Bangkok - Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered a nationwide ban on the sale of three snack products imported from China and Malaysia after they were found to contain excessive levels of melamine, reports said Saturday.

The banned items included Chinese-made Hajuku brand strawberry cream stick biscuits, Chinese-made Koala chocolate cream biscuits and Malaysian-made Julie's peanut cream crackers, all of which contained more than the safety limit of 2.5 milligrams per kilogram, Thai News Agency reported.

FDA secretary general Pipat Yingseri ordered retailers to remove the items from their shelves nationwide.

Melamine is typically used as a bonding agent for particle board, and as a pesticide.

Ramallah - Nearly 600 Palestinian police began deploying Saturday in the West Bank city of Hebron following an agreement Thursday between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The deployment of the force loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah is part of a Palestinian plan more effectively to enforce law and order in several cities in the occupied West Bank.

The PA says many "wanted criminals" have taken refuge in areas which security forces had not been authorized to access. Hebron is considered a stronghold of Hamas supporters, the Islamic movement which routed pro-Abbas forces in the Gaza Strip last year.

London, Oct 25: Phil Scolari stoked up the pressure on Liverpool ahead of Saturday’s clash, claiming his Chelsea players are good enough to emulate Arsenal’s “Invincibles” team of five years ago.

Scolari urged his players to land a pyschological blow on the only other unbeaten team in the Premier League during the top of the table showdown at Stamford Bridge.

“It’s possible to go unbeaten. We have potential to be the perfect team. I’ve seen in this team passion and professionalism,” The Sun quoted Scolari, as saying.

He said the match is the coming together of a new order in England. “This is the clash of the Invincibles.”

London, October 25: Michael Jackson has told his fans that he is planning to make a huge comeback with a 30-date world tour.

The ‘Thriller’ hit maker revealed that he intended to put finishing touches to his comeback plans after discussing them with the top music heads in LA.

The former King of Pop, who hopes to revisit the stage in 30 cities across the world next year, further said he wanted his children to know his profession better.

Washington, October 25: Researchers at the Orthopedic Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital have come up with a way with which paraplegic pianists, paralysed from the hips down, can play the pedalboard wirelessly.

Dr. Rudiger Rupp, who was honoured for this invention with 15,000 euros from the Innovation Award 2008 of the German Paraplegic Foundation (DSQ), said that his team had developed a bite splint with a pressure-sensitive sensor that a pianist can hold in his mouth to control the pedal according to the markings on the music.

The researcher said that the new approach could make it possible to hold a concert without any visible cables or devices, thus approaching normality.

Islamabad, Oct 25: Rejecting IMF condition that Pakistan should cut down on its defence budget by 30 percent, the country’s Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar has said that the defence sector was already facing a “financial crunch” because of the devaluation of Pak rupee against the US dollar. And, hence, there was not a possibility of cutting down on the defence budget.

Terming the IMF’s condition as “mere hearsay” at this stage, he insisted Pakistan “had not even applied for the fund’s assistance”.

He said Pakistan had yet to apply for the IMF bailout package which, according to him, would be the last option for the government to avail.