Beijing - The death toll rose to 151 in a mudslide which buried a market and several buildings in the northern Chinese province Shanxi, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Friday.

Four days after the event, more than 3,000 rescuers, armed with spades and aided by 160 mechanical diggers, continued to search for victims buried under the heaps of dirt and mud.

Heavy rain caused a dam at a waste reservoir downstream of an illegally operating iron mine to burst, officials said earlier. About 268,000 cubic metres of mud covered an area of 30.2 hectares, destroying a market, an office building and several houses.

Islamabad - A suspected US missile strike on Friday killed at least 12 people, including women and children, in Pakistan's restive north-western tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The attack targeting a house in Tolkhel village of the North Waziristan tribal district came as the Pakistani government and people were still fuming over previous US strikes in the area.

"Initial reports say at least a dozen people were killed when a single missile fired from a US drone hit the house just before dawn," a security official said on the condition of anonymity.

A local resident, Suleman, said six of the dead were women and children. At least 10 people were injured in the strike.

Peshawar, Sep 12: Pakistani troops killed up to 100 militants in a restive northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border after the rebels ambushed a security patrol, a security official has said.

“We launched strikes against militant hideouts in Bajaur and destroyed several compounds they were using,” the official told reporters.

“According to the latest information from the area, between 80 and 100 militants were killed,” the Daily Times quoted the official, as saying.

London, Sept. 10 : New immigration laws in Britain are likely to create many hurdles for skilled workers from other countries, especially for skilled general physicians, midwives and teachers of Asian origin.

They will have to pass a number of points based hurdles before coming to the UK, including speaking English, a job offer paying more than 24,000 pounds a year and a sponsoring employer.

Under the points based system, foreigners need 70 points to enter the UK. Speaking English is worth 10 points while other points come from skill and salary levels. If the job is on the shortage list, it is worth an extra 50 points.

London - A highly-sensitive row over alleged racial discrimination in Britain's top police force escalated Tuesday with the suspension of Tarique Ghaffur, Scotland Yard's most senior Muslim officer.

Ghaffur, a Ugandan Asian who joined the force at 16 and is an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (Met), has accused the force of racial discrimination and is taking his case to an industrial tribunal.

Scotland Yard chief Ian Blair, the chief target of Ghaffur's allegations, said Tuesday that the officer's "temporary suspension" had "nothing to do" with the employment tribunal case.

Kathmandu, Sept 9: Nepali Congress has urged the government to set a national agenda to be taken up during Prime Minister Prachanda's India visit scheduled early next week through comprehensive discussions.

Kantipur quoted Nepali Congress leader Dr. Prakash Saran Mahat as saying that the government should call an all-party meeting to decide the national agenda. The Prime Minister during his bilateral talks with India should take up issues finalized through the all-party consensus.