July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

Sisters Serena, front and Venus  Williams of U.S. play a return to Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs of Australia during their women's doubles final match on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Saturday, July 4, 2009.

Serena Williams kept telling herself she was facing just another foe in the Wimbledon final Saturday, just another woman who hits the ball quite hard, just another player trying to deny her a Grand Slam title. She wasn't facing just anyone, of course. She was playing her older sister Venus. And when the latest all-Williams final finished, when Serena wrapped up a 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory for a third...


July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto(notes) (19) hits a RBI triple off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson(notes) in the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July 4, 2009, in Cincinnati. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina(notes) is at right.

Micah Owings homered and pitched into the seventh inning to help the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Saturday. Joey Votto also homered and drove in two runs and Willy Taveras had three hits to help lift the Reds to their third win in their last four games. Owings (6-8) allowed six hits and two runs in 6 2-3 innings with two walks and six strikeouts.


July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

Milwaukee Brewers' Mike Cameron(notes), right, celebrates with Corey Hart(notes), center, and Casey McGehee(notes) after hitting a three-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, July  4, 2009, in Chicago.

Rookie Casey McGehee had a career high four hits and five RBIs to help the Milwaukee Brewers pound Rich Harden and the Chicago Cubs 11-2 on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. Mike Cameron and J.J. Hardy also went deep to back a solid effort by Braden Looper (7-4). But McGahee delivered his best performance against the organization that let him go during the offseason.


July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland kisses the overall leader's yellow jersey on the podium after winning the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial of 15.5 kilometers (9.63 miles) with start and finish in Moncao, Saturday July 4, 2009. Alberto Contador of Spain took second place, Bradley Wiggins of Britain third.

Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong went out early and put up a solid time in the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, then was upstaged by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Cancellara finished the 9.6-mile time trial in 19 minutes, 32 seconds, beating 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador by 18 seconds to capture the yellow jersey.


July 4th, 2009 | Tags:
July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

OMG! Did I just say that? NO, but Israel’s Minister of Construction and Housing did.

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July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

Max Blumental reports on The Daily Beast that Sarah Palin may have quit her job today because she was trying to avert a major, yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal. The gist of the rumor is that an Alaska building company called Spenard Building Supplies (SBS) was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla, AK, and in return, SBS helped construct Palin’s home.

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July 4th, 2009 | Tags:
July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

"They took our ship from Gazan waters to Ashdod completely against our will."

The Nobel Laureate is expected to be deported in the coming days.

Israeli forces boarded the ship which was trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's blockade of the territory.

Ms McKinney described it as "an outrageous violation of international law", as the boat was on a humanitarian mission and was not in Israeli waters.

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July 4th, 2009 | Tags:

But families of the dead victims and an increasing number of 7/7 survivors claim there are inconsistencies and basic mistakes in the official accounts that need explanation.

And they are demanding a full public inquiry to answer key questions about what the Intelligence Services and the police did and did not know before the bombings.

Meanwhile, the Government's determined refusal to meet their demands is having a very dangerous side-effect - fuelling myriad conspiracy theories about 7/7. Books, blogs and several video documentaries point to oddities in the official accounts.

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