It’s decided: The Obamas have chosen a six-month-old Portuguese water dog to be the first pet.
In what was one of the White House’s most tightly kept secrets, US President Barack Obama’s daughters, 10-year-old Malia and seven-year-old Sasha, have settled on a black and white pup, a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity told said on Saturday night.
The dog, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy, who owns several Portuguese water dogs himself, will make his big debut tomorrow afternoon.
The Washington Post reported in its online editions on Saturday night that Obama’s daughters chose the name “Bo” for the pup because first lady Michelle Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley. The name for the dog was an apparent reference to the singer “Bo” Diddley.
White House aides said that the office of the first lady had arranged an exclusive deal on the dog story with the Post.
The officials, who demanded anonymity because of the deal with the Post on exclusive details, said the dog was not in the White House as of Saturday evening.
Throughout the day on Saturday, celebrity Web sites and bloggers had been abuzz with rumors of the first family’s selection of a Portuguese water dog; one site even claimed it had pictures of the future first pet.
The president, for his part, earlier had embraced the frenzy.
“Oh, man, now, that’s top secret,” Obama joked on Friday to reporters.
Obama promised his daughters a puppy during the campaign.
“This is Washington. That was a campaign promise,” Obama said when he appeared on Jay Leno’s talk show last month, as the audience roared with laughter. “No, I’m teasing. The dog will be there shortly.”
The president and first lady had said their choice was down to either a Portuguese water dog or a Labradoodle because they were considered good pets for children who have allergies, as Malia does.
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
NOTORIOUS JAIL: Even from a distance, prisoners maimed by torture, weakened by illness and emaciated by hunger, could be distinguished Armed men broke the bolts on the cell and the prisoners crept out: haggard, bewildered and scarcely believing that their years of torment in Syria’s most brutal jail were over. “What has happened?” asked one prisoner after another. “You are free, come out. It is over,” cried the voice of a man filming them on his telephone. “Bashar has gone. We have crushed him.” The dramatic liberation of Saydnaya prison came hours after rebels took the nearby capital, Damascus, having sent former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fleeing after more than 13 years of civil war. In the video, dozens of
RSS