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Madhuri Dixit’s television comeback on television has hit a minor roadblock. Madhuri was in talks with the producers to judge the dance based show, Dance Premiere League. Right from the start, Madhuri had made it clear that she would sign the contract only if she could make the appropriate arrangements to first make sure that her family and two sons were not ignored. The deal is being discussed for over three months but Madhuri is yet to find the right nanny for her two boys. The channel and show producers have no choice but to wait for Madhuri as the show is only a few weeks away from its first shoot.

While Rakhi’s saying that she’s not getting married to Elesh, Elesh is insistent that he and Rakhi are very much together. So, when Sameer Nair, CEO of NDTV Imagine was in the city to announce the second season of Swayamvara with Rahul Mahajan, he was asked to give his take on the authenticity of the Rakhi-Elesh relationship. “Mujhe itni jaankari nahi hain, but from what I know, the term swayamvara exactly means looking for a partner yourself and not getting married. Regarding the news that Elesh and Rakhi may not get married, all I can say is that may be, the stress of our other show Pati, Patni Aur Woh got too much for them to handle. Generally, after engagement, there’s the wedding, the honeymoon and then children follow after some time. It at least takes nine months to have children. But in their case, they got to be with kids within nine days of their engagement! That stress could’ve made them talk like that. Elesh is in Canada right now and I don’t know whether what’s happened b...

NEW YORK: The United Nations Security Council Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution calling for nuclear disarmament during a session lead by U.S. President Barack Obama.The Security Council meeting, the first presided over by a U.S. president, demonstrated increased international political will to advance the nuclear disarmament agenda Obama proposed during his speech in Prague in April, the White House said in a release.The measure, UNSC Resolution 1887, expresses the Council's concern about the threat of nuclear proliferation and the need for international action to prevent it.The resolution calls for nuclear disarmament, urging all countries to work toward establishing effective measures to effect nuclear arms reduction and disarmament, officials said.A second element called for a strengthened Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty that sets realistic and achievable goals for disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.The resolution also calls for better se...

Thursday, September 24, 2009 RAIPUR: Rescuers searched desperately for survivors Thursday in the rubble of a giant chimney that collapsed in central India, with a top union official saying more than 100 workers were feared dead.Labourers had completed 100 meters (330 feet) of the planned 275-metre chimney when the entire structure came crashing down in bad weather on Wednesday.Officials said 20 bodies had been recovered and dozens more were believed to be buried under a vast pile of brick and stone at the site in Korba, 200 kilometres (124 miles) from Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh."I expect the number of dead will cross 100," said Vinod Kumar Sharma, general secretary of the workers' union at aluminium group Balco, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta, which was building the chimney for a power plant.Sharma said his estimate was based on testimony from union members near the scene of the accident, who said workers were sheltering from heavy rain in and around...

Thursday, September 24, 2009 SYDNEY: Millions of Australians were wiping a film of reddish Outback grit from nearly everything Thursday after the country's worst dust storm in seven decades played havoc with transport systems and sent asthmatics scurrying inside.The country's largest airport said it hoped to resume normal flight schedules Thursday, a day after the dust cloud caused almost 20 international flights to be diverted away from Sydney and threw domestic schedules into turmoil.Skies over eastern Australia were mostly clear and blue, and New South Wales state health officials said they expected air pollution to drop to normal safe levels after reaching record highs the day before.The dust storm Wednesday had shrouded Sydney and surrounding areas for about eight hours, blotting out landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge and even reaching underground to coat subway stations.The haze, churned by powerful winds that lifted thousands of tons of topsoil f...

Thursday, September 24, 2009 ISTANBUL: Torrential rains and flooding killed a woman and injured several people in Turkey.According to media reports, torrential rains and flooding played havoc in Artvin province where floods destroyed property on large scale and damaged houses and roads. Mayor of Artvin said a woman was killed and several others wounded by floods as several people still trapped under the rubble. Rescue teams are busy in affected areas.

Thursday, September 24, 2009 WASHINGTON: The World Bank today approved four loans worth $4.3 billion to help India finance its infrastructure programmes and further strengthen the capital base of state-run banks. The approved loan includes a budgetary support of $2 billion for capital infusion in select public sector banks to help them maintain credit growth.The approval also includes a $1.2-billion lending for the government-run India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) that will provide long-term funds to public-private partnership (PPP) projects in road, port and power sector.The Indian government has estimated that public sector banks will require at least $4.8 billion during 2009-11 to maintain credit growth over the medium term. For the infrastructure sector, the Indian Planning Commission has estimated that an investment of $500 billion is required during the Eleventh five-year plan (2007-12).The World Bank loan also includes $1 billion loan for Power Grid and $150 millio...

Thursday, September 24, 2009 UN: Iran's president has launched a scathing attack on Western powers, accusing them of spreading "war, bloodshed and terror" in the Middle East and Afghanistan.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that Tehran was prepared to warmly shake all those hands which are honestly extended to us.But he accused the West of hypocrisy, saying it preached democracy but violated its fundamental principles.Already speaking to a half-empty chamber, his attacks on the US and its allies - including Israel's barbaric attack on the Gaza Strip, its inhuman policies in the Palestinian territories and its domination of world political and economic affairs - prompted a walkout by the US delegation.