Chelsea Hire Andre Villas-Boas As Manager

LONDON: Andre Villas-Boas became Chelsea's seventh manager in eight years on Wednesday when he was hired by the Premier League club on a three-year contract.

The 33-year-old Villas-Boas, who is often compared to fellow countryman and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, will start work immediately at the London club, having resigned from his post at Porto on Tuesday.

Villas-Boas succeeds Carlo Ancelotti as manager at Stamford Bridge following the Italian coach's sacking on the final day of last season, despite winning the Premier League-FA Cup double the previous year.

"Andre was the outstanding candidate for the job," Chelsea said in a statement. "He is one of the most talented young managers in football today and has already achieved much in a relatively short space of time.

"His ambition, drive and determination matches that of Chelsea and we are confident Andre's leadership of the team will result in greater successes in major domestic and European competitions."

Villas-Boas' contract with the Porto was terminated after they received payment of (euro) 15 million ($21.5 million) to trigger his release clause from the Portuguese champions.

With Villas-Boas having never managed in the Champions League, the appointment could be seen as a risk, given Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's desire to win Europe's premier club competition.

However, Villas-Boas is so highly rated that he has been dubbed by many as the "Mini-Mourinho," after the current Real Madrid coach who has been one of the most successful managers in Europe in recent years.

Chelsea is familiar with Villas-Boas following his spell as a scout for Mourinho at the club from 2004-07.

"Andre will bring his coaching experience back to a club he is already very familiar with, having previously worked here for three years," the Chelsea statement read.

"He has always been highly regarded at Chelsea and everyone here looks forward to welcoming him back and working with him."

Comparisons with Mourinho were reinforced last month when Villas-Boas emulated his mentor by winning the Europa League, the second-tier European competition which Mourinho lifted with Porto in 2003 in its UEFA Cup format.

Porto had already won the Portuguese league by then, sweeping to the title in an unbeaten campaign in his one and only season with the club.

He was previously coach at Portuguese side Academica for a year.

Claudio Ranieri, Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti have come and gone under Abramovich since he took over in 2003.

Chelsea went without silverware last season after it came second in the league and was eliminated by Manchester United in the semifinals of the Champions League.

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Roddick Eases Through To Wimbledon Second Round

LONDON: Three-time finalist Andy Roddick eased into the second round at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 over German qualifier Andreas Beck on Tuesday.

Roddick was never at his best against the gutsy Beck on Court One, but the American eighth seed's superior grasscourt skills eventually prevailed to set up a clash with either Jaroslav Pospisil or Victor Hanescu.

Finally feeling close to 100 percent after a shoulder injury forced him to miss the French Open, Roddick reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen's two weeks ago.

But the 28-year-old suffered one of the most comprehensive defeats of his career in the semis as he won just four games against Andy Murray.

Roddick, beaten by Roger Federer in all of his Wimbledon finals, had insisted that humbling loss wouldn't damage his confidence at the All England Club and he proved the point in a first round tie originally postponed on Monday due to rain.

Beck, ranked 156th, has never been past the second round of any Grand Slam and, although his lusty hitting caught Roddick off-guard at times, the result was rarely in doubt.

Roddick's formidable serve was working well enough and he sealed the first set with a break at 5-4.

The second set followed the same patten, with Roddick doing all the pressing and Beck fighting to stave off three break points at 3-4.

That only delayed the inevitable as Roddick took the set when his blistering return of serve forced Beck to net a volley.

Roddick, surprisingly beaten by Lu Yen-Hsun in the fourth round last year, quickly moved a break ahead in the third set and it wasn't long before he was serving out a comfortable victory.

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Ind Vs WI: India 91/3 At Stumps On Day 2, Lead By 164 Runs

KINGSTON: India moved into the ascendancy after the second day of the opening Test against West Indies on Tuesday, routing the hosts for 173 and then reaching 91/3 for an overall lead of 164 runs.

Scorecard | Match in Pics

Led by Rahul Dravid's resolute 45 not out in 2 hours, 40 minutes at Sabina Park that contained five boundaries, India are well placed to strike the first blow in the three-Test series.

Earlier, new ball partners Ishant Sharma (3-29) and Praveen Kumar (3-38) ripped through the hosts after they resumed on 34-1.

Spinners Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh had identical figures of 2-51 to run through the lower order.

West Indies opener Adrian Barath hit a sparkling 64 but no other batsman passed 30 as the hosts wasted a good opportunity in replying to India's modest 246.

The 6-foot-7 Sharma, who had claimed Lendl Simmons late on the first day, added a second wicket with his first ball of the day, trapping Ramnaresh Sarwan lbw for 3 after playing no stroke to an inswinger.

Barath and fellow Trinidadian Darren Bravo fought back gamely in a third-wicket stand of 56 before the 24-year-old Kumar, on debut, shifted the momentum.

Barath reached his 50 off 116 balls with his eighth four, a lofted on-drive off the leg-spin of Mishra. The pint-sized opener lashed the next ball into the stands in the same area.

But Kumar soon ended the blossoming partnership.

Running in with the George Headley Stand at his back, Kumar claimed Barath when he nibbled at an outswinger and was nicely caught by a diving Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps. Barath hit eight fours and a six off 122 balls in 169 minutes.

In his next over, Kumar removed the left-handed Bravo in similar fashion, Dhoni again claiming a nick to a tentative defensive stroke. Bravo struck two fours in 18 off 56 balls.

Kumar further reduced the West Indies to 102/5 when Brendan Nash (1) tried to whip through the leg side but sliced an edge to Suresh Raina at third slip.

The experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul and wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh revived the hosts after the lunch break, as Kumar suffered the ignominy of being removed from the attack for running on the pitch in his follow-through for the third time.

The pair carried their sixth-wicket stand to 45 before Harbhajan made the crucial breakthrough when Baugh was caught off pad and bat by silly point. The right-hander hit two fours and a six in 27 off 35 balls.

Captain Darren Sammy fell one run later when he tried to whip Sharma through the leg side and was bowled off his pads.

Harbhajan also claimed Chanderpaul, who spent 105 minutes compiling 23 off 75 balls. The left-hander was caught off a deflection to short leg from bat and pad to make it 152/8.

Ravi Rampaul (14 not out) tried to rally the tail but Mishra wrapped up the innings on the stroke of tea with the wickets of Fidel Edwards (7) and Devendra Bishoo (4) within three balls.

Edwards tried to cut a googly and edged to Dhoni, while Bishoo picked out midwicket with a pull shot.

West Indies hit back in the final session as Rampaul trapped Murali Vijay for a duck with a ball that kept a bit low.

Rampaul should have added the scalp of Dravid but the 151-Test veteran survived a chance on 6 when he was dropped at second slip by Sammy.

Dravid added 56 for the second wicket with opener Abhinav Mukund (25), who was also making his debut.

West Indies rebounded with two quick wickets as Bishoo claimed Mukund and Sammy held a fine return catch to remove VVS Laxman without scoring to make it 57/3.

But Dravid continued to show broad-batted certainty, steering the team to the close with Virat Kohli (14 not out), who survived a late bouncer barrage from Fidel Edwards.

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Obama Likely To Cut 10,000 Troops From Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama is expected to withdraw roughly 10,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, with about 5,000 forces leaving this summer and an additional 5,000 Americans coming home by the end of the year, a senior US defense official said on Tuesday.

Obama is also weighing a timetable for recalling the 20,000 other troops he ordered to Afghanistan as part of his December 2009 decision to send reinforcements to reverse the Taliban's battlefield momentum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the plans before Obama's formal announcement.

The White House said Obama would address the nation from the White House at 8 pm Wednesday.

Ahead of that announcement, Obama called defense secretary Robert Gates and secretary of state Hillary Clinton to the White House on Tuesday for an Afghanistan strategy session. Aides have said Obama wants to ensure that the drawdown set to begin next month puts the US on a path toward giving Afghans control of their own security by 2014.

A reduction this year totalling 10,000 troops would be the rough equivalent of two brigades, which are the main building blocks of an Army division. It's not clear whether Obama's decision would require the Pentagon to pull out two full brigades or, instead, a collection of smaller combat and support units with an equivalent number of troops.

Posted in: Breaking News

Today, Spider-Man Will Swing Away Into Eternity

PHILADELPHIA: The lights are going out for Peter Parker, the high school student bitten by a radioactive spider whose wall-crawling and web-slinging antics have made him a touchstone of Marvel Comics' universe of heroes and villains.

The publisher said on Tuesday that Parker's alter ego, Spider-Man, will die, finally succumbing to one of his most pernicious foes in the final issue of "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" due out Wednesday.

Fans of Spider-Man need not worry much, though, because the Ultimates imprint is separate from Marvel's bigger universe. Whatever fate may befall Ultimate Spider-Man won't count in the pages of the other series, including Amazing Spider-Man.

The death, while dramatic, is not entirely unexpected. In November, Marvel said that the Ultimate Spider-Man was going to face an uncertain fate in the latest storyline by writer Brian Michael Bendis fittingly titled

"The Death of Spider-Man", an eight-issue arc that saw the return of original series artist Mark Bagley. Bendis and Bagley had worked together on the series for 111 issues.

Bendis said that in issue No 160 Parker fights valiantly but will pass on, heroically, in a pitched fight. To whom?

"He will pass heroically, but he will die at the hands of the Green Goblin," Bendis said.

In Marvel's Ultimate Comics imprint, death is not something taken lightly. Characters in that universe are dead and gone, never to return. The roll of the deceased includes Magneto, Wasp and Wolverine.

Posted in: Breaking News

2 Killed In Blasts In Northwest Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Two persons were killed and three others injured as two bombs went off in the Khyber tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, police said.

The first blast was caused by a roadside bomb in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency in the morning, police officials and witnesses were quoted as saying by TV news channels.

A passer-by was killed by the explosion.

Within an hour, the second blast occurred in the same area near a check post manned by the Khasadar militia.

One member of the militia was killed and three more were injured.

The injured were taken to a hospital in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Security officials said a preliminary investigation had revealed that the second blast was triggered by remote control.

Security personnel blocked roads for a while and kept people away from the site of the attack.

Several militants groups, including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Islam, are active in Khyber Agency, the main supply route for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Posted in: Breaking News

Pak Minister Hints Osama Behind Benazir Murder

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik has revealed that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

"The assassins and perpetrators of Benazir Bhutto's murder have been identified. Some have been arrested while others have been declared proclaimed offenders," 'The Daily Times' quoted Malik, as saying.

"If party leadership will allow, I will disclose who they were, where the plan was prepared and how they came to Rawalpindi," he added.

Malik said that since the matter was subjudice he would not comment any further on the case.

Benazir was assassinated in a gun and bomb attack as she was leaving Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi after addressing a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rally on December 27, 2007.

It came two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate.

The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.

Posted in: Breaking News

Mexico Nabs Leader Of Cult-Like La Familia Cartel

MEXICO CITY: Federal authorities apprehended the leader of the cult-like, pseudo-Christian La Familia cartel on Tuesday, saying they had dealt a debilitating blow to a major organized crime group that terrorized western Mexico.

Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, alias El Chango, or "The Monkey," was arrested in the central state of Aguascalientes without confrontation or casualties, said federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire.

"With this arrest, what remained of the structure of this criminal organization has been destroyed," Poire told a news conference.

With the death of La Familia's founder and leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in December, Poire said Mendez was "the last remaining head of a criminal group responsible for homicides, kidnappings, extortion, corruption and even cowardly attacks on the authorities and the civilian population."

But the leadership of a violent splinter group, known as the Knights Templar, remains at large.

President Felipe Calderon personally lauded the arrest on his Twitter account, calling it a "big blow" to organized crime. The cartel was born in Calderon's home state of Michoacan in 2006, prompting him to deploy thousands of federal police there and warning that La Familia was corrupting local officials, extorting businesses and terrorizing the population.

According to the reward statement issued by the Attorney General's Office, Mendez was "responsible for the transfer and sale of cocaine, marijuana, crystal methamphetamine in various states of Mexico and the United States of America. He is the alleged mastermind of kidnappings and killings, mainly of members of other criminal organizations."

The government had offered a $2.5 million reward for his capture.

La Familia first appeared four years when it rolled five severed heads into a Michoacan nightclub, vowing to protect local citizens from rival cartels.

Moreno - the group's founder - set a code of conduct for its members that prohibited the use of hard drugs or dealing them within Mexican territory, even as they gruesomely decapitated foes and sold cocaine and methamphetamine by the ton.

"They believe they are doing God's work, and pass out Bibles and money to the poor," according to a US Drug Enforcement Administration profile. "La Familia Michoacana also gives money to school and local officials."

Moreno was killed in December during two days of shootouts between his gang and federal police. After his death, the group split into warring factions, causing increased bloodshed in the state in western Mexico.

Mendez was believed to have remained the leader of the La Familia faction, according to federal police, while messages appeared in March that the Knights Templar sought to replace La Familia.

That name alludes to a Christian order of knights founded in 1118 in Jerusalem to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land after the First Crusade.

A former La Familia leader, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, is believed to lead the Knights Templar, federal police say.

Poire told reporters that with Mendez's arrest, 21 of the country's 37 top drug traffickers have been apprehended or killed since 2009.

More than 35,000 people have died in drug violence since, according to government figures. Local media say the number is closer to 40,000.

Posted in: Breaking News

Greek PM George Papandreou Survives Confidence Vote In Parliament

ATHENS: The Greek prime minister survived a crucial confidence vote early Wednesday, keeping alive a government dedicated to averting a debt default that could spark a financial maelstrom around the world.

Lawmakers voted 155 to 143 along party lines to back Prime Minister George Papandreou, who now faces a critical vote next week on a massive austerity package that Greece's international creditors have said must pass by the end of June.

He is seeking (euro) 28 billion ($40.24 billion) in budget cuts and new taxes and (euro) 50 billion worth of privatization of public assets. Unless the new measures pass, Greece will not receive the next batch of bailout funds, worth (euro) 12 billion, and will face a disastrous default in July, when it runs out of money.

A default by Greece could drag down Greek and European banks and renew fears over the finances of other eurozone countries such as Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

Papandreou must still convince all the lawmakers from his Socialist party to support the austerity bill, which has provoked strikes, riots and a slump in his popularity. While all 155 Socialists voted in favor of the confidence motion, several have publicly criticized the austerity measures and at least one has said he will not back them.

After the vote, riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to push back a group of about 200 protesters who had broken off from a main rally of several thousand to throw bottles and other objects at the police lines guarding Parliament.

"We will do everything in our power to end the state of insecurity Greek families face and exit this crisis in a safe way. We have a plan, we have prospects," Papandreou said during a debate before his victory. "Regardless of the panic caused by some, we are on an organized course, helped by the international community with massive loans - the largest every given in the history of our planet."

Papandreou's government came to the brink of collapse last week as protesters rioted on the streets of Athens, two party rebels resigned their parliamentary seats and talks with the opposition conservatives over forming a pro-austerity coalition government fell apart. In response, he reshuffled his Cabinet, replaced his increasingly unpopular finance minister with a party heavyweight - his main internal rival - and called for the confidence vote.

European officials have been pressing opposition leader Antonis Samaras to back the austerity bill, which will run to 2015, two years beyond the current government's mandate. But Samaras has insisted the thinking behind it is wrong, saying it is keeping Greece in a recession. He has called for a renegotiation of the initial bailout deal.

Papandreou's losing the confidence vote would have likely led to early elections and thrown into question whether Greece could pass the new austerity measures. Expectations he would win lifted world markets earlier in the day.

As deputies voted, several thousand protesters gathered outside Parliament chanting "Thieves! thieves!", shining green laser lights at the parliament building and into the eyes of riot police protecting it. Continuing strikes by electricity company workers objecting to privatization caused a second day of rolling blackouts.

"I understand the anger, the fear, and the question whether we will make it," Papandreou said. "My answer is that we have been making it every day for the last 20 months, with difficulties and mistakes, with a price to pay and with sacrifices but we are succeeding."

Greece is being kept financially afloat by a (euro) 110 billion ($157 billion) package of bailout loans granted by other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund last year, and has implemented strict austerity measures in return, cutting public sector salaries and pensions, increasing taxes and overhauling its welfare system.

But the country has struggled to meet it targets, missing many, and is now in negotiations for a second bailout, which Papandreou has said will be roughly the same size as the first.

Officials from the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank who have been overseeing Greece's reforms were in Athens Wednesday to discuss the new austerity measures.

On Tuesday the new finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, promised that parliament will pass the unpopular austerity package by the end of June.

"We must follow this course to save the country," Venizelos said.

"Our European partners ... face us with distrust," he said. "This is an atmosphere that we have to change."

Papandreou's popularity has been hammered by the latest austerity measures, with an opinion poll published Tuesday giving the Socialists a 20.1 percent approval rating. Rival conservatives fared marginally better, at 21 percent, in the GPO survey for private Mega television of 1,000 adults. No margin of error was given.

Posted in: Breaking News

Pakistan Optimistic About Progress At Talks With India

A day before foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan meet in Islamabad, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik is hopeful that there will be some progress in bilateral relations.

Speaking to Headlines Today, Shahid Malik said that he was expecting a movement forward in the Thimpu spirit. Several confidence building measures will be discussed in Islamabad.

"We expect some progress in the Thimpu spirit. Conventional and nuclear CBMs are on the table," Malik told Headlines Today.

As a goodwill gesture before the talks, India sent back six Pakistani prisoners after they were released from different jails.

All the prisoners were released at Joint Check Post of Attari international border and they crossed over to Pakistan through the land transit route on the basis of 'Emergency Travel Certificate' issued by the Delhi-based Pakistan High Commission.

They were arrested after they crossed over to Indian territory without passport and visa, officials said.

The repatriated prisoners are Mohammad Naran released from Palra jail of Bhuj in Gujarat, Mohammad Arshad released from a jail in Rajasthan, Asgar Ali released from Bikaner jail in Rajasthan, and Iqbal Sadiq, Nasir Ullah and Amjad Ali were released from three different jails of Punjab, an official at Attari border said.

Naran has spent fifteen years behind the bars in India since Pakistan was not confirming his antecedents, the official said.

Posted in: Breaking News