Tennis: Czechs lead Australia 2-0 in Fed Cup

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PRAGUE: Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova handed holders Czech Republic a 2-0 lead over Australia after the first day of their Fed Cup World Group tie in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava on Saturday.

In the first rubber, Kvitova, the Czech number one and world number eight, beat Australia's 168-ranked Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in an hour and 35 minutes.

Safarova, the world number 18, then snatched two tie-breaks for a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) win over ninth-ranked Samantha Stosur in two hours and 28 minutes.

Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion who led the Czechs to Fed Cup victories in 2011 and 2012, struggled for composure in the first set before dominating the second.

"It wasn't an easy match and she had moments when she played very well, but she also helped me a few times," the 22-year-old Kvitova said.

"I was terribly nervous in the first set."

Gajdosova, who has sunk from a career-high ranking of 25 in the past two seasons, said she had played a "pretty decent match."

"I had a lot of chances in the first and second set. Unfortunately I didn't take them," said the 25-year-old Gajdosova, who was born in Slovakia which formed a single country with the Czech Republic until 1993.

On the hard surface in Ostrava, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) east of Prague, Safarova then battled Stosur in a tight game, with each giving up five breaks.

"It was very hard, the games with her are always tight. But I handled it very well," said the 26-year-old Safarova.

Stosur, 28, failed to convert five set points in the first set and then gave up a break as she served for the second set.

"Unfortunately for me, I guess she got all those important points to get it back even and then kick on and get each set," said the 2011 US Open champion.

On Sunday, Kvitova will first face Stosur. If she gives the Czechs a winning 3-0 lead, the tie will go straight to doubles, while if she loses, Safarova will take on Gajdosova.

In the doubles, Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, the world numbers three and four in the format, will face Australian Open finalists Casey Dellacqua (21 in doubles) and 16-year-old Ashleigh Barty (46).

The Czech Republic and former Czechoslovakia have won seven Fed Cup trophies together, just like Australia whose last success was back in 1974.

This puts both teams second in the historic Fed Cup rankings behind the US with 17 trophies.

- AFP/jc



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Doctors to pay Rs 38.4 lakh for brain damage after fertility test

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NEW DELHI: A compensation of Rs 38.4 lakh has been awarded to the family of a woman chartered accountant, who suffered brain damage and is in vegetative state since 1999 after undergoing a fertility test at a Hyderabad-based maternity clinic, by the apex consumer commission.

The clinic and its two doctors were directed by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to pay the compensation on a plea by the husband and the minor daughter of the patient Rupa Mutha.

They had alleged she suffered brain damage after undergoing fallopian tube test at the Desai Maternity Clinic and Nursing Home run by Dr Jayashree Desai, who along with Dr Sampath Kumar, the anaesthetist, performed the test.

The NCDRC relied on the medical records of the patient's treatment at the clinic and the affidavit of Hyderabad-based Care Hospital which had said she was brought to it in comatose condition and had suffered brain damage due to hypoxia (inadequate supply of oxygen to the brain).

"In the background of the detailed consideration of the evidence on record, the findings reached by us and in the light of the applicable law, we have no hesitation in holding that the opposite parties (the two doctors and the clinic) have committed serious deficiency of service in the treatment of Rupa Mutha (patient).

"Therefore, the complaint must succeed. The opposite parties need to compensate her for her medical condition resulting directly from her treatment by them," the bench presided by Justice JM Malik said.

Rupa's husband, Sanjay Mutha, had sought compensation of Rs 6.8 crore towards the incurred and projected expenses of her treatment and loss of her professional earnings as she was a chartered accountant.

The NCDRC, however, awarded Rs 20.4 lakh towards expenses incurred on her treatment and maintenance along with Rs 18 lakh as compensation for physical and mental suffering undergone by her and her family.

The doctors in their defence had refuted the allegations of medical negligence against them.

Dr Desai and Dr Kumar had contended that all proper and reasonable care was taken while performing the test, but she had suddenly developed breathing difficulties and suffered cardiac arrest after the procedure was completed.

They had also contended that they immediately provided her with oxygen and performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to revive her and hypoxia had not occurred during or after the test.

This contention was rejected by the commission which said the doctors' assertion was in conflict with the certificate of Care Hospital which said the patient was brought to it in comatose condition and had suffered brain damage due to hypoxia which occurred after the test was conducted.

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

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Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

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A fierce winter storm brought blizzard conditions and hurricane force winds as the anticipated snowstorm descended across much of the Northeast overnight.


By early Saturday morning, 650,000 homes and businesses were without power and at least five deaths were being blamed on the storm, three in Canada, one in New York and one in Connecticut, The Associated Press reported.


The storm stretched from New Jersey to Maine, affecting more than 25 million people, with more than two feet of snow falling in areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.


FULL COVERAGE: Blizzard of 2013


In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency and closed all roads in the state. Overnight, snow fell at a rate of up to five to six inches per hour in parts of Connecticut.


In Milford, Conn. more than 38 inches of snow had fallen by Saturday morning.


"If you're not an emergency personnel that's required to be somewhere. Stay home," said Malloy.


In Fairfield, Conn. firefighters and police officers on the day shift were unable to make it to work, so the overnight shift remained on duty.


PHOTOS: Blizzard Hits Northeast


The wind and snow started affecting the region during the Friday night commute.


In Cumberland, Maine, the conditions led to a 19-car pile-up and in New York, hundreds of commuters were stranded on the snowy Long Island Expressway. Police were still working to free motorists early Saturday morning.






Darren McCollester/Getty Images











Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video









Blizzard 2013: Power Outages for Hundreds of Thousands of People Watch Video









Blizzard 2013: Northeast Transportation Network Shut Down Watch Video





"The biggest problem that we're having is that people are not staying on the main portion or the middle section of the roadway and veering to the shoulders, which are not plowed," said Lieutenant Daniel Meyer from the Suffolk County Police Highway Patrol."The snow, I'm being told is already over two feet deep."


In New York, authorities are digging out hundreds of cars that got stuck overnight on the Long Island Expressway.


Bob Griffith of Syosset, N.Y. tried leave early to escape the storm, but instead ended up stuck in the snow by the side of the road.


"I tried to play it smart in that I started early in the day, when it was raining," said Griffith. "But the weather beat us to the punch."


Suffok County Executive Steven Bellone said the snow had wreaked havoc on the roadways.


"I saw state plows stuck on the side of the road. I've never seen anything like this before," Bellone said.


However, some New York residents, who survived the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, were rattled by having to face another large and potentially dangerous storm system with hurricane force winds and flooding.


"How many storms of the century can you have in six months?" said Larry Racioppo, a resident of the hard hit Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, New York.


READ: Weather NYC: Blizzard Threatens Rockaways, Ravaged by Sandy


Snowfall Totals


In Boston, over two feet of snow had fallen by Saturday morning and the National Weather Service anticipated up to three feet of snow could fall by the end of the storm. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick enacted the first statewide driving ban since the 1978 blizzard, which left 27 inches of snow and killed dozens. The archdiocese told parishioners that according to church law the responsibility to attend mass "does not apply where there is grave difficulty in fulfilling obligation."


In New York, a little more than 11 inches fell in the city.


By Saturday morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nearly all of the primary roads had been plowed and the department of sanitation anticipated that all roads would be plowed by the end of the day.


"It looks like we dodged a bullet, but keep in mind winter is not over," said Bloomberg.






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Football: Kelly signs new Liverpool contract

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LONDON: Liverpool defender Martin Kelly signed a new long-term contract with the Premier League club on Friday.

Kelly, 22, is currently sidelined due to a knee ligament injury, but the England international has been rewarded for his impressive displays at full-back earlier this season.

The day after team-mate Jamie Carragher announced he will retire at the end of the season, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admitted it was gratifying to see another Liverpool-born product of the club's youth academy commit his future to the Reds.

"Martin has shown a commitment to our vision here. He is a young player who really impressed me when I came in," Rodgers said.

"He was exceptionally good in the games he played earlier in the season."

Kelly, who injured his knee in the 2-1 home defeat against Manchester United in September, admitted he was relieved to have secured his long-term future at Liverpool.

"I'm delighted to sign. It means everything to me and my family," he said.

"I've been at Liverpool since I was seven, so it's in my heart and I love the club.

"When you play in the Liverpool shirt, you have to show the fans what it means. I just love playing and trying my hardest for the supporters and for my family."

Kelly, who has made 54 appearances for Liverpool since making his debut in 2009, added: "Being a Liverpool supporter myself, it's brilliant to put the shirt on.

"Today shows the faith that the club have in me and that the hard work I have put in since I was young has paid off."

- AFP/de



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No anger over 'Vishwaroopam' row, it made me feel sorry: Kamal

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HYDERABAD: The controversy over his film " Vishwaroopam" did not make actor Kamal Haasan angry but he felt "sorrow" and like Socrates, he would "sip the cup of poison" to speak his "freedom".

Speaking at a meeting, he said, "I am not angry (over the issue), only (felt) sorrow, that in a great country, free country like India, an artist would be insulted so. Because, very rarely have artistes been responsible for riots.

"We (artists) are the people who can stick the world together... They can do so many wonders. We are doctors, actually. You suspect that man to be a rabble-rouser or rioter, that is an insult.

"I am a son of Socrates. If you give me a cup of poison, I will sip it and speak my freedom."

Showering praise on veteran Tamil director K Balachandar, Haasan said the former taught him bravery and valour.

The actor was speaking at a meeting organised here where several prominent Telugu film personalities including actor Nagarjuna, Dadasaheb Phalke award recipient D Ramanaidu, veteran directors K Vishwanath and Dasari Narayana Rao were present.

He said he learnt a lot from the seasoned directors like Vishwanath.

"I still feel like an assistant director. Personalities like Balachandar and Vishwanath come to my mind when I am directing," he said.

Haasan thanked the media for support during the controversy. "I did not know it will end this way. It was like a suspense story. The only strength came from media."

"Vishwaroopam", made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, had faced opposition from some Muslim organisations, and was banned in Tamil Nadu for some time. It faced trouble in Andhra Pradesh too.

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Mexico's Robust Wind Energy Prospects Ruffle Nearby Villages

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Photograph by Mark Stevenson, AP

Wind turbines tower over indigenous villagers who turned out to see then-Mexican President Felipe Calderón inaugurate a $550 million wind project in the state of Oaxaca in 2009.

It was the start of new cleaner energy drive for an oil-reliant nation, but one that has upended lives in the region's native farming and fishing villages.

The battle between new energy and traditional communities is being played out amid the steady gusts that sweep across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow strip in southern Mexico that separates the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is one of the windiest places on Earth (map).

Outsiders increasingly covet the power of those air currents as energy that can be captured by modern turbines and transported to nearby factories and distant cities. Largely thanks to Oaxaca's unique geography, Mexico's wind power capacity expanded to 1,350 megawatts in 2012, according to reports from a national wind industry conference in Mexico City last month, marking nearly a 140 percent expansion in capacity in a single year. Stands of the turbines now fill Oaxacan horizons, with more planned as developers pour millions of dollars into wind farms. While bringing development to the isolated area, the turbines have disrupted pastoral lifestyles and divided villages over leasing fees and other benefits promised to local communities.

The projects have arisen with strong support from Mexico's central government. Before leaving office in December, Calderón was seen as an active proponent of wind power. The projects also have the participation of well-known Mexican companies, including cement maker Cemex and retailer Walmart de Mexico. (See related blog post: "Ten (Short) Reasons to Be Excited About Wind Power.")

Local groups that oppose the developments say the companies have turned communities against each other as they negotiated land leases. Some also complain the developers cheated villages by not paying fair prices and abandoning promised development projects. The protests have given rise to project blockades and occasional violence, including several injuries last weekend, when police confronted protesters blocking company officials from reaching the site of a large project. Late last year, opponents scored a major victory when a judge delayed construction of that wind farm, which would be the largest in Mexico.

—David LaGesse

Published February 7, 2013

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Rescued Ethan Spends Birthday With SWAT Heroes

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As a beaming 6-year-old Ethan said "cheese" for photos and played with toy cars at his birthday party, there were no immediate signs of the turmoil the young boy had endured just days earlier.


The boy, identified only as Ethan, was held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama. He was physically unharmed after Jimmy Lee Dykes kidnapped him from a school bus and held him hostage in a booby-trapped underground bunker.


Ethan was rescued by the FBI Monday after they rushed the bunker where Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid.


On Wednesday, Ethan celebrated his sixth birthday at a local church with abundant hugs from his family and friends as well as from the SWAT team, FBI agents and hostage negotiators who had rescued him.


Click here for photo's from the Alabama hostage situation.


"Welcome home Ethan" signs hung on the walls of the church for the homecoming celebration.












Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video





In his first interview, Ethan's adult brother Camren Kirkland described to ABC News the text messages the family would get from the hostage negotiators.


"We did know when, at times, he was asleep and that was normally around nine o'clock at night," Kirkland said.


He said the messages kept the family going throughout the ordeal.


"That was actually a lot of comfort," he said. "I could actually go lay my head down."


Kirkland said he never left his mother's side and the whole family was present when they got the call that Ethan had been rescued.


"The said, 'We have Ethan,'" Kirkland said, recalling the moment they found out Ethan had been saved.


Click here for a psychological look at what's next for Ethan.


The FBI special agent whose call it was to send the team into the bunker revealed to ABC News that Dykes left behind writings and that while in the bunker with Ethan, he'd become agitated and brag about his plan.


"At the end of the day, the responsibility is mine," he said. "I thought the child was going to die."


Dykes shot and killed a school bus driver, Albert Poland Jr., 66, last Tuesday and threatened to kill all the children on the bus before taking the boy, one of the students on the bus said Monday.


Dykes had been holed up in his underground bunker near Midland City, Ala., with the abducted boy for a week as police tried to negotiate with him through the PVC pipe. Police were careful not to anger Dykes, who was believed to be watching news reports from inside the bunker, and even thanked him at one point.



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War crimes court wants Gaddafi spy chief handed over

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THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court judges on Thursday demanded Libya hand over Muammar Gaddafi's former spy chief Abdullah Senussi to face charges of crimes against humanity.

The latest broadside in the legal tug-of-war between The Hague-based ICC and Tripoli over where Senussi and Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam should be tried repeated a demand for Senussi to be handed over.

The ICC "orders the Libyan authorities to proceed to the immediate surrender of Mr Senussi to the court," said a ruling issued on Wednesday and made public on Thursday.

The ICC has the option of calling on the United Nations Security Council to take action.

The ICC is mulling a Libyan request to put Senussi and Gaddafi on trial there, while the ICC itself wants to try Gaddafi and Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity committed in the conflict that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The ICC, which was mandated by the UN Security Council to investigate the Libyan conflict, issued arrest warrants in June 2011 for both Seif and Senussi on charges of crimes against humanity.

Lawyers for the two accused have said they will not get a fair trial in Libya.

- AFP/de



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SC pulls up CBI in Babri Masjid demolition case

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday pulled up the CBI for its submission that BJP leader LK Advani and other party leaders present at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, had committed a "national crime" in the conspiracy that led to demolition of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structure.

Taking a dim view of the submission, a bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the investigating agency should not pre-judge the case till it was decided either way by the apex court or the special court.

"Please don't call it a national crime or a matter of national importance until we or the special court (trying the case) come to a definite conclusion," Justice Dattu told senior counsel P.P.Rao, who appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court's response came during the hearing of a petition by the investigating agency challenging the Allahabad high court verdict that discharged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Advani, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and 19 others in the Babri Masjid demolition conspiracy case.

The CBI again came in for drubbing for taking more than nine months in moving the apex court to challenge the Allahabad high court verdict discharging Advani and other leaders of conspiracy charge.

The probe agency had moved the apex court Feb 18, 2011, nearly nine months after the Allahabad high court May 20, 2010, discharged Advani, Thackeray and 19 others of the charges of criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

"If you say that this is a case of national importance... can you say that the translation of documents would take days together and the filing of case will take months," Justice Dattu observed when senior counsel Rao sought some more time.

The court read through its order sheets to show that the investigating agency took three adjournments for filing documents.

"When you filed the first affidavit, court asked you to file a better affidavit. You did it. Can we ask you to file another affidavit to improve your case?" the court observed as Rao sought some more time as he was appearing for the first time and had to peruse the records.

Adjourning the hearing for a week, the court said that investigating agency would not file any more documents except for those relied on by the special CBI court and the high court in arriving at their judgments. It directed the hearing of the matter Feb 13.

The CBI in its appeal before the apex court said that the high court verdict discharging Advani and others of the charge of criminal conspiracy "is inconsistent with the previous judgment rendered by the Allahabad High Court on Feb 12, 2001".

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court by its Feb 12, 2001, order had held that the trial court committed no illegality in taking "cognizance of joint consolidated charge-sheet" and "all the offences were committed in the course of the same transaction to accomplish the conspiracy".

The high court order had noted that the "evidence for all the offences was almost the same."

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