macclesfield northampton
football kuyt at double as liverpool down spurs
liverpool england jan afp
dirk kuyt scored twice as liverpool beat tottenham hotspur at anfield here
on wednesday to move within point of fourth placed spurs in the english
premier league
liverpool manager rafael benitez has come in for heavy criticism while the reds
champions league hopes have suffered blow after blow and they went into this
match with star players steven gerrard and fernando torres missing because of
injury
but despite once again fielding team that was far from full strength they
took the lead through kuyt early strike
the dutchman added second from the penalty spot in stoppage time to secure
significant victory that helped justify benitez claim of guaranteeing top
four finish that would secure champions league football next season
tottenham improved after the break but failed to end miserable run of winless
games away to big four manchester united chelsea arsenal and liverpool
opposition that has now reached games
liverpool had minor scare just five in as pepe reina took three attempts to
gather cross from gareth bale
but the goalkeeper came up with long clearance that was flicked on by kuyt to
alberto aquilani
the italian just managed to tap the ball back to the dutchman and kuyt squeezed
shot past heurelho gomes into the corner to give the home side an ideal start
tottenham were struggling to put together any sustained spell of possession but
aquilani almost let them in
his loose pass flew straight to bale and his swerving drive only just missed
reina goal
after javier mascherano had tripped peter crouch tottenham had free kick in
good area
but from bale lofted delivery crouch was ruled to have fouled greek defender
sotirios kyrgiakos
albert riera whipped free kick from the right was desperately punched away by
gomes but with the brazilian stranded martin skrtel failed to make contact
with the follow up
tottenham finally threatened when wilson palacios swapped passes with jermaine
jenas and then slid through for luka modric whose low effort was blocked by
reina
just after the restart jermain defoe thought he had brought tottenham level
after mix up between kyrgiakos and reina but referee howard webb ruled out the
striker effort for obstruction
then riera free kick flew at goal with bit more pace than gomes had expected
and landed on the roof of the net
the game was far more open in the second period and defoe laid off for modric
but the croatian low effort was held by reina
tottenham were far more of threat after the break and quick passes from
palacios and defoe created room for jermaine jenas to hit powerful drive that
reina did well to get hand to
tottenham manager harry redknapp tried to apply even more pressure on the hosts
with striker robbie keane coming on to support crouch and defoe
kuyt was growing more and more isolated and when liverpool did manage break
away the dutchman fed philipp degen who chose to attempt to return the pass and
the rare opportunity was gone
with minutes remaining aquilani whipped free kick was flicked on by degen
but kuyt failed to get his volley on target at the far post
riera also went close with thumping drive from long range before spurs alan
hutton drilled wide from bale cross at the other end
but in added time sebastien bassong clipped david ngog in the area and kuyt
converted twice taken penalty to seal liverpool much needed victory
youtube to test movie rental service at sundance
san francisco jan afp
youtube announced wednesday that it will begin testing an online movie rental
service on friday to kick off the sundance film festival
five independent films from the and sundance festivals will be part of
small collection of rental videos to be available to us users of the popular
video sharing website in the weeks ahead according to youtube
making content available for rent will give our partners unprecedented control
over the distribution of their work they can decide the price of their videos
and the rental duration youtube said in blog post
they can decide when and where their content is available and they can keep
percent of their rights
sundance films available for rental from friday through january will include
bass ackwards and children of invention
youtube invited independent film makers to sign on to have their works offered
for rent at the website
the move represents another step for google in generating revenue from youtube
which it bought in in deal valued at billion dollars
youtube will also be stepping in as potentially formidable contender in the
growing market of online distribution of films that includes videogame consoles
apple itunes shop and us dvd rental giant netflix
alert
honduran president elect offers safe passage for ex leader zelaya
dollar gets safety flows while euro wobbles
new york jan afp
the dollar attracted buyers wednesday with traders unsettled by new move by
china to cool off its economy while the euro suffered from weak german data and
greece fiscal woes
the european single currency slumped to dollars at gmt compared to
dollars late in new york on tuesday the closing was the lowest since
august and at one point the euro fell below dollars for the first time
since early august
the dollar rose slightly to yen from yen
analysts said the market focus was china decision to rein in credit in the
latest move to cool its red hot economy
some reports although denied by officials said the authorities had asked
banks to cease all lending through the end of january which could chill
economic activity
the impact of tighter policy in china sends fears of slower growth throughout
the market but in the medium term we think it will help to stabilize growth and
avoid the shock of sudden popping of an asset bubble said camilla sutton at
scotia capital
kathy lien at global forex trading said the republican win in the massachusetts
senate election which denies supermajorty to president barack obama
democratic party is dollar positive because it deals big setback to the
health care bill
at cost of more than one trillion dollars for health care less government
spending would help to reduce the us budget deficit lien said
but lien said the dollar lack of strong gains on the yen indicates that the
dollar is strengthening based upon safe haven flows and not improving
fundamentals
the euro meanwhile fell as traders continued to feel nervous about greece
fiscal position coupled with disappointing german zew report said markos
solomou at easy forex
the zew indicator of german economic sentiment fell more steeply than forecast
to an indexed points its lowest level since july
the shared european unit until recently favoured as high yielding currency
is now being shunned in favor of the dollar despite persistent weakness in
the us economy said hachijuni bank strategist masatsugu miyata
due to the uncertain economic outlook in europe markets are in no mood to buy
the euro he said noting increasing worries over greece fiscal health and
the german survey
although the united states has its own problems at least it is in control of
its fiscal policies relative to europe he added
international rating agency moody on tuesday said it was maintaining
negative outlook on greece because it was unclear whether the government could
implement plan to shore up public finances
the greek government which last month suffered credit downgrade from all
three leading ratings agencies is struggling to overcome huge debt and public
deficit that have sparked concern among its eurozone partners
in germany investor sentiment fell for fourth month running in january as
europe biggest economy braced for burdensome and long recovery the zew
economic research institute said
in late new york trade the dollar stood at swiss francs from
tuesday
the pound fell to dollars after
burs rl pp
supreme court upholds execution of us man with child iq
washington jan afp
the us supreme court wednesday upheld death sentence against convicted
murderer ruling his attorney had not erred in failing to tell jury the man
had the iq of seven year old child
in vote the court said that the attorney decision not to present the
jury with psychiatric report on the man was strategic and not unreasonable
the majority decision was written by sonia sotomayor who was appointed by
president barack obama
the man holly wood convicted in by court in alabama of murdering
former girlfriend was represented during his murder trial by three court
appointed attorneys including one just out of school and with no experience on
capital case
the young lawyer took charge of the sentencing phase of the case after wood had
been found guilty and jurors were deciding if he would get life in jail or the
death penalty jurors picked execution by to two
the supreme court found that the attorney deliberately chose not to present
findings about wood mental profile for fear it would hurt him
justice john paul stevens and justice anthony kennedy dissented with stevens
writing that because such decision is the antithesis of strategic
choice would reverse the decision of the court of appeals
the supreme court in barred the execution of mentally retarded people
wood iq of between and would be considered significant mental
retardation but his appeal to the court sought to dismiss his death sentence on
the basis of his attorney alleged incompetence rather than his mental
disability
us arms to somalia could be used in abuses amnesty
london jan afp
the united states is sending shipments of arms to war ravaged somalia which
could be used to commit gross and widespread abuses amnesty international
warned thursday
in report on the unstable horn of africa nation the london based rights group
detailed shipments of weapons from the us to the internationally backed somali
transitional government
these deliveries which included mortars ammunition and cash for buying arms
were to bolster the administration as it tries to defend the small area it
still controls from fierce attacks by islamist rebels amnesty said
but the rights group raised fears the weapons could be used by government forces
in indiscriminate attacks or could fall into the hands of armed groups
opposed to the government who were frequently responsible for abuses
fighting in somalia killed thousands of civilians last year and displaced
hundreds of the thousands more it said
amnesty said the transfers took place despite substantial risks that such types
of weapons could be used in indiscriminate attacks by transitional government
forces
arms could further be diverted to armed groups opposed to the transitional
government who also commit gross and widespread abuses the amnesty statement
said
amnesty international has called for arms transfers to the somali government to
be suspended until there are adequate safeguards to prevent weapons from being
used to commit war crimes and human rights abuses
somalia has been without an effective government since and the transitional
government controls only small part of the capital mogadishu according to
amnesty
forces backing the weak administration are battling an al qaeda inspired
hardline islamist group called shebab which controls large areas of south and
central somalia
international concern for the future of the somali government has not been
matched by an equal concern for the human rights of civilians said michelle
kagari amnesty deputy director for africa
un arms embargo on somalia has been in place since but states can apply
to the un sanctions committee for exemptions to supply security assistance to
the country government
haiti main port reopening for business
port au prince jan afp
the damaged main port in haiti is reopening for service on friday us general
said as french vessel had already begun unloading aid supplies at port au
prince wednesday
we will have the port open friday for business said lieutenant general ken
keen who is in charge of supervising the us military operations to help haiti
left in ruins in magnitude quake on january
we ve been doing assessments all week to ensure it is safe to offload cargo
here he added saying he hoped to have the port fully operational in three
weeks
but an afp journalist saw that french ship the francis garnier was already
docked along the quay wednesday unloading relief aid and equipment
figure skating european championship results collated
tallinn jan afp
results from the second day of the european figure skating championships here on
wednesday
pairs
final result
yuko kavaguti alexander smirnov rus aliona savchenko robin
szolkowy ger maria mukhortova maxim trankov rus
tatiana volosozhar stanislav morozov ukr vera bazarova yuri
larionov rus nicole della monica yannick kocon ita
vanessa james yannick bonheur fra anais morand antoine dorsaz sui
maylin hausch daniel wende ger adeline canac maximin
coia fra
stacey kemp david king gbr erica risseeuw robert paxton gbr
maria sergejeva ilja glebov est joanna sulej mateusz
chruscinski pol jessica crenshaw chad tsagris gre
nina ivanova filip zalevski bul
free skate results
yuko kavaguti alexander smirnov rus aliona savchenko robin
szolkowy ger maria mukhortova maxim trankov rus
tatiana volosozhar stanislav morozov ukr nicole della
monica yannick kocon ita vera bazarova yuri larionov rus
vanessa james yannick bonheur fra anais morand antoine dorsaz
sui maylin hausch daniel wende ger stacey kemp david
king gbr
adeline canac maximin coia fra erica risseeuw robert paxton
gbr maria sergejeva ilja glebov est jessica
crenshaw chad tsagris gre joanna sulej mateusz chruscinski pol
nina ivanova filip zalevski bul
men short programme
yevgeny plushenko rus brian joubert fra yannick
ponsero fra michal brezina cze stephane lambiel sui
alban preaubert fra samuel contesti ita tomas
verner cze stefan lindemann ger kristoffer berntsson
swe
kevin van der perren bel adrian schultheiss swe
javier fernandez esp anton kovalevski ukr viktor
pfeifer aut paolo bacchini ita sergei voronov rus
zoltan kelemen rom jorik hendrickx bel
gregor urbas slo
maciej cieplucha pol ari pekka nurmenkari fin
karel zelenka ita peter reitmayer svk maxim shipov
isr boris martinec cro matthew parr gbr
damjan ostojic bsh viktor romanenkov est alexandr
kazakov blr
kutay eryoldas tur boyito mulder ned marton marko
hun saulius ambrulevictius ltu girts jekabsons lat
georgi kenchadze bul pierre balian arm
withdrew joffrey bourdon mne
nfl brady big ben to miss pro bowl
foxboro massachusetts jan afp
new england quarterback tom brady and pittsburgh quarterback ben roethlisberger
will not play in the national football league pro bowl all star game teams
announced wednesday
the patriots who typically do not give full injury details said brady will not
play following final physical examinations after their first round play off loss
to baltimore
brady played in every game for new england this season despite rib and finger
injuries
two time super bowl champion quarterback roethlisberger was the first alternate
but turned down the starting job for the american conference due to right
shoulder problem that developed late in the season
roethlisberger threw for steelers record yards this season
houston quarterback matt schaub will start for the american conference against
the national conference
also absent from the pro bowl will be patriots receivers wes welker and randy
moss welker suffered knee injury in the last game of the regular season
against houston
this year pro bowl will be played on january at miami at the site of the
super bowl week before the nfl championship game rather than in honolulu the
week after the super bowl as has been the practice in recent years
urgent haiti main port reopening for business
port au prince jan afp
the damaged main port in haiti is reopening for service on friday us general
said as french vessel had already begun unloading aid supplies wednesday
figure skating russians shock world champions to win euro gold
tallinn jan afp
russia yuko kavaguti and alexander smirnov claimed gold for the first time in
the pairs event at the european figure skating championships here on wednesday
they beat three time defending champions aliona savchenko and robin szolkowy of
germany who had to settle for silver with russians maria mukhortova and maxim
trankov taking bronze after the free skating final
two time world champions savchenko and szolkowy had held narrow lead from
the short programme but the germans paid for errors in their routine to the
soundtrack out of africa allowing the russians win by points
despite slight wobble by japan born kavaguti on the landing of her triple
toeloop jump she and smirnov gave strong performance to valse sentimentale
and the blue danube to score for the free skate and overall
the audience gave us energy and we gave it to them we re going to continue to
try and give our best performance for the olympics said kavaguti who teamed
up with smirnov in and became russian citizen in february last year
but she said that the medal which completes their set of euro medals after
silver last year and bronze in has given them confidence ahead of the
winter olympics in less than month
we have things to work on before vancouver said the world bronze medallist
but we ll just listen to our coach and do our best
savchenko who missed training earlier this month suffering from suspected
glandular fever looked slightly out of form as she two footed her landing on
their throw triple flip and doubled her triple salchow jump
they scored for the free skate and overall
szolkowy said we re little bit disappointed but not that much we came here
to win again and skate clean we had some small mistakes but overall it was
good performance
earlier olympic champion yevgeny plushenko marked his international return with
record breaking men short programme
it is the first major event since the year old retired four years ago because
of knee injuries after claiming gold at the turin olympics
but he showed he is ready to defend his olympic title by breaking the points
record he set in italy with technically strong performance to lead three time
winner brian joubert of france by points going into thursday free skate
final
france yannick ponsero is sitting third with two time world champion stephane
lambiel of switzerland in fifth
world ice dancing champions oksana domnina and maxim shabalin are looking to
defend their lead on thursday going into the original dance the second round of
three ahead of fellow russians jana khokhlova and sergei novitski the reigning
european champion
football ten goal thriller gets villa to wembley
birmingham england jan afp
aston villa booked their first wembley final appearance in decade after
victory over blackburn rovers in the second leg of their league cup semi final
here on wednesday
victory at villa park saw martin neill men win the tie on aggregate and
they will now face either manchester city or manchester united in the final
but his pre match claim that this was the best villa team their supporters had
seen in years looked hollow as double from nikola kalinic put rovers
up
villa endured dreadful opening minutes as they squandered the first leg
advantage james milner had given them in win at ewood park before the tie
swung in their favour with the sending off of rovers christopher samba five
minutes before half time
milner converted the penalty which resulted from samba foul in bringing down
gabriel agbonlahor and added second goal to cap wonderful personal display
which will only further enhance his england credentials as villa moved within
match of winning their first trophy in years
but blackburn continued to push villa all the way even man down
after kalinic double stephen warnock converted at the far post following
ashley young cross to put villa back into the tie and make amends for his
earlier error that gave rovers such an emphatic start
warnock was at fault at the far post failing to challenge croatia kalinic for
david dunn corner under the crossbar and the rovers striker header struck
warnock on the head before beating american goalkeeper brad guzan
villa were two down before the half hour mark when kalinic started the move
which resulted in him tapping home the rebound after martin olsson header from
morten gamst pedersen cross had been half saved by guzan
villa simply could not get to grips with rovers five man midfield but that all
changed when samba was shown straight red card for his trip on agbonlahor as
the pair chased emile heskey through ball
milner beat paul robinson from the spot before an own goal from steven nzonzi
and further goals from agbonlahor and heskey left villa with seemingly
comfortable lead
at that point they could be forgiven for turning their thoughts to whether they
played manchester united or manchester city but at least rovers demonstrated
some character of their own to push villa close
olsson produced stunning volley from gael givet cross to reduce the deficit
and when brett emerton volley from the edge of the area forced its way through
crowded penalty area their were some nervous moments for villa to endure
but ashley young rounded off the evening with wonderful solo effort running
from half way to beat robinson with curling shot
lightning hits passenger jets in california storm
los angeles jan afp
two los angeles bound passenger jets were struck by lightning but touched down
safely as severe storm pummeled california on wednesday officials said
both planes southwest airlines flights from oakland and sacramento were
rattled by lightning before they came into land at bob hope airport in the los
angeles suburb of burbank spokeswoman marilee mcinnis said
flight attendant on one of the flights complained of pain in her arm and was
treated in hospital but there were no reports of further injuries
both planes were taken out of service for inspection but suffered no visible
damage in the high voltage blasts
the lighting strikes came as the third in series of storms slammed into
southern california
alert
main haiti port re opening for business after quake
alert
main haiti port re opening for business after quake
wall street slumps on china credit squeeze bank results
new york jan afp
wall street stocks suffered their biggest drop for the year wednesday following
credit tightening moves by global economic growth driver china and mixed
earnings from key american banks
the dow jones industrial average plunged points percent to
day after the key us indexes leapt to their best levels in more
than months
the nasdaq composite dipped points percent to and the
standard amp poor index lost points percent to
the market opened after top banks morgan stanley bank of america and wells
fargo declared their fourth quarter earnings which provided mixed
picture on the key sector as the economy recovers from recession
bank of america and morgan stanley missed analysts expectations while wells
fargo posted an unexpected profit
adding to the uneasy backdrop were us housing starts that fell more than
anticipated which flared up concerns about the housing recovery and
overshadowed surprising jump in building permits analysts at charles schwab
amp co said in client note
in signs of the struggling us housing sector the epicenter of the financial
crisis the commerce department said construction starts on privately owned
housing fell to seasonally adjusted annual rate of in december from
the revised november estimate of
most analysts had forecast starts at
credit squeeze in china to rein in excess liquidity raised market doubts about
global economic recovery prospects
top chinese regulator said beijing would rein in credit after explosive growth
last year as the nation vies to cool its red hot economy
this year we will continue to control the pace of the credit supply banking
regulator liu minkang told the asian financial forum in hong kong
however he downplayed report by the official china securities journal that
major banks had been told to stop extending new loans for the rest of january
concern about forced slowdown of china economy led some to consider the
implications for the global economy recovery analysts at briefing com said
in note
that weighed on both stocks and commodities and even led some to seek safety in
the us dollar
among banking stocks bank of america rose percent to dollars while
morgan stanley fell percent to dollars and wells fargo was down
percent to dollars
ibm the world largest computer services provider slumped percent to
dollars after reporting fourth quarter profit of billion
dollars after the close of trading tuesday
kraft foods lost percent to dollars after its proposed billion
dollar acquisition of cadbury came under fire from billionaire investor warren
buffett whose berkshire hathaway is kraft largest shareholder
the new york times fell percent to dollars after the newspaper
announced it will begin charging online readers next year in move that will be
closely watched by other newspapers suffering from plunging print advertising
revenue
the bond market rose the yield on the year us treasury bond fell to
percent from percent tuesday and that on the year bond dipped to
percent from percent
lawmakers fume over classification of fort hood report
washington jan afp
lawmakers criticized wednesday an internal pentagon review into the deadly fort
hood shooting for failing to discuss why the military promoted the suspect
despite concerns over his behavior
military and intelligence officials have come under fire for missing warning
signs about us army major nidal hasan psychiatrist charged with turning his
guns on fellow soldiers killing people and wounding others during the
november attack at the military base in texas
hasan is being investigated for links to islamic extremism including his
contacts with anwar al awlaqi us born radical cleric now in yemen who blessed
the killing spree afterwards
but details about hasan personnel records located in partially redacted
annex of the two month pentagon inquiry have been restricted from the public and
reserved for official use only
republican representative mike coffman told leaders of the review former
chief of naval operations vernon clark and former army secretary togo west
that the omission was offensive and politically embarrassing
it was just merely finding of facts prior to the event and it ought to be
available to the american public he said during the first of series of
hearings delving into the attack
in joint statement to the house armed services committee clark and west said
they would not discuss hasan personnel records in public setting because
doing so would compromise the integrity of the ongoing military justice
process
the page report released last week found that medical officers failed to use
appropriate judgment and standards of officership when they reviewed hasan
performance but did not mention hasan by name or discuss his motives and how he
viewed his muslim faith
that has growing chorus of republicans and some democrats crying foul
the report is strangely silent on whether or not major hasan gave any clear
evidence of his radicalization or whether there were any substantive clues about
that radicalization that his supervisors should have acted upon republican
congressman howard mckeon said
concerned if political correctness was involved here and if the need for
psychiatrists maybe made us overlook something
with the us military desperate for more psychiatrists to deploy to iraq and
afghanistan hasan was promoted and sent from walter reed army medical center to
fort hood texas to serve in afghanistan
representative vic snyder an arkansas democrat said he did not understand why
the general public could not have access to the military reviews of hasan
performance
when is the right time going to be he asked
if was family member would not be satisfied with go to the annex and
we ll discuss it
hasan is said to have discussed islam with patients expressed deep reservations
about us military campaigns in muslim countries praised suicide bombers and
shouted allahu akbar god is great during the shooting
but the review found that religious fundamentalism alone is not risk factor
and that religious based violence is not confined to members of fundamentalist
groups
canadian terror plotter jailed for seven years
montreal jan afp
another member of group of alleged islamic extremists was sentenced to
seven and half years in prison after he pleaded guilty wednesday to plotting
to bomb canada main bourse and other targets
amin mohamed durrani admitted to knowingly participating in or
contributing to directly or indirectly any activity of terrorist group for
the purpose of enhancing the ability of the terrorist group to facilitate or
