Drabek solid in Blue Jays’ win; Yankees tame Tigers 10-6

TORONTO — Blue Jays rookie Kyle Drabek did more than enough to ensure his first major-league win came Saturday against the Minnesota Twins.

His teammates provided plenty of offence just to make sure.

Drabek and two relievers combined on a one-hitter and Toronto smacked two more home runs in a 6-1 victory in front of 27,194 fans at Rogers Centre.

The Jays’ second straight win came a day after a four-homer barrage in a 13-3 rout of the Twins in the season opener for both teams. Drabek was solid from the start in this one, giving up Minnesota’s lone hit to Denard Span in the sixth inning. The 23-year-old right-hander had three walks and seven strikeouts.

"The control of my pitches wasn’t the best today," Drabek said. "It was just the situations where I needed a good pitch, it was there. I think that helped me out a bunch this game."

Catcher Jose Molina and third baseman Jayson Nix hit solo homers and left-fielder Travis Snider knocked in a pair of runs to help Toronto improve to 2-0. The Blue Jays had 11 hits in all.

Drabek, acquired in the Roy Halladay trade with Philadelphia in December 2009, allowed one earned run over seven innings. He threw 54 of his 101 pitches for strikes.

Yankees 10, Tigers 6: At New York, A.J. Burnett took a steady first step as he aims to bounce back from a wobbly season and Mark Teixeira hit his second three-run homer in two games, sending the Yankees to a victory over Detroit.

Russell Martin also smacked a three-run shot, Alex Rodriguez hit No. 614 and Derek Jeter began his march toward 3,000 hits with his first two of the season.

White Sox 8, Indians 3: At Cleveland, Edwin Jackson extended his mastery of Cleveland, Gordon Beckham and Carlos Quentin had two RBIs apiece and Chicago won for their first 2-0 start since 2005 — when they won the World Series.

Jackson, who is 8-0 in his last nine starts against Cleveland, allowed two earned runs and five hits in six innings.

Royals 5, Angels 4: At Kansas City, Mo., Chris Getz had three hits, including an RBI single for the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and the Royals rallied for a victory over Los Angeles.

Cubs 5, Pirates 3: At Chicago, pinch-hitter Blake DeWitt delivered a two-out, two-run double that capped a five-run eighth inning as the Cubs rallied past Pittsburgh.

Nationals 6, Braves 3: At Washington, Rick Ankiel drove in three runs with a homer and suicide-squeeze bunt, Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos each had three hits and the Nationals beat Atlanta.

Padres 11, Cardinals 3: At St. Louis, Clayton Richard had two RBIs to match his career high without getting the ball out of the infield and pitched six solid innings in San Diego’s victory over the Cardinals.

Giants 10, Dodgers 0: At Los Angeles, Matt Cain scattered five hits over six innings, Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez drove in three runs each and San Francisco routed Dodgers for their first win of the season.

France calls for G20 nuclear regulators meeting: Sarkozy

TOKYO, March 31, 2011 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Thursday for G20 nations' nuclear regulators to meet to discuss international safety standards, in the first visit to quake-hit Japan by a foreign leader.

"We call on the independent authorities of G20 members to meet, if possible in Paris, to define an international nuclear safety standard" for power plants, he said in a speech at the French Embassy in Tokyo.

"It is absolutely abnormal that these international safety standards do not exist," he said, suggesting the Paris meeting could take place as early as May.

France, the world's number two nuclear power, has sent experts to Japan to try to help cool overheating reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that have been leaking dangerous radioactive material into the environment.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, prompting the reactors to overheat, triggering explosions and fires.

Workers have injected and hosed the reactors with water, but efforts have largely failed to lead to a cold shutdown, instead being followed by radiation leaks and fuelling fears of run-offs into the ocean and soil.

Sarkozy arrived in Japan on Thursday in a show of "solidarity" with a nation coming to terms with the impact of a devastating earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear crisis.

Pledging solidarity with victims of the calamity, Sarkozy said his visit was aimed at offering Japan aid to "help confront this situation" as well as the "calm and transparency to address this crisis."

He was due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and members of the French community in Tokyo later Thursday before returning to Paris.

French nuclear group Areva, whose president is also in Tokyo, announced on Thursday it was planning to give extra help to the operator of the stricken plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

Before his Tokyo visit, Sarkozy left Nanjing in China where he opened a G20 seminar on economic and monetary reform.

Sarkozy is the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and an ensuing tsunami which devastated swathes of the country's northeast, with around 28,000 people killed or missing.

Two hurt in parcel bomb at Swiss nuclear lobby

(Reuters) - Two people were injured when a parcel bomb exploded in the offices of the Swiss nuclear lobby, police said on Thursday.

The two female employees of Swissnuclear were taken to hospital with superficial burns and hearing damage, a police spokesman said, adding the mail had exploded on Thursday morning but police did not yet know who sent it.

Police cordoned off the office of Swissnuclear in the northern Swiss town of Olten and the spokesman said they had forensic specialists on the ground.

Earlier this month, Switzerland suspended the approvals process for three new nuclear power stations so safety standards could be reviewed, afterJapan's earthquake and tsunami sparked a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Switzerland derived about 10 percent of its energy from nuclear generation in 2009, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

(Reporting by Christian Hartmann and Sven Egenter; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Gaddafi forces push rebels back

Rebels in Libya are struggling to hold their front line after Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces recaptured several towns in the east of the country.

The rebels have now lost the key oil port of Ras Lanuf and the nearby town of Bin Jawad. However, reports say the fighting is continuing in the area.

In the west, the rebel-held town of Misrata is still coming under attack from pro-Gaddafi troops, reports say.

US President Barack Obama earlier said he did not rule out arming the rebels.

France and the US say they are sending envoys to the rebel-held city of Benghazi in the east to liaise with the interim administration there.

And British Foreign Secretary William Hague said a UK diplomat met Libyan rebel leaders in Benghazi earlier this week.

The UK has also made moves to expel five Libyan diplomats based in London, Mr Hague told MPs on Wednesday.

Allied friction

Mr Obama told reporters on Tuesday that Col Gaddafi had been greatly weakened by the coalition air strikes and would ultimately step down.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday that the RAF had flown 24 sorties over Libya on Tuesday night.

These had destroyed artillery and an armoured vehicle near the strategic city of Sirte, which is Col Gaddafi's birthplace.

It lies on Libya's northern coast roughly half way between the capital Tripoli and Benghazi.

As fighting intensified on Wednesday, the BBC's Ben Brown in Ajdabiya said he had seen the rebels sending reinforcements to the front line, including four Katyusha rocket systems.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mr Hague both suggested the UN resolution authorising international action in Libya could also permit the supply of weapons.

This message was reinforced by Mr Cameron in his comments to MPs on Wednesday, in which he said that as the UN ceasefire was clearly being breached it was right to keep up pressure from the air, while not ruling out the option of arming the rebels.

"UN [Security Council Resolution] 1973 allows all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas, and our view is this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances," he said.

"We do not rule it out, but we have not taken the decision to do so."

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied UN Security Resolution 1973 gave a mandate to arm the rebels.

"The Nato Secretary General Fogh Rasmussen declared that the operation in Libya was being staged to protect the population and not to arm it - and here, we completely agree with the Nato secretary general," he said.

In a separate development, an international conference on Libya in London has agreed to set up a contact group involving Arab governments to co-ordinate help for a post-Gaddafi Libya.

Several thousand people have been killed and thousands wounded since the uprising against Col Gaddafi's rule began more than six weeks ago.

Jackie Chan's stunt director trained Darsheel

Child star Darsheel Safary is said to have performed some daring action sequences in his upcoming film "Zokkomon" under the guidance ofHollywood actor Jackie Chan's stunt director William Ong.The 

15-year-old, who made his Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan's " Taare Zameen Par", is playing a superhero in the film. 

He has performed all the stunts himself, and he will be seen in a never-seen-before avatar, says a source. 

"Darsheel trained for months to perfect his moves with international stunt director William Ong, who has worked with the legendary Jackie Chan," said the source. 

Darsheel says he had an enjoyable time training and shooting for the movie, 

"I loved doing the action sequences. I am thrilled to see myself as Zokkomon, all the special effects and action sequences are something I haven't done before," said Darsheel. 

"Zokkomon", directed by Satyajit Bhatkal, is an action adventure film about an ordinary boy who meets extraordinary challenges. The movie, releasing April 22, also features veteran actor Anupam Kher and actress Manjari Fadnis. 

Maharashtra to ban controversial book on Gandhi

Mumbai: Maharashtra government will initiate steps to ban sale of a controversial book on Mahatma Gandhi by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Joseph Lelyveld.

"Gandhiji was a respected leader and is known as the father of nation. He led the freedom movement of India. The government will initiate steps to ensure that the book is not published in the state," Industries Minister Narayan Rane told the Legislative Council today.

The minister also informed that the state government would write to the Centre for not publishing the controversial book.

Congress MLC and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Manikrao Thakre said in the upper house that the book 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India' has maligned the character of the Father of Nation.

"This is very serious that the author of the book has raised questions about the character of Gandhiji who initiated non-violence movement. I condemn the book and this should not be made available," Thakre said.

The MPCC president also appealed to members of the House to join hands on the issue. Thakre said he would request the central government on behalf of the Council members to take strict "action" on the issue.

The book written by Joseph Lelyveld reportedly carries controversial references about the Mahatma.

Supporting the demand by Thakre, Chairman of the House Shivajirao Deshmukh said that the government should enquire the matter in detail and take appropriate action.

Maharashtra government to ban sale of a controversial book on Mahatma Gandhi by Joseph Lelyveld.

Libyan woman claims she was raped, abused by Gaddafi soldiers

In a bizarre event in the ongoing crisis in Libya, a distraught and disturbed Libyan woman sought out western reporters in a Tripoli hotel to claim she had been gang-raped for two days by fifteen members of a paramilitary force loyal to Moammar Gaddafi.

However, before she could tell the whole story, Iman al-Obeidi was dragged out of the Rixos hotel by Libyan officials and hotel employees.

She alleged that she had been detained at a checkpoint, tied her up, sexually abused her and then led her away to be gang-raped.

"They tied me up ... they even defecated and urinated on me," she said. "The Gaddafi militiamen violated my honor."

She said she was victimized because she is from the eastern city of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.

She yelled: "Easterners - we're all Libyan brothers, we are supposed to be treated the same, but this is what the Gaddafi militiamen did to me, they violated my honor."

Her allegations could not be independently verified.

At a press conference following the incident, Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said investigators informed him the woman was drunk and possibly mentally ill.

“She seems, this is initial reports, to be suffering mentally. They are dealing with her. They are investigating, checking where her family is, who she is. She is refusing to tell them who she is, who her family are, her father, sister, brothers…as for physically handling her to take her out, this would be done anywhere in the world, if someone storms a place,” he said.

Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said: "The government initially suggested that she was drunk ... but when they [officials] came back to the journalists later to reassure them that she was being well cared for ... they did describe this as a case of rape."

The woman clearly had scratches on her face and bruises on her body. She claimed she was able to escape her captors with help from neighbors in the area where she was detained.

The Associated Press reported that during the melee hotel waiters called her a traitor and told her to shut up.

As she was being led away, she screamed: "Look at what happens - Gaddafi's militiamen kidnap women at gunpoint, and rape them ... they rape them.”

She was bundled into a car outside the hotel and driven to an undisclosed location.

During the hotel disturbance several foreign journalists were manhandled and some had their cameras broken.