jonathan wisniewski drop goal both drift wide and pierre berbizier team had to
be content with defensive bonus point
fifth placed perpignan 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
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
we re very happy said castres lock matthias rolland we came out of
potential banana skin of match very well three days after the montauban
match we knew we had to stay focused
it win for man squad in which everyone has part to play
but 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
in the day late game bayonne host toulouse
avatar tops billion dollars fastest ever movie tracker
los angeles jan afp
hollywood blockbuster avatar surged to box office haul of more than one
billion dollars globally on sunday faster than any other movie in history an
industry tracker reported
it has made million dollars international for total of more than one
billion dollars box office analyst chad hartigan of exhibitor relations told
afp
since the fox distributed film the most expensive ever made at up to
million dollars debuted days ago it has earned million dollars
domestically as of sunday according to weekend estimates assuring its
reputation as one of the most impressive box office performers of all time
it was the fastest ever to the one billion dollar mark and avatar is now
the third biggest grosser ever behind titanic and the return of the king
the final movie in the lord of the rings trilogy hartigan said
the film tells the story of paralyzed war veteran jake who is sent on
mission to the planet pandora where he falls in love with blue humanoid named
neytiri of the alien na vi race
last weekend earning million dollars from friday to sunday the
science fiction epic helped boost the north american box office to the highest
grossing weekend in movie history
the christmas holiday weekend saw movie goers flock to theaters in droves
sending earnings soaring to nearly million dollars an all time record
california based exhibitor relations said
the figure smashed the previous best weekend mark of million dollars set
in july when batman blockbuster the dark knight opened to huge audiences
in canada and the united states
avatar is director james cameron first film since the oscar winner
titanic
qaeda threat forces us britain to shut yemen missions
sanaa jan afp
the united states and britain promptly closed their embassies in yemen on sunday
after learning an al qaeda offshoot linked to botched us airliner bombing is
planning attacks on western targets
us president barack obama has accused the yemen based al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula or aqap of arming and training nigerian accused of trying to blow
up detroit bound northwest airlines jet on christmas day
aqap claimed responsibility for the failed attack and called for strikes on
embassies in yemen
there are indications that al qaeda is planning to carry out an attack against
target inside of sanaa possibly our embassy obama counter terrorism
adviser john brennan said on sunday
so the decision was made to close the embassy we re working very closely with
the yemeni government on taking the proper security precautions brennan said
on cnn
the us embassy posted statement on its website saying the closure was in
response to ongoing threats by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula to attack
american interests in yemen
britain followed suit with spokeswoman for the foreign office in london
confirming its sanaa embassy had been closed for security reasons
yemeni government official told afp the british mission was closed out of
fear of possible al qaeda reactions but stressed there were no direct al
qaeda threats
spain meanwhile decided to restrict public access to its sanaa embassy for the
same reasons diplomatic source said after the online edition of el mundo
newspaper reported the mission would close on monday and tuesday
fears grew after aqap urged muslims on monday to attack western targets in the
impoverished arabian peninsula country
we call upon every muslim who cares about his religion and doctrine to assist
in expelling the apostasies from the arabian peninsula by killing every
crusader who works at their embassies or other places declare it an all out war
against every crusader on mohammad peninsula on land air and sea it said in
statement
london and washington meanwhile agreed to fund yemen special counter terrorism
unit special force which has received us training and assistance
brennan described the move as determined and concerted effort but stressed
washington would not open up new front in yemen by sending in troops to help
the authorities battle islamist militants
we re not going to let al qaeda continue to make gains in yemen because we need
to take whatever steps necessary to protect our citizens there as well as
abroad the us homeland security and counterterrorism adviser told fox news
he also hailed the yemeni government for making real progress against al qaeda
and said washington was providing everything they ve asked for
in the past month al qaeda has taken number of hits number of al qaeda
leaders in yemen are no longer with us brennan said
yemeni forces launched raids on suspected al qaeda targets on december and
killing more than islamist militants defence ministry newspaper said
plot to bomb the british embassy was also foiled
britain is due to host an international meeting on combating extremism in yemen
on january
yemen has been recognised like somalia to be one of the areas where we ve got
to not only keep an eye on but we ve got to do more british prime minister
gordon brown said
brennan said that despite instability in yemen the united states would continue
to repatriate about yemeni detainees to their homeland from the us naval base
in guantanamo bay cuba ahead of its closure
some of these individuals are going to be transferred back to yemen at the
right time and the right pace and in the right way the white house adviser
told cnn
close to half of guantanamo remaining detainees are from yemen the
ancestral homeland of al qaeda chief osama bin laden
yemen is also grappling with insurgents in the north and the south and has been
rocked by several deadly anti western attacks
nineteen people were killed in car bomb attack outside the us embassy in
september in october us military personnel were killed in al
qaeda suicide attack on the uss cole destroyer in southern yemen
the government has welcomed us and british help to fight extremism
any assistance provided to yemen counter terrorism force will be most
welcome government official told afp
football nations cup hosts angola hit back to draw
vila real de santo antonio portugal jan afp
angola fought back to draw with gambia sunday in final warm up match
before hosting the african nations cup this month
ebrinma sawaneh put non qualifiers gambia ahead just four minutes into the first
half and mateus manucho goncalves levelled on minutes in this portuguese
algarve town
angola have won two and drawn seven of warm up games under portuguese coach
manuel jose since he took charge last june with the sole loss coming against
estonia in portugal last week
the first portuguese speaking country to stage the biennial showcase of african
football angola play mali at new seat luanda stadium next sunday in
the opening fixture of day tournament
algeria and malawi complete group and most neutral observers believe angola
are capable of finishing among the top two on the final standings and advancing
to the knockout phase
defending champions egypt benin burkina faso cameroon gabon ghana ivory
coast mozambique nigeria togo tunisia and zambia are the other nations cup
qualifiers
sweden cull of wolves nears its quota
stockholm jan afp
hunters have only few more wolves to kill to complete their quota in the first
cull of the animal in sweden for years according to tally compiled by the
press sunday
another three wolves were shot sunday after some killed on saturday all but
meeting the target of kills set for the hunt which was meant to run between
january and february
the controversial cull condemned by the country ecology movements was
authorised after parliament voted in october to limit the wolf population to
in packs over the next five years
farmers had complained of attacks on their livestock and wolves had been
reported in the outskirts of some cities including stockholm
this is sad day for all those who care about nature said mikael karlsson
president of swedish society for nature conservation
wolves which had virtually disappeared from sweden in the thrived after
being reintroduced there
france joins europe flu vaccine sell off
paris jan afp
france has joined other european countries in selling off millions of its
emergency swine flu vaccines the government announcing sunday it had bought far
more than needed to fight the outbreak
we started with plan for two dose vaccinations but since one dose is
sufficient we can start to re sell part of the stock french health ministry
official told afp
like germany the netherlands and some other european countries france has
witnessed less demand than expected after spending million euros
billion dollars on vaccines for the virus
france bought million doses almost one and half for every member of the
population but so far only about five million people are recorded as having
been vaccinated since the programme was launched in october
the government took the decision to sell some of its stock after european
medical authorities said one off vaccination was enough to protect against the
virus
the health ministry said qatar had already bought doses and egypt was
negotiating to buy two million france was also in discussions with mexico and
ukraine it added
among the companies france bought its vaccinations from sanofi pasteur unit
of french drug maker sanofi aventis said it was willing to examine its
contract with the french government should it received renegotiation requests
half of the million doses of sanofi vaccines have been delivered to france
in contract worth million euros million dollars the rest are to be
delivered during the first quarter of
in december germany said it was looking to sell off vaccines even though its
full order of million doses was not due to be delivered until march only
about five percent of the population had been vaccinated there
germany reported requests for vaccines from afghanistan and central european
countries including ukraine which is also now negotiating with france
the netherlands announced in november that it would sell million of the
million vaccines it ordered to countries with shortage of them judging that
the danger had passed
spain health minister trinidad jimenez told sunday el pais newspaper that
madrid expected to buy total of about million doses little more than
third of its earlier estimate of million
the world health organisation said last month that the virus was peaking
in much of western europe as the disease progressed into central europe and
through parts of asia
german authorities said moldova kosovo mongolia and the maldives had
approached them asking for vaccines to be donated as aid
in britain health ministry spokesman told afp sunday london priority was
still to supply high risk groups such as the very young the elderly pregnant
women and people with underlying health problems
but he added we are also considering sale to countries still seeking vaccine
the latest british figures for the outbreak issued on thursday indicated that
the rate of swine flu infection was falling but opinion polls suggested that in
any case many people were reluctant to take the vaccine
in italy the health ministry head of preventive medicine fabrizio oleari
told the ansa agency no decision had yet been made on whether to sell excess
stock
but italy had already undertaken to give percent of its stock to poorer
countries he added so far only of the million doses purchased have
been administered
the who said last week that swine flu had killed at least people
worldwide with the biggest share of victims in the united states and canada
though it was now declining in north america
in france the opposition socialists health spokesman jean marie le guen called
the government strategy fiasco saying in statement that despite its
exaggerated spending france still had very low rate of vaccination
disease specialist marc gentilini former president of the french red cross
also criticised what he called france extravagant and costly mass
vaccination campaign
preparing for the worst wasn necessarily preparing correctly he told afp
avatar tops billion dollars fastest ever movie tracker
los angeles jan afp
hollywood blockbuster avatar surged to box office haul of more than one
billion dollars globally on sunday faster than any other movie in history an
industry tracker reported
it has made million dollars international for total of more than one
billion dollars box office analyst chad hartigan of exhibitor relations told
afp
since the fox distributed film the most expensive ever made at up to
million dollars debuted days ago it has earned million dollars
domestically as of sunday according to weekend estimates assuring its
reputation as one of the most impressive box office performers of all time
it was the fastest ever to the one billion dollar mark and avatar is now
the third biggest grosser ever behind titanic and the return of the king
the final movie in the lord of the rings trilogy hartigan said
football leeds stun manchester united in cup shock chelsea cruise
london jan afp
third tier leeds united produced the shock of the third round by knocking record
times winners manchester united out of the fa cup with victory at old
trafford on sunday
leeds the league one leaders who are places below english champions
manchester united won thanks to jermaine beckford th minute goal and will
now face tottenham in the fourth round
arsenal who ve lifted the fa cup times were themselves minutes away from
third round exit against premier league and london rivals west ham after
alessandro diamanti had put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half time
but two goals in five minutes from teenage midfielder aaron ramsey and striker
eduardo stunned the upton park faithful as arsenal won
fa cup holders chelsea who lead the premier league by two points from
manchester united cruised through with thrashing of second division
watford at stamford bridge
defeat was the first time manchester united manager sir alex ferguson had lost
in the third round since he arrived at old trafford years ago
not since when beaten by third tier bournemouth had manchester united
lost at this stage
victory was also fallen giants leeds first win at old trafford since
their goal came after jonny howson superb yard pass over the head of wes
brown found striker beckford and he outpaced the defender before sliding the
ball left footed into the far corner and beyond goalkeeper tomasz kuszczak
the preparation for the game was very good but shocked by the
performance said ferguson
we didn start right and leeds did start right they fought like tigers and
we expect that with any team coming to old trafford for an fa cup tie it
disappointment
this loss was not what united wanted ahead of wednesday league cup semi final
first leg tie against local rivals manchester city and ferguson said we have
to get this result out of our system as quickly as possible
leeds manager simon grayson hailed his outstanding side after they produced
one of the great fa cup shocks
full credit to the players who were outstanding today but it what they ve
been like all season he said
chelsea were in front by the nd minute thanks to daniel sturridge john
eustace own goal and florent malouda deflected shot
england midfielder frank lampard made it in the th minute with yard
strike and four minutes later year old striker sturridge had his second and
chelsea fifth goal
sunday all second tier championship clash between sheffield united and qpr
ended in draw
jay simpson gave qpr the lead but it lasted just six minutes with richard
cresswell equalising for the blades
premier league wolves face league one strugglers tranmere rovers in the
weekend final third round tie after the match between notts county and non
league forest green was postponed because of frozen pitch
football leeds face spurs in fa cup fourth round
london jan afp
leeds reward for eliminating manchester united from the fa cup on sunday was
another away tie against premier league opposition after they were drawn against
tottenham hotspur in the fourth round
third tier leeds places below english champions and record times fa cup
winners united produced the shock of the third round with away win at old
trafford thanks to jermaine beckford th minute goal
now simon grayson league one leaders travel to white hart lane for fourth
round clash that will take place on the weekend of january
meanwhile holders chelsea who cruised through with win over watford on
sunday travel to second tier preston who beat colchester on saturday
there is as yet only one guaranteed all premier league fourth round tie after
arsenal who came from behind to beat top flight london rivals west ham on
sunday were drawn away to stoke
liverpool will be at home to fellow premier league side burnley if they can get
past reading in third round replay while merseyside rivals everton last
season losing finalists will face the winners of the replay between
birmingham and nottingham forest
roberto mancini in form manchester city are away to second tier scunthorpe
aston villa face league one brighton while championship side ipswich play third
tier southampton
managerless bolton are at home to either sheffield united or qpr while
sunderland travel to premier league basement club portsmouth or coventry
fulham must face the winners of accrington tie against gillingham while wigan
are away to either notts county or forest green the last non league club in
the draw
the winners of sunday late kick off between third tier tranmere and premier
league wolves will be at home to championship side crystal palace
west brom will play plymouth or newcastle while another all championship contest
sees bristol city or cardiff face leicester
the other fourth round tie pits millwall or derby who must replay at pride
park against brentford or doncaster likewise league one and championship clubs
respectively who couldn play saturday because of frozen pitch
th rd draw
southampton ipswich
reading or liverpool burnley
millwall or derby brentford or doncaster
bristol city or cardiff leicester
stoke arsenal
notts county or forest green rovers wigan
scunthorpe manchester city
west bromwich albion plymouth or newcastle
everton nottingham forest or birmingham
accrington stanley or gillingham fulham
bolton sheffield united or queens park rangers
portsmouth or coventry sunderland
preston chelsea
aston villa brighton
tranmere or wolves crystal palace
tottenham leeds
ties to be played on the weekend of january
playing tuesday january
postponed rd rd ties gmt
accrington stanley gillingham
brentford doncaster
bristol city cardiff
rd rd replays
birmingham nottingham forest
coventry portsmouth
derby millwall
playing wednesday january
rd rd replays gmt unless stated
liverpool reading gmt
newcastle plymouth
rallying al attiyah fretigne take dakar second stage wins
la rioja argentina jan afp
qatar nasser al attiyah driving volkswagen on sunday won the dakar rally
second stage km timed run from cordoba to here
al attiyah who was disqualified while leading the race takes charge of
the overall standings with min sec lead over teammate carlos sainz of spain
who was fourth on the day
france david fretigne of yamaha won the motorcycling stage
compatriot david casteu of sherco retained the overall race lead after coming in
second seconds adrift
spaniard marc coma of ktm was third min sec behind fretigne to go second
overall ahead of french teammate cyril despres
fretigne goes fourth in the overall standings min sec off the pace
football african nations cup warm up angola gambia
vila real de santo antonio portugal jan afp
result of african nations cup warm up match between hosts angola and
gambia sunday
angola mateus manucho goncalves gambia ebrima sawaneh
football eduardo caps arsenal fightback to sink hammers
london jan afp
arsenal staged dramatic late fightback to reach the fa cup fourth round with
win at london rivals west ham on sunday
arsene wenger side were heading out at the first hurdle with minutes to
play at upton park as they laboured to recover from alessandro diamanti first
half strike
but the gunners finally found enough rhythm in the closing moments to equalise
through aaron ramsey before eduardo capped their fightback by heading in the
winner that justified wenger decision to make five changes ahead of
wednesday crucial league game against bolton
wenger said we had very difficult first half against commited west ham
they were well organised and won many then we got caught on the break
just before half time
in the second half we played at higher tempo west ham dropped bit
physically and we could make the difference in the final minutes
west ham manager gianfranco zola added we were very close am pleased with
the performance of the team couldn ask for anything more
the difference was in the first or minutes of the second half we had so
many opportunities and we couldn close the game even so their first goal was
little bit lucky
victory over bolton will take arsenal to within one point of premier league
leaders chelsea so wenger fielded much changed team with fran merida jack
wilshere carlos vela mikael silvestre and lukasz fabianski handed rare starts
unlike wenger zola had no option but to send out weakened side scott parker
and carlton cole were injured while mexican striker guillermo franco served
suspension so the italian gave first starts to england under forward frank
nouble and teenage defender fabio daprela
it was arsenal who made the brighter start and robert green was tested when
james tomkins carelessly gifted possession to eduardo and he rifled in low
snap shot that the england goalkeeper pushed away for corner
arsenal dominance was short lived however as zola side working tirelessly
to deny the gunners time on the ball took control of midfield
diamanti appealed for penalty when his powerful effort hit thomas vermaelen on
the arm but the contact appeared accidental and referee mark clattenburg
ignored the striker claims
junior stanislas went close for the hammers with dipping free kick that just
cleared fabianski crossbar before diamanti curling effort drew good stop
from the polish keeper
vermaelen shot wildly over after green spilled cross and the hammers made
arsenal pay for their erratic display in first half stoppage time
valon behrami played superb defence splitting pass to diamanti who ran clear
on goal before sliding low shot under fabianski weak attempted save
zola team are hovering precariously just above the relegation zone but they
were easily matching arsenal and stanislas went close to increasing their lead
with fierce long range effort that fabianski kept out at full stretch
wenger searching for way to reignite his side fire sent on samir nasri and
abou diaby for the last minutes
the changes proved decisive diaby almost made an immediate impact as he surged
onto eduardo backheel and looked certain to score but green saved well from
close range and then recovered quickly to make an equally good stop to deny alex
song from the rebound
at last arsenal looked more formidable proposition they pushed west ham back
and equalised in the th minute when song and vela played in ramsey who kept
his composure to lash fine finish past green
the momentum was with wenger team now and eduardo ensured there would be no
need for replay when he met vela cross with header that looped over green
into the top corner with seven minutes left
afp gmt news advisory
washington jan afp
duty editor jo biddle
tel
us britain shut yemen embassies over qaeda fears
no smoking gun in plane plot us
avatar surges to billion in movie sales
us yemen qaeda unrest thlead wrap
sanaa
the united states and britain promptly close their embassies in yemen after
learning an al qaeda offshoot linked to botched us airliner bombing is
planning attacks on western targets in the arabian peninsula country
words gmt by hammoud mounassar file picture graphic
us attacks nigeria lead wrap
washington
there was no smoking gun that could have led us intelligence agencies to
thwart an attack by an al qaeda linked nigerian aboard us bound airliner
top white house security adviser says
words gmt by michael mathes graphic file picture
entertainment us film boxoffice
los angeles
hollywood blockbuster avatar surges to box office haul of more than one
billion dollars globally faster than any other movie in history an industry
tracker reports
words gmt
health flu europe vaccine lead
paris
france joins other european countries in selling off millions of its emergency
swine flu vaccines the government announcing it had bought far more than needed
to fight the outbreak
words gmt by anne chaon video
britain politics lead
london
british prime minister gordon brown admits he is the underdog in this year
general election but pledges he will not stop fighting to win the poll
words moved by robin millard
mideast diplomacy palestinian wrap
cairo
palestinian president mahmud abbas arrives in egypt for talks aimed at
relaunching peace talks with israel amid lingering divisions over jewish
settlement expansion
words gmt by samer al atrush
iran nuclear politics wrap
tehran
iran says the west has given it until the end of january to accept uranium
swap deal stressing it will press on with plans to produce higher enriched
nuclear fuel if there is no agreement
words moved by farhad pouladi
uae dubai architecture tower economy lead focus
dubai
dubai prepares to inaugurate the world tallest tower symbol of the gulf
emirate unbridled ambitions amid ongoing fears about financial catastrophe
words moved by acil tabbara picture video graphic
pakistan unrest rdlead wrap
peshawar pakistan
pakistan faces furious backlash after suicide bomber struck volleyball
match killing people as the latest violence left former provincial
minister and seven others dead
words moved by lehaz ali picture
china weather snow ndlead
