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Sunday, June 7, 2009

Federer claims historic Paris win

Roger Federer beat Robin Soderling in straight sets to win his first French Open and equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles.World number two Federer becomes only the sixth man to have won each of the four Grand Slam tournaments.The 27-year-old Swiss produced a near-faultless display in testing conditions to dominate Sweden's Soderling, a shock finalist, from start to finish.He wrapped up a 6-1 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 victory in one hour and 55 minutes.Federer joins Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Andre Agassi as the only men to have won all four Grand Slam titles and was presented the Coupe des Mousquetaires by Agassi."It was probably my greatest victory, I was under big pressure," said Federer. "I did it and it's phenomenal. It was great to be on the podium as a winner for a change.

More Bodies Found in Desperate Ocean Search for Air France Crash Wreckage

Three more bodies were found Sunday in the ocean near the spot where an Air France jet is believed to have crashed a week ago, bringing the total number of bodies plucked from the water to five, Brazil's military said.Authorities said pilots searching the mid-Atlantic also spotted an undetermined number of additional bodies from the air and are sending ships to recover them, Navy Capt. Giucemar Tabosa Cardoso said.Flight 447 disappeared in turbulent weather May 31 during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard — all now presumed dead.The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake.The French agency investigating the disaster said airspeed instruments on the plane had not been replaced as the maker had recommended, but cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions about what role that may have played in the crash.

Counting under way in Lebanon poll

Counting is under way after Lebanese voters flocked to the polls in an election in which a Hezbollah-led coalition was aiming to seize the parliamentary majority from a Western-backed alliance.The first results from Sunday's general election were expected within hours of polls closing at 7pm local time (16:00 GMT).Long queues had formed outside polling stations during the day, with some people complaining that they had to wait for up to three hours to cast their ballots.Lebanon's interior ministry said turnout had reached 46 per cent shortly before the close, exceeding the 45 per cent total recorded in the 2005 election."Such voter turnout is unheard of in the history of Lebanese elections," Ziad Baroud, Lebanon's interior minister, said.Reporting from Beirut, said that the high turnout was "surprising and extraordinarily encouraging"."You have the sense here that people really felt like their vote was going to count for the first time in a long time," he said.It is the first time that a Lebanese election has been held on a single day rather than over a month.