Saturday, October 03, 2009 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Friday congratulated Brazil and the city of Rio de Janeiro for beating out his hometown of Chicago and winning the right to host the "historic" 2016 Olympics. Obama spoke at the White House moments after arriving back from a swift trip to Copenhagen and a failed bid to rally the International Olympics Committee to Chicago's Olympic dream. "I do want to congratulate Rio de Janeiro and the nation of Brazil for winning the 2016 Olympics. I think this is a truly historic event as these will be the first Olympic Games ever to be held in South America," Obama said. "One of the things that I think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win," Obama said. "And so, although I wish that we had come back with better news from Copenhagen, I could not be prouder of my home town of Chicago."
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...
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