International

By DPA, Seoul : South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Un Chan offered his resignation Thursday over the government's failure to get parliamentary approval to revise the planned relocation of ministries to a newly planned administrative town. Chung, 64, a strong supporter of President Lee Myung Bak, was named premier in September. Lee's government wanted to scrap the previous administration's plan to relocate half the ministries to Sejong, a town under construction south of Seoul. The president is expected to accept Chung's resignation.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : A man wanted for a string of blasts in Nepal's capital Kathmandu last year has been elected from a Terai constituency in the country's historic constituent assembly election. Babban Singh, who has been on the run since September when three explosions in crowded public places, including a bus, killed two students and a housewife, was Monday declared winner from a constituency in Rautahat district along the Indo-Nepal border.

By IANS/EFE, Bogota : Colombia's coffee production was the lowest in three decades last year due to adverse weather conditions and low fertiliser use, the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC) said. Annual coffee production fell from 11.5 million 60-kg bags in 2008 to 7.8 million bags last year, a drop of close to 32 percent, FNC said in a statement Thursday. Last year's coffee output - a marked departure from mid-decade, when production was relatively stable at roughly 11 million bags annually - stood at its lowest level since the end of the 1970s.

By IANS, Los Angeles : Larry King's record-breaking run as prime-time talk-show host ends Thursday night as he hangs up his suspenders after 25 years on CNN.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Seven years after his shocking murder in the tightly guarded royal palace, the ghost of King Birendra continues to haunt Nepal with the new republic Sunday remembering the dark deed as the trigger that ended the nearly 240-year-old royal dynasty. On June 1, 2001, the then king Birendra, who had survived a pro-democracy uprising in 1990 by pragmatically agreeing to revoke the ban on political parties and become a constitutional monarch without real powers, was gunned down during a banquet with his family and friends in the Narayanhity royal palace.

By IRNA-PTI London : Britain may go for general election in about one-and-a-half years -- in the middle of 2008, a British Minister and one of Premier Gordon Brown's closest confidants, has suggested. The polls are due in 2010. "You can talk about cancelled elections until the cows come home, but no one out there is. It has not been a big issue for the public. I don't think it will have any impact on the general election result in a year-and-a-half's time," Ed

By IANS, New Delhi : A US Congressional delegation led by House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Howard Berman met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday and discussed terrorism and the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Berman is leading a seven-member delegation, including Congressmen Gary Ackerman, Ted Royce and Jim Costa to India. The Congressional delegation also met National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.

Tunis : Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Tunisia's capital on Sunday to participate in an anti-terror march denouncing the deadly attack...

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Kiev: Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has pardoned jailed ex-interior minister Yuriy Lutsenko, the president's website reported Sunday.

By IANS, Caracas : At least 10 inmates have been killed and 16 wounded when a grenade exploded during a clash in a jail in a Venezuelan city, Spain's EFE news agency reported Sunday. The explosion occurred Saturday night in the Sabaneta jail at Maracaibo, 700 km west of Caracas, when rival groups fought, prison officials said. According to one account, 500 inmates were killed and some 1,000 wounded in violent incidents in jails in Venezuela last year.

By IANS/EFE, Madrid : Spain's National Court has handed down sentences of more than 1,000 years each to three members of a terrorist group found responsible for a 2006 bombing that left two people dead. The tribunal also ordered the three ETA terrorists - Igor Portu, Mattin Sarasola and Mikel San Sebastian - to pay 500,000 euros ($620,000) in compensation to the family of Carlos Alonso Palate and 700,000 euros ($870,000) to that of Diego Armando Estacio.

By Xinhua, Washington : U.S. President George W. Bush said here Friday he is impressed by China's firm response to the earthquake disaster and he is happy with the progress of the relief efforts. "There's no question this is a major human disaster that requires a strong response from the Chinese government, which is what they're providing," he said during a meeting at the headquarters of American Red Cross focusing on the U.S. response to the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province.

By DPA, Milan (Italy) : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is under investigation in a prostitution case, an Italian newspaper reported Friday.

By Xinhua, Cotabato (the Philippines) : Security forces in the Philippines killed three Muslim rebel commanders and four rebels as violence continued in the restive south, the army said Saturday. The three commanders, Tolni Salik, Musilan Camin and Asansari Ali, all sub-commanders of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)'s 105th Base Command, were killed Friday night in a clash with government security forces in the township of Guindulungan, about 960 km south of Manila, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a military spokesman.

By IANS, New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil Thursday condoled the death of Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua. Yar'Adua, 58, was ill for a long time. He died at the presidential palace in Nigeria's capital Abuja. "I would like to convey our heartfelt condolences at this tragic loss. May our condolences please be conveyed to the family of the late president," Patil said in her message. "I am confident that the friendly people of Nigeria will overcome this loss and march ahead in attaining greater social and economic progress," she added.

Islamabad: At least 12 terrorists were killed on Tuesday when military jets bombed militant hideouts in the restive Khyber tribal agency of Pakistan. According to...

By Xinhua United Nations : North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon has urged the US and Japan to end their hostile policies toward Pyongyang. Speaking at the general debate of the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, Choe said that implementation of the Sep 19, 2005 joint statement on the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula depends particularly on the measures the US and Japan will take to change their hostile policy towards North Korea.

By IANS, Kathmandu : Ruins of 2,000-year-old buildings have been discovered in eastern Nepal, Xinhua reported.

By Xinhua Wellington : A strong earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hit the southern ocean near the remote Australian territory of Macquarie Island Saturday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages, the US Geological Survey said. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has not issued any tsunami warning. The quake occurred at 11.30 a.m. Saturday (New Zealand time) and was centred beneath the open ocean, some 112 km southwest of Macquarie Island. The region is 755 km southwest of New Zealand's Auckland Island.

By IANS,

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS, Moscow : At least 37 people were killed and 65 injured Monday when women suicide bombers struck two metro stations in this Russian capital within 40 minutes of each other during peak rush hour. The first blast took place at 7.52 a.m. at the Lubyanka station close to the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters, killing at least 23 people, RIA Novosti reported. Even before the injured could be rescued, a second bombing ripped through the nearby Park Kultury station about 40 minutes later. The station is within walking distance of the Kremlin.

By NNN-ZANIS Lusaka : The just ended 96th session of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted new standards designed to improve the conditions of more than 30 million men and women working in the fisheries sector worldwide. The new standards, contained in a convention, to be known as “The Work in Fishing Convention, 2007", will come into effect when it is ratified by 10 of the ILO’s 180 member states.

By Vishal Arora New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) A British parliamentarian who recently visited India says New Delhi's policy towards a "brutal and illegal regime" in Myanmar is deplorable, rubbishing its argument that it respects that country's sovereignty.

By IANS, United Nations : The UN will observe Earth Hour Saturday by turning off the lights for one hour at its facilities around the world.

By KUNA, London : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's conference speech proved an instant hit with voters, according to a new opinion poll published here Thursday, which shows Labour gaining seven points to halve the main opposition Conservative lead. The survey, conducted by pollsters "YouGov" after Brown's address to the annual Labour party conference last Tuesday, but before news broke of Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly's decision to quit, puts the Prime Ministers party on 31 percent.

By Xinhua, Cotabato (The Philippines) : At least three people were killed and seven wounded when a homemade bomb ripped through a public market Monday in the restive southern Philippines, according to witnesses. The bomb, placed inside a trash can, went off shortly before 6.30 a.m. in front of a cafeteria in the township of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, said Eduardo Vasquez, a parish priest from nearby Datu Piang town, who was at the blast site.

By IANS,

By Prensa Latina Brussels : Jean Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup said Thursday at the opening of the European leaders summit that the imminent economic recession in the US has over appreciated the single European currency. Juncker indicated they are closely monitoring the records established by the euro over the past weeks, fact which alarms leaders and businesspeople of the group.

By NNN-IRIN, Kathmandu : Peace talks are likely to be held soon with armed Madhesi groups that have been fighting for a separate province in the Terai, the flat southern region of Nepal, according to senior government officials. "We are making efforts to establish links with the groups of the Terai to hold a dialogue soon and create an environment conducive for peace talks with them," said the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Janardhan Sharma. He is also the coordinator of the recently formed government negotiation team.

By IRNA,

By IANS, Mexico City : Twelve people have been arrested in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero in connection with the massacre of 24 people last week presumed to be linked with the ongoing war among the country's drug mafias. The army and the federal police in a joint operation arrested the suspects, 11 men and a woman, from a house in the town of Arcelia, EFE news agency reported Monday quoting state officials. Police Friday discovered 24 bodies near a popular recreational area west of the capital of Mexico.

By Prensa Latina, Luanda : The African Development Bank (ADB) warned in media here Monday that the world food crisis could become worse in this continent. A report released in Tunez said the ADB President Donald Keberuka and the general secretary of the institution Bedumra Conje will present the General Assembly's program in Maputo from May 12 to 14. Keberuka and Conje said the entity will put nearly five million dollars into African agriculture, which is not considered enough to cover the deficit approaching.

By IANS, Washington : A terror suspect has been arrested near the US Capitol as part of an anti-terrorism investigation, the FBI said in a statement.

By IANS, Washington : Parkinson's disease affects 6.3 million people worldwide with 40 percent of its patients not only suffering physical problems but also developing changes in thought, behaviour and judgment, says a medical expert. In more advanced stages, these symptoms include hallucinations and paranoid delusions where they become distrustful of even their closest friends and family members.

By IANS, Los Angeles: Singer Siva Kaneswaran says the best moment for his band The Wanted was meeting US First Lady Michelle Obama.

By Xinhua Beijing : China on Tuesday expressed its resolute opposition to a report by the U.S. Defense Department on China's military strength. The report disseminates the China military threat theory, severely distorts the truth, interferes with China's internal affairs and violates norms of international relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference when asked to comment on this annual report. China had lodged solemn representations to the U.S. side, Qin noted.

By IANS, Vienna: In a major discovery, Austrian scientists have found that the overproduction of a growth hormone can cause liver cancer.

Kiev : Government troops clashed with armed activists at the airport in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk Monday, one day after presidential elections were...

By DPA,

By DPA, Tokyo : Japan's unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent in September from 5.5 percent in August, the government said Friday. It was the second month in a row that unemployment had decreased. The fall took place against a background of rising production driven by increasing exports. There were 43 job openings for every 100 unemployed people, one more than in each of the previous two months.

By Bernama Jakarta : An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale shook southwest Ternate, North Maluku, on Saturday at 11.23 am local time, Indonesia's ANTARA news agency reported. The quake's epicenter was located at 0.55 degrees northern latitude and 126.64 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 21 below sea level, around 85 km southwest of Ternate, according to information from the national meteorology and geophysics office here on Saturday.

By RIA Novosti Dushanbe : The Tajik Prosecutor General's Office has charged two men with the murder of the Russian TV reporter, Ilyas Shurpayev, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday. "Masrurdzhon Yatimov and Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov have been charged under the provisions of Article 104/2 of the Penal Code of Tajikistan [premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances]," he said. The accused, both Tajik nationals, are now in a pre-trial detention center.

By NNN-Govt Portal, Colombo : Floods following heavy rains caused heavy damage in several districts with several deaths reported and nearly 8,000 families displaced and also cutting off access roads in many areas. A total of 7,860 families (33,408 persons) were reported displaced in Colombo, Kalutara, Ratnapura, Puttalam, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle, Gampaha and Kegalle. Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishard Badiudeen has directed the District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries of the relevant districts to carry out immediate relief work.

By IANS,

By Maitreyee Boruah,IANS, Bangalore : Indian IT professionals Tuesday slammed President Barack Obama's move to end tax incentives for US companies that ship jobs to countries like India, saying it will neither benefit the US nor its corporate sector. "Obama's latest move was expected, but unwelcome at a time when Bangalore's IT and BPO sectors are already reeling under the global economic meltdown," said Padma Nair, 26, an IT-professional working for a Bangalore-based American company.

By IANS/EFE,

By DPA

Tokyo : North Korea agreed to allow international inspectors to visit its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon, Japanese media reports said Wednesday.