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Sunday, August 23, 2009 MIAMI: Hurricane Bill, the first of the Atlantic storm season, barreled past Bermuda and churned toward the US and Canadian east coasts Saturday, sparking fears of life-threatening rip currents. Packing winds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour, with higher gusts, the storm was set to head close to the upscale island resort of Martha's Vineyard, where US President Barack Obama and his family are heading for vacation Sunday. The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned Saturday "large swells generated by Hurricane Bill are still affecting the Bahamas and Bermuda and the southeast coast of the United States. "Large swells will begin to affect much of the remainder of the US east coast and the Atlantic maritimes of Canada later today and Sunday. These swells will likely cause extremely dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents," it warned. Bill is a Category Two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, meaning the storm threatens to cause...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 MUMBAI: The daughter of yesteryears superstar Feroze Khan might soon be part of an upcoming film if the latest grapevine is to be believed. She might belong to one of the most well known film clans in Bollywood, but Laila Khan Rajpal has stayed away from the arc lights so far. According to the news Fardeen Khan, who is planning the remake of the hit classic Qurbani, as per the wish of his late father, might cast his sister Laila Khan in the film too. As already reported, Sanjay Dutt has been approached for a role in the film which is slated to be in the making soon. Though, Laila Khan has previously claimed that she is not averse to doing ''some good roles'' if they come her way, it seems the Bollywood calling this time might herald her bollywood debut which many wanted to happen years earlier.

Saturday, August 22, 2009 BELGRADE: Customers wanting to withdraw cash in Serbia were given a nasty surprise, when a 2 metre python was found sprawled across the ATM.Firefighters were called to remove the snake and used a shovel and bag to capture the reptile.No one has claimed ownership of the python, which is presumed to be an escaped pet, but police say the owner will be punished for negligence.

Saturday, August 22, 2009 LOS ANGELES: The date of the funeral for pop legend Michael Jackson has been changed to September 3, the singer's spokesman said Friday.Jackson was scheduled to be laid to rest August 29, on what would have been his 51st birthday.The private ceremony will still take place at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, according to a statement from Ken Sunshine.No reason was given for the change in date. The ceremony "will be limited to family and close friends," the statement said. Jackson died June 25 of cardiac arrest. The famed entertainer was 50.The release date for the movie drawing on Jackson's rehearsal footage was announced Thursday. "Michael Jackson: This Is It" will run in theaters worldwide for two weeks only beginning October 28, according to media. Tickets for the film go on sale Sunday, September 27, Sony said in a news release Thursday. "Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at th...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 LONDON: The release of the Lockerbie bomber is casting a long shadow over relations between Britain and the United States, where senior figures in the Obama Administration have expressed dismay over the Government’s failure to take a stand. The controversy over the decision to let Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi go home to Libya was further stirred after Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, said in a Libyan television interview yesterday that his release was linked to negotiations over oil and gas contracts. Downing Street insisted that the decision — condemned by the White House yesterday as “outrageous and disgusting” — was a matter solely for the SNP-led Scottish government. However, a senior US official told media last night, “We believe it was the wrong decision — I don’t know if the UK thinks so or not. It has been extraordinarily silent on this issue.” The official suggested that it was disingenuous for the Government to claim that res...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 KABUL: The two top candidates in Afghanistan's presidential election are claiming victory, although elections officials are saying it is too early to know who won this week's vote. Analysts say what appears to be an uneven voter turnout coupled with possible claims of fraud could have an impact on the credibility of the election. Election officials in Afghanistan are urging candidates to refrain from declaring victory, although that has not stopped the campaigns of incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his chief challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, from claiming a first-round win.Election officials say preliminary returns and accurate figures on turnout will not be available for days."In the provinces under high security threat level maybe the turnout was low. But there are many provinces where the participants were high. Now it's very difficult for us, because we could not receive the final figures from the provinces. That i...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 WASHINGTON: Early indications are a new swine flu vaccine is safe and is on track to be made available to the public by mid-October, US health officials said Friday."There are no red flags regarding safety," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noting that a series of clinical trials were being conducted on the vaccine with results due out between mid September and late October.Adult volunteers participated in the first of five trials starting on August 7, and only reported arm swelling or redness where they received the injection. Encouraged by the results, health officials went ahead this week with vaccine trials on children aged six months to 17 years, Fauci told reporters. Additional experiments on about 120 pregnant women -- who are particularly at risk of infection from the influenza A(H1N1) virus and are high on the federal government's priority list for vaccines -- are to begin in Sep...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama is congratulating the people of Afghanistan on completing their presidential election, in the face of violent extremism. Obama spoke before leaving for a weekend trip to the presidential retreat at Camp David.President Obama called the election an "important step forward" for the Afghan people, after decades of violence and instability. Obama says the United States knew the Taliban would try to derail the vote, but failed."Yet even in the face of this brutality, millions of Afghans exercised the right to choose their leaders and determine their own destiny. And as I watched the election I was struck by their courage in the face of intimidation and their dignity in the face of disorder," he said.The campaigns of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, are both claiming victory. The country's Independent Election Commission says it is too early t...

Friday, August 21, 2009 WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday "we took out" Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief believed to have been killed this month in a missile strike by a U.S. drone.Obama's comments seemed to go further than other U.S. officials who had said there was a "90 percent certainty" that Mehsud had been killed on Aug. 5, although there was no confirmation."You've got the Pakistan army for the first time fighting in a very aggressive way and that's how we took out Mehsud, the top Taliban leader in Pakistan who was also one of Osama bin Laden's key allies," Obama told a radio talk show host in a live broadcast from the White House.Mehsud was blamed for a wave of bombings across Pakistan, including the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Saturday, August 22, 2009 BERLIN: Allyson Felix of the US won the women’s 200m race while the United States leading the event with six gold medals in the World Athletics Championship, being held here in Germany.Weather became pleasant with rain on the sixth day of the World Athletics Championship.Felix picked up a hat-trick of world 200m titles as she clocked 22.02sec to beat Jamaica's Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.LaShawn Merritt, also from the US, added world gold to his Beijing Olympics victory as the Olympic champion dethroned two-time defending world champion Jeremy Wariner in the 400m. He finished second at the Osaka 2007 worlds, clocked a world lead of 44.06sec over 400m, far off his Beijing Games time of 43.75sec, the fifth fastest time ever.Yaroslav Rybakov of Russia won the men's high jump title. The 28-year-old -three times a silver medalist - won with a best jump of 2.32m edging out Kyriakos Ioannou of Cyprus (2.32m) on countback.Newly-crowned 1500m...

Saturday, August 22, 2009 CINCINNATI: Two-time winner Roger Federer and reigning champion Andy Murray lined up a top-two semi-final showdown at the Cincinnati Masters. Federer, the world number one and top seed, never faced a break point as he dismissed former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-3, 6-4. Third-seeded Murray, who seized the world number two ranking en route to capturing the Montreal Masters last week, rallied to beat French lucky loser Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.Federer and Murray will meet for the ninth time, and the Scot is one of the few players who can boast a commanding head-to-head record against the mighty Swiss. Rafael Nadal the world number three and second seed, beat unseeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 to set up a semi-final rematch with fourth-seeded Djokovic. Djokovic, who ousted Nadal in last year's semis here, beat ninth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-5.