Washington, Jan. 6 : U. S. President-elect Barack Obama and incoming Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton are not letting either the Palestinians or the Israelis know what the American foreign policy vis-a-vis the Middle East will be after January 20 this year.

According to the New York Daily News, that uncertainty may have spurred Israel''s decision to strike at the Hamas before Obama takes office.

Leading telecom operator TATA Teleservices has decided to start Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) services by the end of this financial year. The company is already providing CDMA based services in various telecom circles of country.

Tata Teleservices is now planning to spend $2 billion to expand its subscriber base in the GSM market. It may be recalled that its major competitor Rcom has already launched GSM services in 11,000 towns of country few days back.

Sydney, Jan. 6 : Chasing 376 to win on a difficult SCG pitch, South Africa reached 62 for one at the end of play on day four of the third Test against Australia.

Hashim Amla was batting 30, while acting captain Neil McKenzie was batting on 25. The Proteas need a further 314 runs to achieve a third remarkable victory against Ricky Ponting''s No. 1-ranked Australian side.

Only five wickets have fallen on day four despite the large cracks in the pitch. Australia resumed on 0-33 and declared at 4-257, 50 minutes after tea.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 6 : Malaysian Indian political leaders of the MIC, DAP and PKR will leave for Chennai this week to attend the three-day ''Pravasi Bharatiya Divas''.

Representatives of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) will also participate in the conference, which is scheduled to begin from tomorrow at the Chennai Trade Centre.

Hindraf chief P. Wathyamoorthy is also expected to participate in the Indian Diaspora Conference. Wathyamoorthy lives in a self-imposed exile in London.

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 6 : Due to the migration of estate workers to town areas in Malaysia, there has been an increase in the number of students in Tamil schools.

"Most Tamil schools except several in the estates showed an increase in student enrolment possibly due to the migration of estate workers to town areas, The Star online quoted Malaysian Tamil schools chief organiser S. Baskaran as saying.

Students, who completed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examinations, have been asked to select their course wisely.

London, Jan. 6 : There has been a drop in suicide rates in Britain to the tune of 40 percent in the aftermath of terror attacks such as 9/11 and 7/7, scientists in the country have opined.

The Telegraph quotes Dr Emad Salib, a consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer at Liverpool University, as saying that any tragedy on a national scale such as a natural disaster, war or bombing brings society together in a common cause and this leads to the drop in suicides.

"There is greater social cohesion, the Blitz spirit," he said.

Dr Salib says that he expects to find that the effect of the London bombings would be greater than the 9/11 attacks because it happened on British soil and was carried out by British bombers.