Stanislas Wawrinka fluffed two match points, crashing out 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 to Germany's Benjamin Becker in the first round at Swiss Indoors.
Eighth seed Gael Monfils upset number two Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6 on Friday to advance to the semi-finals of the Vienna Open. The 22-year-old Frenchman put in a gutsy performance, saving seven out of eight break points before dominating the tiebreak 7-2. Monfils, a former junior world number one, is through to his fourth semi-final of the year but is yet to reach a final in 2008.
Third seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina withdrew from the Vienna Open on Thursday because of a niggling toe injury. After suffering further inflammation overnight the 20-year-old Del Potro pulled out of his second-round match with Philipp Kohlschreiber, allowing the German through to a quarter-final meeting with Spanish fifth seed Fernando Verdasco.
Javier Saviola and Oscar Cardozo scored two goals apiece and defender Luisao was also on target as Benfica thumped Everton 5-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.
The crucial civil nuclear cooperation will be high on the agenda of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his 10-day visit to the United States and France, which begins on Monday.The prime minister will attend the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he would pitch for collective and multilateral approaches to deal with global challenges like food and energy crises and terrorism.
India and China failed to reach any specific agreements on their disputed boundary issue on Friday in the latest round of negotiations in Beijing but decided to pursue their goal for a "fair and reasonable" solution acceptable to both sides.
The notification formalities were completed on Thursday night, a crucial step in paving way for the implementation of international civil nuclear cooperation, Department of Atomic Energy sources said.
China and India have 'no fundamental conflicts' in their relations, a senior Communist Party official said on Thursday as the two neighbours launched a new round of border talks in Beijing."China and India have no fundamental conflicts, but share broad common interests," Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member of the ruling Communist Party of China Central Committee said while meeting Communist Party of India leader C K Chandrappan in Beijing.
'India seems to have been charmed into conceding ground to the new Pakistan foreign minister on many of its established positions. HRK has established her credentials and the US will be particularly impressed.'
It was said that there is a gap in the foreign policy aspirations of Moscow and Washington.
France's under-fire coach Raymond Domenech said on Tuesday his critics would have sent him to the guillotine in another era.
China on Monday claimed it did nothing to block the waiver for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna and that it played a "positive" and "constructive" role. "The Chinese side adopted a responsible and positive attitude with regard to the discussion at NSG and now we see that a consensus was reached," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told CNN-IBN.
Against the backdrop of Beijing's negative role at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and held talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Dr Singh told Yang that India was pleased to get the NSG waiver last week, official sources said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi on Monday said that India and China should work 'shoulder-to-shoulder' in bringing about peace in the region and observed that the rise of the two countries was a 'good omen' for Asia. Yang, who is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi later today, said, "Both Mukherjee and I have to do our humble best in strengthening the strategic cooperation between the two countries."
Terming the waiver granted to India by the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers group as a 'huge step' in the relationship between the United States and India, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has complimented the role played by the Indian government in Vienna.In comments made to the traveling press in Algiers on Saturday, Rice said India showed a lot of leadership skills in Vienna, where everybody took everyone else's concerns seriously and found the ways to bridge it.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday held discussions with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan on the deliberations in the Nuclear Suppliers Group where a consensus on a waiver for India is still elusive.
The draft of the proposal for the India-specific exemption at the Nuclear Suppliers Group has undergone further changes which include a provision for regular information by its head about New Delhi's adherence to its guidelines on global atomic trade, a move aimed at pacifying countries having reservations over the waiver to India.
He admitted that some member countries of the 45-nation grouping have expressed concerns about the deal and 'we have talked to a lot of those various states'. "I am not going to name them, but we have talked to a lot of them. They have announced themselves publicly. You can look it up and what their concerns are," McCormack said.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad ElBaradei hailed India as a "leading advocate" for nuclear disarmament and asked the world to listen to its "voice" on elimination of all nuclear weapons. "India called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons as far back as 1948. It is important that India's voice should continue to be heard.
Cyprus inflicted more soccer pain on neighbours Greece on Thursday when Omonia Nicosia knocked out AEK Athens in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.
Affirming its commitment to work with India in securing a "clean" waiver from the NSG, the US on Monday said the two countries will "continue our vigorous joint advocacy", including at the highest levels, for it ahead of the grouping's next meeting on September 4.
With the Nuclear Suppliers Group draft set to be amended because of demands from some member countries, the government in Delhi on Sunday held a high-level meeting to analyse the new development and discuss options available to it. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee held hour-long discussions with Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Nuclear Deal Shyam Saran and senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Atomic Energy on the issue.
There may be some changes in the text of the nuclear commerce waiver for India, which is being considered by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, according to United States Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher. Boucher asserted that the US would "not allow anything to impede the N-deal."
Acceptance of the draft waiver in its current form could fuel a nuclear arms race in the Asian subcontinent, Edward J Markey, a critic of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal said, as the 45-member grouping yesterday held discussions over the matter as part of a two-day meet in Vienna.
Human's inclination to invest dogs with human-like states of mind isn't as unscientific as it might appear for scientists have now suggested that canines are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals. Studies presented at the first Canine Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary, backs the idea that the descendants of grey wolves have become more intelligent, and even learnt a sense of right and wrong, the New Scientist journal reported.
Despite intense lobbying, it is unlikely that the Nuclear Suppliers Group will approve an India-specific draft waiver to conduct nuclear trade with its members during a two-day meet scheduled to begin on Wednesday, a prominent arms-control think-tank opposed to the India-United States nuclear deal has said."The US and India are certainly using strong-arms tactics,"said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.
UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk thrashed Club Bruges 4-1 away on Thursday when top-level football began experimenting with five-man refereeing teams in the opening Europa League group stage games.
Ahead of next week's crucial meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a top Swiss lawmaker has said his government will 'most likely' support a waiver for India at the 45-nation grouping."The Indo-US nuclear deal is important for India's energy security and I think the Swiss government will most likely support the waiver for New Delhi at the NSG meet," Speaker of the Upper House of Swiss Parliament Christoffel Brandil told PTI.
Non-proliferation specialists and non-government organisations have asked the foreign ministers of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to reject the US proposal to exempt India from long-standing global nuclear trade standards.
Ahead of the meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group on the India-United States nuclear agreement, US Under Secretary of State William Burns is expected to undertake a visit here as part of efforts to coordinate strategy with India for the August 21 session.During the possible visit, he will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, mainly discussing the remaining steps in implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The monsoon session of Parliament is likely to be convened around the second week of September, at the time when the India-United States nuclear agreement is expected to go through all the processes including the final voting by the American Congress.The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs is expected to take a decision on the matter next week, amid indications from the government as also the Congress that there is no hurry to convene the session.
India could expect the support of Japan at the upcoming Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting, with a senior official of the country saying that Tokyo understands New Delhi's energy needs and would adopt an approach that strengthens the non-proliferation regime.Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama noted that Tokyo had gone with consensus at the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors meeting on India-specific safeguards despite having reservations.
Buoyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's approval of the India-specific safeguards pact, the US on Sunday vowed to push through expeditiously the Nuclear Suppliers Group process but said New Delhi would have to answer a lot of questions to secure a waiver from the 45-nation bloc when it meets later this month.
A sensational final round fetched Jeev Milkha Singh his second title of the season at the Nagashima Shigeo Invitational Sega Sammy Cup in Hokkaido.
'My party has taken the decision to vote against the motion of no-confidence and it remains unchanged. The nuclear deal is not the reflection of the nation's mood. It does not represent the people's wish,' he said.
Lobbying for the Indo-US nuclear deal, India on Friday briefed the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors and some Nuclear Suppliers Group countries on the safeguards agreement amid reports that there was no sign of opposition to the accord.
Menon is expected to press India's case for allowing it to have civil nuclear cooperation with the international community. He is likely to cite India's impeccable track record on the non-proliferation front despite being a non-signatory to the NPT.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday asked the government to suspend all further action on the Indo-US nuclear deal until it proves its majority in the Lok Sabha. The party also sought an assurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the draft of safegaurd agreement sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency would be withdrawn if he loses the trust vote.
India has cancelled its briefing on the safeguards agreement for the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was scheduled to be held in Vienna on July 18.The IAEA safeguards agreement is an essential step India has to take to integrate with international nuclear commerce before it secures a one-time waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque will take charge of Spain until the 2010 World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday. The 57-year-old Del Bosque replaces Luis Aragones, who quit to join Fenerbahce after leading the national side to victory at Euro 2008 in June.
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