The bride, 30 met her would-be-husband as a teenager and her nuptials with Mezvinsky, 32, are set to take place at the grand Astor Courthouse, which has been declared a ”no-fly” zone, with hundreds of security personnel blocking all roads leading to the venue. The bride’’s parents, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are already in Rhinebeck for the wedding which will have a guest list of 500, but sans President Barack Obama and the first family.

According to unconfirmed reports the guests include talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, Hollywood mogul Steven Speilberg and former British Prime Minister John Major. Obama won”t be there as he says that he wasn”t actually invited and that in any case, two Presidents would be “one too many” at the wedding.

But media reports do not rule out the possibility of the Obamas making a grand entry by keeping their participation a secret for security reasons. Estimates of the wedding cost, has been put between USD 3 to 5 million.

Bill Clinton meanwhile charmed the locals during a casual stroll through the town, saying that he was pleased with his daughter’’s choice of life partner. “I like him (Mark) very much,” a smiling Clinton said “I really do.

I admire him. Hillary feels the same way.

” Casual in jeans and a black golf shirt, Clinton shook hands and greeted the crowd like he was back on the campaign trail, reported New York Daily News. His surprise appearance came before a private rehearsal dinner last night in a renovated stone barn, after months of secrecy over the wedding.

After weeks of speculation about everything from who designed the dress, to the cost of the wedding cake, the ceremony will finally take place at 5pm local time. The nuptials will reportedly include both Christian and Jewish traditions as Chelsea is a Methodist while her fiance is Jewish.

Nothing has been announced about whether Chelsea is converting to Judaism or other options.

Soccer ace David Beckham, 35, landed the second spot, while ‘Die Hard’ star Bruce Willis, 55, came third.

“Brad’s loved by men and women alike. But Peter Kay and James Cordon made the top 20, so you don’t have to be ultra sexy for other men to love you,” the Mirror quoted market research firm www. OnePoll.com, who quizzed 4,000 men, as saying.

Top 10 are:

1. Brad Pitt

2. David Beckham

3. Bruce Willis

4. Johnny Depp

5. Will Smith

6. George Clooney

7. Daniel Craig

8. Clint Eastwood

9. Jeremy Clarkson

10. President Barack Obama

He also clamped a ban on transport of iron to other states.

Yeddyurappa told reporters here that the ban will be in force till the completion of a state Lok Ayukta (ombudsman) probe into illegal mining in the last 10 years, between 2000 and 2010.

He had Wednesday banned issue of permits for transporting iron ore for exports.

The chief minister’s decision comes against the backdrop of a raging controversy in the state over illegal mining and export of iron ore.

Between 2000 and 2010, over 30 million tonnes of iron ore was illegally mined and exported from Karnataka, according to data provided by Yeddyurappa to the state assembly.

The Congress has dubbed it a ’scam of the century’ involving up to Rs.600 billion (Rs.60,000 crore).

The Congress is on a march from Bangalore to iron ore rich Bellary, 320 kms away, demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into illegal mining.

Bellary is the political base of Reddy brothers, powerful mine owners and ministers in Yeddyurappa’s cabinet.

The Congress began the march July 25 and will reach Bellary Aug 9 for a rally. The party leaders and workers are walking 20 kms a day to cover the 320 kms in 16 days.

Yeddyurappa has rejected handing over the probe to CBI saying it will only delay the findings and credibility of the agency is in doubt.

The Congress and the other opposition party in the state Janata Dal-Secular alleged that the Reddy brothers are involved in largescale illegal mining and export of iron ore.

The Reddys, Tourism Minister G. Janardhana, his elder brother Revenue Minister G. Karunakara and younger brother and assembly member G. Somashekara have denied the charges.

The brothers, who own the Obulapuram Mining Company, Thursday launched ’swabhiman’ campaign in Bellary to counter what they called Congress and JD-S attempts to malign not only them but the district also.

Their loyalist, Health Minister B. Sriramulu Wednesday tonsured his head and announced he will walk barefoot and eat only fruits till Aug 26 when senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is expected to visit Bellary.

The Reddy brothers and Sriramulu call Swaraj as their ‘thayi’ (mother). She had brokered a compromise in October-November last year when the Reddy brothers led a revolt against Yeddyurappa.

The Reddys became close to Swaraj when she contested the 1999 Lok Sabha election against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Since then Swaraj has been visiting Bellary almost every year to perform ‘Varamahalakshmi pooja’ (worship of wealth goddess Lakshmi). The festival, a major one in Karnataka, this year falls on Aug 26.

Shah, sent to 14 days judical custody, has been lodged in the Sardar barracks, named after Sardar Patel, who was once confined there. The former minister of state for home has been permitted home-cooked food.

The other 15 accused in the case, including Deputy Inspector General of Police D.G.Vanzara and and Superintendents of Police Rajkumar Pandian and M.N. Dinesh, are lodged in a barrack adjoining the Sardar barracks.

Strict instructions have been given to the jail authorities to keep them segregated from Shah.

Shah, who made a dramatic appearance before the media at a press conference of the state BJP chief here before leaving for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) camp office in Gandhinagar to surrender, was given a ceremonial send off from the party office with an ‘arti’ and vermillion applied to his forehead.

As Shah, accompanied by BJP leaders, reached the CBI office, DIG P. Kandaswamy came racing outside, informed Shah of his arrest and requested him to accompany him. The former minister was whisked away to the residence of CBI judge A.Y. Dave, who sent him to judicial custody as the CBI did not seek his remand.

The former ‘One Day at a Time’ star, the ex-wife of rocker Eddie Van Halen, announced her engagement to financial planner Vitale in May.

Aceshowbiz.com reports that 50-year-old actress insists she ‘feels silly’ throwing a big bash at her age.

‘For me, it feels silly. I’m 50. It’s not about the wedding. I just want to have a marriage. We’re going to get married in Italy, just the two of us and a witness,’ she said.

However, she refused to reveal the date for the wedding.

Factually, Pillai was “very much in order” in speaking about the disclosures made by Headley to FBI and Indian interrogators but “the timing was something which was very unfortunate,” Krishna told PTI in an interview here. His whole visit to Pakistan was “under-pinned” by the remarks by the Home Secretary and these had become a “factor” with Pakistan, he said, apparently meaning that the remarks had created a negative environment.

The Minister disclosed that he discussed Pillai’’s comments with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh whom he had briefed on his parleys with Qureshi and other leaders. He insisted that the government was speaking in one voice on Pakistan and said he was “glad” that Home Ministry has now announced the appointment of a spokesperson.

In recent months, Pillai has been briefing the media. Disagreeing with the perception that his discussion with Qureshi had ended in a deadlock, Krishna said he was “quite satisfied” with his visit which has bridged the trust deficit “to some extent.

” Answering questions about Qureshi’’s undiplomatic remarks after the talks and if he was willing to ignore such behaviour, Krishna said “I am willing to mind my business and concentrate on my work.” However, he dismissed as “ridiculous” the comparison sought to be drawn by Qureshi between JuD chief Hafiz Saeed’’s anti-India statement and Pillai’’s remarks on ISI. The Minister said the minute details of how the “whole conspiracy of 26/11 was hatched and executed” showed the “diabolical nature of the conspiracy”.

The fact that these details had come out during interrogation of Headley by FBI put much more onus on Pakistan to act against the conspirators, he said. .

The work consists of a white urinal lying on its side, with an inscription in black pen on the inner basin.

It reads: “I’m not f**king Duchamp but I love p**sing with you” – a reference to Marcel Duchamp’s famous 1917 urinal Fountain sculpture.

The piece, named Armitage Shanks, was been picked up by the singer during a recent photoshoot for Vogue Hommes Japan, which saw her pose as a man.

According to Vogue.co.uk, the exhibition also features a video of the singer taken by famed photographer Nick Knight. (ANI)

He had been under house arrest at a luxury chalet in Gstaad since he was seized in Zurich last September.

The Chinatown director refused to give any interviews as he attended the Montreux Jazz Festival to watch his musician wife perform, reports The Daily Express.

However, a TV news interview with Polanski was later aired in Switzerland, in which he expressed his happiness at being free. (ANI)

British parliament’s powerful Home Affairs Select Committee Chairman Keith Vaz said the immigration cap should pass the scrutiny of parliament before it is brought into force.

To this end, the select committee headed by Vaz is beginning its consultations on the cap from Tuesday, he said.

He told IANS Saturday, two days before an interim cap on non-EU immigration is to come in force: ‘The cap will place restrictions on friendly countries like India. What happens if India reciprocates by placing a cap on British companies entering India?’

It is still not clear whether Cameron is taking his home secretary along during his visit to India. However, Vaz said that the cap issue is bound to become ‘an important bilateral issue’ during Cameron’s visit.

The interim cap from July 19 precedes a permanent cap from 2011. Home Secretary Theresa May has launched a 12-week consultation process on the format of the cap.

Vaz said the government had in the past lost its case related to non-EU immigration thrice in courts. ‘It is likely to happen again unless parliament’s views are taken into account this time,’ he said.

The select committee chairman wants every party concerned with the immigration cap to come forward with its opinions and evidence.

Considering the fact that a substantial number of people affected by the cap would be Indians, he said: ‘Indian companies and investors should particularly come forward with their views.’

The validity of the select committee’s consultations, beginning Tuesday, may come into question because they will end much after the government’s own consultations.

However, it is understood that the home secretary has been made aware of this and the government would consider the outcome of the select committee’s consultations.