Mexico City - Radio newsreader Alejandro Fonseca died early Wednesday following an armed attack as he was putting up posters protesting the violence that has plagued Mexico.

Late Tuesday, Fonseca had been putting up signs saying "No To Kidnappings" in the centre of Villahermosa, the capital of the state of Tabasco where his programme airs. He was shot in the chest by unknown attackers travelling in a van.

He was still alive when he was taken to hospital, where he died hours later.

Washington, Sept 24 : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that the greatest threat of terrorism against the US came from the Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

“If you asked me today where the greatest threat to the homeland lies, I would tell you it’s in western Pakistan,” the Daily Times quoted Gates as telling a US Congressional panel.

In the recent past too, US officials have said that Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters used Pakistan’s Tribal Areas a safe haven to launch attacks inside Afghanistan and plot against the US.

London, Sep 24: The US said today that an additional 14,000 troops could soon be deployed in Afghanistan, signaling the biggest military reinforcement in the country since the war began.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that up to three combat brigades, each including about 3,500 soldiers, could be sent to Afghanistan by mid-2009.

They would bolster an additional 3,700 ground troops recently promised by President Bush for January, The Times reported.

Gates warned, however, that a troop “surge” could be counter-productive in a country with a historic resistance to outsiders.

Islamabad, Sept 24 : If Pakistan intelligence officials are to be believed, the country’s security forces shot down a suspected US military drone close to the Afghan border last night. If true, it would be the first US pilot-less aircraft brought down by Pakistan.

The aircraft was reportedly hit at the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan after it made several rounds of the area for several hours. Wreckage was strewn on the ground, said the Pakistan intelligence sources.

Hamburg  - The shooting spree at a school in western Finland on Tuesday added to the growing list of bloodshed committed by students at schools and universities over the past decade. Following is a list of the bloodiest incidents:

-- September 23, 2008: Police report nine killed in a shooting spree by a gunman at a trade school in Kauhajoki, some 300 kilometres north-west of the Finnish capital Helsinki.

-- February 14, 2008: Seven people, including the gunman who shot himself dead, are killed and some 20 wounded when the former sociology student goes on a shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

Hong Kong  - Dozens of flights were cancelled Tuesday as Typhoon Hagupit, which killed at least five people in the Philippines, bore down on Hong Kong.

Schools and kindergartens were closed Tuesday afternoon, and ferry services to outlying islands were suspended as the fast-moving storm closed in on the high-rise city of 6.9 million.

Weathermen forecast the typhoon would brush past Hong Kong Tuesday evening before making landfall in southern China. A high storm signal was expected to be hoisted by 6 pm (1000 GMT) Tuesday.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority said 47 flights had been cancelled Tuesday afternoon as high winds and squally rain lashed the former British colony.