London, Aug 20 (IANS) Pop diva Madonna is in talks for a $1 billion deal by signing up for a five-year residency in Las Vegas, which can make her the third richest female entertainer in the world.

The “Frozen” singer is said to be in discussions with promoters to establish a run of shows in the US gambling capital, and if she signs the deal, she will be following in the footsteps of other performers such as Elton John, Cher and Celine Dion, who have all made huge sums through Vegas contracts, reports contactmusic.com.

If the rumours of the contract being worth $1 billion are true, it would push the 52-year-old up the list of highest earning women in the world. Currently, with an estimated fortune of 208 million pounds, she is in fourth place behind talk show host Oprah Winfrey, host and publisher Martha Stewart and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.

London, Aug 20 (IANS) Australian lingerie model Miranda Kerr has confirmed she is four months pregnant with her first child with actor husband Orlando Bloom.

Kerr, who married long-term boyfriend Bloom in secret last month, is due to give birth in January, reports contactmusic.com.

“Yes, I’m pregnant. Four months along,” she said.

Rumours that the 27-year-old beauty was pregnant emerged last month, when a source claimed she had been telling all her friends about her baby bump.

Aligarh, Aug 20 (IANS) Thousands of farmers converged at Tappal, the epicentre of their agitation against inadequate compensation for the Yamuna Expressway land, to listen to Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Mahendra Singh Tikait Friday, but the ageing veteran’s lacklustre speech failed to enthuse the crowds.

Tikait’s name drew more than 15,000 farmers at the dharna site. Looking frail and weak, not merely because of ageing, but also on account of recent illness, Tikait arrived late and spoke for barely six minutes, urging farmers to continue their agitation until their demand was fulfilled.

“I am confident that the government will eventually concede your demand which is absolutely legitimate; stick to your guns and the victory will be yours,” he told the crowds.

Urging the farmers to remain united, he said, “You must also not allow any construction activity to take place on any part of the Yamuna Expressway until your rightful compensation is paid to you.”

Reiterating the unanimous demand of farmers drawn from different areas in Aligarh, Mathura, Agra and Bulandshahr, he declared, “I see no reason why the state government will not give you the compensation that it has given to your counterparts in Noida and Greater Noida.”

Tikait’s son, Rajesh chose not to address the gathering.

Earlier in the day, Congressmen, led by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijay Singh, visited the site of the ‘dharna’ at Tappal to reassure farmers of the party’s full support.

“I am going to speak to the prime minister and we hope to find a permanent solution to the issue of adequate compensation for land acquired for public purposes,” Singh told the gathering.

Frankfurt, Aug 20 (DPA) A malfunction at Europe’s joint air traffic control agency, Eurocontrol, disrupted flights over northern Europe Friday.

Brussels-based Eurocontrol said around 700 flights were affected, most of which experienced delays of around 20 minutes.

The disruptions were caused by technical problems at the Eurocontrol centre at Maastricht in the Netherlands between 2.50 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. (1250-1430 GMT).

Maastrict is responsible for the surveillance of high-level airspace in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and north-west Germany.

Germany’s Frankfurt Airport, one of Europe’s busiest, said a number of northbound flights took off up to 40 minutes late because of the problem.

Eurocontrol said the situation was more or less back to normal by early evening.

Bangalore, Aug 20 (IANS) Karnataka Social Welfare Minister D. Sudhakar lost his portfolio late Friday in the wake of 22 beggars dying in this city since Wednesday due to negligence and suspected food poisoning, a senior official said.

“Sudhakar has been shifted out of social welfare ministry and given the Muzarai (temple endowment) portfolio. Minor Irrigation Minister Govind Karjol has been given the ministry as an additional portfolio,” an official in the chief minister’s office told IANS.

The decision to shunt out Sudhakar was taken by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa after an emergency meeting he held at the secretariat with some of his cabinet colleagues and top officials on returning from a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally at Bellary, about 320 km from here.

“Governor H.R. Bhardwaj accepted the changes in the portfolios recommended by the chief minister,” the official added.

The chief minister also suspended Karnataka State Rehabilitation Centre chairman Manjesh Gowda and secretary Krishna Gowda for the dramatic rise in the death of beggars this month under mysterious circumstances.

“I have ordered an inquiry to ascertain causes behind the sudden rise in the death of beggars’ in their colony. I am visiting the colony Saturday to inspect the facilities and the conditions in which they are sheltered,” Yeddyurappa told reporters later.

According to records at the state social welfare department, about 105 beggars died this month in the beggars’ colony in the western suburb of the city as against 43 in July, 56 in June, 34 in May and 20 in April.

Earlier in the day, scores of inmates at the state-run destitute rehabilitation centre fled even as its officials were busy seeing off state Home Minister V.S. Acharya and three other ministers who had inquired about the reasons for the sudden rise in deaths of beggars this week.

“A large number of inmates made use of the opportunity provided when the centre’s officials were busy briefing seeing off ministers, who visited the camp. They fled from the camp,” an official said.

State-run hospital sources confirmed that Wednesday that 12 inmates of the centre died Wednesday, while eight more deaths were reported Thursday and two Friday.

Acharya, however, maintained that the 22 beggars had died of “natural causes”.

“Though government doctors certified all the deaths natural, I have asked the social welfare department commissioner to submit a report on the causes that led to these deaths,” Acharya, a medical doctor by profession, told reporters.

The camp was set up decades ago to house and provide skills training to people found begging. It was part of the government’s efforts to end beggary.

Though the place is meant to house about 900 people, it has more than 2,500 people living there, leading to complaints of unhygienic conditions.

Acharya said a panel will be set up to suggest improvements at the centre as majority of the inmates were suffering from chronic diseases. Several terminally-ill patients were also in the centre, he said.

Bhubaneswar, Aug 20 (IANS) Security has been beefed up at an ashram in Orissa’s communally sensitive Kandhamal district after inmates complained they had received death threats, police said Friday.

Kabi Chandra Nath, the in charge of the ashram at Jaleshpata village, complained that he as well as the headmistress of the residential school for girls located inside the ashram premise received a threat call each Thursday, Ramakanta Jena, in charge of the local Tumudibandh police station said.

“The caller allegedly threatened them to run the school properly or face the fate of ashram founder Swami Laxmananda Saraswati,” Jena told IANS.

Saraswati, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader was killed with four of his aides by unknown gunmen at the ashram Aug 23, 2008. The killings had sparked widespread communal violence in the state in which at least 38 people were killed.

Although police had blamed Maoists for the killings, thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs.

Nath is also the managing secretary of the residential school for girls named as Shankaracharya Sanskrit Kanyashram. The school, located inside the ashram premises, has 184 students, he said.

“We don’t believe it (the threat) has any communal angle. However we have beefed up security at the ashram,” Jena said.

Kandhamal district is about 200 km from Bhubaneswar.

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Friday held that investigating agencies can intercept phone calls of an individual if there is sufficient evidence to prove that he or she is involved in anti-social activities.

The court dismissed the plea of an accused involved in drug trafficking cases challenging the government’s decision to tap his mobile phone six years ago.

Haji Usman contended interception of telephonic conversations between him and his family members was in violation of his right to privacy guaranteed under the constitution.

After going through all the records produced by police, Justice S. Muralidhar said the proper procedure had been followed by the authorities while intercepting his calls.

“The respondents (probe agencies) have to only show that there was sufficient material on record which formed the basis to intercept the said mobile number. That burden has been discharged by them,” the court said.

Usman contended in his petition that he is being tried for minor offences in a lower court and the inference drawn by police that he was indulging in anti-national activities was without basis.

London, Aug 20 (IANS) Former “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston is under fire from disability groups after describing herself live on US television as a retard.

The actress was promoting her new movie “The Switch” on “Live with Regis and Kelly” when she said: “Yes, I play dress up! I do it for a living, like a retard!”, reports contactmusic.com.

The statement angered disability groups including The Arc, an organisation set up to provide support to those with intellectual disabilities.

“She is using language that is offensive to a large segment of the population in this country. Every time folks hear that word, it kind of reminds them of all the discrimination and oppression they’ve experienced in their lives,” said Peter Berns, chief operating officer, The Arc.

London, Aug 20 (IANS) Movie executives behind the successful Harry Potter franchise are taking legal action against a Swiss condom brand for allegedly naming their products after the boy wizard.

Bosses at the Warner Bros. studio filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company making Harry Poppers, whose packets feature an illustration of a condom wearing round glasses and waving a magic wand, reports imdb.com.

The legal action is said to come in a bid to banish the brand from stores ahead of the release of the next installment of the movie franchise, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”, in November.

A lawyer for Warner Bros. said: “The image of my client is in danger.”

Chandigarh, Aug 20 (IANS) The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) may soon release water from the 225-metre-high Bhakra Dam as its level is rising due to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas and in the Gobind Sagar reservoir in Himachal Pradesh, officials said Friday.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and we can open the floodgates at the dam to maintain the water level. But it is a normal exercise of BBMB and no one should not panic. It is a regular feature to regulate inflow and outflow of water in the dam,” the board’s joint director (Public Relations) V.P. Sharma told IANS.

“The water level in Bhakra dam today (Friday) touched 1,668.5 feet, which is a foot above the yesterday’s level. We can store water up to the height of 1,680 feet but open the gates before reaching this level. We are in close touch with Punjab government and regularly apprising them about the situation,” he added.

The dam is crucial for water supply and power generation for the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

According to BBMB officials, inflows of over 75,000 cusecs are coming into Bhakra and all its turbines are running round the clock.

The dam is located nearly 20 km from Nangal town in Punjab. The dam on river Sutlej is in Himachal Pradesh along the hill state’s border with Punjab.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has directed the deputy commissioners of Ropar, Ludhiana, and Ferozepur, which have many low-lying areas adjoining Satluj river, to remain alert and be prepared to tackle any emergency.