Seoul - North Korea's state-run Central Television Saturday released pictures of leader Kim Jong Il inspecting a miliary unit in an attempt to refute speculation over his alleged illness, a South Korean media report said.

Kim, who is said to be recovering from a stroke or brain surgery, was shown in 10 photographs inspecting a women's army unit and watching them undergo weapons' training, the Yonhap news agency said. The images were the first of Kim shown in 58 days.

In what seemed to be a surprise for many, poltical party TDP announced its plan to form a separate state of Telangana from the present province, Andhra Pradesh. The news was quite unexpected as the same party has been working for years to prevent Andhra from being bifurcated.

The TDP Chief, Chandrababu Naidu on its changed stance commented on Thursday that, "The Core committee has decided this on basis of the sentiment of the Telangana people. They have recommended a separate Telangana."

New York - Serbia on Wednesday asked the UN General Assembly to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the 192-nation assembly that sending the request to the ICJ at The Hague would "prevent the Kosovo crisis from serving as a deeply problematic precedent in any part of the globe where secessionist ambitions are harboured."

Washington - As Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain prepare for the second presidential debate on Tuesday, their campaigns have taken on a nastier tone on the airwaves and over the internet.

Obama revived McCain's role in the savings and loans scandal of the late 1980s and early 1990s, while the Arizona senator's campaign called Obama "dangerous" and emphasized his meeting in 1995 with a member of a radical 1960s anti-Vietnam war group.

Kabul  - The Afghan government began voter registration Monday ahead of a presidential election slated for autumn 2009 despite the country's worsening security situation as it battles a Taliban-led insurgency.

The Independent Election Commission said it started the first phase of the registration process in 15 central and eastern provinces, adding that it would take up to four months to cover the country.

London, Oct. 4 : Police chiefs in Britain are reported to have approached their superiors through the Association of Chief Police Officers, and told them to keep them free from “unwarranted political pressures”.

The Times quoted Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, as saying that senior officers were extremely concerned that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s sudden departure from Scotland Yard had “fundamentally altered the perception of policing independence”.