London  - US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh affirmed the strong relationship between their two countries during their first meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London.

Obama said that they discussed terrorism, both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how the US and India can effectively coordinate their counterterrorism efforts.

Miami  - Teenager Victoria Azarenka reinforced this week's move into the Top 10 as she reached her third final of the season with a marathon 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 defeat of former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Miami Masters on Thursday.

The 19-year-old, Arizona-based Azarenka spent nearly three hours and needed four match points to finally book her spot. She awaits the result of the clash later between sisters Serena and Venus Williams, who between them hold eight titles at their home event.

Sedentary lifestyle and fa

The recent case of contaminated pistachios shows the void in food testing laws. Setton Farms in Terra Bella, California, the second-largest pistachio processor in the United States, recalled 2 million pounds of pistachios that may have been contaminated with salmonella.

New York  - US and global stocks surged Thursday as a summit of the world's major industrial and emerging powers agreed on a more than 1-trillion-dollar aid package to help revive the global economy.

Major stock indices in the US climbed nearly 3 per cent and the Euro Stoxx index surged more than 5 per cent on the Group of 20 (G20) deal in London.

San Francisco  - Business technology giant IBM has lowered its bid for server and software company Sun Microsystems by about 10 per cent in return for a guarantee that it will pursue the deal even in the face of regulatory challenges, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

According to the report, IBM now proposes paying 9 dollars to 10 dollars per share for Sun, compared to 10 dollars to 11 dollars per share when the negotiations were first reported some two weeks ago.