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Saturday, April 5, 2008

Show me the money


When Aishwarya Rai was approached for the role that went to Ameesha Patel in Mangal Pandey the Rising, she reportedly asked for a fee close to leading man Aamir Khan's (around Rs 7 crore). The producer refused, but that was then. Today, Aishwarya and fellow leading ladies charge what they want and get it.

Kareena Kapoor charged roughly Rs 2 crore per film before Jab We Met, the success of which has pushed her price up to Rs 3.5 crore, say industry sources. Aishwarya is charging Rs 4 crore for Robot opposite Rajnikanth, while Priyanka Chopra reportedly charges Rs 4-5 crore per film. Suddenly, fees for Bollywood heroines seem to be soaring.

Elite list
Preity Zinta charges Rs 3 crore, for instance, but usually does films with banners like Yash Raj or Dharma Productions, which are like family, hence a 'discount'. Rani Mukerji, whose fee hovers around Rs 2-3 crore, is similarly choosy.

However, even a junior actor like Amrita Rao is charging Rs 2 crore. Bipasha Basu charges around Rs 2 crore, too, as does Katrina Kaif. In fact, Katrina's two-film deal with Studio 18 is worth Rs 6 crore, not to mention the Rs 1.5 crore she was paid for an item song in Blue. Just to put that in perspective, at her peak, Madhuri Dixit charged a mere Rs 20 lakh while Sridevi commanded around Rs 25 lakh per film.

Justified expenditure?
Though the male A-listers (the Khans, Akshay Kumar, and Hrithik Roshan, for example) charge between Rs 7 and Rs 12 crore per film, Ash and Kareena are now paid roughly the same as John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan.

"Few stars can ensure a good initial. And the number of women in this bracket is fewer, so they naturally cost more," says UTV Motion Pictures CEO S. Roy Kapoor.

The flip side
The glass ceiling still exists, however. As distributor Niraj Manchanda says, "Only heroines with a strong overseas market will benefit. These prices are irrelevant in the Indian market."

When Shilpa Shetty asked for Rs 50 lakh for an item song in Krazzy 4, director Rakesh Roshan went to Rakhi Sawant. So it will be of interest to see how far the industry sustains these rates.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

New £220m shopping centre opens



A new £220m shopping centre has officially opened in Cambridge.

The Grand Arcade has taken seven years to plan and complete and is home to 53 shops over two levels. It also has parking spaces for nearly 1,000 cars.

The Mayor of Cambridge, Jenny Bailey, cut the ribbon to mark the centre's official opening.

Those behind the project hope the new development will establish Cambridge as one of the main shopping destinations in the East

Reliance Money gets approval to operate in Oman


MUMBAI: Reliance Money, a financial products distribution firm, on Thursday said it has got approval for setting up a branch and offering investment advice in Oman.

The Anil Ambani Group firm has become the first Indian company to receive 'in -principal' approval from the Capital Market Authority (CMA) Board, the regulator in Oman, a company statement said.

"Having successfully launched our operations in the UAE, we now plan to offer cost-effective, quality financial products and services to our clients in the Sultanate of Oman. This is a part of our endeavour to reach out to the large NRIs and PIOs in the Middle East," Reliance Money Director and CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

The company aims to tap 20 million Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian origin (PIOs) residing in Middle East through the venture.

Reliance Money would initially launch its broking and mutual fund distribution services.

The company would also offer a mobile portal that would allow users to get free real-time access to market information on their phones, in addition to real-time chat facility, with its experts, to get high quality market research and guidance to take an informed decision.

It also plans to offer portfolio management services at an entry level of as low as 50,000 dollar, the statement added.

In February this year, Reliance Money had made an entry in the Middle East by launching its bouquet of cost effective and secure financial services in the UAE.

"We plan to enter other Gulf countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar in the next 6-12 months," Bandyopadhyay added.

Protests rightly focus on the Olympic Games


This summer’s Olympic Games are supposed to be China’s “coming-out party,” with elaborate plans in place to show off the country’s growing economic and political strength.
For example, Chinese officials plan to stop much of Beijing’s traffic on the days of the games to lower air pollution. They have moved entire neighborhoods, and built new buildings. What the Chinese government hasn’t done is meet international human rights norms. At least 90 people have been killed in Tibet in recent weeks, in yet another police crackdown. Peaceful protests have led to bloody streets and a restriction of media reports to the outside world.
So it’s no surprise that the Olympics is turning into a pressure point the world community is using to try to persuade the Chinese to lighten up in neighboring Tibet. Many people are starting to speak out in favor of boycotting the games, or at least the Aug. 8 opening ceremony.
Stanislav Sedláček is one of them. The Brno native was among the pro-Tibetan activists detained for trying to block a group carrying the Olympic torch in a ceremony in Greece Sunday, March 23, according to the Czech News Agency.
A number of politicians have also gotten involved in local protests, including Green Party leaders Martin Bursík and Kateřina Jacques, and former President Václav Havel. Bursík and Prague Mayor Pavel Bém have both pledged to boycott the opening ceremony in Beijing. And hundreds of people have marched against the oppression in Tibet in recent weeks in Prague, a spontaneous outpouring of support from people who know firsthand about political repression.
It’s good to see Czechs involved in the growing world protest. No voice is too small in this movement, which is picking up momentum. Bernard Kouchner, France’s outspoken foreign affairs minister, has called idea of boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony “interesting.” A former human rights activist, he said he plans to discuss it with other foreign ministers from the 27-nation European Union next week.
A boycott of the opening ceremony could embarrass China to soften its stance on Tibet without hurting the Olympics competition or its athletes. And it would show that the world community is willing and able to mount a united front against egregious human rights violations.
Too bad other world leaders don’t agree. Czech President Václav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek have both said they plan to attend the games, though they have denounced the Chinese government’s violent suppression of Tibetan protests. The list of other leaders who plan to attend, according to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, includes U.S. President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Since the Chinese have spent the past two or three decades trying to exterminate Tibetan culture, it might seem a little late in the game for world leaders to act outraged.
But in the arena of human rights violations, it’s never too late to speak out.

Bush and Bin Laden's virtual war



To contemplate a prewar map of Baghdad - as I do the one before me, with sectarian neighborhoods traced out in blue and red and yellow - is to look back on a lost Baghdad, a Baghdad of our dreams. My map of 2003 is colored mostly a rather neutral yellow, indicating the "mixed" neighborhoods of the city, predominant just five years ago.

To take up a contemporary map after this is to be confronted by a riot of bright color: Shi'ite blue has moved in irrevocably from the east of the Tigris River; Sunni red has fled before it, as Shi'ite



militias pushed the Sunnis inexorably west toward Abu Ghraib and Anbar province, and nearly out of the capital itself. And everywhere, it seems, the pale yellow of those mixed neighborhoods is gone, obliterated in the months and years of sectarian war.

I start with those maps out of a lust for something concrete, as I grope about in the abstract, struggling to quantify the unquantifiable. How indeed to "take stock" of the "war on terror"? Such a strange beast it is, like one of those mythological creatures that is part goat, part lion, part man. Let us take a moment and identify each of these parts. For if we look closely at its misshapen contours, we can see in the "war on terror":

# Part anti-guerrilla mountain struggle, as in Afghanistan.
# Part shooting-war-cum-occupation-cum-counterinsurgency, as in Iraq.
# Part intelligence, spy v spy covert struggle, fought quietly - "on the dark side", as US Vice President Dick Cheney put it shortly after September 11, 2002, - in a vast territory stretching from the southern Philippines to the Maghreb and the Strait of Gibraltar.
# And finally the "war on terror" is part, perhaps its largest part, virtual war - an ongoing, permanent struggle, and in its ongoing political utility not wholly unlike author George Orwell's famous world war between Eurasia, East Asia and Oceania that is unbounded in space and in time, never ending, always expanding.

Snowflakes drifting down
President George W Bush announced this virtual war three days after September 11, 2001, in the National Cathedral in Washington, appropriately enough, when he told Americans that "our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil".

Astonishing words from a world leader - declaring that he would "rid the world of evil". Just in case anyone thought they might have misheard the sweep of the president's ambition, his national security strategy, issued a few months later, was careful to specify that "the enemy is not a single political regime or person or religion or ideology. The enemy is terrorism - premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents".

Again, a remarkable statement, as many commentators were quick to point out; for declaring war on "terrorism" - a technique of war, not an identifiable group or target - was simply unprecedented, and, indeed, bewildering in its implications. As one counterinsurgency specialist remarked to me, "Declaring war on terrorism is like declaring war on air power."

Six-and-a-half years later, evil is still with us and so is terrorism. In my search for a starting point in taking stock of those years, I find myself in the sad position of pondering fondly what have become two of the saddest words in the English language: Donald Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary.

Remember him? In late October 2003, when I was in Baghdad watching the launch of the so-called Ramadan Offensive - five simultaneous suicide bombings, beginning with one at the headquarters of the Red Cross, the fiery aftermath of which I witnessed - Rumsfeld was in Washington still denying that an insurgency was underway in Iraq. He was also drafting one of his famous "snowflakes", those late-night memoranda that he used to rain down on his terrorized Pentagon employees.

This particular snowflake, dated October 16, 2003, and entitled "Global war on terrorism", reads almost poignantly now, as the defense secretary gropes to define the war that it has become his lot to fight: "Today we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror," he wrote. "Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas [seminaries] and the radical clerics are recruiting, training and deploying against us?"

Rumsfeld asks the right question, for beyond the obvious metrics like the number of terrorist attacks worldwide - which have gone up steadily and precipitously since 9/11 (for 2006, the last year for which US State Department figures are available, by nearly 29%, to 14,338); and the somewhat subtler ones like the percentage of those in the Middle East and the broader Muslim world who hold unfavorable opinions of the United States (which soared in the wake of the invasion of Iraq and have fallen back just a bit since) - apart from these sorts of numbers which, for various and obvious reasons, are problematic in themselves, the key question is: How do you "take stock" of the "war on terror"?

Ultimately, as Rumsfeld perceived, this is a political judgment, for in its essence it has to do with the evolution of public opinion and the readiness of those with certain political sympathies to move from holding those opinions to taking action in support of them.

What "metrics" do we have to take account of the progress of this "evolution"? Well, none really - but we do have the guarded opinions of intelligence agencies, notably this rather explicit statement from the US government's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of April 2006, entitled "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States", which reads in part: "Although we cannot measure the extent of the spread with precision" - those metrics again - "a large body of all-source reporting indicates that activists identifying themselves as jihadists, although still a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic distribution. If this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."

Dark words, and yet that 2006 report looks positively sanguine when set beside two reports from a year later, both leaked in July 2007. A National Intelligence Estimate entitled "The Terrorist Threat to the US Homeland" noted that al-Qaeda had managed - in the summary in the Washington Post - to reestablish "its central organization, training infrastructure and lines of global communication" over the previous two years and had placed the United States in a "heightened threat environment ... The US Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years."

This NIE - the combined opinion of the country's major intelligence agencies - only confirmed a report that had been leaked a couple days before from the National Counterterrorism Center, grimly entitled "Al-Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West". This report concluded that al-Qaeda, in the words of one official who briefed its contents to a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago", "has regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001", and has managed to create "the most robust training program since 2001, with an interest in using European operatives".

Another intelligence official, summarizing the report to the Associated Press, offered a blunt and bleak conclusion: al-Qaeda, he said, is "showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States".

Given these grim results, one must return to one of the more poignant passages in Rumsfeld's "snowflake" released to flutter down on his poor Pentagon subordinates back in those blinkered days of October 2003. Having wondered about the metrics, and what could and could not be measured in the "war on terror", the secretary of defense posed a critical question: "Does the US need to fashion a broad, integrated plan to stop the next generation of terrorists?"

For me, the poignancy comes from Rumsfeld's failure to see that, in effect, he and his boss had already "fashioned" the "broad, integrated plan" he was asking for. It was called the Iraq war

David Beckham has no plans to quit England after 100th appearance



PARIS — David Beckham has no intention of saying goodbye to England after reaching 100 appearances.

The Los Angeles Galaxy star, who reached the milestone Wednesday night, maintains the wave he gave when he walked off during England's 1-0 loss to France was just an acknowledgment of the standing ovation that even the French fans gave him.

"I don't know where the rumours came from but they weren't from me," Beckham said. "It is 100 not out as far as I am concerned. The wave at the end was not a goodbye, just a thank you.

"The reception when I came off from both sets of fans was amazing. You obviously expect it off your own fans and I thank them for that but from the French people as well, it was an amazing standing ovation."

Although Beckham didn't even have a shot on goal and collected a yellow card for a foul on French goalscorer Franck Ribery, he was satisfied with his performance.

"The most important thing for me was to prove my fitness and I felt that I did that. I felt very fresh and a lot better than I thought I would," he said after playing 62 minutes at the Stade de France.

"As much as you work hard in pre-season, there is nothing better than playing in games and I enjoyed it."

Even though he had been replaced, Beckham was the last England player to walk off the field. At the end of the game, he walked back on, hugged France defender William Gallas, and had a long talk with the Arsenal player before again waving and applauding the fans.

"If there was another place I would have liked the game after Wembley, it would have been in Paris because it is where (Zinedine) Zidane played," he said in reference to his former Real Madrid teammate. Zidane scored two goals in the 1998 World Cup final at the same stadium where France beat Brazil 3-0.

"It is also one of my most favorite cities and I have a house in the South of France."

Beckham, who turns 33 in May, believes he will still be fit enough to play at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, assuming England qualifies.

"I want it to carry on," he said. "It doesn't stop here for me."

"I still feel I can perform at the highest level. The 2010 World Cup remains an ambition for me. I am quite a stubborn person so it is something I want to reach. I'd love to be part of the squad in 2010."

Although the loss was greeted by scathing criticism in the English media on Thursday, Capello was satisfied with the performance.

"As I told the players I am very happy with what they did because we made progress compared with the Switzerland game," he said, referring to England's 2-1 victory over the Swiss at Wembley last month.

"I am happy because I saw some very good things, especially because we played against a top level team and we showed our value. I am happy because I made the team play two different ways and I could see many players. Therefore my ideas are a lot clearer for the future."

Capello was also pleased with Beckham.

"He played like I know he can play," said Capello, who has only friendlies between now and qualifying for the 2010 World Cup because England failed to reach this summer's European championship.

"I only substituted him because I know how he can play and I wanted to see other players."

Beckham, who was overlooked by Capello for the Switzerland game because the Italian didn't consider him fit enough during Major League Soccer's off-season, called on the England fans to be patient with the new manager while he tries new formations, tactics and selections.

"As soon as a new manager comes in, there is always a period when it takes time to get going," Beckham said. "But he was pleased with the fact we passed the ball around well and in the first half kept a lot of possession.

"But if you don't score in that time, teams like France are always going to capitalize on it. And they did."

Iraqi Prime Minister Says No Retreat



BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister vowed Thursday to fight "until the end" against Shiite militias in Basra despite protests by tens of thousands of followers of a radical cleric in Baghdad and deadly clashes across the capital and the oil-rich south.

Mounting anger focused on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is personally overseeing operations against the militias dominated by Muqtada al-Sadr's supporters amid a violent power struggle in Basra, Iraq's southern oil hub.

The Iraqi leader made his pledge to tribal leaders in the Basra area as military operations continued for a fourth day with stiff resistance.

"We have made up our minds to enter this battle and we will continue until the end. No retreat," he said in a speech broadcast on Iraqi state TV.

The events threatened to unravel a Mahdi Army cease-fire and lead to a dramatic escalation in violence after a period of relative calm that had lasted for months.

Sadrist lawmakers in Baghdad issued a strongly worded statement demanding a halt to the military operations and appealing to Iraqi security forces to stand down.

"We call on our brothers in the Iraqi army and the brave national police not to be tools of death in the hands of the new dictatorship," Sadrist lawmaker Falah Shanshal said.

The crisis was seen as a test of the Iraqi government's ability to eventually take over its own security. The U.S.-led coalition has a minimal presence in Basra after British forces turned over responsibility for the area to the Iraqis in late December.

Demonstrators in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah called al-Maliki a "new dictator" as they carried a coffin bearing a crossed-out picture of the U.S.-backed prime minister, who belongs to a rival political party. A sea of people also rallied in Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite district.

Suspected Shiite extremists also continued to hammer the U.S.-protected Green Zone, firing several rounds of apparent rockets that sent a huge plume of smoke above the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad.

No casualties were immediately reported Thursday, but the military said a U.S. soldier, two American civilians and an Iraqi soldier were wounded in a volley the day before. An American financial analyst was killed Sunday in attacks on the Green Zone.

Meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped an Iraqi civilian spokesman for Baghdad security operations Thursday and killed three of his bodyguards after torching his house in a Mahdi Army stronghold in the capital.

The attack targeted Tahseen Sheikhly, a Sunni who often appeared with U.S. military and embassy officials at news conferences to tout the successes of the crackdown on sectarian violence that began in February 2007.

The demonstrating Sadrists are angry over recent raids and detentions, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces have taken advantage of the August cease-fire to crack down on the movement.

They have accused rival Shiite parties, which control Iraqi security forces, of engineering the arrests to prevent them from mounting an effective campaign after the Iraqi parliament agreed in February to hold provincial elections by the fall.

U.S. commanders have insisted the fight is being led by the Iraqi government and was not against al-Sadr's movement but breakaway factions believed to be funded and trained by Iran, which has denied the allegations.

Al-Maliki has warned gunmen in Basra to surrender their weapons by Friday or face harsher measures.

Despite the ultimatum, heavy gunfire and explosions resounded across Basra while helicopters and jet fighters buzzed overhead. The city's police chief escaped an assassination attempt late Thursday but three of his guards were killed in the roadside bombing.

Government troops have faced stiff resistance in neighborhoods controlled by the Mahdi Army in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad. Residents spoke of militiamen using mortar shells, sniper fire, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades to fight off security forces.

A Pentagon official said Wednesday that reports from the Basra area indicate that militiamen had overrun a number of police stations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Street battles that started Tuesday in Basra and Sadr City have spread to several other neighborhoods and southern cities, leaving more than 200 dead, including civilians, Iraqi troops and militants. That three-day figure was a rough estimate provided by police and hospital officials who could not give a more specific breakdown.

Iraqi officials reported 17 more people killed in overnight clashes in Sadr City, raising the total there to 40.

The death toll in the Shiite city of Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, also rose to at least 60 in fighting that continued into Thursday, according to a senior police official who asked not to be identified because of security concerns.

The U.S. military said four suspected Shiite extremists were killed in an airstrike but it had no further details.

The police chief in Kut, Abdul-Hanin al-Amara said 40 gunmen had been killed and 75 others wounded in that southeastern city.

A bomb struck an oil pipeline Thursday in Basra, a local oil official said, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to release the information.

Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, however, sought to assure international oil companies. The security situation in Basra "is still unstable ... but this has not reflected negatively (on) works at oil output and export installations," al-Shahristani told the U.S.-funded Radio Sawa.

In other violence reported by police, a booby-trapped car exploded near the Iraqi Red Crescent Society's offices in Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding five.

Gunmen also killed a U.S.-allied Sunni fighter and wounded his wife and daughter after storming his house in the northern city of Samarra late Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Spitzer's prostitute a 'Girl Gone Wild'



And Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is already capitalizing on scandal.
By Gina Piccalo, Times Staff Writer

Fresh out of prison, the irrepressible Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is already capitalizing on scandal, culling his archives for footage of call girl-turned-MySpace star Ashley Alexander Dupre and promising to release his findings on girlsgonewild.com "shortly."

It turns out that Dupre, identified last week as the prostitute who was hired to visit former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer at a Washington D.C. hotel in February, appeared in a 2003 "Girls Gone Wild" Spring Break production during an especially raucous weekend in Miami celebrating her 18th birthday, Francis said in a news release Tuesday.

"After fighting with a friend and getting thrown out of her hotel, Ms. Dupré sought out a nearby Girls Gone Wild bus, signed her paperwork and immediately began filming," the news release stated. "Ms. Dupré spent a full week on the GGW bus and shot seven full length tapes that included nudity and same sex contact. Dupré later took a Greyhound Bus home."

The discovery was a surprise to Francis. Just this morning, (3/18), he'd offered Dupre $1 million to host his 2008 Girls Gone Wild Spring Break Tour and pose for his new GGW magazine. But he wisely withdrew that costly offer when someone – he won't say who – tipped him off to the fact that he already had sexy footage of Dupre.

In the news release, Francis likened Dupre to "a cloud that keeps circling back over the landscape."

The irony of this statement was apparently lost on the GGW founder and CEO.

Francis, who served 11 months in a Nevada prison for two counts of tax evasion, was released a week ago from Nevada custody so he could face charges in Florida related to filming 17-year-old girls in a shower. A day later, he pleaded no contest in Florida to child abuse and prostitution charges and the judge released him on time served and fines. Then, he jumped on a plane and flew to L.A. to hold a press conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to herald his return to public life.

Francis still faces charges in L.A. of misdemeanor sexual battery for allegedly touching a woman inappropriately at a party.





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Parliament approves 20 member House Business Committee

Bollywood Celebs WITHOUT Make Up!!!

Actress Berry names her daughter


Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry has named her newborn daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry, her publicist has revealed.
Berry, 41, gave birth to Nahla, her first child, on Sunday.

Berry met the child's father, Gabriel Aubry, a 32-year-old model, while filming a Versace commercial in Los Angeles two years ago.

Last year, Berry said that playing a parent in her last film, Things We Lost In the Fire, had convinced her to become a mother.

Speaking at the UK premiere of the film in October, she said: "I knew from playing a mother in this movie... that I was meant to be a mother."

Berry has appeared in a number of blockbuster films, including X-Men and Catwoman, and won the best actress Oscar in 2002 for Monster's Ball.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Akon Concert Postponed


Fans of R & B Superstar Akon need only to wait a bit longer as his March-scheduled concert -Spring Break Sizzle - has been postponed due to delays in securing a Cayman temporary work permit for the headline act.

“This really is just a minor setback,” states Kenny Rankin of Monster Media, which is producing the event. “We anticipated some delays – although not as long as this – and we are confident that the Cayman Islands Immigration Department is simply doing its job in making sure we only get the highest caliber of performer here.”

The concert was originally scheduled for Saturday, 22 March at the Treehouse. The concert will now take place at a future date pending Akon’s availability and immigration approval. Organisers state, however, that most other planned elements will remain the same.

“There may be some shifts in supporting talent and the like because of the date change,” he stated. “However, we are going to leave the formula the same. We have an outstanding lineup of very supportive sponsors and everyone is on board to use the extra time to make this the best show possible.”

Backstreet Boys Still Gets Crowd Screaming


Backstreet Boys, one of the most popular boy bands of all-time, returned to Seoul for a successful concert at the Olympic Fencing Stadium, Saturday evening.

On their 16th year as Backstreet Boys, the now four-member group still has what it takes to get a crowd of thousands on its feet and screaming. Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, A. J. McLean and Nick Carter showed a lot of energy during the Seoul concert, which was their last stop on the Asian leg of their ``Unbreakable'' world tour.

Once the lights dimmed, the crowd roared with excitement as one by one, the Backstreet Boys appeared on stage. Each member was introduced in the same way a boxer is before a fight. Appropriately enough, they were all wearing satin boxer's robes as they sang ``Larger than Life.''

``It's great to be back to this beautiful country,'' Dorough said, in between songs.

Backstreet Boys performed several ballads and pop-rock songs from their recent albums ``Never Gone'' and ``Unbreakable.'' However, it was apparent the crowd knew more of the songs from the group's earlier albums.

To keep things fresh, the Backstreet Boys tweaked many of their hit songs such as ``I Want it That Way,'' ``As Long as You Love Me'' and ``Quit Playing Games (With My Heart).''

It's impossible to expect the Boys to sing and dance like they did in their music videos in the late 1990's, since the members are all in their early 30's except for 28-year old Carter. They still had a few dance moves, but none of their old complicated routines or flashy back-up dancers.

Even the stage seemed somewhat bare, with just a few chairs and the band. Only the lighting would change as the group performed different songs.

Backstreet Boys were at their best with romantic ballads like ``More than This.'' The Boys seemed pretty laid-back while singing ``Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,'' as they sat around a table, playing poker and smoking cigars.

Each member had a chance to do a solo performance. Carter and Littrell have already released their solo albums in the past years, while Dorough and McLean are currently working on theirs.

Dorough surprised many with a strong performance of a Latin-inspired number ``She's Like the Sun,'' which will appear on his forthcoming solo album. McLean did a rock song, ``Drive By Love,'' and Carter, who appeared to have some vocal problems, sounded hoarse while also doing a rock number. Littrell sang ``Welcome Home,'' which was a number one hit on the U.S. Christian music charts.

Since it was their last concert in Asia, they specially performed an extra song ``Unsuspecting Sunday Afternoon.''

Fans surprised the Backstreet Boys by throwing yellow airplanes towards the stage during the ``Inconsolable'' performance. The members looked surprised, but delighted the fans by throwing the airplanes back into the audience and even autographing some of the airplanes.
McLean thanked the fans for continuing to support the Backstreet Boys through the years.
``We really liked the paper airplanes. We never had anything like that. It was really cool,'' he said, as the fans cheered.

Backstreet Boys ended the concert with their hit ``Shape of My Heart,'' and a promise to be back in Seoul for another concert.

LA medical centre staff sacked for Spears snooping



Bosses at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles have fired a dozen employees for snooping in Britney Spears' records.

Hospital officials have suspended another six people after discovering as many as 20 staff members had attempted to defy medical centre rules and obtain confidential information about Spears, a recent patient.

The pop star was hospitalised in the facility's psychiatric ward at the beginning of last month.

Those disciplined include physicians, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

The security breaches also prompted hospital officials to reveal they had also disciplined and sacked staff for looking at Spears' confidential records following the birth to her first son, Sean Preston, in 2005.




UCLA officials reveal they sent a memo to all staff when Spears was admitted to hospital, warning employees that snooping through a celebrity patient's records would be considered a violation of federal patient privacy law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The email read: "Please remember that any unauthorized access by a workforce member will be subject to disciplinary action, which could include termination."

The hospital officials confirm those disciplined include both medical and non-medical employees, but no doctors were targeted for firing.

Pound Falls Most in Six Years Against Euro, Reaches Record Low



March 17 (Bloomberg) -- The pound fell 2 percent against the euro, the most in six years, declining to a record, after the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate and JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Bear Stearns Cos.

Britain's currency also dropped versus the dollar and fell to a three-year low against the yen after the Fed cut the rate a quarter-percentage point to 3.25 percent in its first weekend emergency action since 1979. The U.S. central bank will also provide JPMorgan as much as $30 billion to fund the purchase of Wall Street's fifth-biggest bank, and lend to the 20 firms that buy Treasury securities directly from it.

The pound dropped to 79.12 pence per euro, the lowest level since the common European currency's 1999 inception, and was at 78.39 pence by 7:22 a.m. in London, from 77.58 pence at the end of last week. It also slipped to $2.0150, from $2.0202 and traded at 195.86 yen, from 200.18 yen.

JPMorgan acquires troubled Bear

The deal values Bear Stearns at just $2 a share. Regulators hope purchase will stave off wider chaos in financial markets.


JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Sunday that it would acquire troubled Wall Street firm Bear Stearns for a mere fraction of what it was once worth amid deepening fears about further erosion of the world's financial markets.

The rock-bottom price left investors feeling queasy. Asian markets tumbled, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei index finishing Monday's session nearly 4% lower. U.S. stock futures plunged, indicating a miserable start for Wall Street.

The all-stock deal values Bear Stearns at $236 million, or just $2 a share. The company's stock had closed at $30 on Friday, down a staggering 47% for the day.

Regulators support the deal and the Federal Reserve provided $30 billion in funding: With the global credit crisis worsening, the Fed has been taking dramatic action to help banks and prevent widespread panic.

Over the past three days, roughly 200 JPMorgan staffers were working on the deal, assessing the strengths of Bear Stearns' different businesses and its exposure to toxic mortgage securities, JPMorgan executives said during a conference call held Sunday night.

They noted that the offering price, which comes at a steep discount to Bear Stearns book value price of $84 per share, was to provide a cushion to protect JPMorgan in turbulent times and would provide the company "margin for error."

The fire-sale price raises questions about the value of other investment banks.

"A $2 per share price will send a shudder through every investment bank investor in the world," said James Ellman, head of San Francisco-based Seacliff Capital, a hedge fund specializing in financial services. "Many will say that stand-alone investment banks' days are numbered."

That could spell trouble for firms such as Lehman Brothers and Jefferies Group, which, like Bear Stearns, don't have large asset or wealth-management businesses for support. These divisions are helping prop up firms such as Morgan Stanley during these tough times on Wall Street.

Bear Stearns was on the brink of financial collapse Friday when JPMorgan (JPM, Fortune 500) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said they would provide the brokerage a short-term loan. Bear was dealing with a classic run-on-the-bank: The firm's short-term creditors refused to lend the firm any more money and simultaneously demanded repayment of outstanding debt.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Sunday that talks about how to rescue Bear had continued throughout the weekend. He defended the Fed's bailout on Friday as "the right decision" and said the Bush administration was ready to take other actions to bring stability to the financial markets.

The fast-track deal, which is expected to close by the end of June pending shareholder approval, is expected to generate roughly $1 billion in after-tax earnings for JPMorgan over the next 12 to 18 months.
Risks and opportunities for JPMorgan

JPMorgan has been on the prowl for a prime brokerage business, which services hedge fund clients. This was one of Bear Stearns' specialties, though many of its customers started fleeing last week.

JPMorgan will likely focus on retaining clients of this division, while trying to wring out costs from businesses the two have in common, such as investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, and research. But at $2 a share, the bar is not too high to make the deal profitable, experts said.

The danger for JPMorgan will be its potential exposure to lawsuits from Bear Stearns' subprime mortgage division and risks from its derivatives business.

Bear Stearns has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and plans for them were not made clear.

As part of the deal, JPMorgan Chase will essentially act as a backstop for any current or future business transactions with Bear Stearns until the deal is completed. Even if Bear shareholders were to reject the buyout, which the JPMorgan executives believed was unlikely, any transactions leading up to then would still be guaranteed.

At the same time, JPMorgan would also take on Bear Stearns' mortgage portfolio, worth an estimated $33 billion as of the end of February. Just $2 billion of that amount was made up of subprime, with the remainder made up of both commercial mortgage backed securities as well as other residential mortgage securities.

Bear Stearns issued a statement late Sunday saying that as a result of the announcement, it would not report its first-quarter results on Monday, as previously scheduled.
Downward spiral

The deal marks an inglorious chapter for 85-year-old Bear Stearns, a storied Wall Street firm whose unraveling has been fast and furious.

Rumors that Bear Stearns was on the verge of collapse started buzzing around Wall Street trading desks last Monday. Chief Executive Alan Schwartz appeared on television on Wednesday afternoon to reassure the markets that the firm was stable. But on Thursday, the run on the bank picked up speed, forcing the government and JPMorgan Chase to step in the next day.

Shares of Bear Stearns (BSC, Fortune 500) opened last week at $69.75 and traded as high as $159 last year, before the firm's bad bets on subprime mortgages blew up two of its hedge funds last summer. To top of page

Xbox 360 shortages causing lagging sales?



After the latest figures from the NPD Group showed that the Xbox 360 was once again lagging substantially behind its competitors in US sales, Microsoft has cited a "shortage in console availability" as the main reason for the lagging sales.

The 360 sold 254,600 units for the month while the Nintendo Wii sold 351,800 units and the Sony PlayStation 3 sold 280,900 units. The console equally trailed its competitors for January.

"Our retailers are telling us that Xbox 360 is selling as fast as they can restock, but due to this high demand, Xbox 360 is experiencing temporary shortages," Microsoft said in an e-mail. "We are working as quickly as we can to replenish inventory."

The email also threw around other stats saying that the 360 was leading in competitors in other areas of the market. According to NPD those stats are true, with "$159 million USD being spent on Xbox 360 games in January, compared to $131 million on Wii games and $80 million for PS3 games."

Apple to iPhone devs: Keep on developing for Jailbroken iPhones guys!



By week’s end, almost everyone who had downloaded the SDK and offered to pay the $99 ($299 for enterprises) to become an official iPhone or iPod touch developer had received Apple’s polite but firm rejection letter:

“Dear Registered iPhone Developer, Thank you for expressing interest in the iPhone Developer Program. We have received your enrollment request. As this time, the iPhone Developer Program is available to a limited number of developers and we plan to expand during the beta period. We will contact you again regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time. Thank you for applying.”

What stings for the developers who got what reads like a pink slip is that they know Apple has already let its favorite partners under the tent. In addition to the companies that demoed at the March 6 event (EA, Salesforce, AOL, Epocrates, Sega) Apple quoted a quite a few more the press release (Intuit, Namco, Netsuite, PopCap, Rocket Mobile, Six Apart and THQ Wireless).

Hmmm. I’m disappointed, but not all that surprised.

The reason I’m disappointed is that this would have been a big opportunity for new and upcoming developers to get an opportunity to showcase apps for the iPhone and iPod touch in front of a large audience. I’m pretty sure that given the quality of apps that I’ve seen for jailbroken Apple devices that these apps would have been high quality and, most likely free (or near-free). However, I’m not surprised at Apple’s “greet and toss” tactic - greet the high-profile big-name commercial companies and invite them in under the velvet rope, and toss out the riff-raff who were going to make their products available at a price (or lack of a price) that would mean that Apple wouldn’t be making money off the products. To be fair though, demand was so high that it would almost impossible for Apple to cater for every developer, but remember who was whipped up that frenzy in the first place - Apple. Overpromise, generate lots and lots of hype, and then underdeliver.

Even when the great unwashed are allowed in, you can be guaranteed that a two-tier system will operate - one for the big names and one for everyone else. A level playing field it won’t be. It’s not just Apple’s ultra-secret nature that will hamper developers. Overdemand and control-freakery comes into the equation too.

This move is likely to send a message out to the dev community that could be harmful to Apple, one that says ”Keep on developing for Jailbroken iPhones guys!” I’m pretty sure that there will always be a huge demand for “unofficial” third party apps. So far Apple isn’t doing a good job of trying to convince jailbreakers to walk the straight and narrow.

Spam doesn't pay: man faces 26 year sentence for spamming


Spamming can pay big bucks, but it hasn't paid off for a Seattle man who was once considered the eighth-largest spammer in the world by Spamhaus. Robert Soloway, 28, pleaded guilty to electronic mail fraud, "snail" mail fraud, and not filing a tax return in 2005—when he reportedly made over $300,000 from his spamming activities.

Soloway was originally hit with a 35-count indictment in May 2007 charging him with fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. He was accused of using Chinese ISPs to send out spam e-mail using a database of 157.8 million e-mail addresses, as well as operating a botnet used for spamming. He faced significant jail time and the prospect of having to forfeit all of his spam-related assets to the federal government.

Soloway is no stranger to legal actions related to his illicit e-mail activities. He was sued by Microsoft in December 2003, but argued that his subcontractors were actually responsible for the spam that used forged hotmail.com reply-to addresses. In April 2005, a judge handed down a default judgment in Microsoft's favor, much to Soloway's chagrin.

A month later, Soloway formed SPAMIS: Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spam. A press release archived in a USENET group announced the organization's formation to alert everyone of "Microsoft's illegal, unsolicited, unethical, and fraudulent unsolicited e-mail spamming, e-mail address harvesting and e-mail list purchasing for use in spamming and various other reckless spamming related practices that everyone from the Microsoft CEO to Microsoft employees have engaged in for over 10 years now." SPAMIS threatened to bombard over 1.9 billion e-mail accounts with data the group reportedly obtained on "Microsoft's spamming practices."

The legal problems continued to mount for Soloway, who was sued by an Oklahoma ISP in 2005 for violating federal CAN-SPAM laws. Soloway fired his lawyer and eventually stopped showing up in court. As a result, the federal judge overseeing the case handed the ISP a $10 million default judgment.

Soloway has been jailed since being arrested, and it doesn't look as though he'll be seeing anything besides the inside of a prison cell for the foreseeable future. He's looking at a maximum of 26 years in prison as well as $625,000 fine. In addition, the government will move to seize his ill-gotten gains. His attorney told The Seattle Times that there's not much left to seize, saying that he's essentially broke.

Microsoft to license Adobe's Flash Lite




Even though it has plans to release a competing technology, Microsoft has agreed to license Adobe's Flash Lite technology for its Windows Mobile operating system and browser.

The two companies are expected to announce Monday that Microsoft has signed a license to use Flash Lite and Reader LE in future Windows Mobile handsets as plug-ins for Internet Explorer Mobile. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, such as what the companies plan to do when Microsoft releases Silverlight for Mobile, a competing technology.

Flash Lite is a stripped-down version of the ubiquitous Flash video player that allows mobile handsets to view Web sites created with the Flash technology. Think of Flash Lite as a slightly older version of Flash; the most current version of Flash Lite can't properly display Web sites created with the newest version of Flash, Flash 9, but it works with sites created using older versions of the technology.

As smartphones become more and more common, people are starting to get fed up with the basic Web surfing experience offered by many phones. They want something that looks more like a PC experience, with rich graphics and video. But that's hard to duplicate on a device with a smaller screen, less memory, a slower processor, and battery life requirements.

Enter Flash Lite. "Past technologies have failed trying to get into mobile by cramming a desktop experience into a mobile device," said Anup Murkaka, director of technical marketing for mobile and devices at Adobe. "The technology has to bend to the use cases, rather than the use cases bending to the technology."

Microsoft's Derek Snyder agreed. "One of the hallmark experiences on any smartphone is the Web browsing experience," said Snyder, a product manager with Microsoft's mobile-communications business. Strengthening that experience, as well as adding support for PDF documents through the Reader LE license, was the motivation for Microsoft to make the deal, he said.

Flash Lite has several limitations compared with regular Flash, beyond the inability to support much of Flash 9. Apple CEO Steve Jobs rather emphatically declared his disdain for Flash Lite at Apple's annual shareholder meeting, saying Flash Lite was "not capable of being used with the Web." Murkaka declined to comment specifically on Jobs' put-down, but noted that Flash Lite ships on 500 million mobile devices.

He did acknowledge that developers using Adobe's Flex tools can't build Flash Lite Web pages, although the newer CS3 suite of tools does support Flash Lite.

But one huge advantage of Flash Lite is that it's currently available for mobile devices. Microsoft's Silverlight for Mobile is not.

Silverlight is Microsoft's attempt to rein in on Adobe's position in the Web development market with Flash. Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle, though, in trying to get Web developers to build sites using its technology as opposed to Adobe's.

Earlier this month Microsoft said it wouldn't have a mobile version of Silverlight out until later this year. A technical preview is expected to arrive in the second quarter, but no other details have been released. Snyder declined to elaborate on the time frame for a production version of Silverlight for Mobile.

With Microsoft's Windows Mobile team now having to meet a surge in demand for Web-friendly mobile phones, led by the iPhone, licensing Flash Lite makes sense as a "for now" solution, at least until the company's own dog food is ready. The iPhone has been able to capture mobile Web surfers without any support for Flash technologies, something that other mobile devices running IE Mobile or Opera's mobile browser will likely try to exploit later this year.

Eventually, Microsoft expects to support both Flash Lite and Silverlight on its Windows Mobile handsets. "Flash is, for a lot of people, something they've already invested in," Snyder said. Having support for the incumbent while it tries to get Web developers on the Silverlight team makes sense; "it's good to have both," he said.

Vista Service Pack One Almost Here



"After numerous delays and an actual release reversal, the official release date for Vista service pack one has been set for Tuesday, March 18th on Windows Update and Microsoft Downloads. It will be released as an automatic update on April 18th. 'It's unclear so far how a February snafu will affect SP1's roll-out. Last month, after Microsoft pushed a pair of prerequisite patches to users, some reported that their machines refused to finish installing one of the fixes, then went into an endless series of reboots. Several days later, Microsoft pulled the update from automatic delivery, said it was working on a solution and promised it would "make the update available again shortly after we address the issue."' It would be a good time for those planning to adopt early to perform requisite backups and locate their restore media."

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sreesanth and Priyanka Chopra stage soap opera



After several weeks of heated speculation that cricket superstar Sreesanth was in love with Bollywood starlet Priyanka Chopra, here came the anti climax that this romance was stage managed for the publicity stunt of a soap brand.

The previous weeks were rife with news that Sreesanth and priyanka were seeing each other and even an alleged taped conversation between them declaring their love for each other was doing the rounds in newspapers and television.

These developments came to a climax on the evening of 13 March with a stage-managed show for the press. The show started with some dancers starting the event by a performance. Then, Aamir Ali, a popular TV. actor joined Sreesanth to sing and dance, serenading Priyanka Chopra who emerged finally to announce that the whole thing was a stage-managed affair to promote the Lux brand of soaps

This gimmick by the soap brand infuriated some press people. “Is love on sale? “,quipped some. But the actors were quick to defend the show.

“This was pre-planned. Since Sree, Aamir and I know each other so well, we thought Lux’s innovative idea of promotion would be fun” said Priyanka. She justified Lux’s publicity stunt by saying, “The concept was catchy besides it feels good to have two men fighting for you! I don’t think this concept was cheap or even misleading! We as celebrities laugh off so many things written about us by the media, which are not true. I am sure the people will take this ad in the right spirit and laugh it off too”.

A blushing Sreesanth admitted he is single. He denied he was looking for a Bollywood career. At present he only wishes to focus on his cricket, he said.

In all the brand promotion had all elements of a soap opera.

Samsung Unveils Digital Cameras And Camcorders In Indian Market



unveiled a range of superior 2008 series of Digital Still Samsung L730 Digital Cameracameras and camcorders in the Indian market.

The new range consists of the NV series, I series, L series and S series of digital still cameras and VP-HMX10A, VP-MX10A and VP-DX camcorders.

Mr. R Zutshi, Dy MD, Samsung India said, “In keeping with the changing consumer preferences , the new 2008 series of Samsung Digital Still Cameras comprises of Digital cameras with resolutions of 7,8 and 10 mega pixels , larger sized LCDs and sleek form factor .We have introduced color options across our different models as well.”

Priced at Rs 14,990, the sleek and classy i85 features 5x optical zoom lens, 8.1 camera resolution, 3 inch TFT LCD screen; face detection, multimedia player along with MP3 plus capability to record pictures in MPEG 4 format and flash animated user interface.

Targeted at users seeking superior features and better designing, the new “L830” and “L730” digital cameras are equipped with 2.5" LCD screens, 3X optical zoom, MPEG 4 movie recording ability along with an Advance Shake Reduction feature. Having a dense aluminum body, both the phones come with 8MP/7.2MP camera resolutions. The L830 is priced at Rs. 10,990, whereas the L730 is available at a price of Rs. 8,990/-.

Under the S-series, the company unveiled two entry-level digital cameras including the 7.2 mega pixel “S760” and the 8.1 mega pixel “S860.” Along with 8.1/7.2 million pixels, both the cameras have a 3x optical zoom. They offers the best portrait shooting experience, allow clear shots without flash in indoor settings, and make use of Samsung’s exclusive DIS technology. The Mode Dial facility allows for smooth switching between different shooting alternatives ranging from Automatic Mode to Video Recording. New S860 and S760 is available in four different colors such as silver, pink, blue, and black ranging from Rs 8990 and Rs 6990 respectively.

Mr. Zutshi said, “We plan to aggressively tap the Photographic Channel and large format retail stores for our new Digital Still Camera range along with our regular CE Channel. Based on our innovative DSC range and our expanded channel reach, we expect to double our Digital Still Camera volumes this year.”

The company has also made announcement about the launching of its new range of sleek, compact digital camcorders including the VP-HMX10A, VPMX10A and VP-DX10 that offers easy-to-use, high-performance features along with amazing designs.

The newly launched camcorders make use of Samsung’s superior Flash Memory technology and provide a longer battery life and QuickStart in just 3 seconds. Their other features include a touch screen, unique Swivel Grip to rotate 135 degrees, and easy way for users to shoot video at very low or high angles.

The VP-HMX10A is the company’s first HD camcorder that comes with a 2.7-inch high-resolution touch panel LCD screen, 4GB of internal flash memory, and Samsung’s 50 fps Progressive technology. This camcorder is priced at Rs.34,900.

Corporates are welcome but....: Aamir Khan



New Delhi (PTI): Bollywood actor-director Aamir Khan is appreciative of the corporate houses entering the film production but wonders whether their movies would have proper scripts that "truly entertain audience".

The maker of box-office hit 'Taare Zameen Par' feels that the corporates would take time to establish themselves in the film world.

"It is good that the corporates are entering the film industry but there is no use of putting someone from the sectors like telecom or any other such sectors to head film production houses," Khan, who is known for making unconventional films like 'Mangal Pandey' and 'Lagaan', said.

"I have been reading scripts for the last 20 years. The corporates are just a baby and time should be given to them. It is very important to select the right script," he said while speaking at the India Today Conclave, here on Saturday.

Giving examples of his own movies, he said, "Had I taken the script of 'Lagaan' to a corporate house, I am sure most likely, they would not have agreed to make a movie with rural background and actors in 'dhotis'. At that time, movies were all about foreign locations and designer clothes."

Khan said, "The same would have been the case with 'Taare Zameen Par' (TZP). They most likely would not have agreed to make a film, if I told them the theme was child care and education. It is important to have people on board who can select good scripts".

Terming himself as a complete entertainer, he said, "I listen to scripts all the time. When I listen to them, I think and feel like an audience. If a script can make me move, cry, laugh, then I am sure it would do the same to the audience".

"When I heard the script of TZP for the first time, I cried. I am told, that is exactly what most of the audience did".

Pepsi drops Priyanka Chopra for Deepika Padukone




Beverages major PepsiCo, which has recently kicked off its new advertising campaign for the ensuing summer, has dumped Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra as its brand ambassador.

According to industry sources, instead of renewing the contract with the former Miss World which expired a few months back, PepsiCo has decided not to renew it.

Chopra, who was signed in 2005 for two years, has been replaced by model-turned actor Deepika Padukone. Priyanka had featured in a television commercial with Kareena Kapoor, which was directed by Farah Khan.

When contacted Pepsi officials refused to comment on the matter.

However, in an earlier interview with PTI PepsiCo India Executive Vice-President, Marketing (Cola), Sandeep Singh Arora had said, "from time to time we review the list of stars and depending on situation and who we think is right, we pick and choose."

As a part of the strategy to position Pepsi as a youth brand, the company had recently kicked off its new campaign for 2008, Yeh hai Youngistaan Meri Jaan featuring Deepika Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor.

The new commercial is to be followed by ads across radio, outdoor, Web and wireless, besides a series of events during the year, which could even include India's cricketing young guns led by MS Dhoni.

Beyond Bollywood, Pepsi's has been intensifying focus on young cricketers by roping in youngsters Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma and dropping ex-Indian captains Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid as ambassadors.

WIFW ends with increase in orders

NEW DELHI: Curtains came down on the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week 2008 on Sunday with several designers going home with substantial orders from domestic and foreign buyers.

The five-day fashion carnival witnessed domestic and international buyers from Middle-East, Europe and the US placing huge orders with the Indian designers.

Acknowledging it, designer Alpana Chauhan informed that she has received huge orders from the fashion week, besides building long-term relationships with both domestic and international buyers.