Richest man in the world to fund a movie featuring Egypt’s Omar Sharif
Thursday, 09 February 2012
The richest man in the world, Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helu, will fund a movie inspired by the French novel “Ports of Call” featuring Egypt’s Omar Sharif. Enas Bakr, general manager of Sharif, told Al Arabiya that Helu, who highly admires Sharif, agreed to fund the movie, which will cost around $40 ... Read More
Bart, Homer, Marge and Lisa hit the big 500
Thursday, 09 February 2012
After 23 seasons on television, a historic first, “The Simpsons” has earned its place in pop culture history, and its devotion among fans. And to celebrate its 500th episode on the air, it’s giving its biggest followers the chance to show their love for America’s favorite animated family from Springfield. “It is an ... Read More
Iran’s Oscar contender has ‘universal’ appeal, actor says
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
The Iranian film “A Separation” which is vying for an Oscar at the US Academy Awards, is a “universal” tale that resonates strongly with foreign audiences, its lead actor told AFP on Wednesday. The movie’s international popularity -- evidenced by multiple festival prizes over the past year -- stems not so much ... Read More
Mecca the spiritual homeland for billions
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
From every corner of the world, Arabs and Africans… Caucasians and Asians… Europeans and mixed race Whole convoys cross stretches of land to reach this destination in a long journey that unravels man’s eagerness to go through the most exhausting of challenges in order to quench the thirst of the soul. In the past, they used ... Read More
Indian state ministers resign over sex video
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Three state ministers from southern India, including one holding a portfolio for women and child development, quit on Wednesday after being accused of watching porn in the local assembly. The ministers from the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were filmed by television cameras watching graphic ... Read More
Brad Pitt moves from onscreen to behind-the-scenes
Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Never content to be just another Hollywood hunk, Brad Pitt these days is not just one of America’s most bankable film stars but also a sought-after and influential movie producer. Pitt and his life partner Angelina Jolie are Hollywood’s gilded first couple, a fixture on the Big Screen and on the awards' ... Read More
Anfield cat becomes internet hit
Tuesday, 07 February 2012
A cat that invaded the famous Anfield turf for three minutes during Liverpool’s 0-0 Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Monday has become an internet celebrity. Several Twitter sites claiming to be the real deal sprung up within hours of the moggy’s Lionel Messi-like slalom across the pitch during the first ... Read More
Saleh target of shoe-attack in incident reminiscent of Bush in 2008
Monday, 06 February 2012
Ali Abdullah Saleh was greeted by groups of protestors as he left and returned to his hotel in New York Sunday. As Saleh came out of the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South in New York a group of two dozen Yemeni Americans was protesting against his presence in the United States. Saleh has been granted temporary permission ... Read More
Simpson dolls join Barbie on Iran ban list
Monday, 06 February 2012
An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday. The report said that the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture. But Superman and Spiderman were ... Read More
Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep join Arab Spring at the Berlin film festival
Sunday, 05 February 2012
The Arab Spring uprisings and political turmoil in the West will dominate the 62nd Berlin film festival starting Thursday, as Hollywood royalty sprinkles stardust in the frigid German capital. Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman, Robert Pattinson, Antonio Banderas and Christian Bale are due in town to present new films ... Read More
Palestinian bookshop owner wins right to remain in E. Jerusalem
Sunday, 05 February 2012
The owner of a famed bookshop in East Jerusalem has won the right to remain in the city after a six-year-long battle to regain residency. Munther Fahmy, the Palestinian owner of QBD The Bookshop in the American Colony Hotel, has been granted a temporary residency permit after years of running his business illegally under a ... Read More
Fidel Castro publishes memoirs ‘Time Guerilla’
Sunday, 05 February 2012
Cuban leader Fidel Castro is publishing two volumes of his autobiographical memoir entitled “Time Guerrilla,” the Cuban news media reported Saturday. The memoirs trace his life from infancy until 1958, when he succeeded in leading a revolution that turned Cuba into a communist country aligned with the Soviet ... Read More
Qatar’s royal family pays world record sum for Cezanne’s art work
Saturday, 04 February 2012
The Qatari royal family has paid £158million ($250 million) for Paul Cezanne’s “The Card Players” painting, making it the highest sum ever paid for an art work according to The Telegraph. The sale beats the previous record of £88.7 million paid for Jackson Pollock’s “No 5, 1948” in 2006 the British newspaper reported on ... Read More
Storm over climate change among weather forecasters
Friday, 03 February 2012
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. But weather forecasters, many of whom see climate change as a natural, cyclical phenomenon, are split over whether they have a responsibility to educate their viewers on the link between human activity and the change in the Earth's climates. Only 19 ... Read More
Iran considers partial ban on Samsung after Israeli ad shows bombing of nuke facilities
Friday, 03 February 2012
A commercial in Israel featuring Mossad agents disguised as Iranian veiled women who end up blowing up an Iranian nuclear plant using a Samsung tablet has earned the wrath of the Islamic republic. The commercial which angered Muslim internet users, now has Iran mulling a partial ban of products manufactured by the South ... Read More
Israeli commercial ridicules veil, angers Muslims
Thursday, 02 February 2012
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim internet users were outraged by a commercial that makes fun of the Muslim veil. The commercial, which was produced by Israelis, spread rapidly on the social networking website Facebook and the video sharing website YouTube. It depicts four male Mossad agents disguised as women wearing ... Read More
Indonesian atheist’s arrest sparks tension online
Thursday, 02 February 2012
A defiant declaration of atheism by an Indonesian civil servant has inflamed passions in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, pitting non-believers and believers against each other. The trouble began when civil servant Alexander Aan posted a message on the Facebook page of Atheist Minang, a group of ... Read More
Evictions tarnish Azerbaijan’s Eurovision glitz
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
In the shadow of an enormous Azerbaijani flag, a landmark concert hall is rising from the Caspian Sea shoreline as the oil-rich ex-Soviet state prepares to host the Eurovision song contest in May. But a human rights dispute has marred Azerbaijan’s preparations for the pop extravaganza as homes are demolished as ... Read More
Group calls on scholars to issue fatwa on sanctity of Iraqi blood
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Iraq’s Ulama and Intellectual Group urged religious scholars in a statement on Tuesday to issue a fatwa forbidding the killing of Iraqis. The group also called on the Iraqi society to put forth a mechanism to educate Iraqis to wither violence by cooperating with the country’s civil society organizations and cultural ... Read More
Divine intervention saves shell-struck Syrian convent
Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Divine intervention prevented a shell that pierced the walls of a Syrian convent from detonating, swears the mother superior of Our Lady of Saidnaya, a spiritual retreat near Damascus. “The Virgin Mary stopped the shell from exploding with her own hands,” said Mother Verone, who interpreted the close call as a ... Read More