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ICC World Cup 2011 India won lets celebration

2011-03-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

ICC World Cup 2011 India won

2011-03-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

World Cup 2011, Ind vs Pak: The Sachin perspective

2011-03-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

Mohali, Mar 29: Rarely has a person's career graph defined his nations rise in global scenario. When Pele touched greatness, Brazil appeared a different country from the usual land of Samba, drugs and poverty and Muhammad Ali punched his way into greatness and alongside him changed the way the coloureds and the afro-americans were viewed in the US and the same can never be more correct in any other instance apart from Sachin.

India, it seems followed Sachin from being a land with potential in the 1990s to be on the cusp of supremacy in 2011 and now as the ultimate clash in cricket looms large, history for the umpteenth time beckons the maestro.

For fans and cricketers, former and present alike, Sachin's 98 against Pakistan in 2003 was probably the second-best innings next to his famous 'Desert Storm' against the Australians at Sharjah in 1998. However, this time nothing less than a match-winning century can surpass his most famous ODI half-century, the 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.

As always Sachin is preparing himself for the big clash with the same dedication and intensity that has been his hallmark for the past 22 years. TV reports showed that he has already added more meat to his bat, making it heavier by 300gms than what is weighed at the start of the tournament. Sachin started the tournament with a bat that weighed around 1100gms and for the Pakistan game he has raised it to 1400gm.

That apart, Sachin will also be on the lookout to elongate India's victory run against Pakistan in the World Cups. India's supremacy over Pakistan in the gala-event has coincided with the rise of Sachin. In 1992, when India first met Pakistan in the World Cups, Sachin was still an innoccous youngster barely out of his teens but still on the verge of greatness. When the neighbouring nations met again in 1996 he had already stamped his class on the World stage and was considered one among the three best batsmen of his generation.

The Indo-Pak encounter again took place in the land of their old colonial masters, England and this time too Sachin, who was marginally ahead of Lara as the best player of his generation, chipped in with useful contribution and India prevailed over their arch-rivals.

By 2003, Sachin was the unanimous choice for the best batsman since Bradman tag and he let Pakistan know of it when he launched a brutal assault on the Pakistan bowling arsenal that boasted to be the best in the World. And the story continued with yet another Indian victory.

The two teams were relegated from the league stages of the 2007 World Cup and strangely the fates of Sachin, India and Pakistan were the same with each at possibly the lowest ebb of their cricket.

However, the stakes this time is higher than ever before as the clash is a Semi-final encounter, Sachin is on 99 international tons and quite possibly in his last World Cup too. He is already being acknowledged as the greatest batsman ever and would like to impart the lesson to Pakistan by scoring that all-important century and Sending the neighbours back to their homes.

The weights have been added, reputations enhanced and it is now game, set, go for the biggest rivalry in cricket and the focus is once again on the game's most charismatic and finest showman, Sachin to improve on the previous 98 and present 99 to guide India to yet another defining moment of its cricketing history in general and the entire population's collective confidence in particular. Long Live the master.

OneIndia Cricket

Ind Vs Pak WC semis:Afridi, Misbah in "last stand"

2011-03-30T09:28:00.001-07:00

Mohali, March 30: After Pakistan got off to a brisk and confident start reaching 44/0 in 8.4 overs, India pegged back the visitors, reducing them to 70/2 in 15.3 overs. Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan took Pakistan to 100/2 in 23 overs, before Shafiq was bowled by Yuvraj and Pakistan were 103/3. Pakistan reached 106/3 in 25 overs before Yuvraj got the wicket of Younis Khan and Pakistan were 106/4 in 25.4 overs. Harbhajan then removed a dangerous Umar Akmal for 29 as Pakistan slid to 142/5 in 33.3 overs, before Munaf got rid of Razzaq for 3 as Pakistan slipped to 150/6.

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Afridi to the rescue?

Abdul Razzaq came to the crease to join Misbah with the score at 142/5 in 33.3 overs. Pakistan reached 150 in the 37th over, but almost immediately lost the wicket of Razzaq when he was bowled to Munaf Patel for 3. with captain Shahid Afridi coming to the crease. Then in the 40th over, Yuvraj nearly got the wicket of Afridi, but Nehra grassed a catch in the deep as Pakistan moved to 177/6 in 40 overs.

Umar, Misbah fight back

In the 28th over, Umar Akmal was nearly run out but Yuvraj made a mess of it, knocking off the bails without gathering the ball. In Yuvraj's next over, Umar got stuck into the bowler, carting him for a four and six and followed up with another six in Yuvi's following over as Pakistan climbed to 141/4 in 32 overs. But Umar's defiance was cut short for 29 off 24 balls, when Bhajji bowled him with a quicker doosra asPakistan slid to 142/5 in 33.3 overs.

Yuvraj's strikes

Yuvraj Singh was brought into the attack with Pakistan at 84/2 in 19 overs. But he couldn't make any immediate impact, going for 5 runs in his first over. Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan took Pakistan to 100/2 in 23 overs. But Yuvraj came back to bowl Shafiq for 30 off 39 balls as Pakistan were reduced to 103/3 in 23.5 overs. Pakistan added just 3 more runsat the halfway stage in their innings. But then they lost Younis Khan for 13 to Yuvraj.

Pak slip after brisk start

Chasing India's 260/9, Pakistan's inning got off to the perfect start with Kamran Akmal slapping Zaheer Khan for two fours in the first over. Indian paceman Ashsih Nehra got off to a better start, conceding just 4 runs. In the 7th over, Hafeez and Akmal teamed up to take a four each off first-change bowler Munaf Patel as Pakistan climbed to 38/0 in 7 overs. Two overs later, Zaheer got the opening breakthrough for India when he hadKamran out caught at point for 19 off 21 balls. But Hafeez stood firm to take Pakistan past 50 in the 10th over. After 15 overs, Pakistan were 70/1 with Asad Shafiq and Hafeez at the creas

India vs Pakistan: Sonia, Rahul to watch Mohali tie with PM

2011-03-30T01:16:00.001-07:00

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and other members of the Gandhi family are expected to watch the high-voltage World Cup cricket semi-final between India and Pakistan in Mohali on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also sent an invitation to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to watch the match between the arch-rivals.
It is expected that Rahul, despite nursing a fractured leg, his sister Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra, would be in attendance to enjoy the big match of the tournament.
The match at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali will be witnessed by the Prime Ministers of both the countries.
Over 2200 security personnel drawn from Punjab, in addition to NSG commandos and central police forces, have been deployed to ensure security for the day-night match.
The semi-final between India and Pakistan is the first match between the two cricket-crazy nations in India since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

World Cup: Can India be fifth time lucky against Pakistan?

2011-03-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

As India take on Pakistan in the World Cup semifinal on Wednesday at Mohali, it will be interesting to watch if Shahid Afridi's men can shed the losers' tag asscociated with them this time. Pakistan have never beaten India in a World Cup match. Both the teams have clashed four times on the World Cup stage with India having an upper hand everytime.

India captain Dhoni will look to carry forward the legacy.

With Sachin Tendulkar looking ominous, the question on everyone's lips is if he will slam his 100th international century at Mohali and lead India home. Tendulkar has never failed with the willow against his favourite enemy Pakistan. The last time the two arch-rivals clashed in 2003 at Centurion in South Africa, Tendulkar plundered 18 runs off Shoaib Akhtar's first over, setting the tone for the match that saw India dumping Pakistan out of the Cup. Tendulkar (98) played one of greatest knocks of One-day cricket against a formidable pace attack that included Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as Saeed Anwar's century went in vain.

With a team that is improving its performance, Afridi is keen on beating India.

Talking of India's batting line-up, Yuvraj Singh, who has a record four MoM so far in the tournament, looks hungrier than ever for runs, while Sehwag, on his day, can decimate the opposition single handedly. As for the youth brigade, which showed lots of courage during the game against Australia, it would be a litmus test to come good at the big stage even as Afridi-led Pakistan are getting better and better with each game.

So, ahead of the mega clash, we take a look at how the two teams have fared against each other:

1992 Benson and Hedges World Cup: Pakistan were bundled out for 173 runs in reply to India's 216 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, thanks to Sachin's attacking 54 and a 26-ball 34 from Kapil Dev. India's 43-run win had also some drama attached to it with keeper Kiran More and Javed Miandad lending a touch of colour to the high-octane encounter.

The 1996 World Cup match saw Ajay jadeja score 22 runs off a Waqar Younis over.
1996 Wills World Cup: Ajay Jadeja, who looted 22 runs off a Waqar Younis over in a pulsating quarterfinal tie at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, will remain a sore point for Pakistan. India's 57 runs came off the last four overs as they folded for 287. In the high-voltage match, Venkatesh Prasad sent Aamer Sohail to pavilion soon after the latter indulged in sledging. India won by 39 runs as Pakistan crumbled under pressure. An injured Akram withdrew ahead of the match. His effigies were burnt in Karachi and Lahore by fans who saw something else in his pullout.

Pak players celebrate the dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the 1999 World Cup.
1999 ICC World Cup: The game, fought in the background of Kargil War, at Old Trafford, Manchester ironically did not see any friction. Venkatesh Prasad stole the show with a five wicket haul as Pakistan's wickets fell at regular intervals chasing India's modest target of 228 (Tendulkar's 45, Azhar's 59 and Dravid's 61). India won by 47 runs.

Sachin Tendulkar helped India beat Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup.
2003 ICC Cricket World Cup: Saeed Anwar's 101 runs helped Pakistan score an imposing total of 273 runs at the SuperSport Park, Centurion. However, it was Sachin's day all along. By the time Akhtar claimed Tendulkar, who suffered cramps, it was all over. India won by six wickets.

India vs Pakistan: Mad rush at Chandigarh airport

2011-03-30T01:07:00.000-07:00

India's high and mighty will vie with each other to get the earliest landing permission at the Chandigarh airport on Wednesday. The India-Pakistan semi final at the PCA stadium in Mohali is about to witness the biggest ever jamboree of VVIPs, industrialists and film stars.
It is being believed that the IAF controlled small airport will have Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's special aircraft hovering above itself around noon. This will be followed by Indian PM Manmohan Singh's entourage.
With at least six special flights operated by commercial airlines and about 50 private aircrafts expected to land during the day, Chandigarh airport might even match the busiest airports like Delhi and Mumbai by this afternoon.
The who's who of India Inc and Bollywood are also expected to be eying landing space at this airport today. Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Sharad Pawar, Vijay Mallya, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sunil Shetty, Anil Agarwal and the Hindujas are said to be flying in today.
These special flights will be in addition to regular flights operated by scheduled airlines from this city. With the additional flights, the total number of arrivals and departures from Chandigarh is expected to touch 135!
As flights are not permitted to take off or land from Chandigarh during nightime, the authorities have given special permission to aircrafts from this special day. However the authroities have made it clear that the private aircrafts willnot be given permission to park themselves at the airport. These aircrafts will have to drop their 'gliteratti' and then head towards Dehradun, delhi, Amristsar air Jaipur to await their pick ups back from C'garh.
So expect a host of Airbuses, Bombardiers and Hawkers hovering over the tri-city today awaiting landing permission.

Today’s Match : India vs Australia (Ind vs Aus) Live Scores

2011-03-24T11:42:00.001-07:00

Ahmedabad, March 24: India overcame some nervous moments to reach home by 5 wickets in a close quarterfinal encounter with Australia. After some stutters along the way, a cool Yuvraj Singh (57*) and Suresh Raina (34*) took India home with with an unbeaten 74-run stand (gallery). Noteworthy innings from Sachin Tendulkar (53) and Gautam Gambhir (50) helped India's cause (scorecard).

Getty Images

After India reached 123/2 in 25 overs, the batsman at the crease - Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir - pressed ahead, taking singles at ease from the spinners. But in the 29th over, Hussey tempted Kohli with a full-toss and the batsman hit it straight into the hands of Michael Clarke at midwicket. Kohli had to walk for 24 off 33 balls and India were 143/3 in 28.3 overs.

India seemed to be moving along well at 168/3 when Gambhir had a moment of madness, attempting a single three times when it was just not there. He was finally run out for 50 off 64 balls and India were 168/4 in 33.2 overs with captain Dhoni the new man at the crease.

But Dhoni didn't last long, getting caught at point off Lee for 7 as India slid to 187/5 in 37.3 overs. Then Yuvraj picked a four off Tait and Raina pulled Lee for another boundary to relieve the pressure a tad. Later in the over, Yuvraj got Lee away fine for another two fours to take India past 200. The momentum had clearly swung India's way as Tait bowled 5 wides in the 41st over.

At the end of that over, India needed 41 runs off 54 balls to win. Then Krejza conceded just 2 runs off the 42nd over before Watson leaked 7 runs off the 43rd.

Then in the 45th over, Yuvraj ran a double to bring up his half-century and the 50-run partnership. India needed 22 runs of the last five overs. India were obliged to the batting powerplay at that stage. But Raina greeted it with a six off Lee first ball. Then in the 48th over, Yuvraj blasted a four off Lee to win India the match by 5 wickets with 14 balls left.

India's innings got off to a quick start. Virender Sehwag got Brett Lee away for a four in the third ball and then in the second, Tendulkar tucked into a wayward Shaun Tait, getting him away for two fours. In the 4th over, Sehwag whip-lashed Tait for a boundary in front of square, as India moved onto 26/0 in 4 overs. Sehwag was taking a bit of back seat to Sachin's aggressiveness.

The Little Master got Watson and JOhnson away for a four each in the 7th and 8t overs as India climbed to 44/0 in 8 overs. But then Watson surprised Sehwag with a shorter delivery which he pulled shabbily into the hands of the on-side fielder.

Sehwag was on his way for 15 off 22 balls and India were 44/1 in 8.1 overs. But Tendulkar shirked off the pressure with a four later in the same over. The batsman then took a single off Johnson to bring up the Indian 50. In the 12th over, Tendulkar went after the same bowler, flicking him away for one four and cutting him for another.

In the 17th over, Sachin ran a double off Tait to bring up his half-century. In the next over, Gambhir slapped Jason Krejza for a boundary to bring up the 50-run partnership. But in the following over, Tait had Tendulkar caught behind for 53 off 68 and India were 94/2 in 18.1 overs.

Gambhir then ran a single off Krejza to take India to 100/2 in 19.3 overs. The new batsman Virat Kohli began consolidating with Gambhir, pushing for ones and twos and taking India to 123/2 in 25 overs.

India vs Australia Quarter-Final: World Cup 2011 gets perilous today

2011-03-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

Today is the day this World Cup gets perilous. India take on Australia in Motera and we are guaranteed to lose either the winners of the last three World Cups or the hosts and favourites. After 33 days of preamble the juices are well and truly flowing.

And what a perfect match up it is. In the light blue corner we have the Indians who will take to the field with the finest ODI batting line up known to mankind. At the top of the order sit two of the all time greats; Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar . As an Englishman I was brought up to believe there would never be a pair to match Hobbs and Sutcliffe. Haynes and Greenidge came close, Langer and Hayden fell just short, but Sehwag and Tendulkar leave the legendary Englishmen narrowly in their wake.

Despite both being right handed they are magnificently contrasted. Tendulkar is technically perfect, quick on his feet and willing to bat all day. Sehwag hasn't moved his feet in 10 years even to run between the wickets, is technically suspect against the short ball and gets bored more quickly than a five year old boy in an interior furnishings shop. But he possesses the best eyes and speediest hands in the known universe. He has also hit his first ball for four on each of the five occasions he has batted. That is just ridiculous.

Next up is an array of quality in-form batsmen; Gambhir, Yuvraj, and Kohli supported by the big hitting Pathan and Dhoni. With that kind of strength in that kind of depth what hope is there for any bowling attack? Well, as luck would have it for all of India's opponents to date, hope there is aplenty as the lower order has consistently thrown away match winning positions through an over-eagerness to score mammoth totals and a baffling inability to read the match situation.

In part this desperation to score so heavily is the result of anxiety over a gruesomely mediocre attack. Zaheer Khan is currently relied on to provide both containment and wickets. Harbhajan continues to frustrate while the dismally benign Pathan and Munaf Patel may as well negotiate their figures with the opposing side before the start of play. However, the welcome but insanely delayed introduction of Ashwin adds wicket-taking potential. I would play him and Chawla, dispense with a second seamer and return to the giddy days of the early 70s when India frequently took to the field with three quality spinners.

In the rather migraine-inducing yellow corner sit the current champions, Australia. Unbeaten in 34 matches until their rousing trouncing at the hands of Pakistan on Saturday, they have adopted the unique and seemingly perverse strategy on the sub-continent of packing their side with fast bowlers. But when you've tried ten spinners in four years, none of whom consistently averages below 40 with the ball, why not put your faith in what you do best?

And so far it's pretty much worked for Australia, partly because all three pacemen, Tait, Johnson and Lee, are so different. Lee is the steadiest of the three but is hugely experienced in Indian conditions and still pushing 90 mph. Tait can go for 12 in an over but also beat the very best batsmen for pace, and Johnson is the worst kind of bowler to face. He has no clue what he'll bowl from one delivery to the next and is thus the perfect man to break up those tricky mid-innings partnerships when the batting side are cruising.

Add to that the steady trundlers of Shane Watson and you have a decent attack. If I were Australian I'd be pushing for the inclusion of David Hussey at the expense of Cameron White to add some flat brisk off spin and effective earnest nudges in the middle overs, but otherwise the Australians have for once got their team selection almost spot on.

Australia's real problem lies in the batting. Currently they have two lower order hitters opening the innings. This is fine as long as they do the decent thing and get out once the initial power plays are complete, allowing proper batsmen (Clarke and Hussey) to push the ones and twos. But the form of Ponting is a serious worry. He has been fractious and out of sorts for about a year now. His feet are still moving in that firm decisive fashion that used to put the fear of God into bowlers, but his hands now take a while to catch up. He is clearly raging at the dying of the light but his players, inexplicably, appear to adore him.

Hundreds killed in tsunami after 8.9 Japan quake today hot news

2011-03-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

TOKYO – A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast. In Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant in the northeast was evacuated after the reactor's cooling system failed.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture (state) closest to the quake's epicenter. Another 110 were confirmed killed, with 350 people missing. Police also said 544 people were injured.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.
Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.
A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of the flames being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said. A witness told the broadcaster that the fire began after the tsunami knocked over several cars, causing them to leak oil and gas. The fire started hours later and rescuers have yet to arrive, according to NHK.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.
The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama city to move back at least two miles (three kilometers) from the plant. The reactor was not leaking radiation but its core remained hot even after a shutdown. The plant is 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.
Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at either.

Click image to see photos of quake, tsunami damage

Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers working on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water and uncontrolled conflagrations broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.
Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways.
The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were buckled and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.
Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.
"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years, and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."
NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.
As night fell, the streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get around and out of the city. Pedestrians swarmed the sidewalks to walk home, or at least find a warm place to spend the night as the temperatures dropped.
Tomoko Suzuki and her elderly mother stood on a crowded corner in central Tokyo, unable to get up to their 29th-floor condominium because the elevator wasn't working. They unsuccessfully tried to hail a taxi to go to a relative's house. They called around to dozens of hotels, but they were full.
"We are so cold," said Suzuki. "We really don't know what to do."
A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture and burned out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.
"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."
He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.
Also in Miyagi, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. the company said.
A reactor area of a nearby plant was leaking water, the company said. But it was unclear if the leak was caused by tsunami water or something else. There were no reports of radioactive leaks at any of Japan's nuclear plants.
Jefferies International Limited, a global investment banking group, said it estimated overall losses to be about $10 billion.
Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the destruction.
"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s, and one of the biggest ever recorded in the world.
The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday that caused no damage.
A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.
Thousands of people fled their homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high. But waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either.
The first waves hit Hawaii about 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Friday. A tsunami at least 3 feet (a meter) high were recorded on Oahu and Kauai, and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger.
Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile last February also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.

Duke's role under scrutiny again

2011-03-09T09:21:00.001-08:00

The Duke of York's role as Britain's trade envoy has come under scrutiny again - this time over his links with a leader of a former Soviet republic.
Andrew has visited Azerbaijan a number of times in an official capacity and is said to have forged ties with its president Ilham Aliyev - a political figure whose regime has been criticised by Amnesty International.
The leading human rights organisation has condemned the oil-rich state for its violence towards and harassment of civil society activists with near impunity.
Earlier this week Amnesty called on the state's authorities to end their crackdown, which they claim includes torture, on protesters planning events this Friday inspired by the recent demonstrations in the Middle East and North Africa.
Buckingham Palace has stressed that the duke's role as a roving business ambassador in Azerbaijan was at the request of the Government and focused on "oil, gas and energy security issues" which had the potential to deliver opportunities for UK firms.
London's Evening Standard newspaper has quoted a royal source as saying the Queen has given Andrew, said to be her favourite son, her "full backing".
The duke has remained under the spotlight this week after further media coverage over the weekend of his links with American billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Andrew has also faced criticism for entertaining the son-in-law of ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at Buckingham Palace.

Ivory's Gbagbo Threatens Cocoa, Gold Exporters

2011-03-09T09:20:00.001-08:00

ABIDJAN—The government of Ivory Coast's presidential incumbent Laurent Gbagbo Wednesday threatened to seize cocoa stocks held by cocoa exporters, and warned gold miners that they could be nationalized if they don't cooperate with the government.
Cocoa exporters in Ivory Coast have been given until the end of March to ship stocks or have them seized, the head of the country's cocoa-coffee management board warned Wednesday.
Gilbert Ano N'Guessan said companies had around 440,000 metric tons of cocoa in warehouses at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, which would be forfeit if export taxes aren't paid and the beans shipped.
"For cocoa exporters who haven't paid their export taxes from March 31, the state, working with the coffee-cocoa management board, will seize either the resources or simply the beans to fulfil this obligation," said Mr. Ano N'Guessan.
Exporters say that because of European Union sanctions against the two ports, it is no longer possible to ship beans to the principal customers in Europe. Ivory Coast is the world's biggest cocoa exporter, with exports of 1.2 million tons of cocoa in 2010.
Mr. Ano N'Guessan is a close ally of Mr. Gbagbo, who has refused to hand over power despite near-unanimous recognition that he lost a presidential election to Alassane Ouattara last November. Mr. Ouattara, called for a boycott on cocoa exports in January, which has been widely obeyed, blocking off a key source of revenue to Mr. Gbagbo's government.
Mr. Ouattara has tried to use financial sanctions, boycotts and civil disobedience to persuade Mr. Gbagbo to accept defeat and hand over power. Mr. Ouattara took control of the Central Bank of West African States in January, after West African heads of state forced the pro-Gbagbo bank governor to resign, although Mr. Gbagbo's government later seized the bank's offices.
International banks suspended operations in the country in February. Mr. Gbagbo's government seized control of the banks, and Mr. Gbagbo's official spokesman Wednesday warned that gold miners could face a similar fate.
"We took control of the banks because they refused to work. We just did the same in the cocoa sector, because companies were free to export and didn't," said Don Mello, the official spokesman for Gbagbo's government.
Mr. Mello said for the time being gold companies were "behaving themselves" so had nothing to fear, but he said the government was prepared to do what was needed to keep the economy alive.
"We can't leave certain people to asphyxiate the Ivorian economy—because for some people, this is their sole objective," he said.
The main gold mine is run by Randgold Resources Ltd. and started production last year. Randgold's mine is based at Tongon in the far north of the country, an area controlled by former rebels now loyal to Mr. Ouattara.

Will Women Benefit from Middle East Revolution?

2011-03-09T09:19:00.001-08:00

When the dust of Egypt's revolution began to settle and the country struggled toward a democratic government, many of the women who stood side-by-side with men in Cairo's Tahrir Square were struck that not one woman was named to the committee to reform the constitution.
Prominent Egyptian author and activist Nawaal el-Saadawi says that angered women who marched on equal footing with men to oust former President Hosni Mubarak - only to find themselves thrown back to the old ways and excluded from the new order. She said the women felt their rights were being taken from them.

Reuters

Egyptian novelist, essayist and physician Nawaal el-Saadawi. Her feminist works focus on the oppression of women and women's desire for self-expression

"Women’s rights cannot be given ... We have to take [them] by the political power of women," she said. "And that’s why we are reestablishing our Egyptian Women Union."
Al-Saadawi says women were scattered, weak and divided under the former regime and efforts are under way to unite them.
"So we are trying to bring women together to have political power so that we can fight for our rights in a collective group," al-Saadawi explained.
Fears of being excluded also echoed in neighboring Tunisia among many of the women who participated in the revolution to oust the Ben-Ali regime. Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy and Director of the Women and Foreign Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations says Tunisian women worry about the return to power of some of the more conservative elements might try to repeal Tunisia's progressive family laws.

13 die in sectarian violence in Cairo

2011-03-09T09:17:00.001-08:00

CAIRO - Thirteen people died in overnight clashes between Christians and Muslims in the worst outbreak of sectarian violence in Egypt since last month's ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, officials reported Wednesday.
The religious rioting stirred fears among some political and civic leaders that the country's post-revolutionary unity could be rapidly deteriorating.
The Health Ministry said about 140 people were injured in the fighting. The clashes broke out after about 2,000 Coptic Christians blocked a main highway south of Cairo as part of protests to demand the rebuilding of a village church that was torched in earlier sectarian violence in Helwan province about 20 miles south of the capital.
All those killed Tuesday were Christians, according to Bishop Morcos, a spokesman for the Egyptian Copts, but his account could not be independently confirmed. The worst casualties were inflicted by gunfire and molotov cocktails, he said.
Security and hospital officials said all 13 fatalities were caused by gunshot wounds, the Associated Press reported, but it was not immediately clear who was firing or how many people from each side were shot during the clashes, which lasted about four hours.
The deaths led to pleas for tolerance from religious and civic leaders.
"I call upon Muslims and Christians to avoid incitement and to place more weight on national love," Amr Khaled, an Islamic cleric, said in a phone call to a popular Egyptian television program. Meanwhile, leaders of various youth and political factions urged followers to join a protest on Friday under the slogan, "No to sectarian strife."
But protests continued to sow havoc Wednesday morning in downtown Cairo. Stone-throwing erupted in clashes between Egyptians who continue to use the city's central Tahrir Square as a staging ground to air grievances, and those who want all demonstrations to stop.
The latest sectarian violence was stoked last Friday when a church was set on fire after clashes between Copts and Muslims left two dead. The bloodshed reportedly resulted from a feud between the families of a Christian man and a Muslim woman who were having a relationship.
The year began with religious violence: 21 people died when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up as Copt worshipers left a church after midnight on New Year's Day in Alexandria.

A week later, an off-duty policeman boarded a train and opened fire, killing a 71-year-old Christian man and wounding his wife and four other people, AP said.
Angry over the attacks, a crowd of several hundred Christians has been protesting for days outside the state television building in Cairo. The country's new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, has met with them to try to reassure Egypt's Christian community that his interim government would not discriminate against them, AP reported.
Copts and other Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of more than 80 million people and constitute the largest Christian community in the Middle East. Muslims, mostly Sunnis, account for about 90 percent of the Egyptian population.

Winning ugly, the Indian way

2011-03-09T09:15:00.001-08:00

It’s almost as if India have made winning ugly their motto for the World Cup.

A second routine run chase against another ‘lesser’ team was transformed into a tense affair by a reckless approach that did the most powerful batting line-up of the competition very little credit. India’s bowling had struggled to impose itself on the Netherlands on an admittedly sluggish, spirit-breaking Feroze Shah Kotla pitch on Wednesday, the Dutch improving vastly on previous efforts of 115 and 120 to make a combative 189. Through Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, India began as if they had an early evening dinner date, but not even the fall of the two openers, both offering gifts to left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar playing one stroke too many, brought about a change in attitude. India lost four for 30 in 43 deliveries to slump to 99 for four -- against Ireland three nights back, they were 100 for four -- and while again, they were never in any danger of losing the game, they could have done without triggering artificial excitement. As he had done on Sunday, Yuvraj Singh held the chase together with another sensible hand, conjuring a third straight half-century. By reaching 191 for five, India completed a second consecutive five-wicket win, with 81 deliveries to spare. The big question is what if, against a stronger and more experienced attack, India have to chase a more sizeable target? It might be tempting to wish away the mini-collapse as just one of those things, especially considering the oppositions have been Ireland and the Netherlands respectively and India occasionally tend to play to the level of their opponents, but the ‘what if’ query will gather momentum now that a knockout berth is all but assured. Until that hiccup, Sehwag and Tendulkar put on an absolute exhibition. Matching each other stroke for stroke, Sehwag took on all comers and Tendulkar singled Ryan ten Doeschate out for special treatment. Boundaries flowed in torrents as a noisy audience was treated to spectacular entertainment. Along the way, Tendulkar became the first to reach 2,000 World Cup runs. Seelaar benefited from India’s gung-ho approach, accounting for the openers as well as Yusuf Pathan, promoted to number three, with a delivery that stopped on the batsman. The 23-year-old did little that justified those illustrious scalps, but he sure wasn’t complaining! India weren’t complaining either as the Dutch batsmen threw their hands away when, with a little more application, they could easily have posted a more competitive total Once again, it was left to Zaheer Khan to spare India the blushes, while Piyush Chawla – when will he start repaying the faith? – had another ordinary afternoon after Peter Borren opted to bat first. Like in the last game, Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought his spinners on very early. Pathan appeared in the fourth over and by the seventh, it was off-spin at both ends as Harbhajan Singh too was pressed into action. Neither made any impression on the stodgy Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Barresi, whose 56-run (92b) stand was the third time in four matches India have allowed an opening association of more than fifty. Chawla finally delivered a googly on target to breach Szwarczynski’s defences, and the golden arm of Yuvraj accounted for Barresi. Tom Cooper led a charmed life, put down twice and escaping being run out, while ten Doeschate was tied up in knots by the lack of pace off the pitch and holed out to long-off as he played his first shot in anger. Having operated only his spinners between overs seven and 29, Dhoni turned to Ashish Nehra – coming in for Munaf Patel – and Zaheer. Both struck paydirt as the Dutch subsided to 127 for seven despite India not being on top of their game, but it is what followed that should worry Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten. Harbhajan had another wicketless game, Chawla was taken apart by Borren and the batting Power Play yielded 42 runs. Suddenly, the Dutch showed flair and aggression through their captain and medium-pacer Mudassar Bukhari, who amassed 38 in just 23 deliveries for the ninth wicket to lend some meat to their total, as India’s bowling again stood exposed. Zaheer, outstanding as ever, wrapped things up, but can India afford to depend so much on one bowler? And can their batsmen continue to bestow gifts on the opposition? Scoreboard NETHERLANDS Szwarczynski b Chawla 28 (42b, 4x4) Barresi lbw Yuvraj 26 (58b, 2x4) Cooper c Dhoni b Nehra 29 (47b, 2x4) Ten Doeschate c Zaheer b Yuvraj 11 (28b, 1x4) Kervezee c Harbhajan b Chawla 11 (23b, 1x4) Zuiderent lbw Zaheer 0 (6b) de Grooth (run out) 5 (11b) Borren c Nehra b Zaheer 38 (36b, 3x4, 2x6) Kruger (run out) 8 (12b, 1x4) Bukhari b Zaheer 21 (18b, 1x4, 2x6) Seelaar (not out) 0 (0b) Extras (B-6, LB-3, W-2, NB-1) 12 Total (all out, 46.4 overs) 189 Fall of wickets: 1-56 (Szwarczynski), 2-64 (Barresi), 3-99 (ten Doeschate), 4-100 (Cooper), 5-101 (Zuiderent), 6-108 (de Grooth), 7-127 (Kervezee), 8-151 (Kruger), 9-189 (Borren). Bowling: Zaheer 6.4-0-20-3, Nehra 5-1-22-1, Pathan 6-1-17-0, Harbhajan 10-1-31-0 (w-2), Chawla 10-0-47-2 (nb-1), Yuvraj 9-1-43-2. Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 38/0; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 18/0; Power Play 3 (batting): 42.1-47 overs: 42/2. INDIA Sehwag c Kervezee b Seelaar 39 (26b, 5x4, 2x6) Tendulkar c Kruger b Seelaar 27 (22b, 6x4) Pathan c & b Seelaar 11 (10b, 1x4, 1x6) Gambhir b Bukhari 28 (28b, 3x4) Kohli b Borren 12 (20b, 2x4) Yuvraj (not out) 51 (73b, 7x4) Dhoni (not out) 19 (40b, 2x4) Extras (W-4) 4 Total (for 5 wkts, 36.3 overs) 191 Fall of wickets: 1-69 (Sehwag), 2-80 (Tendulkar), 3-82 (Pathan), 4-99 (Kohli), 5-139 (Gambhir). Bowling: Bukhari 6-1-33-1 (w-2), ten Doeschate 7-0-38-0 (w-2), Seelaar 10-1-53-3, Borren 8-0-33-1, Cooper 2-0-11-0, Kruger 3.3-0-23-0. Runs during: Power Play 1: 1-10 overs: 82/3; Power Play 2: 11-15 overs: 17/1; Power Play 3 (batting): 36.1-40 overs: 5/0.

ICC World Cup 2011 : Match No 25 : India coasts to a comfortable win over Netherlands

2011-03-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

Match No 25 : India vs Netherlands at Delhi on 09.03.11: India won by five wickets

Yuvraj Singh captured his 100^th one day wicket when he had W Baressi leg before wicket for 26 in this game. At the end of this game, his aggregate stood at 101. He became the 106^th bowler in the annals of one day games to total 100 plus one day wickets. He became the 14^th Indian bowler to capture 100 plus wickets in one day games.

Yuvraj Singh with 7848 runs and 101 wickets to his credit became the 49^th cricketer in the annals of one day games to perform the all rounder’s double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets. He is third Indian cricketer to perform this feat. Others are – SR Tendulkar {17842 runs and 154 wickets} and SC Ganguly {11363 runs and 100 wickets}

Yuvraj Singh with 7848 runs and 101 wickets to his credit became the 17^th cricketer in the annals of one day games to perform the all rounder’s double of 5000 runs and 100 wickets. He is third Indian cricketer to perform this feat. Others are – SR Tendulkar {17842 runs and 154 wickets} and SC Ganguly {11363 runs and 100 wickets}

Yuvraj Singh with 7848 runs and 101 wickets to his credit became the eighth cricketer in the annals of one day games to perform the all rounder’s double of 7500 runs and 100 wickets. He is third Indian cricketer to perform this feat. Others are – SR Tendulkar {17842 runs and 154 wickets} and SC Ganguly {11363 runs and 100 wickets}

SR Tendulkar became the first batsman to score 2000 runs in the world cup. He reached the milestone when he was on 18 during the course of his knock of 27 in this game.

SR Tendulkar became the second cricketer to play 40 world cup games after RT Ponting of Australia who has played 40 world cup games. This game was SR Tendulkar’s 40^th world cup game.

SR Tendulkar became the only batsman in the annals of one day games to partner three other batsmen with whom he added 4000 plus runs. With Ganguly he has added 8227 runs, with R Dravid he added 4117 runs and with V Sehwag he added 4078 runs.

Air Force launches unmanned spacecraft

2011-03-06T00:10:00.001-08:00

CAPE CANAVERAL — An unmanned U.S. military spaceship that looks like a small space shuttle lifted off Saturday on a secretive shakedown cruise — one that could include the deployment and retrieval of a clandestine payload.

The U.S. Air Force's second X-37B spacecraft blasted off atop a powerful Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, sending a loud rumble across the Florida coast.

Air Force officials said the 196-foot United Launch Alliance rocket performed normally during the early stages of flight. But then, as expected, a news blackout was imposed.

Richard McKinney, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs, was a bit cagey in a post-launch statement.

"Launch is a very demanding business and having what appears to be a successful launch is always good news," he said.

McKinney said he was pleased with initial status reports but he also downplayed expectations.

"It is important to remember that this is an experimental vehicle; that this is just the second launch; and that we have just started what is a very systematic checkout of the system," he said.

The X-37B represents an attempt to develop an affordable, reusable spacecraft that can be rapidly readied for launch and prepped quickly for subsequent flights.

Shaped like a shuttle, the orbiter is equipped with advanced heat-shield tiles as well as a state-of-the-art solar power system.

The first X-37B — or Orbital Test Vehicle-1 — was launched from Cape Canaveral last April and made an autonomous atmospheric re-entry and landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in December.

The second X-37B sports a modified landing system that should enable the craft to land in higher winds.

The spaceplanes are designed to remain in orbit for up to 270 days, but Air Force officials indicated the second ship might tally a longer stay in space.

"We may extend the mission to enhance our understanding of the OTV capabilities," Lt. Col. Troy Giese, X-37B program manager for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said in a statement. "Especially since the performance data from the first flight suggest that the vehicle could have gone beyond the 270-day requirement."

The Air Force has been coy about the payloads the spacecraft might haul up. But officials are hinting that something might be aboard the second X-37B.

Said Air Force Maj. Tracy Bunko: "Being able to put an object in space, test it and bring it back to Earth to examine it is a valuable capability for the U.S. Air Force."

Neither the Air Force nor NASA has plans to convert the X-37B into a piloted craft to haul astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Test drive highlights tax software limits

2011-03-06T00:09:00.000-08:00

Like Watson, the IBM computer that stumped the champions on Jeopardy, tax-preparation software uses sophisticated technology to perform a task previously done by a human — in this case, your neighborhood tax preparer.

For taxpayers with straightforward returns, tax software gets the job done, at a fraction of the cost of a tax preparer. If you file a 1040-EZ, there's simply no reason to pay someone to do your taxes for you when you can do it online for less than $20 (or free if you qualify for the IRS Free File). Most tax software programs are also adept at handling returns that claim common tax breaks, such as the deduction for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

But this year's tax software review also revealed the limitations of these programs. Taxes have grown so complex that even those of us who don't invest in individual stocks, own rental property or run a small business could find ourselves in need of advice from a flesh-and-blood tax preparer. Here's where we ran into trouble in our annual test drive:

Retirement savings

Most taxpayers with lengthy investment portfolios hire a professional to prepare their returns, with good reason. Even Watson would have a hard time figuring out the cost basis for a stock you bought in the 1980s and sold last year.

With MTV visit, Las Vegas looks to lure spring break crowd

2011-03-06T00:08:00.001-08:00

MTV is bringing its raucous annual special Spring Break to Las Vegas, with five days of parties and concerts featuring up-and-coming music acts and personalities from the network's reality shows. It's the first time the network has filmed the special in Las Vegas, changing the dynamic from the usual beaches of Florida or Mexico to the pool of the Palms Casino Resort near the Las Vegas Strip.

For the network, the move changes up the vibe of a yearly celebration that started in 1986. For the Palms, the show brings midweek customers during a time that Las Vegas is welcoming any visitors willing to spend money partying and gambling.

But given gambling and tight state regulations, college students can expect their underage friends to have a tough time getting into the party — should they choose to try.

"Everyone's going to be 21 that will be at the pool," said George Maloof, owner of the Palms. "We'll make sure of that, have plenty of security."

"It'll be just like what we've always done, which is having respect for obviously our license," he said.

College kids have long sought destinations with relaxed laws for spring break because they often don't turn 21 until their junior or senior year in school. Mexico, for example, has a drinking age of 18, making places like Cancun and Rosarito Beach popular when schools take their mid-term breaks.

Even though casinos market only to those 21 and older, MTV's Spring Break still fits with the Palms, Maloof said.

"With our brand, it's a natural fit. We've always attracted the younger crowd and we've always been on the cutting edge of culture," he said.

Maloof and the Palms played host to MTV's "The Real World" in 2002, putting up seven residents — all over 21 — in a suite at the resort that's still rentable today.

Eric Conte, senior vice president of programming at MTV, said he doesn't think that restricting the festivities to only drinking-age adults will hurt the party or make students not want to come.

"We're also doing parties around some of our biggest franchises on MTV at some of the suites there at the Palms," he said. "We think just the overall excitement in the town is really beneficial and is helping us out so far."

MGM Resorts International, the casino operator that runs 10 properties on the Las Vegas Strip, is expecting as much as a 20% increase in spring break travelers, including college students and families with children taking a break from school, Chief Marketing Officer Bill Hornbuckle said.

"It fills, particularly midweek, some pretty good voids that might not otherwise be filled for us, and they'll have a great time," he said.

Hornbuckle said MGM Resorts is planning to cross-promote six properties on the Strip during spring break, letting guests staying at any of the properties access amenities and events at all of them. The party includes a March 12 concert with Cee Lo Green and The Ting Tings, on MGM Resorts land on the Strip across from the Luxor.

Hornbuckle said Las Vegas has become famous in the last decade for its pool party and nightclub scene, but also famous for its strict no-minors policy.

"Where they've tried to get into nightclubs historically, gamble at tables, we take that extremely seriously and that extends itself into spring break," Hornbuckle said. "As things are happening all over the world ... Las Vegas has become more and more attractive, particularly to this crowd. And so we've seen a benefit to that and I think this year will be, hopefully, an all-time high."

Maloof said the MTV event will bring a double-dip of benefits to the Palms, attracting students for the trip itself and giving the Palms airtime after the taping when the show airs later in March.

"I don't think we'll have an issue with selling out," he said.

Conte said musical acts scheduled to appear include Pitbull, Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa and Jason Derulo.

U.S. repatriating foreigners who fled Libya

2011-03-06T00:03:00.001-08:00

The State Department said Saturday four U.S. military aircraft are picking up Egyptians who crossed the Libyan border into Tunisia, and flying them to Cairo. Two Marine KC-130 aircraft left Djerba, Tunisia, with 132 Egyptians, and two Air Force C-130s are en route to Tunisia to evacuate more.

The government also said it is contributing $3 million to the International Organization for Migration to help repatriate thousands of foreign nationals who crossed into Tunisia to escape clashes between the government of Moammar Gadhafi and the insurrection against him.

The announcement marks the latest in a series of relief flights. On Friday, the U.S. sent two cargo planes into Tunisia with supplies for refugees from Libya.

In Canada, meanwhile, the government confirmed that a military flight was able to evacuate more Canadians and other foreign nationals from Libya on Saturday.

A spokesman for Defense Minister Peter MacKay said the Canadian Forces plane flew in from Malta and landed "without incident."

"It's boarded a number of evacuees," Jay Paxton told the Canadian Press. The exact number was not immediately available.

Study: Americans have twice as much BPA as Canadians

2011-03-06T00:01:00.001-08:00

Americans have twice as much of the estrogen-like chemical BPA in their bodies as do Canadians, but the reasons for the disparity remain a mystery, a new study concludes.

Because of health concerns linked to BPA or bisphenol-A, more manufacturers are making products such as this one that are free of the estrogen-like chemical.

CAPTION

By Katye Martens, USA TODAY

"The finding is surprising because we often think of the U.S. and Canada as fairly similar populations," says the study's author, Laura Vandenberg, a post-doctoral fellow at Tufts University. She compared prior surveys done of each country's exposure to bisphenol-A, a chemical ubiquitously used in plastic containers such as baby bottles and in the linings of metal cans.She found the disparity in all age groups, although both surveys showed children and adolescents have the highest levels of BPA, which leaches out of consumer products and has been linked in some research to heart disease and breast cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said last year it has "some concerns" about the chemical's potential effects on brain development of fetuses, infants and children, but it did not say BPA is unsafe.
The study comes amid increasing U.S. and Canadian efforts to ban BPA from certain products. Canada was the first country to ban BPA use in baby bottles, and Connecticut and Minnesota passed the first U.S. state bans in 2009 on BPA in food and drink containers intended for children 3 and younger. Chicago and Suffolk County, N.Y., have taken similar action.
Vandenberg says part, but certainly not all, of the disparity may be due to differences in how and when the surveys were done. Health Canada's survey, conducted from 2007 to 2009 and published last year, found 91% of Canadians had detectable amounts of BPA in their urine. The U.S. survey, done in 2003-2004 and published in 2008, found 92.6% of Americans had such levels.
She says nothing quite explains why, despite both population's broad exposure to BPA, there's such a gap in the intensity of it.
"There is no evidence to suggest that there are higher amounts in U.S. foods," Vandenberg tells Green House. "There are also no studies to suggest that Americans are consuming twice as much canned goods. Additionally, there is no evidence to suggest that other consumer products available in the U.S. containing BPA are BPA-free in Canada." She adds in an e-mail:

This leaves wide open the possibilities of exposure sources, but ultimately suggests that there are unidentified exposures that are unique to the U.S. One possibility that I raised is that, because BPA is manufactured in the U.S. but not Canada, there may be other environmental exposures here in the states – higher concentrations of BPA in our air, dust and water – that are not present in Canada. Certainly studies have shown that BPA is present in indoor and outdoor air, dust from homes and offices and bodies of water as well as drinking water. But no studies have yet compared these environmental samples between the two countries.

US digs out of snow while Canada braces for more

2011-03-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

The eastern US has begun digging out from a storm that dumped 19in (48.3cm) of snow in New York City and parts of the state of New Jersey.

Warmer temperatures eased the clean-up in Washington DC, although schools there, in New York and in Canada's Maritime provinces were closed.
Travellers were stranded and 300,000 homes lost power around the capital.
As the storm moved north-east, the Maritime provinces on Thursday braced for as much as 30cm of snow in places.
'Rare' snow day

Two of America's largest airports - Newark, in New Jersey, and John F Kennedy, in New York City - reopened on Thursday after closing their doors on Wednesday evening.

Also in New York, city government offices were closed on Thursday.
"New York City almost never takes a snow day, but today is one of those rare days," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.
"People should stay at home and off the roads. There are extensive service delays on mass transit, including a suspension of all bus services."
The city, which typically sees 21in of snow per season, had already seen 36in this winter prior to Wednesday night's storm.
New York declared a weather emergency for the second time since a storm on 26 December trapped hundreds of buses and ambulances.
In Philadelphia, 150 buses were stuck throughout the evening on Wednesday, with some passengers choosing to spend the night on some of them, according to local transportation officials.
Parts of Washington DC experienced a mixture of sleet and snow along with thunder and lightning, in an unusual phenomenon known as "thundersnow".

Mr Obama made it back to the White House after rush-hour snow delayed his motorcade

Washington's legions of federal government workers were allowed to come into the office up to two hours late, take unscheduled holiday, or work from home.
Roughly 300,000 people around the nation's capital were left without power following the storm.
On Wednesday night, US President Barack Obama's return to the White House from a trip to Wisconsin was affected after the weather grounded the helicopter that typically takes him into the capital from the military base where his Air Force One aircraft lands.
Mr Obama was met by his motorcade which spent an hour weaving through stalled rush-hour traffic on a journey that normally takes about 20 minutes.
'Spooky neighbourhood' Washington commuters were forced to contend with snow-stranded public transport buses and abandoned cars.
"My neighbourhood was spooky, no lights, no power but downed trees and powerlines," local ABC television journalist Gail Pennybacker reported after her typically 75-minute commute lasted seven hours.
BBC reporter Franz Strasser captured video footage of a traffic jam caused by the winter storm in north-west Washington on Wednesday evening.
It has snowed so much in the town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this winter that clean-up crews are running out of places to move ploughed snow.
Portsmouth public works director David Allen told the Associated Press that the snow dump on nearby Pierce Island was already about five storeys high.
"It's time to get a lift up on it and we could probably do a ski run," he joked.

Nation of Islam event to include talk of UFOs

2011-03-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO (AP) — The Nation of Islam, long known for its promotion of black nationalism and self-reliance, now is calling attention to another core belief that perhaps isn't so well-known: the existence of UFOs.

When thousands of followers gather in suburban Chicago this weekend for the group's annual Saviours' Day convention, one of the main events will include a panel of scientists discussing worldwide UFO sightings, which they claim are on the rise.

The idea of seeking the divine in the skies is deeply rooted in the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, whose late leader Elijah Muhammad detailed in speeches and writings a massive hovering object loaded with weapons he called "The Mother Plane" — although religion experts, Nation of Islam leaders and believers offer very different interpretations of what exactly happens aboard the plane, its role or how it fits into religious teachings.

It's one of the group's more misunderstood — and ridiculed — beliefs, something organizers took into account when planning the convention, which starts Friday and ends Sunday with Minister Louis Farrakhan's keynote address.

"There's enough evidence that has been put before the world and public," Ishmael Muhammad, the religion's national assistant minister, told The Associated Press. "There have been enough accounts and sightings and enough movies (documentaries) made, I don't think you would find too many people that would call it crazy."

During last year's Saviours' Day speech, Farrakhan for the first time in years discussed in detail a vision he had in Mexico in 1985 involving an object he calls "the wheel." Using charts, photos and drawings, he spent almost four hours describing how he was invited aboard and heard Elijah Muhammad speak to him. Farrakhan says that experience led him to inklings about future events.

Farrakhan, 77, has said the wheel, with its great capacity for destruction, contains the "wisdom to purify the planet," but has harmed no one so far. He also claimed there have been governmental attempts to cover-up proof of the wheel, which he says many call UFOs.

Nation of Islam leaders often quote Biblical references to the prophet Ezekiel — along with Elijah Muhammad's teachings — when it comes to the wheel. In his book of articles on the subject, Muhammad described a planet-sized manmade vessel that orbits earth and is purported to be loaded with 1,500 planes or wheels, words that have since been used interchangeably. Their purpose is unclear.

Some experts have made comparisons to the Biblical concept of Rapture, which teaches believers will be taken up to heaven, while everyone else will remain on earth for a period of torment, concluding with the end of time.

Why the Nation is turning more attention to the wheel now isn't certain. One explanation could be an attempt to keep longtime Nation of Islam followers happy after recent years during which Farrakhan has haltingly tried to move the group toward more mainstream Islam and pushed for the inclusion of other groups like Latinos and immigrants, said Jimmy Jones, a religion professor at Manhattanville College in New York.

The history of the highly-secretive group — which doesn't release membership or the number of mosques — has been marked by splinter groups and fracture.

"This is a way that the Nation of Islam defines itself," said Jones about the wheel's significance.

But Ishmael Muhammad, who is widely considered a potential successor to Farrakhan, said reasons for the recent interest is simply that it's a core belief.

He said the theme of the convention, which commemorates the birth of the religion's founder and is expected to draw more than 10,000 people this weekend, is about scientific analysis. Another session is about natural disasters and what those events mean religiously.

"It is written, that these things would happen," he said about Scripture. "We should prepare for such calamities."

Storms cause heavy flooding across eastern U.S.

2011-03-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — Officials say a flood-prone river in Ohio has topped out a day after storms across the eastern half of the country that killed at least four people.

The main street in the northwest Ohio city of Findlay was under 3 feet of water Tuesday morning.

Findlay, Ohio, safety director Jim Barker says the Blanchard River crested Tuesday morning at less than 5 and a half feet above flood level.

The high water is mostly downtown and in a few residential neighborhoods. Barker says it's fortunate that many homes in low-lying areas were taken down after a record flood in August 2007.

Flooding from an ice-jammed creek forced about 200 people from their homes in a western New York hamlet where the waterway flows into Lake Erie. Storms that spawned tornadoes damaged buildings Monday in parts of the Midwest and South. Three people died in Tennessee.

A woman's body was pulled from her car Tuesday morning after it sank in a swollen tributary of the Huron River in Norwalk, Ohio.

"This doesn't even shock you anymore," said Casey Hensley, manager of a Domino's Pizza store in Findlay. "It makes you mad, but it doesn't shock you."

Sandbags were stacked throughout downtown as forecasts called for the Blanchard River to rise 6.5 feet above flood level. That's just a foot lower than the catastrophic flood four years ago that swamped the city, 45 miles south of Toledo, and caused millions of dollars in damage.

In Tennessee, three people were killed when high winds and rain wreaked havoc across the state Monday, uprooting trees and flooding roads.

Officials in the city of White House, north of Nashville, told WSMV-TV that a public works employee died when he was washed into a drain pipe after pulling debris out of it to unclog it.

A 79-year-old man died in Franklin County, in the southern part of the state, when his mobile home was knocked off its foundation and he was pinned underneath. A woman was hurt and taken to a hospital.

"I don't know if it was a tornado or straight line wind, but whatever it was beat us up pretty good," Franklin County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Guess said.

In Knoxville, heavy rain fell Monday morning and afternoon, flooding streets, basements and backyards. A man driving a truck was killed when he hit a tractor-trailer on a highway near Murfreesboro; authorities blamed wet roads.

Six people were treated at a hospital in Maryville, Ill., where storms tore off part of the roof at a church.

In New York, residents evacuated Monday as the Cattaraugus Creek flooded the Lake Erie community of Sunset Bay, a cluster of seasonal and year-round homes in the town of Hanover, southwest of Buffalo.

In Ohio, the flooding divided Findlay in half, forcing Tuesday morning commuters to take long and slow detours to get around the water.

Downtown, a 4-foot wall of an estimated 1,000 sandbags kept floodwaters out of Hensley's pizza shop. During the record flood in 2007, water got into the building and damaged the oven, Domino's manager Casey Hensley said.

"The sad thing is we just got rid of the sandbags that we had kept from the last flood," he said, adding that new sandbags were trucked in Monday. He got in to work at 6 a.m. Tuesday through a back door that was still accessible and said the shop would be open and delivering pizzas.

A mix of melting snow and heavy rain threatened flooding in all 88 of Ohio's counties, the National Weather Service said. Findlay's residents know all too well what to do when faced with the threat of high waters.

Warren Krout lost just about everything inside his pawn shop when floodwaters swamped his store nearly four years ago. With the river rising again, he had help this time.

University of Findlay football players lugged mattresses, an air hockey table and reclining chairs to the second floor of Krout's store. "Stack it as tight as you possibly can," he told the young men.

What they couldn't carry was put up on concrete blocks or left to chance.

"Some of this stuff is just going to have to go down the river," Krout said Monday.

Hancock County emergency director Garry Valentine said 13 people were rescued from their homes and taken to an emergency shelter Monday night.

"We anticipate a flood every time it rains," Krout said.

Crews in boats rescued nearly 30 people, including a group trapped in a mobile home park in western Ohio, said Mike Robbins, Mercer County's emergency management director.

Flooding 4 feet deep also destroyed a building at Cleveland's zoo and killed a peregrine falcon.

'Dynamic' duo of Kagan, Sotomayor add vigor to court

2011-03-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON — After each Supreme Court appointment in recent years, the arguments before the justices have gotten more energetic and forceful. Now, the two newest justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, are changing that dynamic even further — and offering a glimpse of how they could reshape the court's liberal wing.

Sotomayor is far more talkative than was David Souter, the justice she succeeded. Yet she also is asking more pointed questions that reveal her thoughts on the law and her fact-based approach. "Slow down from the rhetoric and give me concrete details," she urged one lawyer.

Kagan jumps in more regularly, too, than the man who preceded her, John Paul Stevens. She immediately has developed a pattern of piercing questions. Stevens would sometimes gently suggest a point of view, but Kagan more directly lets her colleagues know her line of reasoning and often lays out the liberal viewpoint.

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The new justices have brought a stronger voice on the left than the four liberals had before Sotomayor joined in 2009 and Kagan in 2010. Kagan particularly is putting forward broader legal arguments that could guide her colleagues' thinking, often in contrast to those set up by the court's five conservatives.

That ultimately could mean that the vacuum created by the departure of senior liberal justice Stevens — who worked behind the scenes to build coalitions and moderate the court's conservative trend — could be filled in a new fashion.

It is not yet clear whether the forcefulness of Kagan and Sotomayor during oral arguments eventually will produce more liberal decisions, but their activities are at least bringing more attention to their perspectives early on, before the justices meet to discuss and vote on a case.

"The two newest justices have really changed the dynamic," says Kansas University social psychology professor Lawrence Wrightsman, who has written about Supreme Court oral arguments. "Kagan and Sotomayor seem to have a more detailed and thought-through strategic position in what they say" to lawyers who come before the high court.

"The biggest difference is they are much more direct" than their predecessors, says University of Minnesota political science professor Timothy Johnson, who has compiled a database of arguments dating to the 1990s. "I think they are pinpointing the issues more."

All told, Supreme Court arguments — which resumed last week after a four-week recess — have become livelier affairs and may offer a glimpse into how the justices operate in the private confines of their conference room.

Kagan, who was the U.S. solicitor general before she donned the black robe, has revealed herself as a deft player who can work her way easily into question-and-answer sessions and cut to the heart of an issue. And in an era of sound bites and limited attention spans, she — more than others on the left — can serve up pithy, memorable quotes.

At one argument in January, she told a lawyer his position appeared to be: "Tails you win, heads you win."
A more vibrant bench

During earlier eras, oral arguments could be dry affairs.

A lawyer would stand at the lectern and talk for long periods before getting a single question. Over time, as more lawyers who had regularly argued before the court or had been law professors joined the bench, the tone livened up. In recent years, it has become what some lawyers and justices, including Kagan, call "a hot bench."

Members of today's court, including Antonin Scalia on the right and Stephen Breyer on the left, have acknowledged they often try to convey their own arguments to fellow justices as they question lawyers at the lectern. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, a former appellate lawyer who had argued 39 cases at the high court before becoming an appeals court judge in 2003 and a Supreme Court justice in 2005, is especially adept at telegraphing his reasoning.

David Frederick, a Washington lawyer who argues often before the justices and has written a book on Supreme Court arguments, observes that the increased activity "feeds on itself."

"As a justice from one perspective makes inroads on an advocate's position," he wrote in his book, Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy, "the tendency increasingly has been for a different justice to come to that advocate's 'rescue' with a friendly question or to attack an advocate's case from another perspective."

Sotomayor and Kagan have caused a spike in that one-upmanship — although with distinctly different emphases and personal styles.

Sotomayor, President Obama's first appointee to the court, has a hard-charging style and exudes an urgency for answers — particularly on the facts of a case, not the wide legal framework that Kagan typically tests.

Sotomayor asks more questions than any new justice in recent years and more than many veterans. University of Minnesota professor Johnson says justices over the past decade have asked an average of about 14 questions per oral-argument session, and that during her first term last year Sotomayor asked an average of 16 questions. Johnson has been compiling and analyzing data on oral arguments back to 1998.

She is persistent, demanding — "But wait a minute," she said as she interrupted one lawyer in January — and often breaks in on colleagues' questions, turning Chief Justice Roberts into a traffic cop of sorts.

In one case, liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in the middle of asking a question when Sotomayor interrupted with her own query. That prompted Roberts to tell the lawyer at the lectern, "I'm sorry. Could you answer Justice Ginsburg's question first?"

In another dispute, as Justice Anthony Kennedy, a centrist-conservative was midquestion, Sotomayor interrupted and Roberts intervened to tell Kennedy to continue. After Kennedy had gotten an answer from the lawyer, Roberts turned to her and said, "Now, Justice Sotomayor."

Her questions go deep into the details of a case, and the former prosecutor sometimes sounds as if she is cross-examining a witness: "Are you talking about current figures or past? Tell us the date of the figures,"she said to one lawyer, in an exchange regarding statistics of prisoner suicides.

She told another who was asserting that government officials had failed to turn over crucial information for development of a stealth aircraft, "Well, there's a factual dispute about that. … (T)here is a claim they told you your weight estimates weren't right."

Sotomayor and Scalia, a 1986 Reagan appointee who was long the most aggressive questioner, have become rivals in their tough approaches. Yet Scalia remains the champion of the cutting remark, as an exchange in late November showed.

The case centered on crowding in California prisons and the impact on inmates' mental health care. Sotomayor asked the attorney for the state how officials were addressing the situation. She wanted details, insisting, "Slow down from the rhetoric."

As the Q and A escalated, Sotomayor asked, "When are you going to avoid the needless deaths that were reported in this record? When are you going to avoid or get around people sitting in their feces for days in a dazed state? When are you going to get to a point where you're going to deliver care that is going to be adequate?"

Breaking in on the colloquy, Scalia, who did not appear as concerned about prisoner conditions, played off her earlier command to "slow down from the rhetoric" and quipped to the attorney, "But don't be rhetorical!"

Sotomayor's concern for prisoners' rights extends to her written opinions. Last fall, for example, she forcefully dissented when the majority refused to hear the appeal of a Louisiana inmate who said he had been punished, including with hard labor in 100-degree heat, for not taking his HIV medication.

"To be sure, (the prisoner's) decision to refuse medication may have been foolish and likely caused a significant part of his pain. But that decision does not give prison officials license to exacerbate (his) condition further as a means of punishing or coercing him," she wrote. No other justice joined her.
Kagan's aggressiveness

Kagan, appointed by Obama last summer, moves deliberately and keeps a closer eye on the other justices and their patterns in questions.

She typically waits some time before entering the give-and-take. When she does, her questions reveal a more sweeping context, one often at odds with the prevailing view of the ideological right.

In a January case from Kentucky testing when police may barge into a home without a warrant and seize drugs or other evidence, several justices expressed sympathy for police. Kagan said sharply, "One of the points of the Fourth Amendment is to ensure that when people search your home they have a warrant, and, of course, there are exceptions to that. But if there is one place where the warrant requirement has real force, it is in the home."

In November, she homed in on the crux of a dispute over Arizona tax credits for donations that help students attend religious schools. She challenged a government lawyer who supported the tax credits and sought to make it harder for taxpayers to sue when programs funnel taxpayer dollars toward religious education. His line of reasoning ran counter to a pattern of Supreme Court decisions that allowed challenges to such programs that might violate the required separation of church and state.

"If you are right," Kagan told the lawyer, "the (Supreme) Court was without authority to decide" several similar cases going back decades by taxpayers with church-state claim.

Kagan's line of questioning drew the immediate attention of swing-vote Justice Kennedy. "I just want to make sure I heard your answer," Kennedy told the attorney. "You agree with Justice Kagan's criticism. … You said, yes, she's right. Those cases were wrongly decided."

Kennedy seemed struck by the government's concession that its stance would significantly break from the past. The court has not issued its decision in the case.

How Kennedy or any of the veterans will react over time to the newest members of the bench is not easy to predict. Their reaction could determine future trends in the law.

Kagan, in the only on-the-record interview she has done since being sworn in, suggested to C-SPAN in December that she views oral arguments as a forum for justice-to-justice persuasion.

"We don't talk about the cases together beforehand," she noted. "Oral arguments provide the first chance for you to see what your colleagues think about a case … and for you to suggest to them what you think. … I listen hard to what happens in an argument."