Wednesday, October 21, 2009 SEOUL: Senior military officials from South Korea and the United States on Wednesday kicked off their annual security talks, which are expected to focus on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) issues and the alliance between the two nations, local media reported. The Military Committee Meeting (MCM), which brought South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sang-eui and his US counterpart, Adm. Michael Mullen together, came as a prelude to the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) due on Thursday in Seoul between the two nations' defence ministers. A senior South Korean defence official told local media on condition of anonymity that the two sides will share the latest assessment of the DPRK's military activities and discuss practical measures to strengthen their alliance to deal with the DPRK's threat. However, local media expected that the US side will likely urge Seoul to support its operations in war-torn Afghanistan during the meeting. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said while en route to Japan that he was "prepared to discuss a broad range of needs in Afghanistan" when he meets his South Korean counterpart, Kim Tae-young. A Pentagon official also said recently that South Korea has an "obligation" to play a bigger role in the US-led operations in Afghanistan. US Defence Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said Sunday while accompanying Defence Secretary Robert Gates on trips to South Korea, Japan and Slovakia, that financial aid is what Afghanistan needs most currently and South Korea and Japan have the means to help develop the country.
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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