Nairobi, Kinshasa  - Calm has returned to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission said Thursday after four days of fighting that saw Tutsi rebels come close to taking the city of Goma.

General Laurent Nkunda, leader of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), Wednesday evening announced a unilateral ceasefire to "prevent panic in Goma."

The UN peacekeeping mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) said that the ceasefire was holding.

London, Oct 30 : With Halloween just around the corner, Britons, it seems, are planning to make things go bump in the night, for sales of horny devil outfits and sexy underwear are soaring.

Recent weeks have seen an explosion of sales of devilish lingerie and sex toys, according to one online retailer.

Best-selling outfits and naughty lingerie include the Red Devil, Wicked Dark Fairy, Reversible Witch and Broomstick Babe costumes for women.

BedroomPleasures. co. uk, which has launched a new range of Halloween inspired toys and lingerie says they have been flying out the door like witches at a broomstick convention.

New Delhi - At least 54 people were killed and more than 200 injured Thursday in 11 bomb blasts triggered by suspected separatist militants in India's north-eastern state of Assam, officials and news reports said.

Officials said there were 11 blasts within 20 minutes, the first at 11:20 am (0550 GMT).

Four blasts took place in the state capital, Guwahati; three in Barpeta district; three in Kokrajhar district; and one in Bongaigaon district, all in western Assam, the IANS news agency reported.

Bangkok  - Hundreds of protestors descended on the British embassy in Bangkok Thursday to demand the extradition of convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from London to face a two-year jail term in Thailand.

An estimated 1,500 followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has been staging anti-government protests since May, marched Thursday after Thaksin was sentenced October 21 on an abuse-of-power conviction.

"We want England to send Thaksin back to Suvarnabhumi Airport, but this time, we want him to lick the ground and not just bow to it," said Somkiat Pongpaiboon, a key leader of the PAD.

Landikotal (Pak), Oct 30 : The Pak-Afghan Highway has proved to be unsafe for local dwellers, passengers and transporters from Takhta Bag check-post to Torkham border, in the wake of bomb blasts, suicide attacks, firing and kidnappings.

Attacks have mainly taken place on trucks carrying supplies for the US and Afghan troops deployed in Afghanistan to combat Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Berlin - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned Thursday's suicide bombing which killed five people at the Afghan information ministry in Kabul.

The attack showed that terrorists wanted to weaken the Afghan state and spread fear and distrust among the population, Steinmeier said.

"This cannot be allowed to happen," the minister said in a statement released during a visit to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

"together with the Afghan government and the international community we will continue to undertake intensive efforts to ensure that the necessary security is in place for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan," he added.