Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are heading for a Davis Cup showdown next year after Wednesday's draw paired their two countries in the first round. Swiss maestro Federer, who took over as world number one from Nadal during the Spaniard's injury layoff this summer, helped his country to a narrow win 3-2 win over Italy to qualify among the elite 16 counties who contest the World Group. Nadal, who has a stomach strain, sat out Spain's semifinal win over Israel ...

A body that may be that of a Briton taken hostage in Iraq two years ago has been handed over to Iraqi authorities, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced Wednesday. The disclosures reported by the country's official news agency were highly unusual. The agency, SPA, reported the attacker, Abdullah Hassan Talea' Asiri, a wanted Saudi militant who had been hiding in Yemen, got in touch with Saudi authorities telling them he wanted to turn himself in to Saudi Prince Mohammed ...

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry has identified the suicide bomber who attempted to assassinate the country's assistant interior minister last Thursday and released details of a phone conversation between the two men prior to the attack. The disclosures reported by the country's official news agency were highly unusual. The agency, SPA, reported the attacker, Abdullah Hassan Talea' Asiri, a wanted Saudi militant who had been hiding in Yemen, got in touch with Saudi authorities telling them he wanted to turn himself ...

Phillip Garrido was registered as a sex offender, required to meet with parole officers and fitted with an ankle bracelet to track his movements -- but nothing prevented him from being around children, according to a victim's advocacy group. Garrido, who is charged with kidnapping and raping Jaycee Lee Dugard -- a young woman police say lived with her two daughters in a huddle of tents and outbuildings hidden behind Garrido's home - was arrested last week along with his ...

A former "Manson family" member who stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death more than 40 years ago and is now terminally ill faces her 13th parole hearing on Wednesday. Susan Atkins, 61, has terminal brain cancer. As of earlier this year, she was paralyzed over 85 percent of her body and could not sit up in bed or be moved into a wheelchair, according to a Web site maintained by her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse. However, despite her declining ...

Arsenal striker Eduardo has been slapped with a two-match ban by European football's governing body UEFA for diving to win a penalty against Celtic last week. The Croatia international went down when there appeared to be minimal -- if any -- contact with visiting goalkeeper Artur Boruc in the Champions League qualifier. He got up to score the opening goal from the penalty spot as the English club went on to beat their Scottish rivals 3-1 and progress into the ...

Injured Formula One star Felipe Massa is looking forward to taking his first steps towards driving again after passing a series of mental and physical tests in Miami. His team Ferrari reported on its Web site on Tuesday that the Brazilian, who suffered horrific head wounds in Hungary in July, had come through the tests satisfactorily on Monday. "The checks (neurometric and impact tests, cognitive capacity tests) all had a positive outcome, just like the eye exam: everything is in ...

Samar Saed Abdullah's entire body trembles as she speaks about her impending execution. She thinks of the gallows room, the noose around her neck and that moment when she will take her final breath. "My life is meaningless," she said, choking on her tears. "I can't think of anything else. The other women, we try to help each other, but we cannot escape the reality that we are on death row and they can take us at any second." The ...

Weary firefighters labored into the early Tuesday, hacking away at bone-dry tree limbs and laying down fire retardant as they tried to beat back a 6-day-old blaze in Southern California. Triple-digit temperatures combined with low humidity pushed the Station Fire in Angeles National Forest from 45,000 acres to more than 100,000 acres in a matter of hours Monday. This area north of Los Angeles had not seen a major fire in more than 60 years. The blaze, the ...

European champions Barcelona began the defense of the Spanish Primera Liga title with a 3-0 demolition of Sporting Gijon in the Camp Nou on Monday night. Barca were missing Lionel Messi, who is on international duty with Argentina, and injured key midfielder Andres Iniesta, but it made little difference against the visitors, who narrowly avoided relegation last season. Mali international midfielder Seydou Keita proved the main influence for the Catalan giants in the first half, setting up Bojan Krkic for ...