Katrina Kaif, totally devoted to ‘Tees Maar Khan’

BOLLYWOOD beauty, Katrina Kaif, has worked her fingers to the bone for upcoming blockbuster release, ‘Tees Maar Khan.’

The former model took her role in the film very seriously from the very beginning says director Farah Khan.

One of Katrina’s biggest efforts was filming ‘Sheela Ki Jawani’, which is fast becoming one of the Bollywood anthems of 2010.

“Katrina spent entire days and nights rehearsing for this song. I had to shout at her and insist she take some rest. I hardly ever saw her chilling on the sets,” said Farah.

In preparation for the filming, Katrina visited the gym on a daily basis, as well as following a healthy diet and abstaining from pleasures such as sweets

The easiest way to save: automatically

Given the choice between immediate gratification and saving for the future, many people opt for acquiring a flat screen TV or buying a new wardrobe, leaving savings for tomorrow. Often tomorrow never comes. Consumers who are having difficulty saving may find relief in an often overlooked financial product: the automatic savings plan. (For related reading, also check out 5 Ways To Trick Yourself Into Saving Money.)

What Is an Automatic Savings Plan?

Automatic savings plans are easy to arrange and can be opened at the major money-centre banks, community and regional banks, credit unions, and via mutual funds. Consumers can typically save as little as $10 or more a month or a percentage of their salary and have that money automatically deposited into a savings, chequing, money market account or mutual fund, among several investments.

The Benefits

Financial

Oilers win fourth straight

Taylor Hall scored the winner just 23 seconds in overtime as the Edmonton Oilers extended their winning streak to four in a row, knocking off the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Saturday.

Hall, the first overall pick in last summer's NHL entry draft, was sent in on a breakaway by Ryan Whitney and buried his ninth of the season and third goal in the last two games.

Ryan Jones also scored for the Oilers (10-12-4) who have won five of their last six.

Eric Brewer replied for the Blues (12-9-4) who have now lost five in a row, the first

For the Good of the Gut: Can Parasitic Worms Treat Autoimmune Diseases?

PROPITIOUS PARASITE: Human whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) eggs from a patient who deliberately infected himself with parasitic worms to treat his ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. The worms may have sent his sent his disease into remission. Image: Kimberley Evason, UCSF

In 2007, parasite immunologist P'ng Loke sat down for lunch at a University of California, San Francisco, cafeteria with an inquisitive man who had called him earlier that week. Their chosen topic of conversation would deprive many people of an appetite, but the scientist and his guest shared an intellectual hunger for a stomach-churning subject: gut worms—specifically, tiny worm-like parasitic organisms called helminths that live nestled in the gastrointestinal tracts of their hosts.

Loke was fully prepared to answer the man's questions about the parasites he knew so well, but what he did not realize was that his companion had more than just questions—he had worms burrowed in his intestinal walls, worms he had deliberately swallowed. Together, Loke and the worm-wrangler embarked on a research project, the results of which appear today in the December 2010 issue of Science Translational Medicine.

The 35-year-old man who had lunch with Loke was quite healthy in 2007. But only a few years earlier he was in the throes of an inflammatory bowel disease known as ulcerative colitis. An autoimmune disease, ulcerative colitis inflames the colon and leaves it rife with open sores; patients experience intense abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, rectal bleeding and weight loss. While searching for treatments, the man discovered the work of Joel Weinstock, a gastroenterologist, parasitologist and immunologist at Tufts University who has pioneered research on

Abhishek Bachchan talks ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’

AFTER his de-glam role in Raavan, Abhishek Bachchan returns to the screen with another performance-based character in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.

In his second release of 2010, Bachchan has collaborated with Ashutosh Gowariker on a period film set during the time of the Chittagong Uprising. Steven Baker spoke to the actor about playing a freedom fighter, working with Deepika Padukone for the first time and why he is not in competition with Aishwarya…

 

How did you prepare for your role as freedom fighter Surya Sen?

This is the third or fourth period film that I have done, but the first time I have played a freedom fighter. In terms of a performance, what is really easy with a historical character is that there is a lot of information available. You have a very definite framework and a skeleton to flesh out, compared to a fictional character which you really need to fabricate. When you have a character that you know what they did and how they did it, and what their characteristics might have been, it makes the job a lot easier. When you have all your research and information it makes it simpler to create the character.

 

This is your second de-glam role this year. Do you prefer more glamorous roles or something performance-based?

I am actually equally comfortable with both. It just so happens that you get these sort of characters back to back because of the way your schedule works out. I enjoy doing both, whether it is glamorous or de-glam, as long as it pushes me creatively to try and do a job that is more challenging than my last one. I happen to be half Bengali as well so I think that all helps.

 

What did you know about the story before signing the film?

One has been brought up on stories of

Walsall man jailed for electoral fraud

A WALSALL man has been jailed for electoral fraud.

Ali Hayder Munir, 30, was jailed for 12 weeks at Birmingham Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to two offences relating to making false applications for proxy votes to Walsall Council's elections office.

Munir was handed a six week prison sentence for each offence, which will run consecutively.

Detective Sergeant Paddy Gillece of West Midlands Police, Force CID said: "In his summing up Judge INMAM QC mentioned that the most important feature of our democratic process is that it must be free from corruption.

"He continued to say the court has a duty to protect it and that any individual involved

Corrupt cop who helped ‘drug lord’ brother jailed

A CORRUPT Lancashire police sergeant helped his drug gang "enforcer" brother by hiding a cache of weapons and intimidating witnesses has been jailed for eleven and a half years.

Salim Razaq, 33, pleaded guilty to misconduct, perverting the course of justice, possession of ammunition and firearms, and money laundering before the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court last month.

A raid on the former Lancashire Police sergeant’s home found three machine guns hidden under the stairs, bundles of ammunition stored under the garden shed and more than £70,000 of laundered cash in his bedroom.

Details of the case were made public after a judge at Liverpool Crown Court lifted reporting restrictions on a separate charge of deception relating to a mortgage application and today Razaq was jailed