London  - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem Monday accused the US of "criminal and terrorist aggression" by launching a raid on civilians in which seven people, including three children, were killed.

Speaking at a news conference in London, al-Muallem urged the US government and the government of Iraq to investigate the incident and to "report back" to Syria.

The minister said the fact that the raid took place during daylight was proof that it was a "determined" attack.

London - The British government will increase public sector borrowing to speed up economic activity in order to tackle the looming recession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.

Speaking to a group of academics and industrialists in London, Brown defended his controversial plans, saying that it was "responsible" for government to boost spending and to maintain levels of investment in welfare policies.

London - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem was holding talks with is British counterpart David Miliband in London Monday, but a planned joint news conference was called off following reports of a US raid into Syrian territory, the Foreign Office said.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the press conference had been abandoned because both sides had been concerned that it would be dominated by questions about the US raid.

Commentators said it would clearly have been awkward for Miliband, as the representative of the US' principal ally in Iraq, to have appeared alongside al-Muallem at a time when Syria was condemning what it described as an act of "serious aggression" by the US.

London  - Michael Schumacher believes Lewis Hamilton could one day beat his record of seven Formula One world titles.

"I would say, absolutely, yes," the former Ferrari driver told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast later Monday.

"Nobody thought, even me, that I could beat (Juan Manuel) Fangio. Then I did. Records are there to be beaten."

London, October 27 : Sir David Attenborough would not have expected that his visit to the zoo could coincide with staid frogs rekindling their desire and doing the needful.

Much to the surprise of the Reptile House keepers, the Mission Golden-eyed Tree frogs, that had seen three years without mating, produced between 40 and 50 offspring.

The keepers revealed that they had previously tried to get the carnivorous frogs in action but had failed though Sir David’s visit seemed to have brought back the charm amongst the amphibians.

London, Oct 27 : A Nazi hunting knife once owned by the head of Adolf Hitler''s SS and Gestapo, Heinrich Himmler, will soon be going under the hammer at an auction.

The horn-handled knife is expected to fetch between 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, when it is auctioned on November 6 by of Mullocks auctioneers.

One side of the 4in blade of the knife is engraved with the signature of Himmler, and an engraved ''SS'' device on the other.

Himmler was one of the most dangerous men in Nazi Germany.