Tennis-Australian Open order of play - day one

MELBOURNE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Order of play on the mainshowcourts at the Australian Open on Monday (play starts at 0000GMT on all courts, prefix denotes seeding):Rod Laver ArenaOlga Puchkova (Russia) v 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia)Chang Kai-chen (Taiwan) v 9-Samantha Stosur (Australia)1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (France)From 0800Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) v 8-Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)13-Ana...

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Golf-U.S. PGA Tour Sony Open scores

Jan 13 (Infostrada Sports) - Scores from the U.S. PGA Tour Sony Open at the par-70 course on Saturday in Honolulu, Hawaii193 Russell Henley (U.S.) 63 63 67Scott Langley (U.S.) 62 66 65196 Tim Clark (South Africa) 64 66 66197 Scott Gardiner (Australia) 68 64 65Charles Howell III (U.S.) 66 64 67198 Matt Jones (Australia) 66 68 64Danny Lee (New Zealand) 66 66 66Pat Perez (U.S.) 68 63 67Chris Kirk (U.S.)...

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Tennis-Tomic and Stosur carry Australian hopes in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Take a walk around the Grand Slam Oval at Melbourne Park and it is easy to see why Australia has such high expectations of tennis success.A long semi-circle of bronze busts of the likes of Rod Laver, Margaret Court, Roy Emerson and Evonne Goolagong bear witness to an era when Australian winners at majors were the rule rather than the exception.Those expectations have...

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US pushes to finish Afghan dam as challenges mount

KAJAKI, Afghanistan (AP) — In the approaching twilight of its war in Afghanistan, the U.S. is forging ahead with a giant infrastructure project long criticized as too costly in both blood and money.It's a $500 million effort to refurbish the massive Kajaki dam and hydro-electric power system with an extensive network of power lines and transmission substations. It is supposed to bring electricity...

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Pakistan accuses India of deadly cross-border raid

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani military is accusing forces from neighboring India of crossing the boundary between the two sides' forces in Kashmir and attacking a Pakistani border post, killing a soldier.The military's public relations office said in a statement Sunday that another Pakistani soldier was critically wounded in the incident early Sunday.They said troops are still exchanging gunfire...

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British Spitfire search team arrives in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to begin a dig they hope will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II.The 21-member team led by farmer and businessman David Cundall will start excavations soon near the airport in the main city, Yangon.Cundall...

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Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni stronghold

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) — Large, noisy demonstrations against Iraq's government flared for the third time in less than a week Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, raising the prospect of a fresh bout of unrest in a onetime al-Qaida stronghold on Syria's doorstep.The rallies find echoes in the Arab Spring. Protesters chanted "the people want the downfall of the regime," a slogan that has rippled across...

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Egypt's Morsi: Constitution sets up a new republic

 Egypt's president said Wednesday that the disputed constitution just approved in a referendum establishes a new republic and he called on the opposition to join a dialogue to heal rifts over the charter and shift the focus to repairing the economy.In the first speech since official results a day earlier showing the constitution was approved, Mohammed Morsi said he acknowledges the "respectable"...

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Syrian minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

 Syria's wounded interior minister cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities, while Syria's chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides.The twin developments reflected the deepening isolation of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, which...

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Egypt's Morsi: constitution dawn of new republic

 Egypt's Islamist president proclaimed the country's newly adopted constitution as the dawning of a "new republic" in a television address Wednesday, calling on the opposition to join a dialogue with him after a month of violent turmoil and focus on repairing a damaged economy.Mohammed Morsi sought to present the Islamist-drafter charter as the turning of a historic page for Egypt, but his speech...

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New turmoil hits Egypt's tourism

At Egypt's Pyramids, the desperation of vendors to sell can be a little frightening for some tourists.Young men descend on any car with foreigners in it blocks before it reaches the more than 4,500 year-old Wonder of the World. They bang on car doors and hoods, some waving the sticks and whips they use for driving camels, demanding the tourists come to their shop or ride their camel or just give money.In...

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In Mexico, New Agers hope Dec. 21 brings new era

Doomsday hour is here, at least in much of the world, and so still are we.According to legend, the ancient Mayans' long-count calendar ends at midnight Thursday, ushering in the end of the world.Didn't happen."This is not the end of the world. This is the beginning of the new world," Star Johnsen-Moser, an American seer, said at a gathering of hundreds of spiritualists at a convention center in the...

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Mexico's Maya heartland awaits dawn of new era

 In the darkness before dawn Friday, spiritualists prepared white clothes, drums, conch shells and incense ahead of the sunrise they believe will herald the birth of a new and better age as a vast, 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan calendar comes to an end.No one was quite sure at what time the Mayas' 13th Baktun would officially end on this Dec. 21. Some think it already ended at midnight Thursday....

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Puerto Rican TV show faces scrutiny amid outcry

A TV station in Puerto Rico that broadcasts a popular news and gossip show featuring a puppet has announced that the program will now be prerecorded.Joe Ramos, president of WAPA TV, told reporters late Thursday that the SuperXclusivo show will be taped two hours before it is broadcast. The announcement follows a recent outcry over comments that the controversial puppet, known as La Comay, made about...

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Court strikes down Costa Rica in-vitro ban

A Costa Rican ban on in-vitro fertilization has been struck down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a decision that reproductive health groups said could lead to greater access to abortion and some contraception in other Latin American countries.The court said in a ruling late Thursday that a long-standing Costa Rican guarantee of protection for every human embryo violated the reproductive...

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Mexico's Maya heartland greets dawn of new era

Dec. 21 started out as the prophetic day some had believed would usher in the fiery end of the world. By Friday afternoon, it had become more comic than cosmic, the punch line of countless Facebook posts and at least several dozen T-shirts.At the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, thousands chanted, danced and otherwise frolicked around ceremonial fires and pyramids to mark the conclusion...

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Egypt's draft charter gets 'yes' majority in vote

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-backed constitution received a "yes" majority in a final round of voting on a referendum that saw a low voter turnout, but the deep divisions it has opened up threaten to fuel continued turmoil.Passage is a victory for Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, but a costly one. The bruising battle over the past month stripped away hope that the long-awaited constitution would...

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Basic facts on Egypt's constitution referendum

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians vote Saturday in the second round of a highly contentious referendum on a new constitution to replace the one suspended after the 2011 revolution. Here are some basic facts and figures on the vote.— Saturday's vote takes place in 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces, with some 25 million people eligible to vote. Polls open at 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close at 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), although...

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Egyptian Islamists, opponents clash ahead of vote

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) — Violence erupted between Egypt's divided camps on Friday, the eve of the final round of a referendum on a constitution that has polarized the nation, as Islamists and their opponents pelted each other with stones while police fired tear gas in the streets of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.The contentious referendum, which would bring a greater implementation of Islamic...

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Key events in Egypt's revolution and transition

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptians are voting Saturday in the second round of a referendum on disputed draft constitution that has polarized the country and plunged it into its worst crisis since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising.The referendum and draft charter have pitted supporters of the Islamist Morsi against liberal parties, youth groups, Christians and a large group of moderate...

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