Washington  - An Iranian drone that wandered deep into Iraqi airspace last month was shot down by American warplanes, a US military spokesman in Baghdad confirmed Monday.

The US jet fighters downed the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on February 25 about 100 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, after tracking it for more than one hour and determining it was not a coalition aircraft, the spokesman said.

Washington  - US prosecutors intend to seize millions of dollars of homes, cars and other luxury items from disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, who pleaded guilty last week to operating a 50-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

A filing in US court shows prosecutors intend to go after four homes owned by Madoff and his wife, Ruth, including the property and contents of a 7-million-dollar Manhattan luxury apartment, a 3.4- million-dollar beachside home on Long Island, a 14-million-dollar waterfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and a home in the south of France.

New York - US actor Ron Silver,

Beijing/Munich - Chinese computer technology firm Inspur confirmed Monday that talks are taking place with insolvent German chipmaker Qimonda.

"I can confirm that both sides are interested in cooperating together," a spokesman said at company headquarters in Jinan, Shandong province, without going into details.

"It is a good chance for us to expand and become stronger," said the spokesman, whose state-run company is famous for its PC server and software products.

New York, Mar 16 : Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her business partner trainer Tracy Anderson are finding it difficult to pitch clients for their new gym TriBeCa.

Although Tracy has trained celebs like Madonna, she is finding it difficult to land any clients.

Sources say that one of the reasons why the duo is struggling to attract clients is that people think the gym is extremely costly.

"It''s ridiculous," the New York Post quoted a source as saying.

New York, March 16 : Scores of aspiring catwalk queens are pleading ''America''s Next Top Model'' host Tyra Banks for a second chance, after the recent audition in New York ended in bedlam.

Hopeful models had recently gathered outside the Park Central Hotel to audition for The CW show, open to women under 5-feet-7-inches for the first time.

Lined up women ran for their lives, subsequently tumbling over barricades after an overheating black BMW sparked bomb fears.