United States

Rice to visit India

Condoleezza RiceWashington, Sept. 26 : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may soon visit India to discuss the next steps in actualising the US-India civil nuclear cooperation deal.

Revealing this to the Indian media accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his 10-day visit to the United States and France, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said: "I think, we are discussing the possibility of the visit of the Secretary of State to India. We have been trying it for sometime and looking for possibility of dates."

NATO and UN formalize their cooperation

EU, NATO condemn Algerian suicide bombingBrussels/New York  - An agreement was signed Friday formalizing the existing political cooperation Between NATO and the United Nations, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

The paper was signed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York by the secretary generals of both organizations, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for NATO and Ban Ki Moon for the UN, Appathurai said.

The agreement did not bring about any "dramatic changes" for the cooperation in crisis regions like Afghanistan or Kosovo, where NATO acted on behalf of the UN, he added.

US government revises growth figure down to 2.8 per cent

United StatesWashington- The final figure for US growth in the second quarter of 2008 was adjusted downward Thursday to 2.8 per cent by the US government, which indicated that strong exports and fewer imports helped prevent the figure from sliding any lower.

The gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the second quarter was the final of three estimates, which had previously pegged growth at 1.9 per cent and then 3.3 per cent for the second quarter in previous calculations by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.9 percent.

Afghanistan figured prominently in Bush-Manmohan talks

Manmohan Singh, George W. BushWashington, Sept. 26 : Thursday''s dinner meeting at the White House saw President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exchanging notes on Afghanistan and reviewing developments in South Asia.

According to Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, there was a discussion on the regional situation. He also said that the situation in the Pakistan was discussed as well, but was not a large part of the discussion.

Fish and other nice food for Manmohan Singh and Bush

Bush, Manmohan have warm meeting, sans nuke deal signingWashington, Sept. 26 : The dinner hosted by US President George W Bush for visiting Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Thursday, it seems, was very nice and tasty.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told the Indian media that the fish served was particularly tasty.

"It was very nice food. Perhaps fish," said Menon

Bush says Manmohan Singh has had a `calming and serene effect'' on him

Manmohan Singh, World BankWashington, Sept. 26 (ANI): The current economic crisis bedeviling the United States may have increased the creases on President George W. Bush''s forehead, but there is one man to whom he has turned for solace -- Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

At their meeting inside the Oval Office in the White House, Bush made ita point to mention that Dr. Singh''s presence at the international level, and in particular in the United States, has had a salutary effect on leaders around the world.

Pages