Washington  - Newspapers on Monday published the first photographs of the flag draped casket of a killed member of the military being returned to the United States since a ban on the images went into effect in 1991.

A military honour guard was seen carrying the casket of Air Force Staff Sergeant Phillip Myers off an airplane at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware late Sunday. He was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Zurich  - Four key central banks have agreed to provide foreign currency to the Federal Reserve so that it can pump liquidity into financial institutions in need of capital, the Swiss National Bank said Monday.

Should the need arise, the Fed would be able to access euro, yen, sterling and Swiss francs through the new swap agreements, which come on top of previous commitments, with the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank.

Washington - The United States will push for more restrictions on tourism to the North and South Poles to protect the regions' natural environment, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

Opening a nearly two-week summit bringing together the two diplomatic bodies that govern the Arctic and Antarctic, Clinton warned that protecting the region was crucial for reducing global climate change.

The bigwig information technology service provider HCL Technologies has signed a $100 million six-year transformation deal with document management firm, Xerox Corporation, for the outsourcing of data-center services. The two companies already entered into a partnership in November, according to which HCL would facilitate companies in the incorporation of Xerox's manage print services into their systems.

New York, Apr 6 : When American actress Lindsay Lohan made an impromptu appearance at Lily Allen's concert at the weekend, she even surprised the Brit singer herself.

Allen, 23, later recalled the incident to television host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

"That was a complete surprise," the New York Daily News quoted Allen as saying.

Lohan, 22, had walked up to Allen during her performance of Britney Spears' `Womanizer', given her a hug, and briefly shook her hips.

New York, Apr 6 : Chris Brown is in "intense" negotiations on a plea deal over his alleged beating of girlfriend Rihanna, according to a source.

The R `n' B star has to appear in court on April 6, where he will either plead not guilty to two felony counts that arose from the violent incident, or ask to have the arraignment postponed again, said the source.

"It''s expected to be resolved at some point soon. Rihanna wants it resolved as well," the New York Daily News quoted the source as saying.