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WASHINGTON: The United States will not be in Afghanistan "another eight or nine years," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.The US spokesman said that US President Barack Obama will announce his new Afghan strategy in an address to the nation Tuesday evening from the prestigious West Point military academy.In what will be the defining moment of Obama's young presidency, he is widely expected to send some 34,000 more troops into battle to try and quell an increasingly fierce Taliban insurgency.The announcement will take place at 8:00 pm Tuesday (0100 GMT Wednesday) at the elite US officer school of West Point in New York state, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.A day after Obama vowed to "finish the job" in the eight-year conflict, an outline of the president's plans began to emerge, with Gibbs promising they will include an exit strategy.The US would not remain in Afghanistan for "another eight or nine years," he said,...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 JEDDAH: Flooding killed at least 11 people in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Wednesday after a heavy downpour, with more deaths feared, a civil defence official said. The 11 victims were believed to have drowned, the official said, requesting anonymity. The storm struck the western Saudi city in the morning, flooding streets. In one part of Jeddah, a bus could be seen submerged under several metres (yards) of water in an underpass. A witness told a French news agency by telephone he had seen several bodies beside another bus that overturned in the storm. Major roads remained gridlocked by traffic late on Wednesday after the rain stopped and floodwaters receded, witnesses said. The storm also stranded hundreds of Muslim pilgrims in buses headed from Jeddah to Makkah for the first full day of the annual hajj. Traffic accidents were reported on the 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch from Jeddah to Islam's holiest city, where some 2.5 millio...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a temporary ease on Israeli settlement building approved by the security cabinet on Wednesday did not include Jerusalem. "We do not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital," Netanyahu told a news conference, referring to the Holy City. A settlement freeze also in annexed east Jerusalem is a key Palestinian demand to resume peace negotiations that were suspended during the Gaza war at the turn of the year.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 KATHMANDU: Nepal's first international fast-food restaurants opened in the capital Kathmandu on Wednesday, reflecting the country's cautious attempts to attract more investment from Western companies.Long queues formed outside Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut, with KFC serving more than 500 people in the first two hours of business."It has been an exciting day after a long period of planning and preparation," Vishnu Reddy, country manager for the two brands said. "We are happy and satisfied with the overwhelming response from customers."KFC and Pizza Hut arrived in Nepal as the country recovers from a decade-long civil war that claimed more than 16,000 lives before a peace deal was reached between rebel Maoists and the government in 2006.During the violence, rebels targeted foreign ventures including Coke, Pepsi and Unilever but more recently Kathmandu has seen rapid growth in restaurants, malls and supermarkets.Many of...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 LONDON: A survey has shown that women are constantly concerned by their appearance and worry about ageing. One hundred women were asked to carry a clicker in an experiment to measure how many times they felt anxiety about their bodies ageing. Over a seven day period, the women aged 35 to 69 had to use the clicker every time they worried about their face, body, or appearance in general. On average, the women surveyed had negative thoughts 36 times a day. One of the participants, Loose Women presenter Sherrie Hewson, 59, said: "It brought to the fore how many women have issues. "Listening to others, they are saying what I'm saying when you think it's only you. "There are so many of us there's got to be a common denominator, so we've got to get together and change it, change us." Sherrie, who had a facelift ten years ago, clicked 1,400 times over seven days but admitted she thought it would be more. In her waking hours, she...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 LONDON: The bottle, which has already won a series of innovation and research awards, ensures that the milk is heated to between 32 and 34 degrees in just 60 seconds and stays warm for up to an hour. It can be recharged up to 100 times and even features an anti-colic teat which allows a baby to latch on more easily. It was invented by a husband and wife team who were tired of having to painstakingly heat milk to an exact temperature in the microwave or ask waiters for hot water to heat a bottle while out. Jim and Farah Shaikh, an engineer and a solicitor, came up with the idea following the birth of their eldest son Danial. Six years ago, Mr Shaikh sketched out a plan on a pub napkin and the prototype was tested on their second son Niall, who is now two. Dr Shaikh, 43, said the device works on a similar principle to hand warmers using gel packs, and he and his wife consulted the guidance and professional advice of academics, midwives, nurses, parenting gro...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 MANILA: Bizarre candidates such as the "Ultimate Messiah" and a man who crows like a chicken are seeking their moments of fame by making unlikely bids for president in next year's Philippine elections.Their chances of winning are non-existent but they have given a splash of colour to the start of a long election race in which the Southeast Asian nation's chaotic brand of democracy will be on full display.Rigoberto Madera was the first to register as a candidate at the election commission on Friday, waving handouts identifying him as "Star General Ace Diamond, Commander-in-Chief on Earth... Emparador (Emperor), Ultimate Messiah."But for Madera, 62, winning the May elections and becoming president for six years is only a stepping stone."I will run for president of the US, after Barack Obama," he declared to reporters.Another prospective candidate who rushed to register at the Commission of Elections was George Samia, 60,...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 MUMBAI: After delivering comedies like 'Hera Pheri' and 'Phir Hera Pheri', Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal have teamed up once again in 'De Dana Dan', another laugh riot that releases Friday. Expectations are high as Priyadarshan's latest venture is being compared to the 'Hera Pheri' films. Produced by Ganesh and Girish Jain and Sunil A. Lulla, it also stars Katrina Kaif, Neha Dhupia and Sameera Reddy. ' 'De Dana Dan' is not 'Hera Pheri'. Sure the star cast is the same and so is the director, but there's no effort to make a sequel to 'Hera Pheri' or be like 'Hera Pheri'. But comparisons with 'Hera Pheri' are inevitable. 'De Dana Dan' is far more entertaining than any Akshay-Priyadarshan movies made in the past,' one of the producers was quoted as saying. Shot mostly in Singapore, 'De Dana Dan' is about Nitin Bankar (Akshay) who multi-tasks f...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 LONDON: Edgar Mueller, the street artist, has broken a new Guinness World Record after creating the world's biggest 3D pavement art featuring characters from the movie Ice Age. He beat his own world record by covering an area of 330 square metres with a wintry scene to coincide with the DVD launch of Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Taking six days to create, the pavement art, at Westfield London, features characters Manny, Buck, Sid, Diego, Scrat and Scratte edging over an icy crevasse. Craig Glenday, Editor in Chief of Guinness World Records, said: "Guinness World Records has been monitoring the fantastic work of Edgar Mueller for some time now, and we're thrilled to be so closely involved with his latest record-breaking creation. "Children – and adults – around the world are blown away by Edgar's eye-popping landscapes, and he truly deserves a place in the record books taking the art of pavement of drawing to stratospheric new lev...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 WASHINGTON: Noting that there was growing "convergence" in national interests of India and the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the two countries "must work together" to effectively tackle the multiple challenges confronting the world. "The India-US partnership can promote global cooperation in dealing with issues that the world has to face together, whether it is hunger, global security and terrorism, nuclear disarmament, climate change or spread of pandemics," he said. Singh said he saw the future of the India-US partnership with "confidence and optimism". "There is a growing convergence in our national interests, both within bilateral framework and on regional and global issues," the Prime Minister said in his address to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank. The changes in global economic and political structures and the growing interdependence among nations tod...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 WASHINGTON-While President Barack Obama held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kashmiris and Sikhs gathered in front of the White House on Tuesday to protest New Delhi’s repression in the Indian-occupied Kashmir and Punjab.Hundreds of Kashmiri men, women and children living in Washington metro area staged a peace rally to press their demands for a resolution of the decades-old Kashmir dispute. The participants carried anti-India placards reminding the world of the urgency to help resolve the Kashmir conflict.They urged President Obama to persuade New Delhi towards resolution of the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute and fulfil his 2008 election campaign pledge.The participants urged an end to human rights abuses in the heavily militarised Indian Held Kashmir.Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Exective Director of the Kashmiri-American Council, emphasised that the Kashmir dispute remains key to long-term stability in South Asia. He pointed out that this fac...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 LA PAZ: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Bolivia for a short visit Tuesday on the second leg of a Latin America tour of three leftist nations sympathetic to his administration. President Evo Morales greeted Ahmadinejad at the airport with full military honors before accompanying to the center of La Paz. There, a small group of feminists held a protest over Iran's treatment of women in front of the presidential palace as Ahmadinejad and Morales headed inside for talks. The leaders oversaw the signing of a deal that would see Iran involved in mining research in Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, a vast salt desert near the Chilean border that holds half the world's known reserves of lithium -- a key mineral used in rechargeable batteries for cell phones, laptops and electric cars. French, Japanese and South Korean companies are competing to invest in the area, estimated to contain up to 100 million tons of lithium. The Iranian leader began ...