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London  - On the eve of a EU summit expected to tackle the question of EU-wide financial oversight, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Wednesday emphasized his clear preference for national regulation.

"We have to ensure strong, effective regulators at a national level - and retain the vital link between home regulators and national governments," he said.

He made the remarks in his annual Mansion House speech to the city, and warned banks that they needed a "change of culture" in the wake of the financial crisis.

Athens  - To design a museum that is accessible and welcoming is a daunting task for any architect. To create one to stand at the foot of the Acropolis, revered as one of the great achievements of man, could be considered a nightmare.

In accepting the challenge, Swiss-born architect Bernard Tschumi pulled off an impressive accomplishment - a building that is majestic, while complementing the architectural grandeur of the Parthenon.

Mexico City  - The Mexican Navy found cocaine hidden in frozen shark meat aboard a ship during a weekend raid that dealt a hefty blow to the drug cartels.

The Mexican daily El Universal reported Wednesday that the load amounted to 893 kilogrammes of cocaine in 800 packets.

The same newspaper had earlier quoted the Mexican Navy as saying that they had found some five tonnes of cocaine hidden in 400 shark bodies.

Caracas/Madrid  - A cruise ship was put in quarantine Wednesday off the coast of the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita after three members of its crew were found to have symptoms of the new type of influenza A(H1N1), Venezuelan authorities confirmed.

The Ocean Dream, operated by the Spanish company Pullmantur and carrying about 760 passengers, was touring the Caribbean. A further 11 people among its crew of about 400 were also suspected to have the disease, said the health minister of Venezuela's islands region, Jorge Alchaer.

Wellington  - New Zealand police say they have caught two men touring the country using fraudulent credit cards to buy electronic goods for a crime ring based in Singapore, according to news reports on Thursday.

MalaysianLow Sin Wah, 49, and Singaporean Chua Wee Peng, 38, faced 28 charges of using forged documents to obtain goods worth nearly 8,000 New Zealand dollars (5,040 US dollars) when they appeared in the Napier District Court on Wednesday. They were remanded in custody without plea for a week.

New York - The United Nations has revamped its mission in Kosovo, which last year declared independence and was recognized by more than 50 governments, a UN official said Wednesday.

Kosovo's new status had put the UN mission in jeopardy. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last year called for its reconfiguration to adjust to the new reality.