US Congress speaker Pelosi calls Bush 'a total failure'

WASHINGTON: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called President George W. Bush a total failure in every department and said that he has no idea that what he has to do.Nancy Pelosy, who met with President Bush on Thursday said that his failure is evident in every matter whether it is war or economy or energy. In an interview with a US tv, Pelosy severely criticized Bush and said: “God bless him, bless his heart, the president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject." The speaker was especially critical of Bush's proposal to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling as a means to ease the current fuel price crisis, calling it a ploy to draw attention away from his failures.

"We have seven and a half years of failed energy policy by the Bush administration. We have a faltering, downturning economy. The president needs a decoy."So he's going out there, he even has the nerve to say the economy would be better off if we could drill in protected areas offshore," she said, adding the Democrats' proposal to free up the US strategic petroleum reserve, which she said is 91.5 percent full."And we're saying let's take 10 percent of that ... and use that to put on the market so that we increase supply, reduce prices, and when the price comes down, we can buy back the oil at a lower price."

Security forces take control of Zargari in Hangu

HANGU: Security forces took control of Zargari area in Hangu whereas operation against extremists is underway in Shanawari and Shamsuddin Banda areas.According to sources, security forces started operation three days back after attacks on security forces vehicles in Doaba area and they now took the control of Zargari area.

A black mark for Auckland

Auckland is a final stopping point for a number of leisure ship cruises and it should be, for those disembarking passengers, a highlight.
It is a wholly unsatisfactory situation that apparently the cruise companies which operate the ships consider their duty done when the ship berths. When that happens, passengers booked to fly out of New Zealand are bussed to places like the Ellerslie Racecourse grounds and held there pending departure of their homeward flights. One would have thought there was a great opportunity to give those passengers in the remaining short period of their stay a worthwhile New Zealand experience.
Not so it seems.
Surely this is an issue that cruise companies in conjunction with local tourist operators could better organise

Murali is bigger threat than Mendis: Harbhajan

NEW DELHI, July 17: Harbhajan Singh does not doubt mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis’ potentials but the star off-spinner believes it is old trickster Muttiah Muralitharan who would pose bigger threat for the Indian batsmen in the forthcoming Test series.Harbhajan heaped praise on Mendis, who ran through India’s famed ODI batting order in the Asia Cup final in Karachi, and said it was an extraordinary display of quality spin bowling. “It was a treat to watch Mendis bowl during the Asia Cup final,” Harbhajan told a leading TV channel on Thursday.“The deliveries with which he got Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma and even R.P. Singh were outstanding. I have seen people doing this with a tennis ball but it is incredible that he is doing it with a cricket ball. There is so much to learn from Mendis,” said Harbhajan. “But still it’s too early to compare Mendis with Murali and the old warhorse would create more problem for the Indian side,” said Harbhajan.“It will be Muralitharan who will pose a bigger challenge and do well in the series and not Mendis. You cannot compare Mendis and Murali. Oh, come on, Murali has been doing it for so many years whereas Mendis has just started,” he reasoned.The aggressive offie himself would have to live up to the expectation in the series, to prove that he remains the same potent force despite spending the last three months in the wilderness following the slap-gate episode. “I am ready for it.

In fact to sit on the sidelines has made me hungrier and I am willing to play any role that the team wants me to,” said Harbhajan, who remains out of action since slapping India team-mate S Sreesanth after an Indian Premier League Match.One after another controversy has stalked Harbhajan but the offie said he now wanted people to remember him for all the right reasons. “I committed a mistake and I admitted it. I think we all need to move on from there and look ahead. From now on, people should remember me for all the right reasons and not controversies,” he said.Meanwhile, having bamboozled batsmen in the recent Asia Cup, Sri Lanka’s ‘mystery’ spinner Ajantha Mendis sought to put Indian batsmen on the backfoot ahead of the Test series on Thursday, disclosing that he was working on a new delivery to add more variety to his armoury. “I am new to this game [Tests]. I have five different deliveries and am working on the sixth,” Mendis told reporters here.—Agencies

Oil prices slip on slow economy

LONDON, July 17: Oil prices fell again on Thursday after slumping by more than $10 over the past two days on prospects that slowing economic growth would cut demand for crude, traders said.New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, lost 79 cents to $133.81 a barrel, after dropping $4.14 on Wednesday and $6.44 on Tuesday, the sharpest daily decline since January 1991.London’s Brent North Sea oil for September lost 73 cents to 135.08 dollars.The Brent August contract expired Wednesday down $2.56 at $136.19.Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said the market was supported by strong fundamentals of supply and demand in the long-term.However, he added: “In the short term there is a real concern about the health of economies globally.”Prices have crumbled since striking record highs above $147 last Friday and losses accelerated on Wednesday after a bigger-than-expected rise in US crude reserves, analysts said.“Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday largely driven by an unexpected weekly rise in US oil and gasoline inventories,” said an analyst at Barclays Capital.

FDA lifts warning on tomatoes

Tomatoes are again safe to eat, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday, weeks after the food was blamed as a source of a salmonella outbreak in the United States and Canada.

The federal agency lifted its warning about tomatoes but left in place a warning about raw jalapeño and serrano peppers, having previously said those foods also may be linked to the outbreak. The source of the outbreak still isn't known -- and 20 to 30 reports of the illness are coming in per day -- but the FDA said the epidemic is "waning."
The FDA hasn't determined whether tomatoes were a source of the outbreak, but it has determined that tomatoes currently in fields and stores are safe, said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's associate commissioner for food protection, according to The Associated Press.
Salmonella Saintpaul -- a rare form of the bacteria -- has infected more than 1,190 people in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Canada since April, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 370 of those people became ill on or after June 1, the CDC said.
At least 224 people have been hospitalized.
Two elderly men with pre-existing conditions died while infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, and the FDA said the infection could have contributed to their deaths.

EU hits Intel with fresh charges

European regulators have filed fresh charges against the world's biggest computer chip maker Intel over alleged abuse of its dominant market position.

The European Commission (EC) accused the firm of paying a leading European retailer not to stock products containing chips made by rival AMD.
It is also accused of giving incentives to PC makers to switch to Intel chips.
Intel, which has eight weeks to respond to the allegations, said it was disappointed with the EC's claims.
The Commission has also accused Intel of paying the PC maker to delay the planned launch of a product containing AMD chips.