LONDON (Reuters) – Disgraced Chinese badminton player Yu Yang has quit the sport after being disqualified from the Olympics along with seven other women for deliberately trying to lose to secure an easier draw in the knockout rounds.

The debacle has cast a shadow over the action, which will see Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte square off for the final time in the pool, with Phelps, once again, vying to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Olympics.

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Disgraced Chinese badminton player
Yu Yang has quit the sport after being disqualified from the
Olympics along with seven other women for deliberately trying to
lose to secure an easier draw in the knockout rounds.

The debacle has cast a shadow over the action, which will
see Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte square off for the final time
in the pool, with Phelps, once again, vying to become the first
male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Olympics.

CAIRO (Reuters) – President Hosni Mubarak’s government was to hold its first full meeting of a new cabinet on Monday since protests erupted against his rule with no sign yet of progress in talks with an opposition which wants him out.

Mubarak, who has refused calls to step down before September polls, has tried to focus on restoring order.

CAIRO (Reuters) – President Hosni Mubarak held onto power Monday, defying a popular uprising against his autocratic rule, after the government opened talks with opposition groups to resolve Egypt’s deepest crisis in 30 years.

The banned Muslim Brotherhood were among the groups who met with officials over the weekend, a sign of how much has already changed in 13 days that have rocked the Arab world and alarmed Western powers.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Opposition groups including the banned Muslim Brotherhood held talks with the government on Sunday to resolve Egypt’s political crisis but said their core demand for the removal of President Hosni Mubarak was not met.

Demonstrators in central Tahrir Square, focal point of an uprising that has rocked the Arab world and alarmed Western powers, said they would intensify their 12-day battle to oust the president who has vowed to stay on until September.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak offered talks on sweeping reforms with opponents on Monday, indicating that massive pressure from street protesters, Western allies and his own army are ending his 30 years of one-man rule.

After a week of unprecedented rallies against the poverty, corruption and oppression under the 82-year-old military-backed leader, newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman appeared on state television to say Mubarak had asked him to begin dialogue with all political forces on constitutional and other reforms.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak offered talks on sweeping reforms with opponents on Monday, indicating that massive pressure from street protesters, Western allies and his own army are ending his 30 years of one-man rule.

After a week of unprecedented rallies against the poverty, corruption and oppression under the 82-year-old military-backed leader, newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman appeared on state television to say Mubarak had asked him to begin dialogue with all political forces on constitutional and other reforms.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s armed forces pledged not to fire on peaceful demonstrators on Monday as thousands of people, freed from fear after decades of oppression, tried to press home their campaign to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

The army, which put Mubarak into power in 1981, seemed to be weighing whether to shift its loyalties as the former general’s opponents spoke of getting a million people onto the streets on Tuesday to mark a week since the unprecedented protests began.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with police in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria on Saturday after President Hosni Mubarak spurned demands that he end his 30-year authoritarian rule.

A Reuters witness said police used teargas and live ammunition against demonstrators in Alexandria. Protesters also gathered on a main square in the capital Cairo in defiance of military orders for them to disperse.

CAIRO (Reuters) – President Hosni Mubarak clung to power Saturday, replacing his cabinet in an effort to appease angry Egyptians who demonstrated in their tens of thousands to demand an end to his 30-year rule.

Mubarak ordered troops and tanks into the capital Cairo and other cities overnight and imposed a curfew in an attempt to quell protests that have shaken the Arab world’s most populous nation, a key U.S. ally, to the core.