Saif and Deepika all set to celebrate with ‘Cocktail’

Seems like Deepika Padukone is taking her relationship with Siddharth Mallya to the next level. Now the title of her films too seems to be finding an inspiration from the business avenues of her steady companion.

Reason being that the title of her next film with Saif Ali Khan is Cocktail. Since Siddharth is the son of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, a title like Cocktail only adds to the high that Deepika is enjoying in her relationship.

Confirms a senior crew member, “Yes, the film has been titled Cocktail. However, one can’t quite say if it has anything to do with Deepika’s personal equation with anyone. Something like this is just incidental. This is a modern day love story bearing urban sensibilities and hence a title like Cocktail pretty much suits the mood of the film. Other than that, anything else is plain speculation.”

Meanwhile, one looks forward to check out what Cocktail would be all about, considering the fact that it not just reunites Saif and Deepika (who are also working in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan) again after Love Aaj Kal but is also the second directorial outing for Homi Adajania after Being Cyrus (which again starred Saif).

“This is not all, as the film’s script has been written by Imtiaz Ali who is quite close to Saif and Kareena after Love Aaj Kal and Jab We Met respectively”, says an industry insider, “This could well be one lethal cocktail in the offing here.”

On being contacted, Homi Adajania confirmed that Cocktail is the chosen title for the film. However he added a word of caution by stating, “It is a working title as of now.”

Saif is pretty excited about the film already. As per him, the film is romantic and funny with a great balance of drama and entertainment. He has also earlier quoted – “I have wanted to do a love story with a modern sensibility and treatment and I know that Homi will give us exactly that.”

Hopefully that would indeed happen for this film which would be shot in London, Spain and Delhi. One just wonders though how far Siddharth would be travelling to serve Deepika a heady cocktail all across the globe!

Hungu: Mortar attack kills 6, injures 8

A mortar attack killed at least six people, including women and children, in northwest Pakistan on Friday as Ashura processions were on their way to main imambargah.

According to police, mortars were fired from different areas into houses in Malakwal, Karmawal, Qazi Talaab and Spain Khwarway. Due to which six people were killed and 8 got injuries.

Mortars were fired from Orakzai and hit two houses in Hangu. Six people were killed and eight injured, Gul Jamal, a local police official, told.

The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Hungu. Security forces bombed hideouts of militants.

Euro struggles near lows as debt crisis festers

LONDON: The euro struggled near a two-month low as the euro zone debt crisis showed signs of spilling over from Ireland to other euro zone members even after Ireland unveiled an ambitious austerity plan.

Traders say Portugal and increasingly Spain are seen as potentially in need of help while Dublin’s belt-tightening plan has come under fire for sticking to economic growth assumptions, unveiled earlier this month, seen as too optimistic.

Trade was thin, however, due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Some market players said the fall in the euro as well as the Aussie reflected short-covering in the U.S. dollar before the holiday.

“The market is being driven by position adjustments typical in November plus the euro zone problems,” said Minori Uchida, a senior analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The euro shed 0.2 percent on the day

Qatar World Cup a potential health risk: FIFA

BERNE: Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup could pose a potential health risk because of the midsummer heat despite proposals for cooling the stadiums, FIFA said on Wednesday in its technical report.

Soccer’s world governing body also warned size could be a worry in the United States, Australia and Russia as it published its evaluation of the bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

FIFA expressed concern that television income could be reduced if the 2022 tournament was held in the Far East or Australia and questioned the idea of co-hosting in a set-back for the Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands bids for 2018.

England, Russia, Spain/Portugal and Belgium/Netherlands are bidding to host the 2018 World Cup while Japan, South Korea, United States, Australia and Qatar are candidates for 2022.

FIFA’s executive committee will chose both hosts in

Katrina plays headstrong girl in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

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Katrina Kaif has just embarked on her most different acting assignment to date. The Yash Raj Film which she signed while working in Spain with Zoya Akhtar

requires her to go into intense preparation. Apparently, Katrina’s character in debutant director Ali Abbas Zafar’s film is so volatile and unpredictable

that it is completely contrary to every personality trait of Katrina’s.
In the film with Imran Khan and singer Ali Zafar, Katrina plays the craziest, zaniest, most stubborn and self-opinionated character of her career. And for

that she needed special preparation. According to producer Aditya Chopra’s brief Katrina plays the temperamental girl after much preparation. Known to be

well-behaved and gentle in person, Katrina plays a talkative ill-tempered busybody.
Says Katrina, “All I can say about my role is this girl is quite a number, the closest I came to playing something so challenging was in Namastey

London and that was a cakewalk compared with this . The girl in Ali’s film is… something else. I have to go completely outside myself to play her. Whom

am I observing to play the role? I am not telling.”

Nigerian FIFA official denies vote selling claims

A Nigerian Fifa official has denied allegations of corruption and said that he offered to sell his vote in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup. Amos Adamu told that he welcomed the Fifa investigation into the claims.
Mr Adamu allegedly said he wanted cash to build pitches in Nigeria. Tahiti’s Reynald Temarii, president of the Oceania Football Confederation, is also alleged to have asked for a payment, in his case to finance a sports academy. He denies the claim, suggesting that his comments on the Sunday Times video had been taken out of context.
Mr Adamu and Mr Temarii, both members of Fifa’s 24-man executive committee, were suspended by the organisation for 30 days on Wednesday. Fifa is the international governing body of association football.
The Fifa ethics committee will investigate this and I am very happy about it because this will enable the whole world to know the truth of the matter, Mr Adamu told.
Mr Adamu, who is also president of the West African Football Union, is said to have told the undercover reporters he wanted $800,000 (500,000) to build the four artificial football pitches in Nigeria. A 24-strong Fifa committee will decide by secret ballot on 2 December who should host the tournament.
However, Fifa is also investigating Spain, Portugal and Qatar in connection with alleged collusion over voting for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Spain and Portugal are making a joint 2018 bid, while Qatar is eyeing 2022. Collusion between bidding countries is strictly forbidden by the regulations.

Rohit Roy to direct ‘Shaukeen’ remake

After directing one of the stories in DUS KAHANIYAAN and winning tremendous critical acclaim for it, actor-director Rohit Roy is gearing up to start his new film. This time, it’s a remake of Basu Chatterjee’s immensely likable and successful film SHAUKEEN, which starred Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and A.K. Hangal with Mithun Chakraborty and Rati Agnihotri in lead roles.

“The remaking rights have been acquired from Basu-da by Bunty Bahl, who will produce the film,” Rohit reveals. Although Rohit and Bunty have decided to retain the story and characters from the film, they have decided to update it to suit the present-day scenario. “SHAUKEEN was very simplistic. The new SHAUKEEN will be a modern version. Also, the original version was set in India. But we are not placing our film in India. We are looking at Las Vegas, Spain or Malaysia,” Rohit divulges.

Producer Bunty Bahl states that they will finalize the star cast of their film after they update the script post Diwali. The makers plan to begin filming early next year.

Djokovic wins rain-delayed China Open final

BEIJING: World number two Novak Djokovic demolished Spain’s David Ferrer 6-2 6-4 in the rain-delayed China Open final on Monday.

The 2009 champion took advantage of the 3-1 first set lead he had opened before torrential rain ended play on Sunday to extend his tenure on the title.

“China is definitely a special place for me,” the 23-year-old said as he received the gold China Open Cup.

After smog blighted much of the tournament and rain forced it into an extra day, the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist expressed his intent to end proceedings quickly and catch his rescheduled flight to the Shanghai Open as he roared his way through the rest of the first set, breaking a jaded Ferrer twice.

The eighth-seeded Spaniard staged a revival in the second set, sending the Serb scuttling across the baseline in vain to open a 4-2 lead, but any belief among

Four NATO troops killed in western Afghanistan

KABUL: Four troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in an insurgent attack in western Afghanistan on Saturday, ISAF said, the latest foreign casualties in a war now in its 10th year.

Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001. More than 2,000 foreign troops have died since the start of the war, more than half of those in the last two years.

The rising violence in Afghanistan will weigh heavily on President Barack Obama when his administration faces mid-term Congressional elections next month amid sagging public support for the war and ahead of a strategy review in December.

ISAF gave no further details regarding the nationality of the troops or the location of the attack. Troops from the United States, Spain and Italy are stationed in the west of the

Security tight for Mexican 200-year independence fiesta

MEXICO CITY: Mexico on Wednesday began spectacular festivities to mark 200 years of the start of its independence from Spain, in the shadow of drug violence and flooding which prevented some from celebrating.

A group of shamans, in white robes and feathers, carried out a pre-Hispanic fire ritual to launch celebrations in the capital’s massive main Zocalo square, as millions were set to join nationwide fiestas.

The celebrations mark the 1810 uprising by rebel priest Miguel Hidalgo that led to the ousting of the Spanish by 1821.

President Felipe Calderon’s shouting of “El Grito” — a reconstruction of Hidalgo’s battle cry — will be broadcast shortly after 11 pm (0400 GMT) on giant screens in the capital, and worldwide.

In response to the cry — which is echoed by local leaders across the country — Mexicans shout “Viva Mexico!” or “Long live

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