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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 OTTAWA: Visiting Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi on Monday warned that sending Western troops to his country to combat extremist threats would only fuel terrorism. "The fight against Al-Qaeda should be undertaken by the Yemeni counterterrorism units and the Yemeni armed forces," he told a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart. "The presence of external troops in Yemen would actually hamper our efforts to fight Al-Qaeda. What we need is logistic support, training and technical capabilities to fight Al-Qaeda," said al-Kurbi. As well, al-Kurbi said Yemen needs business investment and development aid to stem poverty and unemployment that he claimed were fueling extremism in his country. US President Barack Obama has said he has "no intention" of sending troops to Yemen. But critics lament Yemen's human rights record, suggesting that Western support for its government is stoking extremists. ...

KIEV: At least five people were killed on Monday when oxygen canisters exploded in the intensive care unit of a Ukrainian hospital and caused several floors to collapse, officials said. "As a result of a violation of security rules in the intensive care unit of hospital number seven of Lugansk, oxygen canisters exploded," it said in a statement. "Several floors of the hospital collapsed," it said. Ukraine's emergency situations ministry said that as a result of rescue efforts "three people have been saved and the corpses of five people have been extracted". The health ministry said in a statement that 261 patients and 350 medical personnel were in the hospital at the time of the blast. It said seven people had so far been rescued from the rubble.

BRUSSELS: European Union nations have started to pledge more money to help reconstruct Haiti and are considering an international donor conference. Development Secretary Douglas Alexander says Britain has pledged to triple its aid to Haiti to reach 20 million pounds (euro22.7million) to deal with ``an almost unprecedented level of devastation'' following last week's earthquake. The EU Commission and many other EU nations have also said they will increase their contribution to deal with the immediate needs and the long-term plan to rebuild the devastated country. The EU ministers will also consider a French proposal for an international donors' conference at their emergency meeting on Monday.

KIEV: Several floors collapsed in an explosion Monday at a hospital in Ukraine's eastern city of Lugansk that killed at least two people, the office of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said. "As a result of a violation of security rules in the intensive care unit of hospital number seven of Lugansk, oxygen canisters exploded," it said in a statement. "Several floors of the hospital collapsed," it said, adding that Tymoshenko was flying to the scene. Two corpses have already been found, Marina Proshycheva, an official with the local branch of the emergency situations ministry, said. The health ministry said in a statement that 261 patients and 350 medical personnel were in the hospital at the time of the blast. It said seven people had so far been rescued from the rubble. Local Internet newspaper Vostochny Variant said the third and fourth floors of the building had collapsed onto the second. Lax adherence to safety rules makes such disasters relativel...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 MELBOURNE: Serena Williams started the defense of her Australian Open title with a dominating 6-2, 6-1 win Tuesday over Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska. Williams also only lost three games in her previous match at Melbourne Park: a 6-0, 6-3 win over now No. 2-ranked Dinara Safinain last year's final. Despite having her right thigh heavily wrapped with a white bandage, Williams didn't show any signs of restricted movement. The 28-year-old American hurt her left knee at the Sydney International last Friday night and later said she has been bothered by a foot problem. On the men's side, sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko had a 6-1, 6-0,6-3 win over Dieter Kindlmann of Germany and No. 21 Tomas Berdych advanced 6-0, 6-3, 6-3 over Robin Haase of the Netherlands. No. 9 Fernando Verdasco, who lost to fellow Spaniard and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in a five-set semifinal here last year that was the longest match in the tournament's history...

Monday, January 18, 2010 MELBOURNE: Former champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Australian Open here on Monday, losing her first round match to fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-6 3-6 6-4. Sharapova, seeded 14th, was broken by the 58th-ranked Kirilenko when serving to stay in the match at 5-4 down in the third set to lose her first match at Melbourne Park since beating Serbia's Ana Ivanovic for the title in 2008. The Russian former world number one, who posted 66 unforced errors and struggled with her serve, rallied from a set down but surrendered a break with her eighth double-fault of the match to trail 2-0 in the decider. Kirilenko wobbled when serving for the match at 5-3 to allow Sharapova to break back, but coolly sealed the win after bringing up two match points. World number two Dinara Safina overcame a poor service and a string of errors to advance to the second round. Safina, last year's beaten finalist at Melbourne Park, committed nine double fau...