Stoner on pole for Valencia Moto GP season finale

Sunday, November 08, 2009 VALENCIA: Australia's Casey Stoner of Ducati on Saturday secured pole position ahead of Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo in qualifying for Sunday's season-ending MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix.Stoner, who won on the Ricardo Tormo circuit here last year, will start from the front for the 22nd time in his career and the 18th time in MotoGP.The Australian led from the eighth minute of the session and only Lorenzo looked capable of trumping him.Valentino Rossi, who has already been crowned 2009 MotoGP champion, was fourth fastest ahead of the American Colin Edwards."I’m really happy, everything’s gone really well and we’ve been quickest in every session," said Stoner, who is bidding for a third successive win after missing three rounds with fatigue."We’ve made small improvements to the bike each day. The only problem we’ve got now is the pretty windy conditions, which is making it very difficult to ride and understand where the limit is."I lost the front (of the bike) a few times on the last qualifying tyre, but there‘s no way we’re going to be pushing that hard in the race."Having secured his first ever Grand Prix win at Valencia in the 125cc category in 2003, Stoner was victorious last year in the premier class at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit here.A third successive win would be the perfect way to round off the year for the 24-year-old."It’d be a nice end to the season we’ve had so far," Stoner added."It’s definitely not gone the way we wanted it to, but I’m very happy with the way things have gone so far in this last period, and we’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings."

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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...

Tennis: Clijsters wins US Open, second time

NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters of Belgium won the US Open on Sunday by defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-3 in the final.She is the first mother to win a Grand Slam title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980, the victory coming just five weeks after she returned to the sport following a 27-month retirement. She was the first wildcard, man or woman, to win a US Open title in the history of the tournament.

42 killed in wave of Iraq bombings

BAGHDAD: At least 42 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded in a spate of bomb attacks near the restive northern Iraqi city of Mosul and in the capital Baghdad on Monday, police said. In the deadliest single attack, two booby-trapped lorries exploded before dawn in the village of Khaznah, east of Mosul, leaving 25 people dead and 70 others wounded. Thirty-five houses were destroyed in the village, which is home to members of the tiny Shabak community, a sect of Kurdish origin. In Baghdad, two car bombs went off as day labourers were gathering in the early morning hours looking for jobs.The first bomb exploded at Hay al-Amel, in the west of the capital, killing nine people and injuring 46. The second bomb attack in Shurta Arbaa in the north of the city killed seven people and wounded 35 others.

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