Washington - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is preferred by a nearly 3-1 margin over his Republican rival John McCain by Hispanic voters in the United States, according to a new survey Thursday.

Obama beats McCain by 66 per cent to 23 per cent among registered Hispanic voters nationwide, the Pew Hispanic Center said. The support for Obama represents a wider shift towards the Democratic Party.

Moscow - Russia's defence ministry on Thursday denied reports that it was considering basing nuclear-armed bombers in Cuba to warn against US plans to base a missile defense shield in Europe, Russian news agencies reported.

"We regard these kinds of anonymous allegations as disinformation," defence ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.

The report in state newspaper Izvestia on Monday cited an unidentified high-ranking air force official as saying such bombers sent to Cuba to counter US shield plans.

Washington, July 24: In a move which has attracted criticism from a section of US Congressmen, President George Bush has reportedly planned to shift nearly 230-million-dollar aid to Pakistan from counter-terrorism programs to upgrading that country’s aging F-16 jets, because “Pakistan prizes more for their contribution to its military rivalry with India than for fighting insurgents along its Afghan border”.

Berlin - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama arrives in Berlin Thursday to make the key speech of a foreign tour aimed at enhancing his foreign policy credentials for the US electorate.

The Democratic Party senator is to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel soon after flying in to Berlin's Tegel Airport before noon.

Talks with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are scheduled for the early afternoon.

Tehran - The heads of the Iranian Atomic Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will meet in Vienna to discuss the outcome of the nuclear talks last week between Iran and the world powers in Geneva, ISNA news agency reported Wednesday.

Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh and Mohamed ElBaradei will meet on Thursday and discuss bilateral cooperation and how to proceed following the Geneva talks, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization deputy Mohammad Saeidi told ISNA.

New York  - Somalia called on the UN Security Council on Wednesday to deploy an international peacekeeping force without delay in order to put an end to its 17-year-old civil war.

It asked for a much smaller force than the previously proposed operation of 26,000 military and civilian personnel, and for proper funding so the force can do a "good job under reasonable circumstances."