New Delhi - India is working on a policy for cooperation between world navies to deal with the increasing threat of piracy on the high seas, Defence Minister AK Antony said Friday.

Sea piracy has been a cause of growing concern for India with Somalian pirates holding hostage 18 Indian sailors on board a Japanese-owned merchant vessel for more than six weeks.

The International Maritime Bureau said 30 ships have been hijacked for ransom off Somalia in 2008.

"We cannot allow the situation to continue," Antony was quoted as saying by the PTI news agency after a conference of naval commanders in New Delhi. "There should be a solution to this. We must put a stop to this kind of piracy, so India is very much concerned."

Johannesburg - The deadlocked negotiations between Zimbabwe's rival political leaders should focus on providing justice and relief to the victims of political violence - and not just politics, Amnesty International said Friday in Johannesburg.

Presenting a report on recent human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, the London-based rights watchdog pointed out that no one had been held accountable for the campaign of state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters in the wake of March elections.

Over 120 people were killed and thousands reportedly injured and displaced in attacks by ruling party militia and the military to avenge President Robert Mugabe's defeat by the Movement for Democratic Change.

London, Oct 31: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week’s election, amid concerns that many of his supporters are harbouring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

The sudden financial crisis and the prospect of a deep and painful recession have increased the urgency inside the Obama team to bring people down to earth, after a campaign in which his soaring rhetoric and promises of hope and change are now confronted with the reality of a stricken economy.

Srinagar, Oct 31: Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda has said that all possible security arrangements would be made to ensure smooth conduct of seven-phase elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

After reviewing the security arrangements in Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama district, Khoda said the candidates contesting the forthcoming assembly polls will be provided adequate security,

He said all required measures will be taken to ensure the security of the public and venue of public meetings to be addressed by various political parties.

Washington, Oct 31: Republican presidential hopeful John McCain’s supporters are hoping for a “Bradley effect” bounce on the Election Day, but some pollsters and strategists say they may have another thing coming that is: Bandwagon effect.

Berlin - Germany's new agriculture and consumer affairs minister, Ilse Aigner, 43, was formally appointed Friday as part of a shake-up in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative camp.

She received her commission from German President Horst Koehler.

Aigner was nominated by her predecessor, Horst Seehofer, who has moved to Bavaria state to become its premier and leader of the Bavaria-only party Christian Social Union (CSU).

Aigner has been a CSU member of federal parliament in Berlin since 1998.