Kathmandu, Oct 7: Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has claimed that he will bring the party back to its pre-election form within just three months.

Speaking to party workers here on Monday, Koirala said he was confident that the party would regain its lost strength within that time.

He said that he was not yet ready to transfer leadership to what is known within the Congress party as second generation, saying he would not retire unless the party regained its old form.

London, Oct. 7: British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced that the Gordon Brown Government will undertake a nationwide assessment of how ethnic minorities are treated by the police during recruitment drives as the race row surrounding the Metropolitan force continues.

According to The Mirror, Smith said that Police Minister Vernon Coaker would carry out a rapid, two-week examination of the recruitment and promotion prospects of minorities.

Brussels - Baroness Catherine Ashton on Monday formerly assumed her duties as the European Union's new trade commissioner following Peter Mandelson's return to British politics.

"I am delighted and very proud to have been asked to serve as commissioner, to be a part of the European response to the global challenges we face," Ashton said shortly after her appointment.

An economics graduate, the 52-year-old British Labour politician will represent the EU in negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Bangkok - Thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched on the Thai Parliament Monday from Government House, which they have held hostage since August 26.

PAD leaders said they would lay siege to parliament to block a new move to amend the constitution, expected to be initiated this week when a new cabinet under recently appointed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat is scheduled to announce its policies.

The PAD is a loose coalition of groups opposed to the return to power of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup on September 19, 2006.

Harare/Johannesburg - Hopes for an end to Zimbabwe's drawn- out political crisis were dashed again Monday when the pro-democracy Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dismissed reports that talks to settle the details of a power-sharing agreement signed with President Robert Mugabe three weeks ago were to resume immediately.

London, Oct. 6 : The British Government has decided to abandon its proposal to hold terrorist suspects for 42 days after being told that it will be defeated in the House of Lords.

Ministers have privately admitted that there is not “a cat in Hell’s chance” of the legislation being passed into law when it returns to the House of Lords this week.

The Government has decided against using the Parliament Act to force the measure through after peers reject it, The Times has learnt.

That decision will effectively confine the controversial proposal — which the Prime Minister fought tooth and nail to get through a Commons vote in June — to the legislative dustbin.