Vienna - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed Elbaradei warned Monday in Vienna that the agency's ability to carry out its core work was at risk unless funding was increased.

As member states of the Vienna-based agency have hardly raised its budget since the early 1980s, some areas of work, such as the prevention of nuclear terrorism, are being funded through special contributions by individual countries.

Warsaw  - An OSCE report launched Monday paints a "bleak picture" and shows "considerable gaps" in improving the situation of the Roma and Sinti people across Europe, officials said at an annual conference in Warsaw.

"The situation has not improved as much as hoped and expected" after the 56-member states adopted an action plan in 2003, said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. "There are still major steps to be taken to reach an acceptable level of implementation in our region."

Vienna - An international institute to work on the improvement of global nuclear security practices was launched in Vienna Monday, funded by the Unites States and the Nuclear Threat Initiative organization.

The World Institute for Nuclear Security will provide a forum for experts, industry and government officials to discuss standards for protecting nuclear materials from criminals or terrorists.

"The world can't afford to wait for a security Chernobyl before we act," said former US Senator Sam Nunn, who chairs the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative together with CNN founder Ted Turner.

London  - The so-called "war on terror" launched by the United States after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington has failed to weaken the global terrorist network of al-Qaeda, an international poll published by the BBC Monday has found.

According to the survey, conducted among 24,000 adults in 23 countries, 29 per cent of those asked said the campaign launched by President George W Bush had had "no effect" on the Islamist militant network.

On average 22 per cent believed that al-Qaeda had been weakened, but 29 per cent thought the US policies had actually "strengthened" al-Qaeda, according to the GlobeScan survey.

London, Sept. 29 : Bungling Customs agents employed illegal immigrants as guards to defend Britain’s borders.

According to the Daily Express, a total of seven immigrants lied their way into security jobs at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) with forged documents last year.

The dodgy staff worked for a contractor that guarded customs buildings before they were collared in December.

Since then one of the workers has been arrested, five have resigned and the other is on maternity leave while her immigration status is investigated.

The contractor was used until April this year, when the UK Border Agency took over.

The embarrassing revelations were exposed after a Freedom of Information request.

New Delhi, Sep 29: India and Russia today agreed to extend the term of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) for another ten years -- till 2020, leading to a further strengthening of ties between both countries.

Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov today met his Indian counterpart A K Antony for one-to-one talks and later co-presided over a session of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission for Military-Technical Cooperation.

Antony termed today’s meeting of the IRIGC-MTC as very successful, and was hopeful of it having a positive outcome.