Amman - Iraqi Transport Minister Amer Abdul Razzak said Monday that his government would shortly declare Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba as the only conduit for Egyptian goods imported to Iraq.

Abdul Razzak, who is currently on a visit to Aqaba, told the official Petra news agency that the step was taken because of the "plausible transport costs" through the Jordanian port and as a way of increasing trade between the two countries.

Islamabad - The reinstatement of the Pakistan's sacked top judge is a healthy sign for the fragile democracy but a bad omen for President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, analysts said Monday.

Pakistan's judiciary, under the reinstated and independent-minded Iftikhar Chaudhry, plus re-energised opposition parties with massive street power, is expected to curtail Zardari's tendency to amass powers and run the country by himself.

"He is definitely cornered and probably he is going to remain there," said a political analyst Ayesha Siddiqa.

Kiev  - Manufacturing in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine is down by nearly a third over 2008 indicators, but recent data gives hope an economic turnaround is in sight, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday.

"Practically in all sectors with the exception of energy we already are registering positive growth, and some industries are up as much as 20 per cent," she claimed, in comments reported by Interfax.

Antananarivo/Johannesburg  - Madagascar's opposition continued to ratchet up pressure on President Marc Ravalomanana to resign on Monday, rubbishing his proposal for a referendum and ordering his arrest for alleged constitutional violations.

But the embattled president of seven years was refusing to quit, despite losing control of the government and the army.

A defiant Ravalomanana emerged from his palace Sunday to tell supporters he still had a mandate to govern after being re-elected in 2006 and proposing that the attempt to oust him be put to a vote.

Lucknow, Mar 16: Bollywood actor-turned-politician Sanjay Dutt has promised to work for the betterment of the people, if voted to power.

Addressing reporters after visiting a temple here, Dutt said that he would follow the footsteps of his father Sunil Dutt.

"Lucknow is my home, I will definitely work here. I am the son of Sunil and Nargis Dutt and I would work like my parents," said Sanjay.

Kuala Lumpur, Mar 16: Incumbent Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president S. Samy Vellu is all set to retain the party''s top post for a record 11th consecutive term, as his only challenger, former MIC vice-president M. Muthupalaniappan is not expected to get the minimum 50 nominations required from the party''s branches.

Under the party constitution, a presidential aspirant needs 300 nominations, with each nomination needing a proposer and five seconders, to be eligible to contest. All proposers and seconders must be branch chairmen.