As much as 93 people were taken into custody by Sri Lankan police for their alleged links with Tamil Tiger rebels. They were arrested in the North-West part of the island nation on Saturday, according to official sources.

The arrests came during an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kalpitiya village in Puttalam district, some 165 km from Colombo.

They were arrested during an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kalpitiya village in Puttalam district, some 165 km from Colombo.

Nokia Oyj has made announcement about the launching of seven new phones in addition to Internet services for rising markets.

The new phones include the Nokia 1202, a follow-up to Nokia’s hot model 1200, which will sell for around 25 euros and two models with e-mail support priced at 40 euros.

Growing market areas are a stronghold for the world’s major cellphone manufacturer, but it has lately seen increasing rivalry from vendors including China ZTE and Samsung Electronics.

Singapore - Singapore and Kuwait have concluded an Open Skies Agreement (OSA), allowing for full flexibility on air services by carriers from both countries, officials announced Tuesday.

Under the new agreement, Singapore carriers may now operate any number of flights between Singapore and points in Kuwait, as well as beyond Kuwait to any other city in the world.

Similarly, Kuwait carriers will be able to operate any number of flights to and beyond Singapore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.

A Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services between the two governments was signed Tuesday at the at the Seif Palace in Kuwait City.

The Assam police have arrested two more suspects in connection with the serial blasts that devastated the state.

The two suspected -- Muzamul Haque and Anwarlul Haque--were arrested from Lakhimpur.

With these arrests total number of persons nabbed by the police rose to five. Earlier three persons were arrested on Saturday.

According to police- the two were in car-theft racket. They changed the number of those vehicles which were used in Guwahati and Bongaigaon blasts.

The police have got vital clues. It would soon zero in on the culprits responsible for the blasts, said Official spokesman and principal secretary (Home) Subhas Das.

Stockholm - Swedbank, one of four major Swedish banking groups, Tuesday confirmed it planned to sign on to a stability plan approved last week.

The application to join the guarantee programme was to be filed shortly, the group said.

The guarantee fund is worth 1.5 trillion kronor (201 billion dollars) and banks would have to comply with restrictions concerning bonus payments and other benefits to top executives.

The scheme is initially scheduled to run until April 2009.

Melbourne, Nov 4 : Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has said that current skipper Ricky Ponting should have known better than to become embroiled in an ugly on-field spat with Brett Lee.

Ponting and Lee were involved in a heated exchange during the second Test against India when the pacer was not given a bowl on the fourth morning of the match.

Australia maintained the reason for overlooking Lee was because of a slow over rate, but it was clear Ponting, who even turned to the rarely used medium pace of Mike Hussey, had lost confidence in his spearhead, who has struggled through the entire campaign.

Taylor, now a Cricket Australia board director, said the Australian skipper should have shown greater discretion.