TopNews

Brussels - European Union regulators on Monday approved plans by German carrier Lufthansa to buy the Belgium's SN Brussels Airlines, but set conditions.

Because of competition concerns Lufthansa has agreed to make slots available to other airlines on four routes to Germany and Switzerland from Brussels, the EU Commission said in a statement.

The Commission, which regulates competition in the 27-member EU, has been examining the proposed 250-million-euro (347 billion dollars) acquisition since January.

London, Jun 22 : Hotel heiress Paris Hilton's family are delighted that she has split from Doug Reinhardt, and have even insisted that he was just "riding on her coat-tails".

Hilton, 28, had ended her six-month romance with baseball player Reinhardt earlier this month, and has since moved on to soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Simple Life star's relatives had been suspicious of Reinhardt's motives for dating Hilton.

Rome - Inter Milan could let stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Douglas Maicon go and have confirmed their interest in young French international Karim Benzema.

Inter president Massimo Moratti told Monday's edition of the Il Giornale daily that he would like to welcome the 21-year-old striker, but "without spending too much money."

The future of the Swedish striker Ibrahimovic and of Brazilian right-back Maicon, both aged 27, could lie elsewhere.

London, Jun 22 : Welsh actor Rhys Ifans has signed on to star in Brit film director Sir Ridley Scott's forthcoming movie `Nottingham'.

Ifans, 40, who will be playing the part of King Richard, was added to the cast six months after his ex-girlfriend Sienna Miller was booted from the new Robin Hood movie.

The actor is said to have agreed to the role after Scott personally invited him to join them.

Beijing - Officials have evacuated more than 260,000 people as floods and a tropical storm hit two separate areas of southern China, the government said on Monday.

Floods in the south-western region of Chongqing left at least eight people dead and three missing, forcing the evacuation of 106,000 people by early Saturday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported.

A total of 220 millimetres of rain fell on many areas of Chongqing from Friday to Sunday, destroying 6,603 homes and damaging 15,218 others, the ministry said on its website.

The storms also ruined about 4,800 hectares of crops, bringing estimated direct economic losses of 400 million yuan (59 million dollars), it said.

London, Jun 22 : An elusive creature that has been dubbed the "Loch Ness monster of the Vosges" is being hunted by the French police, after residents reported seeing it on several occasions in a local pond.

The creature, said to be a crocodile, was sighted in Xertigny, a village of some 3,000 inhabitants in the Vosges region in eastern France.