24.11.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
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Adnan Sami in hospital all of last week for stones in his gallbladder was startled when Shilpa Shetty stormed into his hospital room to invited him for her wedding reception.
”I don’t care how many stones you have inside you. Just make sure you’re there on Tuesday,” Shilpa said before Adnan could react to the beauty who had appeared in his pained condition.
Chuckles Adnan, ”I thought I was hallucinating in my drugged state. Why would the bewitching Shilpa suddenly show up in my room? Only later did I get to know her father was in the same hospital for suspected malaria. But it was very sweet of Shilpa to invite me.”
Now Adnan intends to drag himself to Shilpa’s wedding reception on Tuesday. ”I owe it to her, never mind the pain. I’ve gotten used to it.”
For Adnan besieged by domestic crises for the last one year beginning with marital problems and illnesses culminating in his father’s death, the gall-bladder surgery has been the last straw.
”It was red-hot deja vu. I was back at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital where I had spent so much of my time earlier this year nursing my father. It was eerie. But now I’m recovering well. My mom, brother and son are here to look after me.”
Adnan’s music recordings had to be cancelled last week. ”I had been ignoring the growing pain. I paid for it.”
24.11.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
A lot has been spoken and written about RACE 2. Now here’s the latest on the film. Abbas-Mustan have finalized the script of the film, which is currently being given finishing touches. As for the star cast, the sequel to the super-successful film will star Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor in principal roles. Akshaye Khanna may not feature in the film because he was shown dead in the first part.
Meanwhile, one more lead man – a top name – is expected to be signed shortly. Also, producer Ramesh Taurani is planning to sign three leading ladies, all known names, for this film.
RACE 2 is expected to roll in March/April next year. “We will start RACE 2 once Saif is through with AGENT VINOD,” producer Ramesh Taurani divulges.
24.11.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The forthcoming biggies will include the first look promos of keenly-anticipated movies. While the promos of RANN and CHANCE PE DANCE have already been unveiled, the first promo of Salman Khan’s epic story VEER will be included with the prints of DE DANA DAN. That’s not all, the first promo of Karan Johar’s much-in-news MY NAME IS KHAN will be unveiled with James Cameron’s AVATAR, which opens globally on December 18.
It must be noted that Fox Star Studios India will distribute MY NAME IS KHAN in India, while Fox Searchlight will distribute the SRK – Kajol starrer in the U.S. and 20th Century Fox will do so in the rest of the world. In fact, Karan was keen to show his close friends the first look of the film last Wednesday at Yash Raj, during an exclusive screening of KURBAAN, “but the promo wasn’t ready,” Karan remarked. The countdown has begun…
23.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The US will announce a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions before next month’s UN climate summit, according to a White House official.
The target is expected to be in line with figures contained in legislation before the Senate – a reduction of about 17-20% from 2005 levels by 2020.
The absence of a US target has widely been seen as the single biggest obstacle to agreement at the summit.
Mr Obama has not yet decided whether to attend the talks in Copenhagen.
At the weekend, the Danish hosts announced that more than 60 heads of state and government had pledged to take part in the two-week negotiating session.
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Hopefully, the negotiations will see everyone coming up with more ambitious targets – otherwise there’s no point in going to Copenhagen
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Mr Obama will join them if it appears that his presence would increase chances of the 192 parties reaching agreement, the official indicated.
The US position has been constrained by delays in putting legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions through Congress.
Although the House of Representatives passed a bill in June that would cap emissions and establish a national carbon trading scheme, progress of a similar bill through the Senate is not likely before March at the earliest.
Administration officials have indicated that the targets are being discussed with senior senators in an attempt to ensure that the Senate will back whatever target Mr Obama takes to Copenhagen.
It is not clear when the target will emerge, but there are now less than two weeks before the summit opens on 7 December.
Cutting edge
In the UN climate process, targets are conventionally given in comparison with 1990 levels of emissions.
On that basis, the likely US figure amounts to a cut of just a few percent, as emissions have risen by about 15% since 1990.
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COPENHAGEN SUMMIT
Planning to attend:
Leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Brazil
Yet to commit:
Leaders of the United States, China and India
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This is much less than the EU’s pledge of a 20% cut over the same period, or a 30% cut if there is a global deal; and much less than the 25-40% figure that developing countries are demanding.
But Saleemul Huq, a climate change specialist with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) who works closely with a number of developing country governments, suggested the target would be well received as a worthy first step.
“I think it’s an extremely good signal that the Obama administration is willing to put a target forward and not wait for Congress,” he told BBC News.
“The targets that everyone is taking to Copenhagen are the bases for negotiation; and hopefully, the negotiations will see everyone coming up with more ambitious targets – otherwise there’s no point in going to Copenhagen, we could leave it all up to the US Congress.
“The other important factor is whether President Obama is willing to go to the summit – if he does, that would be a very good sign.”
The list of confirmed attendees includes UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
But neither Mr Obama nor Chinese President Hu Jintao – leaders of the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters – are yet among them.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
23.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
A Belgian man who doctors thought was in a coma for 23 years was conscious all along, it has been revealed.
Medical staff believed Rom Houben had sunk irretrievably into a coma after he was injured in a car crash in 1983.
A doctor at Belgium’s University of Liege who discovered that Mr Houben had been misdiagnosed said his case was not an isolated one.
“I was shouting, but no-one could hear me,” Mr Houben, now 46, was quoted as saying by a German magazine.
According to Der Spiegel, Mr Houben, who can now communicate by using a special keyboard, has described how his body did not respond when he woke up after the accident.
Second birth
He has also said that he felt powerless as doctors and nurses tried to speak to him before giving up hope, and that he “dreamt the time away” as the years passed.
It was only in 2006 that a scan revealed that though Mr Houben was paralysed, his brain was in fact almost entirely functioning.
“I will never forget the day they discovered me,” Mr Houben was quoted as saying. “It was like a second birth.”
Mr Houben’s story was revealed in a paper written by Steven Laureys, a doctor at Liege University who wrote a recent paper that detailed the case.
In it, Mr Laureys said that in about 40% of cases in which people are classified as being in a vegetative state, closer inspection reveals signs of consciousness.
