Mobile technology can help improve global health: Gates

WASHINGTON: Mobile technology can help improve global health with cheap diagnostic tools, patient reminders and making immunization programs more efficient, Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Tuesday.

“The mobile phone is pretty interesting for lots of things,” Gates said in a keynote address at the mHealth Summit here, a gathering of public and private sector groups and companies involved in mobile technology and health.

“There’s a whole lot of opportunities,” said Gates, who stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft two years ago to concentrate on global health care through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“I think we have to approach these things with some humility though,” Gates cautioned, pointing out that “there’s no Internet and data connections” in much of the world.

“I do think there’s absolutely a role (for mobile technology to

US aspires to increase military personnel in Asia, says Gates

The US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that the USA aspires to increase the number of its military personnel in the Asian region. Speaking while leaving for security talks in Australia, Robert Gates said that Pentagon is making it sure that the US Army keeps an eye on the Indian Ocean, besides Far East and South East Asia.

US 2011 drawdown in Afghanistan will be ”limited”: Gates

WASHINGTON: Amid growing clamor against the war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned Sunday that large numbers of US troops will remain in the country after a “limited” July 2011 drawdown.

Despite mounting casualties and public doubts, Gates said the US-led force was making headway in the war and Taliban insurgents would not be able to wait out American forces because a major troop withdrawal was not on the horizon.

“I think we need to reemphasize the message that we are not leaving Afghanistan in July of 2011,” said Gates, referring to a deadline set by President Barack Obama for the start of a withdrawal.

“My personal opinion is that drawdown early on will be of fairly limited numbers,” he told US news channel.

Asked if the Taliban could simply “run out the clock” until the mid-2011 target, Gates said that he would “welcome that, because we will be there in the 19th month, and we will be there with a lot of troops.”

Gates, Buffett lobby for donation pledges

SEATTLE, USA: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett are launching a campaign to get other American billionaires to give at least half their wealth to charity.

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Gates, Buffett lobby for donation pledges

Iran not yet ”nuclear capable”: Gates

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that Iran is not on the threshold of producing a nuclear weapon and that its program was progressing slower than Tehran expected.

“I”d just say, and it”s our judgment here, they are not nuclear capable,” Gates said in an interview. “Not yet.”

Speaking to NBC”s “Meet the Press,” Gates said that Iran was “continuing to make progress” in a nuclear program that Washington suspects is a clandestine effort to develop an atomic arsenal.

“It”s going slower than they anticipated. But they are moving in that direction,” he said.

Asked to compare the danger posed by Iran armed with an atomic bomb or with the ability to produce one, Gates said: “How far have they gone? If their policy is to go (to) the threshold, but not assemble a nuclear weapon, how do you tell that they have not assembled?

“So, it becomes a serious verification question.”

The Pentagon chief also denied that the US administration was resigned to Iran becoming a nuclear-armed power.

“We have not drawn that conclusion at all. And in fact, we”re doing everything we can to try and keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons,” he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who appeared along with Gates on television political talk shows, argued that Washington”s “patience” had helped build international support for sanctions against Iran.

Carlos Slim Is World’s Richest Man

Forbes magazine revealed the annual list of the Richest People. Bill Gates is no longer the richest person, Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications billionaire with a net worth of $53.5bn, has been crowned the world’s richest person.
Recovering financial markets and commodities and strong economic growth from some Asian-Pacific and Latin American economies helped to increase the collective wealth of the world’s richest by $2.4 trillion to $3.6 trillion and the number of billionaires increased from 793 to 1,011. Average net worthrose $500m to $3.5bn.
Mukesh Ambani, chief executive of Reliance Industries, landed the number four spot with $29bn, up from seventh. Lakshmi Mittal, owner of ArcelorMittal, secured the fifth spot with $28.7bn. For the first time, China, with 64 billionaires, is the region with the most members outside of the US, which has 403, followed by Russia with 62.

Gates In Riyadh To Discuss Curbs On Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

American Defense Secretary Robert Gates was keeping up the pressure on Iran, in the latest move Gates went to Saudi Arabia for consulting about how to respond to Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. U.S. official said Gates would discuss shared concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions during meetings with Saudi King Abdullah and senior leaders.
Saudi Arabia has long warned of the potential for a nuclear arms race in the Gulf region if Iran gained the bomb but does not openly support tougher sanctions. Saudi Arabia see Iran’s expanding missile capability as an even more immediate threat.
Gates would also discuss on improving defense ties with Saudi Arabia.

War’s ‘Decisive Phase’ Looms In Kandahar: Gates

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday they would soon be part of a “decisive phase” in the war — an operation to impose control over the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.
NATO is sending thousands of extra troops to Kandahar over the next few months as part of plans to restore control over Kandahar, a central part of President Barack Obama’s strategy to reverse momentum in the 8-year-old war.
The operation to restore government control in Kandahar is the main military objective remaining in Obama’s strategy, which aims to turn the tide this year with 30,000 extra troops so that US forces can begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in mid-2011.

Bill Gates Worries Climate Money Robs Health Aid

TrendPK.com Bill Gates Worries Climate Money Robs Health Aid:The World’s Richest Man and a leading philanthropist, said on Sunday spending by rich countries aimed at Combating climate change in developing nations could mean a dangerous cut in aid for health issues.
Gates, the Microsoft Corp. co-founder whose $ 34 billion foundation is [...]

Rathore Gets Interim Bail In Two Ruchika Cases

TrendPK.com Rathore Gets Interim Bail In Two Ruchika Cases:The Punjab and Haryana High Court Wednesday granted interim bail to former Haryana police chief SPS After two fresh Rahtore first information reports (comp) were filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the molestation of Ruchika Girhotra.
Rathore was [...]

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