Yangon - The military junta in Myanmar has removed barricades from the house of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the city of Yangon, witnesses reported Sunday.

Stuttgart - Daimler is to idle factories for five weeks because world sales of its Mercedes cars have slumped, a newspaper reported on Sunday, quoting a company spokesman.

The report came as Germany's other main premium car manufacturer, BMW, announced a four-day standstill at one of its car plants, in Leipzig, eastern Germany, amid signs that the world recession will be worse than so far feared.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said the Mercedes closure would begin in mid-December, but gave no precise date. It said stocktaking would take place on December 12 and plants would not re-open before an annual holiday break at Christmas. Plants re-open on January 12.

Washington, October 26: Senator Barack Obama has offered his condolences to singer Jennifer Hudson who lost her mother and brother in a double murder on October 24.

Panaji, Oct 26: The Goa government on Sunday said that it has no plans of handing over of the alleged rape case of a German minor to the Central Bureau of Investigation.