US President Barack Obama met a Saudi women’s rights activist today, the same day women have pledged to defy a driving ban, as he wrapped up a reassurance visit to the longtime ally.
In talks with King Abdullah late yesterday, Obama told his host the two countries remained in lockstep on their strategic interests despite policy differences over Iran and Syria.
The driver of a stationary express train was run over by a goods train at a West Bengal station Saturday, railway officials said.
Niranjan Pandit, who was scheduled to retire from service March 31, died on the spot after he was crushed under the goods train at Rajabhatkhawa station.
“A case of unnatural death was recorded. Pandit was the driver of the Up Intercity Express which was going from Siliguri to Alipurduar and had halted at the station. When the goods train was about to cross on the down Line, he apparently jumped on to the tracks,” said station manager Arindam Mukherjee.
The scouring for the crashed Malaysian jet intensified today with Chinese aircraft making fresh sightings in the new area of the Indian Ocean, even as the multination search entered its fourth week without success.
The search for the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 dramatically shifted 1,100 km further northeast in the southern Indian Ocean yesterday.
The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 01 and Chinese navy vessel Jinggangshan, which carries two helicopters, searched the area for the plane that went missing three weeks ago.
The second round of Slovakia’s presidential election kicked off Saturday.
The voters will choose their new president from Prime Minister Robert Fico and philanthropist, businessman and political newcomer Andrej Kiska, Xinhua reported.
Polling started at 7 a.m and will remain open till 10 p.m., an official said.
The results of the run-off will be published by the Central Electoral Committee.
None of the 14 candidates gained over 50 percent of the votes during the first round March 15, as required by the constitution.
President Barack Obama was recently in Vatican City for his meeting with Pope Francis, where he presented him with a custom seed chest which included seeds for fruits and vegetables directly from the White House garden.
According to reports, the US President held up a pouch and explained that each one has a different seed in it and the chest is made from timber from the first cathedral to open in Baltimore, US, Politico reported.
The chest ‘s inscription on the read “Presented to His Holiness Pope Francis by Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, March 27, 2014.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has apparently not ordered students to get his cut.
Recent visitors to the North said they have not seen evidence of any mass haircutting.
According to smh.com.au, a thinly sourced report said an order was passed out a few weeks ago for university students to get a haircut just like Kim.
Washington, DC-based Radio Free Asia cited unnamed sources as saying that an unwritten directive from somewhere within the ruling Workers’ Party went out early this month.
Chinese patrol ships are reportedly trying to locate multiple objects of various colours, which could be the potential debris from the ill-fated Malaysian passenger jet.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is heading the entire mission, said that the weather was expected initially to be suitable for searching, but conditions were expected to deteriorate later in the day.
Michelle Obama’s visit to China was apparently very popular among the crowds, according to a tally by the US Embassy in Beijing that claimed that photos, videos and stories about her recent tour garnered more than 1 billion page views.
Cheng Li, director of the John L. Thornton China Center, said that the tally was not that surprising since China is gripped with Michelle fever, the Washington Post reported.
The ACB has booked 16 officials of Bundi district’s Medical and Health department for embezzlement of over Rs 22 lakhs from National Rural Health Mission and Pulse Polio Control Programme funds.
The 16 officials, including Chief Medical and Health Officer of the medical department, were booked on Friday following the verification of a complaint that alleged gross irregularities in NRHM and Polio Control Programme funds from 2009 to 2012, Circle Inspector, ACB, Bundi Neeraj Gupta said.
Former Norwegian prime minister and negotiator, Jens Stoltenberg has been reportedly chosen by Nato as its next secretary general.
Stoltenberg, 55, will assume the role of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary general from 1 October.
The move comes in the wake of growing animosity between US and Russia over Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, News 24 reported.
Lorenzo Semple Jr., who wrote the screenplays of ‘The Parallax View’, ‘Three Days of the Condor, and ‘Never Say Never Again’, has passed away. He was 91.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s daughter – Emmy-nominated comedy writer Maria – revealed that the American screenwriter died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles.
Semple’s name is associated with classics like ‘Papillon’, ‘The Drowning Pool’ and ‘King Kong’.
Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg has revealed his secret to keeping cool in the soaring temperatures at Sepang during the Malaysian Grand Prix- by wearing frozen underwear.
While drivers like Jenson Button have used the help of cooling vests, the driver for Silverstone-based Force India has gone one better.
According to the Mirror, the German ace has resorted to keeping his boxers in the freezer and then wearing them to ward off the 50-degree Celsius cockpit heat at the start of the hottest race of the season in Sepang
The new Formula One weight rules are forcing racers to risk blacking out in their 200mph speed machines by shedding essential pounds, according to a report.
The heavier drivers are dehydrating before qualifying despite the soaring cockpit temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius in Sepang ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix so that their car is light enough to be competitive with smaller rivals.
Veteran Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal has declared his desire to become the first bowler in the world to take 100 wickets in Twenty20 cricket.
The late-blooming off-spinner who did not play his first international game till he was past 30, Ajmal has winkled out 169 batsmen at 27.46 in 33 Tests, while 110 ODIs have fetched him 182 scalps at a frugal 22.24 and an impressive economy of 4.14.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has reportedly dropped a curious suggestion that he may yet change his mind from the new deal he has been offered despite giving his word that he will stay.
Wenger’s contract will expire at the end of this season and the Frenchman said that ‘he has given his word to the board that he is staying after the contract is over.
According to the Mirror, however, Wenger said that he wants to see how the club finishes in this season before he finally signs the new deal he has been offered at Arsenal.
A Scottish girl with the username @ Moysey on Twitter has reportedly faced a volley of abuses from outraged fans after been mistaken for under-fire Manchester United boss David Moyes’ daughter.
The outraged fans have reportedly sent Sarah messages ranging from being branded as a ‘c**t’, ‘s**g’ and being told to ‘go die and get AIDs’, which forced her to tweet that she is not related to the under-fire Scot.
According to the Daily Star, Sarah tweeted that people should stop mentioning her in their tweets adding that she is pretty sure that Moyes has his own account.
A US television show has reportedly applogised and said that Pele is ‘alive and very well’ after they falsely declared that the football legend is dead.
CNN’s New Day had reportedly left fans in shock after declaring that the three-time World Cup winner had passed away.
According to the Daily Express, the morning show’s official Twitter account had posted that the former Brazilian star Pele ‘ dies at 74’ with a black and whit photo of the player, who is actually 73.
Apple growers of Kashmir have suffered huge losses following the damage of apple orchards after recent snowfall spoilt the apple trees and smashed their branches in the valley.
Recent incessant snowfall and rains in Jammu and Kashmir damaged most of the apple orchards in Kashmir’s Shopian district.
Growers in Shopian, one of the major apple producing areas in Kashmir, said the unexpected snowfall in March was heavier than the normal snowfall and it got accumulated on the tree branches.
Janata Dal United (JD-U) leader K C Tyagi on Saturday asked the Chief Election Commissioner to debar leaders like Imran Masood from contesting elections.
“Persons like Imran Masood have no place in politics. I have already written a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner that hate speech campaigns must be stopped. The leader of any political party, irrespective of political affiliation, must be debarred from contesting elections,” Tyagi said.
Three days after Narendra Modi launched a sharp attack against AK Antony, calling him a “Pakistan’s agent”, the Defence Minister on Saturday said the Gujarat Chief Minister’s comments did not suit a prime ministerial candidate.
He also said that Modi’s comments were an insult to the Indian Army.
Expelled Janata Dal (United) leader Sabir Ali on Saturday wrote a letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party unit of Bihar asking them to put his membership on hold till party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s allegations on him are cleared.
“I have written a letter to Dharmendra Pradhan saying that they can set up a committee to enquire the allegations made against me. If they will be able to prove any charges I will quit politics and they can put my membership on hold until the charges are cleared,” said Ali.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation met the Chief Election Commissioner on Saturday asking for strict action to be taken against Congress candidate for Saharanpur Imran Masood for threatening to chop BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi into pieces.
“Such kinds of statements reflect a Talibani mindset. These kinds of incidents hinder peaceful and unbiased elections in a democracy,” said BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
A new study has found that compounds found in plastic and chemical lotion can affect the fertility in men.
Federal researchers studied the impact of everyday chemicals on fertility and spent four years tracking 501 couples while they were trying to have children.
The researchers found out that while both men and women were exposed to known toxic chemicals, men were more likely to be affected by chemicals and face fertility problems.
A 42-year-old railway employee, who had accused BSP MP from Jaunpur, Dhananjay Singh, of raping her in November 2013, on Saturday charged her husband with beating and intimidating her to take back her complaint against the lawmaker, police said.
According to the victim’s complaint, her husband who lives separately, reached her Mayur Vihar Phase-1 house on Friday night and asked her to withdraw the rape case against Dhananjay.
27-year-old, Mohammed Azeem son of late Mohammed Abid, R/O Maheshwaram mandal, died in a road accident at Shamsabad. As per the details Mohammed Azeem who was TV mechanic was passing by Shamsabad area when he was hit from behind by RTC bus no. AP11Z-1299. He sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
The body has been shifted to Shamsabad government hospital for postmortem. The bus driver went absconding leaving the bus after hitting the victim. Shamsabad RGI police has registered a case in this connection.
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