european cup results on sunday
pool
northampton eng perpignan fra
pool
toulouse fra harlequins eng
pool
scarlets wal london irish eng
played saturday
pool
treviso ita munster irl
pool
gloucester eng biarritz fra
pool
leicester eng viadana ita
clermont auvergne fra ospreys wal
pool
stade francais fra bath eng
pool
cardiff blues wal sale eng
pool
leinster irl brive fra
played friday
pool
glasgow sco newport gwent dragons wal
pool
ulster irl edinburgh sco
snooker masters final score
london jan afp
score at the end of the first session of the masters snooker final at the
wembley arena here on sunday
final best of frames
ronnie sullivan eng leads mark selby eng
match resumes gmt sunday
alert
curfew in nigerian state after deadly sectarian clashes officials
abu joa mjs db
alert
vatican backed jews discreetly during holocaust pope
football ronaldinho hat trick puts the heat on inter
rome jan afp
hat trick hero ronaldinho inspired ac milan to crushing thumping of man
siena to close the gap on serie leaders inter milan to just six points with
the milan derby to come next week
milan also have game in hand meaning they could potentially draw level with
the four in row champions if they were to win next weekend crunch clash
playing the league basement sitters milan hardly needed helping hand but
they got exactly that as siena goalkeeper gianluca curci was harshly sent off on
minutes
ronaldinho despatched the resulting penalty and marco borriello scored on
minutes to put the game to bed before half time before the brazilian rounded off
the scoring in the second period
milan coach leonardo paid tribute to his brazilian compatriot and looked forward
to the derby
it normal when someone feels the love he responds he entertaining
everyone he great player he said of ronaldinho
he having great season he rediscovered his taste for playing well and
scoring goals
it great time in great title race for the derby and it will create
interest because we are closer to inter
there will be lot of expectation and attention and delighted to be part
of that
milan started in determined mood following inter draw at bari on saturday
night and ronaldinho took an alessandro nesta cross on his chest on three
minutes before sending spectacular overhead bicycle kick just off target
but on minutes the referee took the decision that essentially ended the game
as contest
jardim brandao dithered on the ball in his own box and borriello dispossessed
him before trying to round curci
there was minimal contact between the pair and borriello crumpled to the ground
but the striker last touch had been too heavy anyway and left him no chance of
reaching the ball before back tracking defender
even so the referee pointed to the spot and showed curci straight red card
substitute goalkeeper gianluca pegolo first task was to pick the ball out of
his net
siena battled on gamely and on minutes massimo maccarone someone escaped from
crowd of three defenders on the edge of the milan box to bundle through before
firing over on the stretch as thiago silva came across to put him under
pressure
yet just two minutes later the lead was doubled as andrea pirlo curled cross
into the near post and borriello hooked brilliant volley over his shoulder and
into the top corner
ronaldinho proved constant menace and had two early second half chances
flicking the ball over the bar with the first and being denied by pegalo with
the second
but minutes from time he rose unmarked in the box to head home david
beckham corner
then having tricked his way into the area ronaldinho flicked the ball wide of
the far post but the brazilian finally sealed his first milan hat trick with
rocket into the top corner from outside the area minute from time
juventus slumped to their seventh defeat in games with reverse at
chievo that is sure to increase the pressure on under fire coach ciro ferrara
juve dropped to fourth but will tumble out of the champions league places if
napoli avoid defeat at home to palermo in the day late game
as roma moved up to third as on loan striker luca toni scored his first goals
for the club in win over free falling genoa
simone perrotta opened the scoring on minutes after scramble at corner
and then toni turned home mirko vucinic cross on the stroke of half time
and on the hour mark vucinic turned provider again for toni to head home his
second
three haiti quake survivors pulled from rubble
port au prince jan afp
rescuers pulled three survivors from the rubble sunday five days after
massive earthquake devastated haiti infrastructure and killed tens of
thousands of people
seven year old girl man aged and year old woman were rescued at
dawn at the caribbean market store south florida urban search and rescue team
member joseph fernandez told afp
the survivors were said to have suffered only light injuries
us and turkish teams were scrambling to rescue fourth person still alive
despite spending days buried under the destroyed supermarket building
another person stuck under what once was the montana hotel also showed signs of
life and the fairfax urban search and rescue team was on its way to attempt yet
another rescue
some international teams deployed on the ground comprising rescuers
and sniffer dogs are in desperate race against time to rescue survivors
of tuesday massive temblor
so far they have pulled more than survivors from mountains of concrete and
metal in port au prince
the morale of the rescue team is very high despite the hardship and the
conditions they remain steadfast since lives have been rescued out of the
rubble said elisabeth byrs the spokeswoman for the un office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs
there is still hope the conditions are very favorable it exceptional and
thank god for that
the haitian government has estimated that at least people were killed and
million left homeless by the quake but those figures could soar once the
full extent of the tragedy is known early estimates had spoken of dead
three haiti quake survivors pulled from rubble
port au prince jan afp
rescuers pulled three survivors from the rubble sunday five days after
massive earthquake devastated haiti infrastructure and killed tens of
thousands of people
seven year old girl man aged and year old woman were rescued at
dawn at the caribbean market store south florida urban search and rescue team
member joseph fernandez told afp
the survivors were said to have suffered only light injuries
us and turkish teams were scrambling to rescue fourth person still alive
despite spending days buried under the destroyed supermarket building
another person stuck under what once was the montana hotel also showed signs of
life and the fairfax urban search and rescue team was on its way to attempt yet
another rescue
some international teams deployed on the ground comprising rescuers
and sniffer dogs are in desperate race against time to rescue survivors
of tuesday massive temblor
so far they have pulled more than survivors from mountains of concrete and
metal in port au prince
the morale of the rescue team is very high despite the hardship and the
conditions they remain steadfast since lives have been rescued out of the
rubble said elisabeth byrs the spokeswoman for the un office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs
there is still hope the conditions are very favorable it exceptional and
thank god for that
the haitian government has estimated that at least people were killed and
million left homeless by the quake but those figures could soar once the
full extent of the tragedy is known early estimates had spoken of dead
football german league table
berlin jan afp
german league table after sunday afternoon match played won drawn lost
goals for goals against points
bayer leverkusen
schalke
bayern munich
hamburg
borussia dortmund
werder bremen
eintracht frankfurt
hoffenheim
vfl wolfsburg
mainz
borussia gladbach
vfb stuttgart
vfl bochum
cologne
freiburg
hanover
nuremburg
hertha berlin
football kuranyi proves his worth to fire schalke second
berlin jan afp
ex germany striker kevin kuranyi proved his worth by sealing schalke
win over nuremberg on sunday to put the royal blues second in the bundesliga
despite nearly being sold over the winter break
the year old who notoriously walked out on the germany team in october
struck in the th minute with his ninth league goal of the season to put
schalke second point behind leaders leverkusen
before the game schalke coach felix magath admitted he had wanted to sell the
striker to english side sunderland earlier this month for reported four
million euros to ease the club debts but the player had scuppered the deal
we reached an agreement with club but kevin decided he wanted to stay and
achieve something with schalke this season said magath
last december kuranyi became one of select few players to have scored
goals in the bundesliga and is out of contract in june
on saturday vfb stuttgart kept their unbeaten record under coach christian
gross with victory over champions vfl wolfsburg to seal their first
bundesliga win since september
former tottenham boss gross took over after markus babbel was sacked last
december and having put his side in the champions league last gross
recorded his first bundesliga win and it came against the defending champions
this was stuttgart first win in games with goals by robert hilbert pavel
pogrebnyak and timo gebhart with consolation from edin dzeko
the win leaves stuttgart th in the league while wolfsburg are now ninth and
will buoy gross side with stuttgart set to face defending european champions
barcelona in the last of the champions league next month
earlier bayer leverkusen came from behind to beat mid table mainz and
reclaim top spot after bayern munich had temporarily taken charge
bayern win over hoffenheim on friday night had briefly given them one
point advantage but leverkusen regained pole position
bottom side hertha berlin got their off to great start as they enjoyed
win at hanover in what was only their second win since the opening day of
the season
polish midfielder lukasz piszczek netted in the th minute to get the capital
club on the way before brazil raffael made it after minutes and greek
striker theofanis gekas hit the third with minutes remaining
berlin are still three points from nearest rivals nuremberg and eight points
from escaping the bottom three but the win will have boosted their confidence
hamburg are now fourth after their win at home to freiburg as germany
midfielder marcell jansen and croatia striker mladen petric scored either side
of half time
werder bremen are sixth after their defeat at eintracht frankfurt their
fourth straight league defeat
under fire merkel holds political crisis meeting
berlin jan afp
german chancellor angela merkel on sunday held what was billed crisis meeting
in bid to quell bickering within her ruling coalition as she faced pressure
after shaky start to her second term
the conservative merkel hosted talks with guido westerwelle foreign
minister and head of the free democrats fdp her new coalition partners as
well as horst seehofer from her bavarian sister party the csu
the meeting began as planned at pm local time gmt but it was unclear
how long the talks would last or whether the participants would make statements
after the discussions
germany new look government formed after merkel convincing election win in
september has experienced torrid few months as the coalition has argued over
tax policy afghanistan and turkey european union aspirations
the new coalition has got off to very poor start especially in tax
questions gerd langguth professor of political science at bonn university and
merkel biographer told afp
ordinary germans appeared to agree with strong majority percent
saying the new coalition has had bad start according to recent poll by
independent opinion research institute forschungsgruppe wahlen
analysts said the main flashpoint at sunday talks would be over fiscal policy
with the fdp seen as business friendly party demanding the government uphold
pledge for deep tax breaks from next year
according to the bild am sonntag paper westerwelle has told merkel this is
absolutely the core priority for the fdp
however leading christian democrats as well as several state and local leaders
say tax giveaway now would be disastrous given the tattered state of germany
public finances
the recession in germany the worst since world war ii has blown huge
hole in the budget with the government estimating it will have to take on
record billion euros billion dollars of new debt in
ahead of the meeting fdp economic policy expert hermann otto solms said
postponement of the tax cuts until year before the next legislative
election would be acceptable
if the relief comes into force in that would correspond with the original
demands of the fdp solms told the tagesspiegel am sonntag
one thing however is non negotiable for the fdp the tax reform of billion
euros in this legislative period must be implemented in full he added
survey for bild am sonntag showed that percent of voters expected the
coalition to push through their tax cutting plans despite the parlous state of
the public coffers
the new partners are also at loggerheads over the country mission in
afghanistan turkey eu accession and new museum about the fate of ethnic
germans expelled from eastern europe after
the squabbling has taken its toll in the opinion polls
recent forsa institute survey showed that opposition parties enjoyed more
public support than the ruling coalition for the first time since the election
support softened especially for the fdp which lost two points
backing for the usually popular merkel the most powerful woman in the world for
four consecutive years according to forbes magazine has also dropped sharply
amid sniping from within her own ranks
dimap survey on january showed satisfaction with merkel performance had
slumped to percent drop of points from the last time the poll was taken
in december
and the forschungsgruppe wahlen survey indicated that percent of voters
thought merkel was doing little to set the course for the government compared
to percent who approved of her management of the coalition
football german league results
berlin jan afp
german league results on sunday
schalke kuranyi nuremberg
cologne borussia dortmund late kick off
saturday
hanover hertha berlin piszczek raffael gekas
eintracht frankfurt russ werder bremen
borussia gladbach baecker vfl bochum sestak dedic
hamburg jansen petric freiburg
bayer leverkusen kadlec barnetta kroos derdiyok mainz
hoogland bungert
vfb stuttgart hilbert pogrebnjak gebhart vfl wolfsburg dzeko
friday
bayern munich demichelis klose hoffenheim
karzai to offer afghanistan taliban new peace plan
kabul jan afp
afghan president hamid karzai is set to announce new scheme for forging peace
with the islamist taliban and other militants fighting to topple his government
his spokesman said sunday
the plan would be announced ahead of key international conference on
afghanistan security and development due in london on january waheed omar
said
conceding that past efforts at peace have failed omar said the new plan would
include economic incentives as many men carrying guns for the taliban didi so
for cash rather than to support their hardline religious ideology
we have done some things in the past but we have not done enough omar told
reporters
we have not been able to provide proper security for those who join the
government we may have not been very good at providing them with economic
opportunities jobs and anything else anybody would want after reintegration
he said
the scheme we are proposing this time is taking all those into consideration
and learning from the past and trying to come up with proper programme where
we have all the necessary ground to allow those joining the programme to have
peaceful life he said
karzai has long called for peace talks with the taliban even offering
government posts to its leaders but the militia has refused dialogue until
the withdrawal of international troops on which kabul relies for security
omar said the new programme would reach out to militants in all ranks from the
political leadership to fighters on the ground
karzai would announce details to the afghan people before heading to london
where he would request support from his international backers
the reintegration of militants into afghan society is one of the key topics
slated for discussion at the conference which is expected to be attended by
representatives of more than countries
also up for discussion are other areas in which karzai has pledged reform
including anti corruption and security
the united states and nato have troops in afghanistan fighting the
taliban led insurgency with another being deployed this year
karzai discussed the reintegration of taliban fighters with washington special
representative to afghanistan and pakistan richard holbrooke in kabul on
saturday
holbrooke told reporters afterwards that any new plan couldn be worse than
past efforts
there is good plan they have learnt from experience he said
there are lot of people out there fighting for the taliban who have no
ideological commitment to the principles values or political movement led by
mullah omar he said referring to the taliban leader believed to be based in
pakistan
holbrooke said the majority of taliban militants fought because they have been
misled or out of personal miscarriage of justice or family member who was
victim of civilian casualty incident
there is no vehicle for them to come in from the cold right now and it has to
be recreated almost from the ground up he said
if you don you give people only two choices kill or be killed
head of rome jews asks opening of archives on wartime pope
rome jan afp
the head of rome jewish community on sunday said historians should have access
to vatican archives on world war ii era pope pius xii accused of inaction
during the holocaust
with utmost respect we hope historians will have access to the vatican
archives concerning this period said riccardo pacifici at the start of visit
to rome main synagogue by pope benedict xvi who sparked an outcry among jews
last month by moving pius xii further along the road to sainthood
urgent head of rome jews asks opening of archives on wartime pope
rome jan afp
the head of rome jewish community on sunday said historians should have access
to archives on world war ii era pope pius xii accused of inaction during the
holocaust
islamic games called off in rift over persian gulf tag
riyadh jan afp
the riyadh based islamic solidarity federation on sunday called off the athletic
games planned for tehran in april because of iran use of the term persian
gulf on winners medals
the isf headed by saudi olympic federation president prince sultan bin fahd
said after an emergency board meeting that iran local organising committee
unilaterally took some decisions without asking the federation by writing some
slogans on the medals and pamphlets of the games
iran did not abide by the rules of the islamic solidarity sports federation
issf and did not follow the decisions taken by the general assembly of the
federation at previous meeting in riyadh it said in statement
the games were being called off because of the dispute the isf said
iran committee for the games criticised the decision through its website
in spite of convincing arguments made to the issf executive committee by
iran committee regrettably and without presenting any logical reasons the
issf committee decided not to hold the games with iran as the host it said
swine flu worries and the dispute over tehran insistence on using persian
gulf for the waters between iran and the arabian peninsula had already caused
the games to be postponed since an initial planned date of last october
the arab countries of the oil rich region insist on the term arabian gulf or
simply the gulf
it would have been the second time the games were held after first tournament
was held in the saudi red sea city of jeddah in
algeria energy group chief under investigation minister
algiers jan afp
algerian energy minister chakib khelil on sunday said the chief executive of
state owned energy giant sonatrach has been placed under judicial probe but
did not give the allegations against him
the chief executive of sonatrach the vice president in charge of marketing and
four top executives of the company are being investigated by judge khelil
told press conference the company chief is mohamed meziane
cannot tell you the nature of the allegations because know no more about
the case than what has been written in the press he said
he also said that vice president abdelhafid feghouli had been appointed interim
head of the oil and gas group and that the investigation has not affected
sonatrach production
there are capable people within this national corporation and projects
some of them worth billions of dollars are in operation khelil said
on thursday algerian newspapers reported that an examining magistrate had
ordered meziane along with company vice president and five executives to
appear before him concerning allegations of corruption in company tenders for
consultancy and security contracts
two other sonatrach vice presidents the former president of bank and his son
as well as two children of meziane and private businessman have already been
detained as part of the probe el watan newspaper said
meziane was appointed in september to head algeria biggest firm which
employs people and made billion dollars billion euros profit
in for an annual turnover of billion dollars according to its last
financial report
the company accounts for percent of the north african country foreign
exchange earnings
numerous foreign companies operate in algeria in partnership with sonatrach
including total and gdf france repsol spain rosneft russia eni italy
bp britain statoil hydro norway anadarko us and cnpc china
three haiti quake survivors pulled from rubble
port au prince jan afp
three survivors were pulled from the rubble sunday five days after massive
earthquake devastated haiti infrastructure and killed tens of thousands of
people rescuers said
seven year old girl man aged and year old woman were rescued at
dawn at the caribbean market store south florida urban search and rescue team
member joseph fernandez told afp
the survivors were said to have suffered only light injuries
football goal shy villa held up by hammers
birmingham england jan afp
aston villa lost ground in the race for champions league place after being
held to goalless draw at home to west ham here on sunday
but the point saw the hammers move out of the premier league bottom three
after match in which the visitors england goalkeeper robert green played
key role in denying villa much needed victory
villa were looking to capitalise on the slip ups made on saturday by fourth
placed tottenham hotspur who drew at home to hull and fifth placed
manchester city who were beaten at everton
however they remain sixth in the table two places outside the champions league
spots and this result at villa park means martin neill league cup semi
finalists are still seeking their first league win since december
teenage hammers striker mark nouble making his first league start came close
to opening the scoring after six minutes but from yards out and with only
united states goalkeeper brad friedel to beat he shot over the crossbar
shortly before the half hour mark green was called into serious action for the
first time when he finger tipped away ashley young fierce cross shot
green then did well to deny gabriel agbonlahor from yards out
after half time west ham radoslav kovac already booked was fortunate not to
be sent off for rash challenge on villa captain stiliyan petrov
villa striker john carew half time substitute for emile heskey did have the
ball in the back of the net in the st minute but the effort was correctly
ruled out for offside
agbonlahor had chance to win the match in stoppage time but poor first touch
gave the onrushing green chance to block at the striker feet
football villa miss out after hammers draw
london jan afp
aston villa failed to make the most of slip ups by their champions league rivals
after goalless draw at home to strugglers west ham here on sunday
the point at villa park saw martin neill men stay sixth in the english
premier league table two places outside of the champions league spots after
saturday where fourth placed tottenham hotspur were held to goalless draw by
hull and manchester city fifth lost to everton and liverpool seventh drew
with stoke
villa have now not won and not scored in the league since beating stoke on
december
but the draw was boost for west ham lifting the london club out of the
relegation zone
away from home it good result west ham captain matthew upson told sky
sports we re improving we ve had some really tight games against some top
teams
we set out well today the last few months we ve had an improvement hopefully
we can maintain that to the end of the season
in sunday other premier league matches third placed arsenal are away to
bolton where win for the gunners would leave them just three points behind
leaders chelsea while blackburn face fulham
south sudan former rebels to run for all governor posts
juba sudan jan afp
south sudan former rebels will contest key governor posts in the states
of africa largest nation in historic elections due in april with new
candidates for half the posts in the south top official said sunday
the south ruling sudan peoples liberation movement splm is challenging
its former civil war enemies in the north in the first elections in years
the splm is contesting in all states of the sudan said pagan amum the splm
secretary general number of leaders lost in the contest we have five new
people coming in the south
those who have won will have to work with those who did not to make sure that
the splm will win he told reporters in the southern capital juba
four women were selected two in the north and two in the south including
nyandeng malek deliec for the troubled warrap state where recent clashes
between rival ethnic groups have left dozens dead
with these nominations the splm is saying that it cares for women rights
and for equality said amum adding they would also run candidates in the three
troubled western states of darfur and the contested abyei border region
the splm nominated simon kun puoc the current head of the southern
government humanitarian arm for the oil rich state of upper nile currently
the only governorship in the south held by the ruling national congress party
edward lino former administrator of the contested region of abyei would
stand in the capital for khartoum state amum said
the elections were provided for in the comprehensive peace agreement cpa
signed in between north and south sudan to end devastating year civil
war that cost the lives of two million people
the cpa is meant also to pave the way for referendum on southern independence
in january
yassir arman secular muslim from north sudan was chosen to fight omar al
beshir in the presidential election the first multi party ballot since in
sudan
for the presidential election of semi autonomous south sudan the splm chose the
