Pretoria  - South African security forces will have six extra helicopters at their disposal for the 2010 World Cup in the country, Nathi Mthethwa, the Minister of Safety and Security confirmed Thursday.

Two helicopters have already been purchased while a further four will be delivered by the end of the year.

"The security preparations and equipping of the police for the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup are progressing well," said Mthethwa.

Jerusalem  - In what was said to be "the most significant archaeological discovery in Israel since the Dead Sea Scrolls," archaeologists have unearthed the earliest known written Hebrew text, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Thursday.

The 3,000-year-old 15 x 15 cm osctracon (pottery shard inscribed with writing in ink) comprises five lines of text divided by black lines and and was found at excavations carried out at a 10th century BCE fortress.

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Oct 30 : Prison inmates in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior Central Jail on Thursday celebrated the festival of ''Bhai Dooj'' with great fervour and enthusiasm.

Hundreds of women thronged the prison to be with their brothers to celebrate ''Bhai Dooj'' with them.

The women applied vermilion on their brother''s forehead and prayed for their safety. They also exchanged sweets on the occasion.

For the brothers serving sentences in the prison, the occasion provided a wonderful chance to be with their sisters.

Munich  - Several leading Italian clubs are interested in signing Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger, but club manager Uli Hoeness said Thursday he was confident of keeping the midfielder at the German champions.

The 24-year-old Germany international's current contract expires at the end of the season and Hoeness said Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus had shown an interest in the player.

However Hoeness said Bayern "would come up with something" to keep Schweinsteiger at the club he has played for since joining as a youth team player.

Hoeness said Bayern would also be offering midfielder Ze Roberto a new contract although the 34-year-old Brazilian has said he wants to leave at the end of the season.

Sao Paulo - Brazilian football legend Pele made clear his scepticism as to the likelihood that Diego Maradona might be successful as coach of Argentina's senior team.

"Great stars, great players do not usually make good coaches. And sometimes a footballer that was not so brilliant in his career becomes a great coach," Pele noted, in comments that Brazilian media published Thursday.

Pele and Maradona are regarded as the two great candidates for the title of the best football players in history.

Jerusalem  - Israeli archeologists said Thursday they have found a "rare" stone seal in an ancient building being excavated near the Wailing Wall, a remnant of the Jewish Biblical Temple within the historic, walled Old City of Jerusalem.

The 1.2 centimetre by 1.4 centimetre black stone has an engraving of an archer shooting a bow and arrow. The Biblical Jewish name Habab appears next to the archer in ancient Hebrew script.