Kabul- US military spokesmen confirmed that Taliban rebels shot down a US helicopter in central Afghanistan Monday, while three US-led soldiers died in suicide and roadside attacks elsewhere in the country, officials said.

The helicopter crew engaged with Taliban fighters on the ground in Wardak province, about 50 kilometres west of Kabul city, US military spokesman Major Johan Redfield told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

He said the chopper was hit by "enemy fire" but none of the 10-member crew was killed.

Hamburg  - The Syrian Arab Republic, a neighbour of both Israel and Iraq, is embroiled in several conflicts. The country has been the target of several military attacks:

October 26, 2008: US soldiers attack a village near the Iraqi border, Syria claims. Nine people are said to have been killed and 14 injured in the commando raid. According to Iraqi sources, the operation was to target suspected terrorists that had previously attacked Iraqi security forces on the border. The US military has not officially confirmed the operation.

Mumbai, Oct 27 : An unidentified gunman, allegedly trying to take passengers hostage in a state transport bus in Mumbai’s suburban Kurla was killed today by police in a shoot-out.

The incident occurred around 9.30 a. m. inside a BEST bus (Bombay Electric Supply and Transport) in the suburb, according to reports.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Rakesh Maria, said, "The man fired at the police in ''Bail'' bazar area of Kurla and was shot in retaliatory fire."

Maria further said that police suspected the gunman was trying to take the bus passengers hostage and the fact was being verified.

Munich  - Legislators in the German state of Bavaria elected a new premier, Horst Seehofer, 59, on Monday after the party he leads, the Christian Social Union (CSU), lost its absolute majority at the polls.

He comfortably won the vote by a 104-71 margin, though four members of the new state coalition, comprising the CSU and the small pro-business Free Democrat Party
(FDP), did not vote for him.

The election marks the end of a 46-year era when the CSU, sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, ruled the prosperous southern state alone.