Serena, Venus, Wozniacki, Petrova out of Wimbledon

LONDON: Defending champion Serena Williams, five-time champion Venus Williams and top seed Caroline Wozniacki were sent crashing out of Wimbledon Monday as the women's singles was rocked by a triple upset.

Serena, who has only recently returned from a year-long layoff caused by injury and life-threatening health problems, was stunned 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) by fiery Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in a pulsating battle on Court One.

Big sister Venus lost 6-2, 6-3 to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, who had also defeated the American in the last eight here last year.

Pironkova will face Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova who skated past Belgian 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-2. more

Washington deems 'ironic' Iranian terrorism summit

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Monday branded as ‘ironic’ an anti-terrorism summit held last week in Tehran.

"We consider it quite ironic that Iran, the most active state sponsor of terrorism, is holding a meeting on terrorism," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Delegates from 60 countries took part in the June 25 conference, including Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which on Saturday announced that they would work together in the anti-terrorism fight.

"Iran's financial, material and logistical support for terrorist and militant groups throughout the Middle East and Central Asia flies in the face of efforts to promote peace, threatens economic stability, and undermines the growth of democracy throughout the region," Nuland said.

"So instead of engaging constructively in the region, with the international community, the Iranian government continues to engage unhelpfully and in an unfounded way," she added. (AFP)