AFP, WASHINGTON  - US President George W. Bush announced on Saturday restrictions on imported gasoline had been suspended in response to Hurricane Ike which had forced companies to abandon oil refineries along the Texas coast.

AFP, ROME - Failing Italian airline Alitalia cannot guarantee any flights after Sunday because of lack of fuel, unions quoted special administrator Augusto Fantozzi as saying Saturday.

NY Times

As Lehman Brothers teetered Friday evening, Federal Reserve officials summoned the heads of major Wall Street firms to a meeting in Lower Manhattan and insisted they rescue the stricken investment bank and develop plans to stabilize the financial markets.

AP, NEW YORK -- Walgreen Co. made an offer late Friday to buy Longs Drug Stores Corp. for $2.8 billion, hoping to unseat a rival offer from CVS Caremark Corp. that Longs had already accepted.

AP, NEW YORK  -- Delphi Corp. and its former parent General Motors Corp. said Friday they have reached a new deal on the automaker's role in Delphi's bankruptcy that puts the supplier on track to exit Chapter 11 by the end of the year.

REUTERS, SAN FRANCISCO- US mobile phone companies have begun to see substantial returns from delivering data and not just voice, fueled by greater openness on their networks, industry leaders said on Wednesday.

Times Online

A freight train collided with a rush-hour commuter train in Los Angeles on Friday evening, killing at least 17 people and injuring scores of others, many of them critically.

Millions have fled areas near gulf

NY Times

As the sun rose over the Texas Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ike continued to whipsaw its way through Houston after lashing Galveston, leaving at least three million customers without power, streets under water and authorities poised to evaluate the extent of the damage once the storm made its way through.

AFP, POTI, Georgia - Russian troops pulled out of encampments in western Georgia on Saturday as the shooting of a Georgian policeman underlined tensions over the EU-brokered disengagement plan.

AFP, WELLINGTON - A pilot has successfully landed an aircraft in Antarctica using night-vision goggles, a feat hailed Saturday as historic and could lead to year-round flights to the frozen continent.

AFP, PARIS  - Pope Benedict XVI Saturday urged Catholics to respond to Christ's call in an open-air mass attended by some 260,000 people to celebrate his first visit to France, before leaving on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Promoter of nutritional pills drops libel action against Guardian

The Guardian Online

Matthias Rath, the vitamin campaigner accused of endangering thousands of lives in South Africa by promoting his pills while denouncing conventional medicines as toxic and dangerous, has dropped a year-long libel action against the Guardian and been ordered to pay costs.

Agencies

Jacob Zuma, the leader of the ANC overcame a big obstacle to becoming South Africa's next president yesterday when a high court judge threw out fraud and corruption charges against him.

BNP meet decides

Staff Correspondent

Khaleda Zia will head BNP for life, party leaders decided Saturday in a standing committee meeting, just two days after her release from jail.

The BNP leader said committee members also decided that last year's controversial Oct 29 standing committee meeting was illegal and annulled its decisions.

REUTERS, NEW DELHI- At least 18 people were killed and 80 injured in serial bomb blasts in New Delhi on Saturday, police said.

Desk Report

Bangladesh has condemned the serial bomb blasts that killed at least 18 people in New Delhi on Saturday, and expressed solidarity with the government in fighting terrorism.

Admits Election Commission

Staff Correspondent

The Election Commission has conceded that it may not be possible to hold upazila elections from Oct 23, as the commission has still to hold talks with BNP and the polling regulations have yet to given the all-clear by the law ministry.

Staff Reporter

A ship laden with fertiliser sank in the outer-anchorage of Chittagong port early Saturday, although no casualties were reported.

The government is considering a cut in fuel prices following the drop in global oil price, the finance and planning adviser said Saturday, reports bdnews24.com

Staff Correspondent

The first-phase of the 100-day job generation scheme is set to begin on Monday for an initial period of sixty days throughout the country, a senior government official said on Saturday.