Dhaka  - Rahul Gandhi, Indian parliament member and son of ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, arrived in Dhaka Friday to a rousing welcome to begin a five-day private visit to Bangladesh, officials said.

Gandhi was greeted at the airport by Nobel Peace prize winner Prof Mohammad Yunus and high government officials amidst tightened security, airport sources said.

Madrid  - The Spanish government said Friday it would not intervene "in any way" with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision to nationalize the local subsidiary of Spain's Banco Santander bank.

The operation was being carried out through "dialogue and negotiation," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said, explaining that the bank and the Venezuelan government were expecting to reach a deal soon.

Taipei  - Taiwan will join the United States and Japan in filing a complaint under the World Trade Organization's framework over a tariff dispute with the European Union, press reports said Friday.

Taiwan plans to pursue the WTO case to force the EU to eliminate tariffs on certain information technology (IT) products with pretrial consultations have achieved no resolution so far, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA).

Washington  - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday eliminated 22,000 part-time and temporary government jobs to save cash as the state faces a multi-billion-dollar deficit.

He also ordered that 200,000 state workers receive the federal minimum wage until the 2008-2009 state budget is approved.

"Today I am exercising my executive authority to avoid a full- blown crisis and keep our state moving forward," Schwarzenegger said.

New York  - A United Nations rapporteur is scheduled to visit Myanmar next week to discuss human rights concerns, it was announced Thursday.

The UN rapporteur for human rights, Tomás Ojea Quintana, will be in Myanmar, formerly Burma, from Sunday to Thursday for a first visit to the country ruled by the military for more than four decades, and which has not considered human rights issues a top priority.

Berlin  - Germany rejected Thursday criticism from Israel over a deal to export gas-liquefaction equipment to Iran.

Officials in Berlin said Steiner Prematechnik Gastec had won export clearance at the end of February for the deal, reportedly worth 100 million euros (160 million dollars).

The three systems are to cool and compress natural gas into liquid form so it can be transported by ship to export customers.