Three Lebanese soldiers killed in fighting with anti-Hezbollah group

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Three Lebanese soldiers were killed in the coastal city of Sidon on Sunday in clashes with followers of a Sunni Islamist cleric who is a fierce critic of Hezbollah's military intervention in neighboring Syria, a security official said.

Sources in the city said the fighting broke out when a follower of Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir was arrested at an army roadblock in Sidon, 40 km (28 miles) south of Beirut.

The clashes were followed by fighting between Hezbollah members based in the mostly Sunni city and Assir's followers in which automatic weapons and shoulder fired rockets were used, the sources said.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Shi'ite militant group, has been fighting on behalf of President Bashir al-Assad's forces against mostly Sunni rebels trying to topple him.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/three-lebanese-soldiers-killed-fighting-anti-hezbollah-group-130422395.html

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Wimbledon 2013 Day 1: Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova Among Players To Watch On Monday

LONDON -- Five things to watch at Wimbledon on Monday, Day 1 of the grass-court Grand Slam tennis tournament:

1. FEDERER, MURRAY, NADAL GET STARTED: Three of the men who comprise what's often referred to as tennis' Big Four are scheduled to play Monday. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who won the 2012 title, is up against Romania's Victor Hanescu in the first match of the year on Centre Court. Andy Murray, last year's runner-up, renews his bid to give Britain its first male champion in 77 years by taking on Germany's Benjamin Becker (best known, if at all, for beating Andre Agassi in the American's last professional match, at the 2006 U.S. Open). And Rafael Nadal, twice the champion at Wimbledon, plays his first match at the All England Club since last year's surprising second-round loss, facing Belgium's Steve Darcis. The No. 2-seeded Murray, No. 3 Federer and No. 5 Nadal all wound up on the same half of the draw, which is why they all start on the same day, prompting this wisecrack from No. 1 Novak Djokovic, safely ensconced on the other half: "Well, I think it's going to be a great Monday for tennis."

___

2. SHARAPOVA LETS RACKET DO THE TALKING: Two of the women other than top-seeded Serena Williams given any chance of winning Wimbledon this year are 2004 champion Maria Sharapova and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka. Sharapova will follow Federer onto Centre Court for a first-round match against 37th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic of France. Sharapova, seeded third, helped add some extra juice to the tournament with a verbal jab in response to comments attributed to Williams in a recent magazine story. Azarenka, seeded second, opens the Court 1 schedule against 106th-ranked Maria Joao Koehler of Portugal, who is making her Wimbledon debut and only has won two main-draw, tour-level matches anywhere.

___

3. YOUNG AMERICANS FACE OFF: There are two matches that both pit a pair of young American women against each other. The most intriguing is 17th-seeded Sloane Stephens (who beat Williams en route to the Australian Open semifinals in January) against 25th-ranked Jamie Hampton (who beat 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to reach the French Open's fourth round this month). Stephens is 20; Hampton is 23. While their match is last on Court 18, the last match on Court 10 is 70th-ranked Christina McHale against 147th-ranked Alexa Glatch. McHale is 21; Glatch is 23.

___

4. OLD CHAMP IN ACTION: The last man other than Federer (seven titles in the last 10 years), Nadal (two) and Djokovic (one) to win Wimbledon was Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. The former No. 1-ranked Hewitt also won the 2001 U.S. Open, beating Pete Sampras in the final. Hewitt is now 32, and ranked 70th, after a series of injuries derailed his career. But Hewitt knows his way around a grass court: His seven tournament titles on the surface are tied with Boris Becker for the fifth-most in the 45-year Open era and second to Federer's 13 among active men. Hewitt could present some problems on Court 1 for 11th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka.

___

5. NADAL'S NEMESIS AND OTHERS TO KEEP AN EYE ON: With such a full slate scheduled for Monday ? all told, 64 singles matches ? there are plenty of places to find something interesting. The guy who shocked the tennis world a year ago by eliminating Nadal in five sets under Centre Court's closed roof, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, will be out on Court 19. John Isner, the 18th-seeded American forever linked to his all-sorts-of-records-breaking 70-68 fifth-set victory over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, is in action on Court 14. And Mahut ? whose first ATP title came at the age of 31 by beating Wawrinka in the final at Rosmalen, Netherlands, on Saturday ? will be on Court 5.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/wimbledon-2013-day-1-schedule-federer_n_3489203.html

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Tapering? Maybe later, says Fed.

Fed chief Bernanke spooks the markets with comments that Fed's bond-buying could slow later this year. Dow drops, housing and jobless claims rise ? this week in the economy.??

By Schuyler Velasco,?Staff writer / June 23, 2013

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a news conference in Washington Wednesday. Mixed signals from the Federal Reserve have rattled investors for weeks. When Mr. Bernanke tried to set the record straight ? suggesting the potential for shrinking the Fed's bond-buying program later this year if the economy continues to improve ? the Dow plunged 353 points.

Susan Walsh/AP/File

Enlarge

No taper ? yet: The Federal Reserve released its statement from the May Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday, and Fed chief Ben Bernanke indicated that the central bank wouldn?t change its monetary policy of buying up bonds to keep interest rates low. At least not yet.

Skip to next paragraph Schuyler Velasco

Staff writer/editor

Schuyler Velasco is a writer and editor for the Monitor's business desk.? She writes about consumer issues, sports, and the occasional sandwich.

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But Mr. Bernanke did hint that tapering could be on the horizon. He said bond buying could begin to slow later this year, and, if the unemployment rate falls below 7 percent, end entirely by mid-2014. ?Interest rates, Bernanke said, will stay low until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent.

?The?Fed?sent more tapering signals than we anticipated for this meeting,? Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics for IHS Global Insight, wrote in an e-mailed analysis. ?But we maintain that the?Fed?is too optimistic on unemployment, and continue to believe that it won?t taper until 2014. Of course, this view is predicated on progress in the labor market. If the unemployment rate declines enough over the summer, we would likely expect a tapering as early as September.?

Bernanke's comments sent Wall Street into a tailspin, sending the Dow tumbling 353 points for its worst one-day loss of the year.?

Davis' hit in 9th lifts Blue Jays over Orioles 7-6

TORONTO (AP) ? Add a new chapter to Munenori Kawasaki's remarkable run.

Kawasaki hit his first career home run, a game-tying shot in the seventh inning, Rajai Davis singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for their ninth straight win, 7-6 over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.

"The legend grows, the Kawasaki legend grows, and rightfully so," Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey said.

Kawasaki went 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Eight of his 17 RBIs this season have come against the Orioles: he also beat them with a two-run double in the ninth inning of a 6-5 win on May 26.

"He's been doing that all year," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's done a tremendous job for us."

Kawasaki has been playing shortstop for Toronto in the absence of Jose Reyes, who's been out since April 13 with a sprained left ankle. Reyes is currently rehabbing with Triple-A Buffalo and could be back Monday.

But Kawasaki's continued heroics might just make him indispensable.

"Nobody has said that Kawasaki was going down," Gibbons said. "People might assume that but we don't know what's going to happen, to be honest."

Casey Janssen (2-0) worked one inning for the win while Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion both homered for the Blue Jays, who reached .500 for the first time since July 30, 2012.

"We're starting to become family and it's showing," Dickey said.

Toronto has won 13 of its past 16 and has gone 26-15 since May 2, when they were a season-worst 10-21.

"We've definitely come back to life, that's for sure," Gibbons said. "We're riding a nice high right now."

Facing Orioles reliever Brian Matusz (2-1), Maicer Izturis singled to begin the ninth and moved to second on Josh Thole's sacrifice. Pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa was intentionally walked to bring up Kawasaki. With the crowd of 35,472 chanting his name, Kawasaki moved up both runners with a grounder.

"Unbelievable," Kawasaki said of the ovation. "I was nervous."

Pedro Strop came on to face Davis, who lined a single over the head of shortstop J.J. Hardy. Davis' teammates poured out of the dugout in celebration, mobbing him and tearing off his jersey.

"We've got to give credit to Kawasaki," Davis said. "He had some big hits with men on base. My hit doesn't even happen without those big hits."

Chris Davis hit his major league leading 27th home run for the Orioles, who also got homers from Hardy and Ryan Flaherty.

Toronto took an early lead when Lind hit a two-run homer off Jason Hammel in the first, his 10th. Hammel has allowed 10 runs in the first inning of his 15 starts this season.

Hardy's hit a two-out solo shot in the second, his 15th, to cut it to 2-1, but the Blue Jays got a run in the fifth on Kawasaki's two-out RBI single.

Nate McLouth singled to open the sixth and Nick Markakis drew a one-out walk. McLouth scored on Adam Jones' base hit and Davis followed with his third homer in the past two games.

Davis had two homers and five RBIs in Wednesday's 13-3 win over Detroit.

Encarnacion answered with a leadoff drive in the bottom half, his 20th, cutting it to 5-4, but Flaherty's leadoff drive in the seventh restored Baltimore's two-run lead.

Tommy Hunter replaced Hammel to begin the seventh and gave up a leadoff single to Izturis, Two outs later, Kawasaki tied it at 6 by hitting a 1-1 pitch into the right field bullpen.

Kawasaki said he felt like he was dreaming as he circled the bases for his first homer in 247 big league at bats.

"I would say that it's no surprise but that home run was a surprise," Dickey joked.

Called out of the dugout for a curtain call, Kawasaki bowed several times before tipping his cap.

All three Baltimore homers came off Dickey, who matched a season-worst by allowing three longballs.

Dickey allowed six runs and seven hits in six-plus innings. The right-hander, who walked two and struck out five, has a 6.02 ERA in eight home starts this season.

"I had a pretty good knuckleball going into the game, threw a couple of hangers up there and they got punished in bad situations," Dickey said.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected in the second for arguing with plate umpire Angel Hernandez. He was replaced by bench coach John Russell.

Davis struck out swinging to begin the inning, but the pitch got away from catcher Thole and Hernandez ruled it a foul ball as Thole threw to first base. Gibbons came out and the umpires huddled, then called Davis out.

That brought out Showalter for an animated discussion with Hernandez. After being tossed, Showalter pointed at all four umpires, then mimicked throwing them out of the game.

"I don't know if the umpires considered the fact that two wrongs don't make a right," said Showalter, who was ejected for the first time this season.

NOTES: Baltimore 3B Manny Machado's single in the first was his ML-leading 104th hit. ... Reyes went 1-for-4 and scored the game-winning run for Buffalo in the first Triple-A game of his rehab assignment. ... Baltimore activated RHP Miguel Gonzalez off the paternity list and put OF Steve Pearce (left wrist) on the 15-day DL, retroactive to Thursday. Gonzalez will start against Toronto on Saturday. ... Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts (right hamstring) is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/davis-hit-9th-lifts-blue-jays-over-orioles-032127002.html

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Veteran Jeremiah Espinoza Overcomes Blindness To Create Successful Whip Making Business (WATCH)

With a strong enough entrepreneurial spirit, not even the failure of sight can slow down some small business owners.

Take Utah man Jeremiah Espinoza, for example. A United States Army veteran, Espinoza is running a successful business making whips despite losing 99 percent of his eyesight from an injury sustained shortly after his return from the first Gulf War, KSL reports. Espinoza says his disability actually helps him make the whips that are still used by cattle drivers today. In 2012, Espinoza and his company Blind Man's Whips was recognized by the Utah State University Small Business Development Center.

"This is really the spirit of entrepreneurism,? Mark Holmes, director of the Utah State University Small Business Development Center, told UBMedia. ?Getting knocked down, and getting back up, doing something new and trying it and if that doesn?t work you try something else, you just keep trying and going.?

Indeed, Espinoza isn't the only entrepreneur to overcome blindness to start a successful business. Nashville woman Diane Ross overcame blindness to become known as "The Amazing Quilter" due to the success of her business, according to Tomorrow's Trends. Computer programmer Michael Arbitman also didn't let his lack of vision deter him from working to create an insulin pump that can be used by blind people, the Global Genes Project reports.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/jeremiah-espinoza_n_3484066.html

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Attacks kill NATO service member, 2 Afghan police

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Taliban militants attacked local security checkpoints in a provincial capital in northern Afghanistan, killing two policemen in a fight that also left 18 insurgents dead, Afghan officials said Saturday.

NATO said a coalition service member also died in a militant attack in the south on Saturday, but did not provide further details.

The violence follows NATO's formal handover of security in the entirety of Afghanistan to Kabul's forces ? a transition that comes at a time with violence levels matching their worst in nearly 12 years of war.

In northern Afghanistan, Kunduz provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said Saturday that the Taliban attacked multiple checkpoints at about noon Friday in the provincial capital of the same name, killing one member of the Afghan local police, a community-based force, and wounding two.

The Taliban then moved outside the city where a gun battle with Afghan security forces lasted until about midnight, Hussaini said.

Eighteen Taliban fighters and another local policeman were killed in the battle, and another 11 militants were wounded, he said. Hussaini posted on his Facebook page a picture of 11 bodies lined up inside the provincial police compound in Kunduz that he said were those of Taliban militants his troops recovered from the scene of the fight.

The Interior Ministry said the battle outside of the city involved Afghan National Police, and that it was conducted independently "without the involvement of any foreigners."

As Afghan forces have become more involved in security operations they have seen a sharp rise in deaths, while casualties among the U.S.-led military coalition have been reducing as the international forces pull back to let the Afghans take the lead.

According to an Associated Press count, 807 Afghan security force members ? including soldiers and police ? and 365 civilians have been killed so far this year through the end of May. A total of 63 coalition troops were also killed in that span.

Last year through the end of May, Afghan security forces lost 365 soldiers and police and 338 civilians were killed. Coalition forces lost 177 troops during that time.

In a brazen attack last month for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, four militants using a car bomb, grenade launchers and suicide vests assaulted the Kabul compound of the International Organization for Migration, a U.N-affiliated agency assisting returning Afghan migrants.

The Italian government said one of four aid workers injured in the attack, 40-year-old Italian Barbara De Anna, died in a hospital in Germany on Friday where she was being treated for severe burns.

Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said De Anna "embodied the best of Italy," and that "we pay tribute to those who, like her, work in the most remote and difficult areas of crisis."

_____

Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/attacks-kill-nato-member-2-afghan-police-122229292.html

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Starman falls to Earth after five-month space odyssey

By Dmitry Solovyov and Irene Klotz

ALMATY/CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The Canadian astronaut who became a music sensation when his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" went viral on the web returned to Earth along with two crewmates on Tuesday after a five-month stint on the International Space Station.

Chris Hadfield landed safely in central Kazakhstan with his American and Russian colleagues. Their Soyuz space capsule descended under an orange parachute and raised clouds of dust as it ignited an engine to cushion its landing about 150 km (90 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan.

The astronauts were presented with Russian nesting dolls with their images painted on and wore traditional Kazakh embroidered robes and hats over their blue flight suits when they posed for cameras before returning to Russia's cosmonaut training center outside Moscow for medical tests.

"It's part of humanity to be in space," Hadfield said in Russian. "What we were feeling, what we were doing there, the music we played, this is a big part of our lives." He called his time in orbit an "amazing experience".

Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko had left the $100-billion orbital outpost about 3-1/2 hours earlier as it sailed 255 miles over eastern Mongolia.

Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the space station, made more history on Monday when he released the first music video shot in space - his poignant "cyberspace" rendition of Space Oddity, which was first released in 1969 just before the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The video, with its familiar refrain "Ground Control to Major Tom" had almost seven million hits on YouTube on Tuesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

"I'm very happy that ... seven million are interested. It is very interesting and historic to be in space," Hadfield said.

SPACEWALK

The space mission included an impromptu spacewalk on Saturday to fix an ammonia coolant leak that had cropped up two days earlier. Without the repair, NASA likely would have had to cut back the station's science experiments to save power. The cooling system dissipates heat from electronics on the station's solar-powered wing panels.

During the 5-1/2-hour walk, Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, who remains aboard the station, replaced a suspect ammonia coolant pump, apparently resolving the leak. Engineers will monitor the system for several weeks to make sure there are no problems.

The mission of Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko, who blasted off 146 days ago, was the 35th expedition aboard the station, a permanently staffed laboratory where crew carry out experiments in fields including biology, physics and astronomy.

Their replacements are due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 28. Until then, a skeleton crew led by Pavel Vinogradov and including NASA astronaut Cassidy and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will keep the station operating.

The crew's return to Earth was on the 40th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. space station, Skylab. Three crews lived and worked on the relatively short-lived Skylab between May 1973 and February 1974.

The project helped NASA prepare for research aboard the space shuttles and the International Space Station, which was constructed in orbit beginning in 1998.

The outpost, scheduled to remain in orbit until at least 2020, has been permanently staffed since 2000.

(Additional reporting by Aliyah Suivdikova and Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/space-trio-lands-kazakhstan-five-months-orbit-044631446.html

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