this is new game we want to look to the future the dutchman added
instead de jong said he thought united recent shock fa cup exit at the hands
of third tier leeds united would be of more relevance to the outcome of the tie
don know whether their manager is going to play his full strength team or
his reserves after their fa cup misery de jong said it up to ferguson
he the manager and he knows his squad the best
don think it is sign of disrespect if he doesn pick his strongest team
he made it clear at the beginning of the carling league cup that he would try
to rest players because other competitions were more important
but it is semi final and they are playing derby against their biggest
rivals he added
it semi final one of the biggest games for city in few years so we have
to do our best to reach the final whoever it is we play against
aston villa appear in control of the other semi final after first leg win
away to blackburn rovers
football wenger targets title after bolton win
bolton england jan afp
arsenal manager arsene wenger insisted his side were now genuine title
contenders after goals from cesc fabregas and fran merida helped them beat
bolton at the reebok stadium
sunday success left the third placed gunners just three points behind premier
league leaders chelsea and they will go top on goal difference if they beat
bolton again at the emirates stadium on wednesday in fixture re arranged
following the recent cold snap in britain
after losing at home to chelsea on november wenger men were written
off as potential champions but have since gone eight matches unbeaten to
transform their season
however having seen fabregas mark his return to the arsenal side in style to
help ruin owen coyle first match in charge of bolton wenger said we are now
in quite interesting position that nobody expected us to be in
when the season started we were not all convinced maybe in our squad that we
could be where we are today the frenchman added
but now we are where we are we want to have go we are big club and when
you are big club the most difficult thing is like last season in october and
november when you know you don fight for the title
but now we have chance to fight for the championship so let have go
fabregas had missed arsenal three previous matches with hamstring problem
but the break did not appear to have done him any harm as he ran the show for
the visitors on sunday including playing part in setting up fellow spaniard
merida for the gunners second goal minutes from time
turning to fabregas wenger said what is very interesting for us is cesc gets
stronger and stronger and has more personality on the pitch like the whole
team
he grows he will be this year he is just starting
coyle almost had the dream start as bolton boss when after just seconds kevin
davies dribbled into the box but he could not control the ball when unmarked and
the chance went begging
arsenal showed bolton how it should be done in the th minute
after some impressive build up play abou diaby was tackled by gretar steinsson
on the edge of the box but the icelandic defender tripped and gifted the ball to
fabregas and after collecting wonderful return pass from eduardo the spain
midfielder calmly slotted into the bottom corner
bolton were much improved team after half time with south korea lee chung
yong causing arsenal problems down the right wing while matt taylor missed
several good chances to level the match at
thought the level of performance was terrific and on another day would have
got us points whether one or three coyle said
if we play at that level we will pick up points in this league and we can make
game of it on wednesday
prince william proves star power on new zealand walkabout
wellington jan afp
britain prince william was draped in maori feather cloak and greeted with
traditional warrior challenge on monday during his first official trip overseas
to represent his grandmother queen elizabeth ii
on the second day of his trip to new zealand the second in line to the throne
opened new supreme court in the capital with around thousand people
gathering to watch him arrive to traditional haka welcome by maori warriors
the crowd swelled as the year old prince left the building after the hour
long opening and did walkabout shaking hands and greeting enthusiastic
onlookers
have you been waiting all this time so sorry he said to one person
there were handful of republican protesters outside the court along with
group of pro monarchists and large number of workers from the justice
ministry protesting noisily for higher pay
one protesting worker carried sign marry me william end my poverty
william was due to visit wildlife sanctuary and attend barbecue at prime
minister john key official residence later monday
on tuesday he is due to fly to australia for an informal three day visit
afp sports schedule for monday january
paris jan afp
afp sports schedule for monday january
tennis
first day of the australian open in melbourne sees maria sharapova kim
clijsters comeback queen justine henin and dinara safina in action while rafael
nadal begins the defence of his men title
coverage by martin parry and robert smith
master slug tennis open aus
football
in the africa cup of nations hosts angola face algeria while mali meet malawi
in the final round of group games
coverage by nick reeves david legge and samm addu
fifa disciplinary committee meets to discuss possible sanction for france
thierry henry following his infamous world cup handball in november qualifier
against ireland
action also in the scottish fa cup fourth round while newcastle face west brom
in clash between the english championship leaders and their third place
rivals
slugs fbl afr fbl wc fra irl henry fbl sco cup fbl eng
cricket
india are in their first innings on the second day of the first test
against bangladesh in chittagong
coverage by shafiq alam
slugs cricket ban ind
cycling
build up to the tour down under in australia which starts on tuesday in adelaide
coverage by talek harris
slug cycling aus tour
winter olympics
third part of advancer package filed ahead of the winter olympics in
vancouver
see separate advisory
master slug oly
nfl nfl playoff results
washington jan afp
sunday national football league playoff results
new york jets san diego
minnesota dallas
venezuela to extradite drug boss to us
caracas jan afp
venezuelan intelligence agents have captured senior member of one of
colombia most notorious drug cartels and will extradite him to the united
states officials said sunday
salomon camacho is said to be leader in the norte del valle cocaine cartel
heir to pablo escobar infamous medellin cartel
he was arrested in valencia northern venezuela interior minister tareck el
aissami said
camacho had been the target of five million dollar reward issued by the us
government
he is wanted by interpol on illicit drug trafficking charges conspiracy
to commit crime laundering money from drug trafficking el aissami said
the us state department said camacho began his drug trafficking career with the
colombian medellin cartel in the early
the year old was indicted in florida for conspiracy to distribute cocaine in
and was the subject of two subsequent indictments
he is one of the most sought after drug trafficking bosses at an
international level said el aissami adding camacho would be extradited
such cooperation between the united states and venezuela is rare since
president hugo chavez publicly broke ties with the drug enforcement
administration in
figure skating chan captures third straight canadian crown
london canada jan afp
reigning world silver medallist patrick chan captured his third consecutive
title at the canadian figure skating championships by sweeping the free skate
and the short programmes
chan brilliant skate almost certainly secures him spot on team canada at
next month vancouver olympics the official announcement will come later
sunday
chan who will be one of the favourites for gold medal in vancouver set
canadian record overall score of by winning sunday free skate with
score of
the year old from toronto easily beat runner up vaughn chipeur who collected
his second straight silver chipeur finished second in the short but dropped to
third behind kevin reynolds in the free skate
reynolds placed third overall he finished well back of chan with
points
toyota to double global hybrid output in two years report
tokyo jan afp
toyota motor corp plans to double its global production of hybrid vehicles in
about two years positioning such fuel sipping cars as core profit earner
report said monday
the automaker recently notified parts suppliers that it intends to roll out
about hybrids domestically this year with the figure to be raised to
around in and million in the nikkei reported
last year output was estimated to be around it said without citing
sources
toyota also plans to sell an additional new hybrid models from minivans
subcompacts to luxury cars within few years on top of its current lineups
such as the prius sai and lexus hs the nikkei said
the world biggest automaker now makes about percent of its hybrids at home
in hybrids will likely account for about percent of all vehicles that
toyota manufactures in japan up from the projected figure of about percent
for the nikkei said
toyota petrol electric prius was the best selling car in japan last year
becoming the first hybrid to top the annual rankings while the sales almost
tripled from the previous year
figure skating canadian figure skating championships results
london canada jan afp
selected results here on sunday from the canadian figure skating championships
qualifier for the vancouver winter olympics
men
final standings
patrick chan vaughn chipeur kevin reynolds
shawn sawyer joey russell ian martinez
free skate
patrick chan kevin reynolds vaughn chipeur
shawn sawyer joey russell ian martinez
haitians pray to god as quake toll soars
port au prince jan afp
haitians sought comfort in their faith sunday flocking to pray in church ruins
as the government said bodies had been buried in mass graves since the
earthquake disaster
rescue teams raced against time to pull out survivors five days after the quake
struck amid fears that the eventual toll from the catastrophe could approach
if it is ever known accurately at all
un chief ban ki moon vowed to speed up aid efforts to desperate haitians as he
toured the disaster zone while security degenerated in the capital with police
killing man as they fired on looters ransacking market
the leading us general on the ground warned that might be reasonable
start point for the final toll but said it was really too early to know for
sure
clearly this is disaster of epic proportions and we ve got lot of work
ahead of us said lieutenant general ken keen who is running the vast us
military relief operation in the stricken caribbean nation
canada announced that donor countries would meet on january in montreal to
discuss haiti reconstruction while haitian government minister carol joseph
announced month long period of national mourning
after hours of painstaking digging through the ruins team from florida
unearthed seven year old girl man aged and year old woman in the
ruins of supermarket as dawn broke in the capital port au prince
dane was later pulled alive from the rubble of the un mission headquarters
without scratch on him but rescuers knew the likelihood of finding more
survivors was waning with every passing hour
hundreds of rioters ransacked hyppolite market in the heart of the devastated
capital as survivors besieged hospitals and make shift field clinics some
carrying the injured on their backs or on carts
police reinforcements descended on the market armed with shotguns and assault
rifles and one rioter man in his was fatally shot in the head an afp
photographer said
the church bells lay eerily silent sunday over the ruined capital but the
faithful still gathered in great numbers to pray for solace in the darkest hour
of this deeply religious nation
want to send message of hope because god is still with us even in the
depths of this tragedy and life is not over said father henry marie landasse
as he held mass in the ruins of the main cathedral
but with vital supplies of water and food still struggling to reach some of
those most in need many haitians were close to despair
the stench of burning bodies hung over slums clinging to haitian hillside as
residents abandoned the search for survivors among the rubble and torched the
squalid ruins
life is really hard we have nothing said year old jean osee camped out
with his entire family in front of the presidential palace in makeshift slum
of wretched people
don have much strength to feed him can look after him properly
osee daughter louisoguine said cradling her curly haired baby
lieutenant general keen promised to redouble efforts after bottles of
water and food rations were distributed on saturday while president
barack obama mobilized military reserves particularly medical staff to work on
hospital ships
water purification units that can process liters gallons of
clean water per day were being rushed to the scene as the us worked to open
badly damaged ports needed to deliver vital fuel and supplies
the medecins sans frontiers doctors without borders aid group said that when
it opened an emergency hospital at carrefour poor district near leogane on
saturday crowds arrived almost immediately
patients arrived on handcarts or on men backs said msf emergency
coordinator hans van dillen
there are other hospitals in the area but they are already unable to cope with
the number of injured and have limited resources of personnel and medicines and
equipment
msf said their doctors and surgeons had been working around the clock
amputating limbs and performing caesarian sections on pregnant women
the united nations has estimated that three million people were affected and
left homeless some tent cities have sprung up in port au prince
according to the red cross
un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs spokeswoman elisabeth
byrs said people had been pulled out alive from the debris on saturday
taking the total to more than since the teams started working afp knew of
just the four on sunday
we don give up hope to find more survivors stressed byrs the morale of
the rescue team is very high despite the hardship
but rami peltz rescuer with an israeli team said today is the last day
that think we will be able to find survivors mainly because of dehydration
obama mobilizes reserves to help haiti
washington jan afp
us president barack obama sunday mobilized military reserves to help quake hit
haiti particularly medical staff to work on hospital ships and coast guard
staff to secure the ports
the united states already stretched fighting two wars in iraq and afghanistan
is deploying thousands of troops to haiti
obama wrote it was necessary to augment the active armed forces of the united
states for the effective conduct of operational missions including those
involving humanitarian assistance related to relief efforts in haiti
he said in presidential order that he was authorizing defense secretary robert
gates and homeland security secretary janet napolitano to order to active duty
any units of the reserve as needed
the order would help both departments to support the massive us aid operation in
haiti devastated by magnitude quake on tuesday
it will be used on limited basis principally to support targeted functions
associated with this humanitarian mission the white house stressed in
statement
for instance it will allow for the call up of reserve medical personnel to
replace those deployed on the hospital ship comfort and it will allow for the
deployment of coast guard unit that will help provide port security
obama also sent letter to house speaker nancy pelosi informing congress of the
move
the latest figures from the military said there were already us troops on
the ground in haiti and another stationed on vessels offshore
further would arrive by monday fact sheet issued late sunday by the
us southern command said
some helicopters were helping to provide relief to the people of haiti and
us military aircraft would help distribute an additional daily rations
in the coming days
the command center said some humanitarian daily rations and
bottles of water had already been delivered into port au prince by us military
aircraft
tokyo stocks open lower
tokyo jan afp
japanese share prices opened lower monday with the benchmark nikkei index
losing points or percent to in the first minute of
trading
britain facing decade of economic pain forecasters
london jan afp
britain faces the prospect of decade of economic pain after binging on cheap
debt and its recovery will rely on trading more with asian tigers like china
forecasters warned on monday
the economy expected to have escaped recession in the last quarter of
faces challenging according to the independent treasury economic model
item club economic forecasting group of auditors ernst and young
the uk economy has moved out of decade of debt and into decade of painful
readjustment the item club said in key report published on monday
after years of relying on domestic spending and borrowing the economy now needs
to rebalance towards saving and exporting or risk stagnating
british gross domestic product gdp will meanwhile struggle to reach
percent this year
the uk is facing another challenging year added chief economic adviser peter
spencer
we are no longer in position to borrow the massive debts that we racked up
in the last decade now need to be repaid
the consumer is completely cashed out with consumer spending likely to
increase by just percent this year
however britain will fare better if the country trades more with asian
powerhouse economies like china he added
it is vital the uk rejuvenates its overseas investment model and starts selling
into countries such as china where we have an exceptionally low market share
compared to our leading competitors
the uk recovery is reliant on roaring trade with the tiger economies
spencer added
official data due on january is widely expected to reveal that britain exited
its longest recession on record during the fourth quarter of or three
months to december
but the item club said monday that this was due to exceptional emergency
stimulus measures like the new for old vehicle scrappage scheme that has
boosted the troubled auto sector
another measure was british finance minister alistair darling temporary cut in
taxation on goods and services or value added tax vat but this expired
at the start of the year
once the effects of these temporary stimuli have worn off it is difficult to
see where the growth is going to come from in the short term spencer added
item forecasts that gdp will struggle to reach percent this year with
interest rates likely to remain flat well into
turning to the public finances the item club also expressed concern about sky
high government borrowing
item remains concerned about the treasury projections for next year which
are based upon very optimistic assumptions for both the pace of the economic
recovery and for the value of tax revenues raised it said
late last year chancellor of the exchequer darling forecast in his pre budget
report that state borrowing would hit record billion pounds in the current
financial year which runs until april
the fiscal position remains major uncertainty and the pre budget report was
big disappointment with the chancellor failing to come up with any credible
medium term plan for restoring the public finances to health spencer said on
monday
the country longest recession on record has slashed taxation revenues and
ramped up government spending on unemployment benefits and economic stimulus
measures
the public purse was also ravaged by series of enormously expensive bailouts
in the british banking sector
british retailer offers post christmas divorce gift lists
london jan afp
chain of high street shops in britain on monday launched divorce gift list
service amid surge of married couples saying don after the festive
season
in twist on the popular wedding list through which newlyweds receive presents
to help them into married life retailer debenhams came up with new list to
help divorcees stock up after leaving their ex partner home
divorcing can be an expensive time and registering for divorce gift list
means that family and friends can help the newly separated begin their new
life said peter moore head of retail services at the chain
divorce means that one partner will be leaving the marital home and therefore
be left without any essentials in their new house he said
the list includes range of items from bed linen and towels to microwaves and
plasma screen televisions
debenhams which has outlets across britain said they took the decision at
time when congratulations on your divorce greeting cards and divorce parties
were growing in popularity
it is just the latest present for married couples heading towards festive
breakup in britain after law firm reportedly started offering divorce gift
vouchers in the run up to christmas
the vouchers offered half hour or hour long advice sessions with lawyer
according to the daily telegraph
senior partner from lloyd platt amp company in london which launched the
service in november told the newspaper there was always huge increase in
couples seeking advice in january
afp
afp world news service no unauthorized reproduction
nearly half of google news users just read headlines report
washington jan afp
nearly half of the users of google news skim the headlines at the news
aggregator site without clicking through to newspaper websites according to
survey released on tuesday
the findings by outsell inc appear likely to provide further ammunition to
publishers such as news corp rupert murdoch who have criticized google and
other aggregators for linking to stories without sharing ad revenue
google responding to the criticism in the past from media tycoon murdoch and
others has said it drives about clicks every minute to media
websites generating ad revenue for the news outlets
outsell analyst ken doctor said in statement that among the aggregators
google effect on the newspaper industry is particularly striking
though google is driving some traffic to newspapers it also taking
significant share away doctor said full percent of visitors to google
news scan headlines without accessing newspapers individual sites
thirty percent of those surveyed said they do not use google to find news
stories preferring to use other search services or to go directly to news
publisher sites
twelve percent said they use google to get to news site and then use the
search function on that site to find other stories fourteen percent said they
go back to google to find other newspaper stories
for its annual news users survey outsell asked us news consumers in july
about their online and offline news preferences the survey had margin of
error of plus or minus three percent
outsell which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and
information industries acknowledged it is an advocate of more remuneration for
newspaper publishers from google
outsell has long asserted that news publishers as valuable suppliers to
google manufacturing process monetized largely by paid search deserve
greater payments from the market dominating search engine it said
outsell found that percent of news users looking for news right now go to
digital sources up from percent few years ago
thirty one percent were likely to turn to news aggregator such as google news
yahoo msn or aol while percent said they would count on television
eight percent said they would use newspapers online eighteen percent said they
would go to other online sites while seven percent said they would turn to
radio
with number of us newspaper owners considering charging readers on the web
outlook found that only percent of those surveyed would be willing to pay for
print newspaper subscription to gain online access
among the us dailies which have been mulling charging readers online is the new
york times and new york magazine reported over the weekend that times chairman
arthur sulzberger appears close to announcing such move
the magazine said the times appeared set to adopt system like that of
britain financial times which allows readers to sample certain number of
articles for free before being asked to subscribe
like other us newspapers the times has been grappling with declining print
advertising revenue falling circulation and the migration of readers to free
news online
us sees mixed bag from myanmar on reform
washington jan afp
the united states aims to have more talks soon with myanmar as it tries to
engage the military junta in bid to guide it toward democracy senior us
diplomat said tuesday
but kurt campbell the assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific
affairs noted that there has been mixed bag from myanmar formerly known as
burma on calls for political reform
we have had some follow on direct interactions with burmese authorities and
think we re going to be looking at subsequent set of discussions in the near
future campbell told reporters
would say to date it mixed bag he said when asked about whether the
regime has made progress since campbell visited the country in november
we have seen certain things that we ve watched carefully we ve seen high level
engagement with aung san suu kyi he said
aung san suu kyi the country leading pro democracy activist has spent most
of the past two decades under house arrest despite appeals for her release and
her winning of the nobel peace prize
but at the same time there are of course areas of real concern campbell
said
he referred to problems with persecution of ethnic minorities
and think it would be fair to say that the secretary and our team is looking
for greater clarity in the coming weeks he said referring to us secretary of
state hillary clinton
in september last year president barack obama administration switched gears
on myanmar opening up dialogue to improve relations with state that has
long been treated as pariah by the united states
the administration understood we had to be patient and that we had to recognize
the enormous challenges that have come with every attempt and strategy for
dealing with the regime campbell said
but he added we re not unendingly patient we will need to see some clear
steps in due course
bodyguards arrested for plot to kidnap panama president
panama city jan afp
authorities in panama have arrested three people for plotting to kidnap
president ricardo martinelli including two of his own bodyguards the
government said on tuesday
trade and industry minister roberto henriquez announced the arrests on tvn
television and said the two presidential guards had admitted to taking part in
the plot
the kidnap plan is absolutely real henriquez said as opposition leader
mitchell doens questioned its validity
doens said if the plot was real martinelli would have his full support since it
would represent an attack on democracy but warned that it could be another
reichstag referring to the incident when the nazis burned down parliament
and blamed it on opponents
saul mendez leader of frenadeso another opposition party also questioned the
whole affair
let hope this isn just another publicity stunt by government that likes
toying around with the country to manipulate it he said
martinelli conservative supermarket magnate told afp before his election
last year that there had been plot to kill him during campaign closing
rally
giant leaping asian carp threaten us great lakes
chicago jan afp
huge asian carp which act like aquatic vacuum cleaners and leap into the air
when spooked by motorboats may have invaded the us great lakes despite
massive effort to block them officials said tuesday
researchers analyzing water samples have discovered fragments of asian carp dna
in lake michigan although there is still no evidence that that fast breeding
fish have breached electric barriers set up along chicago area waterways
clearly this is not good news said major general john peabody commanding
general of the us army corps of engineers great lakes and ohio river division
the corps is one of host of state and federal agencies working to stop the
spread of the voracious carp which can grow up to seven feet long meters
