Washington, Nov. 11: Two former U. S. Treasury Department officials have come out with a report that suggests that the international system for tracking and cutting off terrorist financing has achieved major successes, but warn that in recent times, a laxity in this endeavour is creeping in.

According to Matthew Levitt and Michael Jacobson, authors of "The Money Trail," U. N. countries have frozen the assets of some 300 al-Qaida and Taliban members after
9/11, and added that by early 2004, 112 countries had ratified an international effort to suppress terrorist financing.

Islamabad, Nov 11: There are six Pakistani nationals lodged in the Guantanamo bay detention camp, the country’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed the National Assembly last evening.

Earlier, on October 31, the Foreign Office had stated that there were five Pakistanis in the US prison.

London, Nov 11: The apostrophe has emerged as the punctuation mark, which causes most problems for Britons, according to a new survey.

The survey of nearly 2,000 UK adults revealed that almost half were unable to use the apostrophe properly.

The most common mistake was not knowing how to punctuate a possessive plural.

The test, set by the SpinVox speech technology company, revealed that 46 percent of those who sat it thought that, in the context set, "people''s choice" was wrong - whereas it is correct.

The adults were also asked which mistake most annoyed good punctuators.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks ended Tuesday trading lower after the US market declined overnight on grim earnings outlooks and the yen's advance against other currencies.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 272.13 points, or 3 per cent, to close at 8,809.3.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also dropped 27.29 points, or 2.98 per cent, to 889.36.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc, technology giant Google Inc and automaker General Motors Corp all suffered downgraded outlooks the day before.

Washington, Nov 11 : Doctors may one day be able to use stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood to build new heart valves for babies born with heart defects, say researchers.

London, Nov 11: Austrian incest fiend Josef Fritzl is to be formally charged this week following authorities’ announcement that the case against him was complete.

The 73-year-old, who imprisoned daughter Elisabeth, now 42, in a cellar for 24 years, and fathered seven children with her, will be told of the charges in the middle of this week.

Possible charges of kidnap, rape, causing permanent psychological harm and assisting death by negligence over a baby boy born with breathing difficulties and allowed to die have been examined by the prosecutors.