Canada is to give 100 million Canadian dollars (85 million US dollars) in aid to developing countries to tackle climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday.

At least 60 militants were killed in an air strike by Pakistan military. Militants were targeted in the Swat Valley since Friday morning, a Pakistani army official in the area said Saturday.

Prague- Counting began in the Czech Republic's regional and Senate election Saturday as polling stations closed.

Czechs were picking 27 from 81 members of the upper house, the Senate, and governments of country's 13 regions.

Both the Senate and regional governments have been controlled by the senior ruling Civic Democratic Party of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Analysts expect Topolanek's party to lose its dominance, which could affect his rule and country's ratification of EU's reform Lisbon Treaty just months before the Czech Republic's presidency of the 27-member bloc.

London, Oct 18 : A former MI5 chief, whose services superannuated 12 years ago, has said that the world’s response to the 9/11 air attacks was “huge over-reaction”, and that the US’ invasion of Iraq had “influenced” young men in Britain to take to terrorism.

She described the air attacks on US’ twin towers like “any another terrorist incident”, which, according to her, was “qualitatively different from any others”.

London, Oct 18 : Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a political movement for the re-establishment of Khilafat, banned in Pakistan but politically very active in Britain, has asked Islamabad to sever all its relations with the US and Britain, and also stop supporting Washington’s war against “the people of Afghanistan and Pakistanis living in the tribal belt”.

Its spokesmen said that the west and the US wanted to destroy Pakistan.

They said the US at the moment was “not in a position to retaliate” considering its current economic woes and its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and its saber rattling against Iran.

Lahore, Oct 18 : In a bid to train the Pakistani forces how to fight out the Taliban, the US military has begun a training effort inside Pakistan this week.