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...
PHOENIX: US President Barack Obama warned that victory in Afghanistan would be neither "quick" nor "easy"."The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight," Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars service organization in the southwestern state of Arizona ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election on Thursday."We won't defeat it overnight. This will not be quick. This will not be easy," Obama said, explaining his strategy of intensifying the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan was now taking effect.The president defended the war as a necessary conflict, which was "fundamental" to the defense of American people in depriving Al-Qaeda of a safe-haven to plot follow-on attacks to the September 11 strikes in 2001.Obama noted an upsurge in "fierce" fighting in Afghanistan, but vowed to constantly adapt US tactics and ensure the troops have the tools and equipment they need to do the job.
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