rd place play off
mark webster wal bt raymond van barneveld ned
darts taylor powers to th world title
london jan afp
england phil taylor won th world darts title on sunday when he defeated
australia simon whitlock in the final of the pdc world championship
wales mark webster took third place beating raymond van barneveld of the
netherlands
moderate quake hits philippines seismologists
manila jan afp
moderate magnitude earthquake struck off the southern philippine island
of mindanao early monday the us geological survey said
there was no immediate tsunami warning
the quake struck at am gmt sunday and was centred kilometres
miles southeast of davao on mindanao island at depth of kilometres the
usgs said
the hawaii based pacific tsunami warning centre did not issue any tsunami
warning
the philippines sits on the pacific ring of fire where continental plates meet
causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity in the western pacific
nfl dolphins white hospitalized after head injury
miami florida jan afp
miami rookie quarterback pat white was stretchered off the field and
hospitalized after suffering head injury in helmet to helmet collision with
pittsburgh defender ike taylor in the teams nfl season finale sunday
after the hit white hit the ground on his stomach and pittsburgh players
immediately began signalling for help
he moved his legs and rolled onto his side before being lifted onto cart on
his back and he also moved his arms
white was taken by ambulance to miami hospital and team spokesman said the
player seems to be ok in terms of movement
white came into the game after starter chad henne suffered an eye injury late in
the first half tyler thigpen made his first appearance with the dolphins as
replacement for white
the steelers won and the dolphins were officially eliminated from playoff
contention
in fact the dolphins slim playoff chances were doused shortly before the game
ended when houston defeated new england
the defending super bowl champion steelers still had hopes of making the
playoffs but their fate depended on the outcomes of later games on the final
day of the regular season
mars rover spirit year stint may be ending nasa
washington jan afp
nasa sunday celebrated mars rover spirit bountiful six year stint on the red
planet way longer than the three months it was forecast to last but it all may
soon come to an end stuck as it is in martian sand
the tireless kilogram pound six wheel robot broke through crusty
surface layer to strike sand in april at one edge of the troy crater west of
the home plate plateau in the martian southern hemisphere
all attempts to extricate it have failed so far the last time in november not
only did the robot not budge from its place but its right rear wheel broke
down its right front wheel stopped working in probably due to worn out
electric motor
dead in its tracks spirit cannot shake off the martian dust that is slowly
accumulating on its solar panels preventing its batteries from recharging
unless the wind blows the dust away or in spurt of energy spirit can shift
its inclination to better point the panels toward the sun the amount of
sunshine available will continue to decline until the martian solstice may
nasa said on its website
that means spirit may not have enough power to remain in operation during the
martian winter the space agency added
despite its predicament spirit has been able to carry on its scientific work
and has even made an unexpected discovery
as its wheels spun and churned up the ground in its attempt to break free of the
sand trap it uncovered traces of sulfates underneath scientist ray arvidson
of the washington university in st louis missouri said last month
sulfates are minerals just beneath the surface that shout to us that they were
formed in steam vents since steam has sulfur in it steam is associated with
hydrothermal activity evidence of water charged explosive volcanism
such areas could have once supported life he said
spirit and its twin rover opportunity which landed on the opposite side of
mars three weeks later than spirit on january have been given
more days of mission time
scientists are not too confident the martian wind will be able to dust off their
power generating solar panels
football ferguson lets fly at referee after leeds loss
manchester england jan afp
manchester united manager sir alex ferguson risked fresh disciplinary action by
the football association with bizarre blast at referee chris foy after his
side shock fa cup loss to leeds
ferguson is already under two game suspended sentence until the end of next
season for his remarks concerning referee alan wiley supposed lack of fitness
made earlier this term
and the fa could well take dim view of ferguson amazing complaint that foy
only played five minutes injury time at the end of his team stunning
third round defeat by leeds at old trafford here on sunday
the referee gave five minutes of injury time that is an insult to the game and
to the players out there ferguson insisted
us tightens security for us bound air passengers
washington jan afp
us officials tightened security measures for us bound airline passengers sunday
including mandatory enhanced screening of all travellers from nations some
on terrorism blacklist
ten days after failed al qaeda bid to blow up northwest flight from
amsterdam to detroit us transport officials said the new measures were part of
drive to put in place long term sustainable security measures
all passengers flying into the united states from abroad will be subject to
random screening or so called threat based screens the transport security
administration tsa said in statement
but it further mandated that every individual flying into the us from anywhere
in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of
terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced
screening
the tough rules go into effect from midnight sunday gmt monday and follow
the botched christmas day bombing blamed on year old nigerian who had
recently traveled to yemen to train with al qaeda he boarded the flight at
amsterdam schiphol airport after flying in from lagos nigeria
cuba iran sudan and syria are currently the only four countries deemed by the
state department to be state sponsors of terrorism
but senior administration official told afp the stringent measures would
include all passengers traveling from or via total of countries including
afghanistan libya nigeria pakistan somalia and yemen
he refused to reveal the remaining four nations
all travelers from or via the targeted countries would be subjected to extra
security measures including body pat downs advanced screening and property
inspections
imaging and explosive detection technology might also be used he said
tsa said the new measures were being introduced because effective aviation
security must begin beyond our borders
it added they were developed in consultation with law enforcement officials and
our domestic and international partners
nigerian suspect umar farouk abdulmutallab is due to be arraigned in detroit
on friday following the botched plane bombing in which he was badly burned
he is allegedly to have tried to blow up the airliner as it approached detroit
by setting off explosives stitched into his underwear and which were not
detected by the metal detectors
the failed attack has led to security jitters around the world and on sunday
the united states and britain closed their embassies in the yemeni capital
sanaa
president barack obama top counter terrorism advisor warned al qaeda could be
planning another assault
there are indications that al qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against
target inside of sanaa possibly our embassy john brennan told cnn
obama has directly linked al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap yemen
based cell of osama bin laden group to the failed bombing of the northwest
jet carrying people
he has ordered two reviews into the security lapses which nearly led to another
tragedy in nation still scarred by the al qaeda attacks of september
obama who was due to end his christmas vacation in hawaii later sunday to
return to washington will huddle with his top security advisors on tuesday to
review the findings of the investigations
football wenger sorry to see united defeated
london jan afp
arsenal manager arsene wenger admitted on sunday that he was sorry to see old
sparring partner sir alex ferguson and manchester united knocked out of the fa
cup
united slumped to home defeat to leeds while arsenal secured fourth
round spot with come from behind win at fellow londoners west ham
but wenger said he was disappointed united had been beaten as it gives arsenal
premier league title rivals more time to recover ahead of important league and
european engagements
it not so much for the title race that man utd has an advantage not to go
through it more for the champions league because the fa cup fifth round is
just before champions league game said wenger
strong quake strikes solomon islands
honiara jan afp
strong magnitude earthquake struck near the solomon islands in the
western pacific at am monday gmt sunday the us geological survey
said
there was no immediate tsunami warning
the preliminary usgs report placed the epicentre of the quake kilometres
miles south southeast of gizo in the solomon islands and kilometres
miles west northwest of honiara at depth of kilometres miles
the us national oceanic and atmospheric administration said no tsunami was
expected
rate hikes could help battle bubbles fed chief
washington jan afp
the us federal reserve chief sunday backed strengthened regulatory system as
the key method to prevent repeat of the financial crisis but said monetary
policy could help pop future speculation bubbles
in speech in atlanta fed chairman ben bernanke offered little hint at
short term change in interest rates arguing that any revision in monetary
policy should be done cautiously but said the us central bank should be open
to hiking interest rates
all efforts should be made to strengthen our regulatory system to prevent
recurrence of the crisis and to cushion the effects if another crisis occurs
bernanke told the american economic association in speech
however if adequate reforms are not made or if they are made but prove
insufficient to prevent dangerous buildups of financial risks we must remain
open to using monetary policy as supplementary tool for addressing those risks
proceeding cautiously and always keeping in mind the inherent difficulties of
that approach he added
maintaining flexibility and an open mind will be essential for successful
policymaking as we feel our way forward
the crisis which swelled in september with near meltdown on wall
street and provoked global recession was very possibly the worst in
modern history bernanke said
also speaking at the event in atlanta fed vice chairman donald kohn said he was
weighing the potential costs and uncertainties associated with using monetary
policy to fight speculative bubbles
we now need to reexamine with open minds whether conventional monetary policy
should be used in the future to address developing financial imbalances kohn
said
monetary policy is blunt instrument he added increases in interest rates
damp activity across wide variety of sectors many of which may not be
experiencing speculative activity
he warned if higher rates just weaken output and inflation without damping
speculation the economy could be even more vulnerable when the speculative
bubble bursts
bernanke for his part said increases in interest rates in or were
sufficient to constrain the bubble but could have seriously weakened the
economy at just the time when the recovery from the previous recession was
becoming established
the fed has stood accused of having fueled the housing bubble with extremely low
interest rates which encouraged many households to incur debt often well
beyond their financial means the bubble burst in and the subsequent
crisis brought the global economy to its knees
football toothless real fail to pounce on barca slip
madrid jan afp
real madrid spurned the chance to replace barcelona at the top of the spanish
first division on sunday as they fired blanks in frustrating draw at
osasuna
barcelona had dropped two points as they lost their percent home record with
draw against villarreal on saturday but real could not capitalize and
stay two points behind the champions in second
it was only the second time real had failed to score in the league this season
the other occasions being loss at barcelona and draw with sporting
gijon
we did everything we could but just couldn score said brazilian marcelo
osasuna back line was well organised and made it very difficult for us to get
through
we planned to be up at the top with barcelona but it wasn possible now we
have to rest and think about the next game
real coach manuel pellegrini was without kaka as the brazilian recovered from
groin injury so rafael van der vaart coninued as the attacking midfielder behind
cristiano ronaldo and gonzalo higuain
with pepe out injured for the season argentine ezequiel garay joined raul
albiol in central defence although they were largely untroubled until the st
minute when javad nekounam header stirred goalkeeper iker casillas into
action
higuain with five goals in his last three matches had real best chance on
minutes but goalkeeper ricardo lopez denied the argentine real replaced higuain
with captain raul in last throw of the dice but it was to no avail
while barcelona have last kings cup match against sevilla on tuesday real
can rest up as they have already been eliminated by minnows alcorcon
osasuna have now held champions barcelona and real at their reyno de
navarra stadium and beat them both last season in the final two games of the
campaign
real mallorca are real next opponents and they moved above sevilla into fourth
place with win over athletic bilbao as they maintained their perfect home
record with an eighth successive home victory
we are fourth but we face real madrid on their patch in the next league game
and it will be difficult to get points there said mallorca coach gregorio
manzano
julio alvarez scored the mallorca opener on minutes to open the scoring
before aritz aduriz netted his eighth goal of the season against old club bilbao
after minutes
mallorca are now in the final champions league spot and turn their attention to
the kings cup as they travel to rayo vallecano on wednesday
new almeria coach juanma lillo enjoyed winning start as his side clinched
crucial win over relegation rivals xerez
substitute jose ortiz bernal netted an th minute winner just three minutes
after coming on to gift lillo debut win after taking over from axed mexican
hugo sanchez
am not bothered about the fact that it was my debut but more that we won the
match that was the most important thing said lillo
the three points help us make good leap in the table and see things bit
differently
almeria move three points above the relegation zone while basement boys xerez
slide towards relegation lying eight points from safety with just one win all
season
struggling malaga were left frustrated as they twice surrendered the lead to be
pegged back at sporting gijon and stay third from bottom
at the other end of the table deportivo la coruna missed the chance to move
level on points with fourth placed sevilla who lost at atletico madrid on
saturday with draw at real zaragoza
football leading spanish league scorers
madrid jan afp
leading spanish league scorers after the weekend matches
david villa valencia
zlatan ibrahimovic barcelona
gonzalo higuain real madrid roberto soldado getafe
lionel messi barcelona
luis fabiano sevilla aritz aduriz mallorca
sergio kun ag ero atletico madrid cristiano ronaldo real madrid
afp
football spanish league table
madrid jan afp
spanish league table after sunday matches played won drawn lost goals
for goals against points
barcelona
real madrid
valencia
real mallorca
sevilla
deportivo la coruna
getafe
athletic bilbao
villarreal
sporting gijon
atletico madrid
osasuna
valladolid
racing santander
almeria
espanyol
tenerife
malaga
real zaragoza
xerez
football toothless real fail to pounce on barca slip
madrid jan afp
real madrid spurned the chance to replace barcelona at the top of the spanish
first division on sunday firing blanks in frustrating draw against osasuna
in pamplona
barcelona had dropped two points as they lost their percent home record with
draw against villarreal on saturday but real could not capitalize and stay
two points behind the champions in second
it was only the second time real had failed to score in the league this season
the other occasions being loss at barcelona and draw with sporting
gijon and it was golden opportunity missed
real coach manuel pellegrini was without kaka as the brazilian recovered from
groin injury so rafael van der vaart coninued as the attacking midfielder behind
cristiano ronaldo and gonzalo higuain
with pepe out injured for the season argentine ezequiel garay joined raul
albiol in central defence although they were largely untroubled until the st
minute when javad nekounam header stirred goalkeeper iker casillas into
action
higuain with five goals in his last three matches had real best chance on
minutes but strong hand from goalkeeper ricardo lopez denied the argentine
real replaced higuain with captain raul in last throw of the dice but it was
to no avail
while barcelona have last kings cup match against sevilla on tuesday real
can rest up as they have already been eliminated by minnows alcorcon
osasuna have now held champions barcelona and real at their reyno de
navarra stadium and beat them both last season in the final two games of the
campaign
osasuna needed to beat real on the final day of last season to stay in the
league but this season they are comfortably in mid table lying th
real mallorca are real next opponents and they moved above sevilla into fourth
place with win over athletic bilbao as they maintained their perfect home
record with an eighth successive home victory
we are fourth but we face real madrid on their patch in the next league game
and it will be difficult to get points there said mallorca coach gregorio
manzano
julio alvarez scored the mallorca opener on minutes to open the scoring
before aritz aduriz netted his eighth goal of the season against old club bilbao
after minutes
mallorca are now in the final champions league spot and turn their attention to
the kings cup as they travel to rayo vallecano on wednesday for the first leg of
the last tie
new almeria coach juanma lillo enjoyed winning start as his side clinched
crucial win over relegation rivals xerez
substitute jose ortiz bernal netted an th minute winner just three minutes
after coming on to gift lillo debut win after taking over from axed mexican
hugo sanchez
am not bothered about the fact that it was my debut but more that we won the
match that was the most important thing said lillo
the three points help us make good leap in the table and see things bit
differently
almeria move three points above the relegation zone while basement boys xerez
slide towards relegation lying eight points from safety with just one win all
season
struggling malaga were left frustrated as they twice surrendered the lead to be
pegged back at sporting gijon and stay third from bottom
at the other end of the table deportivo la coruna missed the chance to move
level on points with fourth placed sevilla who lost at atletico madrid on
saturday with draw at real zaragoza
rugbyu castres roll on as stade stutter
paris jan afp
castres consolidated their lead of the french top with six try drubbing of
albi on sunday as stade francais stuttered to drab draw with montauban
clermont moved into second place with an impressive five try dismantling of
toulon for whom england outside half johnny wilkinson was replaced at half time
after complaining of back pains
outplayed up front toulon conceded tries to canadian lock jamie cudmore
outstanding scrum half morgan parra winger julien malzieu and late replacement
kevin senio as well as penalty try
we built up good game and ended up dominating said clermont captain aurelie
rougerie we ll keep on working it long season ahead
racing metro who last lost in september were denied th successive win by
doughty bourgoin who triumphed in the french capital
racing who are now fourth saw late penalty from springbok centre francois
steyn and last gasp jonathan wisniewski drop goal both drift wide and pierre
berbizier team had to be content with defensive bonus point
former european champions toulouse moved into third place with win at
second bottom bayonne who scored the only try through winger benjamin fall
all of toulouse points came from the trusty boot of fly half jean baptiste
elissalde
fifth placed perpignan the defending champions suffered shock defeat to
brive for whom england centre rikki flutey made his comeback from injury and
france international full back alexis palisson was key scoring try
conversion and five penalties for personal haul of points
georgian prop davit kinchagishvili scored the opening try for the hosts while
the visitors abrasive romanian prop marius tincu was in the sin bin
south african replacement centre ronnie cooke rounded off brive comprehensive
win with try seven minutes from time with perpignan only managing three
penalties from ex natal sharks outside half steve meyer
we showed lot of heart today said palisson we wanted to rebound from the
defeat at clermont
we gave everything and think perpignan had hand in our success they let
us play the ball which gave us the chance of snatching the attacking bonus
point
perpignan manager jacques brunel rued the loss of his midfield pairing of maxime
mermoz and david marty through injury
that disrupted us but with minutes to go we were only five points down
brunel said adding that there would be lot more chances to seal some wins
before the season end
castres fresh from putting montauban to the sword last week again turned on
the style in their demolition of bottom placed albi
the home side scored through marc andreu cameron mcintyre double former all
black chris masoe iosefa tekori and penalty try as albi crumbled after
sebastien pages was sent off in the th minute for violent play
struggling stade francais desperate for victory to help ensure participation
in next season european cup could only manage to slug out dour draw with
montauban on heavy pitch
two lionel beauxis penalties cancelled out penalty and drop goal by cedric
rosalen in what turned out to be forward slug fest with neither side gaining
the ascendancy
biarritz sealed much needed win over montpellier scoring four tries to one in
victory that saw them up to sixth spot
rejuvenated former england full back iain balshaw and american winger takudzwa
ngwenya crossed for touchdowns either side of arnaud mignardi brace
rugbyu castres roll on as stade stutter
paris jan afp
castres consolidated their lead of the french top with six try drubbing of
albi on sunday as stade francais stuttered to drab draw with montauban
clermont moved into second place with an impressive five try dismantling of
toulon for whom england outside half johnny wilkinson was replaced at half time
after complaining of back pains
outplayed up front toulon conceded tries to canadian lock jamie cudmore
outstanding scrum half morgan parra winger julien malzieu and late replacement
kevin senio as well as penalty try
we built up good game and ended up dominating said clermont captain aurelie
rougerie we ll keep on working it long season ahead
racing metro who last lost in september were denied th successive win by
doughty bourgoin who triumphed in the french capital
racing who are now fourth saw late penalty from springbok centre francois
steyn and last gasp jonathan wisniewski drop goal both drift wide and pierre
berbizier team had to be content with defensive bonus point
former european champions toulouse moved into third place with win at
second bottom bayonne who scored the only try through winger benjamin fall
all of toulouse points came from the trusty boot of fly half jean baptiste
elissalde
fifth placed perpignan the defending champions suffered shock defeat to
brive for whom england centre rikki flutey made his comeback from injury and
france international full back alexis palisson was key scoring try
conversion and five penalties for personal haul of points
georgian prop davit kinchagishvili scored the opening try for the hosts while
the visitors abrasive romanian prop marius tincu was in the sin bin
south african replacement centre ronnie cooke rounded off brive comprehensive
win with try seven minutes from time with perpignan only managing three
penalties from ex natal sharks outside half steve meyer
we showed lot of heart today said palisson we wanted to rebound from the
defeat at clermont
we gave everything and think perpignan had hand in our success they let
us play the ball which gave us the chance of snatching the attacking bonus
point
perpignan manager jacques brunel rued the loss of his midfield pairing of maxime
mermoz and david marty through injury
that disrupted us but with minutes to go we were only five points down
brunel said adding that there would be lot more chances to seal some wins
before the season end
castres fresh from putting montauban to the sword last week again turned on
the style in their demolition of bottom placed albi
the home side scored through marc andreu cameron mcintyre double former all
black chris masoe iosefa tekori and penalty try as albi crumbled after
sebastien pages was sent off in the th minute for violent play
struggling stade francais desperate for victory to help ensure participation
in next season european cup could only manage to slug out dour draw with
montauban on heavy pitch
two lionel beauxis penalties cancelled out penalty and drop goal by cedric
rosalen in what turned out to be forward slug fest with neither side gaining
the ascendancy
biarritz sealed much needed win over montpellier scoring four tries to one in
victory that saw them up to sixth spot
rejuvenated former england full back iain balshaw and american winger takudzwa
ngwenya crossed for touchdowns either side of arnaud mignardi brace
brazil nuclear plants may close as floods kill
angra dos reis brazil jan afp
two nuclear plants close to southern brazilian town hit by landslides may shut
down as precaution the mayor said sunday as the regional toll from deadly
floods rose to
there are no operational problems at angra and angra ii but if landslides
persist in the hills we ll need to shut them down mayor tuca jordao told
press conference in this seaside town some kilometers miles south of
rio de janeiro
angra overlooks ilha grande island where people were killed in friday
landslides including in luxury hotel nestled at the foot of jungle
covered hill another people were killed in the center of angra
the mudslides were triggered by incessant rains that have killed at least
people across rio de janeiro state since wednesday and left dozens missing more
than people have had to evacuate their homes civil defense officials
said
rescue crews sunday continued to search for victims among the mud and rubble at
the hotel sankay which catered to brazilian and foreign tourists seeking
remote beachside hideaway some guests were staying at the hotel when the
landslide hit
it is still not known if there were foreigners among the dead
some firefighters and rescue workers were digging in the worst affected
areas hoping to unearth survivors but hopes were fading fast
mayor jordao said he has requested the two nuclear plants be shut down warning
that in case of catastrophe there was no way to quickly evacuate the city
more than inhabitants since the main road leading out is partly blocked
by landslides
the plants closure would not affect electricity supplies to rio de janeiro
which has alternative power sources the company running the plants said
jordao has also alerted local residents to emergency evacuation plans
this summer in the southern hemisphere high rainfall levels have been
forecast to the people of angra dos reis please at the slightest sign of
