Islamabad - Four Islamic militants were killed by Pakistani troops Monday as the new commander of US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, General David Petraeus, held talks with the Pakistani leadership, officials said.

Gunmen in North-West Frontier Province also abducted an Afghan national believed to be a United Nations employee.

The militants were killed when security forces started pounding insurgent positions Sunday night in the Mamoond and Chahrmang areas of the Bajaur tribal district bordering Afghanistan with artillery fire and the operation continued until Monday morning.

Washington, Nov 3 : A new romantic comedy may co-star Sarah Jessica Parker an

Madrid - A Spanish prime minister considered declaring a war against neighbouring Portugal to stem the spread of communism in the final year of General Francisco Franco's 36-year dictatorship, the daily El Pais reported Monday.

Carlos Arias Navarro, Franco's last prime minister, met with US deputy secretary of state Robert Ingersoll in Jerusalem in 1975, the daily quoted US national archives as revealing.

Arias Navarro expressed concern over the establishment of a leftist government in Portugal following the 1974 Carnation Revolution, which toppled prime minister Marcelo Caetano's authoritarian government.

Algiers/Paris - Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi paid a ransom to free two Austrians kidnapped by Islamic militants in Tunisia, the Algerian daily Liberte reported on Monday.

According to the report, Gaddafi paid between 3 million and 5 million euros (3.85 million - 6.41 million dollars) to members of the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, who were holding the hostages, Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloibner, in northern Mali.

London, November 3 (ANI): Teachers may now spare the rod without the risk of spoiling school children, for foot and head messages may help them control bad behaviour among kids.

A London-based company, Bud-Umbrella, is gearing up to test the alternative therapy in 60 primary and 14 secondary schools to see whether or not it can actually improve unruly children''s behaviour.

Though there is little evidence that such a treatment can improve behaviour, Lambeth Council in south London is said to have decided to spend 90,000 pounds next year on reflexology in the schools.

Bud-Umbrella’s official web site says that reflexology may be beneficial in a number of ways.

New Delhi, Nov 3 (ANI): Heidi Klum has got a secret weapon to satisfy her cravings for chocolate as well as to make her lips look absolutely luscious — chocolate-flavoured lip balm.

The German supermodel, having the weakness for chocolate cake from her homeland, applies chocolate flavoured lip balm to satiate her cravings.

"I love chocolate. I have a chocolate lip gloss that tastes like a German chocolate cake. It is very good. It tastes so good that I constantly have to lick my lipstick off and re-apply,” she said.

However, Heidi isn''t the only celebrity having secret ‘sweet’ cravings, reports the China Daily.