International

By IANS, New Delhi : A crazy hairdo and wacky attire are striking, but what about your nails? Colour them in funky shades too to make a statement, says British nail technician Jacqui Jefford. Jefford says this is the right time to wear crazy nails with loads of attitude and confidence. "I have seen people carrying crazy hair styles and dresses with confidence, but most of them play it safe with nail colours. This is the right time to add funk to your nails and make a statement," Jefford told IANS.

By Konstantin Bogdanov, IANS,

By IANS, Denver : The finale of the Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama accepted his historic nomination as the first Black American to lead a major political party into the presidential battle turned out to be a spectacle befitting the occasion. More than 75,000 Democrats filled Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High Thursday, navigating road closures, standing in line for as long as two hours, and waiting under a hot afternoon sun to hear Obama's acceptance speech, media reports said.

By IANS/AKI, Florence: A 68-year-old American tourist underwent emergency surgery to remove a kidney after he was stabbed in Italy's Florence city.

By IANS, Washington : A Washington University team has developed a software that enables deaf or hard-of-hearing Americans to use sign language over a mobile phone video link. The real-time video communication between cell phones, demonstrated for the first time in the country, has evoked tremendous response from the aurally challenged since its posting on YouTube. "A lot of people are excited about this," said principal investigator Eve Riskin, a professor of electrical engineering at the Washington University (WU).

By IANS, New York : Britain has sent Scotland Yard detectives to Mumbai, and the US has also sent investigators to the city where a fierce gunbattle is raging between terrorists and security guards, CNN has reported. CNN said it had intelligence information within a few hours of the attack that at least one of the terrorists is holding a British passport. This was also revealed later by one of the terrorists arrested during the ongoing operation by Indian forces, the channel said. The US State Department said at least three US citizens were injured in the terror attack.

By Prensa Latina, Wellington : The Parliament of the French Polynesia, a French colony, has not yet approved a development contract for 680 million dollars, an agreement which should be signed in Paris in two days. According to Radio New Zealand, there was a new delay in the Assembly of Papeete, the capital, since the opposition wants to debate slight emmiendas before the approval. The president of the Legislative postponed the session until Friday.

By IANS, London: Pop diva Madonna has turned reporter for Israel's biggest-selling newspaper Yediot Ahronot. The superstar, an avid follower of the Kabbalah faith, has joined the editorial team of the Israeli publication for a one-off special piece on her religious beliefs, reports contactmusic.com. The "Music" hitmaker's byline appeared on the front page of the newspaper Wednesday, along with an excerpt from her article, "How My Life Changed", which is due to be published in full Friday.

By IANS,

By DPA New York : Attacks and destruction carried out by Myanmar's armed forces on ethnic minority villages have displaced up to 500,000 people, Human Rights Watch said. "The Burmese army continues to destroy civilian villages in its counter-insurgency operations," the New York-based group said in a report that cited surveys by non-governmental organizations like the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).

N'Djamena : A suicide bomb attack on Saturday killed 16 people and injured 80 here, police said. A man dressed as a woman wearing...

By IANS,

By KUNA, Paris : The French Presidency of the European Union (EU) welcomed late Tuesday the announcement by the Sudanese government of a unilateral cease-fire in war-torn Darfur, but noted reports of "possible military operations" by Sudanese government forces since the cease-fire began. "The European Union welcomes the announcement by the Sudanese President of a unilateral ceasefire in Darfur. It solemnly calls on the Sudanese authorities to honour their commitment and urges all parties to follow suit," a statement issued here said.

By IRNA-Kyodo Tokyo : The Defense Ministry has built slush funds systematically for use by its senior officials and related departments from state budgets allocated for rewarding informants, former defense officials and other sources said Saturday. The alleged accounting gimmick using fake receipts has continued for several decades, the sources said in a revelation expected to impact the ongoing Diet debate on a bill to resume Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

By DPA, Warsaw : Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has met residents near the future site of the US anti-missile shield, reassuring them the military base posed no danger or damage to local tourism. "Places like Redzikowo or Slupsk perhaps will arouse more interest in the event of a conflict," Tusk told residents Friday during a town-hall style meeting in northern Poland. "But for certain they'll be better protected than any other place in Poland."

By IANS/AKI, Milan : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has told the children of his second wife that they will not be penalised in a his forthcoming multi-million dollar divorce settlement. Four of the billionaire's children - all apart from his youngest son Luigi - had lunch with their father at his luxury villa Arcore outside the northern city of Milan Tuesday, Italian media reports said. "I do not want to harm anyone," Berlusconi said, cited by Italian daily La Repubblica. "No one will be short-changed or discriminated against."

By Xinhua Seoul : South Korea held working-level military talks with North Korea Monday in preparation for the upcoming talks between defence ministers, officials said. "Today's (Monday) working-level talks are to prepare for the defence ministerial talks," said South Korean defence ministry spokesman Col. Kang Yong-hee. It is unclear whether the two sides will be able to set the date for the talks during Monday's meeting, he said. The two sides might have another preparatory meeting if needed, he added.

By RIA Novosti Moscow : The penguin population in Antarctica has sharply decreased due to global warming, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report said. The report, titled "Antarctic Penguins and Climate Change", was read out at a UN international climate change conference in Bali Tuesday. It said the rapid melting of ice in Antarctica was killing the habitual habitat of penguins as well as reducing their food resources.

By KUNA, London : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown now leads the most unpopular Labour government in history, according to a new poll for The Independent newspaper Thursday. The public approval ratings of his administration has sunk below the worst achieved during Labour's darkest days in power in the 1960s and 1970s, when the governments led by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan were engulfed by economic crises.

By IANS, The Hague : Around 50,000 tonnes of beef sold across Europe was recalled by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) on fears it might contain horse meat.

By IANS,

By Xinhua, Tegucigalpa : The Honduras government Sunday extended a curfew at the Honduran-Nicaraguan border in view of the volatile situation there. Thousands of supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya were waiting in El Paraiso, close to the Nicaraguan border, for the curfew to end, which was extended by 12 hours, so they can meet their leader at the border. Zelaya, who is currently in Nicaragua, said Sunday he would announce his plans to return to his country at a press conference soon. Zelaya's family members were among those waiting in El Paraiso.

By IANS, Beijing : A debt-ridden family in a Chinese province opted to move out on streets without any clothes on to seek public help in paying off their baby's hospital bill.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By KUNA, Tokyo : State-run PetroChina's oil and gas production in the quake-hit southwest Sichuan Province has almost restored to a normal level, official news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday. "The daily output of gas has reached 99 percent of its full capacity before the quake," the country's largest oil producer said in a statement, according to Xinhua. PetroChina pledged 100,000 tons of emergency oil supplies to the province and had sent 83,300 tons by Monday, according to the report.

By IANS, Santiago : Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has said the Feb 27 earthquake and the following tsunami had cost the nation tens of billions of dollars and left an impact that would be felt for years. Pinera Friday said at a press conference that the 8.8-magnitude earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded in the world, would also make Chileans spiritually stronger, Xinhua reported. "The people of Chile have shown their courage. I believe we will be able to overcome this tragedy," he said.

By IANS/AKI,

By IANS, Colombo : India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan landed here Friday and flew straight to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's residence Temple Trees by helicopter for a discussion on the situation in Sri Lanka. The two officials will be flying back to the Indian capital New Delhi later in the day. An official from the president's office said there could be a statement at the end of the visit.

By DPA Washington : Myanmar's plan to hold a referendum this year on a constitution is a "sham" that has excluded the opposition and failed to provide an "open and fair process" for restoring democracy to the country, the US has said. "The Burmese (Myanmarese) junta's announcement that it will hold a referendum on a new constitution in May demonstrates its lack of seriousness about an open and fair process for the restoration of democracy," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

By Xinhua, Washington : Thousands fled New Orleans, La., Saturday as Hurricane Gustav bore down on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Cars packed with children, suitcases and pet carriers jammed roadways leading north and west out of the city, U.S. TV networks reported. By the end of the day, city officials hoped to evacuate at least 30,000 people who lack transportation or are too sick or old to get out on their own. Gustav, strengthening into a Category 5 storm, was south of Cuba Saturday.

Panaji : Twenty seven foreigners, including 22 Russians, were booked in the past one-and-a-half-years for working illegally as guides in Goa's tourism-oriented coastal belt,...

By IRNA Tehran : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message on the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons, 3 December 2007, while saying that half of all disabled people in developed nations are unemployed called for the full participation of persons with disabilities in the lives of their communities. According to a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC) here Sunday, the full text of his message reads:

By IANS/EFE, Caracas : Venezuelans are mourning the death of president Hugo Chavez while government officials make preparations for his funeral and succession.

By IANS, Los Angeles: A 32-year-old man died and three others were injured Tuesday when a co-worker opened fire at them in a factory in the US state of California.

By NNN-Antara Jakarta : Rescue teams searched Friday for 11 missing people after a wooden fishing boat capsized in rough seas off Indonesia's Central Java province earlier this week, an official said. Brebes district search and rescue team leader Ade Raharjo said rescuers, including navy divers and police, were still searching for survivors after the accident on Wednesday. "We hope that the weather will be more calm today (Friday) to enable us to keep searching for the missing," he said, adding that bad weather hindered rescue efforts on Thursday.

San Jose: Prime Minister Narendra Modi saluted Indian techies for changing the image and perception of India with the magic of their fingers at...

By DPA, Geneva, May 1 (DPA) The World Health Organization (WHO) updated Thursday the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of what it is now calling only the H1N1 influenza, to 257, including eight deaths, but reiterated that there was no need for panic. The largest spike came from Mexico, where the number jumped from 26 cases to 97, including seven deaths. In the United States, across ten states, there were 109 cases including one death of a toddler in Texas.

Jakarta: In a unique gesture, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi made by Indonesian artist Bambang Winaryo was unveiled on Tuesday at the House of...

Toronto: An Indian-origin man in Canadas' Alberta province has been sentenced to life in prison for dragging his wife from a moving vehicle and...

By IANS/EFE, Buenos Aires: US automaker General Motors Co. plans to invest 2.13 billion pesos ($448 million) in the production of a new model in Argentina in 2015, the industry ministry said.

Islamabad : Over 780 people have died due to heatwave in Pakistan over the last three days, media reported on Wednesday. Karachi city in Sindh...

By IANS, Washington : Preschoolers can be taught reading skills for later school success, and imparted socials skills for making friends and avoiding conflicts, according to a new study. The findings address long standing concerns on whether preschool education programmes should emphasise academic achievement or social and emotional development.

By IANS/EFE,

By DPA, Paris : Nearly 700,000 households remained without electricity in south-western France following the weekend's winter storm which killed at least nine people, French media reported Monday. In addition, many of the stricken homes were also deprived of drinking water because the pumps were powered by electricity. The head of the utility EDF, Pierre Gadonneix, said electric current would be restored to 90 percent of the households within a week.

By

By IANS, Beijing : Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China dropped 0.24 percent year on year in October to $8.31 billion, according to figures released by the commerce ministry Tuesday.

By DPA, Jerusalem : There was still shock in Israel Sunday four days after the attack on Nariman House, a Jewish religious centre in the Indian city Mumbai. According to Israel radio, three of the nine bodies found in the centre have not been positively identified. The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed that Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who led the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement in the Indian commercial capital, and his wife Rivka were among the dead.

By IANS/EFE, Mexico City : Over 5,000 families have fled Mexico's Ciudad Juarez city on the border with the US in the last six months amid intensifying drug-related violence, officials said.

By IANS, Shanghai : Authorities here said Sunday they were probing a local official after he was reported to own a large villa, a property that would usually be out of his financial reach.

By NNN-APP, United Nations : U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is planning to convene a summit meeting of world leaders to discuss how to deal with the growing food crisis around the globe, his spokesperson said. “Yes, that is exactly what he is considering,” spokesperson Michele Montas said when asked whether the UN chief plans to hold a top-level global gathering to find ways to respond to the severe problems of food availability and high prices that have spawned protests and tensions in many countries.

By IANS,

By Xinhua, Santiago : The Chilean Justice ministry has said that detentions of people under 18 have increased by 80 percent after the application of the new Law of Adolescent Penal Responsibility. "During the first 10 months of the law's validity, military police have detained more than 54,000 teenagers between 14 and 17, an increase of 80 percent compared to the number of detentions during the 10 previous months before the law came into effect," Chilean Justice Minister Carlos Maldonado said Wednesday.

By IANS, Moscow : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sacked the senior navy officer who was in charge of talks with France over the purchase of Mistral-class warships.

London, Jan 5, IRNA ,The British government's controversial plans to build 20 new nuclear reactors is likely to remain in doubt for months with a fresh legal challenge having over the decision, which is expected to be announced next week. Greenpeace said it could take several months to decide whether to return to the High Court after winning a legal challenge last February that ordered the government to carry out a second round of consultations about its review to fill the UK's growing energy gap.

By DPA Vienna : The price of crude oil produced by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crossed $90 for the first time Wednesday, according to a statement by the OPEC secretariat here Thursday. One barrel (159 litres) of crude produced in the 12 OPEC member states cost $90.71 Wednesday, the secretariat said, a marked increase from $89.13 the previous day.

By Prensa Latina Belgrade : Serbia is under a campaign silence from early Friday until polls close at 8 pm Sunday in the crucial presidential elections, after a month of campaigning. These will be the first Serbian presidential elections since the separation from Montenegro in 2006 and the approval of a new Constitution that same year.

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington : Warning that decreased access to a safe, stable water supply in Asia "will have a profound impact on security throughout the region", the Asia Society has sought a strategy to avert a crisis in countries like India. The cascading set of consequences reduced access to fresh water will trigger include impaired food production, the loss of livelihood security, large-scale migration within and across borders, and increased economic and geopolitical tensions and instabilities, said a task force report of the Asia Society released in New York Friday.

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

By Xinhua, Lusaka : Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has died in the Percy Military Hospital in Paris after being hospitalised there for more than a month, Vice President Rupiah Banda said Tuesday. Banda said on television that Mwanawasa died at 10.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) Tuesday. Banda appealed to his fellow citizens to remain calm and announced that Zambia would observe a seven-day mourning from Tuesday. Mwanawasa, who was around 60 years of age, suffered a stroke on June 29 in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, where he was to attend the African Union summit.

By Bernama, Batam : Riau Islands police have foiled an attempt to smuggle in 70 tonnes of diesel in the waters of Subang Mas, Riau Islands, ANTARA news agency quoted the police as saying. "We are holding custody of KM SETIA vessel which transported the 70 tonnes of diesel oil," Director of the Crime and Investigation Department of the Riau Islands Police, Senior Commissioner M. Jupri said here on Thursday. He said that the police made the arrest on Wednesday night (Oct 15).

By Arun Kumar, IANS, Washington: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is embarking on a trip to India with an assurance that President Barack Obama is deeply committed to strengthening relations with India with a deep appreciation of common challenges posed by issues like terrorism.

By Paras Ramoutar,IANS, Port-of-Spain : Trinidad and Tobago is agog as it hosts the Fifth Summit of the Americas April 17-19 that will bring together 34 leaders, including US President Barack Obama, in this tiny oil-rich nation. Obama, who is expected to arrive here April 17, will be making his first visit to the Caribbean since he became president. The world leaders will discuss a host of issues, including climate change, terrorism and poverty. Taxpayers, however, are not happy with the huge amount of money being spent on the summit.

By IANS/EFE,

By IANS/RIA Novosti, Kiev : Ukraine will evacuate another 24 nationals from Syria, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Over 500 Ukrainians have left Syria since July last year.

By IANS Seoul : South Korea's new government would push for legislation to enable rapid deployment of its forces in UN peacekeeping operations and increase the number of its peacekeeping forces, WAM news agency reported Friday. The new legislation envisioned by the defence and foreign ministries will allow the government to obtain advance parliamentary approval for its peacekeeping forces' dispatch plans on a yearly basis. Under the current law, the government must obtain parliamentary approval, whenever it seeks to send its peacekeeping forces abroad.

By IANS, London : The US military plans to launch a Star Trek-style mission to "colonise alien worlds", a media report said Monday.

By IANS, Montevideo (Uruguay) : A collision between two cargo ships near to the Uruguayan port of Montevideo caused a 20 km long oil spill, the coast guard said. The incident occurred around 10.30 p.m. Tuesday when the Greek-flagged Syros freighter collided with the Maltese vessel Sea Beard, which was anchored to the east of the port of Montevideo and bound for nearby Buenos Aires. A breach in the fuel tanks of the Maltese ship caused the spill, according to coast guard spokesmen, who said the crewmembers of the two vessels involved in the collision, but no injuries were repoted.

By IANS/EFE, Ciudad Juarez : The number of women killed in 2010 in Mexico's northern border city of Ciudad Juarez has risen to 300, official figures show.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Life in the Kathmandu valley came to a standstill Thursday as four minor parties jointly called for a shutdown to protest the hike in fuel prices. The Communist Party of Nepal-United led the shutdown along with with three more fringe parties, including an organisation of shanty dwellers that made its debut in the April election.

By IANS,

By IANS, Kathmandu : The inclusion of an amnesty provision in law will make it impossible for thousands of victims of human rights abuses in Nepal to obtain justice, rights activists said.

By DPA Helsinki : Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva was forced Tuesday to quit his job for degrading the dignity of office by sending scores of text messages to a model, who also works as an exotic dancer. The conservative National Coalition Party appointed Alexander Stubb, the country's European Parliament member, as his successor after consultation with Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and President Tarja Halonen. Stubb, who turned 40 Tuesday, said his immediate focus would be on the Finnish presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE0).

By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS,

By IANS, Sydney : A man has terrorised several women in an Australian city by exposing and touching himself indecently in front of them, a media report said Friday.

By IANS, London: Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is set to be offered three million pounds to become a permanent judge on reality show "American Idol" if she can prove herself to the US public. The singer-turned-designer has impressed bosses with her two guest appearances on the judging panel for the US talent show and they think she has the right credentials to take over from ex-judge Paula Abdul, contactmusic.com reports.

By Anil Giri, Kathmandu : The April 25 earthquake that left Nepal devastated is likely to bring political parties on the ruling and opposition benches...

By DPA

Washington : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was greeted by US President Bush to start a two-day visit.

Bush met the helicopter carrying Brown as it landed at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the mountains of western Maryland, outside Washington.

The visit is Brown's first to the US since taking office on June 27. They are expected to jointly speak to reporters Monday around 11.30 a.m. (1530 GMT) at Camp David.

By IANS, Sentosa : Asian Tour will organise a special golf event to be held at the Sentosa Golf Club June 1 to raise funds for the victims suffering from the devastating aftermath of Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan earthquake. The catastrophes have saddened the lives of many and several of the Asian Tour golfers led by executive chairman Kyi Hla Han have pledged their commitment to take part in this fund-raising event.

By KUNA London : Recorded crime in England and Wales fell by nine percent from July to September last year compared with the same period in the previous year, official figures showed Thursday. The British Home Office said there was a four percent rise in gun crime during the third quarter of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006. There were 10,182 firearms offences in the year to September, compared with 9,755 in the previous year. The number of recorded drug offences rose by 21 percent in the 2007 third quarter.

By RIA Novosti, Astana : The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine but falling short of recognizing it as an act of genocide. Members of parliament from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 56 member states are currently meeting in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, for their annual session.

By DPA, Washington: US President Barack Obama will urge nations to agree to steps to ensure nuclear-related material is safe and inaccessible to terrorists when he hosts an unprecedented international summit next week in Washington, advisers said Friday. Obama wants to develop an action plan to set standards for securing nuclear stockpiles and accomplishing the goal within four years, the advisers said. That could include pursuing new agreements and strengthening existing ones, they said.

New York : The surface-to-air missile that reportedly shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 killing all 298 people on board may be a Soviet-era...

By IANS, Pyongyang : North Korea launched a long-range rocket into orbit Friday in defiance of warnings from the international community, reported CNN citing two US officials.

By IANS,

By IANS/AKI, Rome : Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has telephoned Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi to deny that Italy had armed anti-government demonstrators with rockets.

By Xinhua, Jakarta : A series of moderate quakes rocked western and eastern parts of Indonesia on Tuesday, with no report of damage or casualty, meteorology agency said here. The first quake with magnitude of 5.2 struck at 07:06 Jakarta time (0006 GMT) with epicenter at 167 kilometers southwest Bengkulu province and at 30 kilometers in depth, an official of the agency said. About three hours later, another quake with similar magnitude occurred, with epicenter at 201 kilometers northwest Saumlaki town of Maluku province and at 139 kilometers in depth, the official said.

By Bernama Jakarta : The Indonesian government needs to immediately modernise the Navy on a large scale in its effort to maintain the Unitary State of the Indonesian Republic (NKRI)'s sovereignty, legislators said here on Friday. Quoting House of Representatives (DPR) Commission I member Yuddy Chrisnandi, ANTARA news agency reported Friday that the Navy's modernization was absolutely needed because the armament at its disposal was already obsolete.

By IANS, Beijing : China Saturday passed a resolution that defines terrorist groups for the first time and will soon release its first formal list of terrorists and groups, a legal expert said.

By IANS, London : British Home Secretary Theresa May will soon meet executives from social networks like Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry to discuss the recent riots in the country.

By Gurmukh Singh, IANS, Toronto : With Kolkata-born Sabi Marwah as its vice chairman and chief operating officer, Canada's Scotiabank Monday acquired Royal Bank of Scotland's banking operations in Colombia to further expand its international presence. The bank already has a huge presence in 27 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where it employs 31,867 people and operates 1,411 branches and other offices. One of North America's top banks and Canada's most international bank, Scotiabank currently operates in more than 50 countries.

By SPA Cotabato City, Philippines : Two policemen were killed by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine province, a regional police chief said Saturday, DPA reported. Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao said the victims were on board a van when they were attacked by gunmen late Friday along a highway in Sultan Kudarat town in Sharif Kabunsuan province, 930 kilometres south of Manila. "The motive might be clan feud involving one of the policeman and naotrrher family," he said.

By IRNA, Berlin : Germany is involved in secret talks with the US to take in an unspecified number of inmates still languishing at the Guantanamo detention camp, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel said in a report to hit the newsstands Sunday. Last week, a German delegation met with some of the prisoners who are on its short-list, at the US military jail. The German interior ministry had received late last year a list of names by US special envoy Daniel Fried who is in charge of relocating Guantanamo detainees to other countries.

Rabat : The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), a branch of Morocco's domestic intelligence agency (DGST), has busted a terrorist cell that was...

By IANS,

New York/New Delhi : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's supporters want the US to grant him a visa to enable his participation in a world Gujarati meet even though he was denied a visa three years ago because of his alleged role in condoning the anti-Muslim violence in the state 2002. But the US remained non-committal about it.

By IANS, Palermo (Italy) : Italian police claimed to have reconstructed the genetic profile of a mafia leader, using tests on DNA samples from the fugitive's relatives, media reports said. DNA tests were carried out over several months on hair from combs and saliva from toothbrushes belonging to the Sicilian mafia's alleged current head, Matteo Messina Denaro's brothers, according to investigators in Rome and Palermo, the reports said Thursday. The 47-year-old playboy has been on the run since 1993.

By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS, Kathmandu : Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas Friday pulled out of the coalition government - for the second time this month - after power negotiations with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and his Nepali Congress (NC) party failed to resolve a dragging deadlock, casting a shadow over the fate of the new constitution. The seven Maoist ministers in the cabinet handed over their resignations collectively late in the evening at a meeting of the seven ruling parties even as it had seemed the warring parties were on the verge of reaching an understanding.

By DPA, Jakarta : An international Islamic economic conference ended Wednesday with calls for the reduction of trade barriers, development of alternative energy sources and stricter regulations in the global financial industry. The three-day World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta, attended by 1,500 delegates from 38 countries, discussed ways to deal with the global financial crisis and food security, as well as exploring possibilities for non-carbon fuels.

By IANS/EFE, Brasilia : The Brazilian Congress has proclaimed food security as a new constitutional right of all citizens, along with health, housing, work, social security, and child protection. The inclusion of food among Brazilians' basic rights was approved in a legislative session Thursday in which Senate President Jose Sarney said that the country "now has the satisfaction of having a constitution with the world's best social-rights provisions".

By Xinhua Seoul : South Korea and the US launched their annual joint military exercises Monday despite strong oppositions from North Korea. The exercise, codenamed Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL), will last for 12 days. According to the South Korean defence ministry, about 10,000 US troops, with about half of them coming from outside of the Korean peninsula, will participate in the exercise. The UFL, which began in 1975, is the world's largest computerized command-and-control exercise to foster joint defence capability of South Korea and the US.

By DPA, Riga : A Baltic cruise ship with 984 people on board ran aground Sunday off the north-west coast of Latvia, coast guards said. Passengers - most of them Germans - were not in immediate danger and remained on board the 173-metre (567-foot) Mona Lisa, coast guard spokeswoman Liene Ulbina told DPA. The Bahamas-registered vessel was en route to the Estonian capital Tallinn from Riga, when it ran aground for the ninth time in its 42-year history, Latvian Defence Minister Vinets Veldre told reporters Sunday afternoon before leaving for the scene of the accident.

By Xinhua, Wellington : Pansy Wong, the first ethnic Chinese member of New Zealand's parliament, Monday was appointed the country's first Asian minister holding the cabinet portfolio of ethnic and women's affairs. Fiftythree-year-old Pansy said her appointment as the country's first Asian cabinet minister showed that New Zealand is an open society. Born in Shanghai, Wong's family moved to Hong Kong when she was five and moved to New Zealand in 1974. She studied at Canterbury University where she met and married Malaysian Chinese Sammy.

By Prensa Latina, Beijing : Two large solar power plants will be built in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Yunnan this year, as part of a nationwide project to boost renewable energy. Qinghai's solar station will cost 146 million dollars and will be jointly built by China Technology Development Group and Qinghai New Energy Group. In the beginning, the plant will generate 30 megawatts, but after completion, it will produce one gigawatt and will be the world's largest solar power plant, investors said.

By DPA, Colombo : Sri Lanka Wednesday criticised the appointment of a panel by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to investigate allegations of human rights violations during the last months of the government's war against separatist Tamil rebels. "The move is unwarranted and unacceptable to a sovereign nation like Sri Lanka," media minister Keheliya Rambukwella said in a reaction to the panel's appointment late Tuesday.

Dhaka : At least 15 temples along with hundreds of Hindu community houses were vandalised and looted by an unruly mob in Bangladesh's Brahmanbaria...

By DPA, Taipei : Taiwan braced Monday for Typhoon Hagupit as the storm approached the Bashih Strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. After issuing a sea warning Sunday afternoon for Hagupit, the Central Weather Bureau issued a land warning early Monday as the storm was intensifying and moving closer to Taiwan. In the last eight hours, Hagupit had moved some 200 km closer to Taiwan, and its strength has also intensified, the bureau said. By 2:30 a.m. Monday, the eye of Hagupit was 530 km southeast of Erlunpi, Taiwan's southern tip.

By Xinhua Beijing : China's landmark property law that provides equal protection to both state and private property was put into effect Monday. "The law will inspire people's enthusiasm to create wealth and is helpful for them to fully enjoy the fruit of reform and opening-up," said Xu Xianming, president of the China University of Political Science and Law.

By IANS/EFE, Bogota : A grenade went off accidentally, wounding 24 soldiers at an army base in central Colombia, officials said. The blast at the Tolemaida military base in Melgar town could have been an accident, armed forces commander Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon said Sunday. "Nothing is clear yet, but the most probable theory is that it was an accident. There is a soldier who says he saw another soldier came out of the bathroom and dropped a grenade," Padilla de Leon said in Cartagena city.

By IRNA Berlin : Germany's Foreign Ministry here Friday summoned Serbia's envoy to protest Thursday evening's riots in front of the German and several other western embassies in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told journalists in Berlin that the Serbian charge d'affaires had been called in to be submitted an official protest at the mob attack on the German diplomatic mission in Belgrade. The German embassy in Belgrade remained closed to the public, he added.

By RIA Novosti, Moscow : Russia has dismantled six outdated Topol mobile ballistic missile systems under an international treaty on strategic arms reduction, the Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement Thursday. "We have scrapped six outdated Topol mobile systems. This is the second such procedure conducted this year," the statement said. The first batch of six Topol systems was scrapped between March 17 and 26, 2008. All the systems were based in the Udmurt republic in the eastern Urals.

By RIA Novosti, Kiev : Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's party officially pulled out of the ruling pro-Western coalition on Wednesday amid a government dispute over presidential powers and the Georgia-Russia conflict. The Our Ukraine party's decision was reached on Tuesday night after lawmakers voted to reduce the president's powers, and was officially announced to parliament on Wednesday morning.

By IANS, London : British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was attacked with paint outside a Liberal Democrat party event in Scotland's Glasgow city, party officials said.

By IANS,

By Prasun Sonwalkar

IANS

London : A ruling by a tribunal court, allowing an appeal by a highly skilled migrant from Kerala who faced deportation to India due to changes in immigration laws, has brought cheers to thousands of Indians in a similar situation here.