Pakistan installing mobile towers close to border

Pakistan is undertaking a "technological invasion" of India by installing mobile towers near the border and the matter should be taken "boldly" with Islamabad.

Raising the issue in Lok Sabha, a Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the signals of the Pakistani mobile companies were penetrating 30 kilometres deep inside the Indian territory, which has serious security implications.

Similar towers were also being set up on the Indo-Bangla border and the signals "are being used by smugglers to carry out their activities." He said, the intentions were "mysterious" and India, which was a global power in IT, was not able to stop these signals.

Terming it as a "technological invasion" which impacts India`s sovereignty, he said, "India should take up this issue with Pakistan, not meekly but boldly." He also referred to the rampant violation of border ceasefire by Pakistan while making his point. Meanwhile, Bhupender Singh (BJP) said connectivity of state-run BSNL in Madhya Pradesh, both for mobile and landlines, has "collapsed" for the past five months and the people were suffering.

He demanded an enquiry into whether the network failure was "deliberately done to benefit the private operators."

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Bollywood stars earning huge money through TV

If you think that Bollywood stars only earn through their films and endorsements, then you are grossly mistaken. They also earn huge moolah through television also. It is said that Salman Khan is charging Rs4 crore for each episode of Bigg Boss 4 on Colors.

This fees is thrice that he was paid on Dus ka Dum last year while Priyanka Chopra has become the highest paid among actresses for hosting Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi Season 3. She will be paid Rs60 lakh for an episode.

Though getting far less than Sallu bhai, Akshay Kumar is to be paid Rs2 crore for every episode of his cookery show on Star Plus called Master Chef to start from October. Evergreen Amitabh Bachchan is reportedly being paid Rs2.25 an episode for Kaun Banega Crorepati 4.

Sources say that getting stars for reality shows is a win-win situation for both the actor and producer as they reach out to a wider audience. For instance, in the case ofSalman Khan, the promos of Bigg Boss Season 4 will coincide with the last leg of promotion of his movie Dabang slated for next month release.

Sources say, A-grade Bollywood stars are usually paid in the range of Rs80 lakh-Rs2.5 crore an episode, while the next rung of celebrities are paid Rs20 lakh-60 lakh for an episode.

According noted film journalist Harish Chandra, anchoring a reality show on television is very lucrative, hence stars accept offers from TV.

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Peepli Live satellite rights sold for Rs100 mn

Aamir Khan's much awaited flick Peepli Live, which will perhaps be the first non-commercial Hindi film to hit over 600 screens on Friday, has already recovered its investment by selling its satellite rights for Rs100 million.



The film has been made with a budget of approximately Rs100 million (including marketing costs). Journalist-turned director Anusha Rizvi's directorial debut Peepli Live is a satire on the farmers suicides and the subsequent political and media reaction.



It will hit 600 screens in India and 100 in overseas markets, except Britain.



"In Britain we have partnered with Artificial Eye (again first for a Hindi Film), a premium distribution chain that looks into art house main stream release and own the largest art house exhibition chain called Curzon theatres. We will release 'Peepli Live' in Britain on September 24," said a source close to Aamir Khan Productions.



The cast of the film is a mixed bag - many actors are tribals from Bhadwai village in Madhya Pradesh, while other cast members are from late playwright Habib Tanvir's theatre troupe Naya Theatre, including the main lead Omkar Das Manikpuri, who plays Natha in Peepli Live.



The film also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Vishal O Sharma, Aamir Bashir, Sitaram Panchal and Yugal Kishore.



If Aamir's earlier three commercial films were blocbusters, Peepli Live has earned a reputation for itself in the global film circuit. The movie recently won the Best First Feature Film award at the 31st Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.



Peepli Live also competed in the Sundance Film Festival, the first film from India to do so. The movie was picked up by specialty German distribution company, Rapid Eye Movies, for a special screening at the Berlin International Film Festival. It recently had its Melbourne premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival MIFF 2010.



The film has also put the spotlight on over 1,000 villages across India that are called Peepli.



Well, we would say when there Aamir then all is well! This Mr. Perfectionist has the best sense to choose a theme and story. So, distributors believe him blindly. We hope all the best for the movie.

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Fasting for Ramzan starts today

The holy month of fasting for Muslims, Ramzan, began from Thursday with the new moon sighted yesterday evening in many parts of the country.



After a meeting of the new moon sighting committee here, Shahi Imam of Delhi`s Fatehpuri mosque, Maulana Mufti Mukkaram Ahmed, announced that Ramzan will begin today.



Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is observed as a fasting period by Muslims.



During this period, the Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.



They wake up early morning for the pre-dawn `sehri` meal renouncing food and water during the day before breaking their fasts in the evening.



The sumptuous evening meals are known as iftaars. The month-long fasting will culminate in the Id-ul-Fitr celebrations next month.

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No end to woes of Kalmadi, now CAG indicts

A report say that there are some some discrepancies in choosing consultants for global broadcasting rights and sponsorship deal for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its interim inspection report has found these irregularities.

The report has revealed that CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi had awarded the sponsorship deal to Melbourne-based Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) at a very cheap price.

The sponsorship deal has since been scrapped on grounds of `non-performance`, a claim that has been refuted by the Australian firm, which said the charges against it are "imaginary".

UK`s Fast Track Sales Ltd was chosen as the consultant for the broadcasting rights.

The inspection of the CWG Organising Committee was done by field officers between November 2009 and January 2010. The inspection report has been sent to the Committee for its comments and it was not immediately known if a response has been made.

It was pointed out that the report related to an inspection done by field officers and it was not an audit report. It was also said that the final report may differ from the findings of the inspection report.

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iPhone owners have more sex partners: report

A dating site OkCupid has recently conducted a study and found that iPhone owners have the most number of sexual partners in their lifetime.

According to The Age, the website completed a study about its users’ smartphones and sexual life, and concluded that among people who use smartphones, iPhone users have the most sexualpartners. BlackBerry and Android users are on second and third position respectively.

The website conducted the study on 9785 people with smartphones.

Among Android users aged 30, the average man had accumulated six sexual partners in his lifetime, while the average woman had accumulated 6.1. Among BlackBerry users, the number was 8.1 for men and 8.8 for women. Male iPhone users had 10 sexualpartners and female iPhone users had 12.3.

OkCupid looked at the data hidden in the images that users uploaded as profile pictures to see which cameras were used to take them including smartphone cameras.

With many of the site’s users also having taken personality tests like ‘The Dating Persona Test’ or ‘The Slut Test’, which ask for a count of sexual partners, the site was able to cross-reference that data to complete the study.

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Blocking of BlackBerry phones deferred

The Government today deferred a decision on blocking some BlackBerry phone services and decided to hold further consultations with all stakeholders soon.

A senior government official said that the meeting remained inconclusive. No decision has been taken and we will hold further talks soon. The meet was convened by Union Home Ministry and was attended by officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and telecom compniaes and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

The discussion was aimed at finalising the government strategy on Blackberry phones which is facing the threat of being blocked in the country if the telecom service providers do not address Government's security concerns.

Meanwhile, a top official of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion(RIM) -- which has nearly one million subscribers in the country.

Last week, BlackBerry had made a fresh attempt to break the logjam over its services in India by offering "metadata" and relevant information to security agencies which will enable them to lawfully intercept communication on such phones but it failed to enthuse them.

RIM representatives explained that BlackBerry mobile device sends encrypted emails, which is sent to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) located with the service provider.

BES decrypts messages and sends it to the email server of the service provider where it remains stored in decrypted form. Then it is pushed to theBlackBerry device in encrypted form.

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