Islamabad, Aug 6 : Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is expected to leave for China today to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on Friday, and he is likely to meet US President George W Bush.

According to a statement issued by the country’s Foreign Office, leaders from several countries had confirmed their participation and Musharraf would have the opportunity to meet them on the sidelines of the opening ceremony.

Islamabad - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday called off his visit to China, hours before his departure, as the possibility of his impeachment brewed amid crucial meetings of the country's ruling coalition.

Musharraf was scheduled to leave for China in the afternoon to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and meet Chinese leaders, including Prime Minister Hu Jintao.

Tokyo - Some 45,000 people Wednesday attended the memorial ceremony to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima by the United States.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba pledged at the ceremony "to do everything in our power to accomplish the total eradication of nuclear weapons."

Akiba stressed the majority of the states across the world supported the abolition of nuclear weapons, while expressing hope that the next US president would "listen conscientiously to the majority."

Last year 170 nations voted in favour of a resolution introduced at the United Nations by Japan, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Three nations, including the United States, opposed it.

Tehran - Iran has presented its reply to an offer by world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear activities, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The reply was delivered to European Union officials by the Iranian ambassador to Brussels, Fars said without giving further details.

The offer by the five United Nations veto powers plus Germany is for far-reaching economic cooperation with Iran, including the field of civilian-sector nuclear power, in return for a pledge by Tehran to refrain from uranium enrichment activities.

On Monday, the United States warned that Iran would face new Security Council sanctions if it did not accept the offer of fresh talks and incentives.

The air line industry is facing new challenges. The global price of crude oil is increasing while number of passengers is decreasing. It is adversely affecting the growth of global aviation sector.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the aviation industry has suffered a loss of about of $6.1 billion in current fiscal as compared to loss of $5.6 billion in last year. The international aviation body released the traffic data for June. It observed that the growth rate is decreased by 0.8 percent compared to June 2007.

Emden, Germany - Some 23 people were injured when a catamaran ran into heavy seas off the north German coast, police said Tuesday.