WASHINGTON: The Obama administration, in a sign of thawing ties with Iran, is likely soon to relax restrictions on contacts between U.S. diplomats and Iranian officials, said a source close to the matter.But the source, who asked not to be named because a review of U.S. policy on Iran is not complete, said the Bush administration's idea to open a low-level diplomatic outpost in Tehran was for now "off the table."The plan is to make small but significant gestures to Tehran, including an invitation to a conference on Afghanistan this month, and to allow U.S. diplomats to see Iranian officials without first seeking approval, as has been the case for nearly 30 years."These contacts could be across the board," said the source, adding that the review was not final and that President Barack Obama still had to sign off on it.Diplomatic sources and analysts said the idea of low to mid-level contacts without first being authorized had been discussed for a while and that this was broadly seen as a first step toward higher-level engagement.The United States cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, in which a group of militant Iranian students held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage at the American Embassy for 444 days.
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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