Budapest  - Financing for a proposed European gas pipeline that skirts Russia may be delayed by the global credit crunch, a Hungarian official was quoted Tuesday as saying.

But Mihaly Bayer, Hungary's special envoy for the Nabucco pipeline, insisted that governments could still be able to sign an agreement this year to launch the project, the MTI news agency reported.

The 3,300-kilometre line is slated to run Caspian gas via Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to an Austrian distribution hub. Gas is to start flowing in 2013.

Washington  - Under pressure to rapidly adopt a rescue plan for the nation's finance system, US senators on Tuesday expressed anger at the prospect of bailing out Wall Street risk-takers but acknowledged the urgency of the issue.

US President George W Bush is asking Congress to pass an unprecedented 700-billion-dollar bailout of the financial sector, including buying up bad mortgage debts that have brought the banking system and the nation's economy to the brink of ruin.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati has blamed the former Samajwadi Party Government for failing to control terrorism during its rule. Due to this, the image of the Muslim community and the state has been negatively projected throughout the nation. 

While addressing a media conference on Sunday, Mayawati informed, “The entire community should not be tarred for unlawful acts of a few persons. Terrorism struck deep roots in the state during the SP reign and my government is working hard to restore the rule of law.”

Bogota  - Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was held hostage by leftist rebels for more than six years before her rescue in early July, said Monday that she is not yet planning to return to Colombia because of death threats issued by her former captors.

Paris  - As expected, the lower house of the French parliament, the National Assembly, on Monday voted to prolong the presence of the country's troops in Afghanistan.

By a vote of 343 to 210, the results largely followed party lines, with the opposition Socialists, Communists and Greens voting against a continuation of French military deployment in the strife-torn country and the ruling UMP and its centrist allies voting in favour.

New York  - African leaders warned Monday that the financial crisis enveloping advanced economies around the world should not spark a pull-back of aid to poorer countries.

Africa is in danger of falling far short of meeting a series of dramatic poverty-reduction goals set by the United Nations in 2000. Leaders warned during a one-day conference on Africa that they would not be able to get on track without help from the international community.