Karzai meets Saudi king

RIYADH: Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with Saudi King Abdullah as he sought support to negotiate peace with the Islamist Taliban rebels in his war-torn country.

Karzai met with King Abdullah and senior officials in Riyadh at the king's Janadriyah farm outside Riyadh.

"They discussed international efforts to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan as well as the prospects for cooperation between the two countries," local news agency reported.

Karzai was believed to be seeking Saudi help to persuade Taliban leaders into reconciliation talks, as well as asking for more financial aid for his country.

The meeting with King Abdullah came a week after Britain hosted a meeting of nearly 70 countries to discuss Afghanistan's problems and seek ways to end the war between the the Taliban and Kabul and its Western backers.

Saudi Arabia agreed at the London conference to host a follow up meeting of Gulf and other donors to Afghanistan at the end of February.

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India's swine flu death rate is increasing

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...

Tennis: Clijsters wins US Open, second time

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BAGHDAD: At least 42 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in a spate of bomb attacks near the restive northern Iraqi city of Mosul and in the capital Baghdad on Monday, police said. In the deadliest single attack, two booby-trapped lorries exploded before dawn in the village of Khaznah, east of Mosul, leaving 25 people dead and 70 others wounded. Thirty-five houses were destroyed in the village, which is home to members of the tiny Shabak community, a sect of Kurdish origin. In Baghdad, two car bombs went off as day labourers were gathering in the early morning hours looking for jobs.The first bomb exploded at Hay al-Amel, in the west of the capital, killing nine people and injuring 46. The second bomb attack in Shurta Arbaa in the north of the city killed seven people and wounded 35 others.

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