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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed the Premier League champions are close to signing Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea. Speaking after Gary...

PARIS - Defending French champions Marseille fought back from behind to win 2-1 at Montpellier on Sunday and close to within a single point of faltering league leaders Lille. Lyon's title hopes took a blow, however, as they were thwarted by Paris Saint-Germain, who beat them 1-0 to close to within a point of their third-placed opponents and rivals for the final Champions League qualifying place. Lille's 1-1 draw at home to Bordeaux on Saturday had given Marseille the opportunity to

AJDABIYA - Libyan regime forces pounded rebels with heavy artillery west of Ajdabiya on Sunday, forcing hundreds of residents and some fighters to flee, as a refugee rescue operation in Misrata was underway.
"Gaddafi's forces approached the city, they bombed the western gate. The sound of the guns are coming closer, that's why many are leaving," said Omar Salim. Another civilian, 48-year-old Milud Ghait, appealed NATO to launch air strikes on the area.

MADRID - Barcelona took a giant stride towards a third straight La Liga title when they drew 1-1 at 10-man Real Madrid on Saturday to preserve their eight-point lead over their arch rivals at the top with six games left.
In a tense encounter at a packed Bernabeu, the first of four clashes between the teams in three competitions in 18 days, Lionel Messi put Barca ahead from the spot in the 53rd minute after Raul Albiol was sent off for a foul on David Villa.
The champions

ISLAMABAD - The water level in Tarbela Dam dropped almost to dead level of 1378 feet on Saturday, only about 0.88 feet high.
According to data released by Indus River System Authority (IRSA) here, the maximum water level in River Indus at Tarbela was 1378.88 feet which was only 0.88 feet above its dead level of 1378 feet. Water inflow in the dam was recorded as 20,700 cusecs and outflow was 30,000 cusecs. The water level at River Jhelum at Mangla was 1089.70 feet which is 49.70

PARIS - A composed Wayne Rooney netted a potentially priceless goal as Manchester United earned a 1-0 Champions League quarter-final, first leg victory at Chelsea, while Barcelona thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 in Spain.
Rooney had come under fire -- and earned a two-match ban, along with front-page headlines -- for a foul-mouthed tirade at television cameras after scoring his hat-trick in a 4-2 win over West Ham last week.
After firing home decisively at Stamford Bridge, the

KARACHI - Pasban Karachi President Usman Moazzam's nephew was abducted from near his house in Gulshan-e-Hadeed on Saturday. Moazzam said that Aazib Imtiaz Qudwai was kidnapped because he has close ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). Aazib's father Nafees Qudwai said, "My son and I were on our way to the mosque to offer the Fajr prayer when an Indus Corolla without a number plate collided with him. Three men carrying weapons got out of the car, forced him into the vehicle and drove

KARACHI - The Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Saturday claimed to have arrested Jan Muhammad alias Jaanu, a close aide of Ghaffar Zikri.
The detainee was reportedly picked up from the Manghopir Road with two TT pistols and two hand grenades.
The CID received information that a gangster from Lyari was seen near the Shahzad Cinema located at the Manghopir Road, following which a raid was carried out in the area. Jan Muhammad was arrested after a brief encounter with

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE - The cable operators across the country on Saturday went on strike for a 24-hour strike against the reported confiscation of their equipments by different teams of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) in different parts of the country.
All the operators shut their operations in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and other areas. However, there were reports that some cable operators in small

HAFIZABAD - The city police have arrested Karam Dad Bhatti, a close friend of the Bank of Punjab former president Hamaish Khan over his alleged involvement in a fraud case. According to details, the police have apprehended Karam Dad Bhatti in a fraud case of Rs 50 million on the complaint of Bank of Punjab Hafizabad Manager Rana Muhammad Saleem. The manager also nominated him in another fraud case of Rs 39.7 million. The police arrested him formally and sent him to jail. It was told

KARACHI - Political committees failed to make any tangible progress on the economic reforms agenda and a further delay in announcement of PPP's strategy to address pressure by PML-N has continued to hurt investor sentiment. Following yesterday's $3.1 million outflow, foreign funds were rumoured sellers.
Local investors also remained bearish, as deteriorating internal and external political situation took its toll on the investors. The KSE-100 index, with a loss of 125.96 points,

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan and Britain are tied in a historic and deep friendly relations and Britain is Pakistan's largest investor. He said that UK has always supported democracy in Pakistan adding that establishment of the British Overseas Pakistanis Office will help resolve the problems of UK-based Pakistanis.
He was talking to media on the occasion of launching of British Overseas Pakistanis Office, here today. Chairperson of the

COMMENT - The 14-team 10th edition of the cricket World Cup 2011 will kick off on Feb. 19, with the inaugural match between India and Bangladesh at Mirpur. The three-times on the trot defending champions Australians are no longer the team to beat. Their vulnerability has thrown this World Cup wide open, with no clear cut favourites, though some believe that India and Sri Lanka have the edge owing to home advantage.
But there are sides like South Africa, England, Australia and,

JUBA - Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese voters chose secession from the north in a referendum, according to preliminary results published on Friday with tallies from two outstanding states.
With 3,197,038 ballots counted, 98.6 percent had voted to break away in the January 9-15 referendum and become the world's newest nation, partial results posted on the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission website showed. Partial results from the last two states that had not yet published

ISLAMABAD - Following MQM's decision to quit the coalition government, the PML-N has said that it will adhere to a wait and see policy before making a final decision over the latest political development.
The PML-N, the second largest party in the House with 91 MPs, said it had not yet decided if it would support a no-confidence move against the prime minister. "No decision will be made in haste," said MNA Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for the PML-N. He said the party leadership "is

CENTURION: The legend of Sachin Tendulkar continued to grow on Sunday as the Indian batting maestro hit his 50th Test century and shared a remarkable partnership with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the fourth day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park.
It was almost certainly not enough to save his team from defeat, with India finishing the day on 454 for eight in their second innings, still 30 runs short of making South Africa bat again.
But it was an

PERTH - Mike Hussey produced a sparkling century before Australia's pace bowlers destroyed England's top order to push the hosts to the brink of a series-levelling victory on day three of third Ashes test in Perth.
The 35-year-old Hussey's composed 116, as his batting partners fell like dominoes, propelled Australia's second innings to 309 and set England a mammoth 391-run chase with two days to play.
England began their chase disastrously by losing five wickets after tea to