Rice headed for Panama

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is headed to Panama later this week for an economic conference, the State Department said Monday.

Rice will attend a Pathways to Prosperity ministerial meeting and meet with the Panamanian president "to talk about bilateral issues," department spokesman Sean McCormack said

He gave no details.

On another front, McCormack refused to answer questions about reports that Indian security forces had arrested the "mastermind" behind the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 173 people.

"I'll let the Pakistani government describe in more detail what those are and what actions they are taking," he said, "but we're seeing some positive steps taking place. And we're going to be following that situation very closely."