Nominations for Senate polls unveiled

TrendPK.com

ISLAMABAD: Nominations of the hopefuls for around the corner Senate elections were surfaced on Sunday whereby PML-N shortlisted seven candidates, four contenders from PPP while PML-F nominated Syed Muzaffar Hussain from Sindh, reports TrendPK.

The nomination papers will start to be submitted from Monday.

According to the announcement issued from PML-N, M. Hamza, Zulfiqar Khosa, Rafique Rajwana and Zafarullah Dhandlah were nominated on general seats from Punjab. Ishaq Dar will be hopeful for Technocrat slot and Kamran Michael will be contesting for minority seat. Nuzhat Aamir Siddiqui has been named to contest on women seats from N-League.

On the other side, PPP has announced four candidates to run for Senate polls from Punjab including Babar Awan, Aitzaz Ahsan, Aslam Gill and Khalid Qureshi.

Babar Awan and Aitzaz Ahsan form legal team of the government while Aslam Gill is the former president Lahore of PPP and Khalida Qureshi belongs to Muzaffargarh. TrendPK

Two-day gas supply for Punjab’s industries announced

TrendPK.com

ISLAMABAD: The government has resumed the supply of gas to Punjab’s industries for two days a week.

The Sui Northern Gas Company (SNGC) has issued a notification in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention here that Petroleum Minister Dr. Asim had announced that Punjab’s industrial units would get 3-day gas supply in a week.

Despite his announcement at a press conference this week, the SNGC has resumed the supply for two days only.

According to the announcement, Punjab’s industries have been divided into four zones. On first two days of the week, Lahore and Sahiwal zones will get gas supply. Faisalabad and Sargodha regions will be supplied gas for the next two days. Industries of Sheikhupara and other areas will get gas supply during the next days.

Finally, Islamabad, Bahawal and Multan regions will get the gas.   

Industrialists have expressed their dismay at the plan.

Sanjay Gupta hasn’t forgotten Khote Sikkey, will make it after SOAW

Even though Khote Sikkey promises to be an on-screen action thriller, seems like there is quite some drama taking place off screen at the least. The multi-starrer which has been in the news for over a year has still not gone on floors and though there have been murmurs around the film changing hands between Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt, it seems like former may just about manage to sneak ahead.

“Though there was no official announcement made per se, Sanjay Gupta had declared his intentions to make Khote Sikkey as his comeback affair last year”, says a close associate, “Five years after Zinda, this was one subject that interested him most and he was even said to have approached a bunch of actors to feature in the multi-starrer.”

However, it was around the same time when a bombshell was dropped on him once declaration came in that his ‘once partner and friend’, Sanjay Dutt, had decided to hand over the reins of Khote Sikkey to his current favourite Soham Shah.

“Khote Sikkey was conceptualised when both Sanjays were thick buddies and jointly owned a production house. Post the fallout, Sanjay Dutt is said to have taken Khote Sikkey along with him as well and edged out Sanjay Gupta in favour of Soham Shah”, says an industry source.

Though there was no subsequent word from any parties and half the industry seemed to be in contention to do the film due to its requirement of over half a dozen key protagonists, it seemed like Khote Sikkey had firmly gone on a back-foot. While Sanjay Dutt got busy with his other production Rascals, Sanjay Gupta started finalising affairs on Shootout At Wadala. However, looks like this isn’t the last that one is hearing about Khote Sikkey since the film is all set to resume around middle of next year.

“Yes, Gups is eventually going to make Khote Sikkey. It is a subject really close to his heart and he won’t let it go”, says a friend, “In fact everything right from the cast as well as music has been locked. He is just waiting to make a formal announcement.”

When contacted, Sanjay Gupta wasn’t willing to go into much detail. All he commented was, “Yes, Khote Sikkey is on hold but it would go on floors immediately after Shootout At Wadala. In terms of scale, Khote Sikkey is a much bigger film than what I have done till date. It is going to be ultra modern and high tech.”

Rana amused with rumours of film with Kangna

Kangna Ranaut will have to wait for the Hyderabadi hunk Rana Daggubati to be paired opposite her. Contrary to recent rumour around the two being signed opposite each other in a rom-com titled Kris And Suri, the fact is that none of this is true. This means that after a missed opportunity of being seen together in Dum Maro Dum and in-progress Department, Kangna and Rana would have to wait for another day before something really substantial indeed comes their way.

Says a source, “Rana has been totally taken aback with this announcement. He was not even in loop when the news break happened around this new movie. Being new to the Bollywood business, he has no clue how such rumours originate. He certainly wants to work in more Hindi films and also break the jinx of lost pairing with Kangna. However, Kris And Suri doesn’t feature in his current plans.”

One wonders how director Rajshree Ojha (who made her debut last year with Sonam Kapoor’s Ayesha) and producer Pritish Nandy would be reacting now, considering the fact that they had elaborate plans around the making of Kris And Suri.

However, Rana is sure that he isn’t doing this film at all. In between giving shots for Department, the shooting of which is currently on in Mumbai, he says, “I have no clue where did this one come from but the reality is that I haven’t signed Kris And Suri. In fact after Department and a Telugu movie that I am doing simultaneously, I would be most likely doing a Tamil film next. A Bollywood project would be only after that.”

Given the fact that announcements take an overzealous approach when it comes to Hindi films, how is Rana coping up with the ways and tricks of this new industry?

“Well, I am taking it all with a bag full of salt”, Rana gives out a hearty laugh here, “Amongst all the good things, this is something that I choose not to learn in Mumbai. In one year flat I have seen rumours fly thick. How does that happen? Well, I am not interested in knowing. Tomorrow if something really serious happens, I know I can rely on Twitter to make good clarifications.”

Well Rana, you are learning quickly for sure!

KESC decides to sack 4000 employees again

KARACHI: Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has once again decided to sack at least 4500 employees.

It should be mentioned here that the dismissal of these employees was announced some time back; however, the decision was reversed thanks to the protest that last several days.

KESC has presented to Sindh High Court (SHC) a proposal worth Rs. 5.35 billion for the Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) for 4000 employees, who will be paid up at least Rs. 700,000 and maximum Rs. 4.7 million.

KESC spokesman said the VSS will be announced on an appropriate time; however, the announcement of the scheme is contingent upon court’s permission.

Earlier also, these employees were sacked; however, they were restored to their jobs after KESC’s head office was besieged for at least one week. TrendPK

Parveen Kumar Go Through Fitness Test

Indian Seamer Praveen Kumar will go through the fitness test as he is having an elbow injury. He had an elbow injury and after having consultation with consultants he has given a fitness test. Now he has to wait for the announcement of the result of the test. He carried an injury during the South African series and after that went back.

On Monday he has given a fitness test but BCCI has still to say on the announcement. Dr Andrew Wallace, a London-based surgeon is giving treatment to him. He has also given consultation to Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar. BCCI is not saying anything about the fitness test of Kumar. They are waiting for full consultation regarding his injury and might be having an option of his replacement.

There is a possibility that Sreesanth might be the option for his replacement. Indian team was also having injuries before the South African tour and they also send their players back home for rest. Gambhir and Sehwag are the main players who got injuries. India is one of the hosts of the world cup 2011. They will play the match on their home grounds and will have benefit of home conditions. The new player chose as replacement will not find it difficult to adjust in home conditions.

Will Ferrell Joins ‘The Office’ Cast

Will Ferrell has committed to a guest spot on The Office. The NBC made the announcement on Wednesday and it’s generally believed that the move is to help smooth the departure of Carrell, who had announced a few months back that this would be his last season. Steve Carrell has starred in ‘The Office’ for seven seasons, but now Carrell wants to focus on his movie career. Don’t hold your breath though, unfortunately Will Ferrell won’t be Carrels replacement.

Not too much has been revealed about Ferrell’s character although it has been widely reported that he will be playing a branch manager who comes from the home office and who is just as inept and inappropriate as Michael Scott (Carrell).

“We found Steve Carell when he was nothing but a movie star, and we turned him into a television star,” said the show’s executive producer Paul Lieberstein. “We are proud to continue The Office’s tradition of discovering famous talent, and we hope that once America gets a good look at Will, they’ll see what we see: tremendous raw sexuality.”

It is also being said that Ferrell contacted NBC producers himself to offer his skills to help with Carrells farewell from ‘The Office’. Carrell and Farrell have worked together before on the movie ‘Anchorman’. It should be lots of fun to see them work together again. Now the next question is how will they actually write Carrell’s character from the show and how will Ferrell’s character play into his likely demise.

Multan: Qureshi says wont meet Biden

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday announced that he would not meet US Vice President Joe Biden owing to the ongoing 3-day Urs of sufi saint Hazrat Bahuddin Zakariya at Multan.

The FM made the announcement on the eve of Urs of Hazrat Baha ud Din Zikria Multani. US Vice President Joe Biden would arrive in the federal capital today and will have an overnight stay in Pakistan. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has extended an invitation to the US vice president for the visit. It will be his second visit to Pakistan after his election to the slot. Biden will meet the president and prime minister, besides Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Facebooks CEO Zuckerberg named Time Person of the Year 2010

Adding one more feather to the largest social network in the cyber world, Time has selected the founder and CEO of Facebook- Mark Zuckerberg -as its Person of the Year 2010.

Considering his attempts to build up and run the biggest social networking site in the world, which made ground breaking changes to the way people communicate and interact, Time has found him as the most befitting personality for the award this year.

Though, the announcement comes at a point when there are apprehensions about the way Facebook proliferates in the cyber world and the way it handles the private data added to its databases every day, Zuckerberg getting this most coveted honor will help Facebook have some real party time. Time has found that the web service Zuckerberg started while he was just 19, from his Harvard dorm, almost seven years ago, has now stitched together a twelfth of the humanity. If Facebook was a country it would have been third with the population just behind China and India. Responding to the announcement, Zuckerberg said that the award is a real honor and recognition not only for him but also for the efforts of his little team.

In the run to be the Person of the Year 2010, Zuckerberg overtook the Tea Party, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange and the Chilean miners. Well, good day social networking.

Azam Swatis dismissal: JUI quits coalition government

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has announced that the party has decided to quit coalition government. Th-e decision was taken in the meeting of JUI parliamentary committee. After this announcement, JUIs two more ministers would tender their resignations.

Talking to media, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that he responded positively to the reconciliation policy of the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. He said that he asked the President to act upon the agreement as JUI had joined the government on the basis of such agreement. He said that the party had written many letters to the Prime Minister to take action against the people involved in the Hajj scandal but the government didnt take any action. And the government dismissed their minister Azam Swati who stood firm against the huge corruption in Hajj operations, he added. Fazal said that governments one-sided decision compelled them to quit the coalition government.

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