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Leading figures from the world of football and politics have paid tribute to Sir Bobby Robson after his death at the age of 76 following a long battle with cancer.
Robson was a renowned and revered figure in football and led England to the World Cup semi-finals at Italia 90, the closest they have come to repeating their 1966 success on home soil.
Fellow managers, his former players, Prime Ministers past and present, and the presidents of Fifa and Uefa were among those saluting his life and achievements.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson mourned the passing of a "great friend, a wonderful individual and tremendous football man."
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair called him "one of the nicest, most caring and genuine people I ever met - a real Geordie gentleman."
Here is a selection of the tributes paid by the football fraternity and others to one of the game's most respected and popular figures.
source: bbc.com

There are plans to launch a Twenty20 cricket league in the US similar to the successful Indian Premier League, a top US cricket official says.
The chief of the USA Cricket Association, Don Lockerbie, said that potential commercial partners are being sought for the tournament.
The matches next year are planned for three venues, including a new cricket stadium that has been built in Florida.
There are some 15 million cricket fans in the US, Mr Lockerbie said.
By organising America's first professional cricket tournament, Mr Lockerbie said he was trying to make America "one of the top 15 cricket playing nations by 2015".
"[The planned tournament] is a very serious initiative and the chances [of it succeeding] are better than a 50-over tournament," he said.
Mr Lockerbie said proposals have already been sought from potential commercial partners and efforts were on to find out how much the tournament was worth.
source: bbc.com

The world's richest brothers are locking horns yet again - and this time, it is over natural gas.
The latest spat between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, who control India's Reliance group of industries, could turn out to be the most unsavoury yet and hinder efforts to solve the country's chronic energy shortage.
This week, Anil Ambani, the 50-year-old younger brother, described the government as "partisan and biased" towards his elder brother, Mukesh.
At the heart of the latest battle between the siblings is the natural gas that was discovered by Reliance Industries in the Krishna Godavari basin off India's eastern coast in 2002, three years before the brothers parted ways.
The Reliance empire was divided between the two brothers in 2005 after a bitter seven-month feud.
In a family pact vetted and supervised by the brothers' mother in 2005, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was to supply 28 million cubic meters of gas a day at $2.34 per million units to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) for 17 years.
source: bbc.com

Pakistan's Supreme Court has ruled that emergency rule enforced by former President Pervez Musharraf was unconstitutional and illegal.
The order clears the way for him to be tried for treason because under the constitution, anyone found guilty of abrogating it can be prosecuted.
The court ruling also said that the appointment of judges after the emergency was illegal.
However, the order will not affect the position of President Asif Ali Zardari.
It said that questions over the constitutional legitimacy of his appointment should be "exempted".
The court ruled that if this matter was brought before it, there was a danger Pakistan could be plunged into another constitutional crisis.
But the ruling does mean that those judges who were appointed after the emergency was imposed could lose their jobs.
Criminal prosecution
Significantly though, the ruling did not touch on the National Reconciliation Ordinance, which the former president issued just before he enforced emergency rule. source: bbc.com

Editor's note: This story is based on interrogation reports that form part of the prosecution case in the forthcoming trial of six Belgian citizens charged with participation in a terrorist group. Versions of those documents were obtained by CNN from the defense attorney of one of those suspects. The statement by Bryant Vinas was compiled from an interview he gave Belgian prosecutors in March 2009 in New York, and was confirmed by U.S. prosecutors as authentic. The statement by Walid Othmani was given to French investigators, and was authenticated by Belgian prosecutors.
When Bryant Neal Vinas spoke at length with Belgian prosecutors last March, he provided a fascinating and sometimes frightening insight into al Qaeda's training -- and its agenda.
Vinas is a young American who was arrested in Pakistan late in 2008 after allegedly training with al Qaeda in the Afghan-Pakistan border area.
He was repatriated to the United States and in January pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization.
In notes made by FBI agents of interviews with Vinas, he admits he went to Pakistan to join al Qaeda and kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
But the terror group appeared to have other ideas for him. He volunteered to become a suicide bomber but was dissuaded at every turn. Read how al Qaeda is now operating
On Thanksgiving weekend last year, shortly after his arrest, much of the New York mass transit system including Penn Station was put on high alert. According to the Belgian prosecutor's document, Vinas had told al Qaeda's command everything he knew about the system.

Former Philippines President Corazon Aquino has died at the age of 76, her family said.
She had been suffering from colon cancer for more than a year and recently refused further treatment.
Her family had said she was leaving her fate to God, prompting church services offering prayers for her health.
National mourning has been declared for Mrs Aquino who became president when the 1986 "people power" uprising deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Cory remained untainted by corruption up until her last days in office.
Nelson, Long Beach USA
BBC News website reader
Corazon Aquino: Your reaction
"Our mother peacefully passed away at 0318 [1918 GMT Friday] of cardio-respiratory arrest," Mrs Aquino's son, Senator Benigno Aquino Jr, told the media.
source: bbc.com

Microsoft has announced a UK service that will stream full-length videos of television shows for free.
The advertising-funded MSN Video Player will be available from next week and will include over 300 hours of shows.
Microsoft said it will continue to extend the service, adding content by working with broadcasters and studios.
The "beta", or trial, service features material from the BBC's commercial subsidiary BBC Worldwide and ALL3MEDIA, including Peep Show and Shameless.
Microsoft's Ashley Highfield on the new MSN Video Player
Programmes will be available in both Windows Media Video (WMV) and Flash formats, to cater for both PC and Mac users.
Initially, the pilot will not use Microsoft's Silverlight platform, widely touted as a flash alternative.
The project is an offshoot of the established MSN Video, which offers short video clips ranging from music to sport and news.
The video service ranked fifth in the UK in a recent survey of video-on-demand sites.
source: bbc.com

Tens of thousands of foreign students may have entered the UK to study at bogus colleges, MPs believe, before the system of accreditation was tightened up this year.
One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told BBC News how an offer to study for a degree in the UK turned out to be a scam.
The student says many Indians dream of a degree from the UK
I am an Indian citizen and came to the UK to study in 2005 at a college based in the heart of London.
Earlier that year I received an email from a person who claimed that my CV had been selected for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) course in London.
I initially ignored it, but the prospect of a foreign education was just too tempting.
I contacted the man and secured admission to a UK college for the MBA.
The costs were much lower than for a normal UK college or university, and since I didn't want to put too much financial strain on my parents, I decided it would be a good option.
I still needed a bank loan though and borrowed about £6,000 from a bank in India, which I had to start paying back immediately after the year-long course.
I got my student visa sorted and came to the UK with a dream of getting my postgraduate degree. source: bbc.com

The Taliban have called on people in Afghanistan to boycott next month's presidential and provincial elections.
In a statement on a Taliban website, the movement ordered fighters to block roads on the eve of the elections and stop voters going to polling stations.
The statement said that participation in the vote would be a show of support for "invading Americans".
Afghanistan has seen a rise in violence ahead of the poll and there are grave concerns about security on the day.
Correspondents say this is the most specific threat yet made by the Taliban in the run-up to the elections on 20 August, but it is not an unexpected move.
The Taliban have always maintained they want foreign forces to leave the country and have made general calls for election boycotts before. source: bbc.com

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A British multiple sclerosis sufferer who hopes to die one day by assisted suicide will learn Thursday whether she can die with her husband by her side.

Debbie Purdy has said she wants to die next to her husband, Omar Puente.
Debbie Purdy, 46, has been waging a lengthy legal battle to clarify Britain's ambiguous laws on assisted suicide.
Her battle reaches its end Thursday afternoon when Britain's highest court, the Law Lords, issues a ruling on her appeal.
Purdy's condition is getting worse. She has primary progressive multiple sclerosis, which means her symptoms deteriorate over time.
She has said she wants the option to travel abroad to have an assisted death should her condition one day become unbearable.
Britain's current law makes it illegal to help someone commit suicide, and anyone found guilty faces up to 14 years in prison. But it doesn't make clear at what point that person would face prosecution -- whether that includes sitting with that person on the plane to the clinic, opening the door of the car to the airport, or even helping them arrange the trip. What's your view? When is assisted suicide acceptable?
Purdy has said she wants to die next to her husband, Omar Puente. If she gets no clarity on the law, Purdy has said she will choose to die while her condition is still bearable, because that way she can make the trip unaided.source: cnn.com

Nigerian security forces have stormed a mosque where militants from an Islamic sect blamed for days of deadly violence have been hiding out.
Reports say scores of fighters were killed in the assault, which came after a third night of gun battles in the northern city of Maiduguri.
Many of the militants have now fled, attacking police stations on their way.
The group, known as Boko Haram, wants to overthrow the government and impose a strict version of Islamic law
The assault by the security forces came after 1,000 extra soldiers were drafted into the city.
Army commander Major General Saleh Maina told the Associated Press that the deputy leader of the sect was killed in the bombardment, which continued on Wednesday
But he said Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the group also known as "Taliban", escaped along with about 300 followers.
An AP reporter who watched the storming of the mosque counted about 50 bodies inside the building and another 50 in the courtyard.
'All necessary action'
Army spokesman Chris Olukolade told the BBC's Network Africa programme that law and order had now been restored in Maiduguri.
Nigeria's 'Taliban' enigma
Eyewitness: Nigeria attacks
Fear and tension after attack
Nigerian attacks: Your reaction
"The enclave of the people causing the problem has been brought under better control and in a short while we believe that everyone will be able to go about his normal duties in that area," he said. source: bbc.com

Iranian police have arrested mourners at a cemetery in Tehran who had gathered for a memorial to those killed in post-election violence, reports say.
Opposition leaders were due to join mourners at the graveside of a young woman whose killing became a potent symbol of post-election unrest.
Reports say there is a heavy police presence in and around the cemetery in southern Tehran.
Authorities refused a request to hold a mourning ceremony at a Tehran mosque.
Opposition supporters allege the 12 June election results were rigged in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Neda Agha Soltan, 27, was shot dead on 20 June as she watched protests from the sidelines of the demonstration.
Her death - one of 10 that day - was filmed on a mobile phone and broadcast around the world.
Protest ban
Shia Muslims traditionally mark 40 days after a death with a ceremony called the Arbayeen.
Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi had asked the interior ministry for permission to hold a memorial service in Tehran's Mosalla mosque, an aide to Mr Mousavi said.
When permission was refused, a statement on the website of Mr Karroubi's political party said they would instead visit the graves of protesters at a cemetery south of Tehran on Thursday.
source: bbc.com

One Day International Series: Sri Lanka v Pakistan
30-07-2009 at Dambulla
LunchPakistan won the toss and decided to field
Sri Lanka Innings
232 for 9 (50.0 overs)


Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 36 Runs

Pakistan Innings:
196 all out (44.4 overs)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two days of high-level talks between the United States and China concluded with broad agreement on separate strategies to help their economies and the world emerge from the global recession.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday the United States will emphasize fiscal discipline on both the federal and personal levels, while China will encourage more domestic spending instead of relying on foreign demand.
"The basic importance of this is the recognition by both of us that things are going to have to change going forward," Geithner told a closing news conference for the "Strategic and Economic Dialogue."
He called the agreement on complementary economic strategies the "most important strategic achievements" of the talks.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the two-days "unprecedented" in U.S.-China relations, noting they were the largest gathering of top leaders from the two countries and covered a wide range of issues.
"The result is that we have laid the foundation for a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship for the 21st century," Clinton said.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan called the talks a "full success, " emphasizing the joint strategy to stimulate economic growth at home as a top priority while the world moves toward recovery. source: cnn.com

Do Women watch Dirty Movies ???
Personally, I like my pizza deliveryman to do one thing: bring me my dinner. But mention this guy to a group of women, and, while most of us will think of cheesy pies with tomato sauce, a good number of us will conjure up that hilariously bad porn cliché, the randy fellow who's always ready to accept sex in exchange for a medium sausage and mushroom.
Some pornographers are marketing to women.
Notwithstanding how lame the cliché is, or how simply bad most porn is (and after ten years as a professional reviewer of the stuff, I can report that much of it is very bad), the fact is, millions of women use and enjoy "explicit sexual imagery."
What's perhaps more surprising, given the latest scientific research, is that more of us don't.
In the first three months of 2007, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, approximately one in three visitors to adult entertainment Web sites was female; during the same period, nearly 13 million American women were checking out porn online at least once each month.
Theresa Flynt, vice president of marketing for Hustler video, says that women account for 56 percent of business at her company's video stores. "And the female audience is increasing," she adds. "Women are buying more porn." (They're creating more of it, too: Female director Candida Royalle's hard-core erotic videos, made expressly for women viewers, sell at the rate of approximately 10,000 copies a month.) source: cnn.com

Federal authorities are searching for an eighth alleged member of a North Carolina group that authorities say plotted "violent jihad" overseas, prosecutors said Tuesday.Robin Zier of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh told CNN that the eighth person, whose name has been redacted from court documents, is a U.S. citizen.
She added that U.S. Attorney George Holding had said federal authorities hoped to have the person apprehended soon, and the public should not be worried.
The U.S. Attorney's Office would not release further details.
According to an indictment released Monday, the eighth suspect, described as a North Carolina resident, traveled to Pakistan in October 2008 to "engage in violent jihad." It offered no other information.
Seven other men have been arrested on charges of supporting terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder abroad.
Officials identified three of the men as U.S. native Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, and Boyd's sons, Dylan Boyd, 22, also known as "Mohammed," and Zakariya Boyd, 20. Daniel Boyd had fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan.
The four others are: Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, also a U.S.-born citizen; Hysen Sherifi, identified as a native of Kosovo who is a legal permanent resident of the United States; and Hiyad Yaghi and Anes Subasic, both naturalized U.S. citizens.
Officials did not immediately identify the native countries of Yaghi and Subasic.
All seven are accused of engaging in weapons training and military tactics in North Carolina, the Justice Department said.
Sabrina Boyd, the wife of Daniel Patrick Boyd and the mother of the two younger Boyds, said the charges had not been substantiated. Watch what neighbors had to say about Boyds »
"We are decent people who care about other human beings," Sabrina Boyd said in a statement read on her behalf by Khalilah Sabra.source: cnn.com

The world's most high-profile file-sharing website the Pirate Bay faces a new volley of legal action.
Thirteen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit to try to get the website shut down.
In April the site's founders were found guilty of breaking copyright law and were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.
However, the site has continued to operate, allowing users to share copyrighted films, TV and music.
"We have filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay because they have not stopped their activities after they were sentenced to prison," the studios' lawyer Monique Wadsted told AFP.
The lawsuit has been brought by Columbia Pictures, Disney Enterprises, Universal Studios and 10 other firms, many of which were due to receive damages form the April settlement.
The Pirate Bay was set up in 2003 by anti-copyright organisation Piratbyran, but for the last five years it has been run by individuals.
Millions of files are exchanged using the service every day.
No copyright content was hosted on The Pirate Bay's web servers; instead it hosted links to TV, film and music files held on its users'
computers.
Following the most recent lawsuit, the site was bought by Global Gaming Factory (GGF) for 60m kronor (£4.7m) who intend to turn the site into a legal, pay service.
The new owners have outlined a "give and take" model which pays users for sharing their resources.

The trial of three of the men accused of the rape and murder of one of South Africa's leading sportswomen, the openly gay football star Eudy Simalane, resumes in South Africa on Wednesday.
Thirty-one lesbian women have been reported raped and murdered in homophobic attacks in South Africa since 1998.
But according to Triangle - a gay rights organisation - only two cases of "corrective rape" have ever made it to the courts; there has been only one conviction.
"This is a sad fact in this country generally, women are very reluctant to come forward," says Sharon Cox from Triangle.
If we do get sentences in these cases it will be a great step forward
Sharon Cox, Triangle
"Corrective rape" is the term used to describe the rape of a lesbian woman by a man to either punish her, or "correct" her behaviour.
Ms Cox says rape is power is South Africa.
"The thinking is, all it takes is one good man to cure you of being a lesbian," she told the BBC's Newshour programme.
Triangle says it deals with up to 10 new cases of corrective rape every week.
Support groups claim an increasingly aggressive and macho political environment is contributing to the inaction of the police over attacks on lesbians and is part of a growing cultural lethargy towards the high levels of gender-based violence in South Africa.
But with the possibility of convictions in the Eudy Simalane case, and another case ongoing in Cape Town, Ms Cox is hopeful of change.
"If we do get sentences in these cases it will be a great step forward for human rights, for women's rights and for gay and lesbian rights."
Gang rape
South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual violence in the world.
RAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa has the highest incidence of rape amongst Interpol states
1 in 4 men admit to rape
Nearly 150 women are raped every day
More than 54,000 cases of rape were reported in 2006
Based on reports by the Medical Research Council, Interpol
More than 54,000 cases are reported to the police each year.
Among men in their early 20s, it has become almost a game.
There is even a term for the man who leads the process - he is know as the "marhasimani".
"A marhasimani is someone who goes to the club, buys a woman a few beers, then with his friends, he would take that woman and go
away and have sex with her," one young man told the BBC on the understanding of anonymity.
Another of the group sitting in a bar in the city of Kempton Park, north-east of Johannesburg explains how it works.
He says the friends hide under the bed until the first man is finished and has left the room, then they take turns having sex with the woman, pretending to be first man.
"The room is dark and the girl is not even going to notice if it's the second guy sleeping with her," explains another friend in the group.
When they are challenged to admit that what they are doing constitutes gang rape, they all deny it.
FROM BBC WORLD SERVICE
It's not about her, we bought her drinks, you know
More from BBC World Service
"It's not about her, we bought her drinks, you know how drinks are expensive," says one of them.
"We can't say it's gang rape because, OK, I know sometimes we have to drug the girl and everything, but it does not happen all the time," says another.
"Most of the time when it does . source: bbc.com

Indian PM Manmohan Singh is due to make a statement clarifying the government's stand on peace talks with Pakistan.
The move comes a fortnight after a joint statement issued by the two neighbours created confusion.
The statement had said they would fight terrorism without linking such co-operation to wider peace talks.
But after the joint statement Mr Singh said India would not start peace talks with Pakistan until the Mumbai attacks suspects are brought to justice.
The joint statement was issued after Mr Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Egypt.
It said action on terrorism "should not be linked to the composite dialogue process" - which includes talks on the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Correspondents say many in India have seen the joint statement as a major climb-down in Delhi's stance.
The document also mentioned the situation in Balochistan, raising concerns in India that it implied the country's "meddling" in the internal affairs of Pakistan.
source: bbc.com

A father and his two sons who made up to £7m from a pirate DVD scam have been jailed at Southwark Crown Court.
Sami Sheikh, 28, and brother Rafi, 26, of North Chingford, east London, were each jailed for six years.
They were earlier found guilty of conspiring to break copyright laws, trademark laws and acquire criminal property between 2003 and 2006.
Khalid Sheikh, 53, who lived with his sons, was convicted of the copyright plot and jailed for four years.
Benefit claims
A fourth man, Xin Li, 34, of Victoria Road, Walthamstow, east London, was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment, after being found guilty of concealing criminal property.
During the trial the court heard the gang ran a "sophisticated" operation and imported equipment from the Far East to copy new films like Ice Age 2, the Da Vinci Code and Iron Man to the "best industry standards possible".
The gang, which employed "largely illegal Chinese immigrants", produced hundreds of thousands of DVDs in "factories" housed in several semi-detached houses across London.
The DVDs were then sold on the street for as little as £3.
The father and sons, who claimed benefits, also produced pornographic and bestiality films to such an extent that some sex film shops were driven out of business, the court heard.
source: bbc.com

Brüno star Sacha Baron Cohen has been threatened by a terrorist organisation that he ridiculed in the hit satire.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a coalition of Palestinian militias in the West Bank, released a statement saying it was 'very upset' at how it is portrayed in the film.
The group is responsible for dozens of suicide bombings and shootings and has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and United States.
'The movie was part of a conspiracy against the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,' a spokesman told Jerusalem-based journalist Aaron Klein.
'We reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man.'
In the film, Baron Cohen's Austrian character, an outrageous gay fashionista, attempts to get himself kidnapped during a meeting with Ayman Abu Aita, who is identified in the film as the leader of the Martyrs' Brigades.
Brüno is shown telling Mr Abu Aita: 'I want to be famous. I want the best guys in the business to kidnap me. Al-Qaeda is so 2001.'
Family man: Sacha Baron Cohen with fiancèe Isla Fisher
Before Mr Abu Aita can respond, Brüno suggests that he remove his moustache, explaining: 'Because your king Osama looks like a kind of dirty wizard or homeless Santa.'
A spokesman for 37-year-old Baron Cohen refused to comment on the threat.
Mr Klein, the WorldNet reporter who received the statement from the Martyrs' Brigades, said today: 'These are terrorists who are fundamentalist Islamists. They are against feminism, gay rights and abortion.
'Once I asked them what would they do if they found out one of their members was a homosexual. They said they would cut off his head.'
Mr Abu Aita himself has threatened to sue Baron Cohen. He claims he was tricked into appearing in the film and has insisted that he is no longer involved in the Martyrs' Brigades.
Baron Cohen is reported to have received death threats in America and Kazakhstan after his previous box office hit, Borat. source: mail.com

Conventional wisdom has it that the first animals evolved in the ocean.

Now researchers studying ancient rock samples in South China have found that the first animal fossils are preserved in ancient lake deposits, not in marine sediments as commonly assumed.

These new findings not only raise questions as to where the earliest animals were living, but what factors drove animals to evolve in the first place.

For some 3 billion years, single-celled life forms such as bacteria dominated the planet. Then, roughly 600 million years ago, the first multi-cellular animals appeared on the scene, diversifying rapidly.

The oldest known animal fossils in the world are preserved in South China's Doushantuo Formation. These fossil beds have no adult specimens - instead, many of the fossils appear to be microscopic embryos.

"Our first unusual finding in this region was the abundance of a clay mineral called smectite," said researcher Tom Bristow, now at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "In rocks of this age, smectite is normally transformed into other types of clay. The smectite in these South China rocks, however, underwent no such transformation and have a special chemistry that, for the smectite to form, requires specific conditions in the water - conditions commonly found in salty, alkaline lakes."

The researchers collected hundreds of rock samples from several locations in South China. All their analyses suggest these rocks were not marine sediments.

"Moreover, we found smectite in only some locations in South China, and not uniformly as one would expect for marine deposits," Bristow said. "Taken together, several lines of evidence indicated to us that these early animals lived in a lake environment."

HONOLULU – State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they have once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen, and therefore meets a key constitutional requirement for being president.

They hoped to stem a recent surge in the number of inquiries about Obama's birthplace.

"I ... have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said in a brief statement. "I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."

So-called "birthers" — who claim Obama is ineligible to be president because, they argue, he was actually born outside the United States — have grown more vocal recently on blogs and television news shows. source: yahoo news

Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has launched a stinging attack on Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong.
The 26-year-old Spaniard won his second Tour title in Paris on Sunday, with American Armstrong finishing third.
"My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero," Contador told a news conference in Madrid.
"He is a great rider but it is another thing on a personal level, where I have never had great admiration for him and I never will."
The 26-year-old Spaniard was the strongest rider in the mountains and in the time trials and eventually beat Andy Schleck into second place by four minutes 11 seconds, with Armstrong third at 5:24 back and Briton Bradley Wiggins in fourth, 6:01 adrift.
There were regular reports of tension between Armstrong and Contador throughout the event, with the 37-year-old seven-time champion - making his first appearance in the race since 2005 - often criticising his Astana team-mate's strategy.
We need duels in sport, like Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer or Bernard Hinault v Greg LeMond
Tour organiser Christian Prudhomme
Contador admitted relations between the two were strained throughout.
"The situation was tense and delicate because the relationship between myself and Lance extended to the rest of the staff," he said.
"On this Tour, the days in the hotel were harder than the those on the road."
Contador, who missed last year's Tour after Astana were not invited because of their past doping record, refused to be drawn on his future but it seems unlikely to lie with Astana. source: bbc.com

India's launch of a nuclear-powered submarine is a threat to regional peace and security, Pakistan has said.
"Pakistan will take appropriate steps to safeguard its security without entering an arms race," foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said.
The submarine, unveiled at a ceremony on Sunday, will be able to launch missiles at targets 700km away.
At Sunday's launch, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India had no aggressive designs on anyone.
India has become only the sixth country in the world to build its own nuclear-powered submarine - until now only the US, Russia, France, Britain and China had the capability to do so.
'Jeopardising security'
But the move has prompted concern over the border.
"The continued induction of new lethal weapon systems by India is detrimental to regional peace and stability," Mr Basit said.
"Pakistan believes the maintenance of strategic balance is essential for peace and security in the region."
Pakistan navy spokesman, Captain Abid Majeed Butt, told Dawn News television that the launch of the submarine was a "destabilising step".
He said it would "jeopardise the security paradigm of the entire Indian Ocean region" - and warned of a possible nuclear arms race in the region.
At the launch ceremony Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was necessary to keep pace with technological advancements worldwide.
He added that the sea was becoming increasingly relevant to India's security concerns. source: bbc.com

By Sebastian Usher
BBC News
A Saudi man who boasted about his sexual conquests on an Arabic TV station has tearfully apologised, as calls mounted for him to be punished.
Mazen Abdul Jawad talked about his sexual conquests, starting with a neighbour when he was 14, and how he picks up women in the kingdom.
Saudi media say officials are considering whether to charge him.
Pre-marital sex is illegal in Saudi Arabia and Mr Abdul Jawad could face imprisonment or flogging.
Discreet society Saudi Arabia is not only the most conservative society in the Arab world, it is also the most discreet.
If people break its strict Islamic code they face punishment - lashes or imprisonment for drinking or non-marital sex.

These rules are flouted by locals as well as expatriates, but almost everyone who breaks the rules keeps quiet about it and hopes they won't be found out.
So it is unusual for a Saudi man to appear on TV freely discussing the ways in which he has transgressed the Saudi code.
Mr Abdul Jawad agreed to be interviewed for the Red Lines show on the popular Lebanese TV station, LBC.
The show deals with taboos in the Arab world.
Bluetooth dating
Mr Abdul Jawad talked openly about his sexual conquests, starting when he was 14.
He also described how he used the Bluetooth function on his mobile to meet Saudi women.
Religious authorities have tried to ban such devices for this very reason.
Complaints have now been filed against Mr Abdul Jawad in his local court and online Saudi forums are full of denunciations of his behaviour.
He says he is considering suing LBC for misrepresenting his views.

By Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter, BBC News
Traditional forms of collection have fallen down the agenda
On a cold December day, volunteers were sent out into the streets of Bury St Edmunds with their collection tins and encouraged to do their best.
The UK was on the cusp of recession. With families watching their pennies, they were expecting to find it relatively tough to raise money for the local St Nicholas Hospice.
But the annual "flag day" raised a record £1,200 - more than expected - as generous shoppers popped their loose change and more in the buckets.
"The only area of fundraising that has not been hit is the community side," said Yasmin Jeffery, marketing manager for the hospice.
She says many locals know someone who has been cared for in the hospice, which was established 25 years ago, so they still gave generously - whatever the state of the economy.
'Commitment'
The latest figures from the UK Cards Association suggests the public's appetite for giving to charities has not diminished during the downturn.


Some charities still face that double whammy of a drop in income as well as an increased demand for services
Dame Suzi Leather, Charity Commission
The trade association for the cards industry said that in the first four months of 2009, the value of donations on debit cards was up 24% on the same period the previous year. Credit card donations were up 11% over the same timescale.
This followed an 18% rise in donations on plastic cards in 2008 - up from £1.01bn in 2007 to £1.19bn in 2008.
"These card figures tell us an interesting story. Despite the economic downturn, it seems there was no let-up last year in people's commitment to charity," says Sandra Quinn, of the UK Cards Association.
"Over the last few years we have seen more charities offer donors additional ways to pay, particularly with cards, and particularly online - all of which makes donating extremely easy, and unquestionably plays a part in the increase in charity spending on plastic cards."
Bigger picture
The Charity Commission keeps updated data on the financial position of registered charities in England and Wales.
Its figures show the annual income of the 166,807 main charities reached £51.16bn by the end of June 2009. This was up from £48.4bn at the end of 2008 when there were more charities - 168,354.
With the figures having risen steadily over the previous years, the position still looks rosy for charities.
But these statistics do not tell the full story.
Various aspects of charitable giving have been hit in recent months. With the value of homes and shares having fallen sharply, the amount received in wills has been cut.
A recent report by a think tank, the Smith Institute, concluded that there might be a loss in the value of legacies of between £150m and £200m in 2009.
Low interest rates have also meant that charities' own savings and investments had not performed as well as they might have expected. Some were caught up in the saga with the Icelandic banks.
An economic survey of 1,000 charities in England and Wales in February discovered that 52% of those asked said they had been affected by the financial downturn. Some 58% suggested that they suffered a drop in income.
"Clearly the impact of the financial downturn on charities is widening and deepening. Some charities still face that double whammy of a drop in income as well as an increased demand for services," says Dame Suzi Leather, who chairs the Charity Commission.
During a downturn many charities, ranging from those supporting people with mental health issues to those with housing needs or helping people who are victims of domestic violence, see the need for their work become more acute.
With these charity staff working harder, it seems the volunteers who raise the cash and those making donations will have to dig deeper too.
source: bbc.com

Children who eat plenty of dairy foods such as milk and cheese can expect to live longer, a study suggests.
Some 4,374 UK children from a 1930s study were traced 65 years later by researchers in Bristol and Queensland.
They found those who had had high dairy and calcium intakes as children had been protected against stroke and other causes of death, journal Heart reports.
Despite dairy containing artery furring fat and cholesterol, high consumption did not raise the heart disease risk.
The findings appear to back the practice of giving extra milk to schoolchildren.
Protective
The study looked at family diets and found higher intakes of both calcium and dairy, predominantly from milk, cut mortality by a quarter.
A higher daily intake of calcium, of at least 400mg as found in just over half a pint of milk, cut the chance of dying from stroke by as much as 60%.
These beneficial effects were seen at estimated intake levels similar to those currently recommended by experts.
Three servings of dairy foods - for example, a 200ml glass of milk, a pot of yogurt and a small piece of cheese - will provide all the calcium most people need each day.
Other factors may play a part - though researchers say they took into account that children with the highest dairy intakes came from wealthier families and ate better diets overall - but there is evidence that high calcium intake is good for blood pressure.
Balance
Prolonged high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke.
Dairy consumption may also influence heart and circulation health through a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), say the study authors from the UK's University of Bristol and Australia's Queensland Institute of Medical Research.
In adults, high circulating levels of IGF-1 are linked with reduced cases of heart failure and heart disease deaths.
Joanne Murphy of The Stroke Association said: "This is an interesting study, but we need to take a further look to really assess the benefits of milk in reducing the chances of dying from stroke.
"In the meantime, we advise parents to opt for a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat and salt for the overall health of their children."
June Davison, cardiac nurse for the British Heart Foundation said: "It is important to include dairy as part of a balanced diet from the early years.
"However, older children and adults should consume low-fat dairy products such as semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed milk and low-fat yogurts, which will help keep saturated fat intake low to help protect the heart."
Studies investigating a link between cancer and dairy products have not given clear results. Some research shows an increase in the risk of developing cancer, and some shows a decrease.
source: bbc.com

Remember Conficker?
The hugely talked-about computer worm seemed poised to wreak havoc on the world's machines on April Fool's Day.
And then ... nothing much happened.
But while the doom and gloom forecast for the massive botnet -- a remotely controlled network that security experts say infected about 5 million computers -- never came to pass, Conficker is still making some worm hunters nervous.
Phillip Porras, program director at SRI International, a nonprofit research group, said Conficker infects millions of machines around the world. And the malware's author or authors could use that infected network to steal information or make money off of the compromised computer users.
"Conficker does stand out as one of those bots that is very large and has been able to sustain itself on the Web," which is rare, said Porras, who also is a member of the international group tracking Conficker.

Still, computer users, even those infected with Conficker, haven't seen much in the way of terrifying results.source: cnn.com

Barely an hour's drive from the casinos of Las Vegas, a group of unassuming buildings have become as important as the trenches were to WWI. The big difference? Today's warriors are fighting without getting in harm's way, using drones to attack targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan.U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Major Morgan Andrews is one such combatant. He kisses his wife goodbye, drives to Creech, a tiny desert air force base in Nevada, and within minutes could be killing insurgents on the other side of the world.

Andrews fights not from the seat of the F16 he joined the air force to fly but from a darkened ground control station. He pilots a remote-controlled Predator, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) which can spy on and attack positions and personnel without risk to its controller, shooting deadly Hellfire missiles at enemy fighters in support of fellow soldiers.

"You're talking to them on the radios as if we were in a normal airplane flying overhead," says Andrews. "You see the imagery, you know what's going on, you see what you're looking at. It's very easy when something like that is happening to project yourself there and feel a part of the battle. source: cnn.com

Sarkozy left hospital arm-in-arm with his wife, Carla Bruni, shaking hands with medical staff before being driven away in an official car, according to Agence France-Presse.

The 54-year-old fainted while exercising with bodyguards in hot sunshine near his weekend home close to the Palace of Versailles -- though officials stressed he was never unconscious.

A witness told AFP that Bruni arrived at the scene shortly afterwards on a police scooter. Sarkozy was then flown to the Val-de-Grace military hospital by helicopter.

Officials said Sunday that Sarkozy's condition was due to a "minor" nerve condition known as a vasovagal syncope, which affects the flow of blood to the heart causing low blood pressure and faintness, according to AFP.source: cnn.com

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- President Obama's offer to engage with Iran is not "open-ended," and he is "anticipating or hoping for" a response within the next two months, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.
Standing alongside his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak, Gates emphasized U.S. concern about "what appears to be [Iran's] intent to develop nuclear weapons."

"I think we're in full agreement of the negative consequences of Iran obtaining this kind of a capability," Gates said. "I think we are also agreed that it is important to take every opportunity to try and persuade the Iranians to reconsider what is actually in their own security interest."

The defense secretary's visit to Israel is part of a busy week of U.S. diplomacy in the region. George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, is also meeting with top officials, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.

At a joint news conference, Gates and Barak discussed their common ground with respect to Iran, though Barak noted that Israel seeks tough actions. "If there is an engagement, we believe it should be short in time, well-defined in objectives, followed by sanctions," Barak said.source:cnn.com

Michael Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, administered a powerful drug that authorities believe killed the singer, a source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to CNN on Monday.
Murray, a Texas-based cardiologist, allegedly gave Jackson the anesthetic propofol -- commonly known by the brand name Diprivan -- in the 24 hours before he died, the source said.

The doctor's attorneys in a statement Monday said they wouldn't comment on "rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources." In the past, they have said Murray never prescribed or administered anything that could have killed the pop star.

Murray was the doctor who was at Jackson's home when the pop star died on June 25.

Last week, Texas authorities searched Murray's Houston medical office and storage unit, looking for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter," according to court documents.

Among the items removed from Murray's office were a computer; 27 tablets of phentermine, a prescription-strength appetite suppressant; 1 tablet of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medication; and some Rolodex cards.

From Murray's storage unit, authorities removed two computer hard drives; and "important contact list;" a suspension notice from Houston's Doctor Hospital; notices from the Internal Revenue Service; and a laundry list of medical and hospital documents.
source: cnn.com

Nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of bankrolling a dogfighting operation at a home he owned in Virginia, Michael Vick was reinstated to the National Football League on a conditional basis, according to an NFL statement Monday.
Vick "will be considered for full reinstatement and to play in regular-season games by Week 6 based on the progress he makes in his transition plan," the statement said. Week 6 of the NFL season is in October.

Vick may participate in practices, workouts and meetings and may play in his club's final two preseason games under the conditions of his reinstatement, the league said.

Vick, in a statement, thanked the league's commissioner and former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who has served as his mentor.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Commissioner [Roger] Goodell for allowing me to be readmitted to the National Football League," Vick said in a statement. "I fully understand that playing football in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have been given." source: cnn.com

Shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons purchased by Venezuela have ended up in the hands of guerrillas, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said.
In an interview with Caracol Radio Monday, Santos addressed local reports of anti-tank weapons manufactured in Sweden being seized from members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and traced to Venezuela.
"This is not the first time that this happens," Santos said. "In several operations in which we have recovered weapons from the FARC, we have found powerful munitions and powerful equipment, including anti-tank weapons, from a European country that sold them to Venezuela and that turned up in the hands of the FARC."

The weapons have been identified as AT4 shoulder-fired rockets manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics in Sweden, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

They were seized in 2008 from a guerrilla base, the Colombian magazine Semana reported.

Jan-Erik Lovgren, the Swedish official who oversees weapon exports, told Radio Sweden on Monday that his country stopped selling weapons to Venezuela in 2006.

Venezuela on Monday denied allegations that they gave the weapons to the guerrilla group. source:cnn.com

After 40 years of appearing on the silver screen, actor Amitabh Bachchan is the elder statesman of Indian cinema and is possibly the most recognized man in India.

Born to a famous Indian poet, Bachchan made his screen debut at the age of 27 and has gone on to star in over 180 films. As such an established star he has seen Indian film making change over the years, weathered changing audience tastes and the evolution of Bollywood cinema.

"I'm actually very happy with our content. Even though we were ridiculed, and the West were very cynical about the way we made our films and the content that it contained," he told CNN. Read full article »
read full article on cnn.com

The California mother of octuplets born earlier this year has signed a $250,000 (£152,000) deal for all 14 of her children to star in a reality TV show.

Nadya Suleman, dubbed "Octo-Mom" by the media, inked the deal with European TV company Eyeworks, reports say.

Contracts filed with a Los Angeles court say the children will earn the money over a three-year period.

Filming is scheduled to begin on 1 September, but a judge must first approve the contracts.

Film crews will not follow Suleman and her children 24 hours a day, but will document certain milestones, such as birthdays and special events, her lawyer said earlier.

The court documents say Suleman's children, who are up to eight years old, will collectively earn $125,000 for 36 days of shooting in the first year of production, $75,000 for 21 days in the second year, and $50,000 for 14 days in the third year.

The contract specifies that 15% of the income will be placed in a trust fund that the children will only be able access at age 18, as required by California law.

Last month, Californian authorities slapped an online site with four child-labour violations for videotaping two of the octuplets without the required safeguards to protect their health and welfare.

Suleman made headlines around the world when her octuplets - six boys and two girls - were delivered by Caesarean section in January.

She later attracted criticism when it was revealed that she was unemployed, and had conceived the octuplets, along with her six other children, through in vitro fertilisation.source: bbc.com

Chinese hackers have attacked the website of Australia's biggest film festival over a documentary about Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

Content on the Melbourne International Film Festival site was briefly replaced with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans on Saturday, reports said.
In an earlier protest on Friday, Beijing withdrew four Chinese films.
Melbourne's The Age newspaper says private security guards have been hired to protect Kadeer and other film-goers.
She is due to attend the screening of Ten Conditions of Love, by Australian documentary-maker Jeff Daniels, on 8 August.

'Vile language'

Chinese authorities blame Kadeer, leader of the World Uighur Congress, for inciting ethnic unrest in Xinjiang - charges she denies.
Earlier this month, around 200 people died and 1,600 were injured during fighting in the region between the mostly Muslim Uighurs and settlers from China's Han majority.

Kadeer, 62, spent six years in a Chinese prison before she was released into exile in the US in 2005. In 2004, she won the Rafto Prize for human rights.

Richard Moore, head of the Melbourne International Film Festival, told the BBC that he had come under pressure from Chinese officials to withdraw the film about Kadeer and cancel her invitation to the festival.

He said the attacks on the festival's website began about 10 days ago.

"We've been subjected to a number of these attacks and we can see behind the scenes on our website that there are hundreds, well, if not thousands, of people from outside of Australia trying to get into our website and trying to damage us," Mr Moore told the BBC's World Today programme.

"This has been going on... since obviously the call from a Chinese consular official who told me in no uncertain terms that I was urged to withdraw this particular documentary from the film festival and that I had to justify my actions in including the film in our programme," he went on.
source: bbc.com/entertainment

What is Pakistan's government up to in South Waziristan?

Since the middle of May, the army has been conducting a military offensive against Pakistan's Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud - whose hideout lies in the mountainous terrain there.

But unlike the recent operation in the Swat valley, it says it has refrained from going all out against the militants so far.

The reasons for this are not exactly clear.

The army says it wants to surround the militants and use air power and artillery to ''soften them up".

"We are just punishing them at the moment," says Maj General Athar Abbas, head of the army's public relations wing.

"This is so that when the operation starts they can't stand up to us. We have surrounded the entire area where the Taliban are based," he says.
If this is true, the army appears in a prime position to fulfil its mission to "eliminate" Baitullah Mehsud and his organisation.

But it appears in no mood to begin the much-heralded military assault which already has a name - Rah-e-Nijat or Path to Deliverance.

"We are waiting for the right time to launch the operation," says Gen Abbas.

Taliban truce?

But the fact that people have had to wait so long for a serious assault on militants has led to fears, not without precedent, about a possible deal between the army and the Taliban.

One of the allegations concerns correspondence between Baitullah Mehsud and the head of Pakistan's army.

Maj Gen Athar Abbas flatly denied the report.

"The army will not even consider such a possibility. This is utter speculation," he said.

Gen Abbas said the army was fully committed to its goal of defeating the Taliban.

source: bbc.com

Offers for help are pouring in for an eight-year-old Liberian girl disowned by her own family in Phoenix, Arizona, after being raped by four boys.

The girl is under the care of the Arizona Child Protective Service (CPS) because her parents said she had shamed them, and they did not want her back.

Phoenix police said calls had come in from all over the US offering money, or even to adopt the young girl.

The boys, Liberian immigrants aged nine to 14, have been charged with rape.

The case has sparked outrage across the US and even drawn condemnation from Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an outspoken anti-rape campaigner.

"I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatised," Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf told CNN.

"They too need serious counselling because clearly they are doing something, something that is no longer acceptable in our society here," she added.
source: bbc.com

Singer Amy Winehouse has been found not guilty of assaulting a burlesque dancer at a charity ball in central London.

She was accused of punching Sherene Flash after she asked the singer for a photograph at the event in Berkeley Square last September.

The singer was accused of hitting Miss Flash in the eye when the dancer's friend tried to get into the photo, the court heard.

Ms Winehouse denied assault at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Summing up the evidence, District Judge Timothy Workman said all but two witnesses in the trial were drunk at the time of the incident.
source: bbc.com

The Chinese economy may be roaring back to life, but concern is growing that record lending rates are feeding a speculation bubble
While the U.S. and Western economies have faced a credit crisis, there is a credit feeding frenzy happening in China. China state banks have lent nearly $1.1 trillion in the first half of the year -- more than the $800 billion U.S. stimulus or the $586 billion the Chinese government is spending to bolster its economy. CNN's John Vause reports on China's spending »

The record lending spree -- equal to one-quarter of the nation's total economic output -- is helping China's economy grow close to 8 percent the last quarter.

While boosting domestic consumption is seen as crucial to help reduce China's reliance on exports, economists see signs of trouble ahead.

"China has a $4 trillion economy and has (public and private) loans out of $1 trillion," Jerry Lou, China strategist for Morgan Stanley, told CNN recently. "Its loan book is out of balance."

"Somewhere between a fifth and a third of total new lending may have ended up in such things as stock market speculation, real estate speculation and even a measurable amount may be showing up in the casinos in Macau," said Michael Pettis of Peking University.
source: cnn.com

Voting is under way for a new president and parliament in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, with the governing coalition facing a vigorous challenge.

A BBC correspondent says turnout is expected to be high, with queues of people outside polling stations before they had opened.

Incumbent President Masood Barzani and the ruling parliamentary coalition are both expected to win re-election.

But the two main parties, the KDP and PUK, are fighting off reformists.

The outcome is being watched closely in Baghdad, in the light of long-running tensions with the Kurds over land, oil, and power.

Some 20,000 troops have been stationed at polling stations, with 2.5 million people are registered to vote.
source: bbc.com

A Saudi Arabian man was arrested after bragging about his sex life on television, local media reported.

Mazen Abdul Jawad appeared last week on a show on Lebanese channel LBC, where he went into "graphic details about his sexual conquests," according to Arab News, an English daily.

A segment of the show "Red Line" posted on YouTube shows the 32-year-old talking about sex and foreplay. He also discusses losing his virginity to a neighbor while he was 14.

In deeply conservative Saudi Arabia, pre-marital sex is illegal and unrelated men and women are not allowed to mingle.

A government official told the newspaper that discussing sex in public is a punishable offense that may affect anyone involved in the broadcast.

"It is wrong to host people on television to speak publicly about vice and issues against our religion," said Ahmad Qasim Al-Ghamdi, director of Mecca's branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the religious police.

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- An Indian judge Friday allowed prosecutors to summon five foreigners, including FBI agents, to testify in connection with the Mumbai terror trial.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told CNN that the identities of the witnesses would not be disclosed.

Prosecutors have argued that they need time to examine more witnesses despite confession of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the alleged gunman captured alive from last year's Mumbai's terror assaults.

The judge has accepted Kasab's dramatic guilty plea, but has declined to pronounce the verdict, allowing the trial to go on at least until all evidence is complete.

Prosecutors insist that examination of more witnesses would help them shed light on why foreigners -- among others -- were targeted in the November siege.

Kasab is one of 10 Pakistani nationals who police said unleashed terror on India's financial capital for four days and three nights, beginning November 26. The other suspects were killed during the attacks.
source: cnn.com/asia

Humiliation and comedy have always been natural bedfellows, but the one doesn't guarantee the other, as poor Katherine Heigl discovers in this crude, sub-par stab at a modern screwball comedy.

Katherine Heigl plays the sophisticated female boss of Gerard Butler in "The Ugly Truth."
The "Grey's Anatomy" and "Knocked Up" star plays Abby, a supposedly intelligent producer on a local Sacramento TV news show.

We're repeatedly assured that she's good at her job, though there's little or no evidence for that in what we see, and apparently the ratings are in the toilet.

That's why her boss drafts controversial cable clown Mike (Gerard Butler), whose bargain basement show "The Ugly Truth" gives viewers the real dope on the opposite sex.

Mike's straight talk isn't exactly edifying -- or original. It boils down to this: men are only interested in one thing, and it's not your IQ score.

His advice to women: swallow your pride -- and anything else that might come up.
source: cnn.com/entertainment

Usain Bolt gave further evidence if any was needed of his superlative form ahead of the world championships with an outstanding victory over 100 meters in the London Grand Prix on Friday night.

Bolt crosses the line in the 100m in London with Powell left trailing.
The Jamaican superstar ran a blistering 9.91 seconds into a strong 1.7 meter headwind to leave a world class field, including arch-Jamaica rival Asafa Powell trailing.

Compatriot Yohan Blake finished second in 10.11 seconds with Antigua's Daniel Bailey third. Powell faded to sixth in 10.26 seconds.

But the performance was overshadowed by a doping controversy in Jamaica, with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) confirming that five athletes from the Caribbean island had tested positive.

The athletes, four men and a woman, are not thought to be any of the high-profile medal winners from the Beijing Olympics and after his heat at Crystal Palace, Bolt shrugged off the reports.
source:cnn.com

In an unusual step, NASA scientists interrupted testing of the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope to aim the orbiter's camera at Jupiter and capture an image of the planet's mysterious new scar.
The resulting picture, taken Thursday, is the sharpest visible-light photo of the dark spot and Hubble's first science observation since astronauts repaired and upgraded it in May, NASA said.

Earth-based telescopes have been trained on Jupiter since an amateur astronomer in Australia noticed the new mark, probably created when a small comet or asteroid plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrated, early Monday.

But in its rarified orbit 347 miles above the Earth, the Hubble has a better view of the gaseous planet.

This week's event marks only the second time scientists have recorded debris colliding with Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in our solar system. The appearance of the impact spot is changing day to day in the planet's cloud tops, making it a priority for scientists to document it quickly.
source: cnn.com

WASHINGTON : -- President Obama said Friday he spoke with the police officer who arrested a Harvard professor and told the officer he did not mean to malign the Cambridge Police Department when he said police acted stupidly.
The president acknowledged that his words "helped to contribute to ratcheting" up the situation when he criticized the manner in which Sgt. James Crowley arrested professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

"I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley specifically," Obama told reporters. "I could have calibrated those words differently, and I told this to Sgt. Crowley." Watch Obama describe talk »

Obama spoke about two hours after police unions in Massachusetts called on him to apologize. He did not apologize for his remark but repeated that he believed his choice of words was unfortunate.

He reiterated his assertion that he believes police overreacted, but said Gates "probably overreacted as well."

"My sense is you have got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved," he said. source: cnn.com

Test Match Series: Sri Lanka v Pakistan
20-07-2009 at Colombo, Day 2 of 5
In Play
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to field
Pakistan 1st Innings

299 all out (89.4 overs)

Sri Lanka 1st Innings

233 all out (68.3 overs)

Pakistan 2nd Innings:

425 for 9 (123.0 overs)

Srilanka 2nd Innings:

391 for 4 (134.0 overs)

It was not the moment when England actually won the second Test against Australia that will stick longest in the memory.

When Andrew Flintoff - surely bowling as well as any man has at Lord's - picked up the ninth wicket of the Australian innings, he dropped to one knee, and with his arms outstretched held the pose as he faced the spectators in the Mound and Tavern Stands.
Every day, every single little thing he did had been raucously cheered by spectators inebriated by his brilliance. So it was ironic that he was the one genuflecting to them, his besotted followers.

The fans had come knowing that in the years to come they would be able to tell their grandchildren that they watched Flintoff's last Test at Lord's. The cherry on the trifle, of course, was that their hero was providing the man-of-the-match performance in England's first win against Australia at headquarters since 1934, and only their second since 1896.

There had been criticism of the timing of Flintoff's announcement that he would play no further Test cricket after this current series, Australia's captain Ricky Ponting pointing out that this tour of last hurrahs might turn into a distracting "circus".

But if the Lord's experience is anything to go by, spectators can look forward to seeing performances that are less Coco the Clown and more Maximus Decimus Meridius. How appropriate, then, that Russell Crowe attended a day of this Test.

In his 77th Test, Flintoff had pulled out only the third five-wicket haul of his career. Having already sent down 29 overs previously in the match, he bowled another 60 deliveries early on Monday, plus the odd no-ball, at an average speed of 90mph. Did he bowl a single ball that did not ask serious questions of every batsman who faced him? I doubt it.

But it was not all about Flintoff. Andrew Strauss's big century, James Anderson's four wickets on Friday, the confident batting of Alastair Cook and Matt Prior, and Graeme Swann's 4-87 were all important pieces of an England jigsaw that is coming together nicely.
source: bbc.com/sposts