Vilnius - President-elect of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite said Monday that her main diplomatic efforts would be "development of a balanced foreign policy" and "helping to democratise the neighbourhood."

The outgoing European Union Financial Planning and Budgets Commissioner, who returned to her homeland to contest the presidency, also said she would aim to increase EU investment in the country and predicted Lithuania would adopt the euro as its currency some time between 2012 and 2015.

Gearing up to launch the rival to the Apple App Store, Microsoft asked the developers to register Windows Mobile applications that they look to sell through its upcoming application store. Microsoft made the announced during its TechEd 2009 technical developers conference in Los Angeles last week.

In a blog post earlier last week, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team wrote, "Developers can now register to participate in Windows Marketplace for Mobile."

Mosul, Iraq - An Iraqi policeman was killed and three civilians were wounded when a suicide bomber targeted the home of the governor of a northern Iraqi province, Baghdad's Buratha news agency reported Monday.

Citing local police, it said a man detonated explosives packed into his car 150 metres away from the home of Athil al-Najifi, governor of Iraq's northern Nineveh province, in downtown Mosul, some 400 kilometres north of Baghdad. The governor was apparently unharmed.

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's ruling party won a resounding majority of votes in the country's inaugural provincial, municipal and district council elections held Sunday, according to preliminary results announced Monday.

Figures released by the National Election Committee (NEC) revealed Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won just over 75 per cent of votes in the provincial and municipal elections, while the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) received about 20 per cent of votes.

London, May 18 : Just when the squabbling Gallagher brothers-Liam and Noel-started on their usual bickering during their recent tour, they have found a way to tolerate each other-their common liking for luxury Gran Patron tequila in South America.

The `Oasis' stars have stopped bickering after discovering the posh Mexican tequila.

Currently on tour in Brazil, the brother duo has become hooked on the 1,500 pounds-a-bottle spirit, ever since they realised that they could gulp down dozens of shots without any ill-effects the next day.

Washington, May 18 : Looks like the economic slump has not even left Mischa Barton untouched, for the actress' new film has been stalled because of the lack of money with the makers to distribute the film.

In `Assassination Of A High School President', the 23-year-old actress appears alongside Bruce Willis, but the film requires some investment before a release date is set.

Barton has even claimed that the credit crunch has even led the movie distributors, Yari Film Group, to file for bankruptcy.

Washington, May 18 : Actress Emily Blunt has pulled out of a film in which she was paired opposite British comic Russell Brand, as the sex scenes between the duo were too explicit.

The `Devil Wears Prada' star was to play Brand''s love interest in `Get Him To The Greek', which is currently being filmed in Las Vegas.

However, according to Britain''s Mail on Sunday newspaper, the 26-year-old actress was scared that the intimate love scenes could tarnish her reputation and thus turned down the role.

Kabul - A younger brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed after an attack on his convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, but one of his bodyguards was killed in the ambush.

Ahmadi Wali Karzai, who is head of the provincial council of southern Kandahar province, said that he was returning from eastern Nangarhar province when his convoy came under rocket and machine gun fire in Sorobi district on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.

London, May 18 : Katie Price a. k. a Jordan and her estranged husband are reportedly set to meet this week - to discuss the future care of their three children.

The couple, who announced their separation after nearly four years of marriage, will meet to discuss who will care for Harvey, seven, Junior, three, and Princess Tiaami, one, reports the Mirror.

Following the shock split announcement, Katie fled to the Maldives while Pete has been spending time with family in Cyprus.

Vienna - The basket price of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gained slightly and settled at 56.37 dollars on Friday, the cartel announced Monday.

After dipping towards the end of last week, the price for one barrel (158 litres) of OPEC-produced crude oil inched upwards by 0.38 dollars on Friday.

OPEC's 12 member countries produce over a third of the world's crude oil.

Sydney - An acid attack on two Sinhalese students in Sydney allegedly perpetrated by Tamils showed racial tension between Sri Lanka's major ethnic groups had spilled over into Australia, a community leader said Monday.

"It was a Sinhalese house that got broken into by these Tamil extremists," Sinhalese community leader Pryanka Bandara said. "It's definitely racially motivated."

She alleged Australia's Tamils were upset that the 32-year Tamil Tiger insurgency, which some of them had helped bankroll, had failed.

New Delhi - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigned Monday and is set to form a new government after his Indian National Congress party won a decisive victory in general elections.

Earlier, the federal cabinet held its last meeting and all ministers submitted their resignations to Singh, who handed his own letter and those of his cabinet to President Pratibha Patil.

The cabinet also passed a resolution appreciating Singh's leadership and his work over the past five years.

Colombo - The leader of the Tamil rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who waged war against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years, has been killed by the army, army sources said Monday.

Washington, May 18 : U. S. President Barack Obama has revealed that he is presently reading a book by Joseph O''Neill, titled `Netherland'.

He has revealed that reading the book for a half hour forms part of his daily schedule-which includes morning workouts, office work, and spending time with his family.

Brussels - European Union foreign ministers Monday called for fresh sanctions against Myanmar and urged regional players such as China to put pressure on the country's regime to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The meeting in Brussels came as Burma's pro-democracy icon went on trial in Yangon for allegedly breaking the terms of her house arrest.

"We are ready to discuss the reinforcement of sanctions," said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, ahead of the meeting.

Washington, May 18 : Sean Penn is in negotiations to star in `This Must Be the Place'.

The film marks the first English-language feature from Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino.

Penn is slated to play rock star who becomes bored in his retirement and sets about finding the man who killed his father.

The killer just happens to be an ex-Nazi war criminal who is hiding in the U. S.

Sorrentino co-wrote the screenplay with Umberto Contarello, reports the Variety.

Johannesburg - A last-minute attempt by South African trade unions to prevent British telecoms giant Vodafone gaining control of local mobile phone operator Vodacom failed at the weekend.

A court on Sunday dismissed an application by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to prevent fixed-line operator Telkom selling a 15-per-cent stake in Vodacom to Vodafone. The 20.95- billion-rand (2.4 billion dollars) deal, one of the biggest foreign investments in South Africa to date, gives Vodafone control of Vodacom.

Colombo, May 18 : Liberation of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has reportedly been shot dead along with his son Charles Antony and other Tiger commanders.

Unofficial reports said Prabhakaran was ambushed and shot dead while trying to flee Special Forces who closed in on the last rebel fortification.

A Sri Lankan military spokesman said that there has been no identification of Prabhakaran as yet.

There were reports that only DNA verification would confirm Prabhakaran's death, as he was known to move around with two doubles.

Singapore - Singapore's non-oil exports dropped by 19 per cent in April compared with one year earlier, after a decline by 17 per cent in the previous month, the government said Monday.

Shipments of electronic goods fell by 26 per cent in April year-on-year largely due to lower demand for computer parts and disk drives, the city-state's trade promotion agency, International Enterprise Singapore said.

Exports of non-electronic goods decreased by 15 per cent in April 2009 compared with a year ago, led by reduced exports of petrochemicals or pumps.

Islamabad, May 18 : Terming the suicide attacks and incidents of beheading carried out by the militants as `un-Islamic, leading Ulemas' of Pakistan have said that militants in Swat and FATA were pursuing an agenda similar to What the enemies of the country were doing.

Several Ulema and Mashaikh from different parts of the country assembled here for a convention after which a unanimous resolution was passed which termed the suicide attacks as `Haram', the Dawn reports.