in improper behaviour with boys.
The agency also investigated another allegation from a woman and her husband who worked in child services in Toronto, Canada.
The couple had taken the same train as Jackson from Chicago to the Grand Canyon and said Jackson had a minor boy with him whom he identified as a “cousin”. The couple reported that Jackson was possessive of the boy and that they heard questionable noises. The woman was concerned enough to notify a conductor.
Before the 2005 trial, the FBI and District Attorney also met to discuss “the collection of sexually explicit images in magazine and books” and a VHS videotape that the FBI analysed as part of a child pornography investigation.
Also within the documents is a lot of material pertaining to threats made by Frank Paul Jones, who was convicted in 1993 of stalking Janet Jackson and threatening to commit mass murder at a Michael Jackson concert.
Jones copied the FBI and the late mob boss John Gotti on the letter. He also threatened to kill President George H.W. Bush.
As many as 10 prescription drugs were found in late actress Brittany Murphy’s bedroom.
Thesun.co.uk reported that empty bottles of pills to treat depression and anxiety were found on her bedside table.
Murphy died Sunday of a heart attack in her Los Angeles. She was reportedly taking prescription drugs for “flu-like” symptoms.
A coroner’s office official revealed that pills in the stash were for pain relief, diabetes, anti-seizure, preventing heart attacks, and to treat bi-polar disorder.
Simon Monjack, who wed Brittany in 2007, said the star suffered from mitral valve prolapse, a heart murmur that can cause tiredness, dizziness and irregular heartbeats.
But he said that it was not life-threatening and did not need medication.
A post mortem was done by the LA County Coroner Monday, but toxicology reports will be revealed after six weeks.
After the sudden death of actress Brittany Murphy, forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht spoke to Maggie Rodriguez about the prescription drugs found in the actress’s home and the possible cause of death
Director Vikram Kumar of ‘Yavarum Nalam’ fame is going to start his next project with the chocolate boy Vikram for the film ‘24’.
The movie ‘24’ will also be again a thriller sort of kind produced by Mohan Natarajan. And the project will successfully go on floors from Dec 2. Ileana will also be back in Tamil films with this film.
Director said,” I was really puzzled reading the news that Ajith Kumar replacing Vikram for this film. For sure, I will work with Ajith Kumar in one of the projects after the completion of ‘24’…”
And according to the sources, ‘Subramaniapuram’ fame Swathi has been paid Rs.60 Lakhs as her remuneration for this film.
Bipasha is reportedly being paid Rs. 13 lakh/minute for a New Years performance . The offer was initially for Katrina but since she’s not well, Bipasha got the deal. Film or no film Bips has surely hit jackpot this year end.
December 21st 2012, the date which is going on our minds as it is reaching nearer and nearer. That we all know that something is going to be happening on December 21st 2012 which might be takes us to the end of the world. But, is it really going to be the end of the world? If it so, what might be happen on that day? All these questions might be going on in the minds of all at one time or the other.
Based on the ancient Mayan calendar which seems to be more accurate in terms of astrology it was said that in the year of 2012, the Earth will experience disasters ranging from massive earthquakes and tsunamis to nuclear reactor meltdowns. Even there were great mathematicians, who claimed that they were able to point out the exact day and time that the world will end in the future, and that is on August 13th 2012, the final day of the Mayan calendar.
The Mayan Calendar is above all a prophetic calendar that may help us understand the past and foresee the future. It is a calendar of the Ages that describes how the progression of Heavens and Underworlds condition the human consciousness and thus the frames for our thoughts and actions within a given Age.
What might be the real? Is it on December 21st 2012 or on August 13th 2012? Who ever knows but both the scientific as well as religious beliefs are prevailing in the minds of the people on this issue. The science, technology and the scientists behind this are saying that the Hyperspace that contain our Universe is also showing signs that something strange is happening in our universe. Even it was said that the global and solar polar reversal peaks are coming within three weeks of that day, December 21, 2012.But according to some scientists it is possible that another Universe is slowly starting to claim in our physical Universe. And according to religious beliefs they believe the earth will be destroyed or cleansed by the wrong-doers and those that believe in their God will be saved or brought to heaven.
The astronomer Philip Plait has stated very clearly that the Mayan calendar does not end in 2012 at all, that it is like the odometer on your car, as each section of the odometer reaches 9 and then clicks over to 0, the next number to it starts a new cycle, so that when all the numbers again reach 0 all the way across the odometer – the last number will change from 1 to 2 and the new cycle starts all over again.
University of Florida anthropologist Susan Gillespie says that the 2012 phenomenon comes “from media and from other people making use of the Maya past to fulfill agendas that are really their own.”
Psychedelic drug booster Daniel Pinchbeck, “My feeling of 2012 is that we don’t know what is going to be .So rather than looking at it as a Doomsday, we can see it as an opportunity to evolve and become more creative and more intelligent as a species on the planet and use the skills and technical capacities we have to engage in a very deep work transformation.
Evangely Phelps said that 2012, what is all the hype about? Why is 2012 dubbed as the year of when the world and everything on it will cease to exist? I am not sure why or how it started until now. According to the Mayan Calendar the world will come to an end and why would you say? I have done some investigating to hopefully prove the Mayans wrong. I have also discovered how some people of the American society are making this bigger than it really is. Personally, I don’t think anything is going to happen and life will go on but here is what I have found.
Doing some research, I have discovered that there were many different Mayan Calendars. Some were used for social, agricultural, commercial and administrative tasks but had a heavy religious element to them although our calendars today are only for social, agricultural and economic views – the religious part is not a priority in our calendar system. The Mayans then combined two calendars to make one, The Calendar Round. The Calendar Round was based on thirteen and twenty base units. The purpose of this calendar was to make it a long term calendar that had 365 days in one solar year and would last for only 5126 years. The reason why the Calendar Round is so significant in the year 2012 is because the 5126 years ends on the date of December 21, 2012. This is where all the hype of the world ending is coming from, this one date of the Mayan Calendar Round. Another phenomenon that is making society more conscious of the date December 21, 2012 is the movie 2012.
According to the Hyderabad Computer Model, Magnetic Pole reversal happens which is a process where the North Pole and South Pole reverse their positions. When this happens, at some point of time Earth’s magnetic field reaches zero where the Earth’s Magnetic power will be weaken and Cosmic Radiation from Sun will increase many folds making radiation hazards like cancer and so on unavoidable can cause the serious problems which include immune system of all the creatures on the earth might be going to weak; the earth’s crust will going to see the volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides. However, in a simple word it is said that by 2012 earth may not be suitable for human society to live. If this model is true, the only way for us to survive will be to take our civilization well below the Earth’s crust or move to another planet.
With the growth of conspiracy-theories, the level of suspicion and disbelief has grown too. But if there is a good probability that something could happen in your lifetime, there is nothing wrong in preparing for it. Any natural disorder can be faced with a sharp mind and able body, as long as you get the right information ahead of time. Even though many theories and interpretations said about what they find, the only thing that’s certain about the end of the world is that no one can know and are sure that what will happen in the coming future. It may come just like death which is uncertain and we don’t know the time of it. But people undoubtedly continue to think about when this world will comes to an end.
Mahesh Nair says his directorial debut “Accident On Hill Road” is not based on actor Salman Khan’s infamous hit-and-run but admits that the film refers to it.
“The story is not based on Salman Khan’s accident, but there is a reference to Salman Khan incident,” says Nair.
In September 2002, Bollywood actor Salman Khan drove his jeep over some people sleeping outside a bakery on Hill Road junction in Bandra here, killing one and causing serious injuries to three people.
“Salman Khan did one accident, but in India 250 accidents take place every hour. There are reports on it. This film is based on accident and every one of us have either met with one or has heard of it from friends,” he added.
Nair informs that it is based on a real incident that happened in the US.
“There was an incident similar to the plot of the film that happened in the US. The incident was that a woman hit a man then drove home and parked the car in the garage with the man wedged halfway through her windshield,” he said.
“There is already a film on this incident and we have adapted from it. We bought its rights,” he added.
Asked how is it different from the original film, he said: “It shows what a person originally does if he meets or sees an accident – either he calls police or just passes by as if nothing has happened or tries to help the victim. The film portrays realistic angles.”
Talking about Salman’s incident, he said: “From the Salman Khan incident I have taken that some people do severe accidents, but nothing happens to them and they resume a normal life.”
Celina Jaitley, Abhimanyu Singh and Farooq Shaikh play lead roles in the film. Made on a shoestring budget, the film will release Dec 31.
Yesteryears glamour girl Zeenat Aman can give the current lot of actresses a run for their money with her style and poise even at 58. She says she is looking forward to doing offbeat and “age appropriate” roles but is clear that she doesn’t want to play a “bechari maa” (helpless mother).
“I would like to work with any good filmmaker who offers me an age appropriate role. Like an older woman who has something to do in a movie except for the ‘woh bechari maa’. I think women have many more dimensions than just that,” says Zeenat.
The actress, who was in the capital to launch Kanchan Kapoor’s The W Factor Club – a women’s wine appreciation and celebration club – says even though she has been associated with glamour all through her life, she wants to do offbeat films now.
“Of course I want to do different roles. One always likes to do something different. Just because one is glamorous or looks glamorous doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t have brains or that one doesn’t know his or her craft,” she said.
Zeenat, who was last seen in “Ugly Aur Pagli”, says she stayed away from the arc lights for years as she was busy raising her two children – Azaan, 23 and Zahaan, 20.
“My family, my work, my life has kept me busy all this while. I have been primarily busy with my family. My boys lost their father around 11 years ago. They were very little, so my first priority was my family and my children. I had to be both mom and dad to them. Everything else became secondary in my life. But now they are grown up,” she said.
Asked if her children are considering a career in films, she said: “Never say never. I don’t know. They might just get into movies. The older one has actually just finished his bachelors in film direction.”
So does he plan to direct his mother soon?
“They direct me enough at home – mumma this, mumma that,” she laughed. Though she added on a more serious note: “He will be directing films some time though.”
Zeenat says she is now working on a few films, including Sanjay Sharma’s “Dunno Y…Jaane Kyun”, but didn’t want to divulge any details about the movie.
“I’m working on a few films, but when they are absolutely ready, that would be the right time to talk about it,” she said.
Zeenat, who walked the ramp for the first time in the capital, says she gets occasional calls to participate in fashion shows and she chooses them according to her convenience.
“If I have time and I feel like it, I go for fashion weeks. I have walked the ramp in Kolkata and Mumbai. I was invited to Chennai but couldn’t go. This is the first time I have walked the ramp in Delhi,” said Zeenat, who was looking elegant in a black-red kaftan by her favourite designer Sapna Chopra.
A former Miss India, Zeenat didn’t look a wee bit uncomfortable walking the runway.
“It was an interesting experience. When you have done something, it’s not difficult to go back to it. Did I look uncomfortable? I wasn’t at all,” she said.
Yash Raj Films (YRF) have released their 11 films on Blue-ray disc to give consumers an experience of high definition viewing through the cutting edge technology format.
The studio has released “New York”, “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”, “Dostana”, “Bachna Ae Haseeno”, “Chak De! India”, “Dhoom: 2″, “Fanaa”, “Veer-Zaara”, “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, “Silsila” and “Kabhie Kabhie” on the Blue-ray disc.
YRF had also collaborated with Philips and the Blu-ray Disc of “New York” was available exclusively with Philips Blu-ray Players in India for the first three months. But now it is available everywhere.
The 11 films on Blue-ray disc are available in Music World, Planet M, Rhythm House (Mumbai), Landmark, and Crossword in India. These have also been released in the US, Britain, UAE and other countries.
Tata Steel will cut down its carbon dioxide emissions from the current level of two tonnes to 1.8 tonnes for every tonne of steel produced by 2012, a senior company official said Monday.
“Our carbon dioxide emissions are already below the global industry average of 2.2 tonnes per tonne of steel. But now we have set a target to reduce it to 1.8 tonnes by 2012. The next target is to bring it further down to 1.5 tonnes by 2020,” Tata Steel Managing Director H.M. Nerurkar said at a function here.
However, bringing it down up to 1.7 tonnes per tonne of steel would not be much of a problem, it could be difficult to go below that, Nerurkar said. He was speaking on The Steel Sector: Initiatives for Global Leadership at the CII-organised National Conference of Leadership.
“There is no clear assurance that we can reach 1.5 (tonnes),” he said.
Nerurkar also hinted at a possible upward revision of steel prices.
“What goes down has to go up,” he said when asked to comment on a Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) top official’s reported assertion of a price increase from January.
But Nerurkar refused to speak any further on the matter.
After seeing a price fall by about $100-150 a tonne to $400 a tonne, global steel prices have increased by about $50 a tonne in past two months due to rise in demand.
Turning to Tata Steel’s European acquisition Corus, he said it was expecting more orders for infrastructure projects after bagging railway orders in France and Germany.
He said steel demand was going down in Europe as the manufacturing industry was neglected in most of the countries of the continent.
Coming out of the downturn, the Information Technology (IT) industry is slowly getting back into the growth path and could post double-digit growth next fiscal, a leading industry official said here Monday.
“The deals in the pipeline are very good. There are opportunities both in the domestic market as also in the international scenario, including that in the US,” Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) vice-chairman S. Ramadorai said at a press meet on the sidelines of a CII-organised programme here.
“Opportunities are there, but the growth is slow this financial year,” he said.
He said recruitments had started, with various companies even going to the campuses. “Overall, we see a positive momentum in the IT industry. It’s the same in the TCS”.
Ramadorai said the pressing issue now was how to ensure sales, convert the deals in the pipeline into orders and ensure productivity of the workforce.
“If the country’s economy is to grow by 7.75 percent, the IT industry can expect double-digit growth”.
Ramadorai said pilot runs for the company’s project mKrishi, a crop advisory service to rural farmers on the mobile telephony platform, were on in three districts of Maharashtra.
“If the projects are successful, we will role it out nationally,” he said. The application provides personalised information and expert advice to farmers, who can send queries to agricultural experts in their local languages through a mobile and receive personalized advice or relevant information in the same language.
Pepsico chief executive Indira Nooyi inevitably tops the list of what Forbes calls “Eight Indian-Flavoured CEOs” who lead US corporations with revenues of at least $2 billion as the premier business magazine chronicles the rise of Indians in corporate ranks in America.
“The chief executive of PepsiCo would be prominent no matter what. The fact that the current one – Indira Nooyi – is an Indian immigrant (and female, in case you’ve been living under a rock) makes her all the more noteworthy,” it says.
“It’s not a not a surprise that we’re seeing Indians rise in corporate ranks,” Forbes quotes Richard Herman, co-author of a book on migrants to the US, Immigrant, Inc, as saying in an article published Monday.
“Of all the immigrant groups coming in today, Indians are head-and-shoulders above others, and this is partly because of their English language skills and also the advanced education that many of them are bringing to the US.”
“Despite these personal success stories the number of immigrants who are leading corporate America, Indian or otherwise, is still a tiny fraction,” according to Forbes. But, says Herman, “look at where the data was ten years ago and maybe it was zero or one [Indian then].”
Future CEO candidates might want to look for a tough assignment in order to break through, he says. “Americans are having a tough time dealing with global diversity, Herman adds, ” but just look at who was running the Tarp financial-rescue fund – Neel Kashkari”- an Indian-American who is now joining bond giant Pimco as a managing director.”
Of the featured eight, Nooyi, 53, says Herman, is part of a growing trend where US companies are being created, or led, by foreign-born individuals who bring in something special.
Vikram Pandit, the embattled CEO of Citigroup, is the other prominent native Indian in the corner office.
“Prior to joining the ailing bank he was president of Morgan Stanley’s investment banking, fixed income and capital markets businesses and cofounded and was the chairman of a hedge fund, Old Lane Partners,” Forbes notes.
Third on the list is Kenya-born Francisco D’Souza heads Cognizant Technology Solutions, which outsources IT services for its Western world clients.
D’Souza, 40, whose grandparents hailed from Goa in India, joined the company in 1994 when it was founded and within three years had gone up the ranks to become director of North American operations.
Next comes Shantanu Narayen, 46, at the helm at Adobe Systems. The diversified software company’s flagship Internet video tool is Flash.
“At least one top boss of Indian descent is plotting a growth strategy,” says Forbes of Quest Diagnostics’ head Surya Mohapatra, fifth on the list. Mohapatra has raised $750 million from the capital markets for acquisitions.
Also featured are Dinesh Paliwal of Harman International, Jai P. Nagarkatti of Sigma-Aldrich and Abhijit Talwalkar of LSI.
Paliwal, a native of the city of the Taj Mahal, joined Harman, a sound-systems company in Stamford, Connecticut, as chief executive in 2007. Prior to that he spent 22 years at ABB Group and set up its operations in China and north Asia.
Nagarkatti joined Sigma-Aldrich in 1976 as a development chemist, and after heading the company’s scientific research business was appointed COO, in August 2004.
Talwalkar was appointed chief executive of LSI of Milpitas, California, in May 2005. Earlier, he was at Intel’s digital enterprise group. He joined Intel in 1993 after stints at Sequent Computer Systems (now part of IBM), Bipolar Integrated Technology Inc. and Lattice Semiconductor Inc.
Reliance Industries has struck gas for the third successive time at its exploration block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, the company said Tuesday.
RIL holds a 90 percent stake in the block, while the remaining 10 percent is with Britain-based Hardy Oil and Gas.
“The deep water block KG-DWN-2003/1 is located in the Krishna basin, about 45 km off the coast in the Bay of Bengal,” said RIL in a statement.
The two companies had made two discoveries in May, a 9.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in the D-3 block of the KG basin and another 10.8 trillion cubic feet in the D-9 block of the KG basin.
The potential of the new discovery named “Dhirubhai 44″ is still being ascertained, the statement added.
A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets ended 91 points up Tuesday bringing an end to a rather dull day of trading.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) — which opened at 16,633.81 points — shut shop at 16,692.77 points (provisional), up 91.57 points or 0.55 percent from its previous close at 16,601.2 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-stock S&P CNX Nifty, too, closed in the green at 4,990.9 points, against the previous close at 4,952.6 points, a gain of 0.77 percent.
Broader market indices also moved up with the BSE midcap index up 0.87 percent and the BSE small cap index ending 1.06 percent higher.
The market breadth was tilted towards the positive, with 1,691 stocks advancing, 1,116 scrips declining and 78 remaining unchanged
Natural gas will be available to the common man in two years across the country, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) chairman L. Mansingh said here Tuesday.
“Within two to two-and-half years, we want to complete the rollout of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network across the country,” Mansingh told a conference on natural gas organised by apex industy body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The board has identified 330 geographical areas (GAs) or cities with surrounding industries for gas distribution networks on the basis of the existing, under implementation and approved gas pipelines.
The PNGRB has already completed two rounds of bidding for these networks, and has received Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for five. It plans to complete the bidding process for seven to 10 such networks every month.
The networks are expected to supply gas to industry, compressed natural gas (CNG) to vehicles and cooking gas to every household.
Ruling out any role for the board in fixing the gas price, Mansingh said the board wants local entrepreneurs to jump in CGD networks as more competition would bring down the price.
“Natural gas will substitute the fuel which is costing more. Internationally, where no government is capable of controlling the prices, gas is 20 percent cheaper than crude,” he said.
Mansingh, who also reviewed the progress of CGD networks in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Kakinada cities of Andhra Pradesh, said the gas would start flowing into these cities in three to six months.
Referring to huge discoveries of natural gas in Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin of Andhra Pradesh, Mansingh said the state was uniquely positioned to take advantage of the gas availability and become the eastern gas hub of India.
Stating that the gas would go where demand and infrastructure are, he remarked, “The natural gas sector is going to be bigger than the expansion in telecom sector in the last part of the previous century. If you miss the opportunity, you are going to miss the bus.”
A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a $290-million judgement against Microsoft for infringing on a patent in its flagship product Word relating to the use of XML or extensible markup language.
The US court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word programmes containing the infringing code from Jan 11, 2010.
The ruling came in an appeal by Microsoft against a Texas jury verdict last August which found that Microsoft had violated patents owned by Canadian software company i4i Inc.
“A small company was practicing its patent, only to suffer a loss of market share, brand recognition, and customer goodwill as the result of the defendant’s infringing acts,” the three-judge panel said in court documents.
“The district court found that Microsoft captured 80 percent of the custom XML market with its infringing Word products, forcing i4i to change its business strategy.”
Microsoft did not issue a reaction to Tuesday’s ruling, but experts said the company is likely to try to reach a settlement with i4i which would see it pay an ongoing licensing fee to i4i.
Upholding patent-infringement charges by a small Toronto firm agaist Microsoft Tuesday, a US appeals court ordered the software giant to stop selling Word by Jan 11 and pay $290 million in damages.
Microsoft said it will introduce the copies of Word 2007 and Office 2007 without the offending technology by the court-ordered deadline. Tuesday’s ruling upholds an earlier injunction against Microsoft that banned the technology giant from selling Word.
The ban was imposed by a Texas court in August after Toronto software firm i4i took Microsoft to court for stealing its patented technology for use in the software. The court had also granted $290 million in damages to the Toronto firm.
Microsoft challenged the ruling in the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge bench comes into effect from January 11 next year, banning sale of a number of versions of Microsoft’s word-processing software.
In its ruling, the appeals court in Washington said, “In this case, a small company was practicing its patent, only to suffer a loss of market share, brand recognition, and customer goodwill as the result of the defendant’s infringing acts.
“The district court (which imposed the ban in August) found that Microsoft captured 80 percent of the custom XML market with its infringing Word products, forcing i4i to change its business strategy.”
The patent stolen by Microsoft was filed by i4i filed in 1998. It pertains to the use of technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language. The Toronto company said Microsoft stole this technology when it created Word 2003 and Word 2007 software.
Word is the mainstay of Microsoft’s business. Its sales accounted for 90 percent of the $18.9-billion earned by the software giant’s Microsoft Business division in 2008. Microsoft said it will have new versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 without the technology patented by the Canadian firm.
In a statement, Microsoft public affairs director Kevin Kutz said his company has “put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products.”
He expected that the copies Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007 without the offending technology will be available by January 11.
“In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction,” he said.
Lauding the court verdict, i4i chairman Loudon Owen said in Toronto that he was “pleased with the ruling from the appeals court which upheld the lower court’s decision in its entirety. This is both a vindication for i4i and a war cry for talented inventors whose patents are infringed.”
The Canadian said, “The same guts and integrity that are needed to invent and go against the herd, are at the heart of success in patent litigation against a behemoth like Microsoft.”
Back in mollywood ,there are just a few popular heroines ,frankly no one ever really match and cop with the heat generated by kollywood or tollywood actress.But Impressive mamta has a word of her own.Both tollywood and kollywood badly wants her .She not only has a pretty face but she has an impressive record in singing too. Mamta Mohandas debuted in a Malayalam film Mayookham in 2005.Even though this Hariharan film didn’t attract many, everybody was watching the sensitive portrayal of Mamta. Her next film was with Mammooty’s Bus conductor in 2005.She crated some sort of controversy after the movie Lanka .Her Tamil debut film was Karu pazhaniappan directed film ,Sivappathigaram with Vishal Krishna.Then her stepped in Telgu industry through the film Yamadaonga in 2007 which was directed by SS Rajamouli. In the year 2009, she made a real comeback to Malayalam through a suspense thriller Passenger opposite to Dileep.And in Tamil through Guru En Aalu opposite to madhavan. bad news for malayalis ,mamta has established herself in Tollywood.Mamtha Mohandas cute photos.....12 More images after a break.......
The greatest legend of all times Shammi Kapoor has been admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital with a chest infection — and one of the many fans visiting him was old friend Amitabh Bachchan. Amitabh made it a point to visit Kapoor, 78, Sunday itself, a day after he had been hospitalised.
“The evening started with a visit to Breach Candy Hospital where the great Shammi Kapoor has been admitted with a chest infection,” Amitabh wrote on his blog bigb.bigadda.com
“Seeing him confined to a bed has been disturbing, but his spirit and his will has been one that requires no words to express his nonchalant reserved demeanour. Shammi Kapoor, who sang and danced his way into our hearts from the snows of Kashmir to the endless soirees he held at his apartment in town. Sad to see him like this, but how wonderful to find his spirits alive and his humour intact,” he added.
Amitabh said he was nostalgic during the visit and recalled the times when he had to spend time in the same hospital. “Entering Breach Candy is always full of the (memories of) many difficult episodes we as a family went through. My illness in 1982 and 1983 and 1984 and the many visits of my father and my mother and the very special manner in which they took care of all of us,” he wrote.
Recently the Khiladi madam Twinkle Khanna accompanied her husband for a couple of high profile events. “And I thought I had walked into the events alone because every time I turned and looked my husband was in front of a television crew giving interviews.
I had to finally request his bodyguards to drag him away,” she jokes. “When it comes to choosing between the media and me, my husband may just choose them,” she laughs. Akshay admits that at most times he follows Twinkle around like a little lamb, only once in a way he gets a chance to actually stray, in the direction of a mike.
Salman Khan suits the title of Veer perfectly as the star performed a life threatening scene not once, but twice, all for the sake of his upcoming film.
Reveals a production source, “A robbery scene required Salman to run on the top of a moving train. He did not use a stunt double, nor was he afraid. This stunt was a dangerous one, as one slip and he would have hit the ground and could have been pulled under the train with the speed it was moving in!”
“Salman Khan wanted another retake as he felt he could do it better,” confirms the source.
And in all this intensity Salman managed to keep spot on to his humor and in true Salman Khan style while the train would pull in reverse without a care in the world, Salman, we hear would lie down on the train until it was time for another take. Salman Khan surely is the real life Veer!
Now don’t get us wrong, it’s not like the actor’s seeing two women at the same time. Rather, Vivek Oberoi is practicing to write with both his hands!
Why’s that you ask? Well, that’s because the actor plays an ambidextrous man in his next film Prince — It’s Showtime, and wanted to perfect the way it looks on screen.
“I had white boards in my home and two markers. I would wake up in the mornings and would start writing simultaneously on it, so it looks great when you’re shooting these sequences,” says Vivek.
Its quite shocking but a lawsuit has been filed in a court charging Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan with violating the disabilities act through his latest film “Paa” in which he plays a 13-year-old boy suffering from progeria, which accelerates the ageing process. Big B has been accused of poking fun at people with disabilities. The case has been filed by Patna High Court lawyer Shruti Singh in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate under The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. It has also been filed against “Paa” director R. Balkrishna.
“I filed a case in the court demanding a probe into whether ‘Paa’ violated the act or not,” Singh said.
“My stand is simple: If it violated the disability act, the authorities should act against the producer and actors of the film for making a joke of disabled people,” she added. She said the court will hear the case next week. According to Singh, the act is guided by the philosophy of empowering people with disabilities and their associates. The act endeavors to introduce an instrument for promoting equality and participation of people with disabilities on the one hand, and eliminating discrimination of all kinds on the other.
The Akbar of bollywood Hrithik Roshan is again in the eye of the storm. The actors love making scene with his co-star Monikangana Dutta in the film Guzaarish is becoming another source of worry for Hrithik’s family. Sussanne Roshan is getting increasingly worried about Hrithik’s roving eye. After his link up with Barbara Mori, Sussanne is leaving no chance to protect Hrithik from his leading ladies.
