Katona’s ‘hubby wants to leak couple’s sex tape on net to ease cash crisis’

London, Sept 16 (ANI): Already troubled Kerry Katona fears getting into more mess as hubby Mark Croft wants to sell off a steamy sex tape of the couple to alleviate their cash crunch, it has emerged.

Pals say Katona’s former taxi driver hubby tried to sell the idea to her, which has made the ex-Atomic Kitten even more anxious about losing the custody of her two daughters, Molly and Lilly Sue, to their father and divorced hubby Brian Nicholas McFadden.

“Mark’s not given up hope by any means. He thinks it’s a guaranteed earner, which could make them anything up to half-a-million,” a pal was quoted by the Daily Star, as saying.

Friends say the 39-year old Croft has no plans to change his mind and he intends to use the cash from the tape’s sale to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

A friend said: “Mark thinks he knows it all and is determined to take over every aspect of Kerry’s life. He thinks that a sex tape of them, which somehow found its way on to the internet, would earn them a lot of cash – at least 250,000 pounds and possibly as much as 500,000 pounds.

“Mark is absolutely obsessed with money and has told Kerry that it could be a life-saver for them, but at the moment she’s having nothing to do with it.

“She’s scared stiff of anything so tacky being the last stop in her attempts to hold on to her two little girls by Brian McFadden.” (ANI)

Australia’s crackdown on rogue colleges could affect thousands of Indian students

Melbourne, Aug.20 (ANI): The Australian Government proposed crackdown on vocational colleges and universities could leave thousands of international students, especially those from India, looking for somewhere else to study or needing refunds as rogue operators are shut down.

In a move to root out unscrupulous operators in the visa-driven sector, Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday introduced legislative changes forcing all 1300 registered colleges and universities to re-register under tighter guidelines.

A rash of shutdowns by colleges that fail to meet the new standards will leave the industry having to find new places for students or footing the bill for refunds.

The move is likely to be greeted with caution by the states.

Victoria last night expressed concern the proposed changes could complicate its own “rapid audits” of the sector.

To re-register under the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students, providers will have to demonstrate a commitment to education and standards. They must re-register by the end of next year.

Gillard told parliament: “The message to providers is: if you are not providing your students with a quality education in a safe environment, clean up your act or risk being shut down.”

The country’s elite universities this week called on the government’s new Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to take over the lead from the states in cleaning up the system.

In its submission to a Senate inquiry, the Group of Eight universities accused the states of showing a “lack of interest” in enforcing the commonwealth’s Education Services for Overseas Students Act that Gillard is amending.

The Australian Council for Private Education and Training said a clear plan, and possibly additional support, would be needed to protect students if there were a significant number of shutdowns.

This year a spate of assaults on Indian students and widespread reporting of student exploitation have damaged the reputation of the 15 billion dollar industry, Australia’s third-largest export earner. (ANI)

Varanasi carpet industry hopes for budget sops

Varanasi, June 29 (ANI): Carpet traders and weavers in Uttar Pradesh are hoping that the forthcoming annual budget will offer some sops to them.

Traders and weavers in the state’s Bhadohi district, which is famous for hand knit carpets and hand tufted carpets, said they wanted the government to help them regain markets lost due to recession.

In the wake of the global economic slowdown, the small exporters are being wiped out while large exporters are striving to survive.

“As far as carpet industry is concerned it does most of the business with America and Europe and the recession has badly affected the trade. So, our demand is that the government should give us grants to look for more markets abroad,” said Ashok Kapoor, a carpet exporter.

The traders also said that government should reconsider taxes levied on them.

“The labour cost has increased 25-30 percent. In this scenario how are we going to compete in the market? Government wants us not to add the local taxes it levies on us on the export rates but if the taxes are levied to us then we will carry that forward as our cost,” said Anurag Chandra, a carpet exporter.

Varanasi is famous for its hand woven carpets the world over.

The carpet industry, being highly labour intensive and decentralized, is an important source of employment and a foreign exchange earner.

According to the estimates, there are 1215 carpet manufacturing units in India, out of which 190 are in the organized sector and the rest are in small-scale industry sector. (ANI)

Indian students are Australia’s third largest export income earner

Melbourne, Apr.3 (ANI): With India projected to be the fifth-largest consumer market by 2025, Australian-trained Indian graduates and skilled workers represent a future trade and investment bonanza as they return home to jobs in the business and government sector.

Indian students now make up almost 18 per cent of Australia’s total foreign student population, the second largest group after China, which represents 23.5 per cent of the total foreign student body.

Foreign students are now Australia’s third-largest export income earner, behind coal and iron ore, contributing 14.1 billion Australian dollars in direct income and an additional 12.6 billion dollars in value-added goods and services, a new Access Economic report has found.

Australia’s business links with Southeast Asia are well established, going as far back as the 1950s.

Indian enrolments in Australian higher education and vocational training courses last year, a massive 54 per cent increase on the almost 63,000 Indian enrolments in 2007, and up from just 11,313 in 2002.

Take the example of 18-year-old Vasha Vankadesh from Tamil Nadu capital Chennai. A student, she contributes over 30,000 dollars annually to the Australian economy as she ploughs her way through an engineering degree at the Australian National University in Canberra.

“You’re now seeing the beginnings of that sort of relationship between India and Australia,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Australia’s High Commissioner to India, John McCarthy, as saying on Thursday.
Vasha says she chose Australia over Britain and the US because it was closer to home and cheaper. (ANI)

The Dark Knight crosses $1bn mark

Washington, February 21 (ANI): Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” has crossed the billion-dollar mark to become the fourth film to do so in worldwide box office collections.

Warner Bros revealed that “The Batman Begins” sequel grossed a total of 1,001,082,160 dollars till February 20 with around 533 million dollars coming from domestic markets and 567 million dollars from overseas.

The 2008 film further holds the title of being the second-highest domestic earner of all time, falling behind “Titanic”, reports Variety magazine.

Previous films to have topped the billion dollar mark were “Titanic”, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”.

The superhero movie has won itself eight nominations at the Academy Awards to be held on February 22. (ANI)

Cast and crew of Bollywood film ‘Gajini’ celebrate film’s success

Mumbai, Jan 14 (ANI): Cast and crew of the Bollywood film ‘Gajini’ celebrated the success of the film here last evening after the film raked in more than two billion rupees at the box office.

‘Ghajini’ statues were presented to Bollywood actors Aamir Khan, Asin and the director of the film A.R. Murugadoss.

A special cake was cut on the occasion with two billion rupees written on it.

Aamir Khan, who cut the cake, praised Murugadoss and said the film was his vision.

“Gajini has been really special. It had such a strong impact on the audience across the world and right down to the small centres across India. It is really heart warming,” said Aamir.

‘Gajini’, a film that introduced Asin to Hindi cinema opposite superstar Aamir, was released with 1,200 prints in the domestic market and in a lot of small towns where films are not often released in the first week.

Asin said that the response of the audiences to her first Hindi film was greatly encouraging that touched her heart.

“Tamil ‘Gajini’ was well received in the market when it was released and was loved by the audiences and now this reaction for Hindi Gajini. It is very hear touching,” said Asin.

Ace music director A.R. Rahman, who has recently bagged his first Golden Globe Award for the film ‘Slumdog Millionarie’, has rendered music of the film. Lyricist Prasoon Joshi has composed the lyrics of the film.

Plethora of singers like Javed Ali, Sonu Nigam, Suzanne D’Mello, Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghosal have lent their voice for ‘Gajani’.

The movie with more than 200 crore rupees earnings so far has become the highest earner in Bollywood in just two weeks. It is likely to break the all-time records in the long run.

In the overseas market, it is now second only to Karan Johar’s hit film ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ which collected 440 million rupees. ‘Gajini’ has emerged as one of the highest grosser of the year 2008. (ANI)

Lufti to make tell-all documentary about Spears’ meltdown

Washington, Feb 5 (ANI): Britney Spears’ infamous ex-manager Sam Lutfi is set to make a tell-all documentary detailing the singer’s highly-publicised meltdown, according to reports.

It is believed that Lutfi is planning out details with U.S. TV network UPN to make the explosive programme.

UPN also broadcasts Spears’ 2005 reality series ‘Britney and Kevin: Chaotic’.

Spears’ parents, Jamie and Lynne, publicly blamed Lutfi for the series of emotional breakdowns that had led Britney to lose custody of her two sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline in 2007.

But, Lutfi, 34, who was the singer’s manager during her 2007 meltdown, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Spears and her parents on February 4.

He has alleged that their claims that he drugged the star were untrue and had caused him “humiliation” and “distress”.

And now, it seems he is hoping to seek revenge on the Spears family by telling his side of the story to the world.

“Sam has realised that a TV show would get him a large chunk of money and he’s get extra money on the back of it in magazines and newspaper interviews,” Contactmusic quoted a source as telling Britain’s Daily Star.

The source added: “This is his opportunity for him to get his lucrative revenge. To be a big earner, this documentary will need to be full of sensational and shocking revelations.” (ANI)