New Delhi, Nov 10: Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari today left for Maldives on a two-day visit, where he will represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected President of Indian Ocean Island Republic, Mohammed Nasheed on Tuesday.

Nasheed was elected as the President of Republic of Maldives in the first ever multi-party Presidential elections held on October 28, this year.

Tokyo  - Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko Monday hosted a welcoming ceremony for visiting Spanish King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia at Tokyo's Imperial Palace.

New Delhi, Nov 10  Union Minister of Human Resource Development Arjun Singh will inaugurate a conference of Vice Chancellors of the Central Universities and the Directors of Central Technical Institutions here today.

The conference is being organized on the eve of the First National Education Day.

Sydney  - Australia's three foreign-owned carmakers will receive subsidies worth 6.2 billion Australian dollars (4.3 billion US dollars) over the next 13 years, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday.

Around 20 per cent of the cash going to Toyota Motor Corp, GM Holden Ltd and the Ford Motor Co will be reserved for hybrids and low-emission vehicles.

Australia's automotive trio roll out petrol-thirsty six-cylinder cars that have lost their appeal in the local market because of higher petrol prices and environmental concerns.

Port-au-Prince  - The number of children killed the collapse of a school in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince rose to 90 late Sunday, rescuers said, as police arrested the school's owner.

There were still many victims buried under the rubble of the Evangelical Promise school in the city's Petion-Ville suburb, that collapsed Friday morning with up to 700 children inside, rescuers said.

Hong Kong  - Sixty-four per cent of Hong Kong residents believe tougher economic times lie ahead because of the global financial meltdown, according to a survey released Monday.

Only 3 per cent of the 1,000 people interviewed said they thought the economy would improve in the short-term while 32 per cent said they expected it to neither improve or deteriorate.