Nairobi  - A prominent Islamist opposition leader Friday called on African Union peacekeepers to leave Somalia before he would consider joining a coalition government.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys returned to Somalia on Thursday after two years in exile, raising hopes the conflict-hit African nation's new government could succeed in restoring a semblance of order.

He returned home as donors pledged 213 million dollars to support the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia and boost the police force and judiciary.

Athens/Nicosia - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday said there is now a unique window of opportunity for settling the Cyprus issue given that Turkey's membership evaluation by the European Union will take place at the end of the year.

"The failure by Turkey to meet the criteria could not be seen in separation from all the other issues, including the Cyprus problem," said Bildt during a visit to Cyprus.

Public sector lender Corporation Bank on Friday reported a 26.18% surge in its net profit at Rs 260.49 crore for the fourth quarter ender March 31.

The lender had a net profit of Rs 206.43 crore in the March quarter last financial year.

During the fourth quarter of FY’09, the total income of the bank grew to Rs 2,199.64 crore from Rs 1,464.74 crore in the same quarter previous year.

For the financial year ended March 31, Corporation Bank reported a net profit of Rs 892.76 crore, down 21.46 per cent over the year-ago period. The bank had a net profit of Rs 734.98 crore in FY'08.

Munich  - Germany's government has told Hypo Real Estate (HRE), the biggest German casualty of the world financial crash, that it will obtain 90-per-cent control of the bank by way of an equity issue.

HRE disclosed the move in a board statement Friday from its head office in Munich.

Berlin would ask the shareholders at a meeting on June 2 to vote for an increase in equity from just under 700 million euros (925 million dollars) at present to 6.3 billion euros, with the German state pumping in all the new funds.

Piramal Healthcare on Friday informed that its consolidated net profit slipped 13.49% to Rs 114.90 crore in the fourth quarter ended 31 March, 2009, over the corresponding period a year ago.

The pharmaceutical firm had posted a net profit of Rs 132.82 crore in the March quarter of FY'08.

However, company’s net sales surged 9.34 per cent at Rs 850.91 crore in the March quarter, against Rs 778.20 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Colombo  - A journalist arrested on suspicion of helping Tamil rebels to carry out an air raid in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo was released by a court on Friday after the investigators failed to prove the allegations against him.

The editor of the Tamil daily Sudar Oli, N. Vithyatharan, who had been held by police since February 26, was accused of maintaining telephone links with the rebels who carried out a suicide attack by air in the capital on January 24.