• Now, Salman Rushdie picks a bat
• `My Oscar to blame for my recent failures': Halle Berry
• Has Jackie Chan pulled out of Hollywood?
• Liz Hurley turns witch for 'Harry Potter'
• Pitt, Aniston plan quick divorce
• `Gladiator'Crowe won't direct Eucalyptus
• Charles may have to marry Camilla in Scotland
• Banderas and Santana to share stage at Oscars
• London to host Zee Cine Awards 2005
• Rescue team's negligence cost Di her life
• `Top Gun' Cruise is dating Miss `Vergara'

Now, Salman Rushdie picks a bat (Go To Top)

     London: Novelist Salman Rushdie is always known for hurling words straight in the face of people and institutions. However, this time round, it's a baseball bat that he is ready to wield. Rushdie picked up a baseball bat to threaten a reporter who allegedly wrote "mean things about his wife and model Padma Lakshmi. He shouted at the reporter at a NewYork function. "If you ever write mean things about my wife again, I'll come after you with a baseball bat", The Sun quoted Rushdie as saying. What angered the controversial writer was reporter Guy Trebay's reference to Padma Lakshmi as standing "for a love of money and commodity."

`My Oscar to blame for my recent failures': Halle Berry (Go To Top)

     London: Other Hollywood moguls might be feeling good after winning an Oscar, but actress Halle Berry blames her 2002 Oscar win for her recent failures, as she is now finding it difficult to regain her Academy Award-winning success. 'The Catwoman' actress, who this year is to get a degrading Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in the movie, claimed that the pressure of her 2002 Oscar win hindered her chances of future nominations. "When you fail after you have an Oscar you fall even harder because you've been put on such a pedestal. When you would fall before, nobody would notice and you'd get up and dust yourself off and you'd be back in the game." Femalefirst quoted Berry as saying. "But after you win, I think it's curse, so it's actually good that I'm getting a Razzie this year because now I'm back at the bottom. The expectation has been taken off me," she added.

Has Jackie Chan pulled out of Hollywood? (Go To Top)

     Washington: Is 50-year old Hollywood action star Jackie Chan moving out of Hollywood? If reports are to be believed, Chan has put his 7,600 square feet Beverly Hills pad up for sale for 6.7 million dollars. Chan, according to Zap2it, now divides his time between Los Angeles and China pursuing his various business interests, including real estate, the restaurant business etc. He is reported to be spending only six weeks of the year in Los Angeles and the rest of time in China The five-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath home boasts three fireplaces, a pool, a spa, a sitting area in the master bedroom suite, a dining room with a hand-painted ceiling, a temperature-controlled wine closet, a step-down bar and a two-story entry. Chan has owned the the gated French-style estate since 1998. It was built in 1986.

Liz Hurley turns witch for 'Harry Potter' (Go To Top)

     London: Liz Hurley could soon be seen performing a bit of magical action, as the actress is reportedly being pursued to play the role of a witch in the new Harry Potter movie. Hurley will play the part of Bellatrix Lestrange, a member of Dark Lord Voldemort's gang, in forthcoming sequel 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. "The producers have tried to keep details of the cast under wraps but they have always wanted someone beautiful and mystical to play Bellatrix and they reckon Liz can pull it off," femalefirst quoted a source as saying.

Pitt, Aniston plan quick divorce (Go To Top)

     London: Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are reportedly hurrying in for a quick divorce. The couple, who separated from each other last month, are now sorting out issues out with the help of their respective business managers instead of divorce lawyers. Femalefirst quoted sources close to the couple as saying that they never merged their monetary assets except for their Hollywood mansion. Pitt and Aniston are still reported to be very close and they are planning to attend this year's Oscars together. "They see each other often and are still living together. Their romance might be over but they are still close. They are even discussing going to the Oscars together", Female First quoted a source as saying. The couple, however, insist that reigniting romance is not on their cards.

`Gladiator'Crowe won't direct Eucalyptus (Go To Top)

     London: Oscar-winning superstar Russell Crowe has declined to direct the troubled movie, 'Eucalyptus', while indicating that he wants either Bruce Beresford or Fred Schepisi to salvage the project. Studio Fox Searchlight Pictures had postponed the 15 million dollar film earlier this month, following the departure of director-writer Jocelyn Moorhouse. According to Femalefirst, the 'Gladiator' star was to helm the movie himself, but is now looking to hire one of Australia's top directors to take over. It has been reported that Crowe was set to appear alongside Nicole Kidman in the big screen adaptation of Murray Bail's novel, but the actress is considering pulling out of the movie.

Charles may have to marry Camilla in Scotland (Go To Top)

     London: The question of legality that has been hounding the upcoming wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles still remains mired in confusion. Experts feel that if the clarification of the marriage Act of 1949, which governs the law on civil marriage in England and Wales, but excludes the Royal Family, leaving them subject to earlier laws permitting only marriage in church, is not sought, then the couple may have to tie the knot in Scotland. Sir Nicholas Lyell, QC, suggested that emergency legislation could also be needed to clarify the legal position before the wedding on April 8, reports The Telegraph.

Banderas and Santana to share stage at Oscars (Go To Top)

     Washington: Spanish star Banderas will join Mexican-born Carlos Santana for a special performance at the upcoming 77th Academy Awards. In their first Oscar performance, the two will team up to sing the Oscar-nominated song 'Al Otro Lado Del Rio' from 'The Motorcycle Diaries', reports ratethemusic.com. The ceremony will take place at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on Sunday.

London to host Zee Cine Awards 2005 (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: The much-awaited Zee Cine Awards, which stole the thunder last year in Dubai from all the others, will be happening in London this year on 26th of March at the massive Excel Arena. Last year, the awards evening was a pleasant surprise with deserving but largely unexpected people bagging awards. This year people are waiting that what ZCA has to offer.

Rescue team's negligence cost Di her life (Go To Top)

    Washington: The late Princess Diana may have died due to the negligence shown on the part of the rescue team that attended to her soon after she was severely injured in a Paris tunnel crash on August 31, 1997, claims one of the doctors who attended to her at the hospital. He says that it took nearly two hours for the rescue team to bring the princess to the hospital. Giving an insight into the tragedy, Brazilian Leonardo Esteves Lima, then a student in the Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, joined the team fighting to save Princess Diana after her crash in Paris in 1997, and revealed that Diana was given heart massages, adrenaline shots, electric shocks and blood transfusions in a desperate attempt to save her. "It was like operating in a war scenario. She had suffered a heart attack on the way to the hospital and she was bleeding from her pulmonary vein," the Brazilian newspaper, Estado, quoted Lima as saying. Lima said he was given the task of cleaning and stitching up the cuts on Diana's body and fixing the diagnosed fractures in her right arm and pelvis. By the time the cuts were sewn up, she had lost almost five litres of blood or "almost all the blood of a 36-year-old woman", he added. Reportedly, after two hours on the operating table she was declared dead. An investigation into Diana's death has been opened by Royal Coroner Michael Burgess, who has ordered a Scotland Yard investigation in the light of allegations that she may have been murdered.

`Top Gun' Cruise is dating Miss `Vergara' (Go To Top)

     London: :Hollywood hunk Tom Cruise is reportedly dating Sofia Vergara, the Colombian actress and model. The duo has reportedly been seeing each other since they met two months ago. According to The Sun, the actress is popularly known as "Sofia Vergara" because of her sexy curves. Sofia, was reportedly involved with Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias before Cruise.

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