Copenhagen  - A Tunisian national held on suspicion of planning to murder a Danish newspaper cartoonist will not be deported. However, his movements will be restricted, news reports said Tuesday.

The Danish Refugee Appeals Board ruled that the man risked possible mistreatment or other degrading punishment if sent back to Tunisia.

The man was one of two Tunisians arrested in February after the Danish security and intelligence service PET said it had uncovered a plot to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

Copenhagen - A Danish district court on Tuesday convicted two men of planning a terror attack and manufacturing explosives.

The two, aged 22 and 21, were arrested in September 2007 in Copenhagen.

During the proceedings it emerged that the Danish security intelligence service (PET) had kept them under surveillance for several months.

The PET had been tipped off that the older suspect had visited an alleged al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan and installed a secret camera in his flat. The men's phone conversations were also tapped.

Police also seized a hand-written manual that bomb experts said described how to make explosives.

The men allegedly tried to make the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP).

Copenhagen/Reykjavik  - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday indicated that Nordic neighbours of Iceland were preparing to help the North Atlantic state financially.

Iceland has been hammered by the financial turmoil and its main commercial banks have been nationalized by the state.

Speaking to foreign correspondents in Copenhagen, Rasmussen declined to spell out details but said the neighbouring Nordic states were prepared to offer "more than just moral" help.

Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden along with Iceland belong to the Nordic Council organization.

India attained 50th place in the annual Global Competitiveness 2008-09 ranking. It was at 48th place last year. The list is compiled by the World Economic Forum with its network of Partner Institutes in various countries. 

China has improved its ranking and got 30th spot in the latest list. It attained highest rank among the BRIC economies. US topped the list of 134 countries. The country got the first rank despite financial crisis in the economy.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday approved a Danish plan for restoring confidence to the country's financial sector, saying that it was the "most appropriate" response.

"The scheme would provide liquidity facilities for banks operating in Denmark and protect depositors and ordinary creditors in case of insolvency," the EU's executive body, the European Commission, said in a statement.