Tel Aviv - An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed there was an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians near the border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, but denied Palestinian claims that the incident took place on Gaza territory.

The spokeswoman said Israeli soldiers had approached the border fence in order to carry out a controlled detonation of explosive devices planted there when they were fired on by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli soldiers then returned the fire. There were no casualties in the incident, she said.

Madrid- Spanish officials have formally rejected an ap

Berlin  - Thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators were trying Saturday to obstruct a tightly guarded convoy of spent nuclear fuel on its way to a German waste dump.

Near the warehouse in Gorleben in the northern German countryside where many tons of radioactive waste are stored, more than 6,000 militants thronged roads just before a protest rally.

Paris  - Metal pipes placed atop overhead power-supply lines in northern France have crippled high-speed rail transport between Paris and other European cities, rail company SNCF said Saturday.

It was not known who placed the pipes on the lines between Paris and Lille, but SNCF said it was preparing to file charges for the "malicious act."

More than 40 trains between Paris and London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne had to be transferred to traditional tracks, resulting in trains running between one and three hours late.

Jammu, Nov.

Bengaluru, Nov. 8 : An official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday confirmed that the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 had entered the lunar orbit successfully.

S. Satish, spokesperson of ISRO said that the Chandrayaan-1 orbit would last around 800 seconds in 7,500km x 500km elliptical orbit around the moon.

"The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) will start around 5 p. m. and last around 800 seconds," Satish said.