Moscow  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that the government's anti-crisis policies were not beyond criticism, welcoming policy debate while warning against social unrest in a meeting with lawmakers.

The open attitude comes in marked contrast to his predecessor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's uncompromising rule and to the Kremlin's swift moves to quell protest against the governments anti- crisis measures in recent months.

Baghdad  - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is looking forward to retiring after his term expires at the end of the year, Iraq's Buratha news agency reported on Friday, citing an interview with Iranian television.

"I think at the end of this year, my tour will be finished, and I hope to be retired, to go back home and to have time for writing my memoirs," the Iraqi president told the English-language Iranian television station Press TV in the interview broadcast Friday.

Islamabad, Mar. 13: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted at least two PML-N demands, “and modalities are being finalised to launch the reconciliation process”, Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan claimed on Thursday.

Zardari, however, refused to give a timeframe for fulfilling the demands; Khan was quoted by the Daily Times, as saying.

Khan, who is playing a major role in trying to settle differences between the government and the PML-N, said he condemned the Governor’s rule in Punjab, as people’s mandate should have been respected.

London, Mar. 13: A Court of Appeal has freed Labour life peer Lord Ahmed from a 12-week jail sentence that he had got for sending and receiving text messages minutes before he was involved in a fatal motorway crash in Rotherham.

Lord Ahmed, 51, who was jailed by Sheffield Crown Court on February 25 after admitting dangerous driving, was not present for the ruling by three judges in London, reports The Times.

He had served 16 days in prison and was due to be released on March 20 under the end-of-custody license scheme.

Beijing - Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday defended China's policies in Tibetan areas, saying they had achieved economic development and led to "peace and stability."

"The situation in Tibet is on the whole peaceful and stable," Wen told reporters in the first remarks by a top Chinese leader since Tuesday's 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

The government's policies and legislation had "provided for the freedom and rights of the people of Tibet, particularly their freedom of religion," he said.

Los Angeles  - Bristol Palin, whose teenage pregnancy was an early problem in the vice-presidential campaign of her mother, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has split up from her fiance, just two-and-a- half months after giving birth to their son.

People magazine reported Thursday that her split from fiance Levi Johnston happened several weeks ago and was mutual.