Culture

The Delhi University will award an honouris causa degree to its superstar alumnus Amitabh Bachchan on the 4 of November for his contribution to the Indian film industry. Notable cartoonist (and creator of the iconic Common Man character) R. K Laxman, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister C N R Rao and Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit will also be presented with honorary degrees at the ceremony. The University will also honour historian Romila Thapar, industrialist Ratan Tata (who recently negotiated the largest overseas takeov

Pranab Mukherjee was appointed the External Affairs Minister while veteran Congressman A K Antony took his place as Defence Minister in a minor expansion-cum-reshuffle of his 29-month-old government by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Kannada actor-turned-politician M H Ambareesh made his debut in the Union Ministry as Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, an RJD leader and a protege of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who had to resign last year following allegations of influencing the police in a case of

The 2006 New Zealand Music Awards, or Tuis, were announced yesterday night at Auckland. Campbell Smith, organiser, said it has been encouraging to "see the Tuis spread among a wide group of artists, rather than being dominated by one or two. It shows the New Zealand music scene is vibrant, diverse and growing." The album of year was won by Bic Runga for her album, Birds. She beat other musicians including Dave Dobbyn and Don McGlashan. Pluto with their single Long White Cross, won the single of the year. This beat other singles by Bic Runga,

Barbra Streisand was heckled during a concert on Monday night in New York City inside Madison Square Garden after doing a comedy sketch, impersonating the United States President, George W. Bush portraying him as a "bumbling idiot." Some of the audience members did not like her sketch and began to heckle the singer, causing Streisand to ask "Come on, be polite!" during her sketch. One audience member refused to stop and Streisand told him off. "Shut the fuck up! Shut up if you can't take a joke!" said Streisand. The heckler was then asked t

Dove soaps continues their North American "Campaign for Real Beauty" advertising with a television commercial that explores the alterations that can be done on models. Labeled "a Dove film", the commercial is entitled "evolution". Beginning with a woman walking into a photo shoot. From there, she is primped and plucked by hair and makeup artists, then tweaked on a Photoshop-like program. The photo-manipulation is then posted on a billboard for the fictional "Easel Foundation Makeup" brand. Two young, teenage girls walk past, glancing at the

Robert Redeker, a French writer and college tutor in Toulouse, is now in hiding after receiving a series of death threats from Islamic fundamentalists by phone, email, and on a radical Islamist internet forum. One online posting called upon French Muslims to "follow the lead of Muhammad Bouyeri", who murdered the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh after he made a film denouncing the plight of abused Muslim women. The forum also published photos of him, his home address with directions, the places where he works, and his telephone numbers. Mr. Red

New Orleans-based band Imagination Movers have announced that they will be shooting a pilot for the Disney Channel this December. The band reached a deal with Disney this April to distribute their music through Disney Records, after a year of negotiations. The series is set to debut on Playhouse Disney in 2007. Since September, their music videos have been on rotation on The Disney Channel. Nancy Kanter, the senior vice president of programming for Playhouse Disney, first discovered the movers at the Kids Tent of the New Orleans Jazz and Heri

Jamie Lee Curtis, 47, has stated that she will end her acting career, but said that she will continue writing. "I'm not an actor anymore," she told Access Hollywood host Nancy O'Dell. "I really don't imagine I'll do that again." She later said in the conversation, "I'm just focused on my family and just can't imagine anything that's going to pull me away from them right now." Curtis appeared on the Access Hollywood show to promote her newest children's book, Is There a Human Race?. The interview she participated in with O'Dell will appear on

In the 2006 municipal elections in Belgium, the political party Vlaams Belang ("Flemish Cause") advanced in almost all municipalities, just like the last elections. But its rise was brought to a halt in the cities Mechelen and also in its stronghold Antwerp. Vlaams Belang is considered by observers and opponents as a far right party, supporting Flemish independence from Belgium and restricted immigration. Just one week before the elections, Antwerp was the scene of the 0110 concerts, organised against racism, extremism and gratuitous violenc

New Zealand filmmaker, Peter Jackson and screenwriter Fran Walsh announced at the X06 convention, Wednesday, that they are teaming up with Microsoft to create Xbox and Xbox 360 games with their new company, Wingnut Interactive. Wingnut Interactive will initially create another video game based on sci-fi series Halo with help from Microsoft and Bungie Studios, but staffed locally in Wellington. His second project can be whatever he likes, while trying to bring new people into the world of gaming. Peter Jackson spoke to New Zealand news broadca

A secretly filmed footage aired by Polish TV prompted accusations of "political corruption" on the part of the ruling party and calls for the government to step down and the parliament to be dissolved. The scandal burst out when Polish TV channel, TVN, aired footage secretly filmed by opposition MP Renata Beger. The footage presents Adam Lipiński, a government minister and top aide of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński offering Beger a government post, legal and financial aid in return for defecting from her party and joining the ruling coaliti

The Film Federation of India confirmed today that Rakeysh Mehra's Rang De Basanti would be India's entry for the Best Foreign Film Award at the Oscars. The Aamir Khan starring blockbuster has received much critical acclaim and the story (dealing with "new-age" nationalism) reportedly struck a chord with millions of viewers, both in India and abroad. A 12-member panel including Basu Chatterjee, Kalpana Lajmi, N Chandra, Aadesh Srivastava and Ved Rahi selected Rang De Basanti from a line-up of Bollywood hits, including Omkara, Lage Raho Munnabh