Pamplona - Seventeen people were injured on Thursday in a car-bomb attack in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, local authorities reported.

A vehicle exploded in a car park in the grounds of the University of Navarra in Pamplona, capital of the Navarra province which borders on the separatist Basque region.

Witnesses said several vehicles were set on fire by the explosion, and nearby buildings were substantially damaged.

Islamabad- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday it planned to provide food assistance to nearly 20,000 people left homeless by the deadly earthquake that struck Pakistan's north-western Balochistan province a day ago.

"We need to move fast, so we are going to start distributing food stocks from our warehouses in Quetta and Peshawar, so we can reach the people who need it most," said WFP Pakistan Country Director Wolfgang Herbinger, in a statement.

He added that the organization would be coordinating its response with the government and other UN agencies.

New York - US mobile-phone maker Motorola Inc on Thursday reported a loss of 397 million dollars for the third quarter of 2008, down from a profit of 60 million dollars in the same quarter of 2007, despite a financial restructuring plan.

Sales fell by a more-than-expected 15 per cent to 7.5 billion dollars, Motorola reported from its headquarters in Schaumburg in the US state of Illinois.

The company's handset division suffered heavy losses.

A plan to break up the company in 2009 has now been delayed.

Riga- Young mothers staged a protest for increased child support Thursday outside the Latvian parliament building, while doctors went on strike and the government wrestled with next year's budget.

Several dozen young mothers with an assortment of prams, pushchairs and carry-cots gathered outside the Latvian parliament holding banners saying "What can you buy for eight lats a month?" and "While MPs are full of cash, children have nothing!"

Eight lats (14 dollars) is the current monthly allowance paid to mothers of children up to the age of three.

Washington  - The US economy contracted by 0.3 per cent i

New Delhi - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in India Thursday on his first official visit to the South Asian region that will also take him to Nepal and Bangladesh, officials said.

Ban flew to New Delhi from Manila for a two-day visit during which he is due to discuss regional and international matters with Indian leaders, including the global financial crisis.

Terrorism, the food crisis as well as efforts to push democracy in India's eastern neighbour, military-ruled Myanmar, will also figure in the discussions, UN officials said.