martin caceres sent off in the second half they move into second place though
ac milan can replace them later should they beat genoa
napoli lie fourth after victory over atalanta while roma will be kicking
themselves after letting lead slip away at cagliari with the home side
scoring twice in time added on to force draw
ac milan match should see england star david beckham making his debut after
returning on loan from la galaxy
ukraine pays off december gas bill
kiev jan afp
ukraine has paid off its december gas bill the national energy company naftogaz
told afp wednesday following concerns that it faced serious difficulties
meeting january deadline
the company has settled the december bill for imported gas in full and in
time company spokesman valentin zemlyanski announced
source close to naftogaz said the company drew on reserves from ukraine
central bank to pay the bill of about million dollars million euros
earlier in the day ukrainian president viktor yushchenko had asked the central
bank to step in to help pay for the deliveries of russian gas citing naftogaz
difficulties to pay off the bill
faced with this situation have to ask you to find solution to the
problem by buying back government treasury bonds yushchenko wrote in letter
to the president of the central bank
in the same letter the ukrainian president repeated his strong criticisms of
prime minister yulia tymoshenko his rival in the presidential election on
january blaming her for naftogaz financial problems
on december the head of russian gas giant gazprom said ukraine had very
serious difficulties paying for its deliveries which tymoshenko denied
five days later the international monetary fund said it had eased loan criteria
for ukraine to allow the government to use international reserves to meet its
debts including gas payments
relations between russia and ukraine over gas are followed closely by europe
last year dispute between the two former soviet republics on natural gas
prices led to cutoff of russian gas supplies to western europe and severe
shortages in some countries amidst freezing winter weather
quarter of the gas consumed in the european union comes from russia
percent of which passes through ukraine
togo artist ahyi dies
lome jan afp
togo artist paul ahyi who was honoured last year by unesco has died after
long illness his family said wednesday he was
ahyi who died on january was appointed an artist for peace in september last
year by the united nations educational scientific and cultural organisation
unesco
he obtained degree in from the national school of fine arts in paris and
was best known for his ceramics tapestries and jewellery
several of his monumental sculptures are on display in buildings in togo and
across west africa as well as in south korea and the vatican
afp europe news summary
paris jan afp
top european news stories on tuesday
europe weather
london soldiers helped rescue stranded drivers as britain most brutal winter
in decades caused chaos for travellers and bitterly cold temperatures cloaked
much of europe
russia caucasus unrest
moscow suicide bomber set off powerful car bomb outside police
headquarters in the restive russian republic of dagestan killing five policemen
and wounding an interior ministry spokesman said
iceland britain netherlands politics banking
reykjavik iceland was caught in political and economic storm with doubts
growing over its recovery and eu membership bid after its president olafur
ragnar grimsson vetoed compensation deal to cover the icesave bank collapse
eu employee pay
brussels the european commission is taking all eu member states to court
over their refusal to endorse an inflation busting pay rise for tens of
thousands of eu civil servants
attacks aviation security police ireland slovakia
bratislava slovak police apologised for botched security test that sent
explosives to ireland in the luggage of an unsuspecting air traveller and
sparked major security alert there
britain politics
london two former cabinet ministers called for ballot of labour lawmakers on
whether prime minister gordon brown should remain their leader highlighting his
vulnerability in the run up to general election
britain nireland unrest politics
belfast northern ireland largest loyalist paramilitary group the ulster
defence association said it had completely disarmed milestone in the
troubled province peace process
france politics education minorities
paris france elite grande ecoles came under fierce attack for balking at
proposal from president nicolas sarkozy that would force them to take in more
students from low income families and minorities
france politics religion islam women
paris france opposition socialists came out against calls for law banning
the full islamic veil but said muslim women must be discouraged from wearing
the burqa
poland sweden jews holocaust wwii crime probe
warsaw polish prosecutors said they wanted to question three swedish residents
over the theft of the infamous nazi german arbeit macht frei sign from the
former auschwitz death camp
football fulham fear lengthy zamora ko
london jan afp
fulham will have to do without top scorer bobby zamora for several weeks after
it was confirmed the striker had suffered dislocated collarbone in the defeat
at stoke on tuesday evening
the in form striker who has scored goals this season was forced off early
in the second half as the cottagers went down in the premier league clash at
the britannia stadium
although scan ruled out shoulder dislocation zamora will be out for several
weeks at least at time when fulham also look set to be without centre back
brede hangeland who suffered recurrence of knee problem during tuesday
match
fulham manager roy hodgson has already lost defender john pantsil to cruciate
ligament injury and may now have to look at bringing in reinforcements in the
january transfer window
we re not being fortunate on the injury front this season he said
ll have to look at it but we like most other clubs are not in situation
where we are looking to splash loads of money around
we ll be keeping an eye on what is available and if someone is available at the
right price and could help us out we would be interested but there are lot of
big ifs involved in that
stoke seized control of tuesday encounter at the britannia stadium after
tuncay sanli had headed them into an early lead and further strikes from
abdoulaye faye and mamady sidibe gave them commanding three goal advantage by
half time
ireland winger damien duff pulled goal back for fulham just after the hour
mark and clint dempsey strike five minutes from time made things frantic at
the end but stoke were able to hold out for win that lifts them to tenth in
the table place and three points behind their visitors
thought we did well to come out in the second half after conceding those
disastrous goals in the first half hodgson reflected
didn think we were particularly out played in the first half but in any
league is very difficult deficit to come back from
thought we gave it our best shot and just wish the game had gone on for
another minutes who knows we might have sneaked one in
stoke victory was their first in the league since november and ended run
of six league matches without win in which they had failed to score in all
but one
thought it was very good first half performance and we could have scored
more goals to be honest said manager tony pulis
we really pressed them in and got after them and thought we did really well
and looked tight together
fair play to fulham in the second half they came out and pushed bodies forward
and made it nervous for us
football guti poised for real madrid return
madrid jan afp
veteran real madrid midfielder guti appears on his way back to playing for the
spanish giants after falling out with chilean coach manuel pellegrini at the end
of october
guti trained with the rest of his teammates wednesday for the first time since
the reported falling out and is hoping to play against mallorca in the spanish
league this weekend
am ready if pellegrini wants me he told reporters when asked if he would be
part of the real squad which faces mallorca on saturday
product of real youth system the year old is one of the longest
serving members of the squad but he has been out of action since the club
embarrassing spanish cup defeat against third division side alcorcon on
october
according to media reports guti had half time argument in alcorcon with
pellegrini and insulted the coach when he was told that he was going to be
substituted at half time
the player whose full name jose maria gutierrez also made an obscene gesture
to alcorcon fans at the start of the second half when sitting on the real bench
after someone launched an insult directed at him
pellegrini left guti off his squad for several matches after the defeat against
alcorcon and then the player was sidelined with tear to thigh muscle
the former spain international joined real youth academy in and made his
first team debut in december
madagascar mediators call for elections
addis ababa jan afp
international mediators called wednesday for elections in madagascar to end
prolonged political crisis
the international contact group for madagascar said resolving the indian ocean
island turmoil was by return to constitutional order through free
transparent and democratic elections to give back people the say
the panel also said in statement it backed an initiative by african union
commission chief jean ping to undertake an ad hoc measure with madagascar
political groups to reach compromise on all the pending issues to end the
crisis
disagreements between the country four main political groups have scuttled
efforts to end the impasse with de facto leader andry rajoelina trampling on
previous deals with rivals to form unity government
the army backed rajoelina who seized power in coup in march last month
cancelled the appointment of prime minister agreed on in power sharing deal
with his rivals and named new one
discord over sharing government posts and drawing up an election timetable by
the four political parties led by rajoelina marc ravalomana the president he
ousted and two former leaders have also hobbled efforts to end the crisis
none of the political foes were represented at wednesday talks at the au
headquarters
along with ping chief mediator in the crisis joaquim chissano french state
secretary for cooperation alain joyandet and au peace and security commissioner
ramtane lamamra were at the talks
this crisis is very complex and our role is to help and assist the parties to
move forward lamamra told reporters
all stakeholders in madagascar should feel they can be part of the solution and
implement the agreements
us intel chief vows action after obama rebuke
washington jan afp
bruised by stinging rebuke from president barack obama the top us
intelligence chief has pledged to repair flaws in the security services to
confront an evolving threat from terror groups
the intelligence community received the president message today we got it
and we are moving forward to meet the new challenges director of national
intelligence dennis blair said in statement
we can and we must outthink outwork and defeat the enemy new ideas the
intelligence community will do that as directed by the president working
closely with our nation entire national security team
an angry obama tuesday blasted us spy chiefs accusing them of an intelligence
screw up that left us airliner carrying people open to al qaeda attack
on christmas day which was only narrowly averted
in highly unusual public rebuke of the us clandestine community obama made
terse televised statement about the thwarted bombing after gathering agency
chiefs and national security aides at high stakes white house meeting
it is increasingly clear that intelligence was not fully analyzed or fully
leveraged obama said adding missed red flags before the attack were more
serious than originally thought
that not acceptable and will not tolerate it
obama was even more explicit during the meeting in the secure white house
situation room an official said calling for immediate repairs to the flawed us
homeland security system which was supposed to have been revamped after the
september attacks
this was screw up that could have been disastrous the official speaking on
condition of anonymity quoted obama as saying
we dodged bullet but just barely it was averted by brave individuals not
because the system worked the president said according to the official
nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab is accused of trying to bring
down the northwest flight from amsterdam to detroit with explosives sewn into
his underwear
the device failed to explode as the plane approached detroit setting off fire
and passengers and crew sprung into action thwarting his attempted attack
obama promised he would lay out further steps to safeguard aviation security in
the coming weeks including better integration of information and enhanced
passenger screening
us agencies have already moved to boost security measures at airports with
travelers from countries having to undergo mandatory enhanced screening
dozens of names have also been moved onto no fly lists
but nigeria one of the targeted countries said the new rules were likely to
harm relations with the united states
nigeria views this action as having the potential of undermining long standing
and established us nigeria bilateral ties and the goodwill the us enjoys in
nigeria information minister dora akunyili told reporters
as yet no heads have rolled over the incident and white house spokesman robert
gibbs dodged the issue when asked tuesday by reporters if anyone would lose
their jobs
but chagrined blair admitted mistakes had been made the system did not catch
umar farouk abdulmutallab and prevent him from boarding an airliner and entering
the united states we must be able to stop such attempts he said
in the statement released just hours after obama very public dressing down
blair said progress had been made in developing collection and analysis
capabilities and improving collaboration
but he stressed we need to strengthen our ability to stop new tactics such as
the efforts of individual suicide terrorists
the threat has evolved and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and
improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect america
fbi agents in ghana meanwhile are trying to piece together abdulmutallab
movements during two week stay just before he began his journey to detroit
the fbi are still in the country to thoroughly investigate whom the culprit
might have been in contact with while in ghana deputy information minister
james agyenim boateng told afp
tennis cilic fights his way into chennai quarter finals
chennai india jan afp
defending champion marin cilic survived scare from marcel granollers before
advancing to the quarter finals of the dollar atp chennai open on
wednesday
the world number fought back from set down to beat the valiant st ranked
spaniard after two hours and minutes of intense tennis
it was croatian cilic fourth successive win over granollers including semi
final victory in the same tournament last year
the second seeded cilic is favoured to retain the title after top seed robin
soderling of sweden was knocked out by american robby ginepri in the first round
on tuesday
both players held their serve in the first set to force the tie breaker which
granollers won after cilic appeared to lose his composure following two disputed
line calls
granollers and cilic traded two breaks each in the second set before the croat
broke again in the eighth game and easily held his own serve in the ninth to
draw level
cilic went break up in the seventh game of the third set ending granollers
resistance on the show court of the nungambakkam tennis stadium
it was not easy for me today said cilic
marcel played very good game but once broke him in the second set my game
started to improve and served and volleyed much better
cilic conceded that few line calls during crucial moments of the match upset
him
some calls were suspicious he said they hurt me more than they hurt him it
often happened on crucial points but that tennis you just have to get on
with the game
cilic quarter final opponent will be th ranked santiago giraldo of
colombia who beat czeck jan hajek in minutes
fourth seed janko tipsarevic of serbia cruised into the last eight with an
emphatic win over india top player somdev devvarman in just
minutes
devvarman surprise finalist here last year after being given wildcard held
his serve just once in the match against his fancied opponent ranked places
above him at
tipsarevic next plays thiemo de bakker of the netherlands who advanced to the
quarter finals with demolition of compatriot robin hasse
tennis hong kong tennis classic results
hong kong jan afp
results from the first day of the hong kong tennis classic exhibition tournament
on wednesday
women
vera zvonareva rus bt ayumi morita jpn
maria sharapova rus bt zheng jie chn
men
paradorn srichaphan tha bt yevgeny kafelnikov rus
tiebreaker
mixed doubles
maria sharapova yevgeny kafelnikov rus bt ayumi morita jpn paradorn
scrichapan tha
nordic skiing tour de ski results
toblach italy jan afp
results of the fourth stage of the tour de ski series here on wednesday
men
fourth stage km freestyle
petter northug nor hr min sec dario cologna sui at sec
marcus hellner swe jean marc gaillard fra matti heikkinen
fin axel teichmann ger curdin perl sui tord
asle gjerdalen nor ivan babikov can tom reichelt ger
same time
tour de ski standings after four stages
petter northug nor hr min sec dario cologna sui at sec
marcus hellner swe jean marc gaillard fra matti heikkinen
fin axel teichmann ger curdin perl sui tord
asle gjerdalen nor tom reichelt ger ivan babikov can
principal retirements emil joensson swe maxim vylegzhanin rus dusan
kozisek cze teodor peterson swe eldar roenning nor alexander legkov
rus
world cup standings after of events
petter northug nor pts marcus hellner swe matti heikkinen
fin maxim vylegzhanin rus dario cologna sui
women
th stage km pursuit freestyle
arianna follis ita min sec petra majdic slo at sec
justyna kowalczyk pol aino kaisa saarinen fin marianna
longa ita min sec alena sidko rus riitta liisa roponen
fin olga savialova rus kristin stoermer steira nor
vibeke skofterud nor
tour de ski standings
arianna follis ita hr min sec petra majdic slo at sec
justyna kowalczyk pol aino kaisa saarinen fin marianna
longa ita min sec alena sidko rus riitta liisa roponen
fin olga savialova rus kristin stoermer steira nor
vibeke skofterud nor
world cup standings after of events
justyna kowalczyk pol pts petra majdic slo aino kaisa
saarinen fin marit bjoergen nor natalia korosteleva rus
football bahrain hong kong result
manama jan afp
asian cup qualifier result on wednesday
bahrain abdullateef al dakheel hong kong
european stocks close little changed
london jan afp
europe main stock markets closed little changed on wednesday with london
ftse index of leading shares edging up percent to points
in paris the cac added percent to points while in frankfurt
the dax slipped marginal percent to points
wife of cia attacker says he was not an agent
ankara jan afp
the wife of jordanian man believed to be an al qaeda double agent behind
suicide bombing at cia base in afghanistan said wednesday she did not believe
her husband worked for any intelligence agency in remarks to the turkey ntv
news channel
my husband definitely cannot be an agent for the cia or jordan because he was
man who would not even leave the house do not believe my husband could have
done this defne bayrak who is turkish said in telephone interview
broadcast on ntv
he never told me of such thing and do not think that is the case bayrak
who is in turkey added
jihadist websites have identified humam khalil mohammed al balawi as double
agent who duped western intelligence services for months before turning on his
handlers
the jordanian intelligence services believing balawi to be on their side took
him to eastern afghanistan with the mission of finding al qaeda number two
ayman al zawahiri jihadist websites and western intelligence agents cited by us
media said
but instead he blew himself up at forward operating base chapman in khost
province near the pakistani border killing seven cia agents and his jordanian
handler top intelligence officer and member of the royal family
bayrak said that balawi whom she married nine years ago did not go to
afghanistan but went to pakistan to pursue medical studies
he wanted to study to become surgeon we knew that he got himself job when
he could not sort out his study plans
we last spoke on the phone about one and half months ago it was normal
conversation he talked about coming to turkey he had told us to go to turkey
and that he would come soon she said
according to balawi mother bayrak and her son met while he was studying
medicine in turkey the couple have two children laila and lina
they also lived in jordan for while where balawi worked in hospital in
palestinian refugee camp and bayrak translated books from arabic into turkish
two turkish publishing houses based in istanbul on wednesday confirmed that they
had published books by defne bayrak one an original work titled why they
converted to islam and the other translation of novel by former iraqi
strongman saddam hussein called get out damned one
third publishing house lists another book by bayrak titled osama bin laden
the che guevara of the east
spanish judge asks to quiz witnesses in sahara probe
madrid jan afp
spanish judge has asked algeria for permission to question witnesses as
part of probe into alleged atrocities committed in the western saharan by
moroccan officials court document showed wednesday
judge baltazar garzon best known internationally for his pursuit of latin
american dictators opened the probe three years ago into genocide and crimes
against humanity levelled against moroccan military and political officials in
the territory between and
morocco annexed the mostly desert phosphate rich western sahara in
following the hasty withdrawal of colonial power spain in the dying days of the
regime of right wing dictator francisco franco
the witnesses who garzon wants to question live in saharawi refugee camps near
the city of tindouf in southwestern algeria
the document from national audience spain top criminal court said
difficulties and costs or their travel to spain make this demand for
international judicial cooperation necessary
the court opened the probe after complaint was filed by several sahrawi human
rights organizations and solidarity groups in spain which named moroccan
officials including several former and current officials in the country
numerous security bodies
garzon accepted the complaint under the legal doctrine known as universal
jurisdiction which allows grave human rights crimes to be prosecuted in spain
if they are not investigated in the country where they were committed
spain in october approved law limiting the application of the doctrine to
cases where there is clear link to spain after investigations into alleged
human rights abuses involving other nations like china and israel caused
diplomatic headaches for madrid
morocco annexation of the western sahara sparked war with the algeria backed
polisario front movement
the two sides agreed ceasefire in but un sponsored talks on its future
have since made no headway
morocco has pledged to grant the territory widespread autonomy but rules out
independence the polisario front wants referendum on self determination with
independence as one of the options
french elite schools under fire
paris jan afp
france elite schools faced fierce attacks on wednesday for balking at
government plan that would force them to take in more students from low income
families and minorities
president nicolas sarkozy wants the higher education institutes known as the
grandes ecoles to set aside percent of new admissions for poor students
many of whom are from immigrant backgrounds
the plan to open up the grandes ecoles is key plank of sarkozy push for
equal opportunity but their top representative body the cge has expressed
reservations over the measures set to go into effect in
the percent target would inevitably lead to drop in the academic level
said the cge calling it form of admissions quota that flew in the face of
france cherished egalitarianism
the government reacted quickly with education minister luc chatel saying he
found shocking the suggestion that more poor students would lower the academic
level of the schools which produce tight knit group of leaders in politics
industry and the professions
self made billionaire businessman francois pinault made rare foray into
public debate on wednesday writing in le monde newspaper that the schools
reluctance to open up was nauseating
how can someone in modern society be so reactionary wrote pinault in the
column co signed by renowned political adviser alain minc
those who quietly signed this statement underestimate the rumblings coming from
deep within society they fail to measure the urgency or the priorities of the
day said pinault founder of the french international fashion house ppr
over the past decade many of the french elite schools have opened up to
diversity starting with the paris institute of political studies or sciences
po as it is known
sciences po which counts among its alumni sarkozy his predecessor jacques
chirac and host of top company executives has been taking in students from
the high immigrant suburbs since
but the same openness has not been applied across the board according to the
education ministry
nearly percent of students at engineering schools are scholarship recipients
but that figure drops to just percent at the polytechnique which produces
the cream of france engineers
the same situation prevails in very selective business schools such as the
hautes etudes commerciales hec where fewer than percent of students are
from low income families
richard descoings the director of sciences po said the percent target had
to be applied to all elite schools to avoid creating fortresses of privilege
handful of very selective schools are training handful of students who
often excel at what they do but who are becoming more and more closed off from
french society and this is serious said descoings
sarkozy announced in late plan to set aside percent of places in so
called preparatory classes for entrance exams into the elite schools for poor
students
that goal was reached in september but the government now wants the top
schools to go one step further and set aside percent of first year places to
scholarship students
france is home to one of europe biggest arab and black minorities but is
overwhelmingly ruled by white establishment while unemployment is at its
highest in immigrant suburbs
snow brings mayhem to britain as europe shivers
london jan afp
soldiers helped rescue stranded drivers wednesday as britain most brutal
winter in decades caused chaos for travellers and bitterly cold temperatures
cloaked much of europe
millions of people in london and the south east of england struggled to and from
work in heavy snow after storms spread from scotland and the north of england
where they have caused problems for days
bitterly cold and wintry weather is forecast to continue for the next couple of
weeks with further snowfall expected at times said the met office calling the
recent cold spell the worst to hit the country since
southern counties could be hit by to centimetres inches of snow the met
office said while snow storms swept across central london turning the city
parks and squares white
eurostar said it had cancelled four trains between london paris and brussels as
precaution because of the snow just weeks after freezing temperatures caused
three day service shutdown in the run up to christmas
much of the rest of europe was also in the grip of freezing temperatures due to
weather front from siberia
norway was among the coldest with temperatures in the central town of roeros
falling to minus degrees celsius about minus fahrenheit
in the netherlands the ice was thick enough for the year first skating event
on natural ice with up to people expected to make the two kilometre
mile circuit on the henschoter lake in utrecht
