New Delhi - India's moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was successfully placed in lunar orbit on Saturday, officials at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

"The lunar orbit insertion placed the Chandrayaan in an elliptical orbit with its nearest point 400 to 500 kilometres away from the moon and the farthest, 7,500 kilometres," ISRO director S Satish said from the southern city of Bangalore.

The complex positioning which depended on precision timing was carried out from the space control room in Bangalore.

Gaza - Israeli forces on Saturday rolled into the southern Gaza Strip and Palestinian fighters engaged them, witnesses said.

A number of tanks and bulldozers entered the Khoza'a area in eastern Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip. The bulldozers started to level the land, destroying fields and farms in the area, residents said.

The troops withdrew around the noon after Gaza militants said they exchanged fire with the forces. There were no reports on casualties.

Copenhagen - A Danish freighter and its crew of 13 have been abducted by pirates off the coast of Somalia, reported a maritime official Saturday.

The Friday afternoon attack on the CEC Future, a ship registered in the Bahamas and owned by the Clipper Elite Carrier shipping company, occurred in the Gulf of Aden when there were no other nearby ships which could come to the CEC Future's aid.

There were not believed to be any Danes among the crew. The Danish maritime official said that the shipping company would be responsible for any negotiations with the pirates or ransom payments.

Kiev/Aachen, Germany - The management of a Ukrainian art museum on Saturday refused to return to Germany dozens of paintings brought to the Soviet Union as a result of the Second World War.

Officials from the Simferopol Art Museum in south Ukraine told Germany's Foreign Ministry the museum "had no plans to give up" the 87 paintings thought originally to have belonged to the Suermondt- Ludwig Art Museum in the German city Aachen, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Nov. 8 : Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will celebrate the 82nd birthday of senior party leader L K Advani by preparing a laddu weighing 82 kilograms.

Advani turned 82 on Saturday.

According to party sources, the laddu will be made from 40 kilograms of sugar, 30 kilograms of groundnut powder and 10 kilograms of dry fruits and ghee or clarified butter.

The four feet high laddu has been kept on the party premises and will be distributed to the public today.

London  - Luiz Felipe Scolari turns 60 on Sunday and is an experienced coach who has won the World Cup, but that doesn't mean he can't be surprised anymore.

The Brazilian coach acknowledged earlier this week that the force and physicality in England's Premier League is bigger than he expected when he took charge at Chelsea in summer.

"Sometimes the games are more physical than I was expecting," Scolari told Sky Sports this week.

"I think I have learnt more than I have taught my players. I have learnt a lot about English football. I am very happy here."