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The contingent of Pakistani models in Indian films is growing. First there were Meera Khan and Sana Nawaz . Now there’s model Mehreen Syed, who will feature in Sanjay Chauhan’s (who had penned the dialogue for Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara) period film set in Rajasthan in the 1940s, followed by Shashi Ranjan’s romantic drama.

Dear mom She says, people have mistaken perceptions about Pakistan. Models and actresses there are as talented as those in India, it’s just that we don’t have the right platform. Besides Muscat, where she’s walked the ramp for designer Hassan Shehryar , Syed has also worked in Paris and Milan. She says, I m a Syed. Humare yahan agar ladki kaam karna chaahe toh maarne-kaatne ki naubat aa jaati hai. Not many Indian directors know how to present a girl in the right manner. Why can’t Indian directors make films with Pakistani girls, which are not just about kissing and wearing skimpy clothes? - Mehreen Syed But Syed found a confidante in her mother, who is a lawyer. “I was abandoned by my family. Only my mother stood by me”, she says. Now, she has a toe-hold in Bollywood.

Beyond the kiss It’s an industry of dreams, it’s fascinating, she says. In the same breath, she explains the downsides.

The contingent of Pakistani models in Indian films is growing. First there were Meera Khan and Sana Nawaz . Now there’s model Mehreen Syed, who will feature in Sanjay Chauhan’s (who had penned the dialogue for Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara) period film set in Rajasthan in the 1940s, followed by Shashi Ranjan’s romantic drama.

Dear mom
She says, people have mistaken perceptions about Pakistan.Models and actresses there are as talented as those in India, it’s just that we don’t have the right platform.

Besides Muscat, where she’s walked the ramp for designer Hassan Shehryar , Syed has also worked in Paris and Milan. She says, I m a Syed. Humare yahan agar ladki kaam karna chaahe toh maarne-kaatne ki naubat aa jaati hai. Not many Indian directors know how to present a girl in the right manner. Why can’t Indian directors make films with Pakistani girls, which are not just about kissing and wearing skimpy clothes? - Mehreen Syed

But Syed found a confidante in her mother, who is a lawyer. “I was abandoned by my family. Only my mother stood by me”, she says. Now, she has a toe-hold in Bollywood.

Beyond the kiss
It’s an industry of dreams, it’s fascinating, she says. In the same breath, she explains the downsides.

Not many Indian directors know how to present a girl in the right manner. I often get offers asking me to shed my clothes before the narration of the script, she says. Why can’t Indian directors make films with Pakistani girls, which are not just about kissing and wearing skimpy clothes? she asks.

Playing favourites
Syed says she’s been cautious about choosing both her films, I was supposed to work with Sanjay Chauhan in his film, Lahore , but I fell ill. Now I’m going to make up for that. This is an arty film, and I am really excited about it.

Details about Ranjan’s film are yet to be finalised. Ask her about Bollywood’s men and Syed says, I love Shah Rukh Khan as an actor.John Ibrahim is smart, but if there’s one actor I’d like to work with, it’s Aamir khan , she gushes.

Britney Spears has already locked lips with Madonna during their infamous MTV Video Music Awards performance, and now Spears is locking herself in an elevator.

Shooting started Wednesday at the Lot in West Hollywood for Spears

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games that officials said aimed to show the country can retaliate against any U.S. or Israeli attack, state television reported.

Oil prices jumped on news of the missile tests, rising US$1.44 to US$137.48 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The military exercise was being conducted at the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about 40 percent of the world’s oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the strait if attacked. It was not clear, however, whether the missile test also took place near the strait.

Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, said the exercise would “demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language,” the TV report said.

Footage showed at least six missiles firing simultaneously, and said the barrage included a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. The television report did not specify where the launch took place.

That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance.

“Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying Wednesday.

The report comes less than a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed fears that Israel and the United States could be preparing to attack his country, calling the possibility a “funny joke.”

“I assure you that there won’t be any war in the future,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference Tuesday during a visit to Malaysia for a summit of developing Muslim nations.

But even as Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have dismissed the possibility of attack, Tehran has stepped up its warnings of retaliation if the Americans

In an attempt to boost sales of its most recent operating system (Windows Vista), Microsoft yesterday ceased sales of Windows XP, their previous operating system.
The popular operating system will still be sold separately until June 2010, but major computer manufacturers can no longer buy it for installation on new computers. Smaller companies, however, will be allowed to sell it installed until the retail date expires.

The decision was made much to the dismay of many loyal Windows fans, who claim that Windows XP is far superior. XP was originally scheduled to stop sales earlier this year on Jan. 31, but increased demand persuaded them to push the date back five months.
Users who want XP on their future computers will have to purchase XP separately and legally “downgrade” to their preferred software of choice. This may entail the purchase of both programs.
Windows Vista Ultimate currently costs upwards of $300.00 when bought off of the Microsoft Web site, and can run anywhere from $200.00 to $350.00 when bought form a different vender. By comparison, Windows XP can cost between $135.00 and $250.00 when bought form other venders.
The presence of compatibility issues creates a problem for businesses that have networks based on the XP format. Upgrading may generate more problems with the network than it will benefits.
Microsoft boasts that Vista has an updated security system, improved searching features, and a flashy new interface called “Aero.”
Many users complain that the operating system requires too much RAM, the amount of memory a computer recall at random, creating bugs and slowing down operating speed. For lap top users this decreases battery life significantly, although this can be fixed by switching from Aero to an older interface.
A “Save XP” petition, which has recently been submitted to Microsoft, on popular computer Web site Infoworld has garnered more than 210,000 signatures from users who don’t want to have to buy Vista on their next computer. (more…)

China has defended its sale of weapons to Sudan, amid growing criticism of its alleged failure to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

China’s special envoy on Darfur told the BBC that Beijing accounted for just 8% of Sudan’s total arms imports.

Liu Guijin said the US, Russia and UK were the biggest arms exporters to developing countries including Sudan.

About 200,000 have died in the five years of conflict between rebels, the army and pro-Khartoum militias.

Mr Liu told the BBC that Chinese weapons were not fuelling the conflict.

“Sudan is the third largest conventional arms producer in Africa next only to South Africa and Egypt.
(more…)

Five Palestinians, including two women, were killed in Israeli ground and air raids in Gaza on Thursday, local medical sources said, in the latest Israeli action against the Hamas-ruled territory.

Israeli troops and tanks backed by combat helicopters were operating in the village of Bani Suheila near the southern town of Khan Yunis, witnesses and medical sources said.

Three Palestinian gunmen and two women were killed by Israeli fire and another 30 people were injured in the attacks, the sources said.

Israel has carried out near-daily military strikes and incursions across what it considers a “hostile entity” since the Islamist movement Hamas seized power in June after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Israeli troops in about 70 army jeeps also rolled into the West Bank town of Nablus in search of wanted militants on Thursday.

In Gaza, brothers Ahmad Fayyad, 20, and 25-year-old Sami Fayyad, both members of the radical Islamic Jihad, were killed in a raid on a house which also killed their mother, Karima, 50, and sister Asmaa, 20, the medical sources said. Nine other people were injured.

One member of the armed wing of Hamas was also killed during gun battles with Israeli troops.

“Infantry units backed by the air force are continuing to operate in the Khan Yunis area,” an army spokeswoman said, adding that there were “losses” among Palestinians.

Aircraft also destroyed two houses where militants were suspected to be hiding. A third house was blown up by ground troops, witnesses added.

New Delhi: Shoaib Malik has been ruled out of the third and the final Test match against India, scheduled to be played in Bangalore from December 8-12.

The Pakistani skipper, who also missed the second Test match in Kolkata hasn’t recovered yet from his ankle injury.

He had twisted his ankled during the team’s training session in New Delhi, after Pakistan’s loss to India in the first Test match.

Shoaib has been instructed by a surgeon in Bangalore to rest for another five days, while, Younis Khan who led the team to a remarkable draw in Kolkata, will stand in as captain again.

Pakistan need a win in this Test match to square the three-match series, that India is leading 1-0.

A British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Mohammad arrived in London on Tuesday after being pardoned and said she had been well treated in prison and was sorry to leave the country.

A smiling Gillian Gibbons was met by her son John and daughter Jessica at Heathrow airport after her flight touched down at around 7:05 a.m.

“It has been an ordeal, but I would like you to know that I was well treated in prison and everybody was very kind to me,” Gibbons told reporters. “I was very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time there.”

Gibbons, sentenced last week to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam, flew home from Khartoum with two prominent British Muslim legislators who had appealed to the Sudanese president for her early release.

Twenty out of 23 of them chose Mohammad — a popular boy’s name in Sudan, as well as the name of Islam’s Prophet — but a member of staff complained to the authorities.

Gibbons apologised for any distress she might have caused the people of Sudan. She has said she encountered “nothing but kindness and generosity from the Sudanese people”.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country has had strained relations with Sudan for several years, mainly because of the conflict in Darfur, said he was “delighted and relieved” to hear Gibbons had been pardoned and freed.

Two British peers, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Ahmed, went to Sudan at the weekend in a private initiative to try to secure Gibbons’ early release.

Her pardon and release was announced while they were meeting President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday and they left Khartoum later in the day.

Many Sudanese said they thought Gibbons’ action was an innocent mistake which could be forgiven after an apology.

Sudan’s influential Council of Muslim Scholars urged the government on Sunday not to pardon Gibbons, saying it would damage Khartoum’s reputation among Muslims around the world.

Gibbons thanked all those who had helped secure her release and said she was glad to be back in Britain and eager to spend some quiet time with her family.