Lima  - Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori was taken out of jail and to hospital in the early hours of Friday, following a week of colic and diarrhea.

Fujimori, 70, was to remain at the National Institute of Neoplastic Illnesses (INEN) in Lima, for doctors to determine the cause of his troubles.

In nearly 18 months in prison, the former Peruvian president has been admitted to the INEN several times, including one for removal of a carcinogenic tumour in his tongue and another to remove a benign cyst from his pancreas.

Moscow  - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that the government's anti-crisis policies were not beyond criticism, welcoming policy debate while warning against social unrest in a meeting with lawmakers.

The open attitude comes in marked contrast to his predecessor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's uncompromising rule and to the Kremlin's swift moves to quell protest against the governments anti- crisis measures in recent months.

Baghdad  - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is looking forward to retiring after his term expires at the end of the year, Iraq's Buratha news agency reported on Friday, citing an interview with Iranian television.

"I think at the end of this year, my tour will be finished, and I hope to be retired, to go back home and to have time for writing my memoirs," the Iraqi president told the English-language Iranian television station Press TV in the interview broadcast Friday.

Islamabad, Mar. 13: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted at least two PML-N demands, “and modalities are being finalised to launch the reconciliation process”, Awami National Party (ANP) Chief Asfandyar Wali Khan claimed on Thursday.

Zardari, however, refused to give a timeframe for fulfilling the demands; Khan was quoted by the Daily Times, as saying.

Khan, who is playing a major role in trying to settle differences between the government and the PML-N, said he condemned the Governor’s rule in Punjab, as people’s mandate should have been respected.

London, Mar. 13: A Court of Appeal has freed Labour life peer Lord Ahmed from a 12-week jail sentence that he had got for sending and receiving text messages minutes before he was involved in a fatal motorway crash in Rotherham.

Lord Ahmed, 51, who was jailed by Sheffield Crown Court on February 25 after admitting dangerous driving, was not present for the ruling by three judges in London, reports The Times.

He had served 16 days in prison and was due to be released on March 20 under the end-of-custody license scheme.