Washington, Jan 7 : British actor Michael Sheen is still sore that his performance in 2006 film `The Queen' did not receive the same level of attention as his co-star Helen Mirren's acting got.

The 39-year-old actor played former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the hit film, which garnered a Best Actress Academy Award for Mirren in the title role.

The film won a wealth of other gongs for Mirren, Stephen Frears and Morgan, while Sheen took home a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and a Toronto Film Critics Association Award both for Best Supporting Actor.

Beijing - Executives of the Chinese lorry manufacturer Beiqi Foton said Wednesday they expected an envisaged joint venture with German concern Daimler to be launched in August, a year after the two sides signed a letter of intent on the project.

After a board meeting Foton said that they expect that within three years' time the joint venture compnay would be producing 100,000 medium-sized and heavy-duty lorries.

The 50-50 joint venture plans foresee Daimler investments of around 2.8 billion yuan (410 million dollars) in the project, half of the joint venture's registered capitalisation of
5.6 billion yuan.

London, Jan 7 : James Bond star Daniel Craig may star in big screen adaptation of comic hero Thor.

According to the sources, Craig is considered "ideal choice' for the role, based on the God from Norse Mythology.

The movie is due to released in 2010 and it is hoped discussions with the star could commence soon.

"Daniel is obviously hot property in Hollywood and it's felt he has all the attributes required for Thor," Daily Express quoted a source as saying.

In spite of a low-key release and mixed reviews, SRK-starrer ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ has been declared as one of 2008’s biggest box-office success.

Known as the Movie Masala Awards, which bases its honors entirely on the votes of the Aaj Tak viewers, have also announced Aditya Chopra as the best directorial return of the year, and Anushka Sharma as the best newcomer of 2008.

Karachi, Jan : Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) Director General Javed Miandad feels that cricket in the country will benefit more from batting-friendly strips.

The former Pakistan captain told reporters here that he has instructed the country's chief curator to prepare wickets that can enable high-scoring matches instead of green tops in domestic tournaments like the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Karachi, Jan 7 : More than 1,885 incidents of violence against women took place in Karachi in which more than 480 women had been killed.

The report prepared by the Aurat Foundation said that over 279 women were murdered and more than 284 people - including 80 men - killed on the pretext of karo-kari, or honour killing, and attempts were made on the lives of 45 others.

The report says that 62 women were gang-raped, 86 raped; sexual assault was committed against 47 females and 157 suffered custodial violence and 414 others were abducted.