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DOHA: Venus Williams beat Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 on Sunday to win the WTA Championships and complete an undefeated week at the season- ending event. It was the first time the American had won the event after she reached the semi-finals in her previous two appearances. She retired injured on the second occasion, in 2002, and qualified but failed to play because of injury on five other occasions. "It's fantastic to end the season this way," Williams said. "I've never really had the opportunity to play this tournament very often so it's really awesome to have that opportunity and to play well." Williams, unbeaten in her five matches this time, earned $1.34 million dollars, allowing her to overtake Martina Navratilova for fourth place on the list of top prize money earners in women's tennis. Zvonareva received $715,000. It was her third title of the year, following victories in Wimbledon and Zurich. The American began sluggishly and d...

MOGADISHU: Gunmen firing automatic weapons ragged two Italian Roman Catholic nuns from their home in rural Kenya on Monday and drove them into lawless Somalia in a rare cross-border kidnapping, officials said. The nuns, who are in their 60s, were working on hunger programmes in the northeastern town of El Wak, about 10 kilometre from the Somali border. The kidnapping highlights concerns among regional security officials that chaos in Somalia could lead to troubles in neighbouring Kenya, which is struggling to patrol the long and porous border. The early morning abduction began when six gunmen firing automatic weapons hurled a hand grenade and fired a rocket at Kenyan police, said Aden Mohamed Isaqm, a local aid worker. The gunmen then seized the nuns and drove them to the border in three stolen vehicles. "I have seen two expatriates in a car with militia surrounding them," said witness Shacban Mohamed Ali. "The two foreigners were very shocked." The desert border is...