Many times Vivek Oberoi extended olive branch to his rival Salman Khan but of vain. Salman never welcomes his friendship invitation and bypass Vivek. This time Vivek chose to avoid Salman Khan when both arrived at producer Ramesh Taurani’s party celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary on Tuesday night.

Vivek in order to avoid Sallu hurriedly rushed to the main entrance when he saw Salman Khan was arriving. Vivek was so hurry to leave the venue that when his driver parked the car, he asked him to move to the next seat so that he could take control of the steering. When Vivek was asked why he tried to run away from Salman, he replied diplomatically, “Oh is it so? No I don’t think so. There is nothing like that.”

Salman and Vivek turned enemies when six years back Vivek commented about Sallu’s personal life in front of the public. If we remember both Vivek and Salman were Aishwarya’s ex flames. Salman and Vivek’s relationship sour when Ash left Salman and connected with Vivek. Strangely, after the tussle, Vivek’s personal and professional life did not lift up.

The bachchan bahu Aishwarya is down with ‘chest infection’ and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan is worried about his bahu who is shooting away from the hometown.

'Aishwarya has taken ill and is down with chest infection and flu like symptoms. She had a high fever yesterday, but is settling down today,' he posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com Saturday from Singapore.

'It's worrying to be so far away from children and not be there to look after them. Yes, they are mature and married and responsible, but children will always remain children,' he added.

Currently, Ash is busy in doing the patch work of Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ravan’ and Big B is worried for not able to attend his bahu as he is in Singapore to look after his close friend and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who is undergoing treatment there. 'I stay back till he (Amar Singh) is sound enough to travel back,' he wrote.

Even Amitabh is not keeping well; he is suffering from a strained back.

Shabana Azmi: “The swine flu has not really affected our lives at all. The hysteria it has generated can only hamper the cure. Instead of apportioning blame we should act as responsible citizens and make sure the citizens are alerted warned and informed about the disease.

Hema Malini: “I’m not able to understand the gravity of it. I’m scheduled to perform at several places for Janmasthmi. But now the shows are being cancelled and I feel the seriousness of the situation. We shouldn’t take it lightly. We need to be very careful.”

Bipasha Basu: “I’m in London. But I heard about it. It’s really sad and scary. I hope things return to normal very soon.”

Vidya Balan: “The swine flu just got scarier because it’s in our city now. And the civic conditions and the large population make us vulnerable. Some say the media is exaggerating and creating panic but I think it’s better safe than sorry. Let’s hope it abates sooner than later.”

Shekhar Kapoor: ‘I’m trying to differentiate between rumor and reality. My daughter’s school has shut down. And I was supposed to be back in New York this week. Now I’ve had to re-evaluate my plans.”

Amrita Arora (she’s expecting a baby): “It’s definitely shaken me. Instead of panicking I’m following orders. I’m wearing mask. I’ve a sanitizer by my bedside. And I’m trying to instruct my staff to take precautions. We’ve to stay calm.”

Minissha Lamba : “It has definitely made one more cautious. Normal movement is restricted. That’s the least we can do to ensure it doesn’t get out of hand.”

Kabir Khan: “There’s a huge over-reaction. But the shutting of schools suits me because I’m taking the kids and rushing off to the Malaysian jungles to be with my wife Mini who’s shooting there.”

Tusshar Kapoor: “I’m taking precautions. Trying not to panic. Unfortunately my film this week cannot be released on time due to the flu scare.”

Neha Dhupia: “I’m in Los Angeles and very worried because the swine flu is all that props up on the internet every time I speak to anyone back home. The key is not to panic and to take action as soon as and only if the symptoms prop up.”

Rensil d’Silva: “I lost two days shooting of my film Qurbaan in Pune which I’ll make up for when I shoot the climax. That apart, the flu scare hasn’t affected me.”

Amole Gupte: “It’s love during the time of swine flu. The family is indoors for a change. No option but to be happy bonding over varan bhaat and televised paranoia.

Rajeev Khandelwal: “There are huge warning hoardings outside the studio where we’re currently shooting. There’re doctors on the set. And that’s a tad scary.”

Shahana Goswami: “It’s not affected me. But I see the effect on others. There’s sucha paranoia about in the media and in the people. Hopefully that won’t spread the disease further.”

Shreyas Talpade: “I’m in Mauritius trying to be as careful as possible.”

Rohit Roy: “In some ways the swine flu scare has affected my family. We’re really concerned for our baby and my mom as kids and older people are more susceptible. Also Mumbayites have become extremely wary of anyone who is even remotely infected with a common cold. Profesionally, as though recession wasn’t enough we’ve theatres shutting down due to swine flu. But I still say it’s just a virus and we can fight it.”

Sonu Sood: “I’ve been traveling a lot. The swine flu scare is a hassle at the airport. It takes extra time. Less people are stepping out. I hope it gets over quickly.”

Ranvir Shorey: “The roads are deserted in the evening. People wearing masks on the streets is scary. But they don’t know the masks need to be changed every three hours to be effective.”

Riya Sen: “I’m taking all the precautions possible. I’ve ensured that my staff at work and at home including building watchmen wear masks.”

Purab Kohli: “It’s scary, though I do feel there’s a certain amount of sensationalism by the news channels. At home we’re just making sure our immunity is kept at a high level.”

Anjana Sukhani: “Mom doesn’t let me go out. And there’re people on the streets with masks. It’s definitely scary.”

Shah Rukh "is the sun among stars in the bright Bollywood Galaxy," says spiritual guru Deepak Chopra's son Gotham Chopra, "Yeah, the same guy
Newark New Jersey Customs officials detained yesterday for several hours on account of Shah Rukh having the same last name as some dude on a terror watchlist somewhere."

Gotham Chopra blogged about the time his non-Indian wife and he met the My Name is Khan star. As people who are used to bumping into stars, they considered themselves quite immune to being star-struck. But there was this one time that they weren't so immune. "Not Brad Pitt, not George Clooney, not Tom Cruise, Denzel, Bruce Wayne, Gladiator, or any of the other usual suspects. No we're talking the BIGGEST movie star in the world ladies and gents, Bollywood sensation SHAH RUKH KHAN."

Gotham narrates, "My wife Candice who is not Indian has watched countless Shah Rukh Bollywood movies with my two nieces. ...Anyway, so Candice and I are in Mumbai to attend a good friend's wedding. Shah Rukh - who I had met casually a few times before - was in attendance at the party, drawing a huge crowd of admirers as expected. Still, at one point, Candice, myself, and Shah Rukh find ourselves face to face. I shook his hand and reminded him that we had met before once or twice.
"'Of course,' he nodded and smiled, 'it's nice to see you again.' He turned to Candice. 'But madam,' he bowed to her and took her hand, 'it's a true privilage to meet you.' He bent down on his knee and kissed her palm.

"Like I said, her knees buckeled and her cheeks flushed red. She giggled like a school girl and sheepishly looked away. The moment passed as another admirer pulled Shah Rukh's attention away. Candice would gush over it for weeks....

Back to the New Jersey incident, Gotham writes, "This is no joke people. Shah Rukh Khan is the biggest movie star in India, a country of 1.3 billion people, thereby making him the biggest movie star in the world. I'm struggling to find a comparable here in the US. No offense to Will Smith or Matt Damon or Pitt, Cruise, Clooney, Angelina or whomever else you can think of, but they all pale in comparison. Maybe Michael Jackson, God rest his soul, or Madonna are vaguely comparable. Maybe."

"But here's the thing. It's not just American customs agents being provincial, it's the fact that I would guess that in India alone, there are several million Khans. I'm not joking. Khan is one of the most common Muslim names and India is not even an Islamic country. "Ghengis Khan," anyone? Khan is like Jones or Smith. This is how our security works in the US? This is how we are catching terrorists? Are you kidding me?"

The detention was shameful, he states, "A few weeks ago, a big to-do was made about African American Hardvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. getting arrested outside of his own house in Suburban, Massachusetts. Now this. Racial profiling in America, either subtley as it appears to have happened with Gates in Mass (my hometown) or by the book as it appears to have happened in NJ is shameful. It's based on ignorance and it actually perpetuates the same sort of hostility it aims to undo."

He adds, "I'm not going to get all crazy about this and blow it out of proportion, though I do think it's a big deal and could see it blowing up if Indians in India get galvanized. The point is that despite all of our social networking and our flattening of the world and our East-West fusion culture and the fact that people in Milwaukee do yoga , we're still pretty provincial here in the good ol' US of A and there is an implict danger to it."

Gotham concludes, "Trust me on this one, Shah Rukh Khan is no terrorist. That's not my wife's type."

Nevada, (ANI): Hindus have asked the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to introduce a new award category of "Best Bollywood Film" for films made in India. Rajan Zed, a leader of the Indian American community here, said in a statement that India had the largest film industry in the world and thus it deserved at least one category in Oscars where its movies could compete among themselves. This gesture would bring more credibility to Oscars also in the international arena, as it was long overdue.

Buzz up!
He further said that cinema in India, based in Mumbai and various regional centers, reportedly produced much more films and drew much larger audience globally than Hollywood (which released only 610 movies in 2008). It was, therefore, unfair for such an influential cinema not to have its own category at Oscars. Foreign Language Film Award at Oscars, where only one picture was accepted from each country, did not do justice to such a large industry, Zed added.


Academy, launched in 1927 and dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures, has over 6,000 artists and professionals as honorary members, including actors like Jack Nicholson, directors like Steven Spielberg, executives like Steve Jobs
, musicians like Elton John and writers like Ruth Prawer Jhabvala etc. Located in Beverly Hills, (California), the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will host the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7, 2010.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body of scientists drawn from around the world, will use its next assessment due in 2014 to look at how the impact of global warming is falling unequally on the poorest developing countries.

Two hundred key members of the IPCC met in Venice last week to begin scoping out its fifth assessment. Rajendra Pachauri, the body's chairman, told reporters at the UN building in New York today that the panel was determined to increase its understanding of local and regional impacts of rising temperatures.

There was an awareness, he said, that in Africa in particular there was insufficient scientific and modelling fire-power to be able to predict in any detail what was likely to happen under global warming. "It's critically important that we create the capacity in Africa to be able to assess the impact of climate change."

A portion of the money the panel was awarded for the 2007 Nobel peace prize that it shared with Al Gore has been put into a trust specifically to help the least developed countries predict, and thus prepare for, the likely consequences.

Pachauri said the fifth assessment, the first draft of which is scheduled for 2013, would concentrate both on adaptations and mitigations that countries could make as rising temperatures take hold. "Every nation and community in the world will have to adapt [to] whatever happens in Copenhagen."

Pachauri said he had been heartened by the recent G8 meeting in which the world's industrialised powers agreed on an aspirational ceiling of 2C temperature rise. But he said that in that case they should also have signed up to the IPCC's conclusion that to contain global temperatures within that limit, emissions of greenhouse gases had to peak in 2015 and decline rapidly thereafter.

"They should have categorically stated that by 2020 they will implement deep cuts in emissions. So there are several gaps that are rather glaring." He went on to say that "the time has come for the global community to take action. There is frustration about the gap between our knowledge [of climate change] and acting on that knowledge."

Another area that the IPCC will home in on in its fifth assessment is extreme weather caused by climate change, a topic that has garnered mounting public attention in recent years.

Australia will assess Brett Lee's fitness over the coming days amid doubts the fast bowler will be available for the third Test at Edgbaston. Lee has missed the first two Tests of the series, which the Australians trail 1–0, and has yet to bowl a ball since being diagnosed with his side injury.

The Australians will make a judgment in the next 48 hours on whether they can thrust him into the tour match against Northamptonshire, starting on Friday. However, their coach, Tim Nielsen, admitted they were erring on the side of caution ahead of next week's Edgbaston Test.

"We will see how we go," said Tim Nielsen. "We are progressing with him. The positive thing is that in a tour game we do have the flexibility over how much we can bowl him or how much we don't bowl him.

"He hasn't bowled yet, so we just have to sit with the medical staff over the next few days and chat about how much we need to get into him and whether it is going to progress him to the stage where he could play in the third Test.

"My feeling is, if it is not going to mean he is available to play in the third Test match, we are going to have to be really careful about rushing him back."

Lee has not played a Test for Australia since the Boxing Day defeat to South Africa. He took six first-innings wickets against England Lions last month but suffered discomfort in his ribs as a by-product.

He has not played since and the Australians are concerned he has not had enough match practice to make a return viable.

"The injury that he has is a bowling-specific injury and history shows if you have those injuries again it tends to be six, eight, 10 weeks before they come right, if you actually re-tear the side," said Nielsen. "Two, three, four overs in the nets is probably not enough to prove that he is right to go.

"If he had to bowl say 11 overs in a row, like Andrew Flintoff did yesterday, to win a Test match for us, we would want to be comfortable that he is strong and fit enough and able to do it."