Wednesday, November 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: Noting that there was growing "convergence" in national interests of India and the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the two countries "must work together" to effectively tackle the multiple challenges confronting the world. "The India-US partnership can promote global cooperation in dealing with issues that the world has to face together, whether it is hunger, global security and terrorism, nuclear disarmament, climate change or spread of pandemics," he said. Singh said he saw the future of the India-US partnership with "confidence and optimism". "There is a growing convergence in our national interests, both within bilateral framework and on regional and global issues," the Prime Minister said in his address to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank. The changes in global economic and political structures and the growing interdependence among nations today offer the two countries an opportunity to look beyond bilateral engagement "to establish a strategic partnership of global dimensions," he said in the presence of city's top intellectuals. "If we are to effectively tackle the multiple challenges that confront the world, India and the United States, as two leading democracies, must work together," he asserted, adding the immediate challenge before the two countries is to bring the world to full recovery from global economic crisis. The Prime Minister noted that India and the US have strong compulsions to work towards an open and liberal regime for transfers of goods, services, investments and technology. This will stimulate recovery in the global economy, create jobs and spur growth in their economies, he said. Singh said India and the US can work together with other countries in the region to create an open and inclusive regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific.
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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