Berlin  - Germany plans to ask Kenya to take custody of nine pirates captured earlier this week by the German Navy off the coast of Somalia, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

Prosecutors in the German city of Hamburg issued arrest warrants for the nine Somalis on Friday, but a day later said there was no need for them to be transferred to Germany.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said the request for Kenya to take custody of the pirates would formally be made to authorities in Nairobi by the German embassy on Monday.

Germany's government had been seeking the transfer of the suspects to Kenya, a move that was sealed Friday morning in an agreement with the European Union.

London, March 7: Oxford University heaped much criticism after two girl students simulated a sex act to bag the title of Fresher’s Week President.

Flora Devlin and Jessica Marlborough nibbled on a banana placed near a male student’s crotch while performing sit-ups.

The 18-year-olds competed in front of hundreds of students while they tried to finish the fruit first to win the election votes in the bar of Keble College.

While the sordid antics were slammed as “degrading” by critics, Rachel Cummings, the university students’ union vice-president for women, added it could put off future learners from applying for the presidency.

Kuala Lumpur  - Malaysian police killed five armed Vietnamese nationals, believed to be robbers, in a Saturday shootout, a news report said.

The five were among eight men suspected of having robbed 11 Vietnamese workers at a hostel in the northern state of Kedah and were making their getaway to the neighbouring state of Penang in two cars.

Acting on a tip-off, police managed to stop one of the cars, resulting in a shootout, Penang police chief Wira Ayub Yaakob said.

Manila  - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered an investigation into the killing of the daughter of a senior communist rebel leader, an official said Saturday.

Arroyo wanted the killers of Rebelyn Pitao, 20, to be immediately brought to justice, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said.

Pitao was a daughter of Leoncio Pitao, also known as Commander Parago, of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Hamburg/Berlin  - A court in Hamburg late Friday issued arrest warrants for the nine pirates captured earlier this week by the German Navy off the coast of Somalia.

The state's attorney requested the arrests based on charges of an attack on traffic on the high seas, justice spokesman Wilhelm Moellers told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The German government had been seeking the transfer of the suspects to Kenya, a move that was sealed Friday morning in an agreement with the European Union.

Bangkok  - An ancient bead featuring the Hindu sun god Surya Dev was stolen while on display at Thailand's National Discovery Museum Institute, media reports said Saturday.

The stone bead, estimated to be 2,000 years old, was stolen Thursday from the Bangkok museum, where it had been on display since December 19.