Ajith quiting the industry ?

Actor Ajith New film titled 'Thupariyum Anand'( Detective Anand ) produced by Thayanithi Azhakiri son of Central Minister AZhagiri is the 50th picture of Ajith. Koutham Menon directing the film.And there is a rumour Actor Ajith quiting the industry after this film and joining politics.

- Jockey.

No romance in Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?: Konkana

There is no romantic angle to the movie Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?, award-winning actress Konkona Sen Sharma says about her new film.

"Though Ajay and I play the role of a married couple in the film, there is no romantic angle; it's about the comedy that happens while trying to get relief from a person who comes as a guest and shows no signs of leaving," said Konkona after the music launch of Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? in Mumbai.

The film revolves around the story of Puneet (Ajay Devgn) and Munmun (Konkona Sen Sharma), a happily married couple living in Mumbai. Their life takes a turn when a distant relative Chachaji (Paresh Rawal) turns up unannounced at their doorstep from a far-off village.

The chaos that follows makes it a rib-tickling comedy where the agonised couple tries various methods to get rid of him but fails time and again. Ajay Devgn was all praise for Konkona's performance and maintained that it's always a pleasure working with a commendable actor.

"It was a great experience working with Konkona. When you act with a very good actor, it becomes a fantastic experience. People think that when we work, we compete with each other but if the other person works well, then only can you work better because filmmaking is teamwork," said Ajay.

- Indian Journalist.

Incomeptent Minister ?

Before coming to the negotiating table for peace talks, even warring countries temporarily halt hostilities as a first step towards demonstrating sincerity and thus create the right atmosphere. The Maoists, however, have done the reverse. They have stepped up their offensive in West Bengal, immediately after making the talks offer. Just four hours after the CPI (Maoist ) spokesperson Kishenji said the guerrillas were willing to talk if the government stopped all ongoing operations against them for 72 days, they launched an abortive attack at a police camp at Kantapahari in Lalgarh in West Midnapore. In the early hours of Thursday, they killed the officer in charge of Sarenga police station in neighbouring Bankura district.

“The Maoists’ truce offer is nothing but a sham,” the CPI(M) central committee member Mohammad Salim said. He even wondered if they had made any truce offer at all! “It was Union home minister P. Chidambaram who said that the government was willing to talk to the rebels if they suspended violence for only 72 hours,” he said. Mr Chidambaram made it clear that the government was not asking the Maoists to either lay down arms or disband.

They did not respond to his offer. By insisting that the government call off all operations for 72 days, they were trying to play a game of one-upmanship. “They actually sent a message to the Centre: it is not you but we who will dictate terms,” Mr Salim said, while pointing out that the announcement of a cellphone number on which the government was asked to inform the Maoists by 5 pm on February 25 whether it was willing to suspend all operations from February 25 to May 7 was also a brazen attempt to up the ante.

Also, as West Bengal Governor and former national security advisor M.K. Narayanan said, there was a complete “lack of clarity” in Kishenji’s offer. “Past experience has shown that the Maoists are not interested in talks,” he said.

As Arun Prasad Mukherjee, who was the deputy commissioner (special branch) in the Kolkata police when the Naxal movement was at its peak in the late 60s, rightly asks: “Don’t you see the Maoists have laid down conditions that the government will find hard to accept?” Both Mr Salim and Mr Mukherjee agree that the Maoists’ offer of talks must be seen as a ploy to buy time, to re-arm and regroup themselves. “Maoists, who do not accept the Constitution and want to overthrow the government through armed struggle, do not believe in dialogue or negotiations. The talks offer is only a tactical move,” Mr Salim said.
Mr Mukherjee, however, said that there was no harm in talking. Indeed, he says, “The spectre of Operation Green Hunt may have unnerved the Maoists” and forced their hand into offering to talk in a bid “to avert the crackdown.” Particulary as they can no longer be sure of ground support after their killing of defenceless villagers whom they brand as police informers has begun to alienate the local tribals. Evidence of the discontent brewing among the tribals against the guerrillas became all too obvious when rebel Maoist leader Marshal openly accused Kishenji, a non-tribal. of explo-iting tribals and using them as ‘cannon fodder’, he said. “Des-pite all this, the government should talk to them, if only to call their bluff,” he added.

The Trinamul Congress, strongly advocates talks. Mamata Banerjee, in fact, went to Jangalmahal in mid-January and declared that she was even willing to fall at the Maoists’ feet to persuade them to come to the negotiating table. “It is no secret that the Maoists helped Mamata in her Nandigram and Singur movements. And it is no coincidence that the Maoists’ rapid growth in the state has coincided with the TC’s rise,” Mr Salim said.

It is these deep rifts among mainstream political parties that the Red brigade exploits. “While Mr Chidambaram favours tough measures, his Cabinet colleague and Trinamul leader opposes joint operations,” Mr Salim pointed out.

JANGALMAHAL aka THE RED CORRIDOR

It was in 1999 that the People’s War Group (PWG) started making its presence felt in West Bengal under the leadership of Asit Sarkar. While PWG was largely confined to West Midnapore and Purulia districts, the Maoist Communist Centre was slowly gaining ground in Bankura. Their merger and formation of CPI (Maoist) in 2004 helped the growth of the Naxals in all three districts, also known as the Jangalmahal.

Since then, parts of these districts, such as Lalgarh, Gwaltor, Belpahari, Banshpahari, Binpur in West Midnapore, Bandwan in Purulia and Sarenga, Barikul and Ranibandh in Bankura have become their strongholds. The Naxals also have some presence in Hooghly, Birbhum, North 24 Parganas and are trying to spread their wings to Nadia, Murshidabad and Malda.

223 DISTRICTS IN 20 STATES AFFECTED
One of the principal reasons why the Maoists have an upper hand in their fight against the police is their total commitment to their "cause" and their resilience. Life in the jungles is no picnic, specially for the educated urban youth who have joined the Red brigade, inspired by their ideology. They set up their camps in dense forests, preferably near a canal which is their source of water. For food, they depend on local villagers who are either sympathisers or too scared to refuse. Their only contact with the outside world is through transistor radios or cell phones.
Once a youth joins the guerrillas, he snaps all links with his or her family. Sushen Mahato, the commander of the Salboni Maoist squad, was one of the five ultras who was killed in the Sildah attack. It was only through the media that Sushen's mother came to know about his death. She had last seen him two years before, when he briefly visited his village. Like Sushen, there are hundreds who have been lured by the Maoists to the jungle to work as their foot-soldiers.

According to Union home ministry figures, out of 636 districts in 28 states and seven union territories, 223 districts in 20 states have been affected by the Naxal problem and they continue to expand their support base. The government must carry on large-scale development work in the remote jungle areas and take measures for the socio-economic-educational uplift of the adivasis who have remained neglected and marginalised for decades. Along with a concerted effort to counter the Maoists, the government should also make efforts to wean away the tribals from the guerrillas.

AP’s ‘MOST WANTED’
Forty two year old Ashanna alias Takelapalli Vasudeva Rao hailing from Warangal district in AP is the task master in guerrilla warfare of the CPI Maoists. Ashanna led the teams that executed attacks on VVIPs in the state. He is Andhra’s most wanted Naxal.
He is accused in the claymore mine blast attack on former CM N. Chandra Babu Naidu at Alipiri in Tirupati in which Naidu survived with injuries. He is also accused in the killing of former Home minister E Madhava Reddy.
Ashanna also pulled the trigger on IPS official Ch Umesh Chandra.

Hailing from a lower middle class family in a forward caste in Telangana region, Ashanna is a graduate, was active in the Radical Students Union and then went underground 20 years ago. He is married to another dalam member. "Ashanna is known for his military tactics. He uses Ak-47s as well as smaller weapons. He is suspected to be hiding outside Andhra but returns to carry out operations," said an intelligence official.

NOT THE FIRST TIME
I t is not that the Maoists have not entered into a peace agreement or a government has not called off security operations against them before. In 2004, the Andhra Pradesh government had not only suspended operations but had even allowed Maoists to hold public meetings in its eagerness to reach a peace deal. The Maoists reciprocated and stopped killings for some time. They participated in peace negotiations in October 2004 after the merger of the People’s War and Maoist Communist Centre which resulted in the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). But the tenuous peace lasted for only a few months.

In January 2005, the guerrrillas unilaterally dumped the peace agreement and returned to their violent ways and killing sprees. The Andhra Pradesh government realised that it had been taken for a ride. The Naxals who were reeling under the twin blows of sharp erosion in their support base particularly in Telangana and loss of a large number of important leaders during Chandrababu Naidu’s rule after relentless police encounters, had agreed to a ceasefire for tactical reasons. The suspension of all operations gave them much needed time to regroup and rearm themselves. As soon as they achieved their objective, they broke the agreement.

- Bolt Nut.

Rollergirl Deepika

We hear that Deepika Padukone is training to roller skate for her next Yash Raj flick which is being directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Neil Nitin Mukesh is playing the lead and this will be the first time that Neil and Deepika are being paired opposite one another.
The producers have hired an instructor from abroad to train Deepika who has been practicing for three to four hours a day. Sources said, “Since she has been an athlete and loves sports she is a fast learner. She has already picked up enough and loves zooming off. She is obviously enjoying this new passion.” The actress is currently busy wrapping up Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se with Abhishek Bachchan in Goa.

- Indian Journalist.

Shruti wants to make a comeback

Shruti Hassan who made an unsuccessful debut with Luck wants to give Bollywood another shot. Although she was one of the most talked about newcomers in Bollywood last year, after her film opposite Imran Khan tanked without a trace, she is yet to sign any film in Bollywood.

Shruti has some offers but she has not signed a film yet. She has however, just finalised a Tamil film with Ghajini director A. R. Murgadoss. The details of the film are not revealed as of now.

- Mitta Wala.

Nursing students face hardships in Anantapur

The demand for nursing has become a curse for adolescent nursing students in Anantapur district as they often face sexual abuse in colleges and hostels.
Most rural girls are interested in joining the nursing course due to quick employment and eligibility to pursue this course after Class X. Students from rural areas reside in hostels.
There are 23 nursing colleges in the district offering a huge number of seats to students. Students are often falling prey to sexual abuse to unscrupulous managements and staff.
Recently, a tribal student faced sexual harassment from the Youth Nursing School founder’s son in Anantapur and officials are investigating the case.
In Hindupur, students’ organisations ransacked the nursing college, alleging sexual abuse of nursing students last month.
It is alleged that some teachers blackmail students to keep silent on the pretext of added practical examination marks.
Many schools do not have adequate female staff in colleges and hostels.
Anantapur Government Medical College principal, Mr N. Prabhakar Rao, felt that counselling should be given to students before admission, and grievance cells within colleges and hostels set up to check sexual abuse in nursing colleges.

- Indian Journalist.

tudents kidnap classmates, beat them up at farewell do

Penamaluru police on Sunday booked several students of Siddhartha Engineering College in Kanuru for kidnapping and beating up three students of the same college.

Three students were booked for kidnapping and five others were booked for beating up the students over a dispute.

The dispute broke out on Saturday night when the third year students hosted a farewell party for their seniors at the Dhanekula Kalyana Mandapam. Three students, Kuchipudi Ramu, Ch. Sivendra and Kolli Haribabu went to buy flowers for the function but objected to paying Rs 40 for a bouquet at the flower stall owned by another third year student, Mallela Adiya.

An argument ensued which turned violent when Mallela Adiya allegedly beat Kuchipudi Ramu. Later, Ramu, Shivendra and Haribabu went to Adiya’s house in Kanuru and warned his father that they would lodge a police complaint against Adiya.

On Sunday, Adiya, Sasankh Bharadwaj, Swamy and five others went to Ramu’s room and allegedly beat him and the two others. They then locked Sivendra and Haribabu in the room and tried to kidnap Ramu in a car. Ramu managed to escape when the car reached NTR Circle. The Penamaluru CI, Mr N. Vijay Rao, said a kidnap case has been registered.

- Indian Journalist.

Chile toll 700, Indian businesses hit

Even as coastal areas from Australia to the Russian Far East to Hawaii heaved of collected sigh of relief on Sunday as the feared tsunami waves triggered by the Chile earthquake of Saturday failed to do any major damage anywhere except in Japan, the picture emerging from the interiors of Chile is that of absolute catastrophe. The 8.8 degree temblor that hit the central-southern Chile on Saturday morning, has left more than 700 people dead and at least 2 million people homeless in this South American nation.

The massive earthquake also left some 53 countries anxious with suspense and prepared for a major disaster for almost 24 hours, the time that scientists predicted it would take shock waves from the powerful earthquake to race across the ocean in the form of massive waves.

The biggest earthquake to hit Chile in 25 years ripped apart buildings, highways and bridges and left a path of smoky rubble across a long swath of the. The death toll was expected to rise, particularly around Concepción, Chile’s second-largest metropolitan area, which is roughly 70 miles from the quake’s center. "We are facing a catastrophe of historic proportions," Chilean Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma told reporters on Sunday.

Though the capital city of Santiago, which was shaken for more than 90 seconds on Saturday, was calm on Sunday with people, including the small Indian community, were trying to put their lives back on track amid smoke and rubble. "I have spoken to a number of Indians since morning and I haven’t heard of any loss of life among the community so far. However, our apartment has been damaged very badly with a lot of cracks on the ceilings and on the walls. Apart from this a lot of our furniture has been destroyed," said Prakash Bhojwani, a businessman and director of the Indian Association of Santiago, speaking to TOI from the Chilean capital.

Many of the businesses of Indian nationals have been badly affected by the earthquake, with office buildings developing wide long cracks. Two high-end Indian restaurants and a plush perfume shop has also been damaged. "Most of the Indians here have suffered huge damages to their business. All these damages will take weeks if not months to repair and bring back to useable conditions," said Bhojwani, who was trying to organize aid for the members of the Indian community in Chile.

There are around 1000 Indians, mostly engaged in trade and business, in Chile. Out of these some 500 live in Santiago and the rest are spread over other parts of the country.

On Sunday, there were long lines at supermarkets and gas stations in Santiago, but the scene was grimmer in Concepción and surrounding areas to the south. In Talca, 167 miles south of Santiago, almost every home in the center of the city was severely damaged.

Though on Saturday Chilean President Michele Bachlet said that Chile didn’t need any foreign assistance, some aid from other countries and relief agencies has started to arrive in Santiago. On Saturday, US President Bracak Obama offered aid in rescue and recovery efforts. Obama told Bachelet that the US was ready to help if needed. "We will be there for her should the Chilean people need assistance," he said in a statement in Washington.

Disaster relief may become a challenge in Chile as officials were faced with a daunting mission on Sunday, trying to arrange assistance to victims of the massive earthquake in Chile while maintaining full-throttle operations in Haiti.Though officials of large international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross feel they have the resources to send emergency responders and humanitarian aid to a number of hot spots. But the same may not be true for smaller groups whose focus is on long-term rebuilding efforts.

"Organizations like ours are able to coordinate on multiple disasters," said Red Cross spokesman Eric Porterfield, citing as an example the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China's Sichuan province in May 2008.

- Indian Journalist.

Lust in Times of India ?

(MODEL)
Confession: i had a bf who was 5 yrs elder dan me and of a diff. caste. dn i ws 15 yr old, nw i m 19.i jst accept his proposal just to show off others dat i hv a bf, i really dnt luv him bt slowly i gt attachd 2 him and start beliving him and his "i luv u" sayings which was all fake bt i didnt knew dn. slowly we came closer and became physical bt not s_x. once he forced me 2 hv sex and tried 2 feel my v_g_na.bt i didnt allowed hm 2 go dwn atall. i gt so mch into lv wd him bt later whn he didn't gt dat thing 4m me he ditched me really badly.our relatnship lastd almost 4 1 y r. i ws so depressed dn. life seems so dull nd hopeless dn bt somehw i movd on and after an yr i finally found a lv of my life and knw he is d only 1. we almost share a husband-wife relatnship except d fact dat we live in our homes only and nt married yt. it has been almost 5 yrs wd hm. my problem is i dn't knw 4m where my ex came into my life nw and made a false story dat me and hm(ex)had sex when i ws hs gf which is totally untrue. bt my current trustd me on dat nd didn't gave a strong reaction 2 his story. bt i don't knw why god played a game wd me. whn i lstd my virginity wd my current bf i didn't bleed dn. before having sex i assured hm dat he ws d only 1 wd whm i m ddng it 4 1st time bt after dat i ws shockd. though i ws into dancing and sports 4m childhood nd probably ds cud b d reason 4 breakage of my hymen bt hw i make my bf understand dat he ws d 1 and i didn't gt involvd wd my ex. hw i cn gain his trust back. i love him and don't want 2 loose him.... need ur advice bt no harsh comments!!!

- Bombay Hot.

Rani meets SRK, Kajol in London

Rani Mukerji, who stars in Rajkumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica, reportedly insisted on doing all her shopping for the role in London.

The film is based on the murder of Jessica Lall, and the shooting for the film is already underway in Delhi. According to sources, Rani was in London at the same time as Kajol, KJo and SRK were there to promote MNIK, so a trip that was to last 2-3 days was stretched to a week in the company of friends.

- Bombay Chat.

Get a new phone, SRK

This is for anyone who is wondering why Shah Rukh Khan, who usually replies promptly to text messages, seems not to be responding these days. No, he hasn’t forgotten his manners - his phone is giving him a lot of trouble. Apparently, his handset is acting up and remains inoperable for hours at a stretch.

A source close to him said, “Shah Rukh is known to reply to each and every message he gets barring those from press people he doesn’t want to interact with. But his phone has almost conked off for the last few days.

He is busy promoting his film My Name Is Khan and very tied up, but he will get it repaired in a day or two.”

The source reveals, “He has been getting feedback about the film from distributors, exhibitors, people from the media and his friends in the industry. His message box is choked with over 1500 messages.

This is also one of the reasons his phone has hung. He is also missing out on the collection readings the distributors are sending him. He has to constantly use a staff member’s phone to call Karan Johar to find out the box office progress of the film.”


- Idiot.

I missed Kareena

Before getting some shut-eye after an exhausting night co-hosting the 55th Idea Filmfare Awards 2009 with Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh decided to do some tweeting.

He said, “Friends tell me that I shouldn’t make fun of myself at shows. I believe if I can’t laugh at myself, I have no right to ask you to laugh with me.” He added, “Saif was marvellous...& I had a good time.”


On the girls, SRK commented, “Vidya Balan looked ravishing..Bipasha towering...Deepika lovely & Katrina awesome. Missed Kareena...” He also had thanks to hand out, to “Kiran Kotria and Veerdas & his team for the script. Alpa. Mushtaq. Great inputs. Hope people find it as much fun as much as we had making it. All the girls who help us backstage...Ganesh Hegde..Sanjiv..my fantastic dancers...thanx for making it so easy and nice. Nothing without you.”

To Shahid Kapoor, who performed live to Michael Jackson’s This Is It, he said, “You were awesome. Well done, my man. God bless you...you are a treat to watch dancing.”

- Ginger Beard.

Kennedy grandson decides against run for US House

oseph P Kennedy III, the son of a former congressman and the grandson of Robert F Kennedy, has decided against running for the US House from Massachusetts this year.

Kennedy said he wants to remain in his new job as a prosecutor in Cape Cod's Barnstable County. The 29-year-old Stanford University and Harvard Law graduate has held the post only for eight months.

"I've got a job I love being an assistant district attorney on the Cape, and I want to get better at it at this point," Kennedy said. "I know serving in Congress would be a great job, but I've got a great job."

A top state Democrat said on Saturday that Kennedy was weighing a race if Rep William Delahunt were to decide against seeking re-election in the 10th Congressional District, which encompasses the Massachusetts South Shore and Cape Cod.

Delahunt and the rest of the Massachusetts Democratic establishment were rocked in January when Republican Scott Brown staged an upset to win the US Senate seat held for more than four decades by Kennedy's uncle, Edward M Kennedy.

While Kennedy's widow, Vicki, and Joseph P Kennedy III's father, former Rep Joseph P Kennedy II, both eschewed races, they lobbied hard for the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley.

- Thymus Macualey.

Top Most actress of the world!

The top most searched actress photo through out the world by net users is a Chinese actrss.Ziyi Zhang (Chinese: 章子怡; pinyin: Zhāng Zǐyí; Wade-Giles: Chang Tzu-i; born February 9, 1979) is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses (四大花旦) in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun.[1] With a string of Chinese and international hits to her name, she has worked with renowned directors such as Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Lou Ye, Seijun Suzuki, Feng Xiaogang and Rob Marshall.




Early life

Zhang Ziyi was born and raised in Beijing, China. Her parents are Zhang Yuanxiao, an accountant, and Li Zhousheng, a kindergarten teacher.[2][3] She has an older brother, Zhang Zinan (born 1973). Zhang joined the Beijing Dance Academy at the age of 11. When Zhang's parents suggested she attend the school, she was skeptical. While at this boarding school, she noticed how catty the other girls were while competing for status amongst the teachers. Zhang disliked the attitudes of peers and teachers so much that, on one occasion, she ran away from the school.[3]

In 1996, Zhang entered China's prestigious Central Academy of Drama (regarded as the top acting college in China) at the age of 17.
Career

At the age of 19, Zhang was offered her first role in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home, which won the Silver Bear award in the 2000 Berlin Film Festival.

Zhang further rose to fame due to her role as the headstrong Jen (Chinese version: Yu Jiao Long) in the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which she won several awards in the West, such as Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards and Independent Spirit Awards. Zhang's first appearance in an American movie was in Rush Hour 2, but because she didn't speak English at the time, Jackie Chan had to interpret everything the director said to her. In the movie, her character's name, "Hu Li", is translated from Mandarin Chinese to "Fox".

Zhang then appeared in Hero, with her early mentor Zhang Yimou, which was a huge success in the English-speaking world and nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe award. Her next film was the avant-garde drama Purple Butterfly by Lou Ye, which competed at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Zhang went back to the martial arts genre with House of Flying Daggers (十面埋伏), which earned her a Best Actress nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

In 2046, directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring many of the best-known Chinese actors and actresses, Zhang was the female lead and won the Hong Kong Film Critics' Best Actress Award and the Hong Kong Film Academy's Best Actress Award.

Showing her whimsical musical tap-dancing side, Zhang starred in Princess Raccoon, directed by Japanese legend Seijun Suzuki, who was honored at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2005, Zhang landed the lead role of Sayuri in the film adaptation of the international bestseller Memoirs of a Geisha. There was a slight controversy in Japan about a Chinese woman portraying a Japanese Geisha. For the film, she reunited with her 2046 co-star Gong Li and with her Crouching Tiger co-star Michelle Yeoh. For the role, Zhang received a 2006 Golden Globe Award nomination, a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and a BAFTA nomination.

Zhang has also been known to sing, and was featured on the House of Flying Daggers soundtrack with her own musical rendition of the ancient Chinese poem, Jia Rén Qu (佳人曲, The Beauty Song). The song was also featured in two scenes in the film.

On June 27, 2005, it was announced that Zhang had accepted an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), placing her among the ranks of those able to vote on the Academy Awards.[4]

In May 2006, Zhang became the youngest member to sit on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. In the fall of 2006, Zhang played Empress Wan in The Banquet (Yè Yàn 夜宴), a film set in the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang provided the voice of Karai in the TMNT movie that was released on March 23, 2007. She later starred in Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang) (2008) and appeared in The Horsemen (2009) with Dennis Quaid.

Zhang announced plans to produce a film adaptation of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. However, in January 2010, it was announced she had quit the project. It is unknown if this is a temporary or permanent move.[5]
Ambassadorship
Advertising billboard in Hong Kong of Zhang Ziyi fronting Omega watches

Zhang is the face of Maybelline, Garnier and Shangri-la Hotel and Resort Group. She is also a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics and a spokesperson for "Save the Children," a foster-home program in China.
Personal life

Soon after Zhang's debut in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home, rumors arose regarding a possible affair between the actress and the older director. Zhang Yimou was previously involved in an extramarital affair with actress Gong Li, whom he similarly debuted and with whom Zhang Ziyi was quickly compared. However, no relationship between the two has been confirmed.[6]

Hong Kong and Taiwanese media have often pushed at ties between Zhang and co-star Jackie Chan.[7] This was fueled in part by photos that emerged of the pair during celebrations of Chan's birthday on the set of Rush Hour 2.

Zhang for a while was publicly linked with Fok Kai-shan, grandson of Hong Kong business tycoon Henry Fok.

In the July 2006 issue of Interview Magazine, Zhang Ziyi spoke of her movies' contents and being careful about the roles she takes on, especially in Hollywood.
“ Yes. Otherwise I could have done a lot of Hollywood movies. After Crouching Tiger I got a lot of offers, but I turned them down because they were all victim roles--poor girls sold to America to be a wife or whatever. I know I have the ability to go deeper, to take on more original roles than that. That's why I really appreciated Geisha, because it allowed us to show the world what kind of actors we are and what kind of characters we can play--not just action, kick-ass parts.[8] ”

She stated in an early interview that if she had not become an actress, she would have liked to have been a kindergarten teacher, as she "...love[s] children!"

In January 2007, Zhang was spotted holding hands and kissing her new boyfriend at a New York basketball game. The man was identified as Israeli multi-millionaire and venture capitalist, Vivi Nevo. The two were again seen together at an Oscar party in Los Angeles. Nevo, who has previously been tied to model Kate Moss, is a major shareholder in Time Warner and an early backer of The Weinstein Company with whom Zhang is purported to have a multi-film deal. Zhang Ziyi and Nevo are currently engaged.[9][10] Zhang has also obtained Hong Kong residentship through the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme for her contribution to the local film industry.[11]
Other information

* Of the characters making up her name, Zhāng (章) is her surname (not to be confused with the more common Zhāng 张 which is a homophone but written with a different character), Zǐ (子) means 'child' or 'esteemed person', and Yí (怡) means 'joy' or 'happiness'. She has appeared in English language films under the name Ziyi Zhang. In an interview, she stated that the name change was her publicist's idea of a way to appeal to Western audiences.

Filmography
Year English Title Chinese Title Role Director
1996 Touching Starlight (TV) 星星點燈 Chen Wei Sun Wenxue
1999 The Road Home 我的父親母親 Young Zhao Di Zhang Yimou
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 臥虎藏龍 Jen Yu Ang Lee
2001 Rush Hour 2 尖峰时刻2 Hu Li Brett Ratner
The Legend of Zu 蜀山傳 Joy Tsui Hark
Musa 武士 Princess Bu-yong Kim Sung-su
2002 Hero 英雄 Moon Zhang Yimou
2003 Purple Butterfly 紫蝴蝶 Cynthia/Ding Hui Lou Ye
My Wife is a Gangster 2 我老婆是大佬2 Gangster boss Jeong Heung-sun
2004 2046 2046 Bai Ling Wong Kar-wai
House of Flying Daggers 十面埋伏 Mei Zhang Yimou
Jasmine Women 茉莉花開開 Young Mo/Young Li/Young Hua Hou Yong
2005 Princess Raccoon 貍御殿 Princess Tanuki Seijun Suzuki
Memoirs of a Geisha 艺伎回忆录 Sayuri Nitta/Chiyo Sakamoto Rob Marshall
2006 The Banquet 夜宴 Wan Feng Xiaogang
2007 TMNT - Karai Kevin Munroe
2008 Forever Enthralled 梅蘭芳 Meng Xiaodong Chen Kaige
2009 Horsemen 骑士 Kristen Jonas Åkerlund
Sophie's Revenge 非常完美 Sophie Yimeng Jin
The Founding of a Republic -
Lost for Words - Lin Zhen Susanne Bier
2010 Waiting - Wu Manna Peter Chan
Awards and nominations
Awards nominated

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

* 2001 - Best Supporting Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* 2005 - Best Actress for House of Flying Daggers

BAFTA Awards

* 2001 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* 2005 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for House of Flying Daggers
* 2006 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Memoirs of a Geisha

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

* 2001 - Best Supporting Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Golden Globes

* 2006 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for Memoirs of a Geisha

Golden Horse Film Festival

* 2000 - Best Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* 2004 - Best Actress for 2046

Hong Kong Film Awards

* 2001 - Best Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* 2003 - Best Supporting Actress for Hero

Image Awards

* 2006 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture for Memoirs of a Geisha

Kids' Choice Awards

* 2002 - Favorite Female Action Hero for Rush Hour 2

MTV Movie Awards

* 2001 - Breakthrough Female Performance for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* 2002 - Best Villain for Rush Hour 2
* 2005 - Best Fight for House of Flying Daggers (For Zhang Ziyi vs. The Emperor's guards)
* 2006 - Sexiest Performance for Memoirs of a Geisha

Online Film Critics Society Awards

* 2001 - Best Supporting Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Satellite Awards

* 2005 - Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama for Memoirs of a Geisha

Screen Actors Guild Awards

* 2006 - Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Memoirs of a Geisha

Teen Choice Awards

* 2001 - Film - Choice Breakout Performance

Awards won

Hundred Flowers Awards

* 2000 - Best Actress for The Road Home

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards

* 2001 - Most Promising Actress

Golden Bauhinia Awards

* 2001 - Best Supporting Actress for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Golden Rooster Awards

* 2004 - Best Actress for Mo li hua kai (Jasmine Women)

Hong Kong Film Awards

* 2005 - Best Actress for 2046

Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards

* 2005 - Best Actress for 2046

Independent Spirit Awards

* 2001 - Best Supporting Female for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

MTV Movie Awards

* 2001 - Best Fight for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Versus entire bar)

Toronto Film Critics Association Awards

* 2000 - Best Supporting Performance, Female for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Young Artist Awards

* 2001 - Best Young Actress in an International Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Magazine recognition

* Ranked 2nd of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001).
* Named one of the 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 by Teen People Magazine (2001).
* Named one of the 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 by Teen People Magazine (2002).
* Ranked #91 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World" (2002)
* Voted in at #100 in FHM's Sexiest 100 Girls of 2002, UK edition. [June 2002]
* Forbes magazine's China edition ranked her the second most popular celebrity after NBA player 'Yao Ming' . [August 2004]
* Named by Entertainment Weekly in their 'The Must List' 2005. Listed 38th out of the 122 people and things the magazine "loves" this year, Ziyi was the only Chinese to be included.
* Selected by Southern People Weekly magazine as 'Chinese Top Ten Leaders Of The Younger Generation' in 2005.
* Listed in People's '50 Most Beautiful People' List in 2005.
* Listed in TIME's World's 100 Most Influential People. They called her "China's Gift to Hollywood".
* Ranked one of the '100 Most Beautiful Women in the World' in the July 2005 issue of Harpers & Queen magazine. It was her first time on the list. She was ranked number 15.
* Included in People's 100 Most Beautiful People in the World the second year in a row in 2006. This is now her third appearance on the list.
* Voted in at #86 in FHM's sexiest women in the world in 2006. She had not appeared in the list since 2002.
* Topped Japanese Playboy's "100 Sexiest Women in Asia" list and was featured on the cover. (April 2006)[12]
* Voted #1 in E!'s Sexiest Action Stars list in summer 2007.
* Ranked #3 in Japanese magazine CLASSY's 'Super Perfect Head-to-Body Size Ratio List' in January 2009.

- Sitiemilia.

World newspapers with the largest circulation

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) publishes a list of newspapers with the largest circulation. In 2005, China topped the list in term of total newspaper circulation with 93.5 million a day, India came second with 78.8 million, followed by Japan, with 70.4 million; the United States, with 48.3 million; and Germany, with 22.1 million. Around 75 of the 100 best selling newspapers are in Asia and seven out of top ten are Japanese newspapers. [1]

The Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun and Seikyo Shimbun are still the largest circulated newspapers in the world. Germany's Bild became the only entry in the top ten from outside of Asia. The Times of India is the largest circulated English-language daily newspaper in the world, across all formats (Broadsheet, Compact, Berliner and Online). Reference News (參考消息) is the most popular paper in China. The largest circulated newspaper from the United States is USA Today, which is 13th in the world.

According to the Guinness Book of Records, the daily circulation of the Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda exceeded 21,500,000 in 1990, while the Soviet weekly Argumenty i Fakty boasted a circulation of 33,500,000 in 1991.

- Real Hunter.

Latest Best Seller

A few years ago, Ake Daun, a professor of European ethnology, posted an article on Sweden’s official national Web site, Sweden.se, arguing that Swedes are not in fact gloomy or suicide prone. “Sweden is quite far down in the European suicide table, in 15th place,” Daun wrote, blaming a 1960 speech by Dwight Eisenhower for leaving outsiders with the impression that Swedes tended toward “sin, nudity, drunkenness and suicide.”


THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

By Stieg Larsson

Translated by Reg Keeland

465 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $24.95

Maybe so. But “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist who died of a heart attack in 2004, won’t help the country’s image any. The novel offers a thoroughly ugly view of human nature, especially when it comes to the way Swedish men treat Swedish women. In Larsson’s world, sadism, murder and suicide are commonplace — as is lots of casual sex. (Sweden isn’t all bad.)

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” published in Sweden in 2005, became an international best seller. The book opens with an intriguing mystery. Henrik Vanger, an octogenarian industrialist, hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just lost a libel case under murky circumstances, to investigate the disappearance of his great-niece, Harriet. Nearly 40 years earlier, Harriet vanished from a small island mostly owned by the Vanger family, and Henrik has never gotten over it.

Blomkvist takes on the case, despite serious misgivings, after Henrik promises him 2.4 million kronor (about $372,000 at the current exchange rate) for a year’s work. Henrik says he’s certain that someone in his family murdered Harriet. “I detest most of the members of my family,” he tells Blomkvist. “They are for the most part thieves, misers, bullies and incompetents” — a description that will prove to be, if anything, too kind.

The girl of the title isn’t Harriet but Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old computer hacker with a photo­graphic memory, a violent temper and some serious intimacy issues. After a nasty plot detour involving a lawyer foolish enough to try to take advantage of her, Salander teams with Blomkvist to solve the mystery of Harriet’s disappearance.

The novel perks up as their investigation gains speed, though readers will need some time to sort through the various cousins and nephews and half-brothers and -sisters who populate the Vanger family. Harriet’s case turns out to be connected to a series of murders in the 1950s and ’60s. When a cat is killed and its tortured corpse is left outside the cottage where Blomkvist is living, he and Salan­der realize they may not be working on a cold case after all.

But if the middle section of “Girl” is a treat, the rest of the novel doesn’t quite measure up. The book’s original Swedish title was “Men Who Hate Women,” a label that just about captures the subtlety of the novel’s sexual politics. Except for Blomkvist, nearly every man in the book under age 70 is a violent misogynist.

Nor will “Girl” win any awards for characterization. While Blomkvist comes to life as he’s investigating the murder, his relationships with his daughter and with Erika Berger, a co-worker who is his occasional lover, seem half-formed and weak. Even after 460 pages, it’s not clear whether Blomkvist cares, whether he’s troubled by his lack of intimacy or simply resigned to it. Is he stoic or merely Swedish? Either way, he seems more a stock character than a real person.

But the real disappointment in “Girl” comes in its final section, after the mystery of Harriet’s disappearance has been solved. Without any warning, “Girl” metamorphoses into a boring account of Blomkvist’s effort to take down the executive who originally won the libel lawsuit mentioned at the start of the novel. The story of his revenge is boring and implausible, relying heavily on lazy e-mail exchanges between characters. And so “Girl” ends blandly. Only Ake Daun and the Swedish tourist board can be happy about that.

- Potter Harry.

Naked ambition evades Dupont

DANISH curler Madeleine Dupont defended her decision to pose nude as her team agonisingly missed out on a semi-final spot at the Olympics on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old appeared topless in a magazine shoot called Fire on Ice, and admitted the sport's profile has been boosted, despite some lingering reservations.

'Most people think it's cool. People might think 'Oh, they can't play curling', but I think we can,' said Dupont after the 7-5 win over Japan in the final round of group matches.

'In Denmark, more people have heard of curling now which didn't before and now they watch it on TV and think 'Hey that's cool.' It's (the shoot] probably a bad thing. Not sure it's a good thing, but it is quite stylish and it's not totally out of line.'

- Potter Harry.

Facebook insult: Student guilty

INDONESIAN prosecutors on Thursday demanded a suspended jail sentence for a university student who was found guilty of insulting his music mentor on Facebook.

Muhammad Wahyu Muharam in August last year referred to his marching band mentor as a 'scoundrel' and 'very greedy' on his Facebook page.

'We ask for a suspended six-month jail for the defendant as he had insulted his marching band mentor on social networking website Facebook,' prosecutor Lusiana said after Muharam was found guilty by the Jember district court in East Java.

He said the prosecutors had reduced their recommended sentence after the defendant expressed regret.

After the trial, the law student told reporters that he hoped his experience would be a lesson to other Facebook users. 'I hope all Facebookers will be more cautious in their postings,' he said outside the courtroom.

The case was the latest involving Facebook after an Indonesian teenager received a suspended jail sentence last week for posting insulting remarks to her romantic rival on the site.

- Sitiemilia , Singapore.

Sim Lim retailers busted

JUST two weeks after popular tech haunt Sim Lim Square announced a renewed push to curb the sale of pirated software and other bootleg products, six video game retailers yesterday got busted for peddling such items.

In the biggest and most successful raid on retailers hawking such bootleg products at the mall in the last five years, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) lawyers hit the retailers located on the first and second floors of the mall on Thursday afternoon.

The haul included three Nintendo Wii game consoles modified to play pirated games, 85 assorted storage cards with pirated games, and computing peripherals used to rip pirated games.

- Tom Lee.

$11 a day traveller

KICKING back in the lobby of a fairly stylish condominium in Little India, Mr Richard Ferge and his wife Stani Martinkova do not look like a couple who sold their home in London to cycle around the world on a budget of just US$8 (S$11) a day.

They quickly clarify the situation. 'We're couchsurfing at a studio apartment that belongs to a Japanese working here. We're sharing it with six other couchsurfers from Indonesia, Poland and Sweden and sleeping on futons,' he says.

Couchsurfing, an online social network for travellers, enables members to stay at one another's homes for free, all in the name of social networking. If they had stayed at a service apartment, they would run out of money very quickly and it would contradict their objective.

Their bike ride around the world is to raise awareness about global warming and climate change. They sold their house a few years ago at a profit of 70,000 pounds (S$152,000), which is roughly the amount of money they have for this round-the-world trip. Since starting their journey in Dec 2005 in France, they have spent 30,000 pounds.

Forty-eight countries and more than 80,000km later, they arrived last week in Singapore, their 49th country. Mr Ferge, a 38-year-old Frenchman, and Ms Martinkova, a 43-year-old Briton, have pedalled through Europe, parts of Russia, Mongolia, South Korea, western China, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia.

They have probably not been here long enough to experience the ire many cyclists feel on roads. He says: 'We like Singapore. The streets are wide and the drivers are nice. We're surprised that not many people commute to work on bicycles.'

Loanshark runner nabbe

A 30-YEAR-OLD man was arrested on Monday morning for suspected loansharking activities, said officers from the Ang Mo Kio Police Division.

Bank books, ATM cards, SIM cards, bank transaction receipts and a mobile phone containing suspected debtors' records were seized at the man's home at Jalan Teck Whye.

Police said that the man is believed to have owed money to a loanshark organisation and turned to acting as a runner in order to pay back his debts.

The man allegedly helped the loanshark by checking debtors' information, doing bank transfers, issuing loans and collecting loan repayments.

The suspect will be charged on Tuesday with the offence of assisting in the business of an unlicensed moneylender. Previously, if found guilty a person could be fined up $200,000 or jailed for two years, or both, as a first-time offender.

However, the amended Moneylenders' Act 2008, which came into effect on Feb 11, means the man could now be fined up to $300,000, with a mandatory imprisonment term of up to four years and mandatory caning of up to six strokes, if convicted.

Private dancer

Two years ago, Lisa Viola stood speechless on the stage before a full house at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea.

Viola, a Paul Taylor dancer known for her charismatic performances, had just won one of the dance world’s great honors. But in her acceptance speech, she struggled to conjure up a single word.

After a torturous minute, she explained her difficulties to the crowd.

“Paul Taylor has been speaking for me for years,” she said.

Then, she said simply, “I need a beer.”
“It was horrible,” she says of the 2004 speech after she won the Bessie award for sustained achievement, noting that she did indeed have a beer afterwards. “I don’t like talking.”

For Viola, 43, self-expression has always come more easily through movement than through words. And her dancing speaks volumes, says John Tomlinson, manager of the Paul Taylor company.

“Why is she as brilliant as she is?” he asks rhetorically. “Why is Einstein a genius? She’s one of the greatest dancers alive.”

In particular, colleagues say, Viola can express different emotions on stage unlike any dancer they have ever seen. The Paul Taylor company is famed for its vast range of styles, and Viola has mastered all of them, whether the piece be “lyrical and beautiful, romantic, humorous, very high energy, exploding, or evil,” according to Tomlinson.

“The amazing thing about Lisa is she can embrace all these types of dancing with complete conviction,” he says. “Some members of the company can only do one or the other, but Lisa can do them all.”

“She’s a chameleon,” says Michael Trusnovec, her frequent Taylor dance partner. “Anytime she walks on stage, it’s like she’s becoming someone else.”

For many colleagues, Viola, a 14-year Taylor veteran, has been projecting that brilliance as long as they can remember. Viola, however, says she doesn’t forget her arduous road to stardom.

With shoulder-length black hair and soft dark eyes, Viola tells her story in a quiet voice, her hands moving constantly in sharp gestures that serve as punctuation marks when words fail.

She moved to New York City at 15 and didn’t land a full-time dancing job at Paul Taylor until she was 29. Along the way, she was told to quit, struggled to learn a new style, and sometimes didn’t have enough free time to even sleep.

“Because of my so-called struggles, I’ve had a real appreciation for things,” she says.

Born in San Francisco in 1963, Viola moved to Honolulu, her mother’s original home, when she was four. While other kids did hula dancing, Viola showed talent in ballet classes, and Viola’s mother took her to New York for a summer workshop at the School of American Ballet when she was 15. It didn’t go well. A teacher told Viola she had the wrong body type for ballet.

“She told me I should consider another vocation,” Viola says.

But driven by an insatiable love for movement, Viola persisted at ballet, though without much success. She says her career took a sharp turn around 1986, when she saw her first Paul Taylor performance.

Though she had known of the company, she had never considered modern dance as a career. The very first piece they performed was a Paul Taylor classic called “Roses,” a technically challenging slow dance set to Wagner.

“What fascinated me was to see that modern dance was so lyrical, so beautiful,” she says. “Before I thought it was funky music that you can’t count. I can only describe it as the blinders flying off.”

She loved the way the dancers flung themselves across the stage; unlike ballet, every movement didn’t have a name and didn’t look as choreographed. She decided to give up ballet and pursue modern dance full bore.


Coming Full Circle

In a flowing white skirt, Viola stands to the side as five pairs of men and women sweep slowly across the Paul Taylor studio. Mid-piece, the couples sit down, and the focus turns solely to Viola and Michael Trusnovec.

They move in circles, and though they move constantly, they rarely lose contact. Viola falls gracefully toward the floor and Trusnovec picks her up steadily by one arm, lifting her high into the air, her skirt waving.

In this moment, Viola has seemingly come full circle: the piece being performed is in fact “Roses,” and Viola is now the piece’s lead female dancer.

While Viola now makes the piece look effortless, getting her foot in the door at Taylor was difficult. Because Viola never went to college, she initially didn’t have any exposure to modern dance. “There’s only so much you can fake,” she says.

Still, she landed a job at a smaller company called Rod Rodgers. At the same time, she hung around the Taylor Company constantly, in hope of someday working there.

“She was the hardest working dancer I’ve ever seen,” says Tomlinson, who worked at Taylor before Viola was officially hired.

Viola remembers those years as the most grueling of her life. She would rehearse each night at Rod Rodgers from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., then work a graveyard shift from midnight to 8 a.m. answering emergency phone calls at a doctor’s office. Always by herself, she’d try to listen to the radio or read. At 9:30 a.m. she would head to class at Paul Taylor.

“This is definitely not a career where you make a whole lot of money and retire early,” she says.

Viola sometimes thought about quitting. She did get a boost in 1990, when Taylor decided to give her a scholarship to take classes at the school. However, three years later, the scholarship was revoked because Viola, at 29, was seen as possibly too old to be in the company.

Then, one month later, in the fall of 1992, a Taylor dancer became pregnant. The company knew Viola could fill the void quickly; she was at class every day and knew the choreography. They asked if she would join the company.

Describing the moment when she was finally able to give her week’s notice at the doctor’s office, Viola raises her hands towards heaven.

“It’s a hard road,” Viola says, a point she underscores with struggling young dancers. “But I just don’t like it when people give up too soon. Be stubborn.” She feigns a gentle slapping motion towards an imaginary student.


Kindred Dancers

The main Paul Taylor studio in Soho is a big, bright room with peeling white brick walls and a jet black floor.

Bettie De Jong, the company’s rehearsal director, has been at Taylor for over 40 years. A tough woman from Holland, she’s one of few people in the room more experienced than Viola, and she has some advice to offer.

“Can you do it with your body rather than your hand?” she asks Viola, motioning toward her. Viola nods, and repeats the corrected motion eight times in a row, until De Jong is satisfied.

After De Jong, though, Viola clearly has seniority. There is a vote, for instance, on whether to re-rehearse “Roses.”

“Lisa voted yes,” one of the dancers says. “That counts for like six votes.”

“Because of her quiet strength, she’s a natural born leader,” says Patrick Corbin, a former Paul Taylor senior dancer who was Viola’s frequent on-stage partner. “The other dancers really look to her for guidance in her actions, and they respond and emulate [her].”

Viola is often referred to in press accounts as Taylor’s principle dancer, though no such official designation exists at Taylor. (Viola instead uses the terms “senior dancer,” or even “senior citizen dancer.”) Inevitably, she gets questions about retirement. Viola says she tries to be vague in her answers.

“I know the day I give my notice it’s going to be hard,” she says. She estimates that it will come in a couple years. Professional dance is hard on the body, and Taylor “doesn’t have room for people to just stand on stage,” she says.

After she retires, she hopes to teach Taylor works to other companies.

Her colleagues think she’ll excel at whatever she pursues because of her work ethic and her extreme attention to detail. But they don’t want to think about her retirement just yet — she’s still dancing too well.

“She must have the fountain of youth or some elixir,” says Trusnovec. “I’m amazed every day.”

Taylor, at 76, is a choreographer who dance critics say has also remained young and fresh despite his age. These days, he can usually only be found in the studio when he’s choreographing a new piece.

Viola says despite having worked for Taylor for 14 years, their relationship remains strictly professional. “He’s still the choreographer, I’m still one of 16 dancers,” she says.

Her colleagues, however, believe the professional relationship between Taylor and Viola is a special one. “You can tell he loves her,” says Trusnovec. “He adores her because he’ll ask her to do something and she’ll break her leg trying to do it.”

Colleagues say Viola and Taylor share similar personality traits. For instance, Viola typically only does interviews or photo shoots for the press when Taylor specifically asks her to. Otherwise, she’ll decline. However, Taylor rarely asks Viola to do public relations because he empathizes with her desire for privacy, Tomlinson says.

“She’s a mirror of Paul Taylor because he also hates the limelight,” he says.

Tomlinson says that the two virtuoso artists, the genius and his long-time muse, both have a desire to simply let their art speak for itself.

“It’s a business,” he says, “that’s not about talking.”

- Sitiemilia with Tom Lee.

Line dancing street party

LINE dancing is the new must-do in a tai tai's routine.

Just ask Joyce Tan. The 54-year-old tai tai and line dance instructor goes shopping and for high-tea sessions with her line dancing kakis after practices.

Indonesian tai tais have also caught the line dancing bug.

A group of more than 100 Indonesians flew in specially to Singapore to take part in the line dance street party organised by the People's Association last weekend.

Witness the spectacle on Razor TV.

- Tom Lee.

Record price for apartment

PRIME property prices may still be a far cry from the record levels reached during the 2007 property boom, but one Orchard Road project recently achieved a new record price.

The Straits Times understands that a 2,885 sq ft apartment at Ardmore Park was sold last week for $10.64 million, or $3,688 per sq ft (psf) - a record for the project.

The previous record for the 330-unit freehold project was $10.1 million, or $3,501 psf for a unit, achieved in October 2007, according to caveats lodged.

- Real Estate.

Many sublet hawker stalls

IT IS almost akin to speculating in the property market.

Head to the National Environment Agency during its monthly tender exercise, submit a bid for one of the vacant hawker centre stalls, and cross your fingers.

If you are successful, you could rent the stall out later for a higher fee, and make a tidy profit of close to $2,000 in some cases.

Stalls at good locations and near MRT stations or bus interchanges, such as Tekka Market and Tiong Bahru Market, usually fetch premium rents because of the high pedestrian traffic.

The subletting of hawker food stalls seems common. Checks by The Sunday Times reveal that up to half the stalls in Boon Lay Place Food Village and Block 216, Bedok North are apparently sublet.

Those who get their stalls through NEA's tender or walk-in schemes can sublet them out legally.

- Sitiemilia , Singapore.

Hooked on illegal fishing

AT LEAST once a week, often under the cover of darkness, a 26-year-old undergraduate goes fishing at the MacRitchie Reservoir, casting his line at an illegal spot.

The young man, who calls himself a 'professional poacher', takes a 11/2-hour trek through forests with friends, risking snake bites and being caught by park rangers.

Asked why he does not fish at an approved spot at the reservoir, he replied: 'No fish to catch. More and more are fishing illegally because there's a lack of places.'

Indeed, the number of people being netted for illegal fishing is growing. Last year, 488 summons were issued, up from 399 in 2008. In 2007, 336 tickets were handed out.

The infringements mainly concern fishing outside designated areas and using live bait that can pollute the water.

Noting the growing interest in fishing, however, the authorities have also hatched new fishing spots to hook anglers.

- Sitiemilia , Singapore.

Bruce Willis ruled by daughters ?

Bruce Willis would do anything for his daughters.

The 54-year-old actor - who stars as a policeman struggling to pay for his daughter's lavish wedding in 'Cop Out' - is looking forward to his own children, Rumer, 21, Scout, 18, and Tallulah, 16, walking down the aisle and will stop at nothing to make their big days special.

He said: "The one thing I didn't have to do any research on is what I would do for one of my daughters if she wanted something badly. That part came pretty easy. In real life, my daughters really rule my emotions, and I would do anything for them. I'm not worrying about their weddings yet. I have a little time. But when it happens it happens. Marriage is just one more rite of passage."

Bruce - who had his three children with ex-wife Demi Moore - also revealed he has never been happier since tying the knot with Emma Heming last March.

He added to Parade.com: "I got re-married again last year to a really wonderful woman. That makes me happy all the time. This is the happiest time in my life. It just really is. I've never been happier than I am right now."

- Potter Harry.

Paris beer ad leaves bitter taste

Paris Hilton is giving blondes a bad name.

So says Brazil’s Secretariat for Women’s Affairs, which wants a sultry beer commercial starring the hotel heiress, model and actor off the air.

The ad features Hilton in a short black dress preening and rubbing a can of Devassa beer on herself, to the delight of onlookers watching through her window.

The commercial isn’t very explicit - especially in a land where postage-stamp-size bikinis are ubiquitous. But Brazil’s regulations say beer commercials cannot treat women as overtly sensual objects.

“It’s an ad that devalues women - in particular, blond women,” according to a spokeswoman for the Women’s Secretariat who said it received numerous complaints. She spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because she was not free to discuss the case.

Many Brazilian beer ads feature women in bikinis - but a key difference is that those are set on the beach, said Eduardo Correia, a spokesman for the regulator Conar, which has opened three separate investigations into the campaign.

“The problem with the ad isn’t a lack of clothing, but its sensual nature,” Correia said. “A woman in a bikini on a beach isn’t necessarily sensual; it depends on the context.”

Conar is a private agency that cannot legally force a company to remove an ad. But Correia said that in 23 years of existence, Conar has conducted more than 7,000 investigations and not one of its recommendations has been ignored.

Devassa, which means “naughty” in the most gentle of translations, is made by Grupo Schincariol. Calls to the company were not immediately returned Thursday.

Devassa’s “Bem Loura” - “Very Blond” - beer also features an Internet campaign with Hilton wearing lingerie and high heels.

Hilton was in Brazil last week during Carnival for the opening of the ad campaign. Photos in local newspapers showed her crawling on the floor in a VIP room during the extravagant samba parades.

- Tom Lee.

'Growing Pains' actor kills himself

ctor Andrew Koenig, who starred in the 198Os television comedy "Growing Pains," has committed suicide.

His body was found in a remote part of a Vancouver park.

"Our son took his own life," Walter Koenig, who portrayed Lieutenant Pavel Chekov in the original "Star Trek" TV series, told reporters at a late afternoon news conference.

His son, Andrew 41, was last seen on Feb 14 when he left the apartment of a friend in Vancouver that he had been visiting.

Walter later received a letter from his son and lodged a missing persons report.

On his father's website, Koenig's parents posted a long description of their son, including the fact that he had been suffering from clinical depression when he disappeared.

Walter Thursday pleaded with people who may be similarly depressed not to ignore the illness and to seek help.

After a week of searching, Walter and Andrew's friends decided to go for a final search of Stanley Park.

At about noon, a friend stumbled on his son's body.

Andrew Koenig portrayed Richard "Boner" Stabone on "Growing Pains," but since then he'd had mostly small roles on TV and in the movies and did some stand-up comedy gigs.

- Sitiemilia , Singapore.

Obama on test?

Barrack Obama goes for routine medical check up in Navy base Betasta Marryland . Official says its a routine check up.

- Madhumitha.

DNA test confirms that an Austrian man is Hitler's cousin

A 46-year-old farmer in Austria is horrified at the findings of a DNA test which confirm that he is one of the last surviving relatives of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The man, thought to be a cousin of the former German dictator, is a resident of Waldviertel -- a remote area in Austria which was once home to Hitler's grandmother Anna Schicklgruber, father Alois and mother Klara.

The hidden secret came to light after a Belgian journalist Jean-Paul Mulders -- who had previously garnered some Hitler DNA covertly by taking a serviette dropped by one of three known Hitler descendants -- persuaded the farmer to take a mouth swap test.

Mulders said he had no reason to doubt the findings.

But he added: "I wish I had never done this. Hitler for me was the biggest criminal of all time - there is no argument about that.

"I did the test without really thinking and regret it now," he said.

- Indian Writer.

Lindsay Lohan admits cocaine use

Lindsay Lohan has admitted using cocaine and visiting rehabs thrice.

The ‘Mean Girls’ star confessed she had almost killed herself with mix of alcohol and cocaine after her father started talking about her drugs habit to the press in 2007.

"When my father was going public, that's when I hit rock bottom," Fox News quoted her as telling The Sun.

She added: "I tried to mask my problems with alcohol, cocaine and mind-altering substances. I ran myself down and lost track of who I was."

Recollecting her May 2007 arrest for DUI (driving under the influence) and possession of cocaine, she said: "I just thank God everyone was okay. But it was scary. I had three drinks, at most. I've been stupid and childish and I wasn't thinking."

Lohan insists she has now got rid of her addiction.

She said: "I've made some dreadful mistakes but learned from them - that has probably saved my life.


- Sitiemilia.

What an Idea ?

What does an auto driver do in between rides? Catch up on sleep, smoke, or sip chai over the day’s vernacular newspaper? Well, this auto driver has a different take on his spare time — he checks his mail, reads up on science, updates his own personal website, www.tuktastic.com — and even explores online options to make money! This man is perhaps the first cabbie or auto rickshaw driver on the globe to have his own personal website. But then, Samson is not your average autowala. This enterprising auto rickshaw driver has taken the online road to success.

Samson uses the net to build up an international clientele. And to think that we imagined personal websites to be the prerogative of the rich and the famous! “When you are in Chennai it would be my pleasure to be at your service. I can be found outside the Taj Coromandel Hotel, please just walk down the ramp to the street and ask for Samson! I can also be contacted by phone or text message on +919 840 842724 at any time or email me at samson@tuktastic.com” reads out the message on Samson’s website.
In fact, Samson also makes the site a tourist’s virtual hangout by putting up on the site information on places to visit in and around the city, places for eating and drinking, shopping, etc. To top it all, it is an interactive website and he invites ‘happy customers’ to upload on the site, their photos with him and their comments on his service. “This does put in perspective the extent of internet penetration in the state,” says Prof Kalyanakrishnan, former head, department of computer sciences, IIT, Madras.
Samson speaks passable English, which is interspersed with phrases like ‘google it’, ‘erased from the site’, ‘message me’ and so on. Never mind that he flunked exams and quit school before completing his primary grades. “I had always wanted to know more about the world and would prefer to explore the city — bathe in the Chetpet lake, walk on the Marina beach or head to the airport to watch planes take off, rather than go to school,” recalls Samson. Eventually, he ran away from home and took the first train he saw, which happened to be heading to Salem, a town in Tamil Nadu. There he found a job as a waiter. After a fortnight, he wrote to his father and his father took him back home, and Samson never attended school again.

Samson also speaks a smattering of French, German and Russian, besides some decent English, which he picked up from the tourists he drove around the city. Later, he bought a Tamil-English dictionary and taught himself to read English. “When I mouth ‘Vu Ale Vu?’ meaning ‘Where are you going?’ to Frenchmen strolling on the streets, they invariably grind to a halt, like an auto on brake, and I am assured of a customer,” grins Samson. “And I like to offer more,” he says.

Making customers happy
For instance, when a Danish tourist operator wanted to be dropped at the Marina beach, Samson entertained him with a tourists’ guide narrative of the St Thomas Church, the Vivekananda House and the other sights of Chennai along the way. “He ended up wanting to visit those places too, and though it was just a Rs 300-worth ride, he tipped me Rs 3000, though I asked him just for Rs 300,” shares Samson. Impressed by Samson’s service over the years, now, this Danish national partly finances the education of Samson’s three children. “It is all about making customers happy,” he says. Well, Samson probably has up his khaki sleeve more knowledge and experience than that endowed by a masters’ in business administration.

The same attitude reverberates through the Goodwill Auto Drivers’ Association, that Samson and some fellow auto-drivers formed at Rutland Gate Road in Chennai, which is a lane just across the road from the Taj Coramandel. “We have a code which disallows our members to arrive at the stand drunk, and against the use of foul language,” says Samson’s friend Kalimuthu, for whom Samson had created an e-mail address too. These guys shelled in Rs 2000 each during the launch of the association and donated bicycles to four physically challenged persons!

But how did this auto driver come to have his own website? “It isn’t so strange”, he says, reading this writer’s mind. Since Samson’s auto stand is opposite the Taj, he ends up servicing foreigners most of the time. His glib talk and punctuality brought him many repeat customers, one of whom happened to be a Japanese lady, Stao Mutchucity, who often wanted to be driven to internet cafes. It was the year 1999.

“I asked her what the Internet was and she explained that it was a way of instant communication with people far away. I asked her if I too could communicate with my clients who had gone back to their countries, and she created an e-mail ID for me,” narrates Samson.

Five years later, when another of his faithful customers — Chris Pew of British Airways wanted his visiting cards done, Samson, as always, guided him to a printer. Samson noticed a website address on the card and asked Chris, “Can I have a website too?” A smile rose on Chris’s face and hey presto, www.tuktastic.com was born, with the generous support of Chris.

Now, Samson has moved on further ahead on the virtual road, and has created www.netwayadvertise.com, a site devoted to advertisements. “For Rs 500 per year, people can advertise on my site and I can get the advertisement uploaded in 48 hours,” he promises in his laid-back style.

To cap it all, he nonchalantly belts out another thunderbolt. “I have researched ancient texts and hit upon a way of doing away with petrol or diesel and making vehicles run on water. To create machinery for that, I want legitimate sponsors to contact me.” Well?!

- Madarasi.

Chitrangada Singh craves for song and dance

"It has been so difficult for me to come out of the shadow of my character Geeta Rao in 'Hazaaron...' I am not complaining, but the problem is the way you have been portrayed in your debut movie; you get stuck in an image," Chitrangada, 27, said in an interview.
"Despite this, I am very fond of Geeta Rao. But at the same time, I am very much looking for a change and would love to do a regular Bollywood film with a lot of song and dance, and, yes, my role has to be meaty," she added.

Chitranganda was in the capital to announce the launch of fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger's exclusive customer loyalty programme.
The actress, who was last seen in "Sorry Bhai" and also did the movie "Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow", says she is a very good dancer and is looking forward to doing all kinds of roles.

"I have been dancing all my life. Acting happened just by chance, though it sounds clichéd, it is a fact. If not an actor, I would have been a fashion designer," admitted Chitrangada.
Married to Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa, this gorgeous woman is often compared with the legendary Smita Patil, courtesy her looks. Chitrangada takes that as a compliment but says it is not a good idea to compare her with the latter.

"I know where I am and where she (Smita Patil) is. It is a huge compliment to be compared with her, but the problem is that if my film doesn't do well then the media starts saying negative stories. So it's like one day I am like Smita Patil and the next day I am not. It just hurts," explained Chitrangada.

Chitrangada is again working with Sudhir Mishra - who directed her in "Hazaaron..." - in a yet-to-be titled movie.
"Apart from Mishra's movie, there are two more projects and the announcement will be made in March. So I feel it is too early to talk about it," she said.

Talking about her role in Mishra's new movie, Chitrangada said: "I am playing a singer who plays the guitar. It is a different role and I hope it will break the assumption of me doing serious roles only."
Apart from movies, endorsements are also keeping the actress busy. Currently she is the face of Garnier and Aliva biscuits.

According to Chitrangada, associating with a credible brand helps Bollywood stars reach out to more people.
Describing her personal style statement as classical, Chitrangada said: "I don't like bling in clothes. I like to wear something that is classical as well as contemporary."

- Maya , Netherland.