London, Dec 18 : The London School of Economics has become the UK's top-ranked higher education research institution after beating Oxford and Cambridge.

This is the first time LSE has won the top league position in a table devised exclusively for The Independent by the leading research organisation Research Fortnight from official government statistics.

The rankings will determine how the lion''s share of 1.5billion worth of government funding for university research will be distributed from next year, reports the Independent.

Baghdad, Dec 18 : Thirty five Iraqi officials including four Iraqi generals have been arrested over the past three days, with some of them accused of quietly working to reconstitute Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

The arrests, confirmed by officials from the Ministries of the Interior and National Security as well as the Prime Minister's office, included four generals, one of whom, General Ahmed Abu Raqeef, is the ministry's director of internal affairs.

The officials also said that the arrests had come at the hand of an elite counter-terrorism force that reports directly to the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, The New York Times reported.

Washington, Dec 18 : President-elect Barack Obama's path to the White House included beating one of the United States most powerful families, but his election last month is helping accelerate the trend toward dynasty politics.

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of a former president and the niece of two senators is pursuing the seat vacated by Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former president, Politico. com reported.

Patna, Dec 18 : The sudden dip in temperature during last four days has brought about a chill in the weather, making life difficult for people in Bihar.

Locals covered in woollens made their way through the blanket of fog, which enveloped Patna.

People could be seen huddled around fires to keep themselves warm and those sleeping on roadside were wrapped in quilts and blankets to protect themselves from the biting chill.

"It is very cold in Patna these days. We are surviving somehow in this biting cold by lighting fires and warming ourselves," said Prabhat Kumar, a resident.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang Thursday appealed to Beijing to allow more tourists from mainland China into the former British colony to help revive its flagging economy.

Tsang made the appeal at a meting with the chairman of the national Tourism Administration, Shao Qiwei, during a three-day duty visit to the Chinese capital.

The Hong Kong leader said a combination of the global financial crisis and the introduction of direct flights between China and Taiwan, which means that Chinese visitors to Taiwan no longer need to transit via Hong Kong, had affected tourism.

Tsang told Shao a further relaxation in the regulations on mainland visitors to visit Hong Kong would compensate for the recent drop in tourist arrivals.

Paris - French bank BNP Paribas disclosed Thursday that it is postponing its planned takeover of the troubled bank and insurance company Fortis, citing a Brussels court ruling.

On its website BNP Paribas cited a December 12 ruling by a court in Brussels ordering a 65-day freeze on any transaction involving Fortis in a case involving a suit filed by some 2,000 shareholders challenging the selloff of the bank.

BNP Paribas also called off an extraordinary shareholders meeting which had been set for Friday to vote on the Fortis takeover.

In late September, a joint rescue plan by The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg was announced effectively to nationalize Fortis and then break up the company into separate units in each of the countries.