Kuala Lumpur, Apr. 25 : The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) is reportedly concerned that many Malay Indians may not have the financial means to take up the 15 per cent quota of Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) units allocated to the community.

Party president S. Samy Vellu was quoted by The Star as saying that according to Permodalan Nasional Berhad, as of last Wednesday, Malay Indians had bought only 10.71 per cent or 53.5 million units of their quota of 499.5 million.

Washington, Apr. 25 : Jordan''s King Abdullah II has said in an American TV interview that there is enough evidence available to suggest that the United States had engaged in torture, a topic that has turned into a political firestorm since the release last week of Bush-era interrogation memos.

Abdullah, when asked in an interview with NBC News if he thought the U. S. had tortured, was quoted by Fox News as saying such accounts suggest "that is the case," calling the CIA''s controversial interrogation techniques "illegal ways of dealing with detainees."

Pyongyang (North Korea), Apr. 25 : The North Korean Government has that the two female American journalists it has arrested for allegedly crossing the Stalinist state's border with China face five years or more in a labour camp.

Islamabad, Apr. 25 : While the Pakistan Government may now expect international pressure on it to ease a bit following reports of the Taliban retreating from the Buner region of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), experts believe that the move is only tactical, and it is almost certain that they would come back.

London, Apr. 25 : Britain's Gurkha soldiers, who for generations, have been known for their courage and sacrifice, have reacted angrily to new laws unfurled by Immigration Minister Phil Woolas that, according to government estimates, only about 4,300 more Gurkhas out of 36,000 will be allowed to move to the UK.

The Gurkha campaigners argue that the rules may in reality benefit only 100 men.

According to The Independent, the severe restriction in the numbers flies in the face of a court judgment favouring the resettlement of Gurkhas in Britain.

Dhaka - Human Rights Watch asked Bangladesh Saturday to stop the deaths in custody of suspected mutineers, as reports that 16 soldiers died in detention since a bloody uprising at the Dhaka headquarters of Bangladesh's border guards. "The Bangladesh government should protect detainees suspected of involvement in a February massacre of army officers from being killed or mistreated," the New-York-based rights watchdog said in a statement.