Manila - More than 100 Muslim secessionist rebels were killed in clashes with Philippine troops last year, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said 101 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas have been confirmed killed in 2008 and the number could increase as the military continue to verify casualty figures.

"There may be more but of course it is still subject to validation," he said.

Torres, however, conceded that while the MILF forces have been somewhat degraded in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao, the guerrilla group remains a force to be reckoned with in the area.

Bangkok - Amnesty International (AI) on Tuesday exposed at least 34 documented cases of authorities torturing Muslim insurgents in Thailand's conflictive south, four of whom died, and called on the government to clarify its legal stance on the practice.

"All the victims were Muslim, all but one were male, and 20 of them were under the age of 30; the youngest was a boy of six, the oldest 46," said the AI report titled Thailand: Torture in the Southern Counter-Insurgency, based on testimony compiled between mid-2007 and mid-2008.

London, January 13: The woman raped by fugitive film director Roman Polanski over three decades ago is demanding that the case be closed.

Samantha Geimer, 45, was just 13 when she became Polanski's victim.

The filmmaker has already admitted having unlawful sex with her at the time.

However, Samantha has now filed a legal declaration claiming that she is being harmed by renewed focus on what happened to her long ago.

London, Jan 13: Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he was left horrified when fellow actors Heath Ledger and River Phoenix died from drug overdose.

Despite growing up in a heroin-riddled neighbourhood, the `Titanic' star has never been tempted to drugs.

Early exposure to substance abuse put him off from experimenting.

Karachi, Jan 13: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that the US drone attacks contribute towards nullifying Pakistani efforts to create a wedge between the loyal tribes and militants besides casting a negative impact on plans to bring peace in the border region.

"Pakistan during last year had succeeded in isolating militants because of result-oriented policies of the government but all such measures could not bring the cherished results in the wake of drone attacks that came from across the borders. This situation prompted sympathies for the militants which otherwise were rapidly waning," Gilani said.

It seems that Perfectionist Khan aka Bollywood legend Aamir Khan’s Ghajini is breaking box-office records in almost all possible means. The film had received one of the best box-office openings in the country. On its opening at the box-office, the film gathered nearly Rs 7 crores, almost four times the biggest opening for any Bollywood film.