Washington, November 28 : Guns N'' Roses’ rocker Axl Rose has demanded an apology from soft drink company Dr Pepper for botching a soda giveaway tied to the band’s new album.

He wants the company to take out a full-page apology in some of the major newspapers.

His lawyer say that Dr Pepper should pay the group for "unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights."

Paris - A French couple that had been dining in the restaurant of the Oberoi Trident hotel when terrorists struck the Indian city of Mumbai have gone missing, France Info radio reported Friday.

The report came after Indian commandos seized control of the hotel from the attackers.

Air France announced Friday that 15 crew members that had been "stuck" in the Oberoi Trident were able to walk out and would be repatriated soon.

Vilnius - Lithuania's President Valdas Adamkus confirmed Friday that Andrius Kubilius, leader of the the Homeland Union - Christian Democrats political party, will be the next prime minister of the Baltic country.

Kubilius' candidature had been backed by the Lithuanian parliament or Seimas, on Thursday, but according to the Lithuanian constitution, the prime minister also needs to receive formal presidential assent, which Adamkus duly provided.

Tehran - Iraq was forced to approve a security agreement with the United States that sets a schedule for the withdrawal of US forces, an Iranian cleric said Friday.

"The security bill was eventually approved but the Iraqi side (which) acted rather out of expediency because they were told (by the US) to either accept it or face the consequences," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, spokesman of the senate-like Guardian Council, said at the Friday prayer ceremony.

Under the security agreement, US troops would withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011.

Havana - Russia and Cuba are to revive their historically close ties, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro said after talks in Havana late Thursday.

Medvedev and Castro met for several hours and, in a demonstration of friendship, Castro also joined the Russian president in visiting a recently opened Russian Orthodox church in the capital of the communist country.

Moscow plans to step up cooperation with Havana in the area of nuclear energy as well as oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, Medvedev announced.

Vienna  - Austrian-based construction group Strabag SE reported Friday that its net profit rose by 23.9 per cent to 127 million euros (164 million dollars) in the third quarter and said that its order backlog stood at a record 13.97 billion euros.

The company's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 18 per cent to 177 million euros in the quarter ending in September, compared with the same period last year.

At 3.54 billion euros, revenue was up by 25.7 per cent.