Jerusalem- The Israeli government is deeply divided ahead of a debate scheduled for Sunday on a proposed law offering compensation to Jewish settlers who leave parts of the occupied West Bank from which Israel plans to withdraw under a future peace deal.

Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon, who initiated the proposal, accused Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Thursday of adopting the position of the hardline opposition Likud party.

Livni opposes the proposal, saying it was too early to offer compensation to settlers who are willing to leave those West Bank areas now.

New Delhi, Sep 4 : Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a nationwide non-profit organization founded to protect the common national heritage, has signed an agreement with the Swiss Red Cross to secure sustainable improvement in health and well-being of Tsunami-affected communities in five villages of Puducherry.

“An agreement was signed for the well-being of Tsunami-affected communities in five villages of Puducherry in the fields of water supply, hygiene, environment and sanitation,” said S. K. Misra, Chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Working on this social aspect, INTACH has been provided with two crore and 33 lakhs of funds by the Swiss Red Cross, he added.

Washington, Sept 4 : Motorists adjust their behaviour in the presence of increasing numbers of people bicycling, according to a new study, which found that as cycling participation increases, a cyclist is far less likely to collide with a motor vehicle or suffer injury and death.

The study revealed that as cycling participation increases, a cyclist is far less likely to collide with a motor vehicle or suffer injury and death, as the motorists seem to change their behaviour and drive more safely when they see more cyclists and pedestrians around.

"It''s a virtuous cycle," said Dr Julie Hatfield, an injury expert from UNSW.

Singapore- A Singapore court sentenced retail magnate Tang Wee Sung to one day in prison and fined him 10,000 Singapore dollars (7,000 US dollars) for making a false declaration to get a kidney transplant, local media reported Wednesday.

The court also fined Tang 7,000 Singapore dollars for illegal organ trading.

Moscow - Diplomats from Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said they were pleased with a European Union decision not to impose sanctions on the Kremlin over Georgia.

Officials speaking to the Interfax news agency said the EU's choice at a crisis summit on Monday to ask Russia to remove troops in Georgia, rather than attempt to exert economic or political pressure, was a sign a majority of EU nations were seeking "a path of partnership" with Russia.

The moderate EU position on Georgia would assist "both sides in mutually-advantageous cooperation," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

London, Sept. 2 : British politicians are too scared to speak out against forced marriages in case they lose valuable Muslim votes, according to a veteran Labour parliamentarian.

Ann Cryer said politicians in areas with high Muslim populations, many of which are Labour heartlands, should be at the forefront of the campaign to stop young couples being made to wed against their will by their families.

But she claimed that some politicians are afraid to speak out on the issue in case they alienate Muslim voters.

The forced marriage unit at the Foreign Office deals with an estimated 300 cases every year, most of them involving teenage girls from Pakistani or Bangladeshi families.