Washington, Sept 10: High maternal fish consumption and longer breastfeeding can lead to better physical and cognitive development in infants, according to a new research.

According to the research team, maternal fish consumption and longer breastfeeding are independently beneficial.

Washington - The United States is intensifying its use of unmanned Predator drones in the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the mountains of western Pakistan, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing US and Pakistani officials.

The strategic shift reflected the US failure to develop meaningful human intelligence in the remote region despite placing a 25-million-dollar reward for information that leads to the death or capture of the terrorist network's leader, the newspaper reported.

Washington  - US President George W Bush telephoned his new Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, Tuesday to offer his "full support" in the fighting against Islamic militants in the country.

"Defeating these terrorists and extremists is in Pakistan's interest," Bush said in a speech at National Defence University in Washington. "They pose a mortal threat to Pakistan's future as a free and democratic nation."

Washington  - The United States will withdraw an additional 8,000 troops from Iraq by February, US President George W Bush announced Tuesday, citing a sustained drop in violence that will allow a greater shift of resources to Afghanistan.

The pullout will reduce the US presence to about 138,000 soldiers shortly after Bush leaves office in January, leaving the next major pullout decisions to his successor.

Washington  - The US budget deficit will surge to nearly 3 per cent of US economic output this year, while annual growth will average less than 1 per cent until mid-2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Tuesday.

The projected 407-billion-dollar deficit for 2008, up from 161 billion dollars in 2007, did not include the just-announced government bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which could add as much as 200 billion dollars to the federal deficit.

Washington, Sept 9: A new research on infidelity has revealed why people regularly cheat on their partners.

“What interests me about infidelity is why people are willing to conduct themselves in ways that could be very damaging to them and to their relationship," said Genevieve Beaulieu-Pelletier, PhD student at the Universite de Montreal's Department of Psychology.

Beaulieu-Pelletier wanted to know if the type of commitment a person has with his or her loved ones is correlated to the desire of having extra-marital affairs.