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MIAMI: Roger Federer continued his domination of Andy Roddick, this time winning a tough match, topping the former world No. 1 American, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to move into the semifinals at Miami Masters Tennis.The second-seeded Federer, who beat Roddick in this year's Aussie Open semis, moved to 17-2 lifetime against him. The Super Swiss, who won this event back- to back in 2005 and 2006 and was the runner-up here in 2002, will next meet Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.The 2007 Miami titlist Djokovic got past 10th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Crandon Park Tennis Center. Serena Williams will take on her sister Venus in the semi-finals after the top seed survived a scare.

LA PAZ: Argentina suffered their worst defeat in more than 60 years after losing 6-1 to Bolivia in a South American World Cup qualifier here on Wednesday night, their first loss under coach Diego Maradona. Bolivia's goals came from a Joaquin Botero hat-trick and Marcelo Martins, Alex Da Rosa and Didi Torrico while Argentina found the net through Luis Gonzalez at La Paz's high-altitude Hernando Siles's stadium. Maradona said of the Argentina fans at the post-match press conference: "I suffered with them. Every Bolivian goal was a dagger in my heart."Argentinian keeper Juan Pablo Carrizo, who had a memorable night for the wrong reasons, was first beaten in the 12th minute by striker Marcelo Martins, who plays for Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukraine. However, the Argentinians, twice world champions, were level in the 25th minute when Porto's Luis Gonzalez hit a shot from 30-metres without much conviction but an unexpected bounce meant it went past Bolivia keeper Carl...

MUMBAI; The Indian government on Thursday asked airports around the country to adopt heightened security measures after an intelligence tip-off of a possible terror attack.Official sources confirmed that a red alert has been sounded at airports across the country, especially in the four metros, as well as in Hyderabad, Bangalore and at some international airports like Amritsar. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued a circular asking all airports to be on high alert, an official confirmed.

ATHENS: Hundreds of thousands of Greeks joined a nationwide 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest against the government's response to the economic crisis, disrupting transport and shutting down services.Flights to and from Greece were suspended for several hours, banks and schools shut down, in the second nationwide protest against the conservative government since the police shooting of a teenager in December triggered the worst riots in decades."The government is taking measures which are very bad for our salaries. We live in a state of anxiety, we don't know what will happen tomorrow," said Athena Giannogona, demonstrating with a group of fellow elementary school teachers.About 15,000 people marched through the Greek capital, beating drums and holding banners calling for salary increases and the protection of pensions."Demonstrating is one way to show the Greek government our disagreement, and we will also show it in the elections," said Giannogona. Parl...

BUENOS AIRES: Former Argentinean President Raúl Alfonsín, whose presidency came to symbolise the return of democracy across Latin America from an era of military dictatorships, passed away here.Alfonsín's personal doctor, Alberto Sadler, said the former president died of lung cancer yesterday. He was 82.The presidential inauguration of the leader on 10 December 1983, ended more than seven years of a repressive military regime that left at least 12,000 disappeared. He won an open election that the military was forced to call, in disgrace after the country's defeat in the 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands.His presidency was marked by two milestones: his daring decision to bring to try the leaders of the dictatorship for the human rights violations, and an economic collapse that made him hand power to his successor six month before his term was to end. Inflation had jumped to over 3,000% annually.

WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Thursday ruled that some inmates held at a US military base in Afghanistan have the legal right to challenge their detention in US courts, just as detainees do at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that detainees at the US naval base in Cuba have the right to challenge their detention, the government had argued that inmates held at the US air base in Bagram, Afghanistan did not have such a constitutional right.Judge John Bates, however, ruled the Bagram detainees faced essentially the same situation as the Guantanamo detainees, being held indefinitely without due process."Bagram detainees who are not Afghan citizens, who were not captured in Afghanistan, and who have been held for an unreasonable amount of time" may invoke the right to habeas corpus, Bates wrote, referring to the legal right dating back centuries. If it stands, the ruling could have far-reaching implications for how the US government handles terror suspec...

WASHINGTON: The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a 3.45-trillion-dollar budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year largely in line with President Barack Obama's proposal. The Democratic-drafted budget got approval Thursday by a vote of 233-196, along party lines, after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes. The Senate is working on its own budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1 this year. It is expected to pass its plan as soon as late Thursday, according to news reports. Any differences between the two versions will have to be worked out. The House budget is slightly less expensive than the 3.55-trillion-dollar budget that Obama submitted to Congress in February. The budget includes a deficit of 1.2 trillion dollars for the 2010 fiscal year. Obama's budget, his first one, seeks to shore up the nation's economy that has been in a recession since December 2007 while overhauling health care, energy and education. The preside...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Najib Razak was sworn in as the nation's new prime minister Friday in a ceremony broadcast live on national television.

NEW YORK: Pakistan must be central to U.S. policy on Afghanistan and needs up to $50 billion over the next five years to avoid an economic meltdown that risks turning the country over to Islamic extremists, said a report released. The report by a think tank with close ties to the Obama administration said Washington must also act to strengthen civilian government in Pakistan and persuade Islamabad to stop using militant groups as an instrument of foreign policy.The Asia Society, whose chairman was Richard Holbrooke until he was appointed U.S. special envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan in January, convened a task force to compile the report: "Back from the Brink? A Strategy for Stabilizing Afghanistan-Pakistan." The report, made public on Thursday, was provided to President Barack Obama's administration before he unveiled his strategy on Afghanistan last week. It closely mirrors Obama's policy, while focusing more on politics than military issues. The report said the gl...

PHNOM PENH: Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged rocket and small arms fire on a disputed stretch of their border on Friday, the latest flare-up in a long-running feud over a 900-year-old Hindu temple.Both sides accused each other of firing first in a clash lasting nearly an hour at Eagle Field, near the Preah Vihear temple, which was at the centre of a military stand-off between the Southeast Asian neighbours last year.There were no reports of wounded or dead. Thai and Cambodian military commanders on the border agreed to meet at midday to avoid further violence. General Srey Doek, Cambodia's commander at the temple, said a Thai patrol crossed into Cambodian territory and opened fire on his men. "The Thais fired rockets and rifles at us, and we responded in the same way," he told. Both sides agreed a ceasefire after their border commanders spoke by radio. In Bangkok, Thai officials denied their troops had trod on Cambodian soil and accused the other side of shooting fir...

JAKARTA: US President Barack Obama is planning to visit Indonesia this year, the state-run news agency reported Friday quoting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono said Obama -- who went to primary school in the Indonesian capital Jakarta from 1967 to 1971 -- had informed him of his plan when the pair sat together during a working breakfast at the G20 meeting in London."When I told Obama that the people of Indonesia were awaiting Obama's visit, he said he planned to do so this year," Yudhoyono told reporters in his plane as he returned from London, the news agency reported. He said Obama would meet his former elementary school friends in Jakarta, and complimented the US president on how much of the Indonesian language he had remembered over the years.

LARKANA: President Asif Ali Zardari has strongly condemned the whipping of a Swat girl by Taliban.

MUMBAI: Kareena Kapoor has selected the most expensive dresses for her new film ‘Kambakht Ishq’.Special attention has been given on dresses of Kareena Kapoor and she has selected a dress worth Rs0.8 million for a song to be picturised on her in this movie.Producer Sajid Nadiawala has bought this dress from Paris and designer Aki Narula has designed it. The same designer had earlier designed Kareena’s dresses for a movie ‘Tishan’.However, only Narula has not designed dresses for ‘Kambakht Ishq’ but world-renowned designers Stella Macartney and Roberto Cavalli also designed Kareen’s dresses for this movie.Kareena herself is eagerly waiting for release of this film as she wants to see her new, glamorous and expensive dresses on the big screen.

MUMBAI: Bollywood star Katreena Kaif has given the 100 per cent credit to Akshey Kumar for her success in films and said that one of the main reasons of her success was that she has worked with him.When asked in an interview if her pairing with Akshey did play any role Katreena said that this is one hundred per cent true.Katreena Kaif has made her place in Bollywood in very little time. She said that she worked hard for it and luck was with her.Recently, she has signed two movies for an amount of Rs75 million.

COLOMBO: Intensifying their offensive to push the Tamil Tigers out of their last stretch of land, the Sri Lankan troops today killed at least 47 rebels, including two top commanders and captured a strategic area in Pudukudiyirippu, officials said today.Two top LTTE commanders, Gobith and Amuthab, who headed a special unit named after Prabhakaran's son "Charles Antony," were killed in fierce fighting in which troops wrested the village of Anandapuram, Defence Ministry sources said.The LTTE had been putting up a stiff resistance to prevent the Army from taking over the village which was its last road link for bringing in supplies and logistics.Police commanders attacked a group of Tigers in Sri Lanka's East killing 13 rebels. The battle in the forests near eastern Ampara district was fiercely fought for hours.Sources said that LTTE's explosive expert Paramanantha master was among the dead.Sri Lanka has driven out the Tigers from the eastern province, but officials s...

WASHINGTON: Since 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has linked North American and European defence, kept the Cold War peace, outlasted the Soviet Union, stifled war in the Balkans, and since 9/11 has confronted terror.NATO has grown to 26 members as it turns 60 next week with a $1 trillion defence budget and 3.6 million personnel. France has just rejoined its military structure, after a long absence. Poland and other former Soviet bloc states are now in the club.And NATO has never been busier. It is active in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, the Mediterranean and Africa, fighting terror, preserving peace, and helping rebuild shattered countries. The alliance still matters.Canada, too, is pulling more weight. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has raised military spending to $20 billion. Our Arctic oversight is expanding. We are doing heavy duty in Afghanistan. And the military is larger and readier to fight abroad, with new ships, aircraft and armour.Yet when Harper and the othe...

LARKANA: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday condemned the flogging of a girl in Swat and ordered an inquiry into the incident.Talking to journalists here, Gilani said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Zulikar Ali Bhutto were the champions of the rights of women and minorities, adding that the government will bring legislation in the parliament for the rights of women. About the situation in Swat and tribal areas, the prime minister said the government was following a three-pronged strategy i.e. dialogue, development and deterrence.He said the military option is not a permanent solution and is used as deterrence only when the writ of the government is challenged.The Prime Minister said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had a mission for the country’s development and socio-economic progress of masses, which was also promoted and forwarded by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed through her vision. He termed the Charter of Democracy (CoD), signed between Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shahe...

NEW YORK: As many as 13 people may have been killed Friday in a rampage by a gunman at a civic center in the New York state town of Binghamton, local radio reported."A dozen of more may have died in the last two hours," Bob Joseph, news director of local radio said.

LONDON: There were squeals, high-fives and tears. Michelle Obama electrified a North London school in a surprise visit during which she told children to remember, "Being smart is cooler than anything in the world".America's First Lady appeared at times overwhelmed by the reaction to her visit to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London.In remarks to 100 teenage girls who had no idea that she was coming, Mrs Obama said that education, rather than their background, counted the most in life. "If you want to know the reason why I am standing here, it's because of education," she told them. Mrs Obama, on her first official visit as First Lady, paid tribute to her British hosts, saying that the country was the home of the "most extraordinary women", including the Queen and Maggie Darling, the wife of the Chancellor, whom she called a "true firebrand". She described Sarah Brown as a "phenomenal woman who has been cha...

BINGHAMTON, N.Y.: A gunman entered an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton on Friday, shot dead four persons and took as many as 40 others hostage, according to media reports.Mayor Matthew Ryan told reporters that there was a hostage situation involving a gunman with a high-powered rifle.The condition of the victims wasn't immediately clear. Four people were removed from the building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, and 10 more ambulances were called.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said the United States and NATO cannot be effective in Afghanistan without addressing the threat of terrorism across the border in Pakistan. Obama told reporters during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany that he does not envision NATO troops in Pakistan. But he said NATO allies must do more to help the Pakistani government eliminate safe havens for extremists in the country's tribal regions.The president said the task is "complex" that requires more resources to help develop Pakistan's tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. He traveled to France and Germany Friday to attend the NATO summit marking the 60th anniversary of the alliance. Last month, Obama unveiled a new strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan, which includes more U.S. troops, money for training Afghan police, and a new diplomatic emphasis on Pakistan. President Obama also said the goal of his new plan is not to run Afghanis...

KABUL: Afghan and US-led troops killed 20 insurgents in ground fighting and air strikes in the southern province of Helmand, the US military said Saturday.The clashes erupted Friday in the strategic Kajaki district after a patrol was ambushed, it said in a statement. "The combined forces returned fire with small-arms fire and called for close air support destroying six enemy fighting positions and killing 20 insurgents," it said.Afghan and international troops are working together to fight Taliban-led insurgents who control large swathes of Afghanistan, notably in southern provinces like Helmand.

STRASBOURG: Police held back protesters with teargas and detained two dozens people in a pre-dawn clash before a summit of leaders of 28 NATO nations Saturday on the French-German border.Some 1,800 protesters left their camp in the south of the French city of Strasbourg at about 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) and headed north through deserted streets to the summit site, surveyed from above by several police helicopters shining search lights. The site is ringed with heavy security, and riot police kept them back with tear gas and barricades. The police headquarters for the Bas-Rhin region said 25 people were detained in the incident. President Barack Obama and the 27 other leaders are meeting to discuss the war in Afghanistan and NATO's future in a summit jointly hosted by Strasbourg and the German towns of Kehl and Baden-Baden. Another group of protesters who camped out overnight in a square in central Strasbourg were planning a demonstration later in the day. The crowd was peaceful Saturday mo...

KABUL: Afghan and US-led troops killed 20 insurgents in ground fighting and air strikes in the southern province of Helmand, the US military said Saturday.The clashes erupted Friday in the strategic Kajaki district after a patrol was ambushed, it said in a statement. "The combined forces returned fire with small-arms fire and called for close air support destroying six enemy fighting positions and killing 20 insurgents," it said.Afghan and international troops are working together to fight Taliban-led insurgents who control large swathes of Afghanistan, notably in southern provinces like Helmand.

WANA: Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a U.S. immigration centre in New York state in which 13 people were killed."I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks," Mehsud told foreign news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location.A man armed with two handguns killed 13 people at an immigration services centre before apparently turning the gun on himself, authorities in Binghamton, New York, said.

MIRANSHAH: At least 17 civilians including five children were killed in a suicide attempt on the security forces at the Headquarters of North Waziristan here.Sources said that Pakistan army convoy was on way from Bannu to Miranshah, when a suicide bomber attempted to ram his explosive-laden vehicle with the convoy, but the FC alert gunmen preventing the attack on convoy blew it up by firing, which unfortunately resulted in the death of 17 civilians including five children, while several were injured, as the spot of incident was crowded with people at that time besides the children were returning from the schools. Following the blast, Miranshah Bazaar was shut down, while the security forces have besieged the area.