PUBLIC MARKS from Hemanshu

NEW YORK -- In the gold-plated St. Regis Hotel just off 5th Avenue, a group of healthy-looking men in fancy suits started to make their case for holding a World Cup in the United States once more.

RIYADH: India and Saudi Arabia on Sunday vowed to jointly combat terrorism and money laundering as they signed an extradition treaty and several agreements to raise their cooperation to a strategic partnership covering security, economic, energy and defence areas.

The pace of Chinese manufacturing eased last month, suggesting slower government spending and steps to curb credit growth could be taking some of the steam out of the world's third-largest economy.

Time Warner Inc's (TWX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) AOL is "very unlikely" to buy social media software maker KickApps, a source familiar with AOL's plans said on Friday, quashing speculation of its interest.

Soldiers on foot and in armored carriers swarmed Tibet's capital Saturday, enforcing a strict curfew a day after protesters burned shops and cars to vent their anger against Chinese rule. In another western city, police clashed with hundreds of Buddhist monks leading a sympathy demonstration.

Actress Minnie Driver arrives at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in this Sept. 16, 2007, file photo at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Driver, 38, who appeared as guest on the 'The Tonight Show' with Jay Leno Thursday, March 13, 2008, said during the show that she is pregnant. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

A model poses on the runway at the Pussycat Dolls by Robin Antin fashion show during Mercedes Benz fashion week in Culver City, Calif., Thursday, March 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

This undated image obtained from a MySpace webpage shows a woman identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The New York Times reported Wednesday March 12, 2008 that the name of the woman identified as 'Kristen' in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes' services is Dupre. The Times also reported that the woman, born as Ashley Youmans, legally changed her name to Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro and is now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. (AP Photo)

This undated image obtained from a MySpace webpage shows a woman identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The New York Times reported Wednesday March 12, 2008 that the name of the woman identified as 'Kristen' in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes' services is Dupre. The Times also reported that the woman, born as Ashley Youmans, legally changed her name to Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro and is now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. (AP Photo)

Baby Niek : Baby giraffe Niek stands with his mother Oranya in Animal Park Artis in Amsterdam. Niek was born the previous Friday evening (AFP/ANP/Koen Van Weel)

Jacqueline Silva of Brazil surfs during her round one heat at the Roxy Pro, the first of eight stops on the ASP Women's World Tour, in Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast February 24, 2008. REUTERS/Covered Images/Steve Robertson/Handout (AUSTRALIA). NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS..

Children, with their bodies painted, take part in a Carnival parade in Santo Domingo, Sunday, March. 2, 2008. Carnival is celebrated later than in other places in Santo Domingo to avoid the concurrence with Ash Wednesday, which in the Christian calendar, is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter, falling on different dates from year to year. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Albert, the pig from the movie, walks on the red carpet at the premiere of "College Road Trip" at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, California March 3, 2008. The movie opens in the U.S. on March 7. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES)

A Sumatran elephant plays with his trainer at the Elephant Training Centre in Minas, Indonesia's Riau province February 29, 2008. The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and rapid forest conversion to palm oil plantations. As forests shrink, elephants are increasingly closer to fields and cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning or capture, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report in 2007. The Minas Elephant Training Centre protects more than 40 elephants from around 200 elephant populations in Riau's forests. REUTERS/Beawiharta (INDONESIA)

A gray tree frog, which is native to Houston, is seen at the Houston Zoo on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Julio Cortez)

Boats sail off the coast of the Malaysian island state of Penang at dawn March 7, 2008. REUTERS/Tim Chong (MALAYSIA)

In this photo released by Moto GP and made available Saturday, March 8, 2008, the Losail International Circuit is seen illuminated at night in Qatar, Friday, March 7, 2008. It is the first time in the Moto GP's history that the race has been held during the night. (AP Photo/Moto GP)

Munich sunrise : Sun rises behind rails near the main railway station in Munich, southern Germany. (AFP/DDP/Oliver Lang)

A female polar bear is seen with its cub in an enclosure at a zoo in Moscow March 5, 2008. The cub was born last November and rarely appears to visitors. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA)

Children watch frogs crawling on a window at an aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 4, 2008, during an event marking the upcoming end of insect hibernation, close to Spring. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Workers decorate a pink flower on the headquarters of Kyobo Life Insurance to signal the coming spring in Seoul, Tuesday, March 4, 2008. At left is a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the national hero who won a major naval victory over Japan in the 16th century. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)