Dubai-based comedian Nitin Mirani loses out on the title of funniest man in the world

Mirani lost out to Ismo Leikola of Finland.

Nitin Mirani, the Dubai-based stand-up comedian. (Jaime Puebla / The National Newspaper

UAE stand-up comic Nitin Mirani didn't quite succeed in his comedy quest to be crowned Funniest Person in the World, a TV contest run by comedy club The Laugh Factory, in Las Vegas. He did manage a highly respectable fourth place in the final rankings of the competition. The Dubai-based Indian saw off dozens of comedians from around the world to reach the grand finale of the contest. The winner was Ismo Leikola from Finland, who outpolled his closest rival by more than two-to-one in the online voting that decided the champion. Club owner Jamie Masada says he hopes the contest will help lead to world peace by getting people to laugh together. – AP

GoT star goes into space

Game of Thrones star Aiden Gillen has gone from Westeros to outer space after teaming up with the European Space Agency. ESA is branching out into fantasy filmmaking with the release of a six-and-a-half-minute movie, made by the Oscar-nominated Polish director Tomek Baginski and featuring dramatic, Hollywood-style digital effects, about the historic mission by the Rosetta probe to explore a comet. The film, called Ambition, features Irish actor Gillen as a mind master in a world where humans have the powers of demigods. He oversees an apprentice, Aisling Franciosi, in using mental powers to assemble asteroids and planets, drawing on the pioneering experience of Rosetta to understand how life is formed. Filmed in Iceland, the movie was released Friday at a festival in London. Launched in 2004, Rosetta has travelled more than 6 billion kilometres to reach its target, Comet 67P. It is now in close orbit around the comet at a distance of about 400 million kilometres from the Sun. It will send down a robot lander, Philae, on November 12 to carry out scientific tests. – AFP

US court calls Bachchan

A Los Angeles federal court has summoned Amitabh Bachchan for allegedly instigating violence in the deadly 1984 riots in India, the Hindustan Times reported yesterday. The 73-year-old actor, Bollywood’s best-loved and most successful star, has been accused of raising “blood for blood” slogans against the Sikh community after the then prime minister Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her Sikh bodyguards in New Delhi on October 31, 1984. Bachchan has 21 days to respond to the charges. The violence that erupted soon after the assassination left more than 8,000 people dead. – The National staff

Beyoncé plans topshop brand

Superstar singer Beyoncé is teaming up with the British high-street retailer topshop to create a fashion brand of “athletic streetwear”. Parkwood TopShop Athletic, due to be launched this time next year, will include “clothing, footwear and accessories across dance, fitness and sports categories,” says the chain. Philip Green, head of Topshop owner Arcadia Group, said the project was a way of developing “fashion-inspired fitness”. He added: “Creating a partnership with Beyoncé ... who spends many hours of her life dancing, rehearsing and training, is a unique opportunity to develop this category.” Beyoncé, 33, named by Forbes magazine this year as the most influential celebrity in the world, already advertises a variety of fashion labels and manages her own ready-to-wear brand, House of Dereon, with her fashion-designer mother, Tina Knowles. – AFP

US star praises Going Home

Going Home, Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt’s short film about women’s safety, has been earning plenty of praise at home – and now it has reached Hollywood, impressing the actor Ashton Kutcher. The Two and a Half Men star shared the link to the video, directed by Vikas Bahl, on his official Facebook page and wrote: “Wow. Just wow.” His post has been already liked by more than 35,000 people. Uploaded to YouTube on October 17, the video visualises a utopia for women where, unlike today, fear doesn’t dictate their actions. – IANS

AbRam KHaN has a new fan

Deepika Padukone apparently has her sights set on a new co-star – Shah Rukh Khan’s youngest child AbRam. SRK told DNA India he had received many complimentary messages about an appearance by the baby – who was born via a surrogate mother – in the end credits of his new film Happy New Year. “AbRam is looking adorable in the film,” he says. “The best compliment I got was from Deepika. She said she wants to do her next film with him as she find him adorable.” – The National staff