Bucharest - Peace negotiations with Israel will likely only resume after completion of Israeli elections in February, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday in Romania.

He also repeated his assertion that any peace agreement will not be completed by the end of 2008, as envisaged at the Annapolis conference in November 2007.

Abbas made his comments while visiting with Romanian President Traian Basescu. During the meeting, Basescu ruled Romania out as a possible mediator in any Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

New Delhi, Nov. 3 : At least 25 people attacked the Maharashtra Sadan here over the state government’s go slow in ordering the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.

Thackeray, they claimed, was responsible for the attacks on North Indians in Mumbai and in other parts of Maharashtra, and therefore, should have been detained for disturbing the peace.

Beijing - The death toll has risen to 26 with more than 40 people still missing after heavy rain caused landslides in mountainous areas of south-western China's Yunnan province, the government said Monday.

Torrential rain caused mud and rock to flow down valleys and hillsides in at least 13 counties of Yunnan over the past few days, affecting more than 411,000 people, the provincial Civil Affairs Department reported on its website.

Nashik, Nov 03 : A Nashik court today sent Sadhvi Pragya Thakur to judicial custody till Novenber17 in connection with the Malegaon blast case. The Sadhvi fainted during the proceedings in the court.

The officials of the Mumbai ATS produced six accused of Malegaon blast including Pragya in Nashik court.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai ATS arrested three more people in Nashik and produced them in the court.

During the proceedings, Sadhvi stated that she would break silence only after getting the justice.

Washington, Nov. 3 : It''s hard to find a political pro who really believes John McCain can turn the presidential vote around on November 4, 2008.

Though the numbers are tightening in the battleground states, a pragmatic senior McCain strategist gave his boss only a 15 percent chance of pulling it off.

The New York Daily News quoted GOP guru Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 victories, as saying that McCain faced a “very, very steep, uphill climb”.

Dhaka - A high-level Bangladesh delegation is scheduled to fly to Myanmar Wednesday to hold talks aimed at resolving a dispute over oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, a top foreign ministry official said Monday.

Bangladesh's foreign secretary Md. Touhid Hossain will lead the delegation at the dialogue with his Myanmar counterpart and other high ranking officials to "defuse the situation" over the exploration, the official said.