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Credit Agricole nears Intesa branch deal -paper

April 3, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

PARIS, April 2 (Reuters) – Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) could conclude talks to buy 150-200 branches from Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) this month following a deal with Italy’s antitrust authorities, La Tribune newspaper said on its website.

Financials

The purchase was first announced in February, and the paper said on Friday that Credit Agricole was now in advanced negotiations to purchase 85 branches of Intesa unit Cassa di Risparmio della Spezia, in Liguria in northwest Italy.

In addition, the French bank will buy a further 80-100 branches chosen for their proximity to the others to help Credit Agricole strengthen its position in the richer northern part of Italy, the newspaper said.

A final decision should be taken shortly before Intesa’s annual meeting on April 30, La Tribune said.

Credit Agricole declined to comment on Friday.

Under the terms of the February deal, the French bank said it had agreed with Italian regulators to take control over an additional 150-200 Intesa branches, bringing its total to around 900 branches in Italy. [ID:nLDE61H2MA] Under the February agreement, designed to help Intesa avoid paying a hefty antitrust fine, the Italian authorities said Credit Agricole was required to reduce its shareholding in Intesa to 2 percent by the end of 2011 from 5.8 percent.

Italy’s antitrust body was worried that the presence of Credit Agricole in Intesa Sanpaolo would distort competition in the country’s banking sector, given that the French bank already controlled Italian regional bank Cariparma. (Reporting by James Regan and Julien Ponthus; editing by Simon Jessop)

Rihanna does a poppet on string in see-through net dress

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 19 (ANI): Singer Rihanna did a poppet on a string while sporting a see-through black net dress.

The R-B lady was seen maintaining her balance on a trapeze with ease as she hung in mid-air.

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old’s former beau Chris Brown has been juggling life after starting community service for assaulting her, reports the Sun.

Brown assaulted Rihanna after getting into an argument as they left a pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles this February.

The shamed star was ordered 180 days community labor for the brutal attack, a year of domestic violence counselling and put on probation for the next five years. (ANI)

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Veraval riots: Nanavati Commission not to issue notice against Modi

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ahmedabad, Sep.19 (ANI): In a major reprieve for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Justice Girish Thakorlal Nanavati Commission on Saturday confirmed that it would not be issuing any notice to him in connection with the communal riots in Veraval.

However, the commission has asked the State Government to give it transcripts of the conversations that took place prior to the riots, during the riots and in its aftermath.

The commission has so far given a clean chit to Modi in the post-Godhra events. The Nanavati Commission said there was no evidence to show there was lapse in Modi’s or his ministers’ role in providing protection, relief and rehabilitation to the victims of communal riots or in the matter of not complying with the recommendations and direction given by the National Human Rights Commission.

Communal attacks on Muslims took place in Gujarat between February and May 2002.

The riots occurred after the burning of the Sabarmati Express. According to official figures tabled in the parliament, more than a thousand people were killed (790 Muslims and 254 Hindus) in the violence after the train incident. More than two hundred and fifty thousand people were displaced (about 200,000 Muslims and 40,000 Hindus).

Organizations such as Human Rights Watch criticized the Indian government for failure to address the resulting humanitarian condition of people, “overwhelming majority of them Muslim,” who fled their homes for relief camps in the aftermath of the events.

Many of the investigations and prosecution of those accused of violence during the riots have been opened for reinvestigation and prosecution. According to an official estimate, 1044 people were killed in the violence, including those killed in the Godhra train fire. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed and 606 children orphaned. About 100,000 Muslims and 40,000 Hindus were in relief camps. (ANI)

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Emma Watson used gap year to design teen summer wear for People Tree

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 18 (ANI): Harry Potter star Emma Watson has revealed that she spent her gap year designing a ‘complete teenage summer wardrobe’ for the fair trade fashion brand People Tree.

Watson, 19, who has just enrolled at Brown University in the US, acted as a creative advisor for the ethical fashion collection, which will reach shops in February.

“I wanted to help People Tree produce a younger range because I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to help alleviate poverty and knew it was something I could help make a difference with,” Sky News quoted her as saying.

“I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren’t many options out there.

“It has been the most incredible gap year project,” she added.

Among items that the teen actress has had a hand in designing were knitwear, cotton t-shirts, jersey dresses, and poplin shorts.

Her range also includes some more bizarre items, including “bohemian hand embroidered bed throws, recycled sweetie wrapper jewellery, banana fibre slouchy beanies and head scarves.”

They will be sold by People Tree, a company which aims at supporting developing countries and promoting environmental projects. (ANI)

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Now, unwed Malaysian couple to be whipped for trying to have car sex

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Shah Alam (Malaysia), Sep. 18 (ANI): Following the whipping episode of the Malaysian model who was sentenced for drinking beer, an unmarried couple is now being subjected to the controversial canning sentence under the country’s Sharia law for trying to have sex.

Mohammad Shahrin Abd Majid, 29, and his lover Nadiah Najat Hussin, 24, pleaded guilty to attempting to have sex in a car, were fined 5,000 ringgits or 12 months’ jail and ordered to be caned six times each, the New Strait Times Online reports.

Both Shahrin and Nadiah have paid the fine. On Wednesday, the Sharia High Court of Shah Alam granted a stay on the caning pending an appeal following an application by the couple’s counsel.

The Court has also advised both accused to marry as soon as possible.

The couple had claimed that they were to be engaged soon, and scheduled to be married in February next year.

“You are still young… after Hari Raya seek consent from both your parents to marry,” he said.

Shahrin and Nadiah would be sent to prison in order to receive the caning if their appeal gets dismissed.

Earlier, former Malaysian model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno hogged the international headlines when she was sentenced for canning under Sharia law for drinking beer at a nightclub. (ANI)

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‘Osama’s handshake was limp, like shaking a wet fish’

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): The handshake by world’s most dreaded terrorist Osama bin Laden has been described as limp, and like shaking a wet fish by a producer of CNN who met the terror mastermind.

CNN producer Peter Bergen, who wrote The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaeda’s Leader, met the most dreaded terrorist in March 1997 when he went to film his first television interview.

Bergen narrates about the extra security around bin Laden and how they were taken to his hideout at night changing vehicles blindfolded.

The interview took place near the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan where Bergen and his crew were electronically swept for tracking devices, and had to pass through three groups of guards armed with sub-machineguns.

“Bin Laden made no effort at small talk, wanting to get the interview done as soon as possible. Peter Jouvenal, our British cameraman, remembers that bin Laden’s handshake was limp, like shaking a wet fish,” The Times quoted him, as saying.

“I don’t recall shaking his hand but I do remember that he took frequent sips from a cup of tea, giving him an air that was more feline than fierce, and his blistering diatribe against the US for its policies in the Middle East was delivered in a barely audible whisper. After an hour he was gone, as suddenly as he had arrived,” he adds.

He also narrates Abdel Bari Atwan, a London-based Palestinian journalist who interviewed him in Afghanistan in 1996, as saying that Bin Laden, it seems, had prepared for life as a fugitive for years, adopting a monk-like detachment from material comforts.

Zaynab Khadr, whose family lived with the al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan during the late 1990s, was quoted by the author as saying that he did not even allow his children to drink cold water because he wanted them to be prepared for the day when there’s no cold water.

He quotes Bin Laden as once instructing his followers: “You should learn to sacrifice everything from modern life like electricity, air-conditioning, refrigerators, gasoline. If you are living the luxury life, it’s very hard to go to the mountains to fight.”

In a tape posted to Islamist websites in February 2006, he says bin Laden confirmed his willingness to be martyred: “I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don’t want to die humiliated or deceived.” (ANI)

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Authorities promote blackberry production among Uttarakhand farmers

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Nainital, Sep 9 (ANI): In an initiative to promote European blackberry production in Uttarakhand, the state government have authorities distributed saplings of the fruit among farmers across the street.

Blackberry is not sown in the country, but the prospect of rich dividends from international markets has made the authorities and farmers to adapt to the fruit.

Sudhir Chaddha, agriculture specialist and director of Floriculture Park located in Chafi, said that the farmers in the country were at an advantage, as the fruit could be reaped two months in advance as compared to their European counterparts.

“Several European tourists when they visited India said that if we grow blackberries in India and send the frozen fruit to Europe it could be lucrative business, as the blackberries’ were not grown in Europe at that time,” Chaddha said.

“We grow blackberries two months in advance as compared to the farmers in Europe. This will be a great advantage for the blackberry farmers in India,” he added.

It is grown at an altitude of 2000-4000 feet. The fruit requires cold climate preferably less than 30 degrees centigrade for a healthy crop.

The best months for blackberry cultivation are February, March and April while the light soil is ideal for their cultivation. (ANI)

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Delhi Court to hear Bofors pay-off case today

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 8 (ANI): A Delhi court will hear the Bofors payoffs case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi today. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may reveal its course of action following the withdrawal of Interpol’s Red Corner Notice against him.

The matter is to come up for hearing before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.

During the brief hearing on April 30, Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, appearing for CBI, had informed the court that the Red Corner Notice issued against Quattrocchi was withdrawn in November last year.

The ASG had also sought two months time to decide on the future course of action in the politically-sensitive case on the court’s query as to what options were left with the probe agency following the withdrawal of the Red Corner Notice.

The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s, when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply the Indian Army with 155 mm howitzer guns.

The court had on February 10, 1997, sent letters to Malaysia and the UAE seeking the arrest and extradition of Quattrocchi.

The CBI had registered the FIR in the Bofors case on January 22, 1990, three years after Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, claimed that A B Bofors, the makers of the 155 mm howitzers, had paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to secure the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal.The contract between the Indian government and the Swedish Company for the supply of 400 field guns was signed on March, 24, 1986. (ANI)

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‘Smell of space’ strong, metallic and unique, say NASA astronauts

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 7 (ANI): NASA astronauts aboard the US space shuttle Discovery have said that the smell of space, which is regarded as the final frontier, is strong, metallic and unique.

“There is one smell up here that is really unique though and that is the smell, we just call it ‘the smell of space’,” said NASA engineer and astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is on board US space shuttle Discovery.

“I haven’t had a chance to do a spacewalk yet, but when the other guys did and they came back in, there’s this really, really strong metallic smell,” he added.

For rookie astronaut Kevin Ford, Discovery’s pilot, both the sounds and smells of space have surprised him.

“It’s like something I haven’t ever smelled before, but I’ll never forget it,” he said. “You know how those things stick with you,” he added.

Chamitoff and Ford are among 13 astronauts on board the International Space Station and US space shuttle Discovery.

Astronauts from Discovery have concluded a third and final spacewalk, installing new equipment on the International Space Station (ISS), though failing to connect some of the cables.

The spacewalkers deployed a new payload attachment system, replaced a failed gyro assembly, installed two GPS antennae and did some work to prepare for the installation of the Node 3 “Tranquility” module next year.

Built in Italy by the European Space Agency, Node 3 “Tranquility” is scheduled to be flown to the ISS next February.

It contains the most advanced life support systems designed to recycle waste water and generate oxygen. (ANI)

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Rihanna wants ‘stay away’ ban lifted off Chris Brown

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Sep 4 (ANI): Barbadian singer Rihanna is reportedly very furious and upset over the fact that her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown has been ordered to stay away from her.

Brown, 20, was formally sentenced on September 1 to five years probation for the February assault on Rihanna, and also to six months of community labour in Virginia.

He will be spending 1400 hours removing graffiti and washing cars.

He has also been ordered not to contact the ‘Umbrella’ singer in any way for the next five years.

He also must stay 100 yards from her, unless they are both at an entertainment-related event, in which he must stay 10 yards away.

But sources have revealed that Rihanna has been working to get Brown’s restraining order lifted.

“When Rihanna got word from her attorney that the judge refused to lift the ban, she was really upset,” News.com.au quoted an insider as having told Britain’s Now magazine.

“She started calling her friends and saying how stupid it was and that Chris would never hurt her again. She was really indignant about it,” the source added. (ANI)

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Chris Brown to wash cars, pick up trash as assault punishment

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 4 (ANI): R and B singer Chris Brown will be washing cars, picking up trash and removing graffiti as a part of the community service ordered by court for assaulting Rihanna.

The 20-year-old star has been given five years probation and ordered to serve six months hard labour in his home state of Virginia after pleading guilty to assaulting the ‘Umbrella’ hitmaker in February (09), reports Contactmusic.

Brown’s punishment has been revealed in a letter from Richmond, Virginia Police chief Bryan Norwood to the court in Los Angeles where Brown was sentenced.

The letter reads, “It is my understanding that the Court desires the imposed community service to be labour intensive. Along those lines, we are prepared to put Mr Brown to work in the community performing manual labour tasks, such as graffiti removal, trash pick up, washing cars, cleaning, maintaining grounds, etc.”

Brown has also been asked to pick up the bill for extra security during his punishment in case members of the public find out his location.

The letter adds, “He will be responsible for paying any costs incurred regarding the facilitation of this arrangement to include adequate security from the public (in the event they become aware of his presence) and one-on-one supervision where special projects are instituted.” (ANI)

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Now, preferential voting for best film Oscar

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 2 (ANI): The voting pattern for deciding the best movie at the Oscars is all set to change.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which presents the Oscars said preferential voting will now decide the best film.
Under the system, voters will rank nominees in their order of preference from 1 to 10.

The nominee who bags the most votes will be declared the winner.

The same preferential voting is used by the Academy in its nominating process.

However, it is being introduced to judge films for the first time since 1945.

The new voting procedure has been brought in to bring in more movies to compete for the award. Now 10 films can be accommodated in the category, which allowed only 5 previously.

The BBC quoted Academy president Tom Sherak as saying: “Instead of just marking an X to indicate which one picture they believe to be the best, members will indicate their second, third and further preferences as well,”

He said this would “establish the best picture recipient with the strongest support of a majority of our electorate”.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be declared on February 2, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. (ANI)

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NASA’s Orion spacecraft passes significant design milestone

September 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 2 (ANI): NASA’s Orion spacecraft has passed a significant design milestone by completing the Orion Project’s preliminary design review (PDR), and thus taking a major step toward building the next crew exploration vehicle.

Orion is being designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and other destinations.

The preliminary design review is one of a series of checkpoints that occurs in the design life cycle of a complex engineering project before hardware manufacturing can begin.

As the review process progresses, details of the vehicle’s design are assessed to ensure the overall system is safe and reliable for flight and meets all NASA mission requirements.

The Orion features a capsule-shaped crew module designed for maximum crew operability and safety, a service module housing utility systems and propulsion components and a launch abort system for improved astronaut safety.

The preliminary design review evaluated the vehicle’s capability, as currently designed, to support three types of missions: flights to the International Space Station (ISS), weeklong missions to the moon and missions to the moon for up to 210 days.

“This is the successful culmination of all of the design trade studies and activities to date,” said Mark Geyer, manager of the Orion Project Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“As a project, a program and an agency, we are reviewing the design maturity, strategy and plans for NASA’s next human spacecraft and agreeing that this is the architecture we are going to build,” he added.

Teams representing each subsystem of Orion conducted focused reviews from February to July before proceeding to the overall vehicle-level review.

The preliminary design review lasted about two months and included reviewers from all 10 NASA field centers to evaluate the hundreds of design products delivered by the Lockheed Martin-led industry partnership.

According to Cleon Lacefield, vice president and Orion project manager at Lockheed Martin in Denver, “To date, we have completed more than 300 technical reviews, 100 peer reviews and 18 subsystem design reviews.”

The PDR process culminated with a review board that concluded on August 31 and established the basis for proceeding to the critical design phase of Orion.

NASA will continue the review process with an independent agency-level evaluation to validate the PDR results and gain formal approval to transition the project into the next life cycle phase. (ANI)

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Karnataka Housing Minister resigns following defeat in by poll

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Aug 31 (ANI): Karnataka Housing Minister V. Somanna resigned from the state cabinet on Monday following his defeat in the recent by polls to the state assembly.

Somanna handed over his resignation to the Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa.

“I will take a decision on accepting his resignation after consulting the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief D.V.Sadananda Gowda and national general secretary Ananth Kumar and the party high command,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after receiving the resignation letter.

Somanna, who was earlier, elected from the Govidrajnagar constituency in Bangalore resigned from his seat as well as from the Congress Party to join BJP in February.

Subsequently Somanna was rewarded with a cabinet birth in the Yeddyurappa Government.

Somanna who is known for his innovative election strategies, tasted maiden defeat in his political career against debutant Priyakrishna of Congress in the by polls on August 18.

The two-day southern region meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) held in Davangere in central Karnataka on Sunday asked Yeddyurappa to seek the resignation of Somanna.

The BJP is reward Somanna with another post as the elections to the Brihat Bangalore Municipal Corporation (BBMC) are on the cards. Somanna played a crucial role in party’s victory in all the three Lok Sabha seats in Bangalore in the 2009 general elections.

Somanna is the third minister to resign from the Yeddyurappa government during the last one-year. Earlier S.K. Bellubbi, and Krishnayya Setty resigned from cabinet to make way to accommodate new faces in the cabinet. (ANI)

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Britney went on tour to avoid $100m loss: Book

August 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 30 (ANI): Britney Spears was forced to hit the road just months after a public breakdown because she faced financial ruin, says the author of a new book.

Best-selling author and journalist Steven Dennis claims in a new book, ‘Britney: Inside The Dream’, that she stood to lose as much as 100 million dollars if she failed to honor the tour commitments that she made prior to her meltdown.

Dennis spent six months writing and researching the book, reports the Daily Express.

Robert Baker, the studio director at the Millenium Dance Complex where Britney regularly trains, told him: “If Britney didn’t go on tour she could have been hit for 100 million dollars because she was contractually obliged for another album and another tour and there was a deadline.

“The whole contract was set up and a timetable was in place before Britney had her meltdown.

“Had she quit and walked away then the recouped advances, penalties and accrued interest would have been near the 100-million-dollar mark – for someone estimated to be worth just 60 million dollars to 65 million dollars.”

Since announcing her world tour, critics have voiced their concerns that Britney was taking part in a gruelling nine-month world tour at a time when she remained mentally vulnerable.

Legally, she has been under the control of her father since February because of her mental problems.

Dennis adds, however: “I think the chief reason behind her tour was to protect Britney – firstly, to return her to an identity and routine in which she felt safe and secondly to safeguard her financially.” (ANI)

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Indian cricket team toils at Bangalore conditioning camp

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Aug 28(ANI): The Indian cricket team sweated hard on Friday, the second day of a four day conditioning camp that is being held at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here.

The conditioning camp before team’s trip to Sri Lanka is being held under the watchful eyes of coach Gary Kirsten, fielding coach Robin Singh and trainer Ramji Srinivasan.

Apart from regular exercise sessions, the players played football as part of their fitness regime.

India will participate in a tri-series in Sri Lanka that features New Zealand from Sept. 8-14. It has not lost a one-day series in the past year following a surprise tri-series victory in Australia last February.

India has recalled Rahul Dravid to the one-day team for the first time in almost two years to bolster their batting in Lanka and on pacy South African pitches at the Sept. 22-Oct. 5 Champions Trophy.

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar has also returned after opting out of the one-day series in the West Indies, which India had won 2-1.

Ishant Sharma will spearhead the five-man pace attack in the absence of experienced left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, who has been ruled out of action until the end of the year following surgery on an injured shoulder.

The selected team for Sri Lankan series includes Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra and Abhishek Nayar. (ANI)

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Hindu board dismisses allegations of financial impropriety against Malay temple

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Georgetown (Malaysia), Aug.27 (ANI): The Hindu Endowment Board in Penang has dismissed allegations of impropriety over money raised by the Sri Ramar Temple here last year.

Board chairman A. Tana-sekharan said the money collected by the temple at Solok York last year only amounted to RM 66,589.49, after payments and expenses were deducted, and not RM83,000 as claimed by its former committee members.

He said the temple had raised almost RM 110,000 in February last year before the deductions.

“The temple gave us the first RM 60,000 in April and the rest in July. The money is in the temple’s account, which is governed by the board,” the New Strait Times quoted him as saying at a press conference at the temple yesterday.

Tanasekharan was responding to the temple’s former committee members’ demand to know what had happened to the RM 83,000 they had given to the board for the temple’s consecration ceremony and also to carry out programmes for single mothers and poor students.

He said the amount collected during the fundraiser was smaller and explained that the event was approved by the board to collect donations.

The money was to clear its deficits, which totalled over RM 96,000 as at April 2008. (ANI)

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Tarantino to receive Douglas Excellence honour for contribution to cinema

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 27 (ANI): Quentin Tarantino is set to be honoured with the 2009 Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film for his contribution to cinema.

The ‘Kill Bill’ director will receive the honour at a pre-event for the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, that will run from 4-14 February, 2010 in California.

“We are beyond excited to be able to honour a man who has turned filmmaking on its ear,” Contactmusic quoted festival executive director Roger Durling as saying.

“He has forever changed the direction of American cinema,” Durling added.

Douglas will present the award to the ‘Inglourious Basterds’ filmmaker at a gala dinner on October 22. (ANI)

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‘NWFP, FATA most unsafe region for journalists’

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Peshawar, Aug.26 (ANI): Monday’s incident in which an Afghan journalist, Janullah Hashimzada, was brutally murdered in Jamrud sub-division of Khyber Agency has once again highlighted that the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are the two most unsafe areas for journalists in the region.

About 12 journalists have been killed by extremists and many kidnapped since the Taliban established its writ in the region.

Musa Khan Khel, correspondent of The News and Geo News in Swat, was killed in February this year while returning home after covering a meeting of the banned Tanzim Nifaze Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM).

Another journalist from the Valley, Mohammad Shoaib, was shot dead by the security forces for alleged violation of curfew. He was taking his daughter to hospital when security personnel opened fire at him.

Similarly several media persons, who were constantly bringing the brutalities of the Taliban to the fore, have been killed by militants over the last one year.

While the government and the Army claims that extremists have been forced to retreat and the region is now safe for thousands of displaced people to return, there still exists severe threats to the lives, properties and families of media persons in NWFP and FATA, The News reports. (ANI)

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Pressmart Indonesia Print Media Awards launched

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Indonesia, Aug 24 (ANI/Business Wire India): Pressmart Media Ltd, (www.pressmart.com), a global leader in the digital publishing and delivery solutions, today announced the launch of “Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards (IPMA)” in a bid to recognize the best publishing houses in Indonesia over the calendar year 2009, just after associating with the magazine publishers in Singapore, for its awards as the lead sponsor.

IPMA will be conferred annually starting February, 2010, is the exciting new competition created to promote magazines, tabloids and newspapers – both in print and digital and also encourage the publishing industry in Indonesia.

The Indonesian leading newspaper publisher’s association, Serikat Penerbit Suratkabar (SPS) Pusat will host the Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards.

The nominations are open to the registered members of the SPS and all other publications in Indonesia. IPMA finalist entries will be put in front of jury members led by Pressmart, SPS and highly reputed industry experts from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

SPS Chairman, Dahlan Iskan said: “The Pressmart-Indonesia Print Media Awards are unique in recognizing excellence, innovation and outstanding creative output throughout the print media supply chain. These awards will set new benchmarks, bring new insights and most importantly be an ideal learning opportunity for publishing houses to succeed in today’s uncertain economy.”

“We are delighted to launch the first of its kind publishing awards in Indonesia,” said Sanjiv Gupta, Chairman and CEO of Pressmart.

“Most importantly, we want to recognize all of these inspirational print media houses and encourage the publishing industry in Indonesia for the amazing work that they do,” added Gupta. (ANI)

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