Federer can play until he is 60 : Nastase

Roger Federer should play until he is 60 if he wants to, according to Romanian former world number one Ilie Nastase.

The Swiss 17-times Grand Slam champion has slipped down to sixth in the world rankings and won only one title this year, prompting many to suggest he is a spent force at 32.

Nastase the former bad boy of tennis, believes Federer should not listen to the naysayers, however.

"I wish people wouldn't say that Roger Federer has to retire," the 67-year-old former French Open and US Open champion was quoted as saying in Romanian media.

"I think he should play for as long as he wants.

"I don't agree with those people who say that you should retire when you're past your absolute best or prime.

"No, Federer doesn't have to prove anything, he can play to 60 if he wants to."

Federer, who has spent a record 302 weeks as world number one during his illustrious career, is still one of the biggest draws in tennis, according to Nastase, even if he has fallen behind players such as Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

"If Federer wants to carry on playing, no-one is going to say: 'No, we don't want Federer to play'.

"He is going to retire when he feels like it. I don't think that he has to retire just because he is no longer the world number one. That happens to everybody, as you can't stay as the world number one forever. He retires whenever."

Nastase himself retired from the Tour at the age of 39 but continued playing invitational seniors events into his 60s.

Rare diplodocus dinosaur sells for $650,000

The skeleton of a diplodocus dinosaur that roamed what is now the United States some 160 million years ago was sold for 400,000 pounds ($651,100) to an unidentified public institution at an auction in Britain on Wednesday.

Misty, as the dinosaur was nicknamed, will later be put on public display, the auctioneers said.

It was found by the teenage sons of German dinosaur hunter Raimund Albersdoerfer in Dana quarry in Wyoming, in the western United States.

The auctioneers, Summers Place Auction, declined to disclose any details about the buyer, who wished to remain anonymous.

"Finding a reasonably complete diplodocus of this size is extremely rare," Errol Fuller, a natural history expert and curator of the sale, told Reuters by telephone from West Sussex in England. "They are only ever really found by luck."

The remains of the 17-metre (56 ft) female are among the few more or less complete skeletons of diplodocus longus ever found. The sons of the German paleontologist came across Misty's fossilised bones after their father sent them to hunt another area because they were distracting him from his own search.

"The children wanted to find their own bits and pieces, so he sent them where he thought they might find a few fragments but nothing really important, and they came back saying that they had found this enormous bone," Fuller said.

Since the discovery was made on private rather than Federal land, it was possible for the German paleontologist to remove the fossils from the United States. They were sent to Holland, where they were cleaned and assembled, and then to the UK, where Misty was sold to the owner who is about to take her to her new home.

$1 = 0.6144 British pounds

'I don't need Ballon d'Or to know I'm the best'

The Swedish striker has been in superb form this year for Paris St Germain, scoring eight goals in this season's Champions League - as many as Real Madrid's Ronaldo - to help the French side ease into the last 16.

The Portugal forward, however, has emerged as favourite for the FIFA-Ballon d'Or award after netting a hat-trick for his country in a 3-2 defeat of Sweden in last week's World Cup playoff second leg, qualifying his country for the 2014 finals.

French winger Ribery helped Bayern Munich secure a treble last season and was early favourite for the award, won three times in a row by Barcelona's Lionel Messi, until Ronaldo garnered some late support for his performances with Portugal.

"I don't need the Ballon d'Or to know I'm the best," Ibrahimovic, who played a key role in PSG's Ligue 1 title triumph last season, told reporters on Wednesday.

"It matters more to some players."

Ibrahimovic scored his 39th Champions League goal on Wednesday as PSG won their group with a game to spare by beating Olympiakos 2-1 at the Parc des Princes.

No Swede has ever won the Ballon d'Or or the FIFA player of the year award but that statistic is unlikely to cause Ibrahimovic to lose any sleep.

"It's not something I think about and it is something that is not important for me," he said.

The former Barcelona and AC Milan striker showed how much of an asset he can be all over the pitch on Wednesday, taking on his share of defensive duties when PSG were reduced to 10 men following Marco Verratti's dismissal early in the second half.

"I was really tired," he said after being replaced by defender Marquinhos in the 79th minute.

"Helping the team defend or attack is my job. You have to think about the team first."

The French champions, who visit Benfica in the final group game next month, lead Ligue 1 on 34 points from 14 games ahead of Sunday's home game against Olympique Lyon.

Church of England proposes celebrating gay marriage

Church of England clergy would be able to recognize and celebrate same-sex marriages and partnerships in church services under proposals unveiled on Thursday that strengthen the church's more open approach to homosexuality.

The proposals come after the mother church for the world's 80 million Anglicans earlier this year dropped its ban on gay clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops.

One of 18 recommendations put forward by a two-year working group suggested clergy should "be able to offer appropriate services to mark a faithful same-sex relationship".

The group, which had its dissenters, also said the church should warmly welcome and affirm "the presence within the church of gay and lesbian people both lay and ordained".

"The church's teaching on sexuality is in tension with contemporary social attitudes, not only for gay and lesbian Christians but for straight Christians too," noted the report that will now be discussed by key groups in the church.

The spiritual head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has acknowledged there has been a "revolution" in attitudes towards homosexuality and that the church's stance against gay marriage could be seen as out-of-step with public opinion.

Parliament approved same-sex marriage earlier this year, despite opposition from several religious groups and Conservative legislators, allowing gay couples to marry in England from 2014.

FIFA uphold Ukraine racism ban

FIFA on Wednesday said they had thrown out an appeal by Ukraine against a stadium ban imposed in the wake of racist incidents during their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.
In a statement, global football’s governing body said an appeal hearing upheld in its entirety a decision handed down by the FIFA disciplinary body on September 27.
As a result, fans will be banned from Ukraine’s first home game when the 2018 World Cup qualifiers kick off in 2016.
Ukraine are also barred from playing any of their 2018 World Cup qualifiers in the Arena Lviv, scene of the incidents.

Winter storm lashes eastern US

Mark Swigart, 41, uses a leaf blower to remove snow from the sidewalks along Grandview Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

A powerful storm dumped heavy rain and snow over much of the eastern United States on Tuesday, threatening to snarl travel plans for millions of people over the busy Thanksgiving holiday, forecasters said.
The Atlantic coast into New England will be drenched with 2 to 4 inches of rain by late Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, as the storm moves northeast out of the South, said the National Weather Service. on Tuesday
The windswept rain will pound the Atlantic corridor from Richmond, Virginia, as far north as Portland, Maine, likely causing poor visibility, flight delays and urban flooding, said online forecasters Accuweather.com.The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the nation’s busiest travel times. Some 39 million travellers are expected on the roads between Wednesday and Sunday, cantering on Thanksgiving Day, travel group AAA has said.
‘The timing of the storm could not come at a worst time,’ said Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather.com senior meteorologist.
Snow on the flanks of the rainstorm is likely to cause travel delays in Boston, Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York, while the storm’s wind-driven rain will slow travel from Atlanta to New York, Accuweather.com said.

China flying ‘rabbit’ to moon

China will land its first probe on the moon in early December which will deploy a buggy to explore its surface, an official said on Tuesday, marking a major milestone in the country's space ambitions.

China has already photographed the surface of the moon to prepare for the landing, said a spokesman for the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, the Chang'e One orbiter, named after a lunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analyzed the distribution of elements.

The lunar explorer buggy was named "Yutu" in a public vote. "Yutu" means jade rabbit, a reference to Chang'e pet rabbit in folklore.

"Chang'e Three's mission requires mastering many key technologies. The technical difficulties and the risks involved in carrying out the mission will be high," spokesman Wu Zhijian told a news conference, carried live on state television.

"In taking on the mission to land on the moon, Chang'e Three will help China fulfill it's lunar exploration dream, it's space dream and the Chinese dream," said Wu.

Scientists will aim to carry out a soft landing and the buggy will rove around on the moon's surface. Scientists will also and test deep space communication technologies, Wu added.

Advancing China's space program has been a priority for the leadership, with President Xi Jinping calling for China to establish itself as a space superpower.

Scientists have discussed the possibility of sending a man to the moon some time after 2020.

China successfully completed its latest manned space mission in June, when three astronauts spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space laboratory critical in Beijing's quest to build a working space station by 2020.

China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia, which decades ago learned the docking techniques China is only now mastering.

Russia successfully carried out its first soft landing of a lunar probe in 1966.

Beijing insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities and said it was pursuing a variety of activities aimed at preventing its adversaries from using space-based assets during a crisis.

China says it will share the technological achievements of its manned space program with other nations, especially developing ones, and will offer to train astronauts from other countries.

Time for farming!

Surrounded by rows of kale and collard greens, Bill Shick ticks off statistics about yields and the man-hours it takes to harvest the leafy green vegetables.

What he can't tell you is what he would sell it for - because it will all be given away by the Chester County Food Bank in its efforts to grow food for the needy. The fresh produce programme gives low-sodium, low-sugar foods to the poorest Americans year-round, including during the holiday season often associated with canned-food drives.

"We picked a thousand pounds this weekend and we'll do another thousand next week," Shick, the food bank's agricultural director said, while standing in a greenhouse where the programme grows seedlings in a suburban Philadelphia park.

Chester County is among about 20 food banks across the country that have started their own farms to boost healthier eating by the needy, said Domenic Vitiello, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied food pantry agricultural operations.

Low-income Americans are a demographic often plagued by diet-related ailments such as diabetes and heart disease.

Chester County Food Bank opened about five years ago, springing from the ashes of a similar programme that relied on nearby Amish farmers. It was started explicitly with the goal of distributing food straight from the field.

Canned food that is often donated to food banks because of its long shelf life is typically higher in sodium, which the American Heart Association says may increase risk for heart failure. People with diabetes also are encouraged to limit the sodium in their daily diet to 1,500 mg to help prevent or control high blood pressure, according to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

"The cans we've gotten in through the years - it's not the healthiest stuff," said Larry Welsch, Chester County Food Bank's executive director. "I've gotten cans of pickled cactus with 2,800 (milli) grams of sodium."

Contributing Through Volunteering

"When we formed this food bank," Welsch said, "it wasn't going to be cans in, cans out."

The farming effort has offered the public new ways to contribute to the food pantry.

"People are very excited to volunteer in the field," Shick said. "It isn't stuffing envelopes and putting cans in a box."

In three growing houses in Chester County's Springton Manor Farm park, the food bank cultivates seedlings for its partners, including private farmers and corporations such as Endo Health Solutions and Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group. Some schools use the seedlings to grow vegetables for student lunches, others raise their own crops in horticulture and culinary programs, and donate to the food bank what they do not use.

The charity grows food on more than a dozen acres spread across multiple sites. To supplement its crop yield, the food bank buys from a farm auction in nearby Lancaster County.

Fresh produce makes up about 22 percent of the edibles the Chester County Food Bank distributes. It ranks sixth-highest in the nation for the amount of fresh produce it distributes as a percentage of all the food it gives out, according to statistics compiled by a University of Pennsylvania researcher.

Growing produce allows food banks to distribute a wider variety, including leafy greens, Shick said.

But it also means footing the expense of buying commercial refrigerators and refrigerated trucks, said Ross Fraser, a spokesman for the non-profit Feeding America. Those costly hurdles have slowed the transition of food cupboards away from canned goods able to last for months in church basements and toward often more nutritious, but perishable food.

Nationwide, most food bank agricultural programs are still in the experimental stages, but they share some characteristics, Vitiello said. They are usually located in wealthier areas because of the start-up expense, and they tend to have educational components that can be just as important as feeding people.

Chester County is Pennsylvania's wealthiest, with an economy buoyed by the pharmaceutical industry. But it also has pockets of poverty, particularly in the Kennett Square area, where there are numerous migrant farm workers who pick mushrooms; and Coatesville, a city whose fortunes have declined as a local steel mill closed and then re-opened with fewer jobs.

Food bank farming programmes have important roles to play in educating people to cook and use healthier food, Vitiello said.

"When these programmes are training low-income people in learning how to produce their own food, they're playing a different role in the food system and promoting food justice," Vitiello said.

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Mass evacuation ordered

Mount Sinabung sinabung spews volcanic material as seen from Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Sunday.

Indonesia ordered the evacuation of 15,000 residents near an active volcano in the west of the vast archipelago on Sunday as authorities raised the alert for the emergency to the highest level.
Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra has become increasingly active in recent months, spewing columns of ash several km into the air.
Authorities expanded the evacuation radius to 5 km from 3 km and the military geared up to move residents out. About 6,000 have already been evacuated from the area, 88 km from Medan, capital of North Sumatra province.
No casualties were reported as the status of the volcano was raised from ‘standby’ to ‘caution’. ‘We have raised the status to ‘caution’, which is the highest of levels for volcanic activity because we anticipate there will be more eruptions and because the intensity of eruptions has been increasing,’ the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said in a statement.
Sinabung is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in the world’s fourth-most populated country, which straddles the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’.The most deadly eruption in recent years was of Mount Merapi in 2010, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. More than 350 people were killed.

Xbox's bid for the living room

From the gladiator characters to the zombies featured in its games, Microsoft pulled out the stops for the splashy New York debut of the Xbox One.

The console will battle Sony's juiced up PlayStation 4, which launched 7 days earlier and undercut Xbox by $100.

Analysts say the new hardware from the industry titans could revive the sector's declining sales.

It's been eight years since the last Xbox, and gamer Hanoi Delosangeles waited 36 hours in line to be first to buy it.

He said, "I was tired but it was worth the wait. You had to sacrifice a little bit. But it was worth it."

Both consoles are faster and more powerful than their predecessors, and they allow users to stream videos, watch sports and share gameplay experiences via social media.

But Microsoft is marketing Xbox as the central entertainment hub in living rooms, while Sony is focusing on the gaming aspect.

BMO senior analyst Edward Williams says the $499 Xbox won't become the hub. "I don't see it playing well in households that don't have a gamer in it."

Here at this GameStop store in New York City, the manager says first day store traffic was similar for both the new Xbox and Playstation. But several polls show buyers prefer the PlayStation. Sony sold one million PS 4s in North America on day one.

Williams says PS4 has the edge in the short run, partly because it doesn't include the Xbox's Kinect motion sensor that does away with controllers.

The Managing Director of BMO Capital Markets said, "Conversations I've had with gamers is that they don't want Kinect. They don't want to be forced to pay more for the Kinect camera. They also point out to me that PS 4 is a more powerful box, so it's $100 cheaper and more powerful."

Good luck if you want one. He predicts both consoles will be mostly sold out through the end of the year.

UN talks limp towards global 2015 climate

Almost 200 countries on Saturday kept alive hopes for a global deal in 2015 to fight climate change after overcoming disputes on greenhouse gas emissions cuts and aid for poor nations at a meeting widely criticised as lacking urgency.

Governments agreed in Poland that a new deal in 2015 would consist of a patchwork of national contributions to curb emissions that could blur a 20-year-old distinction between the obligations of rich and poor nations.

The two-week meeting also created a Warsaw International Mechanism to help the poor cope with loss and damage from heatwaves, droughts, floods, desertification and rising sea levels - although rich nations refused to pledge new cash.

Many said Warsaw had fallen short of what was needed.

"We did not achieve a meaningful outcome," said Naderev Sano, a Philippines delegate who had been fasting throughout the talks to urge action in sympathy with victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,000 people.

No major nation offered tougher action to slow rising world greenhouse gas emissions and Japan backtracked from its carbon goals for 2020, after shutting down its nuclear industry after the Fukushima disaster.

GREEN PROTEST

Environmentalists walked out on Thursday, exasperated by lack of progress. Rich nations are preoccupied with reviving their weak economies rather than climate change.

"It is abundantly clear that we still have a long way to go," said Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief.

Negotiators were on course for a 2015 summit in Paris but not on track for limiting global warming to an agreed ceiling of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to avoid dangerous change, she said.

In September, the UN panel of climate experts raised the probability that man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, were the main cause of warming since 1950 to 95 percent, from 90 in a previous assessment.

Delegates in Warsaw agreed that a new global deal, due to be struck in Paris in 2015 and to enter into force from 2020, would be made up of what they called "intended nationally determined contributions" from both rich and poor nations.

Until now, rich nations that have emitted most greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution have been expected to take the lead with "commitments" to cut emissions while the poor have been granted less stringent "actions".

"In the old system you had this firewall between commitments and actions, now there is one word for all," European Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said. "There are many ways to Paris that would be more beautiful and faster."

But developing nations said the rich still needed to lead. "In my understanding the firewall exists and will continue to exist," India's Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said.

Either way, US climate envoy Todd Stern said there would be no coercion. "It is not like someone is going to stand over you with a club and tell you what to do," he said.

The Warsaw deal called on those nations able to do so to put forward their plans for curbs on emissions by the first quarter of 2015 to give time for a review before a summit in Paris at the end of the year.

Under the last climate pact, the Kyoto Protocol, only the most developed countries were required to limit their emissions - one of the main reasons the United States refused to accept it, saying rapidly growing economies like China and India should also take part.

Until Saturday, the only concrete measure to have emerged in Warsaw was an agreement on new rules to protect tropical forests, which soak up carbon dioxide as they grow.

Developed nations, which promised in 2009 to raise aid to $100 billion a year after 2020 from $10 billion a year in 2010-12, rejected calls to set targets for 2013-19.

A draft text merely urged developed nations to set "increasing levels" of aid.

Sharapova takes on Groeneveld as coach

Four-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has hired Sven Groeneveld as her new coach for the 2014 season.

The Russian world number four made the announcement on her Facebook page on Thursday after being without a coach since parting ways with Jimmy Connors in August.

Connors lasted just a month after joining the 26-year-old following the Wimbledon tournament in July.

"I'm happy to announce my official partnership with Sven Groeneveld," Sharapova wrote.

"We've been working together since I got back on the court and after seeing him on the opposing side for so many years, I'm excited to have him become a part of my team.

"It has been a very seamless transition and I have had a lot of fun with the hard work we have put in so far. Looking forward to the year ahead."Groeneveld has previously worked with other top players in Monica Seles, Mary Pierce and Ana Ivanovic.

Sharapova withdrew from the US Open with a shoulder injury and has not played since.

She is scheduled to return to competition at the Brisbane International tournament as she finalises her preparations for the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam.

I always found it hard to train: Tendulkar

It’s not even a week since Sachin Tendulkar called time on his international career but the one thing that the Little Master will not miss is getting up for training every day!
Contrary to popular belief, Tendulkar revealed that he ‘always found it difficult to train’, reports TNN.
‘I believed I could just pick up the bat and I should not worry about running laps and all that. I didn’t really enjoy doing all those things but I knew that without all those things there was no survival. I had to do it so (I would) just run for the heck of it,’ Tendulkar told a TV channel.
The maestro said that running between the 22 yards during an innings was enough exercise for him.
‘I always thought that, you know, if I’m running then I should be scoring runs. If I’m not scoring runs then what’s the point of running? So I thought playing different sports was the best form of training because I like playing tennis, I like playing badminton. I like playing table tennis, a bit of football. You know, all those things and while doing that, if I’m running I don’t mind,’ the champion batsman added.
Tendulkar has been overwhelmed by the support and love of the fans during his farewell series against the West Indies. But for the ‘god’ of Indian cricket, it has been difficult to live up to fans’ expectations.
‘It’s difficult to live up to people’s expectations. There comes a time that you have to figure out what is it that I am capable of, what is it that I want for myself... my dream was to win the World Cup for India. We came very close to winning in 2003, we lost in the finals. I thought there was another chance for us in 1996 when we lost in the semis. And finally in Mumbai, the World Cup was actually in my hands and that is what I wanted. When that actually turned into reality, life was different.’
Talking about his final week of international cricket, Tendulkar said, ‘I think from the time I announced my retirement on October 10, things have been different. Wherever I went people wanted to express their feelings about me and say thank you very much for whatever you have done for the nation.’

Oil pipeline blasts kill 35 in China

Damaged vehicles lie by a street after an oil pipeline exploded, ripping roads apart, turning cars over and sending thick black smoke billowing over the city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong province on Friday

Leaked oil from a ruptured pipeline in an eastern Chinese port city exploded Friday, killing at least 35 people, injuring 166 and contaminating the nearby sea in one the country’s worst industrial accidents of the year, authorities said.
The leaked oil triggered two huge blasts, one of them tearing up concrete along a city road in Qingdao. Photos posted online showed ripped slabs of pavement, bodies, overturned vehicles and shattered windows in nearby buildings. Black smoke rose above gigantic fuel silos and darkened much of the sky.
The pipeline owned by China’s largest oil refiner, Sinopec, ruptured early Friday and leaked for about 15 minutes onto a street and into the sea before it was shut off. Hours later, as workers cleaned up the spill, the oil caught fire and exploded in two locations, the city government said.
Authorities ruled out the possibility of terrorism, but the incident remained under investigation, it said.
Calls to Sinopec’s headquarters in Beijing were not immediately answered, but the oil giant issued a statement online, offering condolences to victims.

China will break 'firewall': Lee

China's rulers will ultimately take it upon themselves to dismantle the "great firewall" that limits its people's access to the Internet because doing so will boost China's economy, the inventor of the World Wide Web said.

In an interview about his World Wide Web Foundation's rankings of the way 81 countries manage the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, also scolded the United States for undermining the Internet's foundations with its surveillance programmes.

Revelations about the scale of that surveillance and poor rural penetration rates pushed the United States from second place into fourth in the survey, which examined Internet access, freedom and content. Sweden came out on top for the second year.

But it was China, which the survey ranked at 57 out of 81, down from a ranking of 29 out of 61 last year, where Berners-Lee saw the greatest potential for improvement.

"The Berlin Wall tumbled down, the great firewall of China - I don't think it will tumble down, I think it will be released," he told Reuters by telephone.

"My hope is that bit-by-bit, quietly, website-by-website, it will start to be relaxed," he said. "The agility of a country which allows full access to the web is just greater; it will be a stronger country economically as well."

China's state Web-censorship system blocks Facebook, Twitter and some foreign news sites as well as content that the Communist leadership considers damaging to stability and cohesion.

"The citizens are not really in a position to smash the great firewall because the government controls the Internet, the Internet companies," said Berners-Lee, 58.

"All that can happen is that the government realises it is not in their interests, that it is holding up the economy, holding up the development of the country."

Berners-Lee said he was encouraged that the increased use of social media had stoked political mobilisation across the planet, but cautioned that growing surveillance and censorship threatened the future of democracy.
Spying vs freedom

Berners-Lee took particular aim at eavesdropping conducted by the United States and Britain, saying the extent of the spying laid bare by U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden showed that rights had been set back.

"The rights of the individual have been severely eroded and eroded in secret," he said of the U.S. and British surveillance programmes. "It is a very serious threat to the Internet."

While he admitted the state needed the power to tackle criminals using the Internet, he called for greater oversight over spy agencies such Britain's GCHQ and the NSA, and over any organisations collecting information about private individuals.

"It is clear in the case of the U.S. and the UK that there just has not been that oversight and accountability to the public," he said.

"Whatever oversight you have has to be very strong, have the ability to find things out and strong rights to be told things ... It has got to be very seriously independent and accountable directly to the public rather than accountable through some secret route to part of government."

Britain's spy chiefs have argued that media reports about Snowden's revelations have weakened the ability of the security services to stop those plotting deadly attacks against the West.

Britain came third in the rankings, the same as in 2012 but below Norway in second place. Russia, the world's biggest energy producer, was at 41 in the ranking.

A map of the world produced by Berners-Lee's foundation showed Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as countries which extensively censored political content.

So was it really worth inventing the World Wide Web, and has it been a force for good or for evil?

"Overall, it has been a staggering force for good because it has been so empowering for humanity," he said. "Humanity is basically good, creative and collaborative."

Lady Gaga’s album tops US chart

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s third studio album, ‘ARTPOP,’ debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday after three months of steady promotion behind singles ‘Applause’ and ‘Do What U Want.’
The album sold 258,000 copies in its first week of release, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Fifty-seven percent of those sales were digital downloads, Billboard said.
It is the 27-year-old pop singer’s second No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. chart. ‘Born This Way’ debuted in the top spot in 2011, selling 1.1 million copies in its opening week, helped by a 99-cent promotion on online retailer Amazon.
Lady Gaga, one of the world’s most recognizable singers, was unable to match this year’s top-selling debut, Justin Timberlake’s ‘The 20/20 Experience,’ which sold 968,000 copies in its opening week in March.
Rapper Eminem’s ‘The Marshall Mathers LP 2,’ last week’s top album, was No. 2 with 210,000 copies in sales.
Pop hits compilation ‘Now 48’ entered the chart at No. 3 with 114,000 in sales, while ‘Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas,’ a holiday album by the cast of reality TV series ‘Duck Dynasty’ dropped a spot to No. 4 with 66,000.
Pop singer Katy Perry’s ‘PRISM’ fell a spot to No. 5 with 46,000 in sales.

Uruguay complete WC line-up

Uruguay players express their joy at reaching the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil at the end of their qualifying play-off second-leg match against Jordan in Montevideo on Wednesday.

Uruguay became the final team to qualify for the 2014 World Cup on Wednesday after grinding out a 0-0 draw in a gritty battle with Asian minnows Jordan.
After Uruguay thrashed the Jordanians 5-0 in the first leg in Amman last week, a capacity crowd at Montevideo’s famous Centenario Stadium had looked forward to seeing a full-strength Celeste side produce a high-scoring send-off.
However a fiercely committed Jordan frustrated the South Americans at every turn, defending in numbers and ruffling Oscar Tabarez’s men with a physical approach.
It did not stop the Uruguayan players and their fans from erupting in wild celebrations at the final whistle as fireworks exploded above the stadium.
Earlier, three Jordanian players picked up bookings during a game that restored some pride for coach Hossam Hassan after his team were embarrassed on home soil last week.
Uruguay, the fifth ranked side in South America’s qualifying campaign became the last of 32 teams to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
Only a few months ago, 2010 World Cup semi-finalists Uruguay had been struggling to qualify, scraping into fifth place after mounting a late rally which saw them win four out of their five final qualifiers.
They join Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Chile as the South American representatives at the finals.
The tone for Wednesday’s match was set early on with Mohammed Aldmeiri and Adnan Hasan both booked by referee Jonas Eriksson in the first half for some wild lunges.
Uruguay meanwhile struggled to penetrate a resolute Jordanian defence, restricted to only a handful of unsuccessful attacks on goal.
Defender Diego Godin had the best chance for Uruguay, hitting the bar with an instinctive close-range header on the stroke of half-time.
It was a similar story in the second half, with captain Diego Lugano going closest on 60 minutes, rising unmarked to meet a corner but steering a downward header just wide.
The introduction of Uruguay veteran Diego Forlan for Nicolas Lodeiro just after the hour mark was unable to change the complexion of the game as the Jordanians hung on for a famous draw.

Indonesia halts Australia drills as protesters call for ‘war’

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in front of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, on Thursday.

Indonesia’s military halted training with Australia as a decision to suspend cooperation over spying claims took effect, while angry demonstrators in Jakarta declared Thursday they were ‘ready for war’ with Canberra.
In the Australian capital, the scandal took an embarrassing twist for the prime minister, Tony Abbott, when one of his party’s strategists described someone reported to be the Indonesian foreign minister as resembling ‘a 1970s Filipino porn star’.
 The crisis — triggered by reports that Australian spies tried to tap the phones of the Indonesian president, his wife and ministers — has pushed ties between Jakarta and Canberra to their lowest level since the turn of the century.
Jakarta has recalled its ambassador from Canberra and the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Wednesday ordered cooperation suspended in several areas, including on people-smuggling, military exercises and sharing intelligence.
Speaking just hours after Yudhoyono made his announcement, military chief Moeldoko said two current exercises with Australia were being halted.
‘What’s the point of joint training when they don’t trust us?’ said the head of the armed forces, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
He said a joint exercise in the northern Australian city of Darwin, which had been due to end Sunday, was being halted and six F-16 fighter jets involved in it would return to Indonesia.
A joint training exercise with the Indonesian army’s special forces, Kopassus, in Lembang in West Java province, was also being suspended, he said.
The anger over the alleged spying spilled over to the public in Jakarta, where demonstrators wearing military-style uniforms protested outside the Australian embassy, pumping their fists in the air and waving the Indonesian flag.
‘We’re ready for war with Australia,’ read one of the banners waved by the crowd of about 100 demonstrators, who used red-spray paint to daub red graffiti on the Australian mission.
Indonesian hackers also vented their anger, claiming responsibility for a cyber attack on the websites of the Australian Federal Police and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The growing row, sparked by reports in Australian media based on documents leaked by US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden, has dealt a heavy blow to the government of the new Australian leader.
The decision to stop cooperation on people-smuggling is especially difficult for Prime Minister Abbott, as he desperately needs Jakarta’s help to stop the influx of asylum-seekers who head to Australia via Indonesia.

The Ashes started from today

England captain Alistair Cook (L) and his Australian counterpart Michael Clarke pose with the Ashes Urn at the Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Skipper Alastair Cook said Wednesday England were not intimidated by Australia’s invincibility at the Gabba and were looking for a big first innings total to set up a breakthrough victory.
Michael Clarke’s Australians are looking to an unbeaten 25-year run at the Brisbane ground to give them the momentum to retrieve the Ashes urn and deny England a fourth straight series, something that has not been done since 1890.
England last won at the Gabba in 1986 and a victory first-up at Australia’s Brisbane fortress following their 3-0 series win at home three months ago will undoubtedly be a psychological blow to Australia’s series chances.
‘There’s no reason to feel intimidated. A lot of players in the squad we have this year were here in 2010-11 so we’ve all got experience of winning in Australia and we’re trying to use that to the best of our ability,’ Cook said.
‘We know how important this game was last time for setting up the series.
‘Australia have a very good record in Brisbane, it’s our job to try and change that.’
Cook said his England team had been confronted with challenges in the past and delivered on them.
‘We spoke about something like this at Lord’s in 2009 when we hadn’t beaten Australia for something like 70-odd years... and we made a real conscious effort to change that,’ he said.
‘This side has done that on a number of times. Whether we do that in this game will depend on how well we play, and especially at a ground where they have a lot of confidence playing on it will do us the world of good.’
An important part of that strategy will be for England to post a sizeable 400-plus first innings score to put the Australians under pressure in the first of five Tests.
England did not reach 400 in any of their 10 innings in the last Ashes series and Cook said he felt partly responsible for that inadequacy.
‘We know how important first innings runs are in Australia,’ he said.
‘If you want to set the game up you have to score big and the wickets tend to be slightly easier to score runs on here than they are in England.
‘It’s all gone well in the warmup games, slightly different preparation and a bit more rain around but all the guys have spent some time in the middle and that’s all you can ask for.’
Despite their series superiority, England were three wickets down for less than 65 on five occasions in the July-August series.
‘It’s an area where we know we have to do better in this series. We were 30 for 3 a number of times in the last series and I was partly responsible for that,’ Cook said.
‘I am happy with the way I’ve played in these warmup games, I feel in a good place right now.’
Cook said the war of words between the traditional rivals will be replaced by action on the field on Thursday’s long-awaited start to the series.
‘We certainly don’t fear anyone. We are a very competitive side,’ he said.
‘There’s been a lot of words spoken, that’s what the buildup to the Ashes is. We all know when we come to 10 o’clock tomorrow morning it’s who plays the best.’ 

Khamenei backs nuke talks with conditions

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Ahead of a new round of Iran nuclear talks, the country’s supreme leader voiced support on Wednesday for the negotiations, but he insisted there are limits to concessions that Iran will make in exchange for an easing of sanctions choking its economy.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave no further details in a speech to a paramilitary group aimed at both placating hardliners and showing his backing for the Iranian officials preparing to meet with international negotiators in Geneva later Wednesday. But his mention of Iran’s ‘nuclear rights’ was widely interpreted as a reference to uranium enrichment.
Western diplomats reported progress a during previous round of talks in Geneva. They now hope to reach an accord that would halt Iran’s nuclear efforts while negotiators pursue a more comprehensive agreement that would ensure that Tehran’s program is solely for civilian purposes. Iran would get some sanctions relief under such a first-step deal, without any easing of the most harsh measures — those crippling its ability to sell oil, its main revenue maker.
Iran has suggested it could curb its highest-known level of enrichment — at 20 per cent — in a possible deal that could ease the US-led economic sanctions.
But Iranian leaders have made clear that their country will not consider giving up its ability to make nuclear fuel — the centerpiece of the talks since the same process used to make reactor stock can be used to make weapons-grade material.
Khamenei said he would not ‘interfere in the details of the talks,’ in a clear nod of support for the government of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, which has opened historic exchanges with the US However, Khamenei also said the main goal is ‘stabilisation of the rights of the Iranian nation, including nuclear rights.’
‘There are red lines. There are limits. These limits must be observed,’ the supreme leader told a gathering of the Basij force, which is controlled by Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. ‘We have told the authorities, and they are required to observe the limits and should not fear the blusters of the enemies and opponents.’

Google’s prepaid debit card

Google Inc will offer a prepaid debit card that will allow consumers to purchase goods at stores and to withdraw cash from ATM machines, the Internet company said on Wednesday.

The card, which is only available in the United States, lets consumers access the funds stored in their Google Wallet accounts. Google Wallet is a smartphone app and online payment service that lets consumers buy goods and transfer money to each other.

The new Wallet card will be accepted at "millions of locations" that accept MasterCard and at ATM machines, Google said in a post on its official blog on Wednesday. Google said the card is free and that the company will not charge cardholders any monthly or annual fees.

The card could help advance Google's efforts to play a bigger role in commerce and provide the company with valuable information about consumer shopping habits, though it appears to be less ambitious than the full-fledged credit card once rumoured to be in the works.

Plans for a Google consumer credit card were shelved when the head of Google's Wallet and payments group, Osama Bedier, left the company in May, according to a report at the time in the technology blog AllThingsD.

Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, in 2011 began offering a special AdWords Business credit card that its advertising customers could use to buy ads on its website.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed that data about transactions made with the new Wallet card - including a description of goods purchased, the amount of the transaction and the name and address of the seller - would be added to the internal profiles that Google maintains for users of its services, which can be used to target ads.

Consumers add money to the new Wallet Card by linking it to a bank account or when another person transfers money to their Wallet account, according to Google. The card can be ordered online on Wednesday, and typically takes 10 to 12 days to arrive, a Google spokeswoman said.

HIV in invisible gays big worry

HIV infections amongst gays and bisexuals can spin out of control in countries where they are not visible, an authority on the issue says.

Chris Beyrer, a guest editor of last year’s ‘The Lancet’ series on MSMs (men who have sex with men) told bdnews24.com in an interview that these ‘sexual minorities’ are ‘hidden’ in South Asia, “but carry 10 times more HIV infection risk than others”.

“They are not so much in public dialogue and discussions. But the fact is that everywhere we look we see there are substantial MSM populations.

“It does not vary much between countries and cultures. It’s roughly the same,” he said on the sidelines of the ongoing International Congress on AIDS of Asia and the Pacific.

More than 3,000 participants have joined the Congress from 80 countries in the Thai capital.

Beyrer described the MSMs as the ‘key’ population for HIV response for two reasons – higher risk of HIV and lower access to services.

“We have to lower their HIV rates and provide services. We have to deal with their human rights to provide them access to the healthcare in a setting that is safe and where they don't lose out on dignity and where they can disclose their actual behaviour and talk about their partners.

“The country that fails to do that, will face an ongoing epidemic,” he said.

‘Who are MSMs?’“It’s (MSMs) a behavioural term,” Beyrer, who is the director of the John Hopkins Centre for Public Health and Human Rights, said.

“It does not describe about how people feel whether they are truly gay, whether they are married to women, whether they are attracted to both men and women.

“This is a broad category that include all men who behaviourally have sex with other men, including men sex workers who may be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.”

But he said, commonly they share “higher risk of HIV infections and the stigma and discrimination and the limits of access to healthcare”.

‘Hard-to-reach’

Being invisible, there is no official statistics about the number of gays and bisexual men in Bangladesh. But different surveys put the figure at more than 1.5million.

They are criminalised in Bangladesh, according to the UNAIDS latest report that also showed that they are less likely to use condoms than any other high risk groups like sex workers and intravenous drug users.

The condom use rate was only 26 percent, despite the fact that anal unprotected sex is ‘very efficient route’ of transmitting HIV.
Beyrer said HIV rate among general population in the region was very low, but higher in men who have sex with men.

In the Asia Pacific region it varies from country to country in Bhutan and Bangladesh it is much lower than the average 15 percent while in Thailand it is over 20 percent.

“The challenge for prevention is that they are hard-to-reach. They are more hidden,” he said stressing on specific efforts like promoting condom, HIV testing and treatment of other diseases focusing them.

But it can be changed if a government has political will.

“They are ready to assist. They are already engaged. They just need a safe environment where they are free from political harassment or other kinds of harassment and then they can be a real partner in the efforts to stop HIV,” he said citing a South Indian ‘Abahan’ programme where they could reach out to the gays and bisexual men rather effectively.

‘Next generation change-maker’
Beyrer is optimistic. “The next generation is much more open about these issues. They are more willing to explore and discuss. They are more tolerant,” he said.

Because of internet “the next generation of gay and lesbian are connected globally in a way that the previous generations never were”.

“So everybody is sharing their experience more and standing up wanting to be a part of the society, wanting to express their love, their relationships, to have dignity and to be accepted,” he said.

So nobody gets to decide who is not entitled to human rights. Sexual and gender minority people are also entitled to human rights and citizenship rights including in Bangladesh. That is our goal,” Beyrer said.

He said it was policymakers ‘responsibility’ to provide services and ensure that “nobody is excluded and health services provide appropriate services to the men who have sex with men and transgender populations.

“This is the part of responsibility of the government towards HIV control and also human rights. They are very much interrelated and they are not separate things." 

Italy declares state of emergency in Sardinia after deadly cyclone

A man secures a drifting boat on Tuesday during an acqua-alta (high-water) alert in Venice. The flooding is caused by wind and rain combined with the lagoon city's periodic tidal phenomenon.

At least 17 people have been killed in flooding and hundreds made homeless after a cyclone swept over the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italian authorities said on Tuesday.
The government declared a state of emergency after Cyclone Cleopatra dropped 450mm of rain in an hour and a half overnight, causing rivers to burst their banks, sweeping away cars and flooding homes across the island.
‘This is a national tragedy,’ the prime minister, Enrico Letta, said.

 The declaration of a state of emergency will allow resources to be freed up more quickly to reach devastated areas, with swathes of the island under muddy flood waters that covered cars and swamped houses.
The government also set aside 20 million euros ($27 million) in immediate emergency funds to help the rescue and clean-up work.
The mayor of Olbia, the northeastern Sardinian town among the worst-affected areas, said the sudden flooding had
burst ‘like a bomb’ with the same amount of water falling in 90 minutes as falls in the city of Milan in six months.
Mayor Gianni Giovannelli said houses across the area had been left half-submerged by the floods and rescuers were still searching for possible victims.
‘We’ve just found a dead child we had been searching all night for,’ he told SkyTG24 television.
Beyond the immediate casualties, the disaster raised questions about how well prepared Italy’s cash-strapped local governments, under increasing financial pressure after more than two years or recession, are to deal with sudden emergencies.
‘We’re facing an exceptional event here which has put our system of territorial planning and management into crisis,’ said Antonello Frau, deputy head of the island’s geological service.
‘We really have to assess how we manage these situations, which are becoming more frequent.’
Flooding and landslides have been common in Italy, dominated in many areas by rugged mountain ranges.

Sri Lanka to tour Bangladesh in January.

Sri Lanka will tour Bangladesh to play two Tests, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20s in January-February next year.

 They are scheduled to reach Dhaka on Jan 24 for a “full-series” here after more than five years.

The first Test, starting on Jan 27, will be at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur while Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong will host the second Test, scheduled to start from Feb 4.

Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium will also feature the two T20s on Feb 12 and 14.

The first ODI will be at Sylhet Divisional Stadium on Feb 17.

The next two ODIs will be at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka on Feb 20 and 22.

'Selfie' beats 'twerk' as word of the year

"Selfie" was chosen after it "gained momentum throughout the English-speaking world in 2013 as it evolved from a social media buzzword to mainstream shorthand for a self-portrait photograph", Oxford Dictionaries said in a statement.

The spike in popularity of the word, whose origin can be traced back to an Australian online forum in 2002, was based on "language research conducted by Oxford Dictionaries editors", the publisher said.

"Selfie" beat a number of other buzzwords of 2013, including "twerk" referring to dancing in a sexually provocative manner and which was popularized by singer Miley Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards last August.
"The Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past 12 months and it does not have to be a word that will stick around for a good length of time," Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said.

"It is very difficult to predict accurately which new words will have staying power, and only time will tell if these words have lasting significance," she added.

 "Selfie" has spawned a raft of spinoffs, including "helfie" for a picture taken of someone's own hair, "belfie" for taking a picture of your own posterior and "drelfie" for a self portrait while in a drunken state.

The word's usage was based on statistical analysis of the Oxford English Corpus, which is a structured set of texts stored electronically, and specifically the New Word Monitor Corpus, Oxford Dictionaries said.
It said that the New Monitor Corpus collects around 150 million words in use each month, using automated criteria to scan new web content using the English language worldwide.

This is used to track and verify new and emerging words and senses on a daily basis, and the firm has a dedicated team of editors whose job it is to add new words to the Oxford English Dictionary and OxfordDictionaries.com using this data.

Confident England eye fourth Ashes title in row

The second leg of an Ashes double-header unique in the 131 years of such contests gets underway in Brisbane on Thursday with everything bar the eternal optimism of the Australian nation pointing to a fourth successive England triumph.

With the dominant 3-0 success on home soil still fresh in the memory, England can justifiably approach a trip Down Under with more confidence than at any time since the 1970s, when World Series cricket tore the heart out of the home side.

The core of an England side unbeaten in Tests this year has very happy memories of their last trip in 2010-11, when they hammered Australia 3-1 to win the Ashes on foreign soil for the first time in 24 years.

That feeling has been compounded by the conviction that they won in England with something to spare and their vaunted batting line-up can only do better than they did in the five home Tests.

"I think Australia will suit our batsmen a bit more than English conditions," England paceman Stuart Broad said last week.

"We had these sort of slow, turning wickets that are quite hard to score on and we've got guys who cut and pull, free-scoring players, and I think our batsmen are very excited to play here and will thrive in the Australian conditions."

And yet, despite losing seven of their last nine Tests and drawing the other two, there is also a growing feeling of confidence in Australia.

The hosts feel the series in England was closer than the scoreline suggested, their batting line-up is more settled than it has been for a while and that if their quick bowlers can fire on the hard home decks, they can really trouble England.

There was little chance that their preparations for the second series could be disrupted as much as those for the first, when coach Mickey Arthur was sacked and opener David Warner was stood down for punching England's Joe Root in a bar.

The excellent bowling performance of Ryan Harris in England was one reason for the growing optimism and the injury-prone paceman articulated the feeling of the Australia camp after the squad was announced for the Gabba.

"It's time we brought the urn home and we know that," he said. "You always have pressure at this level and there is extra after not winning the last few series.

"But if we play our best cricket we will win. We believe in each other."

Australia have been forced by injury to take a gamble on pace bowler Mitchell Johnson recapturing his best form after four years of erratic performances which have made him the favourite target of England's Barmy Army of fans.

In addition, Harris's fragile frame is unlikely to last the full five Tests so Australia will be hoping the recuperation of James Pattinson and Jackson Bird continues to go well.

BAILEY GAMBLE

Another gamble was on the uncapped George Bailey for the vacant number six batting spot and while the 31-year-old does not have great red ball pedigree, he has shown a remarkable ability to step for his country in Twenty20 and one-day internationals.

All-rounder Shane Watson's talent is in no doubt but a hamstring injury has disrupted his preparations and the decision over whether he will be able to bowl in the first Test is likely to be taken on the first morning at the Gabba.

Despite those small flies in the ointment, Australia captain Michael Clarke has been trumpeting the new optimism like a politician on the campaign trail.

"I think the team is in a fantastic place and the feeling in the group is outstanding," he said in Sydney last week.

"I think the boys are flying. They're all looking forward to Thursday week."

The Australian weather means England's preparations have not been perfect but, apart from a calf injury to wicketkeeper Matt Prior, they have not seen much to darken their collective mood.

"As a team, I think we can take a lot of confidence about how we've performed over a the last 18 months or so," said Broad.

"We've had games where we've not been that good but got away with draws when we shouldn't have done. We've got a really steely unit in that changing room."

Jonny Bairstow is on standby should Prior fail to prove his fitness, while opener Michael Carberry looks set to make his Ashes debut at the Gabba with Root moving down to number six in the batting order.

Australia, though, has never been an easy place to tour for any England side.

Their last win at the Gabba came in 1986 and their most recent victory in Perth, venue for the third Test, goes even further back to the 1978-79 tour.

The decision to move the Australia-hosted Ashes out of its proximity to the limited overs World Cup in the cricketing calendar means only 88 days will have past between the two series this year.

There has been no sign of any Ashes fatigue setting in, though, and ticket sales have been brisk for all the matches, which also include Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

"The Aussie public have got an excitement from feeling their side is a bit more settled and are really coming for us," added Broad.

"And we've a lot of confidence in our own ability and I think if I was a fan I'd be really excited about this series, it's going to be extremely entertaining."

Nokia shareholders expected to approve Microsoft deal

Nokia shareholders are expected to approve the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft on Tuesday, with the deal's financial benefits likely to outweigh resistance from a minority of investors upset over the sale of a Finnish national icon.

Nokia agreed in September to sell its devices and services business and license its patents toMicrosoft for 5.44 billion euros ($7.36 billion) after failing to recover from a late start in smartphones.

The sale, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year after regulatory approvals, is set to boost Nokia's net cash position to nearly 8 billion euros from around 2 billion in the third quarter and allow it to return cash to shareholders, possibly through a special dividend.
Without the loss-making handset business, the remaining company will earn over 90 percent of sales from telecom equipment unit Nokia Services and Networks (NSN) and will also include a navigation software business and a trove of patents.

Since the Microsoft deal was announced, Nokia shares have doubled, closing at 6.00 euros on Monday.

Last year, they fell as far as 1.33 euros, a level not seen since 1994, on worries the mobile phone business would burn through cash before it could ever catch up with rivals such as Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc.

Billionaire and activist investor Daniel Loeb said in October that he had taken a position in Nokia and that he expects a "meaningful portion of the excess" cash from the Microsoft deal to be returned to investors.

While approval from shareholders is considered a done deal, Tuesday's meeting, which starts at 2:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) in Helsinki's Ice Hall arena, will also be a chance for some shareholders to vent their dissatisfaction.
The sale of the mobile phones business, Finland's biggest brand and at one point worth 4 percent of national GDP, came as a shock to many Finns. The company's success helped to transform Finland from a backwater economy in the shadow of the Soviet Union into a high-tech powerhouse.

At Nokia's last regular shareholders' meeting, many shareholders took to the microphone to question CEO Stephen Elop's strategy, particularly his 2011 decision to adopt Microsoft's Windows Phone software over Nokia's own Symbian or Google's widely popular Android operating system.

Elop stepped down when he announced the agreement with Microsoft, his former employer, and is due to return to the Redmond, Washington company when the deal closes.

Finnish tabloids have called him a "Trojan horse", although most analysts have been sympathetic, saying there were few good options for the company by the time he was hired in late 2010.

One Finnish businessman and former Nokia manager had set up a group called Nokita, translated as "bet higher" in Finnish, in an attempt to outbid Microsoft. He said on Monday that he failed to find enough investors.

"Of course there was a bit of a patriotic idea behind my plan, but there was also the calculation," said Juhani Parda, who believed Nokia's devices business could be worth around 23 billion euros in three years by adopting Android in addition to Windows Phone. "I think 5.44 billion is definitely good for Microsoft. I'm not sure it's the best deal for shareholders."

Wily Stepanek guides Czechs to another Davis Cup title

Czech Rebublic’s team members hold the Davis Cup after winning the last singles Davis Cup tennis match finals between Czech Rebublic and Serbia at the Kombank Arena in Belgrade on Sunday.

The Czech Republic retained their Davis Cup title after Radek Stepanek ruthlessly exploited the inexperience of Dusan Lajovic in the decisive rubber to seal a 3-2 final victory over Novak Djokovic’s Serbia on Sunday.
The Czechs, who became the first nation to retain the Davis Cup since Spain in 2009, lifted the trophy after Stepanek’s 6-3 6-1 6-1 victory amid wild cheers by several hundred visiting fans in the imposing Kombank Arena.
Djokovic ensured the final went to the wire by beating Tomas Berdych 6-4 7-6(5) 6-2 to level the tie at 2-2 but there was to be no repeat of Serbia’s epic 3-2 final victory over France three years ago.
The world number two did not have the right supporting cast this time round with Janko Tipsarevic sidelined due to a foot injury and Viktor Troicki banned for missing a blood test in April.
The 117th-ranked Lajovic was thrown into the fray and had 17,000 noisy Serbian fans on their feet after he broke Stepanek, a former top-10 player now ranked 44th, in the opening game.
But that turned out to be the high point for the 23-year-old as his opponent highlighted the gulf in class between the two players.
‘The match was the same (as last year’s final), under the biggest possible pressure that can be,’ Stepanek, who beat Spain’s Nicolas Almagro in the decisive rubber 12 months ago, said in a courtside interview.
‘I knew that I would want to use the experience from last year’s final. I controlled the match apart from the first game and I think I played in my best form ever this weekend.
‘Of course, it is more difficult to defend the title, but I think we used the experience from last year and we earned it.’
Stepanek combined his baseline and volleying skills to good effect, running Lajovic ragged with stinging forehands to carve out easy net points as the despairing Serbian bench watched on helplessly.
Earlier in the day, Djokovic came out on top against world number seven Berdych after a titanic tussle in the opening two sets.
He converted his 10th break point in the final game of the first, clinched a rollercoaster tiebreak in the second and wrapped up the third for the loss of only two games.
Djokovic blew kisses to the crowd and asked them to stay and support Lajovic’s effort to punch above his weight, but it all ended in tears for Serbia as the stadium started to empty long before the 34-year-old Stepanek sealed victory with a searing smash down the line.
The result focused attention on the decision to leave Djokovic out of Saturday’s doubles, which the Czechs won in straight sets, as well as naming Lajovic for the final singles instead of the more experienced and hard-hitting Ilija Bozoljac.
‘We only had so many fit and eligible players to choose from and although I must take responsibility for the outcome as the decision maker, I have no regrets about the team selection in any of the rubbers,’ Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic told a news conference.
‘Missing two second-choice players was too big a blow and we just couldn’t do more although we tried to cope with the tough situation as best we could. The positive thing is that we have expanded our Davis Cup team and we will keep the faith in our new arrivals.’