NY Fashion Week launches with a twist for buyers

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Fashion Week launched Thursday with spring previews, but consumers don't necessarily have to wait that long to place their orders — and that has potential to upend the traditional fashion calendar.

Typically designers show their shorts and bikinis in September, preparing for spring delivery to stores. The turtlenecks and coats are unveiled in February for the autumn.

But this year, the website Moda Operandi is collaborating with Vogue to feed a more immediate click-and-shop mindset for shoppers.

Hours after trendsetting designers such as Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler debut their looks on the runway, many outfits will be posted online with …

Former Britain hooker Newton admits to doping

Former Britain rugby league hooker Terry Newton has admitted to taking human growth hormone to boost his performance.

The Wakefield Trinity player was suspended Wednesday by the Rugby Football League after being charged over a positive test by United Kingdom Anti-Doping.

Newton says he …

The Deputy is looking good

Eyes at Churchill Downs were popping Wednesday morning over thetexture of a seven-furlong workout by The Deputy, a top contender towin the 126th Kentucky Derby on May 6. "His work (timed in 1:27 3/5)was a textbook example of what a drill should be a week before theDerby," clocker Jim Escarcega said. "It was absolutely sensational."

Under Chris McCarron, The Deputy went 25.0 seconds for the firstquarter, then clipped through eighths "around 12.1, easily,"Escarcega said.

"It was great," trainer Jenine Sahadi said. "We didn't want to layhis body down to go seven-eighths."

Less sparkling was a mile drill in 1:43 by Breeders' Cup Juvenilechamp Anees, who appeared …

5 killed, dozens hurt in Somalia after airstrike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — An air strike hit a refugee camp in southern Somalia, killing at least five people and wounding 45, most of them children, an international aid agency said Monday. Kenya's military acknowledged carrying out an air raid but said it targeted only al-Shabab, an Islamist insurgent group in Somalia.

Details emerged, meanwhile, about an American-Somali man who al-Shabab said carried out a suicide attack Saturday against an African Union base in the Somali capital. Al-Shabab identified the man as Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah. Omar Jamal, first secretary of the Somali mission to the United Nations, identified the man as Abdisalan Hussein Ali of Minneapolis based on what …

Gays, lesbians face wide harassment in Europe

Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals face widespread harassment, bullying and discrimination across Europe, according to an EU report released Tuesday.

That harassment and discrimination occurs "in all areas of social life," from schools to the workplace to health care centers, the report by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency said.

Agency Director Morten Kjaerum said the investigation found gays and lesbians continue to face assault and other physical attacks due to their sexual orientation despite EU rules meant to guarantee equality in the 27-nation bloc.

"These are alarming signals in an EU that prides itself on its …

'Worthwhile and meaningful' Vietnam volunteering weeks

A former student of Strode College, Street, has spoken of hissummer volunteering in a Vietnamese orphanage.

Philip Blazey, who lives in Baltonsborough, and is a student atthe University of Manchester, spent six weeks volunteering in HueCity, as part of a project coordinated by the University's RAGSociety and the Vietnamese-based charity Hue Help.

"We had two days in Saigon, before embarking on a 28-hour busjourney up the coast to Hue, my home for six weeks," he said.

"Upon arrival in Hue I was given basic Vietnamese lessons, whichproved to be very useful as levels of English in the area where wewere staying were very poor."

Philip was based …

French Hopeful Holds Firm on Immigration

PARIS - Right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy reached out to France's youth Sunday with an appeal for brotherhood among races and religions, but refused to back off his proposal for a ministry of immigration and national identity.

Condemning Sarkozy's proposal - a clear outreach to the far right - has become a rare point of agreement for his rivals in the campaign. Some critics have said the idea evokes "the darkest hours" of France, a reference to the laws of France's Nazi puppet regime of World War II which had an agency for questions relating to Jews.

"I'm not afraid to defend the identity of France, of the republic, of the nation," Sarkozy said at a rally …