Ikang given humanitarian position
Ikang given humanitarian position
JAKARTA: Rocker-cum-businessman Ikang Fawzi says he is excited to be named ambassador of the humanitarian group Indonesia Red Crescent (BSMI).
"When it was first offered to me, I was delighted to accept it. This is going to be my vehicle to voice my gratitude to God. I want to repay my loan to God," said the father of two daughters.
With his new title, 46-year-old Ikang wants to encourage his 'celebrity' friends to take part in charity activities, especially those run by BSMI. He also plans to involve colleagues and businesspeople from the Indonesian Chamber of Trade.
"Compared with doctors and paramedics who were sent to Pakistan in the middle of the fasting month, what I've done is nothing," Ikang said, as quoted by Antara.
BSMI is set to send a medical team to help survivors of the Pakistan earthquake.
"While we're busy amassing consumer items to welcome the Idul Fitri holidays, the doctors and paramedics will be on a humanitarian mission away from their families," he said.
When asked what he hoped to gain from his position at BSMI, Ikang said,"I already had enough when I joined BSMI; like my career as a singer, what we can do is help make things better for people -- that's the main thing."
Ikang, married to former model Marissa Haque who is now a member of the House of Representatives, was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. Besides singing, he also starred in a number of locally made films. --JP
;AP; ANPA ..r.. Britain-Beckhams David and Victoria Beckham seek libel damages over claims their JP/20/GUESS
David and Victoria Beckham seek libel damages over claims their marriage is unhappy[
Beckhams may sue over marriage claims
LONDON: Soccer star David Beckham and his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria are taking legal action against a newspaper that claimed their "happy marriage" is a sham.
The pair are seeking libel damages against the News of the World newspaper over an article which carried the headline: "Posh and Becks on the Rocks." The case will be heard before a judge and jury at London's Law Courts in December.
During a pretrial hearing on Monday the couple's lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, said the Beckhams would argue that they had been defamed by the newspaper and there was no truth in the story that alleged that the pair were maintaining a false image of a happy marriage to protect their financial interests.
Richard Spearman, for News Group Newspapers -- publishers of the News of the World, said the article suggested that because the Beckhams' "substantial fortunes depend upon their public perception, the claimants have been cynically and hypocritically trying, for financial reasons, to convince the public that they continue to enjoy a happy marriage."
Spearman said the defense would argue that that suggestion was true and would also question the state of the celebrity marriage. "Is it unhappy, rocked by rows and tensions because of David Beckham's infidelity or is it happy? We say unhappy," Spearman said.
Tomlinson, for the Beckhams, said the couple promoted themselves as a happily married couple because they were.
The trial starts on Dec. 5 and is expected to take two weeks. It is not the first time that David Beckham, the England and Real Madrid soccer star whose income is the highest in world soccer, has pursued libel action against Britain's tabloid media.
In August, Beckham accepted damages from tabloid The People for an article that falsely accused him of making hate calls to a former nanny.
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 18, 2005 18:22:43
;AP; ANPA ..r.. US-Warren Buffett Multimillion-dollar deal announced for book about Warren Buffett JP/20/GUESS
Multimillion-dollar deal announced for book about Warren Buffett AP Photo NY119[ By HILLEL ITALIE= AP National Writer=
Multimillion-dollar deal for Buffet
NEW YORK: A bidding war for an authorized biography of the "ideas" of billionaire Warren Buffett has been won by the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc.
Tentatively titled The Snowball: How Warren Buffett Collected Friends, Wisdom and Wealth, the book is scheduled to come out in 2008. Several publishers were interested and a representative close to the deal said it was worth more than US$7 million, although not as much as the reported $10 million to $12 million for former President Clinton's My Life.
Former General Electric Co. CEO Jack Welch reportedly got $7.1 million for his best seller, Jack: Straight From the Gut.
The Snowball will be written by Alice Schroeder, a former insurance analyst at Morgan Stanley, where she met Buffett. This marks the first time a book will be written with his cooperation, but the contract was negotiated with Schroeder.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by Dell, the book will focus on Buffett's business strategies. It will be based on the "thousands of hours" Schroeder spent with Buffett and on "unprecedented access to his files, friends and associates."
The 75-year-old Buffett is considered of special interest both for his personal wealth, estimated by Forbes magazine at $40 billion, and his folksy style.
Buffett is known as the man who built a 1956 partnership of four relatives and three close friends into a holding company worth about $100 billion. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns insurance, soft drink, candy, furniture, restaurant and carpet firms.
Yet Buffett is also known to wear sweat pants and sweat shirts in his spare time. He is a longtime fan of hamburgers, french fries and Cherry Cokes, and enjoys bridge and playing the ukulele.
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 20, 2005 06:38:27