Baghdad - The Iraqi cabinet began an emergency meeting Sunday to review the final version of a security pact with the United States, al-Arabiya network reported.

The pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement, would establish a legal basis for the presence of US soldiers in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at end of this year.

The draft agreement includes 31 articles and calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and from the entire country by the end of 2011.

Iraqi officials close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki indicated that there was a good chance that the 37-member cabinet would ratify the draft now that the US has agreed on key amendments made by Iraq.

Dhaka - Bangladesh and Myanmar began talks Sunday on the demarcation of their maritime border, which caused tension earlier this month between the neighbours over off-shore hydrocarbon exploration.

Bangladesh's additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud and Myanmar deputy minister Maung Myit lead their respective delegations at the talks in progress in Bangladesh capital.

The dialogue will come against the backdrop of movement of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries after Myanmar's alleged intrusion into Bangladesh's territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The two nations met earlier in April 2008 to discuss the maritime demarcation issues after a break of more than two decades.

London - A British soldier was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan, bringing to 125 the number of British forces killed there since operations began in 2001, the Defence Ministry said Sunday.

London, Nov 16 : Lindsay Lohan and her lesbian lover Samantha Ronson are treating their pet bulldog like a surrogate child.

According to reports, the couple nearly backed out of their trip to Europe for fear of upsetting their pet bulldog.

“Cadillac is a bit like a surrogate child for Linds and Sam. He sleeps on their bed and goes everywhere with them,” the Daily Express quoted a pal of the actress and her girlfriend, as saying.

After enthralling the audiences with her graceful moves in the song 'Radha kaise na jale' from 'Lagaan', actress Gracy Singh is all set to mesmerise the audience in Kolkata with Rabindranath Tagore's famous dance ballet 'Shyama'.

The ballet - scheduled for November 16 - will be presented in the dance form of Bharatnatyam. It is a poignant narration of a court dancer, Shyama, falling in love with Bajrasen, a foreign merchant. The ballet entails emotions of eternal love, temptation and manipulation in the name of love.

Building up the first serious challenge to Sun TV's dominance in the southern cable television market, News Corp's Star India Pvt. Ltd and Bangalore-based entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced a joint venture (JV) on Friday, for enhancing viewing experience of audience in South India.

Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Star will hold a majority stake in the JV - named 'Star Jupiter Entertainment Television Ltd' - which will also pick up a majority stake in Chandrasekhar's Asianet Communications Ltd which currently broadcasts general entertainment channels (GECs) in Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. Star's existing channel in Tamil Nadu - Vijay TV - will now be part of the new JV.