Taipei - A Chinese dissident attempting to claim asylum in Taiwan since last year asked to be repatriated on Saturday, following an unsuccessful bid for refugee status.

Cai Lujun, 40, made the request in a letter emailed to the Taiwan government. Taiwan officials have said that they would respect Cai's wish.

Cai, a former businessman in Hebei Province in China, was a jailed for three years in 2003 for criticizing the Chinese government on the internet.

On July 26, 2007, he fled to Taiwan on a fishing boat to seek asylum.

London, Oct.4: Peter Mandelson has described his return to the British Cabinet "great challenge and a great opportunity".

Speaking outside Downing Street, Mandelson said his comeback was "third time lucky", in apparent reference to his two previous spells as a Minister. He was forced out of Government under controversial circumstances in 1998 and 2001.

He added that while he and Gordon Brown had had their "ups and downs" in the past, they now "worked very well together".

Washington, October 4: U. S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin have emerged as new fashion icons, with models at Paris Fashion Week sporting their styles.

Yves Saint Laurent''s spring-summer show on Thursday saw designer Stefano Pilati send models down the runway with a variation of Palin''s signature beehive-with-bangs hairdo.

Obama also inspired a line of dresses, reports Fox News.

A model even wore a short frock featuring a portrait of the Democratic presidential candidate.

New York, Oct. 4: Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said that she disagreed with the McCain Campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

In an interview with FOX News on Friday, Palin said that she and her husband Todd would "be happy" to campaign in the economically distraught battleground state.

Palin said the decision to pull out of Michigan, which was announced Thursday, was "not a surprise" to her since polls showed McCain slipping in the state.

Madrid - The Spanish government approved four decrees on Friday aimed at recognizing the suffering of the leftist victims of the 1936-39 civil war and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

Those jailed, tortured or forced to work in labour camps, their relatives, or relatives of executed people will be able to apply for a document which gives them no monetary rights, but constitutes the first official recognition of their status as victims.

New Delhi, Oct 3 : The Union Cabinet on Friday gave its approval for revising the income criteria for “creamy layer” from the present Rs. 2.5 lakhs per annum to Rs. 4.5 lakhs per annum.

The revision of income criteria was done to exclude socially advanced persons or sections (creamy layer) from the list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs)

This action of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government gains momentum in the wake of upcoming elections in various States later this year.