Washington, Apr. 27: The Taliban’s agreement to pull out of Buner district in the North West Frontier Province following Pakistan’s deployment of paramilitary troops to the area demonstrates the Pakistan military has sent the right signal to the Taliban, feels an American expert on South Asian affairs.

Tehran, Apr. 27: Iran President Mohammad Ahmadinejad has said that he is yet to receive a response to his congratulatory message to US President Barack Obama.

“This was a major decision, although the Iranian people were very much dismayed with the conduct of previous U. S. administrations. And I was criticized here at home, in Iran. Nevertheless, I did that. I am yet to receive a response," Politico quotes Ahmadinejad, as saying.

Madrid - Spain and India on Wednesday agreed on the need to reinforce multilateral financial institutions and to increase the contributions of their member countries, Spanish government sources said.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Indian President Pratibha Patil also agreed to step up cooperation against international terrorism.

The two signed cooperation agreements on renewable energy, tourism and agriculture during the first visit of an Indian head of state to Spain.

Kabul, Apr. 20 : The United States has once again urged Pakistan to do more to dismantle the terror safe havens operating on its soil.

Addressing a joint press conference with Afghan Defense Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak, top commander of U. S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, said that the terror breeding grounds in Pakistan were destabilizing the whole region.

Moscow - Russia concluded its first weapons deal with Israel, purchasing unmanned spy planes valued at around 49 million dollars, a spokesman for the Russia Defence Ministry in Moscow told daily Izvestiya on Monday. According to a military export cited by the paper the purchase was in reaction to the August 2008 war in the south Caucasus - where Georgia successfully employed such drones against Russia.

Moscow made the deal despite objections from Israel's political adversaries Iran and Syria, which are also customers of Russia military hardware.

Islamabad, Apr. 11: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to discuss the arrest of eleven Pakistani-origin citizens in Britain and other issues such as the European Union-Pakistan Summit and the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting.

According to sources, Miliband asked Islamabad for more cooperation in order to stop alleged terrorists from travelling to Britain.