India vs Sri Lanka, 5th ODI: SL struggling

"Sri Lanka chose to bat first after winning the toss against India in the 5th ODI at the Premdasa Stadium in Colombo. Scorecard However, their progress came to nought as the Indian bowlers kept a tight leash on things. Jayasuriya departed early to a delivery from Zaheer Khan...

Bombings kill 43 in Baghdad, Kirkuk

Gunmen ambushed Shiite pilgrims in the a Sunni town south of Baghdad Monday. The pilgrims were marching to a major shrine there for a religious holiday.The area is a former stronghold of Al Qaeda in Iraq and was touted as one of the success stories of the US military surge,...

Is Sean Taylor's Death A Curse Of The Canes?

"Some are even starting to consider it the Curse of the 'Canes — an ominous karma hanging over one of the nation's most brashly successful (five national championships since 1983) but controversial big-time college football programs, one that has long seemed a magnet for...

Still taboo after all these years: Japan's new imperial heir and the media

"In late August, just over a week before Princess Kiko gave birth, Newsweek Japan commissioned this freelance journalist to contribute an article on the succession issue. With most of the country expecting a baby boy, the remit was to write a 'very outspoken, opinionated'...

Aging Saudi king reforms rules of succession (AFP)

" RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah has set new rules for determining the future succession in the vast but aging royal family, in a bid to avoid unseemly wrangles in the world's biggest oil producer. The new rules do not apply to the king, who is in his mid-80s, or to...

Koizumi's Patriotism Isolating Japan: Pilgrimages to the Shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose term runs out this month, has been feted for his reform program which hauled the country's economy out of stagnation. But his patriotic stance has isolated Japan among its Asian neighbors and his successor is likely to adopt an...

Japan's Princess Kiko gives birth to boy (AP)

" TOKYO - Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to a boy early Wednesday, providing the centuries-old Chrysanthemum Throne with its first male heir in more than 40 years and defusing a looming succession crisis. The birth came minutes after Kiko, 39, underwent a Caesarean...

'Peaceful transfer' of power to Cuba - Times Online

" By Thomas Catan CUBA has begun a peaceful succession of power from Fidel Castro, a Cuban official said yesterday, confounding US hopes that his regime would collapse. The US “had not expected that a peaceful succession was possible,” Roberto Fernández Retamar...