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News Headlines

1990s Neighbours star Brooke Satchwell (Anne Wilkinson) has been caught up in the terror attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai. Satchwell was about to start a three week filming schedule in the city when the terrorist attacks by the Deccan Mujahideen began. The 28 year old actress was at the Taj Hotel and was smoking outside the lobby. As she stepped back inside, she heard gunshots and rushed for cover in a nearby toilet. Other guests began locking themselves in cubicles and Satchwell ended up hiding in an adjacent storage cupboard for about an hour; all the while listening to gun fire outside. Eventually hotel staff found the hiding guests and escorted them into the streets as the police and military attempted to regain control of the situation. Satchwell described the ordeal as "really terrifying" and said there were dead bodies in the corridors as she made her escape. The gunmen were targetting foreigners in their co-ordinated attacks.

Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) has picked up the microphone once again to perform at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub in St Kilda, Melbourne. Dennis, who had minor pop success in the 1980s with Don't It Make You Feel Good and This Love Affair, is covering co-star Alan Fletcher's (Karl Kennedy) regular Monday night music gigs while he is in panto in the UK. Stefan was recently surprised when a fan threw her knickers at him mid performance: "I am not showing off but it has happened before, but not for a very very long time." Despite his popularity as Paul, and YouTube's success at reminding fans of Don't It..., Stefan has promised not to return to the recording studio: "I am really getting a kick out of it, but it is a short-term thing, I am not planning a musical comeback,". Dennis is currently far too busy for a full pop resurgence as he's busy looking after two month old daughter Darcie.

Having recently appeared in ITV1's Emmerdale, Mark Little (Joe Mangel) has again ruled out the possibility of returning to Erinsborough and described Joe Mangel as just a fond memory. He also mentioned that Anne Charleston (Madge Bishop), who now plays Dales resident Lily Butterfield, was away during Mark's guest stint and she was most upset not to have had another chance to work with Little. Mark commented that it might have been "just too weird actually, to do a scene with Madge in the Woolpack".

Madeleine West (Dee Bliss) is moving on up from her role in hit gangland show Underbelly as she is said to be looking to Hollywood. Her partner, chef Shannon Bennett, has revealed that she's going to sign with an L.A. agency.

Kimberley Davies (Annalise Hartman) has announced that she is expecting her third child with husband Jason Harvey. The couple have recently been repairing their marriage after the discovery three years ago that Harvey had been having an affair.

Musical Sam Clark (Ringo Brown) celebrated his 21st birthday a few weeks back in an appropriate fashion by throwing a legends of rock dress-up party. Sam attended in the guise of Adam Ant and could be seen moving from one venue to the other standing on the back of a horse drawn cart. Soap friends also spotted partying were Caitlin Stasey (Rachel) - dressed as Boy George, Matthew Werkmeister (Zeke) - playing Pete Doherty, and Dean Geyer (Ty) - as Guns 'N' Roses Slash.

Kylie Minogue (Charlene Robinson) continues her KylieX World tour having just finished the South American leg, she now moves on to Asia where she'll be performing in China, and then in December she completes the seven month tour in Australasia with shows in her home city Melbourne just before Christmas. Kylie's also just released her duet with sister Dannii; a cover of the ABBA classic The Winner Takes It All which is used as the theme to TV series Beautiful People. You can buy the song at Kylie's Download Store, here. Also available to buy soon is Kylie's new DVD, KYLIEX2008 Live In London which was filmed at London's O2 Arena in August. The disc goes on sale from December 1st. And finally in Kylie news, she's said to be hosting the next Brit Awards in February. She'll be hosting alongside comedians James Corden and Mathew Horne who both star in BBC show Gavin and Stacey. Kylie will be the first female host of the music awards show who has won her own Brits for her singing.

Jason Donovan (Scott Robinson), who is currently promoting his new album Let It Be Me, is renewing his wedding vows with a large ceremony in January, but Kylie Minogue won't be on the guest list. Donovan described them as "acquaintances" rather than "friends", but said "she is someone I admire and respect and we'll always be joined together in a special way". On a similar theme, Donovan has just confirmed that he plans to re-record his Minogue duet, Especially For You, but this time with Echo Beach co-star Martine McCutcheon. Jason said "I wanted to do a spin on that song plus a new duet, but truthfully I thought it would be way too cheesy with Kylie again".

Jane Hall (Rebecca Napier) is moving on from her high profile split with actor Vince Colosimo as she's now stepping out with another Underbelly actor, Nick Farnell. The new couple are said to be taking things slowly and Farnell has yet to be introduced to Hall's five year old daughter Lucia, but they've recently been seen together at a quiz night for children's cancer charity Redkite.

Dean Geyer has announced that he will leave Neighbours, after a year playing musician Ty Harper. Already famous in Australia thanks to a stint on Australian Idol, Dean joined the show in late 2007 but has announced that he wants to return to his first love of music, also mentioning that some of Ty's storylines went against his Christian beliefs, and he struggled with being in the public eye following his well-publicised split from The Veronicas' Lisa Origliasso. Dean will film his final scenes as Ty on Friday 19th December, and make his final appearance on Australian screens in April 2009.

Andre Rieu, the world-renowned Dutch violinist, will reportedly film a Neighbours cameo shortly, after being approached by executive producer Susan Bower. The musician, a huge Neighbours fan, recently toured Australia, with concerts which featured a version of the Neighbours theme tune, leading to his invitation onto the show.

In other news, Peter Flanigan, currently appearing on Australian screens as school principal Andrew Simpson, has had his initial three month contract extended by another three months, meaning he'll be around until at least April 2009.

Robert Mammone, who's appeared in numerous Australian dramas over the last 20 years including Satisfaction and Underbelly, has joined the Neighbours cast for a two-week guest role. The unnamed character, according to our sources, "has something very suspicious about him", and will appear on screen early next year.

Meanwhile, Tottie Goldsmith, Mauricio Merino and Chelsea Jones, who recently joined the cast as Cass, Simon and Teagan Freedman, have all had their initial contracts renewed for an extra six weeks and will be filming until at least January.

Just a quick reminder for anyone that hasn't voted yet - the Neighbours' Sexiest Stars poll will close at midnight, this Friday, the 14th November.

Thanks to everyone who's voted so far. The results will be revealed in December.

Simone Buchanan is set to make a return to Neighbours as the popular Samantha Fitzgerald later this month. A pregnant Sam will return to Erinsborough in episode 5591, set to air in Australia on Monday 24th November, and put a spanner in the works for ex-husband Dan, who's busy moving on and planning a new life with Libby. This latest guest stint will last for eight weeks.

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