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The Russians, for all their skill and vaunted high-end talent, trudge home without medals after failing spectacularly to end their 18-year gold shortage at the Olympic tournament. Ovechkin, the greatest scorer and most dynamic player in the game, had no points, just three unmemorable shots and was minus-two. He vanished about the time Weber crunched him into the boards as the Moscow dynamo tried to spin away from the Canadian nine minutes into the game. "We all wanted to get the crowd involved early, and that's one way, being physical against their top guys," Weber said. "You dream of this as a kid growing up; you want to play against the best players in the game and he's definitely one of them." Not Wednesday. And neither were the Russian's formidable linemates, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin. They combined for one assist and matched Ovechkin's minus rating. "We knew we were going to have our hands full with those guys," wing...

WHISTLER — Young German Viktoria Rebensburg out-skied all the veterans today to take women’s giant slalom gold at the 2010 Olympics. Just 20 years old, Rebensburg turned in a solid second run early this morning to finish with a combined time of two minutes, 27.11 seconds. She edged Tina Maze of Slovenia by 4/100ths of a second and Elisabeth Goergl of Austria by 14/100ths. The first run was held Wednesday, but the second had to be postponed today because of a thick fog that settled over the middle part of the course in the afternoon. Today, the fog wasn’t as thick and it was mostly good conditions for the top 30. While it might have been a bit of a surprise that Rebensburg was in front of such favorites as Kathrin Zettel of Austria (fifth), Kathrin Hoelzel of Germany (sixth) and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland (13th), she has been considered a rising star on the World Cup circuit since she burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old with a seventh-place finish in a giant slalom. Last ...

WHISTLER, B.C. - A restart was forced in the Olympic nordic combined competition after the large hill jump was halted by snow and wind. Race officials at Whistler Olympic Park convened after the weather turned worse during the event on Thursday, resulting in shorter jumps that were putting some of the better athletes at an insurmountable disadvantage in the 10-kilometre cross-country race that follows the jumps off the large hill. Start times in the race are based on jump distances. About two-thirds of the 45 jumpers, including Jason Myslicki of Thunder Bay, Ont., had already gone. Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Ray Simundson remembers the day his seven-year-old daughter said she would one day win an Olympic gold medal. On Wednesday, that lifelong dream came to fruition as Kaillie Humphries bested the rest of the world, claiming that Olympic gold medal as she piloted the Canada 1 women's bobsled team. For Simundson, over the moon doesn't even begin to describe how he felt watching his daughter win the biggest sports competition of her life. "I was just really relieved, because my heart must have been beating about 450 beats a minute," he said after his daughter won gold. When reached by the Herald, Simundson said he and his wife Cheryl still hadn't spoken to their daughter, who was quickly whisked away for interviews after her win. "She did what she always does and she flashed her mom and I the big heart sign, blew us a kiss, so she did see us," he said. That gold medal goal set at the age of seven was first pursued through skiing. Humphries eventual...

If there was a darker day in Russian hockey, Maple Leafs forward Nikolai Kulemin can’t remember one. “That was the worst game in Russian history,” Kulemin said Thursday, referring to Canada’s 7-3 quarter-final victory over Team Ovechkin at the Vancouver Olympics Wednesday night. “Nobody played the way we are capable of.” Of all the Maple Leaf players, no one had more reason to be disappointed than Kulemin. The Russian-born Kulemin, a one-time teammate of Evgeni Malkin in the Russian elite league, was put on notice that he might be brought in to the Russian team if an existing roster player suffered an injury prior to the Olympics. While that did not happen, Kulemin still was cheering for the Russians Wednesday night, albeit in a losing cause. Of course, he was in the minority in the Leaf dressing room. For the most part, jubilation reigned supreme as many players were still giddy over the way Canada took the Russians behind the woodshed and inflicted a complete and thorough...

Canada meets U.S. for gold in women’s hockey, Joannie Rochette skates in the women’s free skate, men take to the sky in the aerials VANCOUVER, B.C.-The Canada Place foghorn that signals Canadian medals could be pumping out a steady beat again today, with several chances ahead to add to the host country’s 15-medal score: Curling. The Cheryl Bernard rink out of Edmonton today beat Switzerland 6-5 to reach Friday’s gold-medal game against Sweden (6 p.m. Eastern), who earlier beat favoured China 9-4. Later today, unbeaten Kevin Martin takes on Sweden in a men’s semi, a spot in Saturday’s men’s final on the line (5 p.m. Eastern). Women’s hockey. A day after the men’s team set off wild celebrations in the arena and outside in the streets here, the Canadian and American women renew their long-running rivalry in front of a sellout crowd at Canada Hockey Place. The pre-game hype goes so far as suggesting this could be the best women’s shinny matchup in history, with the U.S.’s youth and s...

Canada was oh-so-close to an Olympic bronze medal in men's cross-country skiing three days ago and oh-so-far from one Wednesday. Hopes for the country's first medal for men on skinny skis in the 4x10-kilometre relay evaporated early when Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., and Alex Harvey of St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, Que., appeared spent from Monday's fourth-place finish in the team sprint. Kershaw and Harvey skied the opening two legs of the relay in the "classic" technique with third-leg Ivan Babikov of Canmore, Alta., and anchor George Grey of Rossland skiing the freestyle or skate technique. Grey was able to keep Canada ahead of Russia and Italy with a strong finish, but the Canadians ended up in seventh place, almost two minutes behind the winning time of Sweden, which took its sixth gold medal of the 2010 Winter Olympics and third in cross-country skiing. Anchor leg Marcus Hellner brought the Swedes home for their first gold in the marquee event of cross-cou...

VANCOUVER — When this all began, two-time Olympic silver medallist Mirjam Ott of Switzerland was considered the favourite in women’s curling. Then she lost her first three games. But then she won her next six. Back when it began, Canada’s Cheryl Bernard made her last rock shot to beat Ott in the first draw of the tournament and win 5-4. Now they meet again Thursday in the women’s semifinal while Sweden’s defending Olympic champion Anette Norberg meets defending world champion Bingju Wang of China. The winners will meet for gold and the losers for bronze Friday. “It’s going to be tough,” Bernard said. “We won’t expect a game like we had with them before. We’re going to have to play like we’ve been playing, even a little bit better.” Ott’s team had to play from the edge of a cliff after losing those first three games. “It was tough to keep going on,” she said. “But I think we just kept getting better and better as the games went on. We started too nervous maybe in the first ...

Lady Gaga is best known for her kinky outfits and on-stage antics, but the popstar claims that she is a traditional girl who wants a husband and a family. The flamboyant singer insisted that she is "quite the lady" in a new interview with Q magazine, which sees the pop star posing topless on the cover. The 23-year-old singer, posed in little but a pair of spiky trousers and metal chains around her neck in the new issue of Q magazine, reported Daily Mail online. "Well, I believe in certain institutions: cooking, serving dinner, taking care of my family. So I consider myself quite the lady," she said. The Poker Face star who regularly flashes flesh on stage, admitted she had many emotional battles with her record label over her individual style. "My image was an issue at my record label. I fought for months and cried at meetings. I got criticised for being arrogant because if you're sure of yourself as a woman they say you're bad whereas if you...

Thursday, February 25, 2010 DUBAI: Dubai police said that 15 more suspects had been identified in the assassination of Mahmoud alMabhouh, the Hamas commander , bringing to 26 the number of people sought by the authorities. The police also released further images and passport details of the suspects, including six who used British pass-ports, three with those of Australia, four with those of Ireland and two with those of France. Meanwhile, Australia summoned the Israeli ambassador on Thursday to explain how three Australian passports were used by the group who murdered a top Hamas commander in Dubai.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 BEIJING: Thirteen people are dead and five others are missing after a large explosion at a starch production plant in northern China, state media said Thursday. The blast, which also injured up to 50 people, occurred on Wednesday at the Lihua Starch Co Ltd factory in Hebei province, local news agency said. The provincial government has set up a special investigative team to probe the cause of the blast, and both the director and vice-manager of the plant have been taken into police custody for questioning. Nine of the injured were hospitalised in serious condition, it added.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 BEIJING: China warned the United States on Thursday to "speak and act cautiously" to avoid further strains in ties and denied any military involvement in recent cyber attacks against Google. A defence ministry spokesman also said Beijing's position on suspending military exchanges with the United States over arms sales to Taiwan remained unchanged, after the Pentagon said at least three visits had been postponed. "The Chinese side urges the US side to speak and act cautiously to avoid further damage to bilateral relations and peaceful cross-strait development," ministry spokesman Huang Xueping was quoted as saying by the state news agency.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 ANKARA: A Turkish court has charged more ranking officers for allegedly plotting several years ago to topple the Islamic-rooted government, increasing the number of officers jailed to 20 _ including five admirals and three generals. The court ordered the jailing of eight more officers, including five active duty officers and two generals, pending trial Thursday, ahead of a critical meeting by the president, military chief and prime minister to discuss tensions over the largest-ever crackdown on the military in Turkey. In total, eight out of 20 were on active duty.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 DUBAI: UAE royal Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed al-Nahyan passed away on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, state news agency WAM reported. The Presidential Affairs Ministry has declared three days for official mourning starting on Wednesday, WAM said. “The ministry expressed profound sorrow over the demise of Sheikh Mubarak and extended solace to the bereaved family. May Almighty God rest his soul in peace,” the news agency said. Funeral prayers will be performed on Thursday after noon prayers at Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Mosque in Al Bateen, WAM said. Mourners will pay their respects at Al Mushrif Palace, the news agency added.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 LONDON: Britain and Ireland were Wednesday contacting the holders of passports newly suspected of being used by the killers of a top Hamas figure in Dubai, as London said it expected "full Israeli cooperation." Police said they were now seeking 26 suspects over the killing of Mahmud al-Mabhuh on January 20. These included 15 new names including six British and three Irish passport holders. The chief of police in Dubai has said he is almost certain that Israeli secret service Mossad was behind the death of Mabhuh, a founder of Hamas's armed wing. "We can confirm that six more UK passports have been identified, we will seek to make contact with these individuals and offer consular assistance as we have the previous individuals," the Foreign Office in London said. "The foreign secretary and others have made clear we expect full Israeli co-operation." Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Irish foreign ministry spokesman s...

WASHINGTON: Tough new rules on the U.S. credit card industry went into effect Monday. The rules are largely aimed at preventing banks from employing tactics designed to plunge card users into a never-ending cycle of debt. The lenders serving risky borrowers say high fees and interest rates are necessary because their customers are more likely to default on loans. Restrictions on what they charge could put them out of business and leave the neediest with no options at all, they say. Meanwhile, advocacy groups say the rising public anger toward the credit card industry show the need for greater consumer protections. Under the new regulations, interest rates cannot be raised in the first year after an account is opened unless an introductory rate has come to an end. After that, cardholders must be notified 45 days in advance of any rate change. For existing balances, rates can't be raised unless the account is at least 60 days past due. If payments are made on time for six c...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 GWALIOR: India's Sachin Tendulkar became the world's first batsman to smash a double-century in one-day internationals, achieving the feat against South Africa on Wednesday. The 36-year-old was unbeaten on 200 in the last over. Pakistan's Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwe's Charles Coventry had jointly held the record with 194. Anwar made that score against India in May 1997 while Coventry hit 194 not out against Bangladesh last year.