Beijing - A Chinese legal activist on Thursday said he had been freed from police custody after being held for nearly two weeks to prevent him from advising candidates and voters in local elections.

Yao Lifa said police in the central province of Hubei released him on Wednesday night because his wife had become seriously ill during his what he called his "illegal detention".

Madrid - As Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo prepares for the unveiling of his most gigantic work so far at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, he is at the height of his artistic glory.

Stockholm - The Swedish cabinet Thursday approved a plan to boost personnel and aid to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.

Sweden is to raise its some 400-strong force in northern Afghanistan to around 500 next year.

Along with forces from neighbouring Finland, the Swedish forces are based in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

London - Amnesty International has called on the government of Afghanistan to repeal the death sentences against 111 people who are on death row.

In a statement released in London Thursday, to coincide with a visit to London of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Amnesty said it feared that the reported executions of nine people since last week would be followed by further death sentences being carried out.

London, Nov. 13 : Politically-correct British Government rule-makers have banned a string of words to get religious fanatics on their side.

The move, however, has been slammed for causing confusion in the war on terror, a Daily Star report claims, adding that there still some Muslim hate clerics who are allowed to preach death in the UK.

Beirut - The Arab League has agreed to review the circumstances surrounding a series of purported confessions of terrorist attacks that were aired by Syrian state television last week.