London, Feb 12 (ANI): Hollywood actor Adam Sandler has teamed up with fellow stars Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, David Spade and Kevin James to appear in an upcoming flick.

The ‘Click’ actor has joined hands with writer Fred Wolf to pen the screenplay.

The flick is based on five best friends from high school who reunite 30 years later for America’s Independence Day celebrations, reports The Daily Express.

Director Dennis Dugan will take control of the as-yet-untitled project, with shooting expected to begin this summer (09). (ANI)

New Delhi, Feb. 10 (ANI): Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Tuesday inaugurated the ‘Map World Forum’ in Hyderabad.

He noted that the instruments for accessing geo-spatial information have become much simpler.

“It is indeed a privilege for me to inaugurate the Map World Forum today. Let me acknowledge that I was impressed with the vision of the Forum of aiming “beyond speeches and discussions to find practical ways to improve people’s lives,” Ansari said.

The Vice President opined that the use of technology is only an enabler. The use that technology could be put to is guided by the political, social and economic context of the time.

“Today everyone can access them through freely available services of Google, Microsoft and other companies. The instruments for accessing geospatial information have also become simpler,” Ansari said.

But he also cautioned that the technology could have serious implications for the national security.

“The terrorists who attacked Mumbai used global positioning systems and Google Earth maps to identify their targets and the terrain. The only constructive option lies in better regulation of geospatial data and of relevant stake-holders. A fine balance is needed to allow geospatial technologies to flourish without compromising on national security concerns,” Ansari said. (ANI)

London, January 17 (ANI): Isla Fisher was said to have forgotten her trousers as she posed for America’s Allure magazine.

The Aussie actress, best known for her role of Shannon Reed on the Australian soap opera ‘Home and Away’, had made her presence felt after a series of successful films.

The ‘Wedding Crasher’ star gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Olive, with fiancé-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, and the couple are yet to set a date to their wedding.

“We are going to get married, really, really, even more now than ever. We have been talking about it and we have been very close, but it has been difficult to plan,” the Sun quoted her as saying.

“It is very important to me to have a beautiful ritual celebrated with all my family and friends and to feel part of a community.

“And when you are in the public eye, to keep that private and to make it happen without it being really visible is really difficult,” she added. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 16 (ANI): Former ‘N Sync member J.C. Chasez has slammed former bandmate Lance Bass for making false claims of a boyband reunion.

Reacting to comments Bass made about a possible comeback, the ‘Bye Bye Bye’ singer said that there had been no talk of such a thing.

The reunion rumours were sparked after Bass’ interview with America’s In Touch magazine, where he said that the band that split in 2002 might work together again.

“It’s a definite possibility. We are like brothers – it’s perfect,” Contactmusic quoted Bass as saying at the time.

He added: “There is talk of (me) putting an album together next year, but I would much rather do it with ‘N Sync. So we are going to be talking about that.”

However, Chasez is baffled by his former bandmates claims, and has told internet blogger Perez Hilton that Bass is wrongly raising fans’ hopes.

“We haven’t discussed anything like that… I can’t speak for him or as to why he would say that, but I know nothing about one (reunion),” said Chassez. (ANI)

Washington, Jan 13 (ANI): While other stars tried to put their best foot forward for the Golden Globe Awards on January 11, Eva Longoria Parker had to hobble up the red carpet, because she badly sprained her ankle.

The ‘Desperate Housewives’ star got injured at one of hubby Tony Parker’s basketball games.

The pretty lady had to wear an ankle brace under her stunning red Reem Acra gown for the event.

“It hurt, like, two or three days after and now I can’t walk,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying. (ANI)

London, Jan 13 (ANI): Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he was left horrified when fellow actors Heath Ledger and River Phoenix died from drug overdose.

Despite growing up in a heroin-riddled neighbourhood, the ‘Titanic’ star has never been tempted to drugs.

Early exposure to substance abuse put him off from experimenting.

“I knew drugs were bad, even as a little kid. Seeing the effects that drugs had on my block, seeing heroin addicts, it made me think twice about ever getting involved in drugs,” the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

“I was so horrified by what I saw drugs do to people that I never wanted anything to do with them,” he added.

Moreover, death of actors Phoenix and Ledger from an accidental overdose left him horrified.

“When I was a young actor, I saw other actors die of drugs. I watched what happened to River Phoenix, who was such an influence on me as a young actor,” he said.

“Now Heath Ledger has died young. It is such a horrifying thought to know that those guys aren’t around any more. Every person has demons. We all have horrible fears and insecurities that we need to overcome,” he added. (ANI)

London, Jan 13 (ANI): Jessica Alba is truly a lovely wife, for the stunner organised a lavish birthday bash for her hubby Cash Warren’s 30th birthday.

And the party was so grand and precious that Warren burst into tears at his surprise party.

The ‘The Love Guru’ actress had organized a surprise birthday party in Las Vegas with invitation to 80 guests including Warren’s close pals and family.

In order to make sure that the surprise was not ruined, Alba took her husband out for the day to distract him from the party preparations.

“She knew his entire party was checking in so she wanted him to be away from everything so no one would spoil the surprise,” The Daily Star quoted a source, as telling People.com.

When the party began Warren was surprised to see 20 of his close pals, who joined him for dinner, soon he was completely taken aback, as 60 more people entered with a huge cake in the shape of number 30, wishing him.

As if this was not already a charming surprise, Alba went to the length of enlisting Warren’s favourite band, Deadly Syndrome, to play as his friends entered.

An overwhelmed Warren had nothing but tearful eyes, as the never-ending surprise was very touching.

Warren thanked everybody, by stating: “I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my beautiful wife and best friend in the whole world, Jessica. I can’t tell you how surprised and happy I was to see all of you. Those tears were real. I can’t act. It doesn’t run in the family. But it’s tears of love for all of you. I was so surprised and happy to see all of you.”

The group later headed to Tao Las Vegas’ nightclub where Alba had reserved three tables in the VIP area for the group. (ANI)

New Delhi, Jan.13 (ANI): The journey of life is weird and highly unpredictable. It is not necessary that one reaches the place where one starts out for. This applies for Dr Shan Nair. An Oxford educated and trained nuclear scientist from UK, Nair retrained himself as an accountant in the early 1990s. He founded Nair and Co. in 1994 and currently oversees the group’s overall development, its policies, strategies and goals.

On January 9th, Dr Nair was awarded the “Bharat Samman”,one of the prestigious awards presented each year to 20 prominent Indian expatriates.

Founded by the NRI Institute, a global non-profit, the ‘Bharat Samman’ annual awards recognize the economic and philanthropic achievements of the Indian Diaspora.

“I feel honoured for getting the award…and it further reinforces my connection with my birth place”, this was his reaction after joining the illustrious list of past awardees that include Sam Pitroda ,Chairman of India’s Knowledge Commission,Lord Swaraj Paul,British Parliamentarian and the founder of Caparo Group and Baron Karan Bilimoria,CEO of Cobra Beer.

Nair is keen on expanding his business ventures in different cities of India with his current Mumbai office being the main headquarter.

Today, Nair and Co. supports more than 700 client operations in over 40 countries, offering a one-stop solution for companies seeking to make their overseas expansion less risky, stress free and more strategic in the finance, tax, HR, compliance and legal arenas. Headquartered in the U.K., Nair and Co. has key offices in India, China, U.S. and Japan.

Nair feels that India is still “far away from realizing its full potential as an economic power house” and the country needs to be more assertive and confident” in presenting itself at the international fora.

He doesn’t see any hope for economic upturn in the next two years with the recession hitting the world. However, Nair feels that India is ” much less affected as India’s growth rate is internally generated.”

The Satyam fiasco for him is similar to the World.com that happened in America and it’s the “problem of proper auditing” but this will not affect the country’s growth story.

“Terrorism is the biggest obstacle for India and the government is not handling the situation at home very firmly as the USA did after 9/11.

An avid political watcher, Nair wants a coalition of Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for a stable political and economic growth of the country.

Interestingly Nair is one of the few Indian expatriates who were against Indo-American nuclear deal. He thinks that India stands to lose from this tie-up.

“The deal is a setback to India’s indigenous growth of nuclear technology”.

The nuclear deal should not be the reason for strategic tie up between India and USA. “It should be India’s economic strength that should be the premise on which the relationship between two largest democracies of the world should be defined,” he adds.
orn in family of a diplomat, Dr. Nair has lived in over 15 countries. He married Vyoma in 1976, and the two jointly founded Nair and Co, Inc. in 1994.

The ‘Bharat Samman’ adds to a growing list of accolades for Dr. Nair who received the ‘Gullands Excellence Award’ and ‘Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business’ award earlier in 2008. By Sanjay Kumar (ANI)