Washington, Nov 21: Terror outfit al Qaeda could soon be on the decline, having alienated Muslim supporters with indiscriminate killing and inattention to the practical problems of poverty, unemployment and education, according to a new study by American intelligence.

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 New York Times reported.

New Delhi, Nov 20 :Global economic crisis has evoked mixed response from the Indian companies.

Though the slump is felt in India and the heat has impacted various sectors, still many entrepreneurs have expressed optimism about overcoming the current recession.

According to reports the Indian economy is likely to expand by 7.4-7.8 per cent during 2008-09 fiscal year, slower than nine per cent of last year, as credit crunch and global downturn trims growth.

Washington, Nov 20 : Researchers from Rutgers University, Newark have provided fresh evidence that violent media does impact adolescent behaviour.

Lead researcher Paul Boxer has revealed that even when other factors are considered, such as academic skills, encounters with community violence, or emotional problems, “childhood and adolescent violent media preferences contributed significantly to the prediction of violence and general aggression.”

Exposure to media violence still remains a ‘critical risk factor’ for aggression in adolescents.

Brussels - The International Trade Union Confederation ITUC said Thursday that 91 trade unionists were murdered around the world in 2007, with the most dangerous country continuing to be the Central American state of Colombia.

In its 2008 Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations, the ITUC said that 39 unionists were killed in Colombia.

Second-worst was Guinea, the ITUC said, with its report accusing the regime of President Lansana Conte for being directly responsible for the killing of 30 unionists in a brutal repression of union- organised demonstrations against corruption and violations of fundamental rights.

Jerusalem  - Israel will boycott the United Nations conference against racism to be held in April in Geneva, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni announced Wednesday.

Israel will not participate and will not legitimize the "Durban 2" Conference, she told North American Jewish community leaders assembling in Jerusalem.

The country threatened already earlier this year to boycott the event, if like the previous UN anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa of 2001 it would again focus excessively on the Jewish state to the exclusion of human rights violations elsewhere in the world.

Vienna- Satellite images and uranium particles found in the Syrian desert by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could point to a secret nuclear programme, although the agency stressed in its latest report Monday that no conclusions could be drawn yet.

In a report released to IAEA members, the agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that satellite images taken before and after the al-Kibar site was bombed by the Israeli air force in September 2007 "are similar to what may be found in connection to a reactor site."