New Delhi, Sept. 15 : Asian Centre for Human Rights urged the visiting Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda to protect the rights of the Tibetan refugees in Nepal and refrain from refoulement of any Tibetan refugee to China.

About 30 percent of the 20,000 Tibetan refugees living in four camps in Pokhara, Nepal who entered Nepal illegally or were never granted a refugee certificate face imprisonment and deportation in an attempt to satisfy China. Altogether 132 Tibetan activists have been arrested since 9 September 2008.

Singapore - Fear of a virus attack and data loss are prompting firms in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt disaster recovery plans, a survey said on Monday.

Conducted by Symantec Corporation, the survey shows that 42 per cent of the firms queried worry about a virus attack and 41 per cent fear data loss.

Natural disasters emerged as the next biggest headache spurring disaster recovery investment at 31 per cent, followed by accidental or malicious employee behaviour at 
30 per cent.

The survey included more than 1,000 IT professionals globally. Nearly 30 per cent of the respondents were from the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Malaysia and Singapore.

Islamabad, Sep 13 : Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Lou chi Hoi is pressing the Pakistani Government to make efforts for the release of two kidnapped Chinese engineers after the abductors said they would exchange the engineers for 15 Taliban militants.

In a press statement issued on Friday, the Chinese Embassy urged the government to hold peaceful negotiations with the abductors.

Foreign Office Spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in constant contact with the Chinese Embassy.

He also said that the Interior Ministry was seeking a peaceful solution to the issue and had assured them that the engineers would be recovered soon.

Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 13: A 21-year-old Indian national is facing a death sentence here for carrying drugs in the false bottom of his aluminium suitcase.

Alarm bells went off for customs officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang after they emptied the bag and found a false bottom in which five kg of ketamine powder worth RM175,000 were hidden.

The New Strait Times said that Customs deputy director-general Mardina Alwi and her officers stopped the man after they noted that the suitcase he was carrying seemed heavy and that he was having difficulty managing it.

New Delhi - At least 14 people were killed and 20 injured when a passenger bus plunged into a deep gorge in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, a news report said Friday.

The accident occurred in the Nellore district about 600 kilometres south-east of state capital Hyderabad on Thursday night.

Police told the IANS news agency that the bus, which was carrying 70 people from an extended family, fell into a 100-foot-deep gorge and got struck in trees.

Kabul - The US-led coalition said Friday that its forces killed more than 10 Taliban militants and detained two in operations targeting two rebel commanders in eastern Afghanistan.

The militants were killed Thursday in a raid against a Taliban subcommander in the Tag Aab district of the north-eastern province of Kapisa, the US military said in a statement.

"Coalition forces were engaged with small-arms fire from multiple groups of armed militants as they entered a compound," it said, adding, "The force returned fire, killing the militants."