Longest
run for the jobless
Chennai:
Defying his old age, a 66-year-old man is traversing
the entire length of India on foot to highlight the plight
of the jobless. Manjit Rai Bhardwaj, a resident of Ludhiana,
is on a "job misssion" from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. "There
is a lot of unemployment in the country which has been rising
every year. Students do not get employment and they get
disheartened, which forces them towards bad elements. So
seeing all this, I have undertaken this peace mission,"
Bhardwj said at a stopover in Chennai, capital of Tamil
Nadu. Bhardwaj, a retired railway employee, hopes to complete
the march, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and back, in three
years. Bhardwaj flagged off his journey from Srinagar on
November 6, last year, and has already covered 5,500 kilometres.
The growth of the Indian economy, one of the fastest in
the world, has not been matched by growth in employment
opportunites. The economy grew by a cracking 8.1 percent
in 2003-2004. However, over eight million people are estimated
to be jobless.
Gibson's film revives 'Passion' for Easter
(Go
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Sydney:
Though Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion
Of The Christ" has been criticized by various religious
groups, it certainly has rejuvenated an interest in the
religious meaning of the Easter holiday. According to The
Australian, Christian leaders have credited the film for
the larger than normal Good Friday turnouts at churches
around the Christian world. In particular, the portrayal
of Christ's brutal death in the film has made people focus
on the suffering in the world and the hope the church can
provide relief, Christian leaders believe. Cardinal George
Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic, said the level of
discussion on the film had focused public attention more
effectively than any event for years. The Anglican Archbishop
of Melbourne, Peter Watson, said Jesus's suffering had a
modern-day resonance. "The criticism that the film is overwhelmingly
horrible in its depiction of Christ's suffering ignores
the awful realities that is how it is for many in today's
world. Disease, poverty and violence still abound," Dr Watson
said. This year Easter fell on the same date for Orthodox
churches - who follow the Julian calendar - and Western
churches who follow the Gregorian calendar. The dates last
coincided in 1999.
Loos
spills the beans (Go
To Top)
London:
Rebecca Loos has spilled the beans on her sexual tryst
with British soccer star David Beckham and revealed his
favourite antics. According to a report in British tabloid
the Sun, the Madrid temptress alleges to have had a passionate
fling with the midfielder, while his marriage to wife Victoria
crumbled. "I brought fun and sex back into his life, two
things he had been missing. He loved my body and I loved
his - but then who wouldn't?," Rebecca is quoted as saying
to a former lover. Rebecca insisted their affair began last
September 18 after the two had an evening out together in
Madrid. "I thought I was falling in love with David. In
the beginning our relationship was an emotional one. He
would talk to me about his loneliness and the fact that
he missed his children so much," she further said. Rebecca,
who was employed by management agency SFX, worked for Becks
as a translator and personal assistant when he first moved
to the Spanish capital, while Posh stayed at the family
home in Hertfordshire with Brooklyn and Romeo.
"It all started when Victoria refused to join David in Spain.
She would tell him it wasn't all about what he wanted, that
he wasn't single and he must think about what was best for
the entire family," the report quoted her as saying. Rebecca,
who has freely admitted romping with both men and women,
said Becks was "obsessed" by her bisexuality. "He loved
to hear me talk about all the girlfriends I had and I would
tell him in great detail about my lesbian sex. I've pretty
much done everything with other women and it would really
turn him on," she candidly stated. "We would have oral sex
for hours. I would talk dirty to him while he was looking
after me. It was an amazing sexual experience," she said.
Meanwhile, the Real Madrid star has denied any affair and
gone to great lengths to put on a united front with singer
wife Victoria.
Sex
is Rebecca's God (Go
To Top)
London:
Revelations seem to be pouring in the Rebecca-Becks
story! According to a report in British tabloid Sun, a lesbian
lover of temptress Rebecca Loos has spilled beans on her
sexual prowess. "Sex is her God - she can't get enough.
Rebecca can turn on a man or a woman at the drop of a hat.
She is sassy, smart and an outrageous flirt," Sharon Orley,
said. Orley said that Rebecca showed an insatiable appetite
for steamy romps during their three-year on-off relationship.
The leggy beauty met Loos at a gay club in London's Soho
five years ago. Sharon further revealed that Rebecca had
fantasies of having a lesbian threesome with her and another
woman. Loos often snorted drugs and constantly cheated on
her with both men and women, she added. "I was the more
dominant partner and Rebecca liked me to handcuff her to
the bed and use all sorts of kinky sex toys on her. I had
cupboards full of them in my flat," the lover said.
Papa
stands firmly behind Becks (Go
To Top)
London:
David Beckham's dad seems to be completely unperturbed
by reports of his son's alleged affair with his personal
assistant. Ted Beckham has compared the soccer star's marital
crisis to his infamous World Cup red card and promised that
he will bounce back. According to a report in the Sun, Beckham
Sr. said the attention was similar to when David was sent
off for kicking Argentina's Diego Simeone in France '98.
"Hopefully all this will make David a stronger player. Look
at the World Cup match against Argentina. David came back
from that," the former Leyton Orient player said.
Posh
trying to gain mileage from Becks' infidelity (Go
To Top)
Sydney:
Victoria Beckham is all set to derive maximum mileage
out of husband's affair with his personal assistant. According
to a report in the Daily Telegraph, Posh is trying to convince
manager Simon Fuller to prepone the release of her next
single, which was planned for late northern summer. Sources
insist that she has told him she believes all the publicity
surrounding the allegations might as well be used for something
- particularly as much of the British public is feeling
sorry for her. Victoria is aware that she has not had a
No.1 single since the Spice Girls broke up. "She is trying
to demand that the record is brought forward. She told him,
'I'm on all these front pages anyway, so we might as well
make use of it.'," a friend said. However, Simon is not
convinced by her logic and is trying to talk her out of
it as he believes that this is a ploy to mask her anger
and hurt.
Willy
Wonka voted best family movie of all time (Go
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London:
1971 classic, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
beat all contenders including smash-hits ET and the Lord
of the Rings trilogy as the best family film of all time.
According to the Sun, in a survey conducted among 14,000
movie fans, the Mel Stuart directed movie which describes
the story of a poor boy touring the most eccentric candy
factory, won thumbs down. It is said that the author Roald
Dahl was so infuriated with the movie, starring Gene Wilder,
that he blocked a sequel. The Top five family movies list
: 1 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; 2 ET; 3 The Lord
of the Rings Trilogy; 4 Star Wars; 5 Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone.
Ghosts
rock Malaysian national service camp (Go
To Top)
Singapore:
Believe it or not, but Ghosts have been sighted at a
Malaysian national service camp in Negeri Sembilan. And
the trainees are in the grip of severe panic. The camp is
being conducted in a forest reserve near Port Dickson. 16
trainees including three boys were admitted to the Port
Dickson hospital for observation after the first 'sighting'.
Four more girls were admitted three days later. 'They said
they saw figures big and small, some without limbs and legs
in the toilets, and some saw these in the camp perimeter,'
The Straits Times quoted a senior official as saying. 'They
claimed that some of these elements, I don't know how else
to call them, tried to go into their bodies, and that caused
the hysteria and screaming,' he added. To restore confidence,
officials called in a ghostbuster, bomoh Datuk Abu Bakar
Hassan, to 'cleanse' the place. The faith healer apparently
caught the unfortunate spirits and 'threw them into the
sea', the senior camp official said.
