The couple who allegedly abandoned their twin baby girls at a Wolverhampton hospital because they were not boys say there has been a misunderstanding. The father of the girls, conceived by their 59-year-old mother after IVF treatment in India, told a national newspaper the children will be brought up with love.

The twins’ adult half-brother commented: ‘My father’s English is not good and the person receiving it...must have lost something in the translation. The twin girls will be raised as their daughters.’

It had been claimed the twins had not been visited in hospital for two weeks. The babies’ half-brother said his mother had been unwell since the birth, and found it difficult to visit the hospital.

Both parents visited the babies yesterday. West Midlands Police and Birmingham Social Services say they are not involved in the case.

A Southall barrister says the area is in danger of ‘sleep-walking into a crisis’ because of rising levels of drug crime and fraud amongst the South Asian community.

Jo Sidhu made the comments in a local paper, saying ‘sadly acquiring a criminal record these days is not so rare or embarrassing for young Asian men.’

He cited Met Police statistics showing an 80% rise in drug offences in the Southall Green ward, and a 66% rise in Norwood Green. Fraud increased in Lady Margaret ward by 222%.

A spokesman for Ealing Police said the increases in drug offences were due to higher detection rates, and fraud increases appeared higher because they were expressed in percentages.

President Musharraf of Pakistan has denied rumours he is considering resigning to avoid being forced out by the coalition government, saying the aim is to cause a rift between him and the army.

There’s been speculation over Mr Musharraf’s future since the victory of opposition parties in February’s general election. Last night a newspaper suggested a meeting between the President and the head of the army meant Mr Musharraf was about to quit. Mr Musharraf claimed the meeting was routine.

Both western governments and investors are watching Pakistan. The US fears instability will strengthen Islamist militants. Investors are waiting to see if the Government can bring economic problems under control.

The mother of a 17-year-old Asian boy beaten to death in West Yorkshire on Sunday says she wants to leave Britain. Reanna Aslam’s son Amar Aslam was found in Crow Nest Park in Dewsbury with fatal head injuries.

Four men have been charged with his murder. His sister Samreen Aslam said her mother is flying to Pakistan immediately, where Amar’s funeral will take place, and has not decided what to do next.

She added: ‘Dewsbury is terrible and if we were not here, our brother may not have been killed.’

Sri Lankan Government forces say they have captured a rebel base in the north of the island, after three days of fighting. They reported three rebel fighters and one Government soldier had been killed in fighting.

The base, known as ‘Munagam Base’, is four miles north of the frontlines in Weli Oya. The Defence Ministry said it had been used by rebels to launch attacks on Government troops.

The claims could not be independently confirmed by journalists, as access to the frontlines is highly restricted.

The Tamil Tigers are fighting for a separate homeland in the north of the island. Fighting between the minority Tamils and majority Sinhalese has lead to the deaths of more than 70,000 over three decades.

A student of a religious seminary in Pakistan's Punjab province has died after he was punished by his teacher.

Fellow students told police seven-year-old, Atif, was hung upside down from a ceiling fan by Maulvi Ziauddin for not memorising his Koran lessons. Students said Atif was left for sometime; his condition deteriorated quickly and he died in the teacher's room.

Maulvi Ziauddin has been arrested and police say they will file formal charges after an autopsy report is issued by the local hospital.

Families of gun and knife crime victims are among those attending a conference on London’s youth violence problem in City Hall today. Also attending are delegates from youth groups, members of the Met Police Authority and London Assembly members.

On Wednesday evening, 17-year-old Sharmaarke Hassan died in hospital from gunshot wounds. He was shot in Camden, north London on Saturday night. His death brings the toll of teenager knife or gun crime victims in London to 15 this year.

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency has announced al-Qaeda is essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and on the defensive elsewhere.

He told a major US news paper that US counter-terrorism successes extended to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is thought to be hiding.

Mr. Hayden said, al-Qaeda was losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world, but despite successes, warned against complacency which he said could halt or reverse progress.

These remarks come less than a year after the CIA warned al-Qaeda was redoubling their efforts.

The home of an Asian couple from Essex has become a top destination for Hindu tourists – after they turned their spare bedroom into a temple.

Sushil and Dhirajlal Karia set up the temple in their home in 1979, because there was no local temple where they could worship. Their home has now been visited by over 50,000 pilgrims.

Police in South Yorkshire are searching for two Asian men who left a woman unconscious in the street after robbing her.

The woman was attacked in Rotherham, where the perpetrators stole her money and bank card, and then punched her. One man is described as being in his mid-teens, the other in his twenties.

A Muslim lecturer carrying out online research says he fears his research will lead to suspicions he is an extremist. Maroof Shaffi, a lecturer at Bradford College, says many Muslims live in fear of arrest, due to anti terror laws.

Many of the books he has ordered for his research have the word ‘Jihad,’ in the title, roughly translating as ‘holy war.’

West Yorkshire Police say a number of factors have to be in place for someone to become of interest to police, and extremist literature alone is not enough.

The disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, AQ Khan, has said that allegations he passed on nuclear secrets are false. In a rare interview, he said that there was pressure put on him to accept the charges in the national interest.

Four years ago Mr Khan admitted passing on nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. He also confessed to using Pakistan as the hub of a large proliferation network. He was subsequently put under house arrest.

President Pervez Musharraf granted him a full pardon, but Western countries believe he did not come clean on the scale of his nuclear activities. Dr Khan has recently been allowed to leave his residence and go out on selective trips, although officials have said he will remain under tight security with no access to foreign investigators.

A ban on him talking to the media has also been removed in recent days. These are believed to be preliminary steps before his forthcoming release. The move is being anxiously watched by officials from Western nations, especially the United States.

The mother of a 15-year-old girl found dead on Anjuna Beach in the Indian state of Goa in February says she fears police may try to cover up the truth about her daughter’s death.

The results of tests on Scarlett Keeling’s body are due back in the next few days. They will reveal whether she was raped. If the results are positive, the case will be passed to the CBI, The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation. If negative, the case will be left in the hands of local police.

Fiona MacKeown says she fears the case will be left with local police, whom she suspects of trying to hide the truth to avoid further embarrassment. She says she will continue her campaign whatever happens.

The Indian government says it will set up a commission to examine some of the grievances of victims of the world's worst industrial disaster. The gas leak in the city of Bhopal in 1984 claimed thousands of lives.

Campaigners from Bhopal have been camping out on the streets of Delhi for the last two months trying to publicise their cause.They say their protests will continue as the government has not addressed one of their key demands.

The Prime Minister has yet to respond to the most emotive demand of all: that legal action be pursued against Union Carbide, the company which ran the Bhopal plant and against Dow Chemicals, which now owns Union Carbide.

It is nearly a quarter of a century since the industrial disaster which killed thousands of people. Tens of thousands more have suffered from a variety of ailments ever since and many of the issues surrounding the terrible events of 1984 remain unresolved.

Counter-terrorism police yesterday continued to question a man suspected of helping foreign terrorists plan attacks abroad. The 31-year-old, who has not been named, was arrested at a house in Leicester after police raided the semi-detached house at 6am on Wednesday.

The man has not been charged, and was driven from Leicester to London on Wednesday. He was being questioned at an unnamed central London police station.

The Metropolitan Police Service Counter-Terrorism Command is also questioning a 32-year-old man, who was arrested at a home in East London at the same time as the Leicester raid.

Police investigating a terror bombing in Exeter have searched a Muslim centre and a residential address following a third arrest.

The centre and the house are in Plymouth where officers have searched a number of properties since the attack last Thursday.

They have arrested three people including Nicky Reilly, from Plymouth, a Muslim convert who is understood to have been the only person injured in the explosion. The blast took place in a busy shopping centre at lunchtime in the Giraffe restaurant.

President Pervez Musharraf has met Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, amid growing concerns over political and economic problems. An army spokesman also confirmed reports that some key military officials hand-picked by President Musharraf have been transferred.

Mr Musharraf has resisted calls by his political rivals, who won in February's elections, to resign. The political stand-off is adding to the country's economic woes.

Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas called both the army chief's meeting with President Musharraf and the redeployment of some key Musharraf appointees as a routine matter.

A 16-year-old boy is being questioned by police in connection with the shooting of a 17-year-old boy found dead in Gilbey’s Yard, Camden on Saturday night. The victim has been named as Sharmaake Hassan, who died in hospital from gunshot wounds to head on Wednesday night.

He was allegedly a member of the Money Squad, a Somali gang, and had convictions for selling cannabis. He appeared in court last month charged with drug offences, and also had convictions for breaching terms of an Asbo.

Police say the motive for his killing is unclear. Mr Hassan is the 15th teenager to die from violence in London since January.

The most common knife used in teenage stabbings in London is taken from the Kitchen, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said.

At New Scotland Yard he unveiled some of the weapons seized during a blitz on knife-carrying criminals in the city.

Sir Ian revealed that the majority of those weapons found on the streets of the city are ordinary domestic knives.

Wife-killer Fadi Nasri’s dad was also a murderer, who covered his lover and her son with petrol and set them on fire. Farouk Nasri, 53, burst into the home of Jennifer Elverson, 27, and seven-year-old Ben in a jealous rage and burnt them alive.

In 1994 Farouk Nasri was jailed for seven years for aggravated burglary after a frenzied attack on a former lover in Leamington Spa. He hanged himself while on remand at Leicester Prison in 2000 while awaiting trial for the killings.

The British Nationalist Party is allegedly portraying an activist killed by his Muslim neighbour as a martyr. Yesterday Michael Coleman, a BNP councillor, spoke out after the conviction of Habib Khan at Stafford Crown Court, saying: ‘We advise anyone who gets angry: join the BNP.’

Mr Khan was found guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbour, 52-year-old Keith Brown, who died after being stabbed by Mr Khan. He was cleared of murder.

The court heard his family had suffered racial abuse from Mr Brown and his BNP activist son, Ashley Barker. Mr Khan was also convicted of wounding Mr Barker. His son, Azir Habib Saddique, was cleared of the same charge.

Gordon Brown is fighting to stave off a Commons defeat over proposals to detain terrorist suspects without charge for up to 42 days. Some allies have been urging Mr Brown not to risk a further loss of authority when MPs vote on the issue in over two weeks.

They want him to compromise and allow existing emergency legislation to be amended, allowing terror suspects to be held without charge for up to six weeks.

Instead, the Prime Minister has decided to push ahead with the original proposals for new laws, and to try and win rebel MPs’ support with a package of concessions. These will be unveiled next week.

Police investigating an alledged terrorist explosion at a restaurant in Exeter arrested a third man last night.

Police are already questioning two people, including twenty-two year old Nicky Reilly, a convert to Islam who spent time in a mental hospital.

Mr. Reilly is suspected to have set off the blast; the other man being questioned was arrested in Plymouth on Friday.

A Muslim leader has criticised the Bishop of Rochester for saying radical Islam is filling a gap left by the decline of Christianity in Britain.

In the magazine Standpoint, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali argued the sexual revolution of the 1960s had dissolved the Church of England’s influence on the morals of the population.

He then said this lack of principles had allowed radical Islam to push its ‘comprehensive’ claims. Speaking to Sunrise Radio, Mohammad Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation says he rejects Dr Nazir-Ali’s argument.

The royal flag was lowered from Nepal's royal palace today as the Himalayan nation celebrated its first day as a republic following the abolition of its 239-year-old Hindu monarchy.

A special assembly meeting in the capital, Kathmandu, overwhelmingly voted to abolish royal rule, leaving King Gyanendra a fortnight to vacate the palace, which will be turned into a museum.

The Maoists, the largest party after laying down arms and standing in last month's elections, were committed to ousting the monarchy, but have invited the King to live on in Nepal as a private citizen.

Nepalis danced, sang and cheered to celebrate the news of the assembly vote last night, and it reported celebrations were planned to continue throughout the day today.

Police in southern India say at least 39 people have been killed after a lorry carrying guests to a wedding plunged into a river. The driver of the lorry is thought to have lost control while trying to avoid some electrical wires on the road, and the vehicle fell off a bridge.

The lorry was carrying at least 70 people and there are reports of some still being trapped in the vehicle. The accident happened 125 miles west of Bangalore, in Karnataka state. Road accidents are common in India, killing hundreds of people every year.

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister called on the US and Nato yesterday to review its counter-terrorism policy in the region, which he said had failed to deliver peace.

Yousuf Raza Gilani has said his government would pursue a multi-prolonged strategy to combat terrorism since the past strategy, centred on military assaults, had failed to produce the desired results.

Mr Gilani also said that ‘the use of only military means could not bring peace in the volatile tribal region, which according to Western intelligence agencies has become al-Qaeda’s main centre of operations.’ His remarks are likely to cause concern in Washington and London.

It has emerged the family of a seven-year-old girl who allegedly starved to death was visited by authorities four months before her death.

Khyra Ishaq was visited by both police and teachers on separate occasions for a ‘welfare check’ in January, after she was removed from school in December.

Birmingham Crown Court heard yesterday that no follow up visits were made. Pressure is mounting on Birmingham social services to explain why the girl was not considered to be at risk.

Khyra Ishaq and her five siblings were admitted to hospital on 17th May; Khyra died shortly afterwards. Her siblings are now in care. Her mother Angela Gordon and her mother’s boyfriend Junaid Abuhamza have been charged with neglect.

Another pro-Taliban militant group in Pakistan has signed a peace deal in the tribal region near the Afghan border, local officials say.

They say that the deal is the latest in a series of agreements orchestrated by the country's new government as it tries to end extremist violence. A similar deal was signed last week in the North West Frontier Province.

Three more men have been arrested following the knife murder of Shoaib Khan, taking the total in custody to 11. Shoaib Khan, 31, was stabbed repeatedly after a gang dragged him from his car near a mosque in Bradford on Tuesday.

The three men aged 23, 24, and 33 were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. Police are already holding three others, aged 22, 27 and 33 on the same grounds. Five men aged between 19 and 26 were arrested on suspicion of murder.

Islamic traditionalists in Denmark have spoken out against plans to hold a ‘Miss Headscarf’ televised beauty contest for Muslim women. The Islamic Faith Society says it does not approve of Danmarks Radio’s plans to show fashion-conscious Muslim women wearing makeup.

The editor in chief of Danmarks Radio’s youth division has defended the show, arguing it will de-escalate calls for a ban on Islamic dress in public.

Media coverage of Muslims is a sensitive issue in Denmark, after cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in 2005 sparked worldwide protests.

Pakistan is in talks with the World Bank over a possible £250,000 loan to help with its economic problems. The country is suffering with an increasing fiscal deficit, a tumultuous stock market and a weakening currency.

The loan would have consequences for Pakistan; the Government will have to introduce potentially unpopular measures such as ending subsidies on oil imports and cutting spending on development.

An official at the Finance Ministry said it was vital Pakistan’s economy regained credibility with investors. The fiscal deficit is currently 6.5% of the country’s GDP. This is higher than the target of 4.2%, but higher deficit was avoided by postponing some development projects.

The Karachi 100 Index has fallen by 18% in the last month and the Pakistani rupee is down 8%. The new budget will be announced on 7th June.

In Britain radical Islam appeals to those who feel that Islam is no longer promoting the traditional values, according to the Rt Rev Michael Nazir Ali, Bishop of Rochester.

The Bishop Michael has said that the decline of Christian values has meant that Britain is now gripped by the doctrine of ‘endless self-indulgence’ which is causing the destruction of family life.

He warned that the doctrine of multiculturalism was questionable in its practicality and this contributed to the segregation of immigrant communities and led to many immigrants living parallel lives rather than being integrated in the larger community.

The bishop’s comments are just the latest in a long line of combustible remarks he has made over the relationship between Islam and the West.

Members of the Gujjar community blocked major highways and roads leading to Indian capital Delhi today causing chaos for commuters during peak rush hour. The Gujjar community has been holding protests in north-western Rajasthan state since 23rd of May, demanding to be reclassified to qualify for government jobs and quotas in schools.

Classified as an ‘Other Backward Class’, the 50million Gujjars want to be downgraded to ‘Scheduled Tribe’ status to gain more quotas under India's affirmative action policy. At least 37 people have died in the violent protests, most of them by police firing to stop mobs attacking police stations.

The gang who beat teenager Amar Aslam to death in a park bragged about having jumped on the boy and recorded his last moments on their mobile phones, it was claimed yesterday.

James Taylor, 13, told how he performed emergency first aid on 17-year-old Amar in the walled garden of the park in Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, before paramedics arrived.

James said that Amar looked as if his jaw had been broken and blood from a cut behind his left ear was dripping on to his head. Police yesterday continued to question six schoolchildren and a 20-year-old man about the murder in Crow Nest Park in the town on Sunday.

Two men have been arrested by anti terrorism officers in separate raids in Leicester and east London. A Met Police spokesman said the 31-year-old and 32-year-old were arrested around 06:00 this morning on suspicion of supporting terrorism overseas.

They are being questioned at Paddington Green police station in west London. They are suspected of involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

A TV journalist working for a private TV channel in Sri Lanka has been killed in the northern Jaffna peninsula, company officials say. The firm, Maharaja Television, says P. Devakumaran and an associate died in the northern Navanthurai area of the peninsula.

MTV News Director Susil Kindelpitiya said that Mr Devakumaran was on his way home when he was assaulted. Sri Lanka's army is confronting Tamil Tiger rebels in the north.

More than 300 students held a protest to campaign against the imminent deportation of a university administrator who had previously been detained under the Terrorism Act.

The campaigners stood in silence at the University of Nottingham for five minutes, their mouths gagged with handkerchiefs, in protest at the treatment of Hicham Yezza.

The 30-year-old, a former student at the university, was arrested earlier this month under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of possessing extremist material.

A 17-year-old boy has died in hospital from gunshot wounds. He was found in Camden on Saturday night after being shot in the head, and died last night.

So far there have been no arrests in connection with his murder. He is the 15th teenager to die from violence in London this year.

A drunk passenger who deliberately mowed down an elderly Asian taxi driver with his own cab following an argument in Gravesend has been convicted of murder.

71-year-old Gian Chand Bajar, was assaulted by Luke Aujila, 21, after a row over the cab fare before Mr Aujila sped towards the pensioner as he lay hurt in the road. Mr Aujila’s plea of manslaughter was rejected at Maidstone Crown Court.

The husband of special constable Nisha Patel Nasri has been found guilty of her murder. Fadi Nasri, 34, was accused of organising the killing of the 29-year-old, who was stabbed outside their London home in May 2006.

The Old Bailey heard Mr Nasri wanted her dead to pay off debts with his wife's £350,000 life insurance policy, and because he was having an affair. The prosecution said Mr Nasri hired drug dealer Rodger Leslie to organise the killing and he recruited Jason Jones Emmanuel as the knifeman.

Mr Leslie and Mr Jones were found guilty by the jury who were directed to return a majority verdict today after six days of deliberations. A fourth defendant, Tony Emmanuel, was cleared of murder.

The sister of murdered teenager Amar Aslam said his death had ‘shattered our family.’ Samreen Aslam spoke of the family's heartbreak as police continued to question seven people, including six children, about her brother's death in the walled garden of a park.

The 17-year-old's battered body was discovered by two passers by in Crow Nest Park in Dewsbury, in West Yorkshire, on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, police are refusing to comment on reports that his murder was filmed on a mobile phone.

Eight pro-Taliban militants were killed yesterday in a powerful blast in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The explosion hit the vehicle carrying pro-Taliban militants when they were heading from the tribal district of Bajaur Agency towards Afghanistan, a local intelligence officer said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said half a dozen insurgents were also injured in the explosion.

Member of the Gujjar community demanding job quotas blocked highways yesterday, threatening to bring its protests to New Delhi, the sixth day of demonstrations that killed 37 people.

Violent protests have seen an increase in Rajasthan where at least 36 members of the Gujjar community were killed after police fired to quell rioting. A policeman was also lynched.

The Gujjars, already considered a disadvantaged group, want to be reclassified further down the complex Hindu caste and status system so they qualify for government jobs and university seats reserved for such groups.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned Anti Terrorism Police to remain alert and ‘expect the unexpected’ in light of recent incidents suggesting extremists are evolving new tactics.

Sir Ian said it was ‘too early’ to know the exact circumstances that led to the radicalisation of Exeter Bomber Nicky Reilly, 22. He acknowledged police were investigating whether Mr Reilly had been groomed to carry out the attack.

Police have been questioning Mr Reilly about last Thursday’s explosion in the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter since yesterday, when he was released from hospital.

High earning professionals aged 26-45 who own their own home are most at risk of falling victim to identity fraud, according to a survey published today.

The credit information firm Experian identified company directors, well-off couples and families in their thirties and forties, and young people in rented accommodation as key group at risk.

People earning more than £50,000 are almost 3 times more likely than average to become a victim, while directors of companies employing more than 50 people are 5.5 times more at risk.

Experian, which built profiles using the experiences of 10,000 victims, said the risk of being defrauded was double the average for young professionals renting.

Helen Lord, director of fraud and compliance at Experian said; ‘the rate of identity fraud growth is worrying, and says we are all potential victims.’

MPs are demanding an extra £38,000 a year each under plans to stamp out abuse of expenses. The move would take their annual salaries to nearly £100,000, at a time when millions are struggling to cope with soaring living costs and police, nurses and teachers have received below inflation wage rises.

The politicians want a pay increase of £15,000 each, but Commons Speaker Michael Martin is also considering giving each MP an extra £23,000 a year to replace the controversial second homes allowance.

The two main parties of Bangladesh have said they will not take part in talks with the government until their leaders are released from detention.

The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party say that their respective leaders, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, are being unjustly held.

The military-backed interim government of Bangladesh began talks with two smaller parties last week. The authorities say the discussions are part of a roadmap to restore democracy.

The former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, warned of a summer of small scale rioting because of overcrowding, as the number of prisoners in the country’s jails reached a new high of 83,000 yesterday.

The news came as prison officers warned that suspected criminals might be going free because there are not enough cells to house them, adding that the prison population of England and Wales appears likely to hit 100,000 by 2012.

Anne Owers, the chief inspectors of prisons, said conditions in jails were the worst she had known in eight years, with evidence of low-level unrest in some prisons.

Colin Moses, the chairman for the Prison Officers’ Association, called the new record a disgrace, as the ministry looks to cut £60million off the prisons budget this year and next.

Militias of a communist party ruling West Bengal have killed people and raped women with impunity after farmers refused to give their land for industry, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The human rights abuses occurred after the West Bengal government failed to persuade farmers of Nandigram to sell their land for a chemical industry complex, the organisation said.

Nandigram, one of the many villages in West Bengal, has been in conflict between mostly poor farmers and the state government since early 2007 over the refusal of the villagers to sell their land.

The father of a seven-year-old girl who allegedly starved to death in Birmingham says he feels he ‘failed’ his daughter. An inquiry has been launched into why social services failed to protect Khyra Ishaq and her siblings.

The children’s mother Angela Gordon and her boyfriend Junaid Abuhamza have been charged with causing neglect in connection with her death.

Khyra's father, who had been out of the country for a year and was out of contact with her mother, said Social Services stopped him seeing his children.

Non-resident Indians in Britain pay less than half for their visas to visit India, compared to resident Indians for their visas to visit Britain.

A National Resident of India in Britain pays £90 for a five-year, multiple-entry visa to visit India while an Indian pays £205 for any of the one-year, two-year, five-year or ten-year visas to visit Britain.

Despite India now being the third largest foreign investor in Britain in terms of projects, Indian businessmen have to obtain long-term visas and pay more than British businessmen, who pay £30 for a six-month visa, £50 for a one-year visa and £90 for a two-year visa.

British leaders on goodwill missions to India underline the special and cordial relationship between the two countries.

A Muslim leader has told county councillors he condemned a city centre explosion suspected to have been carried out by a convert to Islam. The Imam of Exeter Mosque Mohammed Abrar said the Islamic Centre of the South West ‘utterly condemns’ the ‘act of terror’ in the city's Giraffe restaurant on Thursday.

Nick Reilly, 22, from Plymouth, who was arrested at the scene under the Terrorism Act, suffered facial and eye injuries when one of three devices partially exploded. He was released from hospital in Exeter on Monday and can now be formally interviewed by police.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed Sri Lanka will "not to stop until terrorism has been defeated". His announcement comes after at least eight people were killed and more than 70 injured in a bomb attack on a crowded commuter train on Monday.

Authorities blame Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack which hit the Colombo-Panadura train in Dehiwala station, in a suburb of the capital, Colombo. The Tamil Tigers routinely deny responsibility for bombings.

President Rajapaksa went on to say "no one should have expectations that there will be a let-up in the battle against terrorism because of the frenzied attacks by the Tamil Tigers...I will leave no room for terrorism in this country."

It is likely farmers in India and Bangladesh will begin commercial production of flood-tolerant rice next year, to protect against crop losses caused by typhoons and heavy monsoon rains.

David Mackill from the International Rice Research Institute says flooding is a massive problem in the lowland areas of Asia, estimating the cost of crop losses from flooding is around £500million every year.

Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) was once the world's biggest rice exporter; now it faces the possibility of food shortages after a cyclone flooded 5,000 sq km of its rice growing areas earlier this month.

Maoist rebels killed a politician in India's eastern state of Orissa yesterday. Senior police official S Gajbhiye has said three armed Maoists abducted Prabir Kumar Mohanty at gunpoint in the Malkangiri district, 700km south-west of state capital Bhubaneshwar.

Mr Mohanty, a lawyer and leader from the Biju Janata Dal party which governss the state, was taken to a nearby forest where he was shot dead, police said. Police are investigating the killing and had not made any arrests so far.

The son of a high profile Indian politician has been found guilty of murdering his sister’s boyfriend. Vikas Yadav killed Nitish Katara six years ago, because he did not approve of his relationship with his sister. His cousin, Vishal Yadav, was also convicted.

He is the son of well-known Uttar Pradesh politician D. P. Yadav. The mother of the victim says she is happy with the verdict; Mr Yadav’s legal team say they will appeal. Sentencing will be carried out at the court in New Delhi on Friday.

British Transport Police say the installation of metal detectors in London's railway stations have helped reduce knife-crime by almost two-thirds. Transport Police chief constable Ian Johnston says the number of incidents involving knives has fallen to about 20 per month compared to a high of 70 mid-2006.

This news comes as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair yesterday pledged to use every available resource to contain youth violence --14 teenagers have been killed in London since January.

Despite the reduction in knife crime within London’s transport system, figures show four out of five robberies on the railways of England and Wales occur in London.

An illegal worker faces deportation after police and immigration officers swooped on a takeaway. The Asian man was arrested at the Failsworth Tandoori in Oldham Road, in an operation based on intelligence gathered by the UK Border Agency.

The Pakistani national was arrested on Thursday and questioned at Oldham police station. Steps will now be implemented to remove him from the country and further action will be taken against the business.

A Notice of Public Liability has already been served against the restaurant owner for employing someone without the right to work which, following investigations by the agency, could lead to a fine of up to £10,000. The swoop comes at a time of major reforms to the UK immigration system.

Every parent should ask their teenager if they are carrying a knife, according to London’s police chief Sir Ian Blair.

The Met Police Commissioner said parents must confront children over weapons in the same way as drugs.

He said his force is ‘working to its full capacity and power and using every resource to stem the youth violence crisis but that it was not just down to the police.’

A man has been charged with stabbing a waiter who confronted a gang of disruptive youths drinking in the street. The 22-year-old waiter suffered a punctured lung and is in a "poorly but stable" condition in hospital after the incident near the Taj Mahal Restaurant on Friday night, in Farnworth, Bolton.

A 19-year-old from Tonge Moor in Bolton has been charged with assault and is due before Bolton magistrates. A 25-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy who were arrested by police have been released on bail until June.

At least 19 people were killed in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh when it was hit by fierce dust storms that uprooted trees and caused many houses to collapse, according to officials.

Revenue officials in Uttar Pradesh said while the details of damage from the storms on Monday were still being collected, deaths were reported from 10 other districts. Strong winds of up to 90km/h accompanied by rains also disrupted power supplies in the affected districts.

Indian Meteorological Department officials said the storms were typical of the pre-monsoon period and were caused by an "upper air cyclonic pressure formed over the northern regions of the country."

It has emerged an illegal immigrant convicted of murdering an Asian student had been arrested by police just ten days before the murder. Nazeer Ahmed, 22, was beaten to death with a cricket bat by Dawood Khan in the lodging house where they lived. Mr Khan was convicted of murder at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Khan was arrested by police in London on 22nd March last year, but released a day later, going on to attack Mr Ahmed on 31st March. Mr Ahmed’s father Abdul Sattar, who travelled from Pakistan, said he was angry that Dawood Khan was freed despite being in the country illegally.

Government claims that illegal immigrants would be rounded up in a fleet of vans have been dismissed as ‘spin’ after it emerged that just one mobile detention unit is currently in operation.

In January Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, announced the radical measure to fight mass illegal immigration, claiming that a fleet of mobile detection vans would detain illegal immigrants on the spot when attempts to smuggle them into the country were foiled. The suspects would then be transported to detention centres.

Six months on, Shadow Immigration Minister Damien Green has learned that just one unit is currently in operation in Dorset, saying: ‘Yet again, the Government is caught out talking tough but acting weak, ministers wanted us to believe that a fleet of these vehicles would make a real difference to the fight against illegal immigration.’

Protests by the Gujjar community in Rajasthan continued today, when demonstrators blockaded roads and railways for a fifth day, alongside the bodies of those killed by police.

The protesters want to be reclassified further down the caste system, in order to qualify for Government jobs and university places reserved for the most disadvantaged.The protests began last Friday when a policeman was lynched and police opened fire on rioters, killing 36 so far.

According to police, protesters have stopped traffic on a section of a main road connecting the state capital Jaipur to Agra and Mumbai.

Young people would face work boot camps after three months of benefits, under Conservative Party proposals unveiled today.

Unemployed under-21s would be put on work-related programmes with specialist employers, while those jobless after a year would be forced to do community work for 12 months to end what Tories describe as a ‘street corner benefit culture.’

Time spent on benefits would be put on hold over a three year period to prevent youngsters playing the system, by finding short term work between benefit spells.

The institutional racism of the NHS is resulting patients missing out on treatment, according to one of its chief executives.

Antony Sheehan, the chief executive of Leicestershire NHS Trust, said Asian patients suffering from mental problems were denied help because the NHS had chosen not to connect with the community.

Mr Sheehan said that we must acknowledge the impact of institutional racism there is in mental health and other health and social care services in the same way, as it has been recognised in the criminal justice system.

Campaign groups have spoken out against the use of anti-crime and terror legislation to spy on council staff.

Civil Rights group Liberty says the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act is ‘a snooper’s charter’ and says judges not bureaucrats should decide when the Act can be used.

Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed some East Lancashire councils were using the laws to check up on staff.

Mobs in the streets of the Indian city of Mumbai are demanding city institutions drop the city’s former name ‘Bombay.’ The demand was issued by Bal Thackery, head of the fundamentalist Shiv Sena party, which opposes outsiders migrating to the city.

In his party’s newspaper he warned: ‘Those that do not understand the warning might find they do not have a path to escape tomorrow.’ Bombay was renamed Mumbai after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi in 1995; several other Indian cities have been renamed since then.

A spokesman for the Bombay Stock Exchange dismissed the threat, but Rahul Kansal, Brand Director for the Bombay Times said the paper was taking the threat seriously.

It is reported a fire service banned white applicants from open days in an attempt to recruit more ethnic minority workers, but only managed to hire one.

Avon Fire Service had 895 applications and hired 23 people, 3 of whom were women, and one from a minority background; however the fire service now meets government diversity targets of 4.3% of new workers being from an ethnic minority background.

An MP is meeting with officials from Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, after a report raised concerns over Muslim inmates forming gangs. A prison service review found there was ‘an ongoing theme of fear and instability’ and many staff said they thought a ‘serious incident’ was imminent.

MP Malcom Moss says morale is very low among staff he has spoken to. The report says low grade prison staff feel unable to confront Muslim prisoners with sensitivity.

The report was obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform using the Freedom of Information Act. The Prison Service says it will re-examine policies for managing gangs and terrorist prisoners.

It has emerged taxpayers are owed £70million in falsely claimed benefits by convicted fraudsters.

Last year over 7,000 people were prosecuted for benefit fraud, claiming a total of £92million. 98% of those prosecutions resulted in either a conviction or a guilty plea, but just £22million has been repaid. The figures were released by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Research has suggested pay and prospects of junior IT support staff in the UK have been compromised by companies outsourcing services to India. According to the Association of Technology Staffing Companies, salaries at the lowest end of the industry have not risen in five years.

The report says "offshoring" of low-skilled jobs to cheaper locations in Asia has deterred people from entering the industry, and threatens to deprive the UK IT industry of entry-level staff with the potential to grow into managerial positions.

The Association says this is of particular concern, as senior project management and advisory positions have remained in the UK. The report went on to say despite concerns about poor customer service and data security breeches, few UK firms have repatriated their technical support teams.

It has predicted teams would not be brought back to the UK until salaries of Indian workers start to match those of their UK counterparts.

Gunmen in north-western Pakistan have killed four Shia Muslims in what seems to be a sectarian attack, according to police.

The attack took place in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, about 186 miles from the regional capital, Peshawar. One police officer also died in the shootout while pursuing the attackers.

Shias make up for less than 20% of Pakistan's population and militants from both communities have killed thousands in tit-for-tat attacks.

The Indian government is expected to significantly tone down an Oil Ministry proposal to raise fuel prices by 15-20% due to an electoral setback for the ruling party and inflation fears, officials and analysts say.

Last week Ministry officials proposed to raise petrol prices by 22%, and diesel prices by 15.8%, as crude prices soared to record highs, hammering state oil firms.

State-run refining and fuel marketing companies import most of their oil but have to sell fuels at heavily discounted rates set by the government.

MPS are demanding ministers carry out research into the number of disabled people involved in forced marriages. More than 30 MPs are calling for action, saying not enough has been done.

The Department of Health’s report Learning Disabilities and Ethnicity found that learning disabilities are up to three times higher in South Asian communities than in other groups of people.

The Director of UK Visas stated that limited information on forced marriages involving people with learning disabilities may hinder effective responses to the problem. Last year the Government passed the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill, which allows women or a third party to apply for an injunction in the civil courts to stop them being forced to marry.

Lorry drivers will pour into London today for what organisers hope will be the largest ever fuel duty protest. Angry at fuel prices, the protest will be led by lorry drivers from Kent. The demonstration is expected to attract hundreds UK-wide.

The convoy will head to central London, parking close to Marble Arch. The A40 will be shut down between White City and Edgware Road from 10am to 3pm.

An Asian species of mosquito which can transmit a potentially lethal tropical disease is poised to arrive in Britain. The Asian tiger mosquito has established itself in large areas of continental Europe and health protection experts believe it could now move across the Channel.

In northern Italy, the mosquito has infected scores of people with Chikungunya Fever and one woman died last year during the outbreak in Ravenna, on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

Those struck down by the disease, which the mosquito can transmit from person to person, suffer fever, headaches, insomnia, rashes and persistent joint pain and in extreme cases the infection can lead to death.

An Asian woman has appeared in court charged with falsely imprisoning two of her daughters-in-law.

Naseebah Bibi, 62, is charged with falsely imprisoning Nisbah Akhtar between December 2005 and October 2007 and falsely imprisoning Nagina Akhtar between January 1993 and 2006. Nagina, who came to Blackburn after an arranged marriage in Pakistan, is alleged to have been kept in a house in Pringle Street for 13 years, while Nisbah is alleged to have been kept in the same house for nearly two years and allegedly not allowed to leave her room without permission.

Ms Bibi's son Nadeem Akhtar is charged with falsely imprisoning Nisbah Akhtar and assaulting her on 27th October by causing her actual bodily harm. They were both sent on bail to Preston Crown Court.

A convicted Asian drink-driver was told to sell her car to pay court costs after being banned for four years. City magistrates heard 40-year-old Baljinder Shergill's alcohol abuse problem was so severe, she regularly had to spend time in hospital because of vitamin deficiencies caused by her excessive drinking.

Miss Shergill, from Leicester, appeared in court on Friday. She pleaded guilty to driving after drinking excess alcohol on 8th January.

A breath test showed she had 93 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. She was also given an 18-month supervised community order, including an alcohol management course, and ordered to pay £70 costs.

At least seven people have been killed and 62 injured in a bombing during rush hour on a packed Sri Lankan commuter train. The blast hit the Colombo-Panadura train in Dehiwala station, in a suburb of the capital Colombo.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara has blamed Tamil Tiger separatists for the attack, the latest in a string targeting public transport. The military says it defused two bombs found on buses over the weekend.

A wave of high-profile religious bias lawsuits is testing the limits of Britain’s anti-discrimination laws, forcing businesses to reconsider how they approach deep rooted, and at times contentious, beliefs.

A Christian registrar, Lillian Ladele, last week took Islington Council to an employment tribunal for refusing to exempt her from registering same-sex civil partnerships.

Mrs Ladele claims that marrying gay couples is sinful and violates her religious beliefs. Similar battles have been fought over Muslim employees' right to wear hijab (headscarf) and other overtly religious attire.

A South Yorkshire peer today called for the return of the death penalty for extremists who carry out terror campaigns. Lord Ahmed, now Britain's most promiment Muslim politician, hit out extremists who urge the weak and vulnerable to carry out terror acts.

The former Rotherham Labour councillor spoke out as police continue to question an Islamic convert suspected of setting off a nail bomb in Exeter city centre. They have been told that the 27-year-old man, who has mental health problems, was brainwashed by Muslim radicals.

The Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party won the state election in Karnataka on Sunday, extending a winning streak ahead of a national vote due by early 2009.

The BJP victory surprised many pollsters and analysts and was another blow for the centre-left Congress party, which leads the ruling coalition at the Centre.

The BJP won 110 of 224 seats according to the State Election Commission said: its first outright win in one of India's four southern states, capping a string of recent state wins. Congress won only 80 seats.

MI5 has expressed fears that terrorists may be targeting mentally disturbed or disabled people in Britain in a bid to form a “brigade” of suicide bombers. Police say the case of Nicky Reilly, who is being held over a nailbomb attack last week at a restaurant in Exeter, may indicate a new attack strategy.

Security officials say Al-Qaeda appears to have exported the tactic from Iraq, where disabled “foot soldiers” have been used to their benefit. A counter-terrorism official said MI5 was investigating the extent to which Mr. Reilly had been manipulated by an Al-Qaeda recruiter. They are holding two men in association with the attack.

Mr. Reilly, 22, was a Muslim convert who spent time in a mental hospital. Police say shortly before the explosion, Mr. Reilly received a text message of encouragement. Security officials admitted that MI5 had been aware of Mr. Reilly, but he had not been under surveillance.

According to a confidential report obtained by a Sunday newspaper, prison officers at one of Britain’s maximum security jails are loosing control to Muslim gangs.

An internal review of Whitmoor in Cambridgeshire warns that staff believe a “serious incident is imminent” as several wings have become dominated by Muslim prisoners.

The report, written by the Prison Service’s Directorate of High Security, says that there is an “ongoing theme of fear and instability” among staff at the prison, where just under a third of the 500 prisoners are Muslim.

The report says apprehension about Muslim prisoners has potentially damaging consequences and is in danger of leading to Islamaphobia. It serves to highlight the growing concern about extremist activity in the UK’s jails.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rejected a suggestion on Sunday his government was set on confronting President Pervez Musharraf. Mr. Gilani is a senior member of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People’s Party, which won the most seats in a general election in February, which marked a return to civilian rule.

This news follows the announcement on Saturday that Asif Ali Zardari, head of the Pakistan People’s Party, proposed amending the constitution to reduce the powers of the President.

The changes would remove President Pervez Musharraf's right to dismiss the government, and powers to appoint armed forces chiefs and provincial governors would be transferred to the Prime Minister.

NATO announced on Sunday that peace talks between the Pakistani government and Taliban militants have already led to an increase in attacks in Afghanistan. This follows news on Saturday that the Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, has vowed to carry on fighting Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan, despite the talks.

Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi says in the next few days Afghanistan will send a high-level delegation to Pakistan to voice their concerns over peace deals. The spokesman said previous peace deals between the Pakistani government and the Taliban all broke down in violence and merely gave the militants time to regroup.

A prison officer and his sniffer dog have been moved after a Muslim inmate complained he had named his dog Allah. Chris Langridge, 28, who served at Britain’s top high security jail, insisted his Labrador was called Ali, not Allah; the name Muslims use for God.

However, the prisoner in Belmarsh prison jailed for burglary made an official complaint and the dog handler was switched to another prison.

A source said, "Muslims don’t like dogs and it would have been an insult to their religion if the dog had been called Allah, which is sacred to them." A Prison Service official last night said, "there is no suggestion that he did call the dog Allah but, on balance, it was thought better to transfer him."

Counter-terrorism investigators say a map of terrorism “hot spots” must be redrawn following the attack last week on an Exeter restaurant and the raid on an alleged “bomb factory” in Bristol.

It has been reported the Police and MI5 believe the plots demonstrate that no area can be considered free from terrorism. They say the way terrorism is investigated will be reviewed to make sure that all forces have dedicated counter-terrorism capability.

The network of counter-terrorism units that has been established in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham is to extend coverage outside of London is now likely to be widened.

The “hot spots” are currently in the West Midlands, where 80 groups are being monitored; Leeds, Bradford and Manchester, where there are 60 groups; London, where there are 35 networks; and Merseyside, where there are 20.

Conflict erupted within the Church of England yesterday over calls by Britain’s only Asian bishop for British Muslims to be converted to Christianity. The Pakistani-born Bishop of Rochester, Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, accused the Church of failing in its duty to “welcome people of other faiths,” saying that while the Church had rightly shown sensitivity to British Muslims, he thought it "may have gone too far”.

His comments were condemned by senior members of the church who said the demand for evangelisation of people from other faiths contributes nothing to communities and stressed the need for good interfaith relations.

This news comes as members of the Church’s parliament have moved to clarify their strategy for converting Muslims at July’s General Synod in York. A Church of England spokesman played down the likelihood of the Synod focusing on the perceived threat from Islam by saying the agenda had yet to be confirmed.

The Conservative Party has criticised the Government for agreeing to compensate companies supplying national ID cards, if the Conservatives win a general election and follow through on their plan to scrap the scheme.

On Friday Bill Crothers, Commercial Director for the Identity and Passport Service, announced 5 companies had permission to bid to supply the cards, and confirmed that suppliers would be entitled to compensation for loss of profits and other costs if there was a change in Government policy.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the agreement was ‘improper and quite extraordinary’ and said he would be ‘pressuring ministers to explain under whose authority officials are making these promises.’

The leader of the Pakistani Taliban has vowed to continue fighting NATO and US led forces in Afghanistan, despite efforts by the Pakistani government to negotiate a peace deal. Baitullah Mehsud told journalists he wanted to stop fighting the Pakistan army, but made no commitment to ending attacks in Afghanistan.

A NATO spokesman said his comments came as no surprise, and they regarded Mr Mehsud as a very dangerous man. He has gained a reputation as a notorious militant commander over the past year, and has been linked to the suicide attack that killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last December.

The ruling Pakistani coalition has been trying to negiotate with militants in the tribal regions of north-west Pakistan. The United States has grave reservations about any deal, fearing it may give militants time to regroup in the safety of the tribal lands.

A woman has been jailed for nine and a half years for attempting to use two children to smuggle £360,000 worth of cocaine through Heathrow. Elisa Vazquez Sanchez, 40, pleaded guilty to smuggling the drug at Isleworth Crown Court in west London.

She had strapped packs of the drug to the legs of an 11-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. She and the two children were stopped at Heathrow airport on 11th March, after travelling from Mexico. The children are being looked after by social services.

The Indian Government has announced an increase in debt relief for struggling farmers. The increase of nearly 20% will add to economic pressures caused by soaring global oil and commodity prices. The Finance Minister pledged close to £9billion to write off farmers’ debts, originally only £7.5billion was promised.

The move is likely to gain support for the ruling coalition among the rural populations ahead of next year’s general election. The relief package will further increase India’s fiscal deficit. The country is already suffering soaring energy costs and high inflation.

On Friday the Petrol Minister announced a possible rise in the prices of petrol and fuel, which angered the Congress Party’s Communist coalition partners. High levels of debt have driven many Indian farmers to suicide: at least 160,000 since 1997 according to the Madras Institute of Development Studies.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the latest Asian nations to announce they can no longer afford to shield their consumers from rising world oil prices.Sri Lanka announced today it would raise fuel prices and Bangladesh said it planned to do so soon in an attempt to limit mounting losses at state-owned oil retailers.

This news comes just one day after Indonesia raised fuel prices. India has announced it is considering a similar move. Sri Lanka raised kerosene, petrol and diesel prices by 14-47%. Bangladesh has proposed fuel price increases of 37-80%.

The departing Mayor of Kirklees has launched a blistering attack on a group of orthodox Muslims for refusing to pose with her in photographs because she was a woman. Councillor Jean Calvert for the Labour party said it proved ‘we are no further down the road’ of women's rights than when she first became a councillor in 1992.

Councillor Jean Calvert comments came in her departing speech as she handed over mayoral duties to Councillor Karam Hussain. Councillor Calvert was referring to her invitation to attend a community cohesion event at Dewsbury Town Hall in March, organised by the North Kirklees Sunni Muslim Council of Mosques and local imams to mark the prophet Mohammed's birthday.

Cllr Calvert attended the event but was horrified to be left on her own in a room full of people that she did not know and that the press wanted to take photographs of the group with the mayor, in which she felt left out.

An organiser of the community cohesion event said he had contacted the Mayor's office in advance to explain Cllr Calvert could not appear in photographs with orthodox clerics.