Football: Wigan leave Redknapp still searching for first win

WIGAN, United Kingdom: QPR manager Harry Redknapp was left looking for his first win since he took over at the Premier League bottom side after a double by Ireland international James McCarthy gave Wigan a deserved 2-2 draw here on Saturday.

QPR remain rooted to the bottom despite coming from behind to lead 2-1 through goals by their Kiwi captain Ryan Nelsen and substitute Djibril Cisse but McCarthy's second consigned them to their third successive draw since Redknapp replaced the sacked Mark Hughes.

The draw also saw QPR set a new unwanted Premier League record of 16 games without a win from the start of the season. The last top-flight team to suffer a 16-game winless start to a season was Sheffield United in 1990 in the old First Division.

It leaves QPR on just seven points, eight points adrift of fourth from bottom Wigan.

The hosts had started the brighter, David Jones being desperately unlucky not to open the scoring with a terrific freekick but set the record straight soon after as McCarthy rattled the ball home with an excellent volley.

The visitors, though, were level seven minutes later as Nelsen headed in at the back post with his first goal for the club he joined from Blackburn Rovers.

Nelsen, though, almost handed Wigan a second goal as his error let in McCarthy but former England goalkeeper Robert Green did well to deny the Irishman with his legs.

However, the hosts had the upper hand and pinned the London side back in their half, Green doing well again to deny Jordi Gomez from close range.

Jones then went close to restoring Wigan's lead but Green stood up to him well, though, he could do nothing about a pile driver from Gomez that hit the underside of the bar but failed to cross the line.

However, totally against the run of play QPR grabbed the lead as Cisse nipped in to take advantage of a defensive error by Adria Lopez and slot the ball past Ali Al Habsi.

Seconds later, the hosts were back on level terms as Chilean Jean Beausejour put in a great cross which found McCarthy, who put the ball away.

Green came to QPR's aid again as the game drew to a close getting down well to save from Gomez.

- AFP/fa

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Nook Simple Touch e-reader drops to $80

Barnes & Noble is dropping the price of its Nook Simple Touch e-reader by $20 starting tomorrow, with a new price tag of $80, the company said today.

Not a full-blown
tablet, the Simple Touch relies on a touch screen for flipping e-ink pages, navigating menus, and so on. CNET Reviews gave it four out of five stars and called it a "major advancement" over its predecessor.

As CNET's Rick Broida noted recently in his Cheapskate blog, though full-feature tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire can be had for as low as $160, many people prefer an e-ink screen to one that's backlit -- it's easier on the eyes and better for outdoor reading. And with just books and other reading matter on the gadget, you can't be tempted to stray from "War and Peace" for Facebook, Angry Birds, or whatever else.

Walmart was recently selling refurbished models of the Simple Touch for $50, but those seem to be out of stock. Earlier, on Black Friday, B&N sold the device for $60.

The Simple Touch is available at B&N retail stores; B&N College Bookstores; third-party retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy; and online at www.nook.com.

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Typhoon Bopha threatens Philippines again

NEW BATAAN, Philippines A typhoon that killed nearly 600 people and left hundreds more missing in the southern Philippines has made a U-turn and is now threatening the country's northwest, officials said Saturday.

The weather bureau raised storm warnings over parts of the main northern island of Luzon after Typhoon Bopha veered northeast. There was a strong possibility the disastrous storm would make a second landfall Sunday, but it might also make a loop and remain in the South China Sea, forecasters said.

39 Photos

Powerful typhoon hits Philippines

In either case, it was moving close to shore and disaster officials warned of heavy rains and winds and possible landslides in the mountainous region.

Tens of thousands already have been left homeless by the storm, reports CBS News' Barnaby Lo, with the situation still very dire - shortages of food and drinking water, and other health and sanitation problems.

Bopha was forecast to leave the Philippine area tomorrow but is now expected to make landfall in the Northern Philippines on Sunday.

Storm signal warnings have been raised in several provinces, as the typhoon brings heavy rainfall and gusty winds, threatening to inflict more destruction upon the country.

Another calamity in the north would stretch recovery efforts thin. Most government resources, including army and police, are currently focused on the south, where Bopha hit Tuesday.

With many survivors there still in shock, soldiers, police and outside volunteers formed most of the teams searching for bodies or signs of life under tons of fallen trees and boulders swept down from steep hills surrounding the worst-hit town of New Bataan, municipal spokesman Marlon Esperanza said.

"We are having a hard time finding guides," he told The Associated Press. "Entire families were killed and the survivors ... appear dazed. They can't move."

Rescuers continue to retrieve bodies of flash flood victims three days after powerful Typhoon Bopha, in the remote New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines Friday, Dec. 7, 2012.

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AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

He said the rocks, mud, tree trunks and other rubble that litter the town have destroyed landmarks, making it doubly difficult to search places where houses once stood.

On Friday, bodies found jammed under fallen trees that could not be retrieved were marked with makeshift flags made of torn cloth so they could be easily spotted by properly equipped teams.

Authorities decided to bury unidentified bodies in a common grave after forensic officials process them for future identification by relatives, Esperanza said.

The town's damaged public market has been converted into a temporary funeral parlor. A few residents milled around two dozen white wooden coffins, some containing unidentified remains.

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Australian DJs Behind Prank Call Under Fire

An outpouring of anger is being directed today at the two Australian radio hosts after the death of a nurse who was caught in the DJs' prank call to hospital where Kate Middleton was treated earlier this week.

Lord Glenarthur, the chairman of King Edward VII's Hospital - the U.K. hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was receiving treatment, condemned the prank in a letter to the Max Moore-Wilton, chairman of Southern Cross Austereo, the Australian radio station's parent company.

Glenarthur said the prank humiliated "two dedicated and caring nurses," and the consequences were "tragic beyond words," The Associated Press reported.

DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian, radio shock jocks at Sydney's 2Day FM have been taken off the air, but the company they work for did not fire them or condemn them.

"I think that it's a bit early to be drawing conclusions from what is really a deeply tragic matter," Rhys Holleran, CEO of Southern Cross Austereo told a news conference in Sydney. "I mean, our main concern is for the family. I don't think anyone could have reasonably foreseen that this was going to be a result."

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead Friday morning after police were called to an address near the hospital to "reports of a woman found unconscious," according to a statement from Scotland Yard.

Circumstances of her death are still being investigated, but are not suspicious at this stage, authorities said Friday.

Following news of Saldanha's death, commentary on social media included posts expressing shock, sadness and anger.

Nurse Duped by 'Queen's' Prank Call Found Dead Watch Video

Jacintha Saldanha, Nurse at Kate Middleton's Hospital, Found Dead Watch Video

A sampling of some of the twitter posts directed at the DJs included: "you scumbag, hope you get what's coming to you" and "I hope you're happy now."

The hospital said that Saldanha worked at the hospital for more than four years. They called her a "first-class nurse" and "a well-respected and popular member of the staff."

The hospital extended their "deepest sympathies" to family and friends, saying that "everyone is shocked" at this "tragic event."

"I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances, she will be laid to rest in Shirva, India," Saldanha's husband posted on Facebook.

The duchess spent three days at the hospital undergoing treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum, severe or debilitating nausea and vomiting. She was released from the hospital on Thursday morning.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Jacintha Saldanha," a spokesman from St. James Palace said in a statement.

On Friday, Greig and Christian had been gloating about their successful call to the hospital, in which they pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles and were able to obtain personal information about the Duchess's serious condition.

"You know what they were the worst accents ever and when we made that phone call we were sure a hundred people at least before us would have tried the same thing," said Grieg on air. She added with a laugh, "we were expecting to be hung up on we didn't even know what to say [when] we got through."

"We got through and now the entire world is talking, of course," said her co-host Christian.

When the royal impersonators called the hospital, Saldanha put through to a second nurse who told the royal impersonators that Kate was "quite stable" and hadn't "had any retching."

The hospital apologized for the mistake.

"The call was transferred through to a ward, and a short conversation was held with one of the nursing staff," the hospital said in a statement. "King Edward VII's Hospital deeply regrets this incident."

"This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore," John Lofthouse, the hospital's chief executive, said in the statement. "We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously, and we are now reviewing our telephone protocols."

The radio station also apologized for the prank call.

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