Inside Wateen

World's oldest Christmas tree returns

Families all over the country follow the same annual tradition of getting the artificial Christmas tree out of its box when the time comes to put up the decorations. But the Parker family has been doing it longer than any other because they are still using a tree they first bought in 1886. Complete with the original baubles and tinsel, their 14 inch tree is in its 124th year and has been authenticated as the world's oldest imitation Christmas tree. It cost six pence when it was bought in the mid-Victorian era but was last valued at £1,000 by experts at the Antiques Road Show in 2005.

Christians in Pakistan have praised the first-ever audio service of the Bible via mobile phones. The project was launched by E-verses, a private telecommunication company, on Dec. 6 at the Karachi Press Club. About 200 media workers listened as Christian project designer Philemon Joseph demonstrated the service by playing Qur’anic and Biblical verses on a loud speaker followed by quotations from Hazrat Ali, the fourth Islamic Caliph.
Joseph said he got the inspiration months ago while reading the Bible and came up with the idea of providing people “easy access” to the word of the God.

The JCB Toughphone Sitemaster — yes, the industrial digger people have branched out — claims to be the most resilient mobile in the world. The company makes some bold claims. Apparently, it can survive underwater for eight hours; can endure heat of 75C and below freezing temperatures of -30C; and is able to withstand extreme vibration and compression.

If the Toughphone were a person, it’d be climbing Everest and swimming the Atlantic.

The JCB one is right at the other end of the spectrum — what Jeremy Clarkson would call ‘the most incredible phone in the world’.

"No Problem", if we must talk about it, is no better or worse than all the other, comedies that have come and groaned. A series of wildly improbable characters and ideas strung together in sequences of flabbergasting haphazardness, this is the sort of comic romp where the laughter is lost in transit. The credits boast of four writers. But there is no rhyme in the crime any logic in the laughter. Just fasten your seat belts and let Anees Bazmi, a fine writer when given better circumstances, take you for a ride. The film opens with Sanjay Dutt and Akshaye Khanna playing two con men Yash and Raj (Yash-Raj, get it? ha ha) rescuing a baby gorilla from the dicky of Paresh Rawal's car.

MUMBAI: The Indian nation's biggest screen idol Rajinikanth celebrates his 60th birthday today.

The megastar who usually prefers to celebrate this day out of town, has decided to spend the day with his family after many years.

2010 has been a really good year for the icon, both career and family wise. While Enthiran has gone on to become the biggest commercial hit ever, on the personal front two new additions to his family have kept Rajini busy.

CAIRO: With more than 2.4 million people held captive across the world, human trafficking has become one of today's major crimes and issues of social concern.

To find new ways to tackle this scourge, the 'End Human Trafficking Now: Enforcing the UN Protocol Luxor International Forum' kicked off today bringing together policy makers, civil society and business leaders from around the world.

MUMBAI: In the upcoming film of Abhishek bachchan ‘Dum maro dum’ ,actress Deepika Padukone will be performing an item song.

It will the first item number of deepika. Film dum maro dum has abhishek and bipasha in the lead role. Its not bips, but Deepika who was selected for the song. The song will be a promotional number.

Deepika wasn’t even in talks with Rohan regarding the ‘Dum Maro Dum’ item song. Rohan Sippy was considering other names then Deepika was suggested. She was selected unanimously.