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Serena Williams flung her racket straight up and jumped for joy, hopping and skipping and screaming and generally looking like someone who had just won her first U.S. Open title or earned her debut at No.1. It sure had been a while, though. Displaying the talent and tenacity that allowed her to dominate tennis earlier in the decade, Williams outlasted Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 Sunday night in a thrill-a-minute match chock full of marvelous strokes and momentum swings to win her third U.S. Open championship and ninth Grand Slam title. "Every one is so exciting, believe me," Williams said. "This is cool because I'm at No. 9. I'm pushing the doors closer to double digits, which of course I want to get to." And there was this "added bonus," as Williams termed it: She returns to the top of the rankings. "I think this title meant more to Serena than any title she's ever won," her father and coach, Richard Williams said. As the women met at ...

Promising a "very bipartisan approach" to how he'll run his administration, Sen. John McCain said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he would appoint Democrats to his Cabinet. Speaking to CBS' "Face the Nation," the Republican presidential nominee vowed that he won't just have a single token Democrat in his Cabinet. "It's going to be the best people in America, the smartest people in America," McCain said. "So many of these problems we face -- for example, energy independence -- what's partisan about that?" He said he'll also ask some members of his Cabinet "to work for a dollar a year. They've made enough money. But I'll also ask people who have struggled out there in the trenches to help people, to volunteer in their communities, who understand these problems at that level, which obviously is lost on a lot of -- a lot -- a big segment of Washington." The Obama campaign has raised questions about McCa...

The UK high street fashion industry is worth an estimated £44.5 billion. In 1960 10% of household expenditure was spent on clothing and footwear. Today, thanks to discounted prices, lower production costs abroad and a flood of Chinese imports, only 6% of household expenditure is spent on keeping us fashionable. Encouragingly for the consumer, between 2001 and 2005 average clothing and footwear prices fell 14.4% whilst the cost of living has risen by 12.6%. Discounting is rife in the ultra-competitive UK fashion market. Marks & Spencer remains the market leader in the sale of high street fashion, but faces fierce competition from discount fashion specialists such as Primark and TK Maxx. Increasingly, affluent younger consumers are buying formerly exclusive high fashion brands such as; Prada (Italy), Chloe (France), Hugo Boss (Germany), Burberry (UK) and Donna Karan (U.S) to mention but a few. The rise of cheap imports has nearly wiped out UK manufacturing. These days UK manufacturin...

When it comes to environmental issues and European royalty, Britain's Prince Charles has famously led the debate on global warming and climate issues for a generation. But a new royal has entered the debate, and Monaco's Prince Albert recently joined Prince Charles at his innovative Poundbury village in Dorset. The significance that it was Charles' 58th birthday wasn't overlooked by a Monaco travel guide, YourMonaco.com 'Since Albert came to power he has made the environment his number one priority. And just as Prince Charles has become known for his views on everything from architecture to climate change, so has Prince Albert. Of course Albert's position isn't as important as Charles' as future King of England, but where he can he tries to champion the environmental cause'. In April 2006 Prince Albert made a trip to the North Pole to highlight the issue of global warming, and since then has taken part in other initiatives to try and push the environ...

Less than a year after starring in the biggest movie of his volatile career, Nicolas Cage led the North American box office to its worst weekend in five years on Sunday with one of his weakest. "Bangkok Dangerous," a thriller in which the 44-year-old actor plays a jaded assassin, opened at No. 1 with estimated three-day earnings of just $7.8 million, distributor Lionsgate said. While no one was expecting it to be a hit, industry observers had predicted it would earn more than $10 million. The last box office champ to open lower was the David Spade comedy "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," which kicked off with $6.7 million during the weekend of September 5-7, 2003. Overall ticket sales also fell to their lowest level since then, said tracking firm Media By Numbers. The top 12 films earned $51.6 million, up from $50.5 million that weekend. Early September is traditionally a quiet time at the box office since the summer blockbuster season is over. The studios spend ...

Monday, September 08, 2008 NEW DELHI: The recent carnage in Orissa state during communal violence against poor and helpless members of Christian community has sent a new wave of fears and insecurity among minorities of India. The ugly episode began following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmananada Saraswati on August 23 last which triggered horrors in the streets of Kandamal, a worst -hit district of the state where Hindu extremists including activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal went on rampage killing the members of poor community and setting on fire their churches, prayers halls and orphan houses. The officials have put the death toll at 16 but independent sources and All India Christian Council, a body representing different Christian organizations have put the toll at more than 24. Hundreds of churches, prayer Halls, Christian centres including a missionary-run orphan house were torched in no time in Kandhamal and surrounding districts in a bid to take revenge f...

Monday, September 08, 2008 OTTAWA: Canada's prime minister on Sunday triggered an early election, dissolving Parliament in a bid to bolster his party’s grip on power in a vote next month that will be the country’s third national ballot in four years. Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he expects the Oct 14 vote to produce another minority government but recent polls show the Conservatives could win the majority they need to rule without help from opposition parties. Analysts said Harper's party has a better shot of winning now than if they had waited until being forced into a vote later when the Canadian economy might be worse off or after Canadians could be influenced by the U.S. presidential election results. In 2006, the Conservatives unseated the Liberal Party, which had held power for nearly 13 years in power, but as a minority government they have been forced to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass legislation and adopt budgets. Electoral legislation that Harper helped e...

Monday, September 08, 2008 PORT-AU-PRINCE: Hurricane Ike killed 47 people in Cabaret, a village close to the Haitian capital, Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis said Sunday. Two swollen rivers flooded the town, destroying and damaging many homes, a legislator from the village said. The toll adds to the 500 deaths already recorded by the United Nations over the past week as massive storm flooding caused a humanitarian crisis that was worsening by the day. Damaged infrastructure and continuing rains left aid organizations struggling to bring emergency assistance to hundreds of thousands of storm victims.

As for all new beginnings, the Chinese also mark their New Year celebrations with much excitement and cheer ! Well-known for its gaiety and splendor, the Chinese New Year is, indeed, a very colorful occasion for its people and for others over the world. Kicking off on a new moon day, the Chinese New Year is a 15 day long celebration, which ends on the full moon night with the famous Festival of Lanterns. These 15 days of the celebration include prayers to ancestors, traditional meals, decorations with symbolic items (usually in red), reuniting with family, visiting friends and relatives, exchanging gifts, shopping, cleaning the house, wearing new clothes, joining in elaborate parades with masks and floats of dragon and the symbolic animal, majestic lion dances, bursting firecrackers and, of course, wishing each other a very happy ‘Xin Nian’ or a very Happy New Year ! The Chinese New Year marks the beginning of the bright and beautiful spring and hence it’s also popularly known as the ‘...