Thursday, July 28 2005 21:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: US President George W Bush and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf spoke by telephone today (July 28, 2005), after Pakistani authorities nabbed a suspect in the murder of a US reporter, the White House said.

"The president spoke with President Musharraf earlier today. They talked about US-Pakistan relations, they discussed the global war on terrorism, and they talked about regional issues," said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan.

The conversation came after Pakistani police said that security services have arrested a fugitive suspect in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl during their ongoing raids against Islamic extremists.

Hashim Qadeer, arrested in the eastern city of Gujranwala yesterday (July 27, 2005), is said to have introduced the US journalist to British-born Sheikh Omar, who faces the death penalty for Pearl's grisly 2002 murder.

Pearl, the financial daily's Mumbai-based South Asia correspondent, disappeared in Karachi on January 23, 2002, while working on a story on Pakistani militant groups.

Pearl was abducted and a graphic video depicting his gruesome decapitation was later delivered to the US consulate in the southern port city of Karachi.