Washington/Islamabad, Aug. 9: An expert on South Asian affairs has said that while the White House continues to show "tremendous sympathy" for President Pervez Musharraf, the feeling in the U. S. Congress might not be the same.

According to Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution, Musharraf is no longer being seen as "indispensable" either for the war on terror or Pakistan's role in the war on terror.

Islamabad, Aug. 9: United States Ambassador Anne W Patterson and the embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Peter Bodey called on Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Zardari at Zardari House here on Friday and reportedly discussed the ruling coalition's decision to impeach President Pervez Musharraf.

According to the Pakistani dailies, the Daily Times and the Dawn, PPP sources confirmed that besides the impeachment decision, the overall political and security situation of the country was also discussed.

Vienna  - Joerg Haider, the notorious right-wing politician, is set to reenter Austrian national politics after his Alliance for the Future of Austria designated him as party leader on Friday, weeks before general elections in September.

Haider withdrew from national politics in 2000, when he stepped down as head of the Alliance to concentrate on his job of governor of Austria's southern province of Carinthia.

Sana'a, Yemen  - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad arrived in Sana'a Friday for talks with Yemeni officials on efforts to hold reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian movements of Fatah and Hamas, Yemen's officials Saba news agency reported.

The agency said Fayyad would discuss with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and other senior officials "thoughts for implementing the Yemeni initiative that is intended to patch up the inter- Palestinian rift."

Brussels  - The European Union as a body called Friday for an immediate ceasefire and a return to peace talks in the Georgian separatist province of South Ossetia as fighting continued to rage in the area.

The EU "calls all parties to cease hostilities immediately and to resume talks without delay in order to permit a political solution to the crisis while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia," a statement on behalf of the EU by the French government, which currently holds the bloc's presidency, said.

Tehran  - Two-day talks between Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog ended Friday in Tehran, ISNA news agency reported.

The chief inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Oli Heinonen, and the head of the Iranian Atomic Organization Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh and his deputy Mohammad Saeidi discussed on Thursday and Friday the remaining ambiguities over Tehran's nuclear projects and the course of future cooperation.