Canada, China duos win figure skating titles

COLORADO SPRINGS: Reigning Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and two-time world junior pairs champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China took titles at the Four Continents Championships.

Canadians Virtue and Moir, who won Olympic gold on home ice in Vancouver in 2010, edged Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White — reigning world champions and 2010 Olympic runners-up — in the free dance to claim the overall title.

Virtue and Moir won the free dance 111.24-107.25 over the US duo, defending Four Continents champions and winners of Saturday’s short dance, to claim the overall title by 182.84-179.40 in the high-altitude mountain venue.

“It was a great performance,” Moir said. “We felt really strong. It was kind of a test for us up here with the altitude, and we were definitely feeling it.”

Americans Davis and White were pleased with their effort if not their result.

“I could not be prouder of the way we fought through both programs. We really worked through it,” White said. “We wanted to work on expression, and we did that. I felt like our elements were pretty good.”

Sui and Han captured their first international senior-level pairs title by winning Sunday’s free skate final after taking the short programme on Saturday.

The Chinese couple scored 135.08 points in the free skate to win the overall crown with 201.83 points to 185.42 for US champions Caydee Denney and John Coughlin. Americans Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker were third on 116.47.

“This is our first time to win a senior competition and we’re happy and excited. Maybe tonight we can’t sleep,” Han said.

“Late in the program there were a little nerves, but we adjusted. The throws were successful and we’re very pleased.”

Sui and Han plan to defend their world junior crowns as well as compete in next month’s World Championships at Nice, France.

“We’re excited for this chance,” Han said. AGENCIES

UK cops arrest 8 in bribery probe at Murdoch’s Sun

 

The Scotland Yard arrested five staff at The Sun tabloid, a member of the armed forces, a defence official and a policeman.

 

The arrests cast a shadow over the future of Britain s biggest selling daily, following the phone hacking scandal which led to the closure of its weekly sister paper the News of the World in July.

 

The arrested Sun staff were deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and reporter John Sturgis, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.

 

“I m as shocked as anyone by today s arrests but am determined to lead The Sun through these difficult times,” said Sun editor Dominic Mohan.

 

“I have a brilliant staff and we have a duty to serve our readers and will continue to do that. Our focus is on putting out Monday s newspaper.”

 

News International — the British newspaper arm of Murdoch s global media operation — would not confirm reports that Murdoch was flying to London to reassure Sun staff that he would not close the paper down.

 

Scotland Yard said it had now broadened its investigation into alleged payments by journalists for information, which had previously focused on bribes paid to the police.

 

“The remit of Operation Elveden has widened to include the investigation of evidence uncovered in relation to suspected corruption involving public officials who are not police officers,” it said in a statement.

 

It said five men aged 45, 47, 50, 52 and 68 were arrested in dawn raids at their homes in London and nearby areas on suspicion of corruption and of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office.

 

In the first cases of their kind, a Ministry of Defence employee aged 39 was arrested at her home in Wiltshire, southwest England, and a 36-year-old man serving in the armed forces was arrested in the same area.

 

Both were held on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both offences.

 

All eight were still in police custody hours after their arrest.

 

Sky News said they were an army officer and his wife.

 

The Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on ongoing police investigations.

 

A police officer in the county of Surrey, which borders London, was also arrested on suspicion of corruption and misconduct in a public office.

 

Surrey police were responsible for investigating the 2002 murder of teenager Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by the News of the World after she went missing.

 

Police said they had completed a search of the offices of News International in Wapping, East London. They were also searching the homes of the arrested people.

 

The arrests were made following information provided to police by the Management and Standards Committee set up by Murdoch s US-based News Corporation, Scotland Yard said.

 

News Corp. confirmed that the five men arrested were employees of The Sun and that it had provided the information.

 

“News Corporation remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated and last summer authorised the MSC to co-operate with the relevant authorities,” it said.

 

Police have now made 21 arrests under Operation Elveden, including four current and former Sun journalists who were detained and bailed over alleged corruption in January.

 

Previous arrests in the bribery probe include Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, and Andy Coulson, the former spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron.

 

Police have also made 17 arrests in the separate investigation into phone hacking.

 

Murdoch shut down the News of the World amid public outrage and British media said there were fears among employees at The Sun that he could do the same thing to it.

 

The Australian-born tycoon bought The Sun in 1969 and it is the flagship of his UK newspaper operation, selling around 2.5 million copies a day with its diet of sex and scandal.

 

The editor of The Times newspaper, which is also owned by Murdoch, apologised on Tuesday to a blog-writing detective unmasked by a former reporter of the newspaper who allegedly hacked his email.–AFP
 

Memo case: Ijaz requests to appoint local commissioner

 

Akram Sheikh, the counsel for the central character of Memo scandal Mansoor Ijaz, Tuesday requested the judicial commission probing the issue to appoint a local commissioner to record his client’s statement aboard.

 

He also said that his client was ready to appear before the memo commission in Pakistan by set date, but changed his mind due to security concerns.

 

The counsel also highlighted Dubai or London as suitable places to meet and record the statement of Mansoor Ijaz.
 

Madonna world tour to start on May 29

LONDON; Madonna will go on tour from May for the first time in three years, starting in Israel before moving on to Europe, with legs in South America and Australia, where she has not performed for 20 years, tour promotion company Live Nation said on Tuesday.

The 2012 World Tour will be the first for the Grammy Award-winning 53-year-old Material Girl since her “Sticky & Sweet Tour” in 2008 and 2009 and will stop in more than 20 European and Middle Eastern cities including London, Edinburgh, Paris, Milan, Abu Dhabi and Berlin.

The tour starts on May 29 in Tel Aviv and then visits Abu Dhabi and Istanbul in early June before moving on to Europe. The European leg concludes on August 21st in Nice, France and the North American leg will end in Miami, with the date yet to be confirmed, the company said in a statement.

Dates for the South American and Australian legs and locations were not yet set and additional cities and venues are to be announced, they added.

The announcement came just days after Madonna’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl on Feb 5, with a record 114 million people tuning in to watch the glitzy, Cleopatra-themed show, which was lauded by critics but resulted in an apology from television network NBC and the NFL for a rude gesture made by British hip hop star M.I.A. during the show. AGENCIES?

Assad’s wife ‘defends’ Syria crackdown

LONDON: The British-born wife of Syria’s president has spoken in support of her husband for the first time since the 11-month uprising against his regime began, a British newspaper reported Tuesday.

“The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role,” The Times quoted Asma al-Assad as saying in an email sent via an intermediary from her office.

The email is her first communication with the international media since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began, The Times said.

“The First Lady’s very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with and rural development as well as supporting the President as needed,” the email reportedly continued.

“These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence.” it added.

The statement came after Syrian forces pounded protest hubs with rockets and shells, killing 79 civilians on Monday, according to activists, and as Britain recalled its ambassador to Syria “for consultations”.

Unlike her husband, a minority Alawite, the 36-year-old First Lady is a Sunni Muslim who originally hails from Homs — the central Syrian city rocked by some of the worst carnage since the revolt began in March last year.

Stylish and charismatic and with a degree from King’s College in London where she was raised, the former investment banker had helped promote the soft side of an iron-fisted regime.

But she has virtually disappeared from the public eye since the revolt broke out and had drawn criticism for her silence on a crisis that has left more than 5,000 people dead in her country.

Last month she appeared with two of her children to support her husband of 12 years as he spoke at a pro-regime rally, but did not speak herself. AGENCIES

Altaf demands judicial inquiry into Lahore factory collapse

TrendPK.com
LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain Monday expressed grief over the sad incident involving collapse of a factory building as a result of boiler blast.

Voicing sorrow over the mishap which killed two people and injured many others, Altaf Hussain, in a statement issued from London, demanded judicial inquiry into the incident.

The MQM chief urged the party activists to partake in the relief efforts, adding it is criminal to establish a medicine factory in the residential areas.

The owners of the factory should be brought to book at the earliest, he demanded. TrendPK

Hundreds lose life in freezing Europe

 

Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed more victims on Sunday, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into next week.

 

Hundreds have lost their lives in eastern Europe as freezing weather sweeps across the continent westwards, while major airports warned that services would be delayed or cancelled.

 

Steven Keates, a weather forecaster at Britain s Met Office, said the severe wintry conditions were expected to last, and spread to other areas.

 

“It will still be very cold, maybe not quite the exceptional temperatures we ve seen this last week, but still very cold,” he told Reuters.

 

“(It will be) perhaps turning increasingly unsettled across southern and eastern Europe, so that will probably bring a risk of snow for Italy across to Greece and up round the Balkan countries.”

 

A state of emergency was declared in Bosnia after the cold snap claimed its seventh victim, and avalanches and strong winds cut off hundreds of villages in eastern parts.

 

Helicopters were needed to deliver aid packages to mountainous areas and take the sick to hospital.

 

Greece also declared an emergency situation in the western Peloponnese peninsula after heavy rain caused flooding and an 82-year old woman drowned while trying to escape her house.

 

Nine more deaths from freezing temperatures were registered in Ukraine overnight, emergency services said, taking the death toll to 131 from a nine-day cold spell, the most severe in the country for six years with night temperatures down as low as minus 33 Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit) in parts.

 

Many of the dead were homeless people with bodies being found in the streets under snow, in rivers and in doorways. More than 3,000 heated tents have been set up around the country to provide makeshift accommodation for the homeless.

 

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked local authorities to waive the ban on admitting inebriated individuals to homeless shelters as eight more people died taking the death toll to 53, PAP news agency reported.

 

The extreme cold also caused the death of at least three people in Hungary, national news agency MTI said, and at least five people froze to death in Lithuania over the weekend in Lithuania as the temperature fell below -30 Celsius overnight.

 

Transport networks were also badly hit as the chilling weather moved west, prompting severe weather warnings to be issued across much of France and Britain.

 

London s Heathrow, Europe s busiest airport, said it had cancelled about half of its normal services as more than 15cm (6 inches) of snow fell in parts of England overnight and temperatures dropped to almost -10 Celsius.

 

Many of Britain s other airports were forced to shut runways overnight and warned of further disruption, while rail services were affected and motorways near London were brought to a standstill, forcing some divers to abandon their vehicles.

 

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower received a coating of snow and more downfalls were expected to bring problems to the French capital s main airports.

 

The French death toll rose to five, after a 12-year old boy died of hypothermia after falling into a frozen pond in eastern France and two homeless people were found dead.

 

Meanwhile about 86,000 Italians were left without power because of trees falling on power lines, Livio Gallo, head of state power company Enel told SkyTG24 television. The deaths of 13 people were blamed on the bad weather,
Italian police said, including three men who died of heart attacks while shoveling snow.

 

Two highways in central Italy that cross the Apenines remained closed, the Interior Ministry said, while in Rome, schools and public offices are to remain closed until at least Tuesday, Mayor Gianni Alemanno said.

 

He urged people to get out and clean sidewalks, and said the city had handed out 2,350 free shovels.  While the cold snap has brought death and misery across Europe, some made the most of the conditions.

 

Snowboarders took to the streets of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo after it was blanketed by a record snowfall of 107 cm.

 

The traditional Sartai horse race on ice also went ahead in Lithuania and local media reported more than a dozen men and women from a health club went swimming in a lake near Vilnius.

 

Meanwhile in Belgium, police found that overnight temperatures of about -10 Celsius were so low that machines to test motorists  alcohol levels did not work.

 

Hina’s Kabul tour: PIA crew’s TA/DA worry

 

The PIA crew that flew the foreign minister to the all-important official Kabul tour demanded the airline authorities pay them TA/DA allowance, reported News Trends.

 

When the PIA authorities refused, the crew was unready to digest or defer it at least till their return back to Pakistan. The matter was finally settled with the arbitration of none other than the foreign minister herself. The crew of 8 staff was paid the allowance to cut the discontent short.
 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

At least 59 killed in Syria violence

 

At least 59 people, the majority of them civilians, were killed in fighting across Syria on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

 

The Britain-based monitoring group said at least eight civilians were killed in shelling by regime forces in the restive central city of Homs while 24 were killed in fighting in the Damascus region, among them a three-year-old child and a 25-year-old woman.

 

Five civilians also died in the southern province of Daraa and one was killed by sniper fire in Idlib, located in the northwest of the country.

 

The Observatory said the casualties also include six rebel troops killed near the capital Damascus and 15 soldiers killed in fighting with rebel forces in the Bustan al-Diwan sector of Homs.

 

Homs has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, whose fierce crackdown has left more than 5,400 people dead according to the United Nations.
 

Next Page »