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Swaraj Paul pulls all stops for son's London wedding (Go To Top)

     London: Impressed by India-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal's 30 million pound wedding for his daughter, Vanisha, at the Versaille Palace in France last year, Lord Paul, the India-born Labour peer and chairman of the Caparo Steel Group, has also decided to pull out all stops for the wedding reception of the year for his youngest son Angad. The wedding reception will be held at Lancaster House in the heart of London on Monday (March 21), and the who's who of the British political establishment is expected to drop in for Angad's wedding-cum-reception to Michelle Bonn, a media lawyer. Invitation cards will bear the Paul crest, with its motto of "Truth, Freedom and Compassion", and they are being sent out to at least 1,600 "friends". At his Caparo HQ in Baker Street, Lord Paul, 74, tells the paper that he is pleased as cheese to know that Queen Victoria once dropped in to have dinner with the Duchess of Sutherland. Her Majesty remarked: "I have come from my house (Buckingham Palace) to your palace."

      In his interview to The Telegraph, he says: "I wanted an unusual place. It is not often Lancaster House is given to anybody, rather it is not given to anybody. It is a government hospitality place, for government banquets. They were kind enough to let me have it.'' According to the paper, Lord Paul will give a welcoming address at the reception, celebrating his 37-year-old son's wedding, but what will not be on Monday's menu is chicken tikka masala. In fact, there will be no curry. Lord Paul, who has been a vegetarian all his life, has recruited Anton Mossiman to oversee the food. The party also celebrates the birthday of his wife, Aruna. The Pauls will also be presenting their children and their children's children to Britain's ruling establishment. Lord Paul's sons, twins Ambar and Akash, 47, and Angad - all went to Harrow - are already established at Caparo, which employs 4,500 people, 60 per cent of them in Britain. Also present will be his daughters-in-law, his daughter, Anjali, 45, her husband, and the Pauls' six grandchildren. "This is not a Swraj Paul show," insists Lord Paul. "It's really Swraj Paul saying that the next generation is kicking,'' he told the paper.

Next Star Wars will be a tearjerker (Go To Top)

     London: Star Wars creator, George Lucas says his next movie in the series, 'Revenge of the Sith', which is to release on 19 May, will be more emotional than the previous ones. "It's a real tearjerker, and it will be received in a way that none of us can expect. I feel that I've made the movie the best I can and it turned out the way I wanted it to be, so I'm happy", The BBC quoted him as saying. However, Lucas abstained from giving away the plot,only saying, "Obviously, fans would love to see a movie about Darth Vader running around killing people." "I'm not telling that story, and I'm not interested in that. That's not what the movie is. This first trilogy is really about the father, the struggles of a father, or a man, basically, to find himself, and at the same time fall into a trap of wanting certain powers, making a pact with the devil and basically spending the rest of his life regretting it", he said.

Simon Fuller sells his music empire (Go To Top)

     London: Pop icon Simon Fuller has sold his 19 Entertainment company to an US entrepreneur in a 156 million dollars deal. Robert Sillerman's Sports Entertainment Enterprises, which is to be renamed CFX, recently also bought an 85% share in the estate of Elvis Presley. Fuller, who is the creative drive behind the American Idol and the Spice Girls phenomenon to name a few, has been appointed to the CFX board and will plan and implement the company's creative strategy. The firm handles a long list of music artists, TV shows and PR strategies for stars including the Beckhams. "This is a hugely exciting new partnership for myself and 19 Entertainment. CKX will provide 19 with a powerful platform for global growth and allow us to fully take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that lie ahead. I cannot wait to get started", The BBC quoted Fuller as saying.

Assam gives the world its first tea pill (Go To Top)

     London: If a laboratory in India has its way, you could soon be having a tea pill to start your day rather than a cup of tea. According to The Telegraph, chemists at the world's largest tea research facility, the Tocklai Experimental Station in Jorhat, Assam have developed a tea tablet that could be sucked, chewed, popped under the tongue or dissolved for sipping in the conventional manner. "The tea tablet is something that you will be able to drink normally or put on your tongue as you go into work and it will freshen you up for the day ahead just like a real cup does." Dr Mridul Hazarika, the station's director was quoted as saying. Hazarika added that he is "absolutely serious" about marketing the tea pill around the world. "Some fine-tuning is necessary, but we expect production to begin within the next six months. There are 10 companies who have expressed interest in manufacturing the product in India," he said. "In the not-too-distant future, I anticipate these products being aimed directly at mainstream consumers of tea in Britain, America and Europe. We want to exploit Assam tea's unique character," he added.

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