Riga - The chairman of one of Latvia's leading drinks manufacturers said Thursday that a combination of increased duty on alcohol and the Baltic country's bleak economic outlook could drive drinkers to produce their own moonshine in illegal stills.

"Rapid excise tax and VAT rate increases will lead to rapid decreases in sales volumes. It does not mean that people will reduce their consumption of alcoholic drinks. This situation will favour the production of illegal alcohol," said Karlis Andersons, chairman of Latvijas Balzams, in a note to the Riga stock exchange.

New Delhi, Jan 29, : Cabinet has given its approval to some modifications in the Centrally sponsored Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) scheme to improve the delivery and systems to the poor.

The SJSRY is being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, on an all India basis, through States and UT Governments, since December 1, 1997.

This programme seeks to improve the livelihood of the urban population that lives below the poverty line by promoting gainful employment.

Montreal - Canada's Liberals showed a change of heart Wednesday that avoids another governance crisis as they threw their support behind Conservative Prime Minister 's budget and economic stimulus plan.

The change of heart came as Parliament reconvened this week after a recess that was forced by Harper in December over a budget stalemate.

To sweeten the deal, Harper has added a 40-billion-dollar economic stimulus package for Canada's slumping economy. His refusal to add such a measure in December provoked formation of a centre-left coalition led by the Liberal Party that threatened a vote of no- confidence.

Moscow - Russia halted plans to deploy Iskander missiles in its European enclave of Kaliningrad Wednesday, in response a perceived shift in US President Barack Obama's policy on missile defence, a top military official was quoted by news agency Interfax as saying.

"Russia doesn't need the Iskander missiles if there won't be any US missile elements eliciting fear in Eastern Europe," the agency cited the unnamed official in Russia's military general staff as saying.

Dhaka  - Lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)- led alliance Wednesday walked out parliament protesting rearrangement of lawmakers' seating in the House by the new presiding officer.

A senior lawmaker of the BNP, M K Anwar, who led the protest, said that the new speaker of parliament made a unprecedented seating arrangement "unacceptable" to the opposition lawmakers.

"We have decided to discuss the new seating order with the speaker Thursday to set our next strategy," he added.

Vienna - After a study found one fifth of Austria's Islamic religious education teachers to have anti-democratic views, politicians are voicing concerns, and far-right parties are calling for drastic measures.

In a dissertation project on Islamic religious education in Austria, 21.9 per cent of surveyed teachers said they were opposed to democracy because it is at odds with Islam.