Washington  - The United States on Tuesday s

Washington  - The US Chamber of Commerce threw its weight behind a bill introduced Tuesday in the US Senate that would eliminate the ban on most US travel to the Caribbean island.

The bill, which has strong support in both parties, would appear to open the flood gates for US travellers and tourists, and is seen as a first step towards reexamining the overall restrictions on US trade with the communist island.

San Francisco  - A California jury has awarded 8.6 million dollars to a motorbike rider who was severely injured when he crashed into a wild pig that was crossing a highway.

According to the Monterey County Herald, the jury agreed with lawyers for Adam Rogers, who argued that the state of California was responsible for the crash because it took no steps to mitigate the problem even though it knew that wild boars were crossing the road to eat newly planted vegetation on its verges.

Washington  - US consumer confidence edged up marginally in March after reaching an all-time low the month before, but housing prices continued to plummet, according to two private surveys released Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its gauge of consumer confidence rose 0.7 points to 26, pulling back from February's level, which was the lowest since records began, amid a deep recession in the United States.

Last month's level was the lowest since the index was created in 1967 and this month's slight increase marked the first rise since November.

San Francisco - Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it was terminating its Encarta online encyclopedia, as the world's largest software company found it too difficult to compete with the challenge of its collaborative competitor Wikipedia.

Microsoft said it would discontinue all editions of Encarta on October 31, 2009 except for Encarta Japan, which would be discontinued on December 31, 2009.

Encarta was launched in 1993 as a pet project of Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates who saw the project as a great way to showcase the power of computers.

Miami  - Novak Djokovic will aim to reverse a run of four consecutive defeats against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the pair meet in the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters.

Third seed and 2007 champion Djokovic controlled Czech Tomas Berdych in an efficient 6-3, 6-2 victory on Tuesday, while Tsonga, seeded 10th, ousted compatriot Gilles Simon 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2 in their fourth-round meeting.