Radke keeps Twins on pace

Brad Radke earned his first shutout of the season with a five-hitter, and the Minnesota Twins got home runs from Jacques Jones andLuis Rivas to beat host Anaheim 3-0 Tuesday night.

The Twins remained 11/2 games behind the White Sox and a half-game behind the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central.

The victory ended Minnesota's seven-game losing streak againstAnaheim, a skid that began with Game 2 of last season's ALCS.

Radke (10-10) won for the fifth time in six decisions, retiring 16of the last 17 batters. He struck out four and walked one whileimproving to 7-2 with a 1.47 ERA in nine career starts at Anaheim.

The shutout was the eighth in 278 career starts …

Skee-Lo emerges as a sizzling pivoted force in contemporary rap

Skee-Lo emerges as a sizzling pivoted force in contemporary rap

Significant African American talent keeps surfacing upon a vast sea of entertainment as their waves wash them upon the earth where their vibrant talents might be heard and possibly cherished.

So is the gift of Skee-Lo that in a huge wave descended upon the sands of time and is currently being heard on Maddtrtax Records.

It was as a young, aspiring singer that musician and rapper Skee-lo made his debut. His appearance was exciting, however, it became very, very evident that it was necessary for him to prepare himself for life in addition to entertainment, so he took a hiatus.

Skee-lo's objective was …

Tokyo shares slide on US bailout, economy worries

Tokyo share prices plunged Friday to their lowest level in more than three years on growing fears that even a passage of the proposed U.S. financial bailout package cannot stop the American economy from slipping into a recession.

A spate of dismal U.S. economic data also helped send the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average skidding 216.62 points, or 1.94 percent, to 10,938.14. The broader Topix index lost 2.69 percent to 1,047.97.

"The uncertainty about the U.S. bailout package is weighing heavily on Tokyo shares," said Noritsugu Hirakawa, strategist at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. "It is clear the U.S. auto market, for one, is expected to …

This week's Essex fixtures

Glamorgan Dragons (SWALEC Stadium) Friday, May 6 - CB40.

Unicorns (away, Bury St Edmunds) Sunday, May 8 - …

`Invention of Love' on Broadway

NEW YORK OK, folks. For those of you who have been complainingBroadway is just a dustbin for musical-comedy revivals, tired, long-running British pop-operas and middlebrow fare with a television staror two, now is your opportunity to take a chance.

Tom Stoppard's "The Invention of Love," now at the Lyceum Theatre,is an intellectually adventurous, eloquent play, full of classicalreferences (many in the original Greek or Latin), bits and pieces of19th century British history (specifically about its upper-crusteducational system) and famous people ranging from Oscar Wilde toJohn Ruskin.

It's a heady, demanding work that packs a surprisingly emotionalwallop, considering …

Rutgers' LeGrand watches game from hospital room

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano says paralyzed player Eric LeGrand was able to watch the Scarlet Knights play from his hospital room.

Schiano did not update LeGrand's condition Sunday during a conference call. The junior defensive tackle is paralyzed from the neck down. His condition has not changed since he was injured making a tackle on a …

Volkswagen's H1 profit up strongly at $2.4B

Automaker Volkswagen AG says its first-half net earnings surged to (EURO)1.82 billion ($2.4 billion) as strong demand from China helped pushed sales higher.

Volkswagen's profit for the January-June period was up from (EURO)494 million a year earlier.

The company didn't immediately offer second-quarter figures in a statement Thursday.

Volkswagen says …