Nicole Kidman Praises Keith Urban For Support

Actress Nicole Kidman has praised her rocker husband Keith Urban for helping her deal with her grief following the sudden death of her father.

The Oscar winner's 75-year-old dad, Dr. Antony Kidman, died in September (14) after a fall while visiting the star's sister, Antonia, in Singapore. Kidman was devastated by the tragedy but has now spoken out to thank her country singer husband for helping her to overcome the worst.

In an interview with comedian Ellen DeGeneres on her U.S. talk show on Thursday (30Oct14), Kidman said, "He has been so good to me for nine years, but for the last month, which has been a really tough time for me, he's been amazing to me. "To have my husband just step up that way it makes me cry... We all go through hard times in our lives, but to be literally carried by your partner, and physically at times because I was so devastated. I'll do anything for that man."

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon expected to resign

Once seen as the perfect blend of businessman, Michigan Man and fundraiser, Brandon has been under intense fire since the summer, when the school's Board of Regents took the rare step of publicly slapping down a request from the athletic department — for fireworks during football games — complaining that the traditions of Michigan football were being lost.

Brandon was facing more potential embarrassment this weekend. Fans have been organizing a protest — "White Out, Dave Out" — by wearing anti-Brandon T-shirts for Saturday's homecoming football game against Indiana (3:30 p.m., BTN).

Some students, alumni and fans — growing more vocal by the month — have been upset with Brandon for some time. A survey of students early this month suggested that his relationship with them was irreparable.

Russell Westbrook injury could bite Thunder in playoffs

be limited to the short-term prospect of playing hard every night while all these wounds heal. Durant is expected to miss at least another month and possibly more, as the Jones fracture he suffered on Oct. 12 is among the more complicated of its kind. Westbrook, of course, was raring to go after three knee procedures in the span of six months forced him to miss most of the 2013 playoffs and 36 games last season
That's hardly the end of the current injury list, either, with Oklahoma City now hoping to be granted a "hardship exception," reserved for the rarest of circumstances, to sign an extra player because of all that ails them. Mitch McGarry (broken foot), Grant Jerrett (ankle surgery), Anthony Morrow (strained knee) and Durant will allow them to quality for this exception, which mandates that at least four players miss three consecutive regular season games.

A second exception could be granted now that Westbrook has joined the bunch, though not until he misses three games. Oklahoma City must play its third regular season game (Saturday against the Denver Nuggets) before the first exception can be granted. They're still without super sixth man guard Reggie Jackson (ankle sprain) and guard Jeremy Lamb (back sprain) as well, though they may return soon.

Dwight Howard hits Kobe Bryant with an elbow, then jaws at him

LOS ANGELES — So much for the Kobe Bryant vs. Dwight Howard story line going away anytime soon.

And after a 108-90 Houston Rockets win at the Staples Center in the season opener on Monday night that was overshadowed by the fourth-quarter fisticuffs between the former Los Angeles Lakers teammates, they have no one to blame but themselves. As Howard grabbed a rebound and searched for someone to take an outlet pass, Bryant defended him tightly and eventually bore the brunt of the Rockets big man’s left elbow square on the chin.

NASA down to one commercial supplier to ISS

NASA is down to one commercial provider of cargo to the International Space Station until an investigation determines what caused an unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket to blow up Tuesday evening shortly after lifting off from a Virginia pad.

The Antares rocket's failure leaves SpaceX as the only U.S. company able to fly cargo to the orbiting laboratory for the near future, raising the stakes of SpaceX's next launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., which is planned no earlier than Dec. 9.

A Cygnus spacecraft packed with more than 5,000 pounds of equipment and science experiments was destroyed Tuesday when the 14-story rocket suffered a problem with its first stage and fell back to the ground, generating a massive fireball on impact.

No one was injured. The severity of damage to the Wallops Island launch pad was not immediately known.

wydad winners 2005

Samuel Eto'o scored twice and Romelu Lukaku was also on target as Everton won 3-1 at Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday

Lukaku felt the heat from some Everton fans after his mistake led to Danny Ings cancelling out Eto'o's early opener in the 20th minute at Turf Moor.

The Belgium striker has not yet had the impact this campaign that he did during his loan spell with the Toffees last season but nine minutes after his blunder, he netted a fourth of the season.

That would probably have been enough as Burnley once again fell short in their search for a first win of the season but Eto'o made sure with a fine third in the 85th minute.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez decided against giving Ross Barkley a third start in a week on his return from injury, with Eto'o starting in his place.

Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, Leon Osman and Steven Naismith, none of whom started the goalless Europa League draw in Lille on Thursday, were all back in.

Burnley would have hoped to capitalise on any weariness Everton were feeling but instead it was the visitors who took the lead inside four minutes.

Burnley had played very well in the first half against West Ham last weekend before going down 3-1 but it was a different story this time as they struggled to keep the ball.

winners 2005 wydad casablanca

Real Madrid staged a stunning El Clasico fightback to overcome arch-rivals Barcelona 3-1 at Santiago Bernabeu.

Brazilian superstar Neymar opened the scoring early on in the Spanish capital, but Real moved to within one point of the La Liga summit as Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Karim Benzema offered the perfect response.

There were just four minutes on the clock when Barcelona got off to a dream start, with debutant Luis Suarez – back in competitive action after serving a four-month ban – spreading play to Neymar, who cut inside off the left and drilled low into the bottom corner.

That was to be as good as it got for the visitors, with parity restored on 35 minutes as Gerard Pique was penalised for handling a Marcelo cross and Ronaldo made no mistake from the penalty spot as he sent Claudio Bravo the wrong way.