Releasing its annual figures on Thursday, the regional offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals that the results of a crackdown on immigrants already convicted for crimes, including those who have been dodging standing deportation orders stands at a record high, with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in Texas deported in the past 12 months.

Raiding homes, scouring jails and prisons, in what is a 20% increase from the previous year, ICE agents deported 349,000 illegal immigrants across the nation, during the
12 months leading up to September.

Former Governor Spitzer, who reinvented the office of attorney general, but had trouble adjusting to being governor, has been reprieved. A statement by Michael Garcia, United States attorney ends eight months of uncertainty for the disgraced governor, who will not face any criminal charges for patronizing a high-priced prostitution ring.

A Democrat, Spitzer, who after eight years as state attorney general, was elected as Governor in 2006, built his reputation as a prosecutor, who single-mindedly tackled white-collar corruption and promised to bring the ethics back to Albany.

Madonna's Los Angeles' Dodgers Stadium concert, the latest in the North American leg of her Sticky and Sweet world tour, if rumour is to be believed, will have some exciting surprises in store for music fans.

Hinting at the news, DJ Ryan Seacrest, American Idol host said all fans with tickets to the sold out spectacular show, were in for a treat. The special surprise Seacrest hints is; the appearance of former couple Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears on stage Thursday night, with Madonna at the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium.

New Delhi, Nov 7 : Union Minister of Communications and IT A. Raja reiterated on Friday that India will allocate spectrum for next generation wireless networks as planned earlier.

Successful bidders would be allocated the spectrum by the end of January after holding an auction, the Minister said.

The decision is likely to affect all leading telecom operators.

According to reports, India expects to earn 40-50 billion rupees in revenues annually from a higher spectrum fee to be levied on mobile telecom.

Brussels - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday urged his European Union colleagues to agree on how to reform global finance amid strong resistance from Sweden and scepticism among several other member states.

"We have no choice other than to reach an agreement," Sarkozy said at the start of Friday's extraordinary EU summit. "For Europe to count, we must be united."

Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year, is hoping that a unified European position will put the 27-member bloc in the driving seat when Group of 20 leaders meet in Washington next week to discuss ways of avoiding a repeat of the current market turmoil.

Tokyo  - Japanese electronics companies Panasonic Corp and Sanyo Electric Co began negotiations Friday on a capital and business partnership.

The two companies plan to settle the talks by the end of December for Panasonic to undertake a tender offer in January to acquire a majority of shares in Sanyo and make it a subsidiary in April.

If the merger is successful, Panasonic would become Japan's largest electronics manufacturer.

Panasonic hopes to secure a basic agreement with Sanyo's three shareholders - Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the Daiwa Securities SMBC group and the Goldman Sachs group.