London, August 7 : A treasure hunter, using a metal detector, has discovered a pure gold cross dating from the 7th century, which is worth at least 25,000 pounds.

The anonymous finder discovered the 1,400-year-old cross 12 inches beneath the sod on a farm in Nottinghamshire.

The specific location is being kept secret for fear that so-called Nighthawks will descend on it in case there is anything else to be found.

London, August 7 : German researchers have written a piece of software that enables robots to “learn” to move through trial and error.

Ralf Der, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MPI-MIS) in Leipzig, has revealed that the software mimics the interconnected sensing and processing of a brain in a so-called "neural network".

London, Aug. 7 : British troops deployed at the airport outside Basra when American units and thousands of Iraqi reinforcements arrived in March to launch an attack on Shia extremists in the city were itching to join in, but were prevented from doing so.

The Times quoted Brigadier Julian Free, the commander of 4 Mechanised Brigade, as saying that the troops wanted to be a part of the operation “to help the Iraqis”, but an order from Defence Secretary Des Browne stopped them from moving in.

London, Aug 7 : Austrian incest fiend Josef Fritzl''s crimes may never be known to the public because his trial will be heard in secret, it has emerged.

Daughter Elisabeth, 42, will testify against 73-year-old Fritzl behind closed doors to protect the six surviving children she bore him.

Elisabeth, who was imprisoned as a sex slave for 24 years below the family home, has already given a full statement to Austrian prosecutors about her ordeal, but her children have not, reports the Mirror.

Prosecutors are investigating whether it is possible to spare them the ordeal and if Elisabeth''s testimony is enough to lock up her father for the rest of his life.

London, Aug. 7 : Thailand’s former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has dismissed reports that he wants to sell the Manchester City football club due to financial difficulties.

Expressing his dismay over the way talks with potential commercial and business partners have been interpreted, Shinawatra, who has been charged with corruption back in Thailand, said that there was no truth to rumour that he was engaged in a sell out.

London, Aug. 7: British secret service agents played a key role in capturing fugitive Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, it was revealed yesterday.

According to The Sun, the agents tracked him down in Belgrade after being tipped off to his whereabouts by an informer.

Serb sources claimed a two-and-half million bounty placed on Karadzic’s head had been paid into a secret bank account in the British Virgin Islands by the US anti-terrorist network Reward For Justice.

And a Serb paper quoted a UK diplomatic source saying: “On the day of Karadzic’s arrest, secret service officials told me their informer had been paid and the operation carried out.”