Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh), Oct. 16 : The Genda Singh sugarcane breeding and research institute in Sewari in Uttar Pradesh, which was Asia’s second prominent centre for research purposes, has per researchers working there, been a victim of neglect.

It was known for making significant contribution for development and release of new sugarcane varieties, suitable for the agro-climatic zone of the eastern Uttar Pradesh and and Bihar in the early nineties.

Spread over 286.44 acre area, this research centre has developed species like COS—8432,8436, COSE—92422 and 98237.

Tokyo - Markets across Asia plummeted on opening Thursday, dragged down by US retail sales data and concerns about whether bank bail-outs would be able to rescue financial markets and avert a recession.

The Tokyo stock market plummeted in early trading after Wall Street's blue-chip Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 8 per cent overnight amid growing recession fears in the United States and worldwide.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 911.91 points, or 9.55 per cent, to 8,635.56.

Hong Kong - Phone users in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are Asia's most enthusiastic senders of text messages, according to a survey released Thursday.

More than 97 per cent of mobile phone users in Singapore have sent text messages in the past month, followed by 96 per cent of people in Kuala Lumpur and 94 per cent of people in Seoul, the survey found.

More than 87 per cent of people in Melbourne and Sydney said they had sent texts in the past month while the region's lowest rate of text messaging were recorded by Hong Kong (85 per cent) and Bangkok (69 per cent).

The survey was conducted by the market research company Synovate, which studied the habits of more than 5,000 mobile phone users in seven Asian-Pacific markets.

Islamabad - A powerful grouping of Islamic scholars has issued a decree against suicide attacks inside Pakistan, declaring them "forbidden," media reports said on Wednesday.

However, it threatened to declare jihad (holy war) against the United States if it did not halt recently increased airstrikes in the country.

The fatwa, or edict, came on Tuesday from the Muttahida Ulema Council (United Scholars Council) which represents all schools of thought, including the minority Shiite Muslim sect.

Singapore - Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam assured the public Wednesday that the city state's banking system was not in trouble despite the current global financial crisis.

The city state's de facto central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has responded to the crisis in a measured way and as such there was no need to provide guarantees for local banks, he said.

He pointed out that confidence was still high in Singapore's financial system despite the global financial problems.

Islamabad, Oct 15: The United Nations has said that around 190,000 people have been displaced so far from the strife-torn Bajaur Agency since fighting began there in mid-August.

People are fleeing their homes here because of shelling from US-led NATO troops and Pakistani military operations targeting the Taliban militants and those providing shelter to them. A large number of innocent people, including women and children, have been killed in such strikes.