Djokovic, Azarenka reach 3rd round at French Open

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns in his second round match against Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday May 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns in his second round match against Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday May 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus returns in her second round match against Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday May 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to Romania's Adrian Ungur during their second round match in the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

PARIS (AP) ? The top-seeded players had early starts at the French Open on Wednesday, and both Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka made it to the third round without a problem.

A short time later, 2009 champion Roger Federer joined them, earning his record-breaking 234th victory at Grand Slam tournaments.

Djokovic was first up on Court Suzanne Lenglen, and he was barely troubled by Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, winning 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 for his 23rd straight Grand Slam victory.

"I gave him the opportunity to come back to the match after a perfect first set, first seven games," Djokovic said. "But, look, this is tennis."

In the main stadium at Roland Garros, Azarenka defeated Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany 6-1, 6-1 ? two days after struggling to win her opening match.

"Being No. 1 is a difficult job, because everybody want to catch you, everybody want to move you from the spot," Azarenka said. "Nothing is going to come easy just because you're No. 1. You actually have more people ... motivated trying to beat you."

Later Wednesday, No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was playing Venus Williams.

Djokovic is looking to win his fourth straight Grand Slam title, and first at Roland Garros. Last year, the Serb lost to Federer in the semifinals, ending his 43-match winning streak.

On Wednesday, Djokovic was broken once by Kavcic, but otherwise had little trouble. He did, however, finish the match with 34 unforced errors, to Kavcic's 21.

"He was defending really well in the second and third set, especially in the second," Djokovic said. "He wasn't missing as many balls as in the first set."

Federer had an easy run in the first two sets, but then wasted two match points in the third. He saved all six break points to beat Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"Instead of being aggressive, I let him show me what he could do," Federer said of the tiebreaker. "He played two beautiful shots, and then I started not playing very well."

The 16-time Grand Slam champion broke a tie with Jimmy Connors for most career wins at major tournaments in the Open era, which began in 1968. He is now 234-35 in tennis' top four tournaments, an .870 winning percentage.

No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, No. 11 Gilles Simon of France and No. 14 Fernando Verdasco of Spain also made it into the third round.

Azarenka, who took over the No. 1 ranking after winning the Australian Open, easily advanced against Pfizenmaier, a 20-year-old German who was making her Grand Slam debut.

In the first round, Azarenka struggled early before winning 12 of the final 14 games to advance. She committed 60 unforced errors in that opening match, but brought that number down to 11 on Wednesday.

"Definitely played much better today," said Azarenka, who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year, matching her best performance at the clay-court Grand Slam.

U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur advanced, beating Irina Falconi of the United States 6-1, 6-4. No. 13 Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, also moved on. But No. 8 Marion Bartoli of France lost.

Associated Press

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Homes available in Massachusetts | Submit RSS Feed

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Julie Benz and Rich Orosco: Married!

Former Dexter star Julie Benz married Rich Orosco on Saturday.

The couple tied the knot at 6 p.m. at the historic John Sowden house in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. The wedding featured a Mexican theme, in a nod to Cinco de Mayo and the groom, a marketing executive of Mexican heritage.

Engaged since last June, the actress, 40, first met Orosco, 39, five years ago, her rep confirmed at the time the engagement was announced.

Rich Orosco popped the question with a customized Kwiat cushion-cut diamond and platinum ring, complete with a diamond frame and milgrain edge band.

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

[Photo: WENN.com]

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Thousands march as Japan shuts off nuclear power

TOKYO (AP) ? Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.

Japan was without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear plant on the northern island of Hokkaido went offline for mandatory routine maintenance.

After last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.

"Today is a historic day," Masashi Ishikawa shouted to a crowd gathered at a Tokyo park, some holding traditional "koinobori" carp-shaped banners for Children's Day that have become a symbol of the anti-nuclear movement.

"There are so many nuclear plants, but not a single one will be up and running today, and that's because of our efforts," Ishikawa said.

The activists said it is fitting that the day Japan stopped nuclear power coincides with Children's Day because of their concerns about protecting children from radiation, which Fukushima Dai-ichi is still spewing into the air and water.

The government has been eager to restart nuclear reactors, warning about blackouts and rising carbon emissions as Japan is forced to turn to oil and gas for energy.

Japan now requires reactors to pass new tests to withstand quakes and tsunami and to gain local residents' approval before restarting.

The response from people living near nuclear plants has been mixed, with some wanting them back in operation because of jobs, subsidies and other benefits to the local economy.

The mayor of Tomari city, Hiroomi Makino, is among those who support nuclear power.

"There may be various ways of thinking but it's extremely regrettable," he said of the shutdown.

Major protests, like the one Saturday, have been generally limited to urban areas like Tokyo, which had received electricity from faraway nuclear plants, including Fukushima Dai-ichi.

Before the nuclear crisis, Japan relied on nuclear power for a third of its electricity.

The crowd at the anti-nuclear rally, estimated at 5,500 by organizers, shrugged off government warnings about a power shortage. If anything, they said, with the reactors going offline one by one, it was clear the nation didn't really need nuclear power.

Whether Japan will suffer a sharp power crunch is still unclear.

Electricity shortages are expected only at peak periods, such as the middle of the day in hot weather, and critics of nuclear power say proponents are exaggerating the consequences to win public approval to restart reactors.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. spokesman Hisatoshi Kibayashi said the shutdown was completed late Saturday.

The Hokkaido Tomari plant has three reactors, but the other two had been halted earlier. Before March 11 last year, the nation had 54 nuclear reactors, but four of the six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi are being decommissioned because of the disaster.

Yoko Kataoka, a retired baker who was dancing to the music at the rally waving a small paper carp, said she was happy the reactor was being turned off.

"Let's leave an Earth where our children and grandchildren can all play without worries," she said, wearing a shirt that had, "No thank you, nukes," handwritten on the back.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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Arizona bans funding to Planned Parenthood in abortion fight

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From the Editor's Desk: A look back at London, a look ahead to New Orleans

The Samsung Galaxy S III event has come and gone. Some say that's true about the phone as well, that it's so disappointing it's done before ever getting off the ground. Of course, many of the people saying that have yet to actually touch or use the Galaxy S III. Not that you shouldn't be able to form some sort of opinion about a phone before getting to experience it — otherwise why the hell did we do 30-something stories on it? But predicting a device's failure should at least require physical contact, no?

Regardless, Samsung will sell a bunch of these things, both in the form we saw at Earl's Court, and in variants to U.S. (and other) carriers. It'll sell 'em because Samsung is Samsung, and it has the clout with carriers — and more important, it has the marketing budget — to sell just about anything, and as much of anything, as it wants. Make no mistake about that. Samsung would never let the Galaxy S III wither and die, no matter what bloggers and analysts thing about it. Probably the more telling line came from Samsung president JK Shin, who all but made fun of the media for all the pre-launch speculation. (I can't say I blame him.) He made it pretty obvious Samsung's going to push this thing hard, never mind the blogs. Hardly a surprise there.

So what do I think? Pretty much what I said in last week's podcast. I rather like the hardware. The HTC One X wins in the display department, thanks to SLCD 2, but the SGSIII's got some nice lines to it, and I'm fairly smitten by the Pebble Blue version. Yeah, the screen's even bigger than the Galaxy Nexus or the SGSII or the One X, but Samsung's done it in a way so that the phone itself hasn't significantly grown in size. And it's thin enough at 8.6mm, with a nicely balanced weight.

It's the software that's left me underwhelmed. Ice Cream Sandwich was a fresh start for Android. HTC took advantage of that (even though many of the UI tweaks on the HTC One line were coming anyway, ICS or no). But hte Galaxy S III still seems stuck in the Gingerbread era, as far as the user interface goes. I'll be using a third-party launcher on it, most likely (and there are some really good ones available these days). Things like S Voice, and the phone being able to anticipate that you're going to make a call, and to go picture-in-picture are fun, but they're gimmicky. And for the most part, they're neither overly intuitive nor integral to the use of the phone, and these things are complicated enough as it stands. Maybe I'll be wrong and we'll hear a chorus of "Hello, Galaxy" rising up from the sidewalks of America.

But that was last week. It's already time for the next show.

read more

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Sacramento Non-Profit says can't repay city for loan on athletics event

?

The City of Sacramento is broke.? It is trying to determine how many cops and firefighters to lay off.

Yet, the city was ?rich? enough to loan $400,000 to a non profit for a sporting event.? This is the same mismanaged city willing to give over $100 million to billionaires for their play toy, an arena for their basketball team to play in.

?The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation, which is the nonprofit support organization for the Sacramento Sports Commission , is in default and can?t repay a $400,000 loan to the city for the World Masters event, according to a staff report for Tuesday?s council meeting. The loan was supposed to be repaid last October. The organization also couldn?t repay a $150,000 loan Sacramento County supplied for the same event.

Oh, the County taxpayers will lose $150,000.

Since when are governments banks for the special interests?? My guess is that if you looked at the Board of Directors of the ?non-profits? you will find people with influence with government.? Corruption?? No, just government business as usual.

?

Group says can?t repay city for loan on athletics event

• Sacramento Business Journal by Kelly Johnson, 5/4/12

The 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships ? partially supported by the city of Sacramento ? was supposed to help boost the economy and make money.

The event did pump money into the local economy, but it didn?t make money, and the organization that put on the event now can?t afford to repay a city loan.

The Sacramento city staff will ask the City Council on Tuesday to audit and limit city financial support to the organization known for attracting and orchestrating such large-scale sporting events as the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field.

The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation, which is the nonprofit support organization for the Sacramento Sports Commission , is in default and can?t repay a $400,000 loan to the city for the World Masters event, according to a staff report for Tuesday?s council meeting. The loan was supposed to be repaid last October. The organization also couldn?t repay a $150,000 loan Sacramento County supplied for the same event.

The city staff is asking the city?s elected leaders to temporarily postpone the loan due date until the city can craft a payback plan and conduct an audit. The council also will be asked to limit the city?s support of SRSEF ?to only specific event-related costs and exclude general operating costs,? the report says.

The World Masters event lost $300,000. The 12-day event attracted 10,000 visitors and generated $7.9 million for the local economy, including producing $2.9 million in hotel revenue and $70,000 in sales tax revenue to the city, according to the staff report.

Formed in 1988, the Sacramento Sports Commission is a joint city-county commission. SRSEF formed a decade later. It is funded by private contributions, event revenue and allocations from the commission.

?

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$129 Swivl-it is a cheaper motion-tracking dock for your smartphone, ditches built-in mic

If you're aching to bring some motion-tracking video action to your smartphone but can't stomach the Swivl's $179 price tag, you might find the new Swivl-it more palatable. For $129, you get the same automatic panning, horizontal follow and remote control features of the original product, but you'll miss out on the built-in microphone and automatic tilt (there's manual tilt instead). The Swivl-it is available for pre-order now and will start shipping in late May. Click through to the Swivl site for a closer look.

$129 Swivl-it is a cheaper motion-tracking dock for your smartphone, ditches built-in mic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ivory Coast has its first all-women band

It took a mother's last wish, and a man to make it happen, but Ivory Coast now has it's first all-women musical ensemble in what is hailed as a little "revolution" in this fiercely patriarchal society.

"Why is it so surprising to see women play instruments?" asked Landry Louoba, one of the 10 women in the Bella Mondo band.

The energetic Louoba plays percussion -- and has the biceps to prove it -- alongside a drummer, a pianist, a bassist, singers and other musicians, most in their 30s.

The man who got things started is promoter Charly Maiwan, a Canadian from Montreal who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and made a promise to his mother, a passionate music lover, on her deathbed.

"You always told me you'd have me sing, but my time has come, I'm leaving. Promise me that now you'll make the women of the world sing," he told AFP, recalling his mother's words.

In 2007, Maiwan, who travels regularly to Africa, contacted Nadine Levry, an Ivorian singing in nightclubs in the economic capital Abidjan. She liked the idea and contacted bass player Prisca Allou.

Bella Mondo was born, and quickly recruited eight other members with a repertoire that ranges from reggae, afro-zouk and a local dance music called zouglou, to oldies and some of their own compositions.

"This adventure must continue and attract other women," said percussionist Louoba.

"It's the right time for our revolution," added Josiane Labi Luo, one of the group's four singers whose goes by the stage name "Jo Labi".

"Revolution", in fact, is the title the women chose for their first album, scheduled for release in 2013 and a testament to their will to overcome both the country's unbending macho ethic and the turmoil from a decade of armed rebellion and political conflict that claimed 3,000 lives last year alone.

A hairdresser by trade, Levry, the band leader and a mother, recalls the difficulty she had selling the idea to her own family. Through sheer perseverance she finally obtained their "blessing", but blamed such trouble on Ivorian society as a whole.

Women remain sidelined in both political and economic circles in the Ivory Coast, said Salimata Porquet, a women's rights activist who heads a non-governmental organisation called the Peace and Security Network for Women in ECOWAS (the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States).

"There is still much to do to reach male-female parity, a promise that was never kept" by President Alassane Ouattara since he took office last May, she charged, noting there are only six women in the 35-member government and 30 in the 253-member parliament.

Yet "in Ivory Coast, 60% of households are headed by women, after a decade of political, military and socio-economic turbulence that has disrupted social structures, triggered layoffs, closed factories and torn apart families," Porquet said, adding: "This is the state of affairs in much of the continent."

As for the ensemble, "the attitude of men was oppressive at first," said Levry. "Society viewed us so badly... Women are only meant to cook, make children and take care of the house."

The "revolution" they've undertaken is "to show that women can play instruments, sometimes even better than men!" she said.

The women perform in elegant dresses of African wax cloth and have played across Abidjan, but their "headquarters", as they call it, is a club called "Pams" in the trendy district of Il-Plateaux.

March 8, International Women's Day, brought an official "blessing" of sorts when they were asked to perform at a government-planned gala hosted by former prime minister and now speaker of parliament Guillaume Soro.

And the milestones continue. In July the band is scheduled to play in Montreal at a women's music festival organised by Maiwan, as well as some gigs in Europe.

Other requests are coming in but the group's manager, Dominique Tahi, said the band "lacks instruments" and is pressing authorities for help.

For band leader Levry, there's another wish: "If Ivorian people would have a positive attitude towards what we're doing and support us, that would really help."

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Reminder: Your Wiki Clicks Can Reveal Way Too Much About You [Humor]

A search history? Sure, that can unearth some embarrassing moments. But don't forget that if you leave your browser history unchecked for long enough, every Wikipedia rabbit hole you go down will be hyperlinked for posterity. And man, have you clicked on some weirdness. [xkcd] More »

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 now available for your pre-ordering pleasure

Not sick of all the Samsung talk yet? Great news! The 10.1 version of the Galaxy Tab 2 just went up for pre-order, courtesy of the cubicle stockers at Office Depot. As previously noted, the slate's being priced at $400, and you can secure one of your very own by clicking that cool blue button. The site is reporting a May 11th release for the tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 now available for your pre-ordering pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Road To 'The Avengers': A Cheat Sheet

From casting until its international debut, the lead-up to Marvel's latest has had fans on the edge of their seats.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. in "The Avengers"
Photo: Marvel Studios

After four years and five films, "The Avengers" finally arrives in theaters. It's been a long road, full of stories, rumors and surprises, and now that the film is here, it's the perfect time to review how we got here.

For your convenience, we've taken a look back at MTV News' coverage to make this helpful cheat sheet, recounting how "The Avengers" came together.

Some Assembly Required
When putting together the biggest superhero ensemble of all time, the right cast is paramount. Luckily for director Joss Whedon and company, a lot of the cast was already in place, except for a few key members.

Shortly before shooting finished on "Thor" in 2010, Jeremy Renner signed on as Clint Barton (Hawkeye), master archer. He even joined in early enough to qualify for very special cameo in "Thor," ensuring a little recognition before the big game.

Certainly the most controversial casting move, Marvel and one-time Bruce Banner, Edward Norton, parted ways weeks before the big Comic-Con unveiling of the assembled cast. Mark Ruffalo famously signed on the dotted line just before taking the stage as an official part of the cast.

One final addition came in the form of a mysterious female role. After rumors about Demi Lovato passed, "How I Met Your Mother" star Cobie Smulders enlisted as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill.

Finding the Leader
Whoever Marvel chose to direct their massive crossover film needed to have a few specific qualifications. He or she needed to work well with an ensemble, know comics and already have the geek cred to win the fanboys over. Joss Whedon was simply the perfect candidate.

The news about the former "Astonishing X-Men" writer first broke on April Fool's Day, and everyone seemed hesitant to believe it. Nearly two weeks later, we had confirmation, and the dream of a great "Avengers" movie really began.

The Invaders
Obviously, if Loki was going to take on all of the Avengers, he was going to need a little help. But, who was he going to call on?

Fans familiar with the comic pegged the Skrulls and the Kree as likely candidates for invaders, and early reports from the spy photos from Cleveland showed Captain America and Thor fighting motion-capture stand-ins.

Both Whedon and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige denied the Skrull and Kree rumors.

Reviews Are In
Soon after the world premiere of the finished film in Los Angeles, positive reviews began to pour in all over the Internet. Bloggers called it a super-satisfying conclusion, one that actually lived up to the hype.

Splash Page editor Josh Wigler concluded in his review of "Avengers" that the film "exceeded all expectations for just how great this movie can be."

Box Office
When a summer tent-pole movie comes with this much hype and brand recognition built in, it's nearly impossible for it not to succeed financially at the box office. Early tracking for "Avengers" predicted it would collect a very respectable $150 million in its opening weekend.

While there are still some questions about how high "Avengers" will fly during its U.S. debut, in the international market, where the film is already open, it has smashed records and nears the $300 million mark.

Check out everything we've got on "Marvel's The Avengers."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

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Google News updated with enhanced Google+ integration, real-time coverage

The good news is we're still here -- luckily. On a lighter note, though, Google's sprinkling some new features on top of its headline-loving News page. Via one of its numerous blogs, Big G announced it is boosting the default size of news images on the front page, while also improving the Google+ integration within its discovery site. Now with the Plus enhancements you'll be able to check out what folks in your Circles -- and other "notable" people -- have to say about current topics, which includes comments inside the novel real-time coverage functionality on both the News homepage and social network. Unfortunately, these will only be available to those in the US when they start rolling out over the next week, and it's worth mentioning you'll be able to opt out should you choose to do so. In the meantime, you can head over to the Google News Blog to pore over all the final details.

Google News updated with enhanced Google+ integration, real-time coverage originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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