Melbourne, Nov. 8 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has said that he was approached by a senior member of the India touring party during the acrimonious Sydney Test and asked to drop Australia''s ‘racist’ complaint against off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Harbhajan was alleged to have called all-rounder Andrew Symonds a “monkey” during the game and Ponting said that even before Harbhajan''s three-Test ban was handed down, it was clear the matter would not be dealt in a straightforward manner.

Hyderabad, Nov 8 : The two-day anti-terrorism Muslim conference, being held in Hyderabad urged on Saturday not to link terrorism with any religion.

The seminar to denounce terrorism is organised by Jamiat Ulmea-I-Hind, a Muslim organisation.

For years, bomb attacks in India have mostly been blamed on Islamist militants. Even attacks on mosques were often blamed on Islamists seeking to spark communal tensions between India''s majority Hindus and minority Muslims.

Gaza - Egypt has postponed a planned inter-Palestinian dialogue as several factions, mainly Hamas, have decided to boycott it, Palestinian sources said on Saturday.

Ramattan, a local news agency, quoted Palestinian officials as saying that Egypt told them the dialogue, which was scheduled to start on Sunday, was being postponed.

Twelve Palestinian factions had been invited to the dialogue.

Meanwhile, a Hamas official said his movement decided to boycott the dialogue, blaming the rival Fatah movement headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

London, Nov 8 : American actress Hayden Panettiere has also joined the ranks of chest-bearing showbiz hotties.

Panettiere was spotted wearing a plunging top, without a bra to Madonna’s LA gig on November 7.

Her attire for the evening left nothing to the imagination, as she headed past the crowd and into the Dodger Stadium, where Madge’s fans were given an eye-catching rear view as she walked past in tight trousers.

New York, Nov 8 : Canadian actor Christopher Plummer recalled doing a scene with American actress Michelle Pfeiffer in which he really got rough with her.

Plummer, who is a reformed boozer, revealed the scene in his new memoir “In Spite of Myself”.

He recalled the events, which led up to him landing a solid slap on Pfeiffer’s face while doing a scene for Jack Nicholson horror flick “Wolf.”

London, Nov 8 : English rocker Ronnie Wood’s wife Jo Wood has decided to become an artist just like him.

Jo, 53, who is an ex-model and who had left 61-year-old Wood after he started dating Russian waitress Ekaterina Ivanova, 20, revealed that she plans to create her own works of art.

“I’m good at drawing. I haven’t had any exhibitions yet,” the Sun quoted her as saying.

“I draw the kids and my grandchildren – my interpretation of them,” she said.

She had revealed her plans at the launch of her Organics perfume at House of Fraser in London.