Prague - Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's government survived a parliamentary confidence motion Wednesday, just as the Czech Republic prepares to take over the EU presidency in January.

The left-leaning opposition was five votes short in the 96-97 vote, the fourth failed effort to topple the ruling coalition since it came to power in January 2007.

The main opposition Social Democrats needed 101 votes in the 200-seat lower house to oust Topolanek's center-right cabinet.

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel is to raise human-rights issues when she speaks to Chinese leaders, one of her spokesman said Wednesday before she departed for Beijing.

Deputy spokesman Thomas Steg said meetings with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao as well as with civic groups would offer an occasion to do so.

"She'll bring it up," he said.

The trip to attend the ASEM summit between European and Asian nations will be Merkel's third to China as chancellor.

Beirut - Iranian speaker of parliament Ali Larijani is to travel to Iraq and Lebanon in the next few days, according to a report published by the Saudi Arabian daily Al-Watan on Wednesday.

Larijani will convey messages from Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Sistani to Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the daily quoted unnamed sources from Iran as saying.

The sources said that the letter carried by Larijani, who is currently visiting Manama, revealed Sistani's position on the security agreement between Iraq and the United States.

Kathmandu - A bomb went off in a busy government office in south-eastern Nepal on Wednesday, wounding at least eight people, police said.

The bomb targeted land revenue office in the regional town of Janakpur, about 250 kilometres south-east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, at a time when the office was crowded with people.

The police said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device that was hurled at the office by two men on a motorcycle.

Three of the injured, including a government employee, were in serious condition, the police said.

A rebel group calling itself Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTTM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police said they were investigating the incident.

San Francisco - The so-called Google-phone went on sale for the first time in cities across the US Wednesday, offering the strongest competition yet to the dominance of Apple's iPhone.

German-owned carrier T-Mobile began offering the G1, made by Taiwan's High-Tech Computer (HTC), in cities where T-Mobile's 3G service is available, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Seattle. The company made its first retail sale of the G1 Tuesday evening in San Francisco.

Along with 3G support, the G1 features a touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity.

Vienna - The Austrian government will have to rescue Austrian Airlines AG if the privatisation process fails, Transport Minister Werner Faymann said Wednesday, as he announced that there was one valid bid for the ailing flag carrier.

Neither Faymann nor the government holding OeIAG said whether the German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG had submitted the offer for the 42.75-per-cent stake in Austrian Airlines that is held by OeIAG.

Although French-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM announced Tuesday their withdrawal from the bidding process, analysts said that OeIAG could decide Monday to give Lufthansa and Air France another month or so for their offers.