Kathmandu - Nepal's former king and his family members face a possible cut in their electricity supply due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid electricity bills, officials said Friday.

The officials said they have had no response from former king Gyanendra or his family members despite notices warning them to pay the outstanding amount or face electricity cuts within 15 days.

The deadline is the first week of November.

Berlin  - Germany is to oppose European Union plans to deploy full-body scanners at airports as protection against hijackers, a Berlin government spokesman said Friday.

The devices have been described as "strip scanners" because they construct an image of each traveller's body without clothing.

"I can tell you with complete clarity that we are not going to cooperate in this mischief," a Federal Interior Ministry spokeswoman said Friday at a government news conference.

London, Oct 24 : Doctors often get confused when it comes to deciding whether a particular woman in labour should undergo caesarean or not. But now, a computer can easily take this decision.

Jose Príncipe and colleagues at the University of Florida in Gainesville say that wireless sensors could monitor the progress of labour, and warn doctors when a Caesarean is necessary.

In the new method, software could monitor the progress of a woman''s labour, reports New Scientist magazine.

Usually, a Caesarean is needed in case of an abnormally slow birth. However, deciding what is abnormally slow is what poses the biggest problem for doctors,

Beijing - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday urged greater transparency and firmer controls over financial markets as part a solution to the global financial turmoil.

Merkel made a four-point proposal to Asian and European leaders discussing the financial crisis in Beijing, according to an advance copy of her speech.

She listed greater transparency in financial markets as the highest priority for supporting a global recovery.

Second on the list of proposals to 45 leaders at the biannual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was the need for a new structure of incentives.

Paris - Anxiety about corporate earnings and OPEC's announcement that it will cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day drove French shares to a five-year low at midday on Friday.

Shortly before noon, the Paris Bourse's CAC 40 index was down 10.62 per cent, to 2,959.29, its lowest level since May 2003, before recovering slightly.

France's two large carmakers, Renault and Peugeot, were among the biggest losers, giving up 18.04 and 13.72 per cent respectively, because the global car market is screeching to a halt.

On Friday, Peugeot announced drastic production cutbacks for the fourth quarter of 2008, and Renault is to shut down its French factories for at least a week because of the drop in demand for cars.

Bratislava - The Slovak parliament Friday voted to provide unlimited guarantees for bank deposits of individuals and select small businesses.

The government proposal passed 130-1, while nine lawmakers abstained.

The amendment requires presidential approval and will come to force upon publication in the country's legal code.

Germany and Austria vowed earlier they also planned to provide unlimited savings protection.

Slovakia currently protects 90 per cent of deposits up to 600,000 Slovak koruny (24,560 dollars).