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Manila - One person was killed and four were wounded when Muslim secessionist rebels attacked a construction firm in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce said Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels also burned a backhoe in Monday's attack at the RDI Construction Co in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

Ponce said the rebels attacked the company for failing to pay extortion money.

Washington, June 23 : A study has revealed that there has been a substantial reduction in binge drinking among people of all ages, except college students, ever since the national drinking age in America was set at 21 about two decades ago.

The research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis also found that the rates of binge drinking in male collegians remain unchanged, but the rates in female collegians have increased dramatically.

The researchers have said that while the policy initiatives aimed at lowering rates of underage drinking generally have been successful, and that binge drinking is down among young people overall, it still remains a problem on college campuses.

Tehran - Iranian opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi has met with senior clergy and discussed the latest developments in the country, including the deaths of protestors during street demonstrations in Tehran, his website said Tuesday.

In the meeting which was held Monday, Moussavi discussed the alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, people's right to follow up the issue, mass arrests and attacks on protestors which have led to the killings of "innocent people," the website said.

No further details were given.

Colombo - An opposition Tamil minority legislator has been arrested for allegedly helping the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a local newspaper said Tuesday.

Sathasivam Kanagaratnam, a member of parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was living in the rebel-controlled area in northern Sri Lanka and escaped two days before the defeat of the rebels in a major military action last month.

Sydney - Australian stocks lost 3.1 per cent Tuesday as investors took their lead from the big plunge on Wall Street.

The ASX 200 gave up 121 points, or 3.1 per cent, to 3,675. The market opened 2.6 per cent lower after Wall Street registered its biggest fall in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.4 per cent.

Resources companies were the hardest hit as analysts marked down companies, following a World Bank report warning the global recession would be deeper than it had previously forecast.

Cricket Australia is preparing to organize a trail game to check viability of using colored balls for the day-night Test matches.

CA operations manager Michael Brown said that they have been planning to organize a trial game which will be a controlled experiment in which players will face the colored balls under lights either in the MCG or SCG ground and Channel Nine would cover the whole match with cameras.