Washington, March 01: President Barack Obama is in “excellent health” and “fit for duty,” the White House physician said Sunday after the 48-year-old commander in chief’s first checkup since he took office.
Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman said after the 90-minute exam at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, that he saw nothing that would prevent Obama from fulfilling his term as president.
Abu Dhabi, March 01: The downpour took a heavy toll with Dubai police registering over 170 traffic accidents.
Waterlogged roads, clogged gutters, tailbacks, calls for help from stranded motorists and one death at Global Village was reported on Sunday.
Some homes in RAK were flooded and a few developed cracks. In Sharjah, a portion of a wall collapsed on three parked cars. Six dilapidated villas in the emirate collapsed, said Sultan Al Mulla, Director General of Sharjah Municipality.
Peshawar, March 01: Militants on the outskirts of Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar have attacked and destroyed a tanker carrying fuel for US-led troops in Afghanistan.
Security forces fought with the militants early Monday and killed one of them, said Peshawar police chief Liaquat Ali Khan.
The other attackers escaped and the tanker was destroyed, he added.
The militants often attack trucks carrying fuel and other supplies for foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Seoul, March 01: The two Koreas have agreed to hold military talks to ease access to a jointly-run industrial park despite escalating tension on the peninsula.
A South Korean military source said on Sunday that talks will be held on Tuesday at the joint Kaesong estate.
Some 40,000 North Koreans are employed at the complex.
Pyongyang and Seoul postponed the talks last week due to differences over the venue for the meeting.
North Korea has criticized the South for planning joint military war games with the United States.
Hong Kong, March 01: Movie star Jackie Chan has been voted one of the least trustworthy Hong Kong personalities in a poll, scoring lower than the city’s unpopular Chief Executive Donald Tsang.
Chan, 56, who stunned his home city last year by saying Chinese people needed to be controlled and that too much freedom might harm China, finished behind Beijing-appointed Tsang, who ranked 77th out of 80 in the most-trusted poll.
Kathmandu, March 01: Bollywood actor Manisha Koirala, who became unpopular in her own country Nepal five years ago by supporting the army-backed coup of King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, is set to lend a helping hand to another member of the former royal family.
Next month, Manisha, who now also has a foot in the Nepali film industry, will launch in New Delhi’s Oberoi hotel a third novel penned by Sheeba Shivangini Shah, who is married to the nephew of the deposed king, Lt Col Bikash Bikram Shah.
London, March 01: England batsman Ravi Bopara, who plays for the Kings XI Punjab, has delayed his departure to India for the IPL, which begins on March 12, due to security concerns. However Lalit Modi, the league’s commissioner, said he had spoken to Bopara and the batsman had told him he was “looking forward to coming to India”.
Wellington, March 01: Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, is disappointed after his side’s embarrassing 26-run defeat against Zimbabwe in the Twenty20 game in Trinidad, but insisted that his side had not taken the opposition lightly.
Zimbabwe were bowled out for 105, with Sulieman Benn taking 4 for 6 and Darren Sammy 5 for 56, but West Indies batsmen struggled to chase that modest target and were kept to 79 for 7. The loss was a poor beginning to Gibson’s tenure as West Indies coach.
New Delhi, March 01: A 25-year-old woman was allegedly raped at gunpoint by a Delhi Police constable posted with the Crime Branch. A case has been registered against the absconding cop after medical examination of the victim confirmed sexual assault.
The accused, constable Manoj Kumar, is posted with the Special Operations Group of Crime Branch. The police said the woman’s husband and the Kumar were friends.
The incident reportedly occurred at the couple’s residence in Dwarka Sector 16 on Tuesday night when she was alone at home.
Baghdad, March 01: Iraq’s prime minister has defended a ban of candidates with alleged ties to Saddam Hussain’s former regime, calling it a legitimate decision that would not affect Sunni turnout at the polls.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, just a week before March 7 elections, Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki also said he did not see any need at this point for US forces to stay in the country past their planned 2011 departure date.
Hamburg, March 01: Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois have said that blood-sugar levels once considered normal for pregnant women are not safe for baby or mother.
A fasting blood-sugar level of 92 or higher, a one-hour level of 180 or higher on a glucose tolerance test or a two-hour level of 153 or higher on a glucose tolerance test constitute serious risks to the mother and baby, concluded Lead author Boyd Metzger and an international group of 50 experts.
London, March 01: UK’s main opposition leader has vowed to unseat Prime Minister Gordon Brown hours after a shock opinion poll suggested that the race could be tighter than expected.
Addressing a rally of his Conservative Party in Brighton on Sunday, David Cameron dramatically stated that it is now their “patriotic duty” to unseat Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ruling Labor party.
The fiery remarks came after the latest YouGov survey put the Conservatives and the ruling Labor Party virtually neck-to-neck, with the Tories leading by just two points.
New Delhi, March 01 Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor, one of the brand ambassadors of Pepsi, will play the role of a butler in a new TV commercial for the beverage.
The 27-year-old will be seen wearing a crisp white shirt, a tie and a waistcoat with a funky spiked hairdo for the commercial that will be aired soon.
Ranbir is happy with the commercial, which was shot in a mansion in Los Angeles.
Melbourne, March 01: Stuart Clark is set to make his comeback after a near three-month lay-off due to a back injury that kept him out of contention for most of Australia’s international matches this summer. Clark has been named to captain New South Wales in their second-last Sheffield Shield game of the season, against Tasmania in Hobart starting on Wednesday.
Kabul, March 01: At least three Afghan civilians have been killed and severl other US-led forces injured in a bombing outside the southern city of Kandahar, according to a provincial official.
The attack occurred Monday morning as a NATO convoy crossed a bridge between Kandahar airport and the city.
Earlier on Sunday, a bomb blast killed at least 11 Afghan civilians in the southern province of Helmand.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives since the 2001 US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan.
——-Agencies
Tehran, March 01: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has criticized the new Director of the UN nuclear watchdog for abandoning ‘the standard verification language’ in his latest report on Iran’s enrichment work.
Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently issued a two-edged report, which leveled an unprecedented criticism and accusations against Iran over what it calls “the country’s non-cooperation with the agency.”
Mumbai, March 01: After years of speculation, Dharmendra and daughter Esha Deol will act with each other in a film. And who better than Hema Malini to bring them together?
The yesteryear actress-turned-director, who is relaunching her daughter Esha with Tell Me Oh Khuda, wanted husband Dharmendra to play Esha’s on-screedn dad. After much persuasion, he has finally agreed to do so. Dharmendra is currently shooting for Yamla Pagla Deewana in Punjab.
Mumbai, March 01: Kangna Ranaut sure knows what she’s worth. Recently, rumours suggested that Rohan Sippy did not take her for his film Dum Maro Dum as she asked for a fee of Rs 1 crore. Whether that’s true or not, she has now proved all her detractors wrong.
She has signed a film with Anuj Saxena’s Maverick Productions for Rs 5 crore. The film will be directed by Tanvir Khan and will mark the debut of Chirag Paswan, son of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. The film is a love story, but the rest of the cast is yet to be finalised.
Mumbai, March 01: It was a flight from Jaipur to Mumbai that the passengers won’t forget in a hurry. On Monday Deepika and her Karthik Calling Karthik team was to fly back on a private jet. But the pilot informed the team that they couldn’t head for Mumbai due to a cyclone that was to hit Mumbai.
Says Deepika, “We had to return on Monday night because many of us had to leave for Dubai for the premiere on Tuesday morning. So from Jaipur to Mumbai we all booked ourselves into the economy class of a commercial airline.”
London, March 01: Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway says she finds it easy to befriend her co-stars on movie sets.
The actress says she likes to strike up a close rapport with her co-stars, media reports.
“I’m very friendly with everyone. One of my closest friends is Emily Blunt, who I met on the set of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. We instantly hit it off and have become really close. She’s just about my best friend. She’s such a delight and a wonderful girl,” said Hathaway.
——-Agencies
Jeddah, March 01: A Jeddah-based teacher, Shahmida Mohammed, has won a gold medal for her outstanding performance in MA English from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Saudi Arabia.
Cairo, March 01: An Al-Qaeda double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist websites Sunday.
Humam Khalil Abu Mulal Al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on Al-Qaeda.
Amman, March 01: Jordan’s King Abdallah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday urged an “immediate and effective” intervention by the world community to protect holy shrines in East Jerusalem, which they said were threatened by Israeli “unilateral measures.”
Making a stopover in Amman from a European tour, Abbas briefed King Abdallah on the outcome of his talks with European leaders and latest developments of the US effort to ensure a resumption of peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, according to a royal court statement.
Hamburg, March 01: Expectant mothers who rapidly gain weight during the first trimester of pregnancy are more vulnerable to developing gestational diabetes, a new study found.
Gestational diabetes (GDM), a condition characterized by glucose intolerance, is first recognized during pregnancy.
It occurs in approximately 4% of all pregnancies but places the majority of affected mothers and their offspring at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in later life.
Tehran, March 01: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has left Tehran for Geneva to take part in the 13th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Mottaki, who left Iran on Sunday night accompanied by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, will seek to highlight Iran’s stance on the issue at the gathering in the Swiss city.
He will also meet with Iranian envoys based in Geneva to discuss efforts to promote the idea of global nuclear disarmament.