Obama is scared of his wife!
New York: US President Barack Obama, arguably the world’s most powerful man, is scared of his wife Michelle and has stopped smoking out of fear of the First Lady.
In an unguarded moment, an open mic caught Obama telling a UN official that he was able to successfully quit smoking “because I’m scared of my wife.” Following a Civil Society Roundtable at the opening day of the UN General Assembly meeting yesterday, an open mic caught the President questioning UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai about his smoking habit, NBC News reported.
“I hope you quit smoking,” Obama said as the two greeted each other after the event. Kiai said he still enjoyed a smoke from time-to-time, and asked Obama if he had been able to kick the habit.
“I haven’t had a cigarette in 6 years…that’s because I’m scared of my wife,” Obama told him with a grin. The commander-in-chief’s nicotine habit has been in the limelight since taking over as the US President. While pushing for passage of health care reform in 2009, he admitted that he still struggled with cigarettes and has continued to smoke on occasion as President. “I’ve said before that as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it.
Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No,” he said at a press conference in 2009. “I don’t do it in front of my kids.
I don’t do it in front of my family. And, you know, I would say that I am 95 per cent cured. But there are times where…There are times where I mess up.” In an 2012 interview with ‘iVillage’, First Lady Michelle said her husband had been motivated by their daughters to successfully quit for good.
“I know that his ability to ultimately kick the habit was because of the girls, because they’re at the age now where you can’t hide,” Michelle said. “I think that he didn’t want to look his girls in the eye and tell them that they shouldn’t do something that he was still doing,” she had said. (PTI)
Hero dog dies while saving two men from bear attack
New York: A small ‘hero’ dog has died while trying to save two men in the US from a brutal attack by a 181-kg black bear.
The less than two-kg dachshund, named Bradley, stood up to the bear and fought it off so the massive beast would not attack the two men in Oscoda County in Michigan.
“I believe honestly the outcome would have been different if Brad had not been with him,” John Force, Bradley’s owner said. “If the bear had attacked Brad, It certainly would have attacked the men who were bigger than Brad,” said Force.
The two men who visited Force’s residence last week ventured into the woods and took Bradley along for the ride a website reported.
“They came across the mama and her cubs on the trail and they were a bit surprised, none of them had ever seen a bear before,” Force said. The large bear stared the men down, who instantly knew they were in trouble.
The fearless pooch jumped off the golf cart and attacked the big bear in a scuffle, Force said. His preemptive attack scared off the bear, but he was bitten in the fight and died from his wounds an hour later.
“He was only four to five pounds, but in his mind I think he thought he was 100 pounds,” said Lisa, Force’s wife. (PTI)
Real life `James Bond` who unmasked Britain’s deadliest Soviet spies dies
London: Former RAF war hero, Ferguson Smith, who was instrumental in snaring the most notorious traitors and Russian spies of the 50s and 60s, has died. He was 98.
The former Bomber Command flight lieutenant was a war hero, former personal bodyguard to ex-King the Duke of Windsor and, a supreme spycatcher, the Mirror reported.
During a 36-year career in Special Branch, he caught the infamous Portland spy ring, who were selling nuclear submarine secrets to Moscow, and arrested the most dangerous of all Red spies, George Blake.
Smith also helped jail naval attache-turned traitor John Vassall as well as Klaus Fuchs, the German physicist who sold details of Britain and America’s atomic bomb programme to the Soviets.
According to spy expert Neil Root, there was a real fear of Communist spies in the 50s and 60s.
Root, who is author of Twentieth Century Spies, said that the things you see in James Bond now, was the kind of things happening then. (ANI)
Six whales die on Brazil beach
Brasilia: Six whales died after they beached themselves in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, officials said Monday.
The whales were among a group of about 30 marine mammals that got stranded Sunday on Upanema beach, located about 330 km from Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte. But despite fishermen immediately setting up an improvised rescue operation, all except six of them made it back out to sea.
Personnel from a whale research institute at the University of Rio Grande do Norte and police officers also assisted in the rescue effort.
Six of the whales died on the beach despite the best efforts of rescuers, police said.
The marine mammals were young pilot whales, University of Rio Grande do Norte researchers said. (IANS)
Prince William, Mick Fleetwood related through Diana’s ancestry
London: Prince William and Fleetwood Mac star, Mick Fleetwood, are sixth cousins three times removed, through an ancestor of Princess Diana, it has been revealed.
According to a website, a family history website, Edward Lascelles, who was born around 1702 and died aged 45, was the ninth great-granddad of the Duchess of Wales, the Mirror reported.
Lascelles was also the iconic drummer’s sixth great grandfather, the site claimed.
The site has also revealed that Mick was not the only one who found fame as a musician, as his fourth great grandmother Anne Catley, was one of the most popular entertainers in 18th century London. (ANI)
Couple who saw Diana’s spirit say she was ‘lamb to the slaughter’
London: A couple from Gloucester have said that Princess Diana sends them signs.
Ken and Jo Dobson, who claim to be her biggest fans, said that they once saw her spirit in place of an angel on top of a Christmas tree.
Ken said that Princess Diana was like a lamb to the slaughter, the Daily Star reported.
He said that the couple don’t think that the truth is going to come out in their time – but asserted that it will come out in years to come. (ANI)
Chelsea Clinton gets $750,000 discount on new condo
New York: Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc Mezvinksy got a heavy discount for a four-bedroom apartment in the celebrity-studded Whitman condominium building on Madison Square Park, city records filed this month have revealed.
The 33-year old daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid 9,250,000 dollars for the four-bedroom apartment, which is said to be 1.2 million dollars less than the 10.5 million dollars asking price, and 750,000 dollars below the amount the other two occupants paid for their 5,000-square-foot units, the New York Post reported.
Clinton- Mezvinsky purchased the property, which the Bill and Hillary toured in early March, using a company called Cafema LLC, and took out a 5 million dollars mortgage in addition to a 500,000 dollars line of credit, records show.
A spokesperson said that the couple had agreed to buy the apartment last year and as they were the first to do so in the building, they received a discount. (ANI)
Man successfully unlocked latest iPhone using nipple
London: A man has reportedly claimed that he was able to unlock the latest Apple iPhone5S using his nipple for the TouchID feature.
The TouchID feature, essentially meant for fingerprint scanning, has been earlier tested for a cat’s paw in order to unlock the latest smartphone.
According to metro.co.uk, the man released a YouTube video showing him unlocking the device by placing his chest on the fingerprint reader.
The report said that the two-minute video has already gained more than half a million views on YouTube, with many users surprised at how the ‘Japanese’ man unlocks his phone. (ANI)