Ankara - Search and rescue teams Thursday were scouring snow-covered mountains in central Turkey for of a helicopter crash with hopes of finding any of the six on board alive falling fast.

The private helicopter carrying Muhsin Yazicioglu, leader of Islamist far right Grand Unity Party (BBP), crashed in the province of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday afternoon.

Amman/Vatican - Pope Benedict XVI is to visit Jordan's largest mosque and meet with Islamic scholars during his four-day trip to the country starting May 8 at the invitation of King Abdullah II, the royal court announced Thursday.

During his visit to the mosque named after the late King Hussein Bin Talal, the pontiff will also meet with heads of the Jordanian universities and members of the diplomatic corps in Amman, the royal court statement said.

Mumbai, Mar 26 : The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex on Thursday crossed 10,000-points marks for the first time since January 2009.

At 3 p. m., Sensex was at a high of 10,010.42 points, up 3.54 percent or 342.52 points.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty also rose by 73.95 points to 3058.30 points.

The BSE Midcap Index was up 1.27 per cent and the BSE Smallcap Index rose 0.8 per cent.

Windhoek - Growing competition for business between local companies and Chinese investors that allegedly flout labour laws is stoking tensions in Namibia, a research institute in the south-west African state has warned.

Namibia's Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Thursday cited the independent Labour Research Institute (LARRI) as sounding the alarm over what it called "unacceptable" working conditions in Chinese companies.

Tehran - Iran on Thursday confirmed its attendance at the regional conference aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan to be held on March 31 in The Hague, local media reported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi however said that the level of the Iranian delegation has not yet been clarified as Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is being on a trip abroad.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier this month that it was expected that Iran would be invited to the conference.

Belgrade - Serbian parliament on Thursday approved a law against discrimination, despite objections from the Serbian Orthodox Church, conservatives and nationalists.

The 250 member parliament passed the law with 127 votes in favor and 59 against. The remaining deputies did not attend the session.

The law bans discrimination based on race, gender, national, social, ethnic, religious or sexual orientation.