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Wellington, Feb 12 - Former world number one golfer Tiger Woods has admitted that he needs a lot of work on his game and is therefore taking an indefinite leave from the professional tour.

The 14-times major champion, who had back surgery last year, withdrew from last week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, his second start of the season, after just 11 holes because of tightness in his back.

Woods would be expected to compete next at the February 26-March 1 Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida based on his usual tournament schedule, Stuff. co. nz reported.

Sydney, Feb 12 - Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes that Michael Clarke should step down from one-day captaincy, and hand over the premier role to Steve Smith after the conclusion of the World Cup.

The two-time World Cup winning captain said that the right time for Michael to hand over the one-day captaincy to Steven will be after the conclusion of this World Cup, adding that retiring from one-day games would also allow Michael's body regular rest and recovery periods, News. com. au reported.

Admitting that Clarke is perfect to lead Australia during World Cup, Ponting said that it would be a good time for Steven to take over the one-day job and Michael to remain as Test captain after the conclusion of World Cup.

Mumbai: Extending losses for the fourth straight session, the rupee fell by 17 paise to 62.42 against the dollar in early trade on Thursday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the American

Mumbai: Rising for the third straight session, the benchmark BSE Sensex gained over 151 points in early trade on Thursday as participants engaged in enlarging positions ahead of IIP and retail inflation data to be released later in the day.

Besides, expectations of faster economic reforms by the government and optimism over the forthcoming Budget, buoyed trading sentiments.

The 30-share index was trading higher by 151.91 points, or 0.53 percent, at 28,685.88 with stocks of auto, consumer durables, power, realty and capital goods sectors, leading the rise.

The gauge had gained 306.58 points in the previous two sessions.

On similar lines, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 36.30 points, or 0.42 percent, at 8,663.70.

New Delhi: As many as 216 swine flu deaths registered throughout the country in first ten days of February and the claimed the lives of 407 people across India this year, the health ministry said Wednesday.

During the period Jan 1 to Feb 10, the total number of H1N1 cases was 5,157 and the number of deaths was 407, the ministry said in a statement.

Most cases were from Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, whereas the deaths were largely from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Telangana.

The cases were discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by union health secretary B. P. Sharma.

New Delhi: Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, a close confidant of party chief Arvind Kejriwal, is all set to be the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi.

The decision to make Sisodia the Deputy CM was taken at a meeting of AAP's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Wednesday night at Kejriwal's residence in Kaushambhi, party sources said.

Sisodia is being given the responsibility so that Chief Minister-designate Kejriwal can focus on building the party at the national level, they said.

Sisodia is credited with strengthening AAP at the grassroot level after it lost all the seven parliamentary constituencies in the Lok Sabha elections last year.