It was the stroke of midnight when Rafael Nadal thrust both arms up and then punched the air, an extra exuberant celebration after sealing the victory he needed to set up one of the most anticipated Australian Open semifinals ever.

Roger Federer played his part in the previous match on Rod Laver Arena, beating 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets to formally mark his 1,000th tour-level match.

The organizers of an Indian literary festival have canceled a video conference with author Salman Rushdie after protests and threats.

Sanjoy Roy said Tuesday they decided to cancel the video address to avoid violence by Muslim activists gathered at the Jaipur Literary Festival.

Roger Federer's 1,000th match was similar to most in his career — no-nonsense, dominating from the start, some incredible shots, and yes, victory.

Four-time champion Federer advanced to his ninth straight Australian Open semifinal with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win Tuesday over Juan Martin del Potro, the man who beat him for the U.S. Open title in 2009.

AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been voted the Serie A player of 2011 by his fellow players, and the Rossoneri won another award with Massimilliano Allegri winning best coach.

The trophies were handed out Monday at a ceremony and were voted on by more than 5,000 people, made up of footballers, coaches, referees and journalists.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed as discriminatory and racist a bill passed by the French Senate making denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.

"The proposal adopted in France is tantamount to discrimination, racism and violates freedom of thought," Erdogan said in the parliament during an address to his fellow deputies.

International Criminal Court judges on Monday ordered four prominent Kenyans, including two potential presidential candidates, to stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a deadly wave of violence after their country's disputed 2007 presidential election.

Among the four suspects sent for trial were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Education Minister William Ruto, who both are planning to run for the presidency this year.

The head of the Arab League's observation team to Syria has struck back at critics who say the mission has failed to stop violence between security forces and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Assad.

Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi told reporters in Cairo Monday that the mission's job was to never to stop the violence, but to document progress on the League's peace plan.

European finance ministers will try on Monday to give new momentum to talks on a Greek debt relief deal that is crucial to avoid a default, but a European diplomat warned that a final agreement may have to wait until a leaders' summit next week.

A deal would see Greece's private creditors — banks and other investment firms — swap their Greek bonds for ones with a 50 percent lower value, thereby cutting the country's debt pile by some €100 billion ($129 billion). The new bonds will also have much longer maturities, pushing repayments decades into the future, and a much lower interest rate then Greece would currently have to pay on the market.

The federal government now says a 101-year-old Detroit woman it promised could move back into her foreclosed home four months ago can't return because the building's unsanitary and unsafe.

Texana Hollis was evicted Sept. 12 and her belongings placed outside after her 65-year-old son failed to pay property taxes linked to a reverse mortgage and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed on the home.

A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it's contributing to the closure of some burn units.

So-called shake-and-bake meth is produced by combining raw, unstable ingredients in a two-liter soda bottle. But if the person mixing the noxious brew makes the slightest error, such as removing the cap too soon or accidentally perforating the plastic, the concoction can explode, searing flesh and causing permanent disfigurement, blindness or even death.