‘American Idol’: Few Hits, Mostly Misses

We were promised hits, dammit. The ruthless Interscope executive Jimmy Iovine, now a significant member of the “American Idol” team, indicated that this season, he and his famous producer friends would treat contestants like future recording stars, not just as TV-show contestants.

But if Wednesday night’s performances, on the first proper competition night, revealed anything, it’s that the institutional memory of this show, and the tentativeness of its performers, will for now easily trump any early efforts to mold new stars.

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Posted in: america,american idol,americans,latest news,US

Obama to meet tech leaders Jobs, Zuckerberg, Schmidt

BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- US President Barack Obama plans to have a private dinner Thursday evening with Silicon Valley tech titans including Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, according to media reports.

"The president and the business leaders will discuss our shared goal of promoting American innovation, and discuss his commitment to new investments in research and development, education and clean energy," a White House official said.

In his State of the Union address delivered on Jan. 25, Obama cited technology companies as heirs to the industries that made the U.S. the world’s biggest economy.

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Posted in: americans,cell users,Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Changing the World,news,obama,Obama to meet tech leaders Jobs,Schmidt,Zuckerberg

US doubts HAL's capability

NEW DELHI: The US seems to have committed a howler in the race to bag the "mother of all defence deals", the $10.4 billion project to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft for IAF, which is in the final lap now.

Washington has expressed serious doubts on the ability of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to handle projects like the MMRCA, dubbing it "untested and suspect". This drew a sharp response from a defence ministry official, who pointed out the defence PSU was already engaged in producing a frontline "air dominance" fighter like Sukhoi-30MKI with Russia's help.

As per the MMRCA contract, which India hopes to ink this year, 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf from the foreign vendor finally selected, while the rest will be manufactured by HAL in India after transfer of technology. 

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Posted in: americans,hal,india,navy,US

Was Davis running drone programme in Pakistan?

WASHINGTON: A mysterious halt to U.S Predator strikes on Pakistan after the Raymond Davis incident in Lahore has led to intense speculation the American "diplomat" was connected to the Drone program even as Washington and Islamabad are going eyeball-to-eyeball over his status.

Davis, 36, was apprehended by Pakistani police after he shot dead two Pakistanis on a busy Lahore thoroughfare on January 27, four days after the last drone U.S Drone strike in Pakistan. There has not been a single strike in the 25 days since then, making it the third-longest period of inactivity since the U.S ramped up the Predator program to take out terrorists infesting Pakistan's frontier regions, according to Long War Journal (LWJ), a blog that tracks U.S Predator attacks. 

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Posted in: americans,davis,drone,pakistan,US

US-has-very-complicated-relationship-with-Pakistan-CIA-chief

WASHINGTON: CIA director Leon Panetta has told US lawmakers that his country has a very complicated relationship with Pakistan and both the countries often have conflicting view point on different issues.

"I have to tell you that it (US-Pakistan) is very complicated and it does involve oftentimes conflicting viewpoints of how we deal with issues," Panetta told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing of the senate select committee on intelligence.

The relationship between Pakistan and the US is one of the most complicated relationships that he has seen in a long time, he said in response to a question. 

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Posted in: americans,army,cia,pakistan,US

Indians-among-111-charged-in-major-US-healthcare-fraud

BOSTON: At least six Indian-origin persons are among over 100 doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a massive Medicare fraud estimated at $225 million, in one of the biggest crackdowns on healthcare fraud-related crimes in the US.

The 111 people charged across nine cities are accused of crimes, including conspiracy to defraud Medicare, criminal false claims, money laundering and aggravated identify theft.

"With this takedown, we have identified and shut down large-scale fraud schemes operating throughout the country. This is the largest federal healthcare fraud takedown in our nation's history," said Attorney General Eric Holder who announced the charges with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. 

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Posted in: 111,americans,fraud,health care,india,united states,US

Obama speaks to Bahrain's king, condemns violence

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Friday spoke to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa and condemned violence by government forces against protesters which has killed four people and wounded 200 more.

Obama also warned in the call that the United States believed the stability of the Western-leaning Gulf kingdom which houses the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet depended on a process of meaningful political reform.

"President Obama spoke with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain this evening to discuss the ongoing situation in Bahrain," a White House statement said. 

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Posted in: americans,baharain's,king,obama,violence

Somali mission: Pirates capture 4 Americans

UNITED NATIONS: Somalia's UN Mission said Friday that pirates hijacked a yacht carrying four U.S. citizens in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast. 

Omar Jamal, first secretary at the Somali mission, identified the yacht as the S/V Quest.

He said the mission is calling for the immediate release of the hostages and all other captives who are in the hands of the pirates.

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Posted in: americans,mission,pirates,somali