London, Jan. 18 : Brit Sikh detective sergeant Gurpal Virdi is suing the Metropolitan Police Force for the fifth time after he was passed over for promotion to inspector.

His lawyers will argue that privately the Met still believes he is guilty of sending racist e-mails to his colleagues, despite two independent tribunals clearing him nine years ago.

The claim will feature in a case brought by a high profile Asian detective involved in the longest running discrimination dispute within the Met.

According to The Times, a watchdog has launched an inquiry into whether the Metropolitan Police department responsible for improving the recruitment and retention of ethnic officers is shredding damaging documents about the selection process.

Tokyo  - Demanding better job and housing security, a demonstration by 300 Brazilians and their supporters in Tokyo Sunday is just the latest sign of the impact that the global economic slowdown is having on Japan's Brazilian-based workforce.

Waving their national flags across the busy streets of central Tokyo, the demonstrators called out, "Give us a chance of employment," "Stop abandoning us" and "We don't have secured housing."

Many temporary Brazilian workers have lost jobs recently, primarily in the car and electronics industries, as Japanese exports have slumped due to the sluggish economy and the Japanese yen's gains against other currencies. Others have been informed of planned layoffs in the spring.

Dhaka  - The first visit by an Indian minister to Bangladesh since the end of a military-backed government is scheduled for February, Bangladeshi officials announced Sunday.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to visit Bangladesh in early February to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including the formation of a proposed South Asian task force against terrorism, officials said.

The task force was proposed by the new Bangladeshi government, led by Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, which took power January 6 following a landslide December victory over the military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.

Brussels  - The European Union issued a cautious reaction Sunday to the news that Russia and Ukraine had reached a deal on resuming gas supplies to Europe.

"The (European) Commission welcomes the announcement in Moscow of Prime Minister (Vladimir) Putin and Prime Minister (Yulia) Tymoshenko, and in particular the announcement that gas transit to Europe could be resumed on Monday," the EU's executive arm in Brussels said in a statement.

"But we have seen many false dawns in this dispute, and the 'test' in this case is whether or not the gas flows to Europe's consumers. Until that point, the wait goes on for Europe," the statement said.

Taipei  - Taiwan's ex-president, Chen Shui-bian, is scheduled to appear in court Monday in a corruption trial that his lawyer says is weighted against him.

"Not only that the presiding judge Tsai Shou-hsun is (biased), but most local news media are also one-sided. So the chances to win the case in the district court trial are not high," Chen's defense lawyer Cheng Wen-lung told reporters Sunday.

He said local news media have been making unfavourable reports against Chen, which Cheng believed would affect the decisions of the judge's panel.

Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt  - World leaders met in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm-al-Sheikh on Sunday to discuss means of establishing a lasting peace in Gaza, as sporadic violence continued despite a unilateral Israeli truce that took effect early Sunday.

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were chairing Sunday's summit.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will reportedly attend, as will German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul.