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Washington, June 18 : US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton describing India as a force of positive change, pushed for stronger economic and diplomatic ties between the Washington and New Delhi.

"In a world where, lets admit it frankly, the headlines can get depressing, our relationship with India is a good news story and I think its going to get even better," Clinton said in a speech at a summit organized by the US-India Business Council in Washington D. C.

Brussels - The European Union on Thursday said it regretted Russia's decision to veto the extension of a United Nations observation mission in Georgia, calling it a blow to stability.

The 27-member bloc "regrets Russia9s decision," made on Tuesday, not to renew the observation mission's mandate in the fragmented country, EU countries said in a joint statement.

Frankfurt - IKB, the first German bank to be caught up in the US credit crisis, needs billions of euros more from the German government to survive, financial sources said Thursday.

IKB needed a costly bail-out in 2007 after investing in toxic US debt. Last year, after a huge injection of state aid, it was sold to a US investor, but has come back to haunt Berlin again.

The sources said IKB had applied to SoFFin, the Frankfurt-based government agency set up to rescue shaky banks, for 7 billion euros (10 billion dollars) in aid and talks were well advanced.

The vivacious host of Indian Idol, Mini Mathur is back on screen after the birth of her daughter. She will be hosting the up coming reality show on Sony, Ghana Jungle. The desi version of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

As per our sources, “Mini is coming back as a host. The shooting schedule will start in ten days in the wild forest of Daman.”

A person close to Mini stated that, “She was looking out for something different to come after Indian Idol. When the channel and the production house approached her, she was excited and went ahead with it.”

Bloemfontein, South Africa - Though they beat Iraq 1-0 on Wednesday evening to claim a spot in the Confederations Cup semi-finals, Spanish players were not happy with the state of the pitch in Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium.

Despite the fact that there had been unseasonably heavy rains earlier in the week, many of La Roja players said the field was overly dry, which didn't allow them to play their usual flowing football and gave an advantage to the defensive tactics of Iraq.