Beijing - China plans to take more vehicles off the roads and suspend operations in more than 200 factories if air quality does not improve, the government announced Thursday, as polluted air and grey skies continued to plague Beijing one week before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games.

If the air quality forecast is "extremely unfavourable" 48 hours in advance, authorities are to consider requesting Beijing, the neighboring Tianjin municipality as well as Hebei province to carry out emergency measures, the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection said.

It was unclear whether monitoring would begin right away or 48 hours before the games are scheduled to begin on August 8.

Nicosia, July 31: In the course of this month, the Iranian Minister of Petroleum Gholamhossein Nozari announced three significant oil discoveries in the south-west of the country.

Currently, Iran is the second largest producer among the countries of OPEC, behind Saudi Arabia.

The latest discovery was made near the city of Abadan. The estimated oil-in-place amounts to 500 million barrels.

Nozari said the new oilfield would be called Arvand.

Washington - US President George W Bush will leave Monday on his ninth trip to Asia in nearly eight years in office, a White House official said.

The opening of the Beijing Olympics will be the highlight of the seven-day tour that also includes stops in South Korea and Thailand.

The president and First Lady Laura Bush will arrive on Wednesday in Seoul, said Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs in Bush's National Security Council.

Athens - An Australian tourist remained in a coma in a Greek hospital on Wednesday following an alleged beating by four nightclub bouncers on the popular Cycladic island of Mykonos, according to re

Wellington, July 30 : A new study of 42 million year old fossils in New Zealand shows a greenhouse climate with warmer seas and little or no ice in Antarctica.

The study, based on analysis of fossilised micro-organisms at Hampden Beach, near the Moeraki Boulders in North Otago, suggests that Antarctica at that time was yet to develop extensive ice sheets.

Back then; New Zealand was about 1100km further south, closer to Antarctica, at the same latitude as the southern tip of South America.

But, the researchers found that the water temperature was 23 degree Celsius – 25 degree Celsius at the sea surface and 11 degree Celsius – 13 degree Celsius at the bottom.

Dharamsala, July 30: Continuing with their protests against the Beijing Olympics, Tibetans living-in-exile here took out a candlelight vigil on Tuesday evening.

The Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement against what they see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland.

The vigil was organised by the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RTYC).

"People gathered over here to show support to the Tibetan people," said Sonam, a member of the RTYC.

The Tibetans now plan to launch a mass movement based on the principles of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent struggle under the aegis of Tibetan Youth Congress from August 7.

The Beijing Olympics begins on August 8.