Tour de France: French cyclist Fedrigo wins ninth stage

Monday, July 13, 2009 PARIS: Pierrick Fedrigo was first to reach finish line to take the glory on yesterday's ninth stage of the Tour de France.The Frenchman just pipped Italian Franco Pellizotti after the pair broke away from the pack on the 160km route between Saint-Gaudens and Tarbes.It was Fedrigo's second stage win for his Bouygues Telecom team after he and Pellizotti (Liquigas) were clocked at 4 hours, 5 minutes, 31 seconds - 34 seconds ahead of the peleton led by Spaniard Oscar Freire of Rabobank.Italian Rinaldo Nocentini was 24th but retained the yellow jersey by six seconds from Alberto Contador of Spain and eight from American Lance Armstrong.There was also no change in the race for the green jersey with Thor Hushovd still leading from Britain's Mark Cavendish going into today's rest day. But there was a change in the mountain standings with Spaniard Egoi Martinez taking over the polkadot jersey from Christophe Kern of France.Armstrong reckons the overall standings will not alter significantly until the race reaches the Alps next weekend.The seven-time champion, who is riding for the Astana team, said: "There's not going to be a lot of change until the 15th stage between Pontarlier and Verbier. We'll have more moments there when we'll see who's truly the strongest."And Armstrong revealed he will probably be back for one more Tour de France. Asked if this will be his last race, he said: "Probably not. Maybe one more Tour."Racing resumes tomorrow over the 194km 10th stage from Limoges to Issoudun.

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India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Suicide bombings kill 18 in Iraq

Thursday, August 13, 2009 MOSUL: At least 18 people, most of them members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect, were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday in a packed cafe in northern Iraq, a local government official said.At least 31 people were also wounded after the bombers detonated suicide belts packed with explosives in the cafe in Kalaa town, in the district of Sanjar, local district chief Dakheel Qassem Hasoon, told a foreign news agency."Two suicide bombers entered the Cafe Barbaroz at 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) and blew themselves up, killing 18 civilians and wounding 31. Most of the victims were Yazidis," Hasoon said.Kalaa, northwest of the insurgent stronghold of Mosul in northern Nineveh province is predominantly populated by the minority Yazidi religious sect, as well as Arabs and Kurds.The attack is the deadliest since Monday, when 51 people were killed across Iraq, including 28 members of the tiny Shabak sect cut down when two truck bombs det...

US drones to target Taliban in Afghan war

Friday, July 31, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down Al-Qaeda figures, report said on Thursday.Although defeating the Al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan instead of Al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defense Department officials.It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by Al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said."We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling Al-Qaeda ...

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