Catherine Zeta-Jones is Given a Royal Honor

Catherine Zeta-Jones was honored by Prince Charles for her service to the film industry and charity work on Thursday at Buckingham Palace. The Oscar-winning actress was accompanied by her husband, Michael Douglas and their two children Dylan and Carys. The royal honor has made Catherine Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

“As a British subject I feel incredibly proud,” she said. “At the same time it is overwhelming and humbling.”

Catherine was born in Swansea, Wales in 1969. She was reportedly nervous and emotional to be receiving such an honour but also overjoyed that her husband, Michael was able to join her for the trip to London. He has been fighting throat cancer but it has been reported that he has recently been given the all clear. The actress also said that Prince Charles expressed his sympathy and he was “happy to hear” that Michael Douglas is recovering well.

Akshay’s chronic back problem re-surfaces; skips Dubai promotional tour

Akshay Kumar’s chronic back problem which immobilized him on Tuesday has a strange and bizarre connection with Farah Khan.
Farah who’s just directed Akshay in Tees Maar Khan, earlier directed Shah Rukh Khan who also suffered from a chronic back problem that has put him out of action more than once. And Farah, to carry the queer coincidence forward, is often called the true inheritor of Manmohan Desai’s legacy. Desai, it must be remembered, suffered from an acute back problem.
Akshay Kumar’s scheduled 25-day promotional tour for his new film Tees Maar Khan came to a grinding halt on Tuesday when his chronic back problem suddenly resurfaced.
While wife Twinkle rushed Akshay to the doctors on Tuesday afternoon, Akshay’s co-star Katrina had to leave for the Dubai lap of the film’s promotion all alone.
Apparently, Akshay was insistent that he join Katrina for her trip to Dubai. But Twinkle put her husband under house-arrest, as this was not an isolated back pain. Akshay first suffered a back problem while doing a stunt sequence in Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi in 1996. It confined him to bed rest for almost three months.
Again last year, while shooting for Sajid Khan’s Housefull, Akshay’s back trouble recurred. He was advised surgery. But Akshay opted for water therapy. It took him to Germany and he came back apparently fully cured.
Says a source close to Akshay, “It was the rigorous travel by plane and cars for the promotion of his new film that caused Akshay’s back problem again.”
While the whirlwind tour of Dubai had to be cancelled (Katrina had to brave Dubai’s excited crowds all alone) Akshay insisted he would leave for the London lap of his promotional tours on Tuesday night.
Twinkle confirmed on Tuesday evening that Akshay was better.
“He will be ok. He will leave tonight for London to promote Tees Maar Khan,” said Twinkle.

Bangladesh miffed with Shahrukh

Click above for more event stills

Just recently the King Khan of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan returned from his trip to Bangladesh and along with him his entire performance troupe consisting of Rani Mukherjee, Arjun Rampal and Eesha Koppikhar. Though every thing was hunky dory right through the schedule, it seems now matters have flared owing to certain hurt sentiments and ideologies.

It is learnt that the Bangladeshi public are pretty peeved with the Khan for a number of reasons as certain local newspapers from the neighbouring country claim, but most importantly being the grouses of SRK being treated like a VVIP, him smoking in public, lack of moral behaviour of the troupe and also insulting the Bangladeshis on home soil.

We break it down a bit, to analyze each point, the VVIP treatment that SRK and troupe received was apparently uncalled for as the organizers and nor the government have delegated a VVIP status to SRK.

While smoking in public is banned for the general masses in Bangladesh, the Khan was busy puffing away while cameras rolled and the audience watched on. As for the moral activity, the paper claims that the foreign dancers who accompanied the performance troupe indulged in certain amoral activity while at the hotel.

But by far the most infuriating of all was the apparent sidelining and insulting of the Bangladeshi public, as SRK continued to speak in Hindi and English, while he performed in the most of Bangladeshi liberation.

However it is surprising to note that though the entire show had approximately over 30000 people gathered the organisers were lethargic at admitting them to the auditorium, besides this another fact to think about is even though the Bangladeshi government has paid the stars to perform at the show, why not impose certain rules and regulations, if not then why complain post the event?

Apart from all these there are also complaints about the five hour show starting well behind schedule, and even questions being asked about the permission that was granted to remit an astronomical sum in terms of foreign currency to the celebrities. What ever be the case it certainly seems like our Bollywood stars will steer clear of zones like these.

Bangladesh miffed with Shahrukh

Click above for more event stills

Just recently the King Khan of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan returned from his trip to Bangladesh and along with him his entire performance troupe consisting of Rani Mukherjee, Arjun Rampal and Eesha Koppikhar. Though every thing was hunky dory right through the schedule, it seems now matters have flared owing to certain hurt sentiments and ideologies.

It is learnt that the Bangladeshi public are pretty peeved with the Khan for a number of reasons as certain local newspapers from the neighbouring country claim, but most importantly being the grouses of SRK being treated like a VVIP, him smoking in public, lack of moral behaviour of the troupe and also insulting the Bangladeshis on home soil.

We break it down a bit, to analyze each point, the VVIP treatment that SRK and troupe received was apparently uncalled for as the organizers and nor the government have delegated a VVIP status to SRK.

While smoking in public is banned for the general masses in Bangladesh, the Khan was busy puffing away while cameras rolled and the audience watched on. As for the moral activity, the paper claims that the foreign dancers who accompanied the performance troupe indulged in certain amoral activity while at the hotel.

But by far the most infuriating of all was the apparent sidelining and insulting of the Bangladeshi public, as SRK continued to speak in Hindi and English, while he performed in the most of Bangladeshi liberation.

However it is surprising to note that though the entire show had approximately over 30000 people gathered the organisers were lethargic at admitting them to the auditorium, besides this another fact to think about is even though the Bangladeshi government has paid the stars to perform at the show, why not impose certain rules and regulations, if not then why complain post the event?

Apart from all these there are also complaints about the five hour show starting well behind schedule, and even questions being asked about the permission that was granted to remit an astronomical sum in terms of foreign currency to the celebrities. What ever be the case it certainly seems like our Bollywood stars will steer clear of zones like these.

Zardari invites Nawaz to join dinner for Chinese PM

President Asif Ali Zardari rung PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shahrif and invited him to join the dinner to be hosted in the honour of visiting Chinese PM Wen Jiabao.

According to the Presidential Spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz chief accepted the invitation and agreed to join the banquet with President Zardari.

Zardari has expressed gratitude to Mr Nawaz for accepting the invitation, Prescient House said in a statement. The Chinese PM Wen Jiabao will arrive in Pakistan on December 17 on his two-day state visit.
A dinner will be hosted in his honour by President Asif Ali Zardari for which the president invited PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

During his trip, Wen Jiabao will also address joint session of the Parliament on 19th of this month.

Hrithik Roshan down with malaria

It’s an important week for Hrithik Roshan as his big film Guzaarish releases this Friday (Nov 19) but as luck would have it, Hrithik has fallen ill. The actor has been unwell for almost ten days now with high fever and body ache and it’s reported that he is suffering from malaria.

In spite of having high fever, Hrithik continued with the promotions of Guzaarish all of last week. He shot for a special episode of Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in Mumbai, and then even travelled with co-star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for a promotional tour to Dubai and London. After his return to Mumbai, Hrithik even travelled to Ahmedabad on Saturday to promote his film, but crashed immediately after returning home.

Since then, Duggu has been feeling very weak and been on bed rest for most of the time. In fact Hrithik even cancelled his trip to Kolkata for the promotions, as there was no way he could travel in this condition.

We hope the actor is back to being his fittest very soon and wish him a speedy recovery.

Barack Obama Trip to India

WASHINGTON, Barack Obama Trip to India: A day after his party suffered a huge setback at the polls in the US midterm congressional elections, US President Barack Obama spoke about his upcoming visit to India.

He told the Press Trust of India wire service that issues such as India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and its desire for the US to relax export controls on dual-use technologies are “very difficult and complicated.”

The president’s comments about the UNSC will throw a bit of cold water on speculation that the president was planning to use the trip to announce U.S. backing for India’s permanent presence on the panel and may be discouraging to the foreign policy establishment in New Delhi.

Obama said he supports “India’s rise as a global power” and called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “one of the most extraordinary leaders I have met.

The president said he expected to make big-ticket announcements in India, but the PTI report didn’t include any specifics. Commercial deals in sectors such as aviation and transportation are likely.

The two nations’ stalled civil nuclear energy partnership will be a hot topic. Obama said the U.S. has concerns about India’s recently passed nuclear liability law and the governments of the two countries are working together to resolve them.

India is hopeful the U.S. will relax its export restrictions on several high-tech products with both peaceful and military uses, but Mr. Obama’s comments indicated there are complex negotiations underway on that.

“Our teams continue to work hard to reach an agreement that strengthens the international non-proliferation system while treating India in a manner that is consistent with our strategic partnership.

Shanghai Expo: Driverless cars introduced

A group of orange vans have successfully finished the last stretch of a roughly 15,000 kilometre journey from Italy to the 2010 Expo in Shanghai, China.
The feature by the Italian-engineered Piaggio electric mini vans was made all the more impressive by the fact that they have no drivers. The vehicles, which can navigate roads using sensors, set off from their base in Parma on July 28, on a journey through eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and all the way across China. Their voyage, believed to be the longest ever for a car with no driver, has served as a road test to see exactly what problems will befall the automated vehicles. On Thursday, exactly three months to the day since they set off, marked the official end of their trip, and the vehicles were on display for thousands of visitors outside the European Union pavilion. Alberto Broggi, project leader from the University of Parma’s VisiLab who has spent 15 years researching the technology, was overjoyed by the success of the trip. The vehicles use a series of cameras and laser sensors on the front, sides and behind the windshield which allows them to ‘understand’ what is going on around them, and decide to steer, break or accelerate accordingly when confronted with obstacles like pedestrians. However, movements like parking and pulling over require manual control, meaning at least one engineer is seated in each vehicle at all times. The vehicles have also struggled in situations of heavy traffic, such as in central Moscow, when they become disorientated by other cars switching lanes and engineers were forced to take control. The vans will rest in the Expo site until the international extravaganza closes on Sunday (October 31), when they will start to make the long journey back to Italy.

Obama to focus on jobs, economy on India visit

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will argue that India’s emerging might can help speed the US economy’s slow crawl out of crisis on a state visit next month packed with business-themed events.

After an expected rebuke from voters in mid-term elections, and with few economists predicting a quick return to soaring US growth, Obama will speak as much to Americans as the population of India on his three-day visit.

“We’re talking about the fastest-growing economic region of the world and our ability to interact with it, to sell our goods and our services,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs previewing Obama’s trip.

Gibbs said the trip will show that US relations with Asia and particularly India were important to “export our goods, to sell those products and to create and support jobs here in America.”

White House officials unveiled details of the

US trip was successful, results will emerge soon: Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi returned to Pakistan after having strategic negotiations with the US.
He told that his trip to US was quite successful and the results will appear very soon. Talking to media at Lahore airport, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that during the negotiations, both the countries managed to understand each others view point and relationship of Pakistan and US will definitely improve a lot in future. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will give a briefing regarding his US trip in a press conference today afternoon.

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