European stock markets traded mixed on Monday amid public holidays in Germany and France, in the wake of Italian economic data and following a strong start to the new week for Asian equity prices.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped 0.04 percent to stand at 6,720.45 points in midday deals.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 grew 0.46 percent to 8,436.66 points and in Paris the CAC 40 index climbed 0.26 percent in value to 4,011.1.

On Friday, the market in Paris had jumped above 4,000 points for the first time since July 2011 as traders went bargain-hunting.

European markets diverged on Monday "following another record finish in US markets on Friday and an upbeat session in Asia overnight", said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at traders ETX Capital.

"Volume today however is on the light side due to... (the public) holiday in Germany and France."

Milan's main index dropped 0.69 percent to 17,481.19 points as official data revealed industrial orders in Italy plunged by 10 percent in March on a

A suicide bomber struck outside government buildings in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing 14 people including a local politician in the latest attack to target provincial officials.

Emergency services rushed to the scene and took the wounded to hospital after the bomber, who was wearing police uniform, blew himself up next to Rasoul Mohseni, the head of Baghlan's provincial council.

Also among the dead were seven police guards and several other people waiting to speak to Mohseni, who was walking into the government offices in Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, when he was killed.

"I collected information from different hospitals and the death toll is 14. Another nine people are wounded," Zubair Akbary, the provincial public health director, told AFP.

Police said the bomber, who was on foot, had targeted Mohseni -- the head of Baghlan provincial council, an elected body in each of Afghanistan's 34 provinces that liaises between residents and the local government.

"The

Two days of bombings, attacks on police and a botched hostage rescue killed 50 people in Iraq, among them 24 police who died as security sharply deteriorates in Anbar province, officials said Monday.

Anbar, to the west of Baghdad, is home to two of the main centres of Sunni anti-government protests that broke out almost five months ago, and has since seen a number of attacks on security forces.

Tensions are festering between the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and Iraqi Sunnis who accuse authorities of marginalising and targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.

A wave of bomb attacks across Iraq killed at least 26 people on Monday, security and medical officials said.

Two car bombs exploded in the main southern port city of Basra, killing 13 people and wounding 48, while at least eight bombs hit Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 102.

In Samarra, north of Baghdad, a car bomb killed

Fierce competition for water could trigger conflict unless nations cooperate to share the diminishing resource, leaders from Asia-Pacific nations warned Monday.

From Central to Southeast Asia, regional efforts to secure water have sparked tensions between neighbours reliant on rivers to sustain booming populations.

Breakneck urbanisation, climate change and surging demand from agriculture have heaped pressure on scarce water supplies, while the majority of people in Asia-Pacific still lack access to safe water despite strong economic growth.

"There could be a fight over resources," Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra cautioned in an address to a regional water security forum in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

"No country in this region can handle these challenges alone," she said, hailing forums such as the Asia-Pacific Water Summit as the route to satisfying countries' thirst peacefully.

A Thai firm is behind a controversial dam over the Mekong river in Laos, a project

A Syrian government assault on the rebel bastion of Qusayr raged into a second day on Monday, with at least 23 members of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah reportedly killed as they fought alongside the army.

The battle began on Sunday, when government troops backed by regime ally Hezbollah stormed the western town, a strategic prize in the country's two-year conflict.

The fighting has raised fears of a "massacre" and cast a shadow over US-Russian efforts to organise a peace conference to discuss a political solution to the war.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting had left at least 56 rebels dead, six of them on Monday, and four civilians, including one woman.

"Reliable sources informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that 23 members of Hezbollah's elite forces were killed and more than 70 others wounded in clashes in the town of Qusayr yesterday," said the Britain-based group.

A source close Hezbollah told AFP at least 20 members had been killed in

MELAKA, 20 Mei (Bernama) -- Seorang pengawal keselamatan di sebuah kem

Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN) di Alor Gajah ditahan bagi membantu

siasatan kehilangan lebih 200 unit telefon bimbit milik pelatih di kem itu,

membabitkan kerugian kira-kira RM57,000.

Ketua Polis Melaka Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye berkata lelaki berusia 40 tahun itu

ditahan di rumahnya di Kota, Rembau, Negeri Sembilan pada 10 malam Sabtu lepas.

Beliau berkata lelaki terbabit sebelum itu membuat laporan polis pada

14 Mei lepas berhubung kehilangan telefon bimbit tersebut yang disimpan dalam

loker simpanan di kem berkenaan.

"Polis bagaimanapun mencurigai tindakan dan laporan yang dilakukan lelaki

berkenaan sebelum menahannya bagi membantu siasatan kes itu," katanya ketika

dihubungi di sini, hari ini.

Katanya lelaki terbabit kini ditahan reman selama empat hari bermula semalam

bagi membantu siasatan.

Kesemua telefon bimbit milik pelatih diserahkan kepada jurulatih kem

berkenaan untuk disimpan dalam loker

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Mei (Bernama) -- Pharmaniaga Bhd menandatangani perjanjian

usaha sama (JV) dengan Modern Healthcare Solutions Company Ltd bagi menubuhkan

dan mengurus syarikat JV liabiliti terhad di Arab Saudi.

Apabila syarikat JV itu ditubuhkan, Modern-Pharma Ltd, setiap pihak akan

memiliki 50 peratus kepentingan ekuiti dalam modal saham, kata Pharmaniaga

dalam makluman kepada Bursa Malaysia hari ini.

"Tempoh JV syarikat itu ialah selama 15 tahun mulai tarikh pendaftarannya,"

katanya.

Cadangan JV merupakan sebahagian daripada strategi Pharmaniaga untuk

meningkatkan pelan pertumbuhan perniagaan farmaseutikalnya bagi menembusi dan

menguasai peluang-peluang perkembangan pesat di Arab Saudi.

"Cadangan JV itu merupakan peluang untuk Pharmaniaga menjalin usaha sama

dengan Modern, satu kumpulan yang mempunyai kepelbagaian aktiviti yang mempunyai

reputasi kukuh dan disegani oleh penggerak industri di negara berkenaan.

"Menerusi usaha sama itu, Pharmaniaga boleh memanfaatkan pengalaman

Antivirus products and services have been a renewed battleground in China in the past couple of years, enveloping several of the country’s top web businesses. According to rumors in the industry heard by TechinAsia, that battle is now taking the form of these companies vying to acquire NetQin (NYSE:NQ - News), a China-based expert in mobile antivirus apps. Both Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU - News) and Tencent (HKG:0700.HK - News) are thought to be in the running, but the market value of NetQin is proving to be a bone of contention.

NetQin executives even addressed the rumors late last week in the earnings call after revealing their Q1 2013 financials. Directly alluding to the suitors, NetQin co-CEO Omar Sharif Khan said during the call:

Over the past several months, NetQin has been approached by both strategic and financial investors for potential investment opportunities with us, while we appreciate this interest. We remain focused on delivering shareholder value to successful execution of