'Matrix' makers to produce $150m film on Prophet

Islamic World News

'Matrix' makers to produce $150m film on Prophet

DOHA: A film about the Prophet Muhammad backed by the producer of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” is under discussion, a Qatar media firm said Sunday, with the aim of creating an English-language blockbuster for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.

Filming of the $150 million movie is set to start in 2011, with Barrie Osborne as its producer, Almoor Holdings said.

Almoor said the film — in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic strictures — was in development and talks were being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the US and Britain.

The company launched a $200-million international film fund on October 31 to invest in film projects amid tight financing in the wake of the financial crisis and plans to focus on Hollywood. Alnoor said it aimed to attract the “best international talent” to star in the motion picture.

The company was set up this year to take advantage of economic opportunities in the entertainment industry, focusing on international film production, Arabic production and animation.

http://newageislam.com/-matrix--makers-to-produce-$150m-film-on-prophet/islamic-world-news/d/2041

India should now focus on the long overdue strategic outreach to Muslim world, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

India should now focus on the long overdue strategic outreach to Muslim world

Where east and west meet

By C. Raja Mohan

Friday, May 22, 2009

If there is one overarching foreign policy priority for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his second term, it is the long overdue strategic outreach to the Muslim world. A sustained effort to re-engage the major Muslim nations is essential in managing many of India’s internal and external security challenges. They range from the post-Mumbai imperatives of counter-terrorism at home to ending, once and for all, Pakistan’s support to anti-India extremist groups.

New Delhi’s renewed focus on the Muslim world should help stabilise the subcontinent, rejuvenate the “Look East” policy, and lay the foundations for a new “Look West” policy. Above all, it forms the basis for a credible Indian response to the new US strategy in the Great Game territory, the Af-Pak region.

India’s strategic imperatives and opportunities in the Muslim world are underlined by some important recent developments. At home, the CPM’s crude attempts to project the UPA government’s foreign policy as “anti-Muslim” have come a cropper. It is the CPM, in fact, that lost badly needed Muslim support in Bengal.

There is no doubt that during the Bush years, the relations between the United States and the Islamic world touched a new low and complicated New Delhi’s efforts to build partnerships with both Washington and the major Muslim powers.

Bush’s successor, Barack Obama’s determined outreach to the Islamic world now allows India to simultaneously upgrade its engagement with both in pursuit of self-interest and without having to look over its shoulder.

http://newageislam.com/india-should-now-focus-on-the-long-overdue-strategic-outreach-to-muslim-world--/current-affairs/d/1422

Daily gratitude: A Christian Science perspective on daily life

Daily gratitude: A Christian Science perspective on daily life

From the July 25, 2008 edition

The young woman spoken of earlier took her mother's advice about gratitude to heart and put it into practice. Two days after that conversation, the mother had what she called "a chirpy call" from her daughter. The young woman told her that when she started to be grateful for everything good she experienced – however small – it changed not just her life but others' lives too. In just that short time, many opportunities had opened up for her and for her work colleagues also.

http://www.newageislam.com/daily-gratitude--a-christian-science-perspective-on-daily-life/islamic-ideology/d/319