New Delhi, Oct 21 : Union Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav today said that Indian Railways is the lifeline of the nation and it is necessary to run fast moving trains in view of ever increasing passenger and freight traffic.

Tehran  - An Iranian woman who had been studying in California was arrested by Iranian police, reportedly for making unauthorised video interviews with women activists in Iran, the Tehran press reported Tuesday.

The daily Kargozaran reported that Esha Momeni, member of the Change for Equality campaign, was transferred to the notorious Evin prison after her arrest last week.

Momeni reportedly planned to make a film about women in Iran in general and woman activist Parvin Ardalan in particular.

Ardalan, 41, last year initiated a plan to collect one million signatures in Iran to amend the prevailing law on women's rights, which are not equal to those of men.

Dhaka- Bangladesh's interim government plans to reduce the fuel price by 8 to 12 per cent in the wake of the crude oil price fall on the global market, an official said Tuesday.

The decision will be finalised at a meeting of the council of advisers to be headed by the chief adviser to the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed sometime next week, he said.

Stockholm - Assa Abloy, a locks and security solutions group based in Sweden, said Tuesday it would consider moving a plant out of an industrial zone in an Israeli-occupied portion of the Palestinian West Bank after receiving criticism from Swedish human rights groups.

A group of Swedish human rights organizations earlier Tuesday published a report criticizing the company for operating the plant in the disputed zone in the town of Barkan.

The report, Illegal Ground: Assa Abloy's Business in Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the plant "contravenes both domestic Israeli law and a number of provisions in international law."

Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make an official visit to China from October 22 to 27 in conjunction with his attendance at the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) VII Summit, the government announced Tuesday.

Lee will be accompanied by Mrs Lee, Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo, Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, members of parliament and senior government officials.

In Beijing, Prime Minister Lee will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, National Standing Committee (NPC) Chairman Wu Bangguo and Vice Premier Li Keqiang, as well as other senior Chinese leaders, said the Singapore Foreign Ministry.

Madrid  - A work stoppage by judges and judicial secretaries Tuesday paralyzed a large part of Spain's court system.

The judiciary was protesting what it saw as government interference in its work and a lack of resources.

Judicial secretaries stopped working for three hours and judges, who were not allowed to stage a formal work stoppage, held meetings during that time.

The protesters were accusing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government of interference in urging the highest judges' organ to adopt stronger sanctions against a Seville judge for failing to jail a paedophile who then killed a five-year-old girl in January.