LONDON, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Prince William and his on-off girlfriend Kate Middleton have flown to Scotland for an unexpected break, a report said Friday, fueling talk that they are properly back together.

The couple took a scheduled flight to Aberdeen Thursday, apparently on their way to Queen Elizabeth II's Balmoral estate, where they have stayed before a split earlier this year.

TBILISI, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - The head of Georgia's Orthodox Church wants to restore the mountainous ex-Soviet republic's ancient monarchy, local newspapers reported Monday.

'In 1801, the reign of the Bagrationi royal house ceased. Since then, the restoration of the monarchy has been a cherished dream of the Georgian people,' Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II said in a Sunday sermon, the Rezonansi newspaper reported.

'Today conditions are created that may help to make this dream come true.'

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Former Kuwaiti defence minister and senior member of the Al-Sabah ruling family Sheikh Salem Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah died on Monday after a long illness, the Amiri court announced. He was 69.

The elder son of former emir Sheikh Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, who ruled the oil-rich emirate between 1965 and 1977, Sheikh Salem graduated in law from Britain.

He served as Kuwait's ambassador to the United States, Britain and several other countries before he took his first ministerial job in 1975 as minister of social affairs and labour.

MOSCOW, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Russian Orthodox Church stated Thursday that it felt calls for rehabilitation of Tsar Nicholas II and his family -- who were overthrown and shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918 -- as a needless exercice.

'No one thinks that Nicholas II and his family are criminals or traitors. People who are calling for rehabilitation are knocking on an open door,' Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, deputy chief of the Moscow patriarchate's external relations department, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

PARIS, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - France's defeated presidential candidate Segolene Royal came under attack from fellow Socialist Lionel Jospin Monday, who described her as unfit to head their party.

Jospin, who was the last Socialist prime minister, urged members not to choose her as their next leader at a congress next year, on the grounds that she 'has neither the human qualities not the political capacities' to put the party back on track.

He made the comments in a book -- 'The Impasse' -- extracts of which were printed in the left-wing Liberation newspaper.

AMMAN, Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) - Jordan's Queen Rania is fronting a televised fundraising campaign for the UN children's agency UNICEF that is airing on pan-Arab television stations through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The campaign is aimed at 'promoting awareness and raising funds to directly support children in areas of crisis' in Iraq, Darfur and the Palestinian territories, the queen's office said on Saturday.

BRUSSELS, Aug 19, 2007 (AFP) - Belgium's King Albert II, who has intervened in stalled negotiations to forge a new government, on Sunday asked Flemish Christian Democrat leader Yves Leterme to make a fresh effort to reach a breakthrough.

The king on Friday suspended cross-party talks on forming a new coalition government after two months of fruitless debate and launched himself into 48 hours of intense discussions with the main party leaders.

He reviewed the situation during his meeting with Leterme on Sunday.

BRUSSELS, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Belgium's King Albert II on Friday suspended cross-party talks on forming a new government after two months of fruitless debate and began negotiations with party leaders himself.

The royal announcement, the first of its kind since the fall of the Tindemans government in 1978, came after political horse-trading had failed to forge a new coalition government following a general election in June.

BRUSSELS, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Belgium's King Albert II on Friday suspended unfruitful party talks on forming a new national government and announced that he would hold negotiations with party leaders himself.

The announcement came after two months of political horse-trading had failed to forge a new coalition government following a general election in June.

'The negotiations on forming a government are suspended,' the royal palace announced in a statement. 'The king will have political consultations during this period,' it added.

NEW YORK, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - A pale-blue dress worn by Princess Diana to the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and at the London opening of 'Miss Saigon' two years later is to be sold on Internet auction site eBay, according to reports.

The silk chiffon evening dress is among 79 dresses that Diana auctioned off for charity at Christie's in New York in June 1997, just two months before she died in a car crash in Paris.

LONDON, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - British insurer Royal and Sun Alliance said Wednesday it planned to eliminate 700 jobs as it looked to further cut costs by mid-2008.

The news comes as the Royal and Sun said that Britain's heaviest flooding for 60 years earlier this summer has cost the group 120 million pounds (177 million euros, 243 million dollars).

Royal and Sun Alliance chief executive Andy Haste said the group was 'working with unions' over the planned job losses, which will number 500 in Britain.

LONDON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - Kate Middleton, Prince William's on-off girlfriend, has pulled out of a charity dragon boat race over security concerns about the media attention she attracts, organisers said Tuesday.

Middleton had been training with a group of women to race across the English Channel from Dover to Calais in a dragon boat later this month. The 25-year-old would have been at the helm of the boat.

A spokeswoman for Middleton's team, the Sisterhood, said: 'Kate Middleton has withdrawn from the race due to security issues surrounding the recent media circus.'