Four women and five babies died when their boat sank off the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, authorities there have said.

Officials on the island, which is part of the Comoros archipelago, said 24 people were rescued from the boat, which sank after hitting a reef on the night of Saturday to Sunday.

Migrants from the neighbouring Union of Comoros, which has endured 19 coups since independence from France in 1975, regularly try to land illegally on Mayotte in the hope of finding a better life.

Dugout canoes, often overloaded with would-be migrants, frequently sink while trying to reach the French island.

Tragic reality TV star Jade Goody has left her 3 million pound fortune to her two young sons, while her widower Jack Tweed hasn't been left a penny in her will.

The 'Big Brother' star who died at the age of 27 after battling cervical cancer, set up a trust for her children, but excluded Tweed, 22, from her legacy, reported News Of The World online.

Tweed, who is currently awaiting trial for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old girl, has been given Goody's final car, worth around 14,000 pounds, but even that was a gift at the trustees' discretion.

Goody who shot to notoriety in India after racially abusing actress Shilpa Shetty on the TV show 'Celebrity Big Brother', wrote her will on her deathbed to ensure that her money is stored away for her two sons, Freddie, six, and Bobby, five.

Kavi', American director Gregg Helvey's short film about an Indian slave boy has lost out the Oscar in the Best Short Film (Live Action) category to the Danish entry 'The New Tenants'.

The 19-minute-long fictional film in Hindi, was the only India connection at this year's Oscars, as opposed to last year when the Mumbai based potboiler 'Slumdog Millionaire' bagged eight golden trophies.

'The New Tenants', a 21 minutes long Danish live action short film directed by Joachim Back, beat off competition from the other entries, 'The Door', 'Instead of Abracadabra' and 'Miracle Fish'.

The award was presented by actresses Carey Mulligan and Zoe Saldana.

US President Barack Obama has underlined his administration?s commitment to strengthen the NPT regime and seek the Congressional approval of the CTBT, ahead of a key nuclear summit here next month.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the US President and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed their resolve to lead the world?s effort to renew and revitalise the landmark NPT agreement.

They also underlined the administration's determination to seek the Congressional ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

World leaders from across the globe, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are expected to participate in the April 12-13 nuclear summit convened by Obama here.

With its USD 16.6 billion international education industry seriously hit by a series of attacks on Indian students, Australia today announced setting up of a new body to upgrade the quality of education in the country and assured safety for its overseas students.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the newly set up Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency would assure quality for domestic and international students.

"We have all watched with concern at the controversy that has developed in relation to Indian students and the issues that have been highlighted in the public debate," she was quoted as saying in 'The Australian' newspaper.

"Legitimate concerns have emerged about quality, about safety, about language competency and about the support for students in the international education sector.

Climate negotiators from around 30 nations and international organizations agreed during a two-day meeting in Tokyo that informal consultations among countries could hold the key to breaking a deadlock in formal UN negotiations to craft a new global framework to combat climate change beyond 2012, a Japanese official said.

Working-level officials from countries including China, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United States as well as the European Union agreed on "the need to explore various ways and means to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the discussions" under the UN process, according to the summary issued by Japanese and Brazilian co-chairs of the Tokyo meeting.

The United States is poised to launch today the latest in its family of high-tech meteorological satellites that watch storm development and weather conditions on Earth from high in space.

The launch window for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-P (GOES-P) will open at 0617 pm (2317 GMT) tomorrow and close an hour later, US space agency NASA said in a statement.

A Delta IV rocket will carry the satellite to its orbit around 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometres) above the Earth's surface.

From orbit, GOES-P will collect and send back to Earth data that will be used by scientists to monitor weather, make forecasts and issue warnings about meteorological incidents.

The satellite will also detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support.

The first GOES satellite was launched in 1975.

US President Barack Obama would hold a situation room meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan with his top national security team today.

The sudden announcement last night from the White House in this regard comes in wake of the arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the number two Taliban leader; and advance of the US-led forces against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Both the issues including the latest developments in the region are expected to be discussed at the meeting to be attended by Obama's top national security team.

The meeting squeezed in between a tight day schedule of the US President has been scheduled to last for an hour.

Later Obama is scheduled to have lunch with the visiting King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Despite lacklustre response from Tehran, the US is following a two-track approach on the nuclear issue and is still open to dialogue with Iran on it, a top Obama Administration official said today.

"The approach that we have been following all along is the two-track approach, and we will continue down the two-track approach," the State Department Acting Spokesman, Gordon Duguid, said.

If Iran is trying to engage in talks with the IAEA on the proposals that are on the table, the US welcomes that.

"We encourage that. That is what is on offer. There are no new offers out there as some press reports may have indicated. There is a willingness on our part to engage on international efforts to provide medical isotopes, which is what the Iranians say that they are looking for," he said.

The UN political chief, who just returned from North Korea, said today the United Nations has opened a high-level dialogue with the reclusive communist nation for the first time in six years and plans further discussions in the next few months.

Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs B Lynn Pascoe, the highest-ranking UN official to visit North Korea since 2004, did not disclose details about plans for future talks but said senior officials from one or two UN agencies planned visits to Pyongyang.

Pascoe said he had no confirmation of reports that top North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan was planning to come to the US. But he said the UN would be "delighted" to welcome any official from the North to UN headquarters in New York.