Kathmandu - Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Saturday
left for New York to take part in the United Nations General Assembly.

The visit is his third foreign trip since he became the prime minister just over a month ago.

Dahal, a former rebel leader popularly known as Prachanda, will
address the UN General Assembly on Friday and is expected to attend the
banquet host by US President George W Bush in New York.

Speaking briefly to reporters, Dahal said he would put Nepal's views during his speech at the UN.

London, Sep 20: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that American military chiefs are in close contact with the new Pakistani leadership and are on the ‘most productive path’ in dealing with al Qaeda, the Taliban and other insurgents in co-operation with the country.

Gates was in London for the NATO Defence Ministers’ meeting in which the United States is seeking 20 billion dollars from its allies to help stabilise Afghanistan by sending more troops to confront the growing insurgency.

London, Sept. 20: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Daily Show last night that his decision to send British troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, had a lot to do with his equation with U. S. President George W Bush.

When interviewer Jon Stewart, said to Blair: "Your relationship with George Bush seems inexplicable," Blair replied: "Here's something I find always goes down well, particularly back home: I like him."

Stewart retorted: "I would probably like him too, if he wasn't in charge of me."

Washington, Sep 20: Congressman Edward J Markey has slammed the US State Department for its misleading Senate testimony on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Markey, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and founder of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Non-proliferation, said in a statement that President Bush’s State Department continued its three-year campaign to undermine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by ignoring glaring non-proliferation problems with the Indo-US nuclear deal.

New York - The UN Security Council on Friday called for the quick formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe as negotiations in Harare remained deadlocked.

London, Sept 19: A leading US think tank in its latest report has warned that in order to pursue cooperation with the US-led war on terror, newly elected Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will have to strike a balance between the growing US’ pressure on Islamabad for military strikes in tribal areas, and the Pakistan Army’s decreasing tolerance for such strikes.

Zardari must prioritise fighting militancy along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, said the report.