Football: Ramos heads Real Madrid to Clasico victory

MADRID: Barcelona's recent slump continued as Sergio Ramos' header nine minutes from time handed Real Madrid a 2-1 success for their second win over the Catalans in five days Saturday.Karim Benzema had given the hosts the perfect start as he stabbed home Alvaro Morata's cross after just six minutes, but Barca were level just 12 minutes later when Lionel Messi equalled Alfredo di Stefano's...

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Obama blames Republicans for "dumb" cuts

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Friday blamed Republican refusal to compromise on deficit cutting for "dumb" and "unnecessary" spending cuts about to slam into the fragile US economy.The arbitrary and automatic $85 billion dollar cuts, known as the "sequester" will begin later Friday, in a self-inflicted wound brought about by deep ideological polarization between the president and...

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WikiLeaks: Manning says he wanted "public debate" on war

WASHINGTON: US Army private Bradley Manning told a military tribunal on Thursday that he leaked incident logs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to WikiLeaks in order to start a "public debate.""For me they represent the underground realities of the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan," Manning told the court, after his lawyer said he plans to plead guilty to some of the charges leveled...

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US "can't dictate" to the world: Pentagon's new chief

WASHINGTON: America cannot "dictate to the world" and must work with allies and build relationships with other nations, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said shortly after being sworn in Wednesday as the new Pentagon chief.On his first day at the job, Hagel reinforced his reputation as a reluctant warrior as he told an auditorium of civilian officials and military officers that America...

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World powers, Iran exchange offers at "useful" talks

ALMATY, Kazakhstan: World powers and Iran on Tuesday exchanged offers at "useful" talks in Kazakhstan aimed at breaking a decade of deadlock over Tehran's disputed nuclear drive.The meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty comes as sanctions bite against the Islamic republic and Israel still refuses to rule out air strikes to knock out Iran's suspected nuclear weapons drive.There was no hint...

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Crédit Agricole could cut 1,400 jobs: report

PARIS: French bank Credit Agricole could cut another 1,400 jobs in 2013 at its regional branches, the daily Les Echos said Monday, but unions said no figures had yet been decided.Citing an internal document, the business daily said that Credit Agricole's regional branches expected only half of departing employees would be replaced in 2013, leading to a staff cut of 1,418 posts.The bank...

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Football: Man City leave Chelsea trailing, Newcastle edge Saints

LONDON: Manchester City galvanised their grip on second place in the Premier League and trimmed Manchester United's lead back to 12 points with a 2-0 victory at home to nearest rivals Chelsea on Sunday.After Chelsea's Frank Lampard had seen a penalty saved by England colleague Joe Hart, City prevailed through a pair of fine second-half goals from man-of-the-match Yaya Toure and substitute...

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Football: United go 15 points clear, Arsenal turn the page

LONDON: A thunderbolt from Rafael da Silva set Manchester United on the way to a 2-0 win at bottom club Queens Park Rangers on Saturday that sent Alex Ferguson's side 15 points clear in the Premier League.The Brazilian right-back struck in the 23rd minute, arrowing a crisp, first-time drive right into the top-left corner from outside the box after Julio Cesar had pushed away a shot from...

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Spain's Iberia workers end strike, no deal in sight

MADRID: Workers at Spanish airline Iberia on Friday wrapped up a week-long strike that has seen hundreds of flights cancelled, with no sign of agreement in a dispute over the company's plan to cut 3,800 jobs.Staff marked the last day of this week's strike -- the first of three planned five-day actions -- with a noisy demonstration in terminal four of Madrid's Barajas airport.They waved...

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Olympics: US, Iran unite in bid to keep wrestling in Olympics

TEHRAN: The United States and Iran may be arch foes on the diplomatic front, but bosses from two of wrestling's power-houses have allied to fight a decision to drop the sport from the 2020 Olympic Games.Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling, is in Tehran, which is hosting the World Cup men's freestyle tournament on Thursday and Friday."We need the backing of Iran and Russia......

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Tennis: Kvitova eyes revenge match with Radwanska

DUBAI: Petra Kvitova, the former Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, continued her exciting return to form here on Wednesday with a performance which edged her nearer the tenth title of her career.Kvitova's brilliantly masked hitting eased her into the quarter-finals of the $2,000,000 Dubai Open with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/1) win over Ana Ivanovic, the former French Open champion from Serbia.It...

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Obama cranks up budget showdown blame game

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama cranked up the blame game Tuesday over "meat cleaver" budget cuts due in 10 days, painting a dire picture of damage looming for the US economy and accusing Republicans of refusing to deal.Obama surrounded himself with uniformed emergency workers who he said risked losing their capacity to respond to distress calls when stinging billion-dollar cuts known...

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Flagship shows cancelled as BBC journalists strike

LONDON: BBC journalists staged a 24-hour strike on Monday in protest at job cuts, preventing the transmission of the flagship Today morning news programme and several other television and radio shows.Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) walked out at midnight (local time and GMT) on Sunday over compulsory redundancies expected to affect BBC Scotland, Radio 5 Live, the Asian...

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Football: Coutinho shines on debut as Liverpool rout Swansea

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool ended a winless run of five games in impressive fashion on Sunday as they whipped an under-strength Swansea 5-0 in their Premier League clash.Victory saw Liverpool leapfrog Swansea into seventh spot and give former Swans manager Brendan Rodgers something to smile about at the end of a week that saw defeats by West Brom and then Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League.A...

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G20 'determined' to halt cooperate tax avoidance

MOSCOW: The G20 group of the world's top economies expressed determination Saturday to crack down on companies who duck their full taxation responsibilities with elaborate schemes.The call came after the finance ministers of Britain, France and Germany said it was time for coordinated action to halt the practice of shifting profits from a firm's home country to pay less tax under another...

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Football: Celtic seek UEFA view on Champions League referee

GLASGOW: Celtic are to seek "clarification" from UEFA regarding referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco's performance in the 3-0 Champions League defeat by Juventus, manager Neil Lennon revealed Friday.Lennon was scathing about the performance of the Spanish match official immediately after Tuesday's last-16, first-leg loss at Parkead, a defeat that rendered the return leg in Turin all but redundant.And...

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Mumbai attack movie hits cinemas on Mar 1

MUMBAI: Memories of the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008 still evoke fear among residents of the city.And those old wounds are expected to reopen now that a Bollywood movie about the incident is set to hit the big screens.India's financial capital came to a virtual standstill on 26 November 2008.The attacks which lasted for four days drew widespread global condemnation.The Pakistan-based...

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Olympics: Wrestlers vow to fight Olympic removal

PARIS: Wrestlers around the world on Wednesday vowed to fight to save the ancient sport's Olympic status, after the International Olympic Committee voted to drop it for the 2020 Games.Japan and Turkey -- whose cities Tokyo and Istanbul are bidding to host the Games in seven years' time -- led the calls for the world body to reconsider, as an online petition was organised urging a rethink...

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Skiing: Hirscher leads Austria to first world gold

SCHLADMING, Austria: Slalom star Marcel Hirscher led Austria to gold in the team event at the World Ski Championships on Tuesday with a convincing 4-0 victory over Sweden in the final.It was a much-needed tonic for the host nation which had garnered just two bronze medals after the opening six events.However, there were a host of medal winners and big names missing from the team event,...

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US tornadoes strike southern states, 60 injured

MIAMI: Several powerful tornadoes ripped through the southern US states of Mississippi and Alabama injuring at least 60 people and destroying hundreds of homes at the weekend, emergency officials said Monday.The city of Hattiesburg in Mississippi's Forrest County bore the brunt of the storms, with heavy rain continuing to lash the region and create a risk of flooding."Two people were critically...

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