liberty stadium while sixth placed sheffield united consolidated their play off
spot with win over fa cup giant killers reading
goals from jonathan fortune richard cresswell and chris morgan saw off the
royals who had defeated premier league sides liverpool and burnley in the cup
this season
gylfi sigurdsson wasted chance to draw reading level in the th minute when
he missed penalty after morgan had fouled shane long
leicester play off challenge suffered blow as they were beaten by
barnsley
preston manager darren ferguson return to peterborough with his new club went
well for the former posh boss as neil mellor th minute strike earned
victory
elsewhere middlesbrough won at doncaster while derby were beaten at
plymouth
football bentley shines as spurs put fulham to the sword
london jan afp
tottenham strengthened their grip on fourth place in the premier league after
win over london rivals fulham at white hart lane on tuesday
first half goal from england striker peter crouch and second from the
previously out of favour david bentley secured the win for spurs who remain on
course for champions league spot after liverpool draw at wolves allowed the
north londoners to open up three point gap between the teams
while the hosts will be glad to have ended disappointing recent run roy
hodgson fulham continue to struggle and have now lost four league games in
row after strong start to the campaign
the visitors preparation was disrupted by manchester united announcement that
they had agreed fee for england under defender chris smalling who has
impressed since breaking into the team last september
despite the speculation hodgson felt that the centre back was sufficiently
focused and named him in the starting eleven
but tottenham started the game in electrifying fashion creating two
opportunities within the first two minutes
with their first attack jermain defoe neat flick set up tom huddlestone on the
edge of the area but australia goalkeeper mark schwarzer dived full length to
turn the former derby man powerful drive wide of the post
fulham absorbed the early pressure and threatened themselves in the th minute
heurelho gomes in the spurs net reacting quickly to smother the ball at bobby
zamora feet after smart through ball by hungary zoltan gera
crouch broke the deadlock for the hosts in the th minute but most of the
credit will be laid at the feet of luka modric
two fulham defenders were comfortably guiding the ball over the dead ball line
until the croatia midfielder nipped in to pull the ball back and cross for
crouch who threw out leg and poked the ball past schwarzer
spurs were guilty of throwing away the lead twice during saturday fa cup match
with leeds so it was understandable that they curtailed their attacking
instincts for while after that
however modric came within inches of doubling the lead on the stroke of half
time as he whipped vicious shot over the bar after jinking run down the left
channel
fulham battled hard for an equaliser but spurs were always more likely to get
the next goal
bentley subject of much transfer speculation after falling out with boss harry
redknapp delivered perfect cross into the area which defoe headed just over
the crossbar
former arsenal man bentley prospects of more first team football or
lucrative transfer were boosted when he made it on the hour mark albeit
with large slice of fortune
wales defender gareth bale won free kick on the left corner of the area after
being hacked down
bentley stepped up and curled shot towards goal which took huge deflection
of the defensive wall before looping over schwarzer head
the stroke of luck seemed to invigorate the former blackburn man who had another
long range free kick saved by schwarzer before delivering fine ball which
defender michael dawson headed over the top
redknapp men showed they had learnt from saturday draw comfortably playing
out time to give themselves breathing space in the coveted fourth spot
alpine skiing herbst delights austrian crowd with slalom victory
schladming austria jan afp
reinfried herbst sent huge home crowd into delirium here on tuesday after
blitzing to victory in men world cup slalom race
under floodlights and piste lined by tens of thousands of flare and flag
waving spectators herbst produced storming second leg to secure the win from
switzerland silvan zurbriggen with fellow austrian manfred pranger the leader
after the first leg in third
herbst timed min sec over the two legs sec ahead of zurbriggen with
pranger at sec
his eighth career win and season third saw herbst leapfrog frenchman julien
lizeroux who finished seventh at sec to the top of the world cup slalom
standings
this is dream come true for me said herbst had mixed feelings after the
opening run the ice surprised me bit but then in the second really gave
it everything it incredible to win two years in row
often lost races in the second leg having led after the first run now know
the reverse can be the case
herbst praised the huge crowd for doing their bit
this huge turnout gives you an extra ten percent and the conditions were
perfect for me
pranger went into the second leg with an enormous sec lead but that had been
cut to sec by the second intermediary time and he faded badly in the final
third in extremely icy conditions with temperatures at degrees
another austrian the veteran benjamin raich was in fourth at sec enough
to consolidate his place atop the overall world cup standings after events
the early running among the top finishers from the first leg who got to race
in the second was sensationally set by japan naoki yusaka who eventually
finished th at sec one place ahead of team mate akira sasaki
buoying japanese slalom hopes for the upcoming winter olympics was third
racer kentaro mingawa finishing st to complete fine evening for the asian
nation in one of the bastions of alpine skiing
zurbriggen said he was happy to bag second place as was really tired after
kitzbuehel but bounced back thanks to the team around me and the atmosphere
was great with the turnout
pranger cursed his luck after starting out so well
wanted to stay really aggressive in the second run but was very nervous
he admitted after failing to finish three times this season wanted to get
down to the line again in that sense third isn so bad
new target for fighting alzheimer study
paris jan afp
french researchers said tuesday they had found promising new target in the
fight against alzheimer the debilitating brain disease that causes
irreversible memory loss and dementia
in laboratory experiments team led by etienne emile beaulieu of the french
national institute of health and medical research inserm uncovered what could
prove critically important interaction between two types of proteins
the telltale symptoms of alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases have
been linked to an overabundance in the brain of the tau protein
beaulieu and colleagues discovered that another protein known as fkbp which
also helps regulate immune responses may slow or prevent that damaging
accumulation
it an anti tau weapon located within the cells beaulieu said at press
conference in paris
we want to boost the efficiency of this weapon and find pharmaceutical
ammunition new drugs to accelerate its action so that it can destroy
unwanted tau he told journalists
the study was published this week in the us proceedings of the national academy
of sciences
developing such drug may take long time he said but in two or three years
we should be able to find way to at least make an early diagnosis
certain biochemical markers of the illness probably appear or years before
clinical symptoms he added
further experiments based on the results reported tuesday will begin soon with
geriatrics patients at the charles foix ivry hospital outside of paris he
announced
beaulieu is best known as the inventor of the ru abortion pill first
developed in
other researchers said the link between the two types of proteins was important
but remained skeptical of an early breakthrough for treatment
everything reported here was done in the laboratory said philippe amouyel
director of france national scientific foundation for alzheimer disease
this lead must be followed up but for the moment there is no direct link to
alzheimer and no demonstration that it works on patients he told afp
there are hundreds of proteins that interact with tau and further research is
needed to see how the interaction between fkbp and tau fit into the larger
puzzle of the disease he added
alzheimer has also been associated with amyloid beta proteins that accumulate
around neurons in the brain forming plaques
an estimated million people worldwide including million in the united
states live with dementia with alzheimer disease causing the majority of
cases according to the world health organization
as populations age this figure is projected to increase rapidly over the next
years
chc bc mh gk
us faults al jazeera english coverage of haiti
washington jan afp
the us state department on tuesday faulted the coverage of the haiti earthquake
by al jazeera english service saying it falsely suggested us militarization
of the country
philip crowley the assistant secretary of state for public affairs said he
complained to the qatar based network english language service about what we
felt was unfair unbalanced coverage of operations in haiti
it suggested there was militarization of the effort crowley told reporters
he criticized an instance in which he said al jazeera english service compared
the port au prince airport the hub of us relief operations to the green zone
where us forces are stationed in baghdad
crowley pointed to al jazeera english in response to question seeking
clarification of remarks earlier tuesday by secretary of state hillary clinton
who said some foreign media either misunderstood or deliberately misconstrued
the us decision to send thousands of troops to haiti
spokesperson for al jazeera english defended its coverage of the earthquake
which it said was balanced fair and detailed
it said the report in question reflected the concerns of the brazilian and
french governments aid agencies on the ground and many haitians we spoke to in
the course of our newsgathering and allowed the state department to respond
we will continue to provide as accurate an account as possible of the relief
effort and reflect all opinions on its progress and effect the spokesperson
said
at public forum clinton strongly defended the us military involvement in
haiti saying it was vital to relief efforts in the wake of the tragedy that
killed more than people
leftist latin american nations such as venezuela and cuba have accused the
united states of occupying haiti the united states sent troops to the poor
caribbean nation in establishing military government that lasted until
the united states has also faced criticism from nato ally italy where senior
official on sunday said washington had sent too many officers to haiti and
could not find capable leader
prime minister silvio berlusconi distanced himself from the remarks tuesday
hailing the united states for its generous and significant intervention in
haiti
al jazeera has had rocky relationship with us authorities who have faulted
its coverage of us foreign policy and its airing of tapes by osama bin laden but
also turned to the network to reach an arab audience
nigerian military plane crashes kills all on board reports
lagos jan afp
nigerian military aircraft crashed tuesday near the southern oil city of port
harcourt killing all four people on board including two pilots officials and
local media reports said
the aircraft belonging to the nigerian navy plunged into swamp near port
harcourt airport official radio nigeria said
although the cause of the crash was not immediately known an official of
state run aviation agency who demanded anonymity said that the aircraft hit
telephone mast before coming down
ex guatemalan leader arrested after us extradition request
guatemala city jan afp
former guatemalan leader alfonso portillo was arrested tuesday following us
extradition request related to charges of money laundering during his
presidency officials said
two days after police searched for him at two homes in guatemala city portillo
was tracked down at the northeastern beach resort of punta de palma on the
caribbean coast said attorney general velasquez zarate
now that he under arrest the us government has days to formalize its
extradition request according to evidence and documents they have velasquez
said in radio interview
guatemalan judicial authorities issued an arrest warrant for portillo on friday
after us officials in florida presented them with an extradition request
an indictment by grand jury in new york on monday said portillo embezzled
tens of million of dollars worth of public funds portion of which he then
laundered through bank accounts in the united states and europe
in reaction to the arrest the us attorney office in new york said portillo
was now in custody and is expected to appear later today tuesday in criminal
court in guatemala city
portillo had fled to mexico in after losing his immunity from prosecution
for alleged corruption during his administration in october he was
extradited from mexico to guatemala where he has been awaiting trial on
embezzlement charges
guatemala has accused portillo of authorizing some million dollars in
transfers to guatemala defense department where officials close to him
allegedly took part of the money
after his tuesday arrest portillo told sonora radio he was the victim of
conspiracy that began before he took office six years ago and that he feared for
his life
when am in court ll mention all the names of the people behind the
conspiracy everything they ve done where they met he said in telephone
interview
with all they ve done to me in guatemala anything can happen portillo said
adding that the extradition proceedings were violation of national and
international law
this is going to be test for guatemala new judicial system that we want to
set up with this new court he added referring to the supreme court of
justice
the page us indictment charges portillo with using two national banks that he
oversaw to make fraudulent transactions and embezzle money from the government
to enrich himself and his co conspirators
he then allegedly laundered this money through various international bank
accounts including accounts located in the united states through at least in
or about
portillo embezzled almost four million dollars from the ministry of defense and
also stole donations from taiwan to program known as libraries for peace
according to the indictment
to launder money portillo moved funds around the world including in florida
lichtenstein london luxembourg paris and switzerland the charges allege
us prosecutors said they were seeking forfeiture of any laundered money
if found guilty portillo could be sentenced to maximum of years in prison
and fine of twice the value of the funds in the money laundering transactions
guatemala so far has not convicted any of its former presidents charged with
corruption and other crimes including romeo lucas who recently
died in exile in venezuela and jorge serrano currently exiled in
panama
before he was elected president portillo was charged with double murder in
chilpancingo mexico but was never put on trial
poor governance fuels nigeria radicals clinton
washington jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton said tuesday that failure by nigeria
government to address young people needs was breeding the radicalism seen in
the christmas day bombing plot
clinton responding to question at forum with state department employees
said that nigeria key indicators such as literacy were going in the wrong
direction and that corruption in the country was unbelievable
the failure of the nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the
legitimate needs of their own young people to have government that promoted
meritocracy that really understood that democracy can just be given lip
service it has to be delivering services to the people has meant there is
lot of alienation in that country and others she said
so do think that nigeria faces threat from increasing radicalization that
needs to be addressed and not just by military means she said
umar farouk abdulmutallab year old nigerian has been charged with trying
to ignite explosives in his underwear on northwest airlines flight approaching
detroit an attack foiled by fellow passengers
clinton said that abdulmutallab who hailed from wealthy family may have
simply been going through youthful phase of radicalism when he was roped in by
islamic extremists
young people in the world today they see other options they re all
interconnected through the internet she said
clinton and president barack obama have made the fight for good governance key
priority in africa
in august clinton told televised forum in abuja that lack of transparency and
accountability was eroding the nigerian government legitimacy and the global
aspirations of africa most populous nation
football hoffenheim prince tagoe readies for return
hoffenheim germany jan afp
german side hoffenheim ghana international prince tagoe is on the comeback
trail and could play again within weeks after fighting against heart defect
the club cancelled his contract last august after discovering the year old
problem but the club indicated tuesday he could soon return to action
prince tagoe is now in bgetter physical shape than was the case in summer pre
season in few weeks he will be serious candidate for first team place
said coach ralf rangnick
hoffenheim bankrolled by billionaire dietmar hopp bought tagoe in june from
saudi outfit al ittifaq unaware of his condition
volatile trade pushes dollar mostly higher
new york jan afp
currency markets saw choppy trade tuesday with traders unsettled by more efforts
in china to tighten monetary policy and news that britain had only just limped
out of recession
the dollar and yen were the main beneficiaries of trader skittishness while the
pound was hurt by weaker than expected data showing narrow escape from
recession
the euro fell to dollars at gmt from dollars in new york late
monday
the dollar meanwhile slipped to yen from yen as the japanese unit
became the preferred safe haven
talk that china may accelerate the pace of monetary tightening shook the
markets said jane foley of forex com
fresh evidence emerged tuesday that chinese authorities had ordered several
banks to stop issuing new loans this month as fears grow that the extra money is
fuelling inflation
credit suisse said in research note that six banks had confirmed new lending
had been suspended from january after an emergency meeting by the central
bank monetary policy bureau
the dollar got modest support from better than expected us consumer confidence
figures in january up for third straight month dealers said
the conference board private research firm said its consumer confidence
index rose to in january from an upwardly revised in december and
compared with forecasts for
meanwhile the pound tumbled after figures showed the british economy just
scraped out of recession in the fourth quarter with growth of percent well
short of forecasts for percent
britain is very vulnerable to double dip recession and is likely to maintain
its accommodative monetary policy for all of and perhaps beyond said
boris schlossberg at global forex trading
analysts said traders were turning their focus to the us federal reserve which
began two day meeting on monetary policy overshadowed in part by the drama
surrounding the confirmation of chairman ben bernanke for second term
michael malpede at easy forex said the market will be watching for hints about
when the fed will move away from its near zero interest rates and maintaining
plans to scale back so called quantitative easing or pumping money into the
economy
any indication that the fed may consider expanding quantitative easing would be
negative for the dollar malpede said
he said the market was also nervous about the bernanke confirmation with vote
expected thursday or friday in the us senate
the white house expects bernanke to be reconfirmed but his confirmation will
likely be by the narrowest of margins malpede said lack of broad support for
fed chairman bernanke could increase the risk of politics influencing fed
decisions which could ultimately undermine the credibility of fed policy
in late new york trade the dollar stood at swiss francs from
monday
the pound was at dollars after
greenpeace calls for moratorium on industrial activity in arctic
oslo jan afp
greenpeace called on tuesday for moratorium on industrial activity on the
arctic region said to be rich in natural resources but particularly fragile
in the shorter term there might be economic development and jobs but they do
not come with guarantee that the ecosystem won be destroyed and in turn
negatively affect communities greenpeace nordic executive director mads
flarup christensen said of an industrial exploitation of the arctic at seminar
in the arctic town of tromsoe
greenpeace called for moratorium applying to the exploitation of fossil fuels
and minerals commercial fishing and of maritime transport but not to
traditional fishing or the seal hunt or whaling practiced by the region
indigenous peoples
according to the us geological survey the arctic could contain million
barrels of oil and percent of the world assumed gas resources considerable
reserves made even more accessible by the melting of arctic ice
the problem is we are past the tipping point for ice loss and ocean
acidification even deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions won prevent
these things from taking huge toll on the arctic ocean ecosystem flarup
christensen said in speech seen by afp
what we can control and prevent are any additional stresses to the arctic
marine ecosystem he said calling for an international treaty to protect the
arctic modelled on the protocol on antarctica
avatar soars to new world box office record
los angeles jan afp
science fiction epic avatar soared to new global box office record taking
billion dollars and sinking titanic to become the biggest earning film of
all time figures showed tuesday
on monday january avatar officially passed titanic to become the
highest grossing film in history at the worldwide box office th century fox
studios said in statement
the groundbreaking blockbuster directed by james cameron had by monday taken
million dollars more than his film titanic
avatar had taken billion dollars compared with the box office total for
the oscar winning titanic which took billion dollars the statement
said
the million dollar epic has been hailed as cinematic milestone for its use
of state of the art cameras and motion capture technology which cameron was
instrumental in helping to develop
this month it was awarded best picture and best director at the golden globes
cementing its status as front runner for the oscars with the nominations due
to be unveiled next week
we are deeply gratified that so many millions of people around the globe have
embraced avatar th century fox said
the themes of protecting the environment respecting life and yearning for
peaceful planet have united moviegoers worldwide
the futuristic fantasy tells the story of paralyzed war veteran jake who is
sent on mission from earth to the planet pandora where he falls in love with
blue humanoid named neytiri of the alien na vi race
instead of helping the us military to extract valuable mineral from the
ground jake sam worthington and crusty doctor played by sigourney weaver
decide to help the na vi defend their homeland
cameron accepted his golden globes speaking partly in na vi the language
spoken by the blue skinned peace loving alien heroes of the film invented for
the movie by university of southern california linguistics expert
football lee helps coyle silence burnley critics
bolton england jan afp
lee chung yong helped bolton manager owen coyle silence the taunts from former
club burnley as the south korea midfielder sealed win over the clarets on
tuesday
coyle was facing the team he left in acrimonious circumstances just three weeks
ago and lee first half strike ensured the fierce abuse that rained down on him
from burnley travelling supporters eventually petered out
even more importantly the result allowed bolton to move out of the premier
league relegation at the expense of local rivals burnley
coyle knew he was in for hard time from the burnley fans who made the
short trip across lancashire and they didn waste any time showing their
distate for the scot
formerly proclaimed as god by burnley supporters coyle was deluged with
abusive chants from the away end while one banner read he is not the messiah
brian laws visitors were looking to end woeful run on the road during which
they had taken only one point out of possible
but after scrappy start bolton should have taken the lead when fabrice muamba
found himself clear on goal after being released by matt taylor but the
midfielder shot wildly over the crossbar
burnley finally found some attacking rhythm and chris eagles squandered golden
opportunity when he mishit the rebound after jussi jaaskelainen parried steven
fletcher shot
christian kalvenes threatened for burnley with rasping shot that beat
jaaskelainen but finished the wrong side of the post
bolton responded superbly as lee gave them the lead in the th minute with his
fifth goal of the season
the korean has been in superb form since moving to the reebok stadium at the
start of the season and he demonstrated his quality with clipped shot that hit
the underside of the bar and crossed the line despite michael duff attempt to
clear
david nugent had chance to equalise for burnley when he raced onto eagles
pass but jaaskelainen raced off his line to save
bolton stepped up the pace at the start of the second half with lee and kevin
davies both seeing efforts go wide of the target
when muamba had shot from yards deflected to safety in the nd minute
laws had clearly had enough and sent on striker frederic nimani for his debut
yet bolton finished stronger and substitute ricardo gardner saw his effort
turned away by jensen but coyle men had already done enough to claim the
points
football listless liverpool leave benitez under pressure again
wolverhampton england jan afp
rafael benitez silenced his critics with victory over spurs less than week
ago
but his detractors will be back in full voice again after their hugely
disappointing draw with relegation threatened wolves at molineux on tuesday
if the interest emanating from juventus is serious regarding the spaniard
taking over as their next manager opposition to his departure from anfield will
be reducing even further as result
their inability to dispose of wolves team who had lost their previous three
league games and failed to score goal was painful to behold and once again the
tactics of the liverpool manager have been placed under the microscope
the lowest scorers in the premier league against the side with only goals
away from anfield in all competitions did not bode well and it was attritional
stuff
even with steven gerrard back after missing two games with hamstring problem
liverpool looked million miles away from the side of their halcyon days and
alan hansen goal that delivered their last victory at molineux back in
gerrard was clearly still not fully fit and it was beyond the wildest
expectations for him to conjure match winning performance on his own and
liverpool decision to play with solitary striker in dirk kuyt again raised
question marks over the cautious tactics of benitez
his lack of adventure against side shot with self doubt and lack of
confidence was staggering and once again alberto aquilani was the most expensive
substitute the premier league has seen for some time as he watched in despair at
liverpool ineffectiveness
wolves were in no mood for adventure either desperate to improve on run of
seven defeats in their last ten games but employing kevin doyle as lone
striker meant chances for them would be at premium
accepting them has been wolves achilles heel all season and their regular
failing came back to haunt them after they had frustrated liverpool with their
flooded midfield for over half an hour
counter attacking from deep matt jarvis exposed the danger of playing jamie
carragher out of position as right back because of his lack of pace and
doyle one of the few genuine players of class at mccarthy disposal reacted
swiftly to force his way ahead of martin skrtel and meet the winger low cross
at the near post
but his instinctive flick was not delicate enough to defeat pepe reina
doyle was constant menace his willingness to cover the miles incredible and
even in his solitary role liverpool nerves creaked every time he was in
possession
he forced one save from reina with header whilst off balance and another
rising shot from yards flew over the target with reina again scrambling to
position himself
at least it passed as threat which is more than liverpool posed throughout
minutes of complete ennui for their travelling support
it was not until three minutes after the interval that they registered shot on
target
when another passing move broke down the ball looped up for albert riera to
produce an instinctive and speculative lob from fully yards
for fleeting moment marcus hahnemann wore the look of worried man until he
regained his bearings and pushed the effort away one handed the fact that was
their only effort on target in minutes underlines liverpool ineffectiveness
and the critics of benitez will not have missed the point
man pulled from haiti rubble two weeks after quake
port au prince jan afp
the us military pulled haitian man alive from under the rubble in port au
prince tuesday two weeks after an earthquake leveled the city according to an
afp photographer on the scene
