Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The meeting is expected to discuss the latest developments in the Iranian nuclear programme and security in the Gulf.

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy and security chief, said Saturday evening that he would join the meeting.

Both Rice and Solana are in Sharm el-Sheikh for an international meeting on Middle East peace.

Johannesburg - Opening a regional summit on the political crisis in Zimbabwe South African President Kgalema Motlanthe expressed disappointment at the impasse in powersharing talks between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition and urged them to quickly reach agreement.

Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are attending the meeting of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Johannesburg.

The conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a member of SADC, is also on the agenda of the meeting, which Congolese President Joseph Kabila is attending.

Kolkata, Nov. 9 : As Sourav Ganguly’s glorious international cricket career camed to an end on Sunday with a duck in Nagpur, his retirement drove a Kolkata-based musical band to come up with songs as a tribute to him. 

Orchid, the musical Bangla band, has composed several songs to glorify Ganguly’s 13-year cricket career during which he put up a scintillating display and led India with aplomb.

The band members have given an everlasting salute to him through their music.

Their verses have eulogised his fighting spirit, his mental toughness and leadership quality.

London, Nov. 9 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is planning urgent tax cuts in a 15-billion-pound package of measures to combat the economic slump in the country.

According to The Mirror, Brown is considering extending tax credits to help more low-paid families as Britain teeters on the brink of recession. He is also looking at extending the stamp-duty "holiday" on more modestly-priced homes to help first-time buyers and revive the crisis-hit property market.

Other possible measures include a "significant" increase in winter fuel allowances and a further delay to rises in petrol duty.

London, Nov. 9 : The execution of three Indonesian militants for the serial bomb blasts in the tourist resort of Bali that claimed the lives of 202 people, including 88 Australians, has not satisfied their relatives.

They do not believe justice has been fully achieved. 

Imam Samudra, 38, Amrozi Nurhasyim, 47, and Ali Ghufron, 48, were executed yesterday on the island prison of Nusakambangan by a firing squad after they were found guilty of planning attacks on two nightclubs in the resort of Kuta. 

London, November 9 : While Melanie Brown renewed her wedding vows with hubby Stephen Belafonte in Egypt, his ex-girlfriend Nicole Contreras has given out details of her violent and abusive past with the film producer.

Nicole laid bare the trauma she had suffered whilst she was with Belafonte who had continued to sleep with her several times while still dating the Spice girl. 

She further added how Belafonte had almost gone on his knees pleading to take him back after traumatising her with drunken violence, extreme possessiveness, and even trying to strangle her.