New York - Serbia on Wednesday asked the UN General Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the 192-nation assembly that sending the request to the ICJ at The Hague would "prevent the Kosovo crisis from serving as a deeply problematic precedent in any part of the globe where secessionist ambitions are harboured."

Washington - As Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain prepare for the second presidential debate on Tuesday, their campaigns have taken on a nastier tone on the airwaves and over the internet.

Obama revived McCain's role in the savings and loans scandal of the late 1980s and early 1990s, while the Arizona senator's campaign called Obama "dangerous" and emphasized his meeting in 1995 with a member of a radical 1960s anti-Vietnam war group.

Kabul  - The Afghan government began voter registration Monday ahead of a presidential election slated for autumn 2009 despite the country's worsening security situation as it battles a Taliban-led insurgency.

The Independent Election Commission said it started the first phase of the registration process in 15 central and eastern provinces, adding that it would take up to four months to cover the country.

London, Oct. 4 : Police chiefs in Britain are reported to have approached their superiors through the Association of Chief Police Officers, and told them to keep them free from “unwarranted political pressures”.

The Times quoted Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, as saying that senior officers were extremely concerned that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s sudden departure from Scotland Yard had “fundamentally altered the perception of policing independence”.

The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has advised all his cabinet colleagues to refrain from making irresponsible statements. He said that the party and the government are entitled to full fill the aspirations of the people of the state on the basis of which it has come to the power. He said that all ministers and party colleagues must represent the vision and guidelines of party before their personal interests.

London, Oct 2 : Tory leader David Cameron has urged the Gordon Brown Government not to try and overturn a landmark court ruling giving Gurkhas the right to stay in Britain.

In his keynote conference speech, Cameron paid tribute to the bravery of the Gurkhas and pressed ministers not to turn their back on them.

“I know there are difficult questions about pensions and housing but let’s find a way to make it work,” the Daily Star quoted Cameron, as saying after Tuesday’s High Court judgment.

“Don''t appeal this ruling. Let’s give those brave Gurkha soldiers who fought for us the right to come and live with us,” he added.