Riga - Relations with Russia are likely to be the focus when a generous sprinkling of former presidents, prime ministers and assorted other regional bigwigs descend on the Latvian capital of Riga this weekend for a NATO-sponsored conference.

Topping the bill will be Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, on his first visit to the Baltic region since his country went to war with Russia in August.

Baltic and central European nations gave Saakashvili strong backing during that war and will be heavily represented at the conference. Saakashvili will appear with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during a November 1 debate titled "A vision of Europe, whole and free."

Taipei - Taiwan opened the 2008 Taipei International Travel Fair Friday with the aim of attracting more foreign and Chinese tourists.

Sixty-two countries and regions have set up 1,206 booths at the four-day fair with Chinese exhibitors occupying 256 booths, nearly four times more than the second-largest exhibitor, Japan, with 69 booths.

China has sent a 290-strong delegation to the four-day travel fair at the Taipei World Trade Centre, hoping to boost tourism from Taiwan to China.

London, October 31: A real-life Elizabethan secret agent, who spied for Sir Francis Drake, might have been the inspiration behind British author Ian Fleming’s creation of the fictional character of James Bond.

A journal recording the exploits of John Bond, transcribed by his descendants recently, suggests that Fleming’s Bond shares his name and his family motto—‘The world is not enough’—with their ancestor.

The family believe that Fleming might have borrowed key elements of their story for his fictional character.

According to reports, the Bond family resided in Dorset, a few miles from Durnford House, the prep school where Fleming spent an unhappy few years of his childhood.

Washington, Oct 31: One of the greatest foreign policy challenges for the next United States Administration is what to do about Pakistan, Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations has said.

“I think there will be a complete review of Pakistan policy on very short order once the new US President takes office,” he said.

Addressing journalists at the Foreign Press Centre on Wednesday, Cook said he did not understand what the Bush Administration’s policy on Pakistan was.

“It seems to me that the Bush Administration created this situation in Pakistan by going halves. It struck me that the template for the policy was similar to what our policy has traditionally been towards Egypt,” Cook said.

Washington, Oct 31 : One of the greatest foreign policy challenges for the next United States Administration is what to do about Pakistan, Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations has said.

“I think there will be a complete review of Pakistan policy on very short order once the new US President takes office,” he said.

Addressing journalists at the Foreign Press Centre on Wednesday, Cook said he did not understand what the Bush Administration’s policy on Pakistan was.

Washington, Oct 31: Vigorous exercise – from running, to chopping firewood or scrubbing floors – can reduce the risk of breast cancer by almost a third, a new study has found.

The study of more than thirty thousand postmenopausal American women, reported in BioMed Central''s open access journal Breast Cancer Research, has revealed that a sedentary lifestyle can be a risk factor for the disease – even in women who are not overweight.