Tuesday, August 04, 2009 BRUSSELS: NATO will stay in Afghanistan "for as long as it takes," the military alliance's new leader said in Brussels, Belgium, Monday."We will support the Afghan people for as long as it takes -- let me repeat that, for as long as it takes," said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who became secretary general on August 1.He said success in the country was NATO's top priority, "to help prevent Afghanistan from becoming again the Grand Central Station of international terrorism.""Anyone who believes in basic human rights, including women's rights, should support this mission," he said.But he said the country must take "lead responsibility" for its own security over the course of his five-year term.NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan has taken a battering in recent months, suffering record casualties as it tries to dislodge Taliban fighters from areas of the country where they hold sway.At least nine NATO troops died in Afghanistan over the weekend, a bloody start to August after at least 75 troops were killed there in July.
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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