Tehran - Iran has summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over remarks by Foreign Minister David Miliband who had called on the Persian Gulf Arab sheikhdoms to increase pressure on Iran with regards to its nuclear ambitions, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.
The foreign ministry told Ambassador Geoffrey Adams that Milband's remarks on Monday were hostile, provoking and aimed at distorting Iran's brotherly relations with the regional countries and demanded an immediate halt to what it called London's interfering policies.

The story has been removed after request from the Journalist body discussed in the news.

TopNews Media will provide updates on the situation in future reports.

Nairobi/Kinshasa - The Congolese government has said that it does not want Indian peacekeepers to be among the 3,000 troops the United Nations has agreed to send to help stop fighting in the east of the sprawling Central African nation.

"There are already enough Indian troops in Congo, and the UN reinforcements should come from other countries," government spokesman Lambert Mende told the BBC on Wednesday evening.

Around a quarter of the 17,000 peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo are Indian.

Singapore- Singapore's business receipts for services industries rose by 11.6 per cent in the third quarter of this year over the same period of 2007, the Singapore Department of Statistics said Thursday.

Turnover of water transport services grew by 19.6 per cent in the third quarter from a year ago, with contribution from shipping lines and firms engaged in ship and boat leasing.

Revenue of the post and telecommunications industry rose by 4.6 per cent, while business receipts of the financial services industry grew by 5 per cent.

Manila - Malaysia said Thursday it was withdrawing its troops from an international peacekeeping mission in the troubled southern Philippines amid stalled peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim separatist rebels.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim said Malaysia's troops were pulling out of the southern region of Mindanao as scheduled on November 30.

He said Malaysia, which has led the international monitoring team (IMT) in Mindanao since 2004, would consider rejoining the mission if the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) make progress in peace negotiations.

Seoul - Shares surged 3.3 per cent Thursday on the Seoul s