Amman - Jordan's influential Muslim Brotherhood movement on Sunday urged Pope Benedict XVI to postpone his planned Middle East visit next month and to apologize for statements that the group considers "injurious" to Islam.

"We hope that the Vatican will take a decision to postpone the visit until certain issues are cleared," Muslim Brotherhood official spokesman Jamil Abu Bakr said in a statement.

Monte Carlo  - Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters for a record fifth straight time on Sunday, spending nearly three hours in fighting off dogged Serb Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

The laboured victory pulls Nadal even with New Zealand's Anthony Wilding, who won five (non-consecutive) titles at the event from 1908 onwards.

The Spaniard had to fight for two and three-quarters hours against the determined number three Djokovic, who handed Nadal his first dropped set since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.

Mexico City  -

Halle, Germany  - As 12 European cities marked "Handel Special Day" with concerts of the Anglo-German composer's music, orchestras played funeral music Sunday in his hometown, the eastern German city of Halle.

"The concert in our Market Church was a sell-out," said Bianca Berger, spokeswoman for the Handel birthplace trust in Halle.

Handel (1685-1759) was born in Germany and baptized in the church. He later became a British citizen. The concerts were organized to mark the 250th anniversary last Tuesday of his death in London.

Nairobi/Mogadishu  - Two foreign aid workers employed by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have been kidnapped by gunmen in Somalia, reports said Sunday.

The African news media network Shabelle. net, quoting witnesses, said the pair were taken on the way to Hudur, the capital of the Bakol region in south-west Somalia.

The BBC's Somali service said the two men, employees of MSF Belgium, were Danish and Belgian.

A bloody insurgency is ongoing in Somalia, where militant Islamist group al-Shabaab is fighting the western-backed government.

Allahabad/ Faizabad, Apr 19 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said that the Prime Minister as well as the Congress party works according to wishes of common man.

"I want to make one thing very clear to you that our party and our

Prime Minister do not work on the order from any organisation. We work on the order of common man. We work on the wishes of people present here," Sonia Gandhi said at an election rally in Allahabad.