Washington- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the car bombing in Syria Saturday that killed more than a dozen people.

"I just learned this morning of the bombing in Syria and I don't think we know" who was behind it, Rice said in New York. "Obviously, any activity by extremists is concerning."

The car bombing in Damascus killed 17 people and wounded another 14 in the early morning attack in the busy Sayyida Zainab district.

Washington, Sept 27: The US House of Representatives is likely to vote on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal later tonight as the debate on the Bill was wrapped up in 40 minutes.

However, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has indicated that the legislation on the subject in the upper Chamber will be taken up and passed only next week.

Support for the nuclear deal came from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, a known opponent of the deal, who said, “The deal is a positive step as it will bring India into the non-proliferation regime.”

Washington, Sept 27 : A top US defence official has reportedly claimed that Pakistan had reassured him that its troops had no intention of using force against the US troops along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“I''ve been given assurance by the senior military leadership in Pakistan that there is certainly no intent or plan to fire on (US) forces,” said Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Addressing a Pentagon news conference, he said that he received the reassurance last week during a visit to Pakistan, reported The News.

New York, Sept 27: Going by party lines, Republican Party’s presidential candidate John McCain should be strictly following his partyman and US President George Bush’s policy of attacking Pakistan to root out terrorism, but during the first presidential debate it was Democrat Barack Obama who appeared to toe Bush’s policy.

Washington, Sept 27: If one goes by a poll conducted minutes after Friday night’s debate between Republican candidate John McCain and his Democrat opponent Barack Obama last night, the former is seen garnering more uncommitted voters than the latter.

46 percent of voters surveyed said their opinion of Obama got better tonight, while 32 percent said their opinion of McCain got better, reported cbsnews. com.

Washington, September 27 : American scientists have determined the structure of a light-transmitting compound that can one day be used in high-efficiency fibre optics, and in sensors to detect biological and chemical weapons from long distances.

The achievement stems from the efforts of researchers associated with the U. S. Department of Energy''s Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University, who used the uniquely suited Chemistry and Materials beamline of the Center for Advanced Radiation Sources (ChemMatCARS) at the Advanced Photon Source.