A U.S. official said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told his French counterpart a trip to Iran by French executives was "not helpful" and that it gave the wrong impression that the West could do business with Tehran as usual. The easing of sanctions has prompted Western firms to race for business opportunities. Iran welcomed more than 100 executives from France's biggest firms on Monday, the most senior French trade mission in years. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told U.S. lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday, "Tehran is not open for business because our sanctions relief is quite temporary, quite limited and quite targeted." br German President Joachim Gauck is expected to focus on a vast spectrum of bilateral issues in India including increased interaction in the fields of education, science and technology as he begins a six-day state visit where he will meet his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On his arrival Guack said, "This is my first visit to the India since I have assumed the office as president and I have come deliberately to acknowledge the oldest democracy in this part of the world." . br The BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi lambasted any possible Third Front, but went soft on West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in an apparent bid to keep open the doors on an alliance with the Trinamool Congress. Launching the Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha campaign in the state at a rally in the Calcutta Brigade Parade grounds, Modi said West Bengal would benefit if people voted for the BJP in the general election while Banerjee continued to usher in development in the state. br A new United Nations report said children in Syria have been tortured, maimed and sexually abused by President Bashar Assad's forces and recruited for combat by the rebels fighting to topple him during the country's nearly 3-year-old conflict. The report, which highlights the treatment of children in the conflict from the beginning of the uprising against Assad in March 2011 until Nov. 15, 2013, was released this week to the Security Council and was posted on the U.N. website Tuesday.