Due to the TV workers’ strike and terror attacks in Mumbai, the Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) had been hit badly.

As a result, channels saw an average fall by 35-55% in prime time viewership.

After the controversial strike finally called off, the ratings started rising gradually, and this time the commencing of new shows add much to the ‘TRPs’ than fresh episodes of existing shows for major GECs.

New Delhi, Dec 12 : English supermodel Kate Moss was seen holding what appeared to be the sex drug amyl nitrate on her return from a shopping spree.

Tokyo - Japan's lower house on Friday voted in favour of a one-year extension to the Japanese military's logistical support mission for the US-led anti-insurgency fight in Afghanistan.

Japan refuels US ships and other navy vessels in the Indian Ocean, but is banned from direct military participation by its pacifist constitution.

The vote overruled an earlier decision by the upper house, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP), against an extension of the mission, which runs out on January 15. 2009.

The more powerful lower house, where the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Taro Aso holds a solid majority, is empowered by the constitution to overturn upper house decisions.

Nairobi - UN-brokered peace talks between Congolese rebels and the government aimed at cementing a lasting ceasefire have been suspended and will resume on December 17, the UN's special peace envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo has said.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said in statement late Thursday that "steady progress" was being made on agreeing ground rules for later substantive talks.

Tutsi rebel group the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and DR Congo officials arrived in Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday for the first direct talks aimed at resolving the conflict.

However, neither CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda nor Congolese President Joseph Kabila attended the meeting.

Sydney, Dec 12 : Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland has asked the players to remember the significant breaks of previous years, and promised to manage the workload of the international players during a hectic schedule.

Three postponed tours to Pakistan have been added to an already crammed itinerary and there have been requests for a reduction in off-field commitments to compensate.

According to the new edition of the World Cancer Report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, due to rapid increase in cancer cases, cancer will soon replace heart disease as the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Report added that low- and middle-income countries will experience the impact of higher cancer incidence and death rates more sharply than industrialized countries.