Libyan rebels reject AU roadmap

The rebels National Transition Council rejects the union s roadmap because it doesn t include Muammar Gaddafi s exit from power.

“As long as the African proposal does not include a clear clause stating Gaddafi will step down and will resign all his duties, we will not approve of it because it does not satisfy the demands of our revolution. This is very clear,” said Hafiz Ghoga, the spokesperson of the National Transitional Council in Libya.

The rebels say as long as Gaddafi is in power, they will continue driving closer to his stronghold in Tripoli.

The AU roadmap suggested a 30-day time frame for negotiations between the government and the rebels. It also urged the international community to help easing out the process.

Good chunk recovered

Download Thank You Wallpapers

Notwithstanding Anees Bazmee’s last dud NO PROBLEM and the string of flops to Akshay Kumar’s credit, UTV’s new film THANK YOU has met with a favorable response from distributors. Though UTV has its distribution offices across the globe, the corporate entity has sold the theatrical distribution rights of the film for various territories like Punjab, Rajasthan, CP Berar, Nizam, Mysore, Bihar and Bengal. “The deals were clinched at a formidable price,” UTV’s Gaurav Verma informs me.

UTV is in the process of closing deals for a few more territories in the coming days, thus recovering a major chunk of their investment prior to the film’s release.

NICL Case: FIA directs to cease directorship of accused

FIA has directed Commerce Secretary to cease the directorship of the accused in NILC case. The process of Moonis Ilahi’s arrest will start tomorrow, trendpk.com reported on Thursday.

As per details, FIA has directed Secretary Commerce to cease the directorship of all accused in NICL case. Meanwhile the FIA maintained that there is no chance of Moonis’s coming back to Pakistan who is wanted in NICL case, after which the authority has contacted Interpol to arrest him. FIA authorities further disclosed that Interpol has been formally informed that the Red Warrants of Moonis have been collected and the process of his arrest will be started tomorrow.

President Hosni refuses to step down

CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declined to capitulate to foreign pressure, saying he would not resign under present circumstances and would continue working till September.

Addressing the nation live on national television, Hosni announced that he would continue to hold power until a legal, peaceful transition can be made in elections in September.

President Mubarak said he is currently busy with steering country and nation out of the present crunch.

On this occasion, President Mubarak announced to delegate all presidential powers to Vice President Suleiman, saying the process of reconciliation has begun for the transition of power in Egypt.

In his televised address, he stressed he would not surrender to any foreign pressure. TrendPK

SRK highly impressed by Akon

Shah Rukh Khan is a self-confessed fan of Akon’s music. Now that they have jammed together for a song in Ra.One the two have become so close that Akon has promised to give Shah Rukh some tips on “cool rapping” in exchange for Hindi lessons from Shah Rukh.

R& B singer Akon has sung in Hindi for a track in Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One. Initially it was meant to be only a smattering of words in Hindi. Now there are passages of Hindi by Akon. The absence of an accent in his singing of the Hindi words in the track took Shah Rukh Khan so much by surprise that he decided to add some more Hindi words and lines into Akon’s song in Ra.One.

Confirming this, composer Shekhar Ravjiani speaking on behalf of the duo Vishal-Shekhar who have composed the Akon track, says, “Akon’s Hindi took all of us by surprise. It was almost like he had been speaking the language all his life. No one could believe Akon was seeing those Hindi lines for the first time. He just rattled of the lines as if he was conversant with Hindi. When you hear the song you will see no difference in the singing quality of Akon’s English and Hindi lines.”

Ra.One is expected to have 10 tracks. Vishal-Shekhar are in the process of creating the soundtrack.

Says Shekhar, “The director Anubhav Sinha has such a keen ear for music. He understands ragas, rhythm, melody and the format of music composition. Shah Rukh too is very clued to world music. We are creating the kind of global sound in Ra.One which has never been heard in Indian cinema before.”

US worried about new WikiLeaks’ release

WASHINGTON: The United States is concerned about a big dumping of classified documents by WikiLeaks which is expected to include diplomatic cables, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

“We are gearing up for the worst-case scenario, that leaked cables will touch on a wide range of issues and countries,” Crowley told AFP.

The spokesman added that “we’ve known all along that WikiLeaks has in its possession State Department cables.”

“We are prepared if this upcoming tranche of documents includes State Department cables. We are in touch with our posts around the world. They have begun the process of informing governments that a release of documents is possible in the near future,” Crowley said.

He said that diplomatic cables, messages between US posts around the world, “involve discussions that we had with government officials, with private

Sacrifice of cattle continues on 2nd day of Eid

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis are celebrating the second day of Eid with religious zeal and fervor today.

The process of slaughtering of animals began soon after Fajar prayers as in many religious seminaries, shared animals were slaughtered.

After the sacrifice, meat is distributed among the poor, neighbors and relatives. During the process of meat distribution, the old, young and children take great interest and enjoy the ritual.

Eid festivities are being enlivened with slaughtering animals and arranging parties for friends and relatives.

During Eid days, normally the rush of people increases greatly in hotels and restaurants during lunch and dinner.

On the other hand, the district administration is busy disposing animal entrails and spraying anti-germ chemicals. Trend Pk

Cricket: South African Van Jaarsveld tests positive

JOHANNESBURG: South African batsman Vaughn van Jaarsveld has tested positive for banned stimulant sibutramine, the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) said on Wednesday.

The hard-hitting left-hander, 25, has played two one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals for South Africa.

“It does not appear to be his fault because it was present in dieting tablets he was prescribed by his doctor called Ciplatrim. Because it is a specified substance, it means it can be taken inadvertently because it is commonly found in medicines, for instance,” SACA chief executive Tony Irish told Reuters.

“We don’t believe it is his fault, but we have to go through the process and we have waived his right to have the B-sample tested. In the circumstances, we hope the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport will be pretty lenient.”

Sibutramine, an appetite

John Abraham gears up for ultimate action in Kaakha Kaakha remake

Following the debacle of his purportedly premium product, Jhootha Hi Sahi, which was expected to take the star’s career to a new level, there’s hyper-activity on John Abraham’s front. The pinup star is pumping up the iron and toning those muscles for a renewed bout of celluloid machismo.

Apparently, John has halted the shooting of key action sequences in his first fully-fledged action film, the Hindi remake of the Tamil blockbuster Kaakha Kaakha. Apart from Bollywood’s best action director Allan Amin, John has now ordered an action team from South Africa to supervise his stunts.

Director Nishikant Kamat confirms that John is at the moment shooting non-action scenes. “We’ll do the action scenes later. I cannot do those loud larger-than-life stunts sequences where the hero beats up twenty adversaries single-handedly. The action in my film has to be in the more realistic yet hardcore commercial space. It’s a challenge for both me and John. For me, commercial cinema is new. I’ve butterflies in my stomach every time I go on the sets.”

John is nervous too.

According to a source very close to John, it’s goodbye to experimental characters. No more playing against personality for John Abraham. No more nerdy or dying characters. Its muscles and beefcake all the way as the pinup boy acquires an adrenaline-pumping chest-thumping image for his next.

With his last two films Ashaayein and Jhootha Hi Sahi not doing well you would think John Abraham’s producers are in the process of a serious re-think. Far from being discouraged, the makers of the next John starrer are actually in the process of enhancing the original material.

The Hindi remake of Kaakha Kaakha which is John’s first full-on action film would now have more action scenes and less of the dialogue and drama.

As far as the box-office is concerned, Nishikant Kamat remains unfazed by the performance of John’s films. “My producer Vipul Shah and I signed John for the Kaakha Kaakha remake because we saw him doing the action hero’s part to perfection. So far no film has tapped that side of him. John will be performing some of the most dangerous stunts ever seen in our films.”

Hundreds of trees chopped off along Shara-e-Faisal

Staff Report

KARACHI: Hundreds of trees have been chopped off along Shara-e-Faisal, one of the main boulevards in Karachi, due to advertising hoardings and sign boards.

Special safety measures are taken across the world to save trees, which are vital for health and the environment. However, the situation is the complete opposite in Karachi where large numbers of trees were cut down to save sign boards.

Presently, Pakistan ranks second in the global tree cutting index. If this process continues, the number of trees by 2020 will reduce to an alarming level. SAMAA

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