One-film-old Gemma bags next 007 girl role

London: Actress Gemma Arterton of the show St. Trinian will be the next Bond girl. It will be her second film.
Thesun.co.uk reports that the 22-year old beat 1,500 other women to co-star with Daniel Craig in the movie is tentatively titled Bond 22. Filming starts in January.
After getting the confirmation, Arterton sent an SMS to her mom saying, "I got Bond!"
An insider at the Bond studios Eon Productions said, "She has the modern look."

Prez Bush might just be on 'The Simpsons' show

Prez Bush will now be on 'The Simpsons' show
IANS
And now for the final feather in the cap for faux pas king, US President Bush. After making repeated headlines with his gaffes, goof-ups and bloopers, seems like Pres Bush might just meet his animated-television twin, Homer Simpson.
Popular animated comedy series, The Simpsons writer James L Brooks is hoping to get US President George Bush to appear on the show.
Thesun.co.uk reports Brooks as saying: "A vulnerable moment with George would be great. You cannot go wrong with George. George and Homer, George and Bart, even George and Comic Book Guy. We've never got a US president. We will take any US president willing to pass his or her love of us."
Brooks is one of the original writers of the show and was in Britain promoting The Simpsons Movie, which he co-wrote and co-produced.
Talking about the movie he said: "One of the toughest things was we cared so much and our profile was so high that it became intimidating. For a while we had to work to get past it and then we could start having fun."
So far while many celebrities have made their appearance on The Simpsons, no US president has been seen on the show. Given how Pres Bush is a favourite topic for lampooning for media, commentators and cartoonists, having him on the show will be a coup of sorts for The Simpsons.

Sania bows, apologises for ad shoot at mosque

Tennis star Sania Mirza bowed before public sentiment on Thursday and tendered an 'unequivocal' apology for shooting a commercial at the historic Mecca Mosque in Hyderabad and hurting religious sentiments.
Sania's public apology came barely hours after a case had been registered against the tennis star and the advertising agency, charging them with trespassing on the Mecca Masjid.
The tennis star later sent an e-mail to Hyderabad's Police Commissioner, apologising for the ad shoot "with a deep sense of remorse".
Sania also sent a letter to the Imam of the Masjid, saying: "I would like to apologise to all my brothers and sisters and respected elders who are anguished by my unwittingly entering a portion of the land belonging to Mecca Masjid."
"While I am fully aware that a woman must not enter the sanctity of the mosque, I was unaware that even entering the outside gates of a mosque was seriously objectionable, specially without permission, which I was assured by the agency they possessed."

tender my apology to all my brothers and sisters for hurting their sentiments," she said.
She, however, maintained that the commercial was aimed at promoting the heritage monument of Charminar, which is a symbol of Hyderabad.
Sania and the ad agency had upset local groups by shooting for an ad at the mosque without taking the requisite permission from the authorities concerned. The shoot evoked strong protest from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
Mosque employees had alleged that the attitude of some of the members of the shooting unit was objectionable. They were reportedly wearing shoes when they entered the mosque and pushed away a watchman who tried to stop them.
The complaint was filed by the District Minority Welfare Officer Kareemullah, who said: "Sania has hurt the religious sentiments of people visiting the mosque."
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Charminar), B Reddenna, however, said it was a "petty case" involving unauthorised entry and photography. He, however, insisted that "the law will take its course in the matter."
The superintendent of the mosque, Khaja Nayeemuddin, had earlier claimed that he had no information about the shooting and that the advertisement had already been shot before he or other custodians could reach the mosque.
Reddanna says that the unit had obtained permission to shoot in and around Charminar, but not inside the Mecca Masjid.
The ad shoot has also evoked strong protest from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), a powerful Muslim political party in the Muslim-majority old Hyderabad city. The MIM also objected to Sania Mirza's participation in it.

John, Bips shoot to prove the affair ain't over

Bollwood's most talked about couple make it to the cover pages of the latest issue of Filmfare and finally all the doubts about their rocky relationship are put to rest.
John and Bipasha launched the latest edition of the Filmfare magazine that shows the couple in some cozy moments caught on camera by Jatin Kampani. The shoot needless to say was John and Bipasha’s way of mixing business with pleasure.
Bipasha says that they were their natural self and that is the way they usually are. "It was good to shoot with John after a really long time," she adds.
And it is not just John’s fans who lust over his six-pack, but it is Bipasha too who goes crazy over his hot looks. “I think John is hot and yes he is getting better with every passing year. Ask the girls here in Mumbai who drool over his looks."
The couple seems to be all praises for each other. John too is all praises for his lady. “She is Asia's sexiest woman, so that’s more than enough a reason for me to go gaga over her," says John.

Mouse click mightier than pens and swords

New Delhi: People of different nations have chosen different weapons of change at different points in history. First it was the swords and the guns, then came the pen and today people aim to change the government with the click of a mouse.
Pakistan, November 2007: The Emergency muzzles conventional media but blogs reflect the people's rage.
China, October 2007: Citizen Journalists expose government corruption, online.
Mynmar, September 2007: The military junta shuts out foreign media. But Burmese youth smuggle news out, online.
Politics on the net has just come of age.
Khai Sien Mung from Mizzima News, Burma says, “Some of the citizen journalists did created blogs on the Internet and posted photographs, footage and information on the blog. When a Japanese journalist was shot dead there were some reporters, undercover correspondents who shot footage of what actually happened there. And this video has been smuggled out through the use of Internet and it is being shown to the world”.
The net isn't partial to dictatorships alone. These government manuals for America's secret prisons were leaked online at www.wikileaks.org.
Military blogs by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans expose life in a war zone like no other media. For Americans, the net is now a way to get real news and express real views — without government filters on the web.
Khai Sien Mung says, “The correspondents can not write stories on what’s happening in Burma and the publications there do not carry the stories of the protests. The only option is to send the news outside the country through the use of Internet and telephone”.
The blogs helped millions track their dead relatives after the 2004 Tsunami. The government wasn't involved — just one man who wanted to help. Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matto, Satyendra Dubey, Kashmiri Pandits — all cases that had the net on fire before spilling onto the roads.
Some blogs had news on Nandigram two days before the mainstream media. Online petitions are also now signed by thousands of concerned netizens.
An online activist, Aditya Raj Kaul, says, “Middle class people want to do something. But they do not have the time to get together and protest. The net lets them protest from their computers. Everybody can do that”.