Kathmandu - Nepal's suicide rate has nearly doubled in the past four years, blamed mostly on growing depression among youth, a media report said Saturday.

The Kathmandu Post newspaper said the number of suicides reported by police rose by 40 per cent in the past four years.

Official statistics showed 2,789 suicides in 2007, up from 1,992 in 2004.

The newspaper said 659 cases were reported during the first three months of 2008, keeping pace with the record 2007 total.

New York, November 22: U. S. President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have announced the name of the school where their two daughters will study.

The couple have decided to send their children — Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7 — to Sidwell Friends School, the pricey and prestigious academy that has educated generations of this city’s elite.

“A number of great schools were considered,’’ the New York Times quoted Katie McCormick Lelyveld, a spokeswoman for Michelle as saying.

Paris  - The run-off vote to chose a new leader for France's Socialist Party was too close to call early Saturday as the losing Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential election, Segolene Royal, sought another shot at the country's top job.

If she beats her opponent, Lille Mayor and former labour minister Martine Aubry, she would take a big step toward securing her party's nomination to again take on President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 presidential election.

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Islamic regulating council on Saturday issued an edict banning Muslims from practicing yoga.

The National Fatwa Council issued the ban Saturday, saying the practice of yoga involved physical movements, worshipping and chantings which were prohibited in Islam.

Yoga, which originated in India but is widely practiced around the world, is popular among Malaysia's multiracial population.

Muslims make up two-thirds of the country's 27 million population.

Hong Kong  - A 46-year-old hiker was recovering in hospital Saturday after falling 20 metres into a Hong Kong reservoir while running away from a monkey trying to steal her food.

The woman was hiking with friends on Friday when a large adult monkey tried to snatch a bag of nuts she was carrying, according to a spokesman for the emergency services team who rescued her.

She ran away and tumbled down a steep bank before ending up in the reservoir. The woman was taken to hospital with injuries to her head, arms and legs.

Kathmandu  - At least six people were killed and more than 20 others injured when a passenger bus plunged off a mountain highway in central Nepal, police said Saturday.

Police said the driver lost control of the bus trying to avoid a truck coming from the opposite direction. It dropped into Trishuli River near the town of Mugling, about 90 kilometres west of Kathmandu Friday night.