Italy leads France 2-0 lead in Fed Cup

The Italian contested the decision and received a warning for verbal abuse.

She risked losing the match on a penalty point when she directed a gesture at the chair umpire.Mauresmo lost focus after the call, double-faulting and making an unforced error to give Pennetta another set point that the Italian converted.The 12th-ranked Pennetta rallied from 4-1 down in the third set and broke Mauresmo at 4-4 to serve out for the match.The reverse singles and the doubles are scheduled for Sunday.

The winner of the best-of-five series will play Russia or China in the semifinals on April 25-26.Copyright 2009 by The Associated PressThis story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire.

This week, ESPN Radio will focus on the state of sports -- from the economy to the media.



Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=tennis&id=3891181

Toulouse: quatre heures de lutte pour circonscrire l'incendie d'un ...

Toulouse: quatre heures de lutte pour circonscrire l'incendie d'un immeuble - MSN Actualites - Actualités Rechercher sur le web : AFP - samedi 7 février 2009, 21h52 Toulouse: quatre heures de lutte pour circonscrire l'incendie d'un immeuble Un pompier Soixante pompiers, appuyés par une quinzaine de véhicules dont deux grandes échelles, ont lutté près de quatre heures samedi soir pour circonscrire un incendie qui a ravagé un immeuble proche du centre ville de Toulouse, a constaté un journaliste de l'AFP.Les pompiers, alertés pour un feu de cave vers 17h00, ont dû faire évacuer l'immeuble en raison de la violence des flammes qui produisaient d'importantes fumées toxiques.

Trois immeubles voisins ont également été évacués par précaution."Le sinistre s'est ensuite propagé à tout l'immeuble par la cage d'escalier en bois de cet immeuble ancien et a percé la toiture", a précisé à l'AFP le lieutenant colonel Viala, responsable des secours sur place.Le sinistre n'aurait pas fait de victime selon les secours.

Les pompiers ont pu pénétrer munis de masques à oxygène dans cet immeuble de trois étages situé non loin de la basilique Saint-Sernin.Les pompiers, équipés de grosses lances, ont dû combattre l'incendie en inondant notamment l'immeuble depuis le toit et en luttant dans les étages."Le feu a été circonscrit, il a été éteint dans les étages vers 20h30 et est limité au sous-sol", a précisé le centre opérationnel départemental d'incendie et de secours .Le feu, dont on ignore encore la cause, a longtemps empêché les secours d'accéder aux caves à l'origine de l'incendie, sous un café, une boucherie et une pharmacie.

Retrouvez des reportages et ainsi que des , des , la , les , l' et sportive en direct avec .Partenaire : © 2009 Microsoft



Source: http://news.fr.msn.com/france/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13860434

French DM rules out more troops for Afghanistan - washingtonpost.com

Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site.

Recent announcements of reductions of the numbers of French troops in countries like Ivory Coast and Chad had fueled speculation that France intended to redeploy those soldiers to Afghanistan.

Get The Post's take on whatever you're reading -- anywhere on the Web.

| | | | | | | | | | SEARCH: washingtonpost.com Web Powered by Google : | | | | | | | | | | The Washington Post: | | | | | | | | The Washington Post Company: 1996- The Washington Post Company | | |



Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/08/AR2009020801075.html

Holiday-rentals parent co. HomeAway boosts European listings with ...

HomeAway, Inc., the world's leading online vacation rental marketplace and parent company of Holiday-Rentals and Owners Direct in the UK, announced its acquisition of Paris-based Homelidays SAS.

The acquisition further strengthens the company's global leadership position in this rapidly growing $48 billion segment of the travel industry.

HomeAway now features more than 360,000 worldwide properties and operates the number one and two vacation rental sites in France, United Kingdom and United States and the number one sites in Germany and Italy.

As a result, HomeAway is in an excellent position to continue to fund strategic growth initiatives, such as this acquisition, and marketing investments to increase the awareness of vacation rentals as a great value alternative to hotels.



Source: http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/29305

Holiday haggling

The hotels website calculates that with the average traveller saving themselves £32.20 per holiday, as a nation, we bargain savings of 1.7 billion every year.Haggling is no longer restricted to souvenir shopping in places like Morocco or Tunisia - Brits are prepared to bargain for the best deal wherever they go in the world.

In fact, almost a quarter (23%) have haggled over prices at home in the UK, indicating that people are becoming increasingly brazen when it comes to demanding a discount.British bargain hunters are in fact so confident of haggling down the asking price that they are not only seeking to save a few pounds on souvenirs, but are now bargaining for a wide range of goods and services, from clothes in shops (45%) to the price of taxis, trains and car hire (42%) and even meals in hotel restaurants (7%).

What do Brits haggle for'What Brits have haggled for % of Brits who have haggledClothes and souvenirs from markets 82%Clothes and souvenirs from shops 45%Taxis, trains or car hire 42%Activities (diving trips, camel treks etc) 37%Hotel room upgrades 34%Sun loungers 13%Restaurants and bar bills 10%Meals at hotel restaurants 7%Britain: The haggling capital of EuropeAcross Europe, Brits are the nation with the best nose for a bargain.

The Irish come in at the bottom of the European haggling league, with just 56% prepared to haggle for a bargain.



Source: http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=33136