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New Delhi, August 28: Adding to the BJP’s woes, former national security advisor (NSA) Brajesh Mishra said on Thursday that LK Advani was part of the decisions taken “unanimously” by the then Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding the release of militants to save 160 hostages on the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

United Nations, August 28: The Security Council extended on Thursday the mandate of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon but sidestepped the issue of whether they could do more to stop Hezbollah building up an armed presence in the south.

Israel has criticized the UNIFIL force for not stopping weapons it says are flowing to Hezbollah guerrillas who might again bombard northern Israel with rockets as they did during a 2006 war. The United Nations says that is the primary responsibility of the Lebanese authorities.

Lagos, August 28: The Nigerian anti-graft agency said Thursday it would enlist the support of Interpol to repatriate any fleeing bank chiefs or debtors to enable them face economic charges.

One of the bank chiefs, Erastus Akingbola, declared wanted on Sunday and who is abroad, will be repatriated through the help of Interpol, the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Farida Waziri, told journalists.

Massachusetts, August 28: Edward Kennedy began his final journey Thursday as America mourned the passing of a political giant whose family has helped shape the nation’s history for half a century.

Kennedy’s coffin, wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, was placed solemnly in a hearse by a uniformed honor guard at his home here as the late Democratic senator’s 55-year-old widow Vicki looked on surrounded by friends and family.

London, August 27: London’s Ambassador to Kabul said he expects Britain’s presence in Afghanistan will last at least “a generation”, but hopes that its troops will no longer be fighting there within five years.

Mark Sedwill said British forces, which have seen 38 soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of July, will remain in training and mentoring role but withdraw from the frontline.

New York, August 27: US President Barack Obama is scheduled to preside over a UN Security Council session next month on nuclear disarmament – the first such event by the body that was formed to maintain peace and security around the world, UN officials said on Wednesday.

The meeting on September 24 at UN headquarters in New York would be attended by some, if not all, of the heads of state of the council’s 15 members. As the US holds the rotating presidency of the council in September, the US President gets to chair the nuclear debate.

Shanghai, August 27: China’s first indigenously built jet engine will debut in 2016, an official said on Wednesday.

“China is expected to complete its first jumbo jet engine in 2016,” said Zhang Jian, general manager of the Shanghai-based AVIC Commercial Aircraft Engine Co Ltd.

China also hopes to build 150-seat commercial aircraft to be introduced in the market by 2020.

“We hope the home-made engine will fly together with the home-made large aircraft,” he said.

Mexico City, August 27: The death toll from swine flu has risen to 179 in Mexico, authorities have said.

The health secretariat had reported 164 deaths from swine flu in its bulletin last week.

Of the 179 people who have died, 88 were women, and 72.1 percent of the victims were between the ages of 20 and 54, the secretariat said on Wednesday.

Most of the cases were in the southern state of Chiapas, the eastern state of Yucatan, Mexico City, the western state of Jalisco, the eastern state of Veracruz, the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and the southeastern state of Tabasco.

Washington, August 27: The first detailed picture of how so-called high value detainees spent their days inside secret Central Intelligence Agency-run prisons overseas has emerged in dozens of previously classified documents released this week. And the picture is chilling.

A detainee could be forced to stand, almost naked, handcuffed, going days without sleep, and if that failed to break his will, there were other methods for interrogators at secret prisons to try.

Washington, August 27: American authorities are pressuring Yemen to counter a rising internal al Qaeda threat more aggressively and improve intelligence-sharing amid growing worries that the country could become the next significant terrorist staging ground.

As insurgent attacks have spiked in the embattled Middle East nation over the past year, the US has bolstered counter terrorism training there, including efforts to shore up Yemen’s borders and combat terror financing and arms trafficking.

Dubai, August 27: The US Navy says pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at one of its helicopters making a routine surveillance flight over the ship.

The Navy says pirates on Wednesday morning fired a large calibre weapon at the helicopter which is based on the USS Chancellorsville. At the time the helicopter was flying over a Taiwanese-flagged vessel called the Win Far, south of the Somali port town of Hobyo.

The Navy said in a statement on Thursday that no rounds of ammunition struck the helicopter and no injuries resulted from the incident.

Seoul, August 27: South Korea is considering restricting the operations of its Christian missionaries in the Middle East after dozens were expelled for their activities, officials said on Thursday.

Missionaries could run the risk of terror attacks and ordinary Korean tourists or businessmen might also be targeted, they said.

“Dozens of our citizens were expelled from Iran, Jordan, Yemen and other Islamic countries in the Middle East last month,” a Foreign Ministry official said, asking not to be identified.