Olympic great Michael Phelps ending retirement

WASHINGTON: Michael Phelps is coming out of retirement, the first step toward possibly swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The 22-time Olympic medalist will compete for the first time since the 2012 London Games at a meet in Mesa, Ariz., on April 24-26.

Bob Bowman, the swimmer´s longtime coach, told The Associated Press on Monday that Phelps has entered in three events — the 50- and 100-meter freestyles and the 100 meter butterfly. "I think he´s just going to test the waters a little bit and see how it goes," Bowman said by phone from Baltimore. "I wouldn´t say it´s a full-fledged comeback."

Phelps returned to training last fall and re-entered the U.S. drug-testing program. He has completed his six-month waiting period by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to be eligible for competition.

Bowman said Phelps is "pretty far" from being back in top form. He´s been training Monday through Friday with Bowman´s team at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. "He´s gotten back into good shape since September," the coach said. "He can give a good effort and certainly not be embarrassed. He´s in enough shape to swim competitively."

Besides Phelps, USA Swimming said Olympians Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky are among those expected to swim in the Arena Grand Prix at Skyline Aquatic Center.

Phelps turns 29 in June and is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history. He captured 18 gold medals and 22 medals overall at the last three Summer Games.

He broke Mark Spitz´s record for a single Olympics by winning eight gold medals at Beijing in 2008. Phelps had vowed that he wouldn´t swim into his 30s. Since retiring less than two years ago, he has stayed busy with a chain of swim schools, a foundation focused on water safety and appearances on behalf of his sponsors. He devoted lots of time to golf and participated in a reality show with famed coach Hank Haney. His camp is being low-key about the comeback. "I think he´s just really enjoying it," Bowman said. "He enjoys the training and being physically fit. He just kind of wants to see where he´s at. It´s more really for fun. It´s been nice for me to see him swim just for the joy of it really."

In Mesa, Phelps will swim 100 free and 100 fly preliminaries on the first day. Then, if he qualifies, he´ll decide which race to swim for the evening finals, Bowman said. He´ll swim the 50 free on the second day and might swim the 50 fly "just for fun," the coach added.

Phelps will stick to the shorter races and some relays rather than the grueling individual medleys he swam during the height of his career. "He´s really doing this because he wants to — there´s no outside pressure at all," Bowman said.

Olympian Jessica Hardy, who will compete in Mesa, said many swimmers were surprised by news of Phelps´ comeback. "He kept it pretty much under wraps," she told the AP. "Even if he´s not at peak performance, it´s great for the sport and each athlete particularly to keep learning from him. I don´t think anyone wants to put pressure on him. He´s accomplished everything you pretty much can. It´s just great to see what else you can do."

Phelps has already entered the remaining Grand Prix meets in Charlotte, North Carolina, in May and Santa Clara, California, in June, although Bowman said no decision has been made on whether he will compete.

Depending on his early results, Phelps could compete in the U.S. National Championships in August in Irvine, California, where teams will be selected for the 2015 world championships. "I wouldn´t say it´s 100 percent on the radar," Bowman said. "After Mesa, we´re going to sit down and talk about it." (AP)

Cyclone batters Australia's Great Barrier Reef coast

SYDNEY: A tropical cyclone battered Australia's Barrier Reef coast Saturday, knocking out power and phone lines for thousands of people as officials warned the storm "continues to be a threat" despite weakening in force.

Tens of thousands of people hunkered down overnight as strong gales and heavy rains lashed the far north but no deaths or major destruction was reported as cyclone Ita was downgraded to a category one storm.

Ita crossed the coast near Cape Flattery late Friday as a category four storm packing winds up to 230 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour), tearing off roofs and uprooting trees.

Queensland state Premier Campbell Newman said several thousand people across the far north had lost electricity and warned that cylone Ita "continues to be a threat" as it tracked south across the state.

"I am greatly relieved at this time that we have no reports of either death or injury," he told a press conference, while urging people to stay indoors or in shelters "until this is properly over".

A state cabinet meeting was underway to organise the clean up operation and assess how quickly electricity and communication lines could be restored, the premier said.

Cyclone warnings remained in force for coastal areas from Cape Flattery to Cardwell, including Cooktown and the major Barrier Reef resorts of Port Douglas and Cairns, 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) north of Brisbane.

Roofs were ripped off two homes and a pub in the coastal resort of Cooktown where several trees were uprooted during the night, officials said.

Large parts of the 1,000 strong Aboriginal community of Hope Vale and Cooktown, population 2,400, had lost power.

The storm was downgraded from the strongest category five before it made landfall Friday night.

At 11:00 am (0100 GMT Saturday) the Bureau of Meteorology said Ita had weakened to a category one and was 115 kilometres northwest of Cairns and moving south at 11 kilometres an hour.

- Still packing a fair punch -

Winds gusting up to 120 kilometres per hour were forecast to hit towards Port Douglas on Saturday, with gusts up to 100kph as far south as Cairns and surrounding inland areas.

Tropical storms are common in northeastern Australia.

Before weakening offshore, Ita had threatened to be stronger but not as widespread as the monster Cyclone Yasi system that tore through the region just over three years ago, ripping homes from their foundations and devastating crops.

The Bureau of Meteorology also warned of heavy rainfall possibly leading to flash flooding and coastal inundation from a storm surge.

Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott told Australian Associated Press he felt relieved as he had feared waking to widespread devastation.

"There's a lot of vegetation on the road and we've unfortunately seen some buildings damaged," he said.

"But there hasn't been a lot of structural damage."

Local resident Diana Spiker spent the morning walking her dog and had also expected far worse.

"They were talking about a category five at one stage so I thought there would have been a lot more damage," she said.

The bureau's Ken Kato said Ita could be further downgraded to a tropical low.

He expected the cyclone to head out "into the Coral Sea somewhere off the north tropical coast" on Sunday or Monday.

"But it's still packing a fair punch," Mr Kato added.

Meanwhile, the bureau issued a severe weather warning with strong winds and large waves for the Sydney region.

Gusts peaking at 100 kph were predicted to hit the southeastern coastal areas Saturday as a low pressure system developing off New South Wales deepens before moving inland towards the Hunter Valley in the afternoon.

MH370 hunt goes on after Australia signals great confidence

PERTH: Ships and planes pursued Saturday the search for the missing Malaysian airliner off Australia after Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was "very confident" that signals from the black box had been detected.

The Australian-led search for the Boeing 777, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is racing to gather as many signals as possible to determine an exact resting place before a submersible is sent down to find wreckage.

The Joint Agency coordination Centre (JACC) said Saturday that the remote search area where the plane was believed to have gone down some was still shrinking.

"Today, Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield continues more focused sweeps with the towed pinger locator to try and locate further signals related to the aircraft´s black boxes," JACC said.

Ocean Shield has picked up four signals linked to aircraft black boxes, with the first two analysed as being consistent with those from aircraft flight recorders.

The beacons on the plane´s flight data and cockpit voice recorders have a normal battery lifespan of around 30 days.

MH370 vanished March 8.AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft were also carrying out acoustic searches in conjunction with Ocean Shield, the statement said adding that the British oceanographic ship HMS Echo was also working in the area.

Saturday´s total search zone covers 41,393 square kilometres (15,982 square miles) and the core of the search zone lies 2,330 kilometres (1,450 miles) northwest of Perth.

"This work continues in an effort to narrow the underwater search area for when the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is deployed," JACC said adding that there have been no confirmed signal detections over the past 24 hours.

Kareena Kapoor: IIFA is a great platform to showcase our talent to world!

The entire film fraternity is exited about the upcoming 15th th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards which is to be held in the US, as they feel that this will provide a great platform and opportunity for Hollywood and Bollywood to come together and put the Indian cinema on the global level.

“The IIFA awards is a great platform for us to showcase our work to the world. We will bring the magic of Indian cinema to America. I have not been to Tampa Bay and I am looking forward to entertain my fans there,” Kareena said at the IIFA press conference at the US Consulate here.

Kareena was accompanied by her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan. Saif said “cinema brings us together. It is a chance to give Indian and international audience opportunity to witness celebration of Indian cinema and culture“.

Actor Anil Kapoor feels that IIFA awards will create a bridge between Hollywood and Bollywood. “In my days as a teenager, I used to travel by bus and used to get fascinated seeing the US consulate in Breach Candy. I always wanted to go there and get a visa for the US. I got chance to go there while doing films and I am happy about it,” Anil said.

The IIFA will be held from April 23 to 26. “I am excited by IIFA’s decision to hold this year’s awards ceremony in Tampa, Florida. Bollywood fans across the US will be thrilled that India’s biggest film stars are coming. We look forward to other Indian companies choosing the US as their travel destination and stand ready to assist,” Haas said.

The 15th edition of the awards will include multiple star-studded events like IIFA Rocks–a fashion and music spectacular–IIFA Magic of the movies and technical awards and IIFA awards.

The award show will be hosted by Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar. Actors Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Bipasha Basu and others will perform at the awards.