Sunday, October 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama spoke with his Russian and French counterparts Saturday, rallying support for a deal to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, as they urged Tehran to accept the offer. Obama made Saturday-morning calls to Russia's Dmitry Medvedev and France's Nicolas Sarkozy during which all three men "affirmed their full support" for a recently offered deal, the White House said. Under the plan Russia and France would produce enriched uranium for Tehran in exchange for assurances the Islamic Republic will not seek a nuclear weapon. The three leaders also "discussed the importance of all parties accepting the proposal so that implementation can begin as soon as possible," Washington said. The conversations came a day after Iran ignored a Friday deadline to respond to the offer, saying it would make its decision in the next week. Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran was "examining different dimensions" of the offer "about the provisional supply of fuel for the Tehran research reactor." Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear program. The enrichment process produces fuel for civilian reactors, but at higher levels of enrichment can be used to make the fissile core of an atomic bomb. Despite the lack of public details about the plan, and the absence of an Iranian response, elements were already being picked apart. Iran has said it does not want Russia to subcontract part of the enrichment process to France, which has taken a tough line against Tehran's program.
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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