Bangkok ­ One thing is for sure: the next US president will come to the White House with some first-hand experiences in Asia.

Republican John McCain, 72, a decorated war hero, was shot down on a bombing mission in 1967 over North Vietnam, captured and tortured in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton," where he was kept as a prisoner of war until 1973.

Democrat Barack Obama, 47, spent part of his peripatetic youth in Indonesia, where he attended a public Muslim school - not a Madrassah as some of his critics have alleged - in Jakarta between 1969-71.

Washington - The director of the did not abuse his authority in an extramarital affair he had with a subordinate and the fund's board said Saturday it planned to continue with Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the helm.

The 24-member IMF executive board met Saturday to review an investigation into the matter and said in a statement it had "concluded that there was no harassment, favoritism, or any other abuse of authority by the managing director."

Tel Aviv - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni plans to call for new elections after unsuccessful efforts to form a government, local media reports said.

Livni, the leader of the ruling Kadima party, was to inform President Shimon Peres at a planned meeting on Sunday afternoon that talks to form a new government have failed.

She reached the decision after intensive talks with party members.

State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest commercial bank has signed a Joint Venture pact with Macquarie Group and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Under the arrangement, both foreign partners will help the lender in the set up and management of an Infrastructure Private Equity Fund for investing in Indian Infrastructure projects and Companies. 

However, the fund will be operational on receipt of requisite regulatory approvals. The JV agreement is based on the earlier MOU signed on April 16, 2008. 

Industrial gas maker BOC India Limited has informed that it would invest around Rs 200 to Rs 250 crore on several ongoing projects in India by the end of the first quarter of the next financial year. 

The company has a cash reserve of around Rs 200 to Rs 250 crore, which is the part of the Rs 600 crore investments committed by parent company Linde Group to India early this year.

Apart from routine investments in ongoing projects, the company was scouting for buyout opportunities in the country.