Manila - Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to immediately condemn the existence of a death squad that it said has killed more than 800 people in the past decade in a southern city.

The New York-based watchdog lamented that since it released a report on April 6 on the activities of the death squad in Davao City, 990 kilometres south of Manila, that Arroyo had not spoken about the murders.

Dhaka - Bangladeshi former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her two sons on Thursday sought the withdrawal of graft charges brought against them.

"We have filed applications seeking withdrawal of the 21 cases," Sanaullah Mia, one of Zia's attorneys, told reporters after filing the appeal. "... These cases have no merit."

Today the elections are been held in Mumbai. Let’s find out from some of the tele-stars whether they are casting their vote and how much importance do they give to voting.

Nairobi - A group of Kenyan women's organizations have called on the nation's wives and girlfriends to withdraw conjugal rights in an attempt to bring an end to political strife that some fear could ultimately lead to renewed ethnic violence.

The Women's Development Organisation says it will also approach the wives of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, 64, and President Mwai Kibaki, 78, to join the week-long sex strike.

Lucknow/ Siliguri/Rajkot, Apr 30 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati cast her vote along with commoners here on Wednesday morning.

"I urge the supporters of my party in every public meeting to leave all their work and go cast their votes. I just don''t give advices, I also implement them myself. So, I have come here before embarking on my election tour, to cast my vote," said Mayawati.

In Siliguri in West Bengal, voting began amid tight security as early voters queued outside the polling booths.

Washington - Chrysler LLC hoped for a last-minute miracle to keep it out of bankruptcy as an ultimatum for the ailing US carmaker to restructure or lose the government's support was bearing down on the company Thursday.

As government-brokered negotiations between Chrysler and nearly 50 creditors went into Wednesday night, President Barack Obama offered few details but suggested the last-ditch efforts had yielded some positive results.