Vienna - Western countries on Monday questioned proposed nuclear technology aid for Syria, while developing countries did not want to defer the project for the country that allegedly worked on a secret nuclear reactor, diplomats said.

In a meeting of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member states, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also defended the project that Syria applied for with his organization.

At issue is a project worth 350,000 dollars, to be spent over three years, in which the IAEA would help Syria define a suitable location for a nuclear reactor.

London, Nov 24 : A 19th century painting covered in dust, and found behind an old mattress in an attic, has turned out to be a masterpiece worth 50,000 pounds.

John Everett Millais''s portrait of Effie Gray was given to a 45-year-old woman on her ninth birthday, and kept it in her loft for years.

She came to know about the painting, when she put her house up for sale.

The painting shed light on a 150-year-old scandal of a love triangle involving Pre-Raphaelite artist Millais.

The portrait is of a woman called Effie Gray who was married to Millais'' mentor and art critic John Ruskin at the time.

Sheikh Khalifa stressed that "there will be no compromise with whatever threatens our values, our traditions and language, which are the heart of our national identity and the soul of the nation and our heritage." "Thus, we must confront the negative effects of globalisation and the defects in the make-up of our population. Any infringement of our identity is an infringement of the country itself. Simply, it is a violation of the country's sanctity", he remarked.

In this connection, he announced 2008 as the year of National Identity, to strengthen the national elements and components of our society and to specify the threats to them.

DHABI, Nov. 22nd, 2008: The UAE marks the 37th anniversary of its National Day on December 2, 2008 with adamant determination to maintain the momentum of the process of political, social and cultural empowerment which President H. H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan had launched 2 years ago.

The process builds on the rich and impressive legacy left behind by the Late Founding Father of the nation Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan whose visionary leadership speaks of itself in all fields of development.

Washington, Nov 22: The National Intelligence Council, an independent US Government body, has called Pakistan a ‘wild card’, whose northwestern territories will remain “poorly governed”, as cross-border activities continue to cause instability in nearby areas of Afghanistan.

The Global Trends reports, produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council, represents all 16 American intelligence agencies, in part to inform long-term thinking by new administrations.

The reports project various possible sequences of events in the future; the new publication notes, between dire forecasts, that “bad outcomes are not inevitable.”

United Nations, Nov 22: United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has voiced his concern over the United States’ cross-border attacks on suspected Taliban targets inside Pakistani territory.

Six people were killed in a suspected US drone strike in Bannu district on Tuesday night.

Al Qaeda terrorist Abdullah Azam Al-Saudi was believed killed in the US missile attack, the first outside the Tribal Areas of Pakistan, the Daily Times reported.