WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush thanked Turkish President Abdullah Gul by telephone Friday for his efforts to promote greater cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the White House said."President Bush thanked President Gul for his commitment to a stable and secure Iraq as well as his ongoing work to promote cooperation between the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.The conversation came one day before Gul was to host a second round of talks aimed at easing tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, and shortly after Iraq's presidential council gave its blessing to a US-Iraq agreement on the future of US forces there.Bush and Gul also "discussed the strong relationship between the United States and Turkey," said Johndroe.On Friday, Gul was to host Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.The first summit was held in April last year which enabled Karzai and then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf to discuss stepping up joint efforts for regional security.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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