Ahmedabad, Nov 26 : The Cotton ginners in Gujarat are facing a hard time as the Government has raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) by almost forty percent.

Gujarat is considered to be the hub of the cotton producers who say the rise in the prices may bring the industry to a standstill as the ginners find the purchasing prices of cotton higher than the selling price of processed cotton.

Berlin - The leaders of France and Germany called Wednesday for a relaxation of the European Union's stability and growth pact in order to cushion the effects of the global financial crisis.

Some countries might be forced to exceed the pact's tough fiscal rules which limit new borrowing to 3 per cent of GDP, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicholas Sarkozy said.

In a joint newspaper column for Germany' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the French daily Le Figaro, they said disputes over deficit criteria needed to be avoided in such "exceptional times."

London, Nov 26 : Australian scientists are using mobile phones to listen in on koalas'' conversations in an attempt to translate what they are saying to each other.

The boffins have placed mobiles in the trees of a koala territory to record their distinctive bellows.

Researchers have also tracked koalas on St Bees Island off northeast Australia by satellite to monitor their movements and mobile phones have been placed amongst the trees to listen in.

The mobiles have been charged by solar power and car batteries – and they are able to record the koalas'' bellows.

Then, the phones download the recordings to a computer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, reports the Scotsman.

Paris - If nothing else, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's tenure as head of the European Union has done wonders for his popularity, according to a poll made public on Wednesday.

In the survey by the BVA institute, 48 per cent of respondents said they had a favourable opinion of Sarkozy while 47 per cent said they did not.

This was the first time since at least the beginning of the year that those having a good opinion of Sarkozy outnumbered those who did not.

This impressive rebound can be attributed almost exclusively to Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis as EU head.

Coimbatore, Nov 26 : The capacity utilization of the textile industry in Tamil Nadu, hit by the ongoing slump in the demand in international markets and the acute power shortage, has dropped by 72 percent.

With an investment of almost 50 billion rupees, the textile industry in the state is in a dismal state.

Manila - The Philippines has asked Malaysia, Brunei, Libya and Japan to extend the stay of their peacekeeping forces in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao, an official said Wednesday.

Hermogenes Esperon, presidential adviser on the peace process, said the presence of the 30-member international monitoring team (IMT) in Mindanao has helped implement a five-year ceasefire with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Esperon added that the team's continued presence was needed to ensure that hostilities between the military and rebels do not escalate further.