LONDON: The United States and other key powers are to invite Iran for direct talks on its nuclear activities and other issues, they said in a joint statement, as efforts to engage Tehran gained pace.EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will be tasked with extending the invitation to Tehran, said the statement by the United States, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the European Union. The United States' allies welcomed the new direction of US policy towards Iran under President Barack Obama, and its decision to "join in any future meetings with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran." "We strongly urge Iran to take advantage of this opportunity to engage seriously with all of us in a spirit of mutual respect," they said after talks in London."To that end, we shall ask Solana to extend an invitation to the Iranian government to meet representatives of the E3+3, so that together we may find a diplomatic solution to this critical issue.
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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