Brussels - Representatives from nearly 70 countries gathered in Brussels on Wednesday for a donors' conference designed to raise billions of dollars in aid to help Georgia recover from its August conflict with Russia.

According to a World Bank report, Georgia needs a total of 3.7 billion dollars (2.9 billion euros) in aid over the next three years. Of these, some 560 million dollars are already accounted for.

Much of the additional help is to be spent on rebuilding damaged roads, helping resettle scores of refugees and getting the economy back on track.

The European Union's executive arm, which is jointly hosting the conference with the World Bank, has already pledged up to 500 million euros in aid over a three-year period.

Indiabulls Financial Services has registered a consolidated net profit of Rs135.7 crore for the second quarter ended September, a 21.4% growth over the corresponding period year ago.

Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked Palestinian Intelligence Chief Tawfiq Tirawi, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Wednesday.

Abbas issued a presidential decree, ending Tirawi's tenure as head of the Palestinian General Intelligence and appointing him a security advisor to the president instead, Wafa said.

He informed the general of the decree Tuesday night.

Tokyo, Oct. 22: In a move that could change the geopolitical dynamics of Asia, both India and Japan have decided to create a comprehensive framework for the enhancement of security cooperation.

It will include a fight against terrorism and transnational crimes, safety of transport, cooperation between coast guards and information exchange and policy coordination on regional affairs in the Asia Pacific region and on long-term strategic and global issues.

It was also agreed that bilateral consultation would be conducted to promote counter-terrorism cooperation through joint working group between the relevant government offices including the ministries of foreign affairs.

Berlin, Oct 22 : A new research by Japanese and German scientists has determined that climate change will have different effects on lakes in warmer and colder regions of the globe.

The research was undertaken by Scientists from Hokkaido University, the Hokkaido Institute of Environmental Sciences, Kagoshima University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), who compared current measurements with measurements taken 70 years ago.

This confirmed a rise in temperatures in the deep water layers of lakes in the south of Japan, while the deep water temperatures of lakes in the north remained the same.

Rising temperatures can lead to changes in nutrient exchange and turnover in the water.

Belgrade - The new Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), a splinter of the extremist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), formally opened shop Wednesday on a promise of moderation, European Union membership, and military neutrality, wrapped in national pride.

The former acting chief of the Radicals, Tomislav Nikolic, was elected president of the new party at the founding congress Tuesday night.

His first move was to wash his hands of the belligerent extremist image - which he could not do while in a party that spearheaded extremist policies for Slobodan Milosevic's regime.