Thursday, August 27, 2009 PARIS: France will push for the G-8 group of industrial powers to admit the major emerging economies and thus become a G-14 when Paris presides over the group in 2011, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday. The G-8 already includes the biggest emerging economies in some of its deliberations, but retains its own identity as the most influential world economic policy forum, despite mounting calls to broaden its base. 'I note with pleasure that the transformation of the G-8 into the G-14 has taken a decisive step forward,' Sarkozy told a meeting of French ambassadors in Paris, noting that France has supported Brazil's call for an end to the G-8. 'The Canadian presidency in 2010 will conduct the bulk of its summit as the G-14 and we intend to totally finish the transformation into the G-14 under the French presidency in 2011,' he promised. Already at this year's G-8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, the G-8 - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - was joined by Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Mexico and Egypt. But some G-8 members, notably Japan, have resisted formally abandoning the G8 structure, arguing that more members would find it harder to reach a consensus on major economic policy issues.
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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