Kathmandu - Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Saturday
left for New York to take part in the United Nations General Assembly.

The visit is his third foreign trip since he became the prime minister just over a month ago.

Dahal, a former rebel leader popularly known as Prachanda, will
address the UN General Assembly on Friday and is expected to attend the
banquet host by US President George W Bush in New York.

Speaking briefly to reporters, Dahal said he would put Nepal's views during his speech at the UN.

Washington, Sept 20 : Bats, known for their sharp-hearing, can easily pick up rustling sounds produced by its prey, even against the background noise of a highway, according to a new study.

In their study, Bjorn Siemers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, and colleagues monitored foraging bats'' responses to rustling mealworms in noisy environments and

While working with a group of young male greater mouse-eared bats, the researchers allowed individual bats to forage freely in a large soundproof room.

Washington, September 20 : A new mathematical model has shown how plant agriculture actually began much earlier than first thought, pushing back crop development by 10,000 years.

A team led by Dr Robin Allaby from the University of Warwick in the UK developed the model.

Until recently, researchers believed the story of the origin of agriculture was one of a relatively sudden appearance of plant cultivation in the Near East around 10,000 years ago spreading quickly into Europe and dovetailing conveniently with ideas about how quickly language and population genes spread from the Near East to Europe.

Washington, September 20 : An international team of astrophysicists has found and “weighed” the most massive star to date, which has a mass 116 times greater than that of the Sun.

The team was led by Universite de Montreal researchers from the Centre de recherche en astrophysique du Quebec (CRAQ).

They successfully “weighed” a star of a binary system with a mass 116 times greater than that of the Sun, waltzing with a companion of 89 solar masses, doubly beating the previous record and breaking the symbolic barrier of 100 solar masses for the first time.

Located in the massive star cluster NGC 3603, the supermassive star system, known under the name of A1, has a rotation period of 3.77 days.

Dubai - Five Dubai-based companies are among 16 firms and individuals accused by the United States of exporting items to Iran that could be used to make weapons and explosives, a news report said Saturday.

The traders are alleged to have purchased US-made "dual use" goods and transported them to Iran via the United Arab Emirates, Britain, Malaysia, Germany and Singapore, the Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper said.

While Iran is subject to UN sanctions related primarily to material used in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, it is also covered by unilateral US sanctions, which prohibit the sale of most goods of US origin to the Islamic republic.

Lahore, Sep 20 : American drones are continuing their flights over various areas of North and South Waziristan, spreading panic and fear among locals despite a warning from Pakistan not to do so.

According to Express News, the spy planes were seen flying over Ghulam Khan, Hamzoni, Ditta Khel and Mir Ali areas of North Waziristan and Angoor Adda and Mateen areas of South Waziristan.

According to the channel, the continued drone flights have increased fears among locals, already worried about the security situation in their areas.

Earlier, Pakistani security forces along with tribesmen repulsed a ground attack by US-led troops in South Waziristan.