Jerusalem  - New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, has appointed an Israeli-Arab Bedouin as his political advisor for the Middle East, the Israeli Yediot Ahranot daily reported Sunday.

Ismail Khalidi, currently Israel's deputy consul-general in San Francisco, will take up his new position in the coming weeks. He is the first Bedouin to serve in the Israeli diplomatic corps.

London  - Father-of-two Lleyton Hewitt has gone to ground in Europe as Tennis Australia and the ITF row over whether a May 8-10 Davis Cup Asian zonal tie should be staged in the Indian city of Chennai.

Last November, up to 150 people died when Islamic extremists attacked luxury hotels and government building in what turned into a firefight.

India says the metropolis is perfectly safe, and the ITF agrees after conducting a security probe. But Tennis Australia is appealing that decision, asking for the tie to be played at a neutral venue.

Hamburg  - Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath is still picking Bayern Munich to retain the German league title but it's getting harder for him to suppress a smile.

With just six games remaining, Wolfsburg stay three points ahead of Bayern and have a superior goal difference.

Magath's insistence his team are still only targeting a top-five place is looking increasingly questionable.

"Ten per cent," was how Magath rated his team's chances of winning the Bundesliga in an interview with DSF television on Sunday.

Doda, Apr 19 : Two security per

New Delhi, Apr 19 : The Election Commission has rejected a demand for the disqualification of Congress President Sonia Gandhi as an MP for receiving a foreign award.

Election Commissioners Navi Chawla and S. Y. Quraishi have overturned incumbent Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami's view that an enquiry is necessary to go into the complaint against Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi received Belgium's second highest civilian honour `Order of Leopold' in November 2006.

The EC's view has been sent to President Pratibha Patil for a final decision.

New Delhi  - The Indian economy should regain its annual growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent as the world economy begins to recover from September, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Sunday.

Despite three stimulus packages announced by the government, Asia's third largest economy grew by only 5.3 per cent in three months ending December 31, the slowest pace in over five years, against 8.9 per cent in the corresponding period a year ago.