Sunday, August 02, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States said Saturday it has asked Switzerland, which represents US interests in Tehran, to confirm reports that three American tourists were arrested through the border with Iraq. "We have seen Iranian media reports stating that three American citizens have been detained in Iran," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood in a statement."We have asked our Swiss protecting power to confirm these reports with Iranian authorities and, if true, to seek consular access," he said. "The protection of American citizens is our highest priority," he added. In northern Iraq, a Kurdish official said earlier that three US backpackers were arrested after having been warned on the Iraqi side not to hike in the mountains because of the proximity of the border with Iran. Beshro Ahmed, media adviser for general security in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, said the two men and a woman had entered from Turkey earlier along with a fourth American who did not join the trek because he was ill. According to media, Iran detained the three US nationals on Friday after they crossed into the country from Iraqi Kurdistan. Ahmed named the three as Shane Bower, Sara Short and Joshua Steel, while Shaun Gabriel Maxwell stayed behind in their hotel in the Kurdish region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah. Iranian state television, without quoting a source, said on an earlier Saturday news bulletin that three US military personnel had gone missing near the border. "Three US military personnel went missing in an area bordering Iran-Iraq," the announcer said.
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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