STRASBOURG: Police held back protesters with teargas and detained two dozens people in a pre-dawn clash before a summit of leaders of 28 NATO nations Saturday on the French-German border.Some 1,800 protesters left their camp in the south of the French city of Strasbourg at about 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) and headed north through deserted streets to the summit site, surveyed from above by several police helicopters shining search lights. The site is ringed with heavy security, and riot police kept them back with tear gas and barricades. The police headquarters for the Bas-Rhin region said 25 people were detained in the incident. President Barack Obama and the 27 other leaders are meeting to discuss the war in Afghanistan and NATO's future in a summit jointly hosted by Strasbourg and the German towns of Kehl and Baden-Baden. Another group of protesters who camped out overnight in a square in central Strasbourg were planning a demonstration later in the day. The crowd was peaceful Saturday morning. Other anti-war and anti-capitalist protest events have been planned on the German side of the border. Across the river in Kehl, police outnumbered protesters before a planned unity walk by the leaders along the bridge linking France and Germany. Protesters in Strasbourg have clashed with police in confrontations in previous days.
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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