U.S. President Barack Obama held an impromptu meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday, during which Obama affirmed his country's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security." 
According to a White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, Obama "dropped by" a Monday morning meeting between Barak and U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones.

By Ibrahim Sajid Malick

Noting a 17 percent increase in remittances, State Bank of Pakistan Wednesday said that Non-Resident Pakistanis have send home nearly $5.7 billion between July 2009 to February 2010. During the same period in previous fiscal year, Pakistanis living abroad had sent $4.9 billion.

The prime ministers of India and Pakistan will hold talks at a conference in Bhutan this week, officials in New Delhi said Monday, as the rival nations inch towards resuming their peace dialogue.

The proposed meeting between Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of a two-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), is ostensibly over a water-sharing row.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton will make her first trip to China this week, hoping to persuade Beijing not to block new UN sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, a diplomat said Monday.