Azarenka Defeats Li in Australia to Keep Women’s Title

Dennis Sabangan/European Pressphoto AgencyMELBOURNE, Australia — In a momentum-swinging final interrupted by fireworks and, yes, more medical timeouts, Victoria Azarenka defended her Australian Open singles title by rallying to defeat Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The victory, which allowed Azarenka to retain the No. 1 ranking ahead of Serena Williams, was a tribute to Azarenka’s powers of resilience...

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Notre Dame’s Te’o says had no part in forming hoax

Jan 24 (Reuters) – Notre Dame football player Manti Te‘o said he was the victim of an elaborate online hoax and denied in an interview broadcast on Thursday having had any part in the construction of the dramatic story of his dying girlfriend.“No, I did not,” Te’o said in the interview with Katie Couric broadcast on the daytime talk show “Katie.” “I think what people don’t realize is that the same...

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Disney says JJ Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's official. The force is with J.J. Abrams.The Walt Disney Co. issued a statement Friday night confirming reports that had been circulating for two days that Abrams, Emmy-award-winning creator of TV's "Lost" and director of 2009's "Star Trek" movie, has been pegged to direct the seventh installment of the "Star Wars" franchise."J.J. is the perfect director to helm this," said...

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Labor Relations Board Rulings Could Be Undone

By ruling that Mr. Obama’s three recess appointments last January were illegal, the federal appeals court ruling, if upheld, would leave the board with just one member, short of the quorum needed to issue any rulings. The Obama administration could appeal the court ruling, but no announcement was made on Friday. If the Supreme Court were to uphold Friday’s ruling, issued by the United States...

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Violence Flares on Anniversary of Egypt Uprising

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of youths fought Egyptian police in Cairo on Friday on the second anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak and brought the election of an Islamist president who protesters accuse of riding roughshod over the new democracy. The January 25 anniversary showcased the divide between the Islamists and secular foes hindering President Mohamed Mursi's efforts...

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Somalia militants’ Twitter account down after hostage threat

NAIROBI (Reuters) – A Twitter account run by Somali militant group al Shabaab was unavailable on Friday, days after the al Qaeda-aligned rebels used the social media site to boast about killing a French agent and threatened to kill several Kenyan hostages.Al Shabaab often used its Twitter account to claim responsibility for attacks on African Union and Somali government troops, as well as senior officials...

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Damon 'hijacks' Kimmel's ABC show

NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Damon had his revenge.The butt of a long-running joke on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the actor opened Thursday night's show as a kidnapper who tied Kimmel to a chair with duct tape and gagged him with his own tie."There's a new host in town and his initials are M.D.," Damon said. "That's right, the doctor is in."For years, Kimmel has joked at the end of his show that he ran out...

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The New Old Age Blog: Time to Recognize Mild Cognitive Disorder?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published and periodically updated by the American Psychiatric Association, is one of those documents few laypeople ever read, but many of us are affected by.It can make it easier or harder to get an insurance company or Medicare to cover treatments, for example. It factors into a variety of legal and governmental decisions.And on a personal...

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ENI Makes a Push Toward the Top of Oil and Gas

MILAN — Tucked away in a building on the outskirts of Milan is the “nirvana room,” so called perhaps because of the good tidings it contains. There, geologists working for the Italian oil company ENI don 3-D glasses to contemplate day-glow images of underground geological formations and try to divine which might be worth tens of millions of dollars in exploratory drilling. The mood around...

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Djokovic Advances to Australian Open Final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to his third consecutive Australian Open final with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 4-seeded David Ferrer on Thursday night. The top-ranked Djokovic was in dominating form, hitting 30 crisp winners in the 1-hour, 29-minute match. He is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian...

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Sony fined in UK over PlayStation cyberattack

LONDON (AP) — British regulators have fined Sony 250,000 pounds ($ 396,100) for failing to prevent a 2011 cyberattack on its PlayStation Network which put millions of users’ personal information — including names, addresses, birth dates and account passwords — at risk.Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office said Thursday that security measures in place at the time “were simply not good enough.”...

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SFJazz Center opens, bringing swing to West Coast

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Full of shimmer and swing, San Francisco's sleek new jazz concert hall opened Wednesday night with an opening night gala featuring McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Esperanza Spalding aimed at cementing respect for and expanding the reach of the jazz idiom on the West Coast.The 700-seat, specially designed concert hall nestled in the heart of the city's arts district was brightly lit...

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Euro Watch: Data Point to Slow Recovery in Euro Zone

The euro zone economy took a step closer to recovery this month as the rate of decline in the bloc’s private sector eased more than expected, a business survey showed on Thursday. But in an indication of the hurdles left to scale, Spain’s unemployment surged to 26 percent in the fourth quarter, a record high since measurements began in the 1970s, as a prolonged recession and deep spending...

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Visit Confirms Gao Zhisheng, Chinese Dissident, Is Alive

BEIJING — Family members of one of China’s most prominent dissidents, Gao Zhisheng, visited him in a prison in the western region of Xinjiang this month, according to the dissident’s older brother and a human rights advocacy group. The visit was the first confirmation in nine months that Mr. Gao was still alive. Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated PressGao Zhisheng in April 2010. ...

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Google’s 4Q earnings rise despite Motorola woes

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google eked out slightly higher earnings in the fourth quarter, despite a financial drag caused by the Internet search leader’s expansion into device manufacturing and a decline in digital ad prices as more people gaze into the smaller screens of smartphones.The results announced Tuesday pleased investors, helping to lift Google’s stock by 5 percent in extended trading.More advertising...

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Josh Duhamel named host of Kids' Choice Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — There's plenty of green slime in Josh Duhamel's future.The star of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" on Wednesday was named host of Nickelodeon's 26th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, which will be broadcast from the Galen Center in Los Angeles on March 23.Duhamel, who starred on the NBC drama "Las Vegas," has already been inducted into Nickelodeon's Arm Fart Hall of Fame and showered in...

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The New Old Age Blog: Study Links Cognitive Deficits, Hearing Loss

There’s another reason to be concerned about hearing loss — one of the most common health conditions in older adults and one of the most widely undertreated. A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that elderly people with compromised hearing are at risk of developing cognitive deficits — problems with memory and thinking — sooner than those whose hearing is intact.The study...

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DealBook: Microsoft May Back Dell Buyout

The effort to take Dell private has gained a prominent, if unusual, backer: Microsoft.The software giant is in talks to help finance a takeover bid for Dell that would exceed $20 billion, a person briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. Microsoft is expected to contribute up to several billion dollars.An investment by Microsoft — if it comes to pass — could be enough to push a leveraged buyout of the...

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Russians Leaving Syria Cross Into Lebanon

MASNAA, Lebanon (AP) — Four buses carrying Russian citizens escaping the Syrian civil war have crossed into Lebanon. A Russian embassy official traveling with the group on Tuesday says about 80 people, mostly women and children, are on the buses. Several men also have been seen in the first group of Russian citizens being evacuated from Syria. Russia sent two planes to...

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Cycling-No sympathy for Armstrong on social media

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Lance Armstrong’s televised doping confession has done nothing to restore his shattered reputation, a study of responses posted to the Twitter social media site showed.“What was particularly noticeable in our analysis of the Armstrong revelation was the sheer lack of sympathy out there,” said Charlie Dundas of sports market research company Repucom.“The tone of the discussion...

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Michelle Obama wears Wu to the balls again

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama made it a fashion tradition Monday night, wearing a custom-made Jason Wu gown to the inauguration balls. The ruby-colored dress was a follow-up to the white gown Wu made for her four years ago when she was new to Washington, the pomp and circumstance, and the fashion press.She now emerged in velvet and chiffon as a bona fide trendsetter."I can't believe it. It's crazy,"...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Brutal Truth of 'Amour'

It has been a few days since I left the movie theater in a bit of a daze, and I’m still thinking about “Amour.”So much of this already much-honored film rings utterly true: the way a long-married Parisian couple’s daily routines, their elegant life of books and music and art, can be upended in a moment. The tender care that Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) provides for Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) as multiple...

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DealBook: China’s Focus on Aerospace Raises Security Questions

TIANJIN, China — When Airbus executives arrived here seven years ago scouting for a location to assemble passenger jets, the broad, flat expanse next to Tianjin Binhai International Airport was a grassy field.Now, Airbus, the European aerospace giant, has 20 large buildings and is churning out four A320 jetliners a month for mostly Chinese state-controlled carriers. The company also has two new neighbors...

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India Ink: Arguments in Delhi Gang Rape Trial Begin Thursday

NEW DELHI— The five men accused of raping and murdering a 23-year-old physiotherapist in a case that has transfixed India appeared before the trial judge Monday for a brief and largely procedural hearing.Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna scheduled the next hearing for noon on Thursday, when defense attorneys and prosecutors are expected to begin arguments over precisely which criminal charges...

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