Kolkata, Oct 28 : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has ruled out military action as solution to the ethic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Mukherjee said, "India believes military solution cannot resolve the ethnic issues of the Sri Lankan minorities. For that, the devolution as recommended by the high power committee should be implemented in letter and spirit." 

He also expressed satisfaction on his recent talks with Sri Lankan special envoy Basil Rajapaksa.

Washington, Oct 28 : Pregnant women consuming flaxseed oil are four times more likely to have premature baby births, according to a new study.

Led by University of Montreal researchers, the study has found that the risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of pregnancy.

A majority of pregnant women prefer to use natural health products during the pregnancy.

The most consumed natural health products by pregnant women are chamomile, green tea, peppered mint and flaxseed oil. 

Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks staged an astonishing recovery Tuesday, rebounding by more than 14 per cent just one day after suffering their worst one-day fall for 11 years.

Stockholm - An Anglican bishop from Zimbabwe was Tuesday named winner of a Swedish human rights prize for "having given voice to the fight against oppression."

Bishop Sebastian Bakare was also cited for his work to promote "freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation."

He was due to accept the 2008 Per Anger prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on November 10, Johan Perwe of the government agency Living History Forum told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Bakare, installed as bishop of Harare earlier this year, was also due to be keynote speaker at a human rights conference in Lulea, northern Sweden.

London - The Bank of England (BoE) said in a report published Tuesday that losses suffered by global financial institutions since the credit crunch are estimated at 1.8 trillion pounds (2.8 trillion dollars).

Governments around the world have spent more than 750 billion pounds so far in coming to the aid of banks, the bank's biannual Financial Stability Report (FSR) said.

It warned that while pressure in money markets had eased slightly since the major government bail-outs, risks remained from highly borrowed hedge funds, which might have to sell assets quickly to meet rising costs, and insurers whose capital base could be eroded by falling share prices.

Islamabad - Dozens of cross-border strikes carried out by US forces from Afghanistan into Pakistan's lawless tribal region have killed 301 civilians and wounded more than 240 others so far in 2008, a media report said Tuesday.

Citing figures compiled by the Interior Ministry, the English-language daily The News said most of those killed in 32 recorded incidents of missile strikes, drone attacks and one ground raid by the US forces were civilians.

According to the report, only eight US strikes hit the targets, killing 36 al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, while the remaining 24 strikes killed 301 civilians and 18 Pakistani security personnel.