Wellington  - Fiji deported a Television New Zealand journalist on Tuesday as tensions rose over sanctions against the South Pacific island state's military regime, in a row that threatens tit-for-tat expulsions of both countries' diplomats.

Barbara Dreaver, the state-owned network's Pacific correspondent, was sent home after being arrested when she flew into Fiji's capital Suva on Monday night to cover the developing row between the two countries.

As she arrived, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key told reporters that he had sent a message to Fiji military strongman Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama confirming a travel ban on Fijian administration officials and their families, imposed after Bainimarama seized power in a bloodless coup two years ago.

Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama named the key players of his energy and environmental team Monday, promising both to revive the struggling US economy and revamp the country's approach to global warming.

Obama named Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and leading voice on alternative energy, to head the Department of Energy.

He named Lisa Jackson, the New Jersey governor's chief of staff and a former leader of the state's climate policy, to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Deepika Padukone is all set to mesmerize her audiences with two different looks in her forth coming film, 'Chandni Chowk to China'.

Initially it was being speculated whether she was actually playing a double role in the film or whether the whole thing was just a gimmick for the promotion of the film.

A Lok Sabha committee that went into the cash-for-votes scam during UPA government's confidence vote gave Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh and Congress MP Ahmed Patel a clean chit on the pretext of the absence of solid evidence against them.

"There is no direct evidence against Amar Singh. The committee is inclined to discount the video clip of the car entering or coming out of Amar Singh's house because in the first place the video clipping does not show the face of persons (claimed to be Shri Argal and Kulasthe) seated in the rear seat," the committee said.

Islamabad has refused to impose a ‘total ban’ on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), thus raising questions about Pakistan’s commitment to co-operate with international community in eradicating terrorism inside its territory.

On December 10 the UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed sanctions on the JuD and identified four of its top commanders as terrorists, including JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

Washington - The daughter of assassinated president John F Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, has expressed interest in taking the New York Senate seat that will be vacated by Hillary Clinton.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer said he had spoken with Kennedy and confirmed widespread reports that she wanted to replace Clinton, who is leaving to become secretary of state for president-elect Barack Obama.