Munich - The German state of Bavaria was set Monday to elect a new premier, Horst Seehofer, 59, after the party he leads, the Christian Social Union (CSU), lost its absolute majority at the polls.

Seehofer resigned as German minister of agriculture and consumer affairs early Monday so he could take on the new post. Chancellor Angela Merkel has not announced yet who will replace him in her federal cabinet.

Merkel was present as German President Horst Koehler handed Seehofer a certificate of release from office.

Vienna - Austria's government is set to extend the privatization process of Austrian Airlines AG and is ready to take over more than half of the carrier's debt, Austrian news agency APA reported Monday.

As demanded by the only remaining bidder, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the state was ready to shoulder up to 500 million euros (631 million dollars) of the flag carrier's debts of around 900 million euros, APA wrote, citing unnamed government sources.

The government's mandate to privatise its 42.75-per-cent stake in Austrian Airlines was scheduled to run out Tuesday, but the process was likely to be prolonged until Dec.
31, the sources said.

New Delhi, Oct 27 : American actress Jessica Biel has revealed that she is terrified of growing old.

Biel, 26, says that she can already feel the changes in her body, and wonders how she will cope when other people start to notice, the China Daily reported.

“I don''t know how I''ll cope with ageing - I better start figuring it out,” Britain''s Marie Claire magazine quoted her as saying.

“I feel my knees changing - like, why do I have this pain when I''m running on the treadmill? What''s going on with my lower back when I wake up in the morning? I just feel

Sydney, October 27 : World-record holding swimmer Stephanie Rice said that it was time for her to head back from the party floors to the pool, and get ‘boring’ again.

The ace swimmer, who won three gold medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, revealed that she was eager to hit the pool again and concentrate on winning more medals.

The 20-year-old admitted that she was “looking forward to that whole side of things calming down and what I love doing (swimming) to become the focus again.”

London, October 27 : Madonna and her estranged husband Guy Ritchie have reportedly settled back to their routine life after splitting from each other.

The “Queen of Pop” has allegedly gone back to attending her Kabbalah meetings, while the Brit director has turned to his camera to move on with his life, reports the Sun.

The 40-year-old is said to have been in Manchester shooting for his forthcoming documentary.

He has also been seen taking some of his cast and crew out for dinner at the posh city-centre Italian restaurant ‘Stock’.

London, October 27 : British-Irish pop group ‘Girls Aloud’ have returned to claim their victory after four years, by topping the UK charts with their new single ‘The Promise’.

All the 18 singles of the girl group, which had triumphed at the ITV1 talent competition ‘Popstars: The Rivals’, have made it to the UK Top 10.

The ‘Smash Hits’ poll winners, who have had two other crowning singles, including their 2002 debut, bagged the number one spot putting ‘Pink’s ‘So What’ in second place.