and had around was lucky to win three frames today
in wednesday late match welshman ryan day swamped englishman joe perry
winning
football barcelona lose kings cup crown
madrid jan afp
barcelona lost the first of the three titles they won in an extraordinary
season on wednesday as despite beating sevilla they went out of the
kings cup on the away goal rule when the last tie finished on aggregate
barcelona coach josep guardiola who guided barca to the cup league title and
champions league trophy in an amazing debut season as coach did not take the
match lightly playing essentially his first choice team against side whose
league form has fallen away alarmingly having lost their last three matches
however it was the hosts who turned on the early pressure with first midfielder
koffi romaric who was controversially left out of the ivory coast african cup
of nations squad powering header which was punched away by barcelona
goalkeeper jose manuel pinto
sevilla who last won the cup in had the ball in the net in the th
minute but striker alvaro negredo was somewhat harshly adjudged to have impeded
pinto
this woke up barcelona and they poured forward desperate to get back on terms in
the tie
swedish striker zlatan ibrahimovic unleashed fierce shot in the th minute
only for the ball to go narrowly wide and then saw his nd minute header saved
by sevilla goalkeeper and club captain andres palop
the pressure told off eventually in the th minute when spanish international
midfielder xavi right foot shot beat palop leaving barcelona tantalisingly
close to reaching the quarter finals
argentinian wizard lionel messi then took over the show going close in the th
minute as his effort scraped the post then hitting the post with left footed
shot in the th minute and then seeing shot brilliantly turned round the post
by palop five minutes from time
snooker masters results
london jan afp
results from the masters snooker tournament at the wembley arena here on
wednesday
st rd best of frames
ryan day wal bt joe perry eng
mark allen nir bt john higgins sco
clinton cancels asia tour to deal with haiti crisis
honolulu hawaii jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton on wednesday said she was canceling the
remainder of trip to asia to deal with the crisis afflicting haiti
have decided to cancel the remainder of my trip and return to washington
she said
us senator scolds pakistan over drone criticisms
washington jan afp
top senate ally of president barack obama sharply scolded pakistan leaders
wednesday charging them with privately supporting the very us drone strikes
they have publicly denounced
us senate armed services committee chairman carl levin fresh from trip to
pakistan and afghanistan told reporters on conference call that he was very
unhappy with the vocal criticism from top officials in islamabad
what troubles me is the public attack on these drone attacks when at the same
time they ve privately obviously not told us that we must stop they have not
done that said the senator
pakistan leaders not only understand and acquiesce but in many cases privately
support the drone attacks levin said adding that the minimum we should
expect is silence on their part rather than public attack on us
such criticism creates real problems for us in terms of the pakistani public
and helps create some real animosity towards us sense of revenge the
implication that we re violating pakistan sovereignty he said
that what it means if they attack us for doing something which they have
either acquiesced in or quietly support and just think it wrong for them
ve told them this to their face said levin
the senator said he had met in pakistan with pakistan prime minister yousuf raza
gilani and pakistan army chief of staff ashfaq kayani
unmanned aerial vehicle attacks have been extremely successful at knocking
off significant number of taliban leaders and al qaeda leaders levin said
from an airport in dubai as he headed back to washington
fbi warns of haiti relief fraud
washington jan afp
the us federal bureau of investigation fbi warned potential donors of
earthquake relief funds to haiti on wednesday to be on the lookout for fraud
schemes
the fbi today reminds internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the
aftermath of tuesday earthquake in haiti to apply critical eye and do their
due diligence before responding to those requests the fbi said
past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal
intent to solicit contributions purportedly for charitable organization and or
good cause the fbi said in statement
email users should not respond to or click on links in unsolicited messages and
should make an effort to confirm the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations
raising funds for haiti the fbi said
potential donors should be cautious of emails that claim to show pictures of the
disaster areas in attached files because the files may contain viruses the fbi
said
do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits
contributions it added providing such information may compromise your
identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft
microblogging service twitter was deluged with messages on wednesday on ways to
help haiti which was one of the top most popular topics on the site
legitimate relief efforts included sending money by text message to the american
red cross and to yele org charity set up by haitian born hip hop singer
wyclef jean
jean who was born in haiti but moved to the new york area as youngster is
roving ambassador for his native country and has worked with the united nations
world food program to help tackle food shortages in the country
jean foundation has received high powered support from other celebrities in
recent years most notably hollywood power couple and humanitarian campaigners
brad pitt and angelina jolie
the united states launched massive military and civilian operation to aid
haiti on wednesday amid fears the quake had left thousands dead
teams of civilian and military experts dispatched by us president barack obama
began landing in haiti as us aircraft searched for survivors and tried to assess
the damage from the massive magnitude quake
urgent clinton cancels asia tour to deal with haiti crisis
honolulu jan afp
us secretary of state hillary clinton on wednesday said she was canceling the
remainder of trip to asia to deal with the crisis afflicting haiti
alert
clinton cancels asia tour to deal with haiti crisis
china google cyberattack part of spying campaign experts
san francisco jan afp
the cyberattacks that prompted google into defying chinese censors appear to
have been part of an ongoing campaign to steal precious source codes and track
human rights activists experts said on wednesday
it complete pattern of attacks said jeff moss founder of the black hat
and defcon computer security conferences and member of the us homeland
security advisory council
you can see what is going on china strategy is to suck up all the
information of interest to the country moss said it doesn surprise me they
want to get at people who use google
google vowed tuesday to stop bowing to chinese internet censors and risk
banishment from the lucrative market to protest highly sophisticated
cyberattacks aimed at chinese human rights activists
google has brought to light lot of the stuff security people have been saying
for years behind the scenes moss said these attacks are well written it
not just group of hackers that got together
china based cyber spies struck the internet giant and reportedly more than
other unidentified firms in an apparent bid for computer source codes
intellectual property and information about activists around the world
adobe came forward on wednesday to say that four days earlier it had computer
security incident involving sophisticated coordinated attack against
corporate networks systems managed by them and other firms
we are currently in contact with other companies and are investigating the
incident pooja prasad of adobe said in blog post at this time we have no
evidence to indicate that any sensitive information has been compromised
adobe told afp the attacks could be related to the google incidents given the
timing
adobe and other technology firms that make text video or web surfing software
used in most of the world computers are prime targets for cyber spies who
could turn software secrets to their advantage according to moss
nowadays you go after the browsers flash acrobat office and personal anti
virus software moss said
in the attack on google cyber spies were evidently out to swipe computer code
as well as to mine email messages of china human rights activists who use the
california internet giant free online gmail service
google on wednesday changed the default settings for gmail users to
automatically encrypt messages
security specialists weighing in on the situation noted similarities between the
recent cyber assault and attacks on about us companies in the middle of last
year
we sent information about the source ip addressed to some defense contractors
who see attacks like this all the time from china said eli jellenc manager of
international cyber intelligence at verisign idefense
sure enough the ip and of this set of attacks resemble some we see going
back well into last year this group has been doing this already they are just
doing more of it and more tightly coordinated
the scope of the recent cyberattacks was unprecedented with variants of
malicious software tailored for different victims according to jellenc who
called it significant leap in the amount of planning and strategy
the attackers were after the companies most valuable intellectual property in
one they were after software another after engineering schematics another
after corporate strategy plans jellenc said
tactics included tricking computer users with ruses in ploys referred to as
social engineering
cyber spies evidently selectively targeted workers with email crafted to appear
as though they came from bosses or colleagues messages included attached files
booby trapped with malicious software according to jellenc
when bogus messages were opened computers were infected with hidden programs
which could swipe information seize control of machines or create back doors
for unauthorized access to files
google said its investigation revealed that accounts of china human rights
activists who use gmail in europe china or the united states have been
routinely accessed using malware sneaked onto their computers
google believes the attack on its network was mostly blocked and that only minor
information was stolen from two accounts
the internet giant did not specifically accuse the chinese government of being
behind the cyberattacks
but china is being eyed as the probable culprit due to the sophistication of the
attacks the targets and the fact the assaults originated in that region
bill clinton launches fund for haiti quake
united nations jan afp
former us president bill clinton who is now the special envoy for the united
nations in haiti wednesday launched fund for the stricken nation saying even
dollar or two would help
we got to save as many lives as possible clinton said so the most important
thing individuals who care can do is to send cash even if it dollar or two
he was speaking at the un general assembly as the world body was rocked by the
scale of the earthquake amid fears that the death toll could top
clinton said water food shelter and medical supplies were all badly needed to
help the people particularly in the capital port au prince which took the full
force of tuesday quake
he added that people could also donate through the website of his clinton
foundation at www clintonfoundation org haitiearthquake
football benitez vows to keep fighting despite cup exit
liverpool england jan afp
liverpool manager rafael benitez vowed to fight on despite the english giants
suffering humiliating fa cup exit at the hands of reading on wednesday
liverpool squandered lead to lose after extra time in their third
round replay defeat which sent the former european champions spinning into
new crisis
they are already out of the champions league and are points behind chelsea in
the premier league title race
we have to keep our confidence and we can improve said benitez who along
with the team was booed at the final whistle
we had chances they had chances the penalty which allowed reading to
equalise in the last minute of normal time was crucial decision and we can
talk about it for an hour there were many things didn like but we cannot
change the result
we are not in the competition anymore if the critics are fair then it ok
but it been the same for three months added the year old
benitez had started the match with the boost of having signed experienced
argentinian winger maxi rodriguez from atletico madrid
benitez who started his term with liverpool on real high with the champions
league title in an epic victory over ac milan also saw his evening problems
compounded when his two best players steven gerrard and fernando torres went
off injured
reading caretaker manager brian mcdermott said his side were fully deserving of
their stunning win
mcdermott who replaced brendan rodgers in mid december saw his side come
from behind and then win the tie through shane long header in extra time to
earn home fourth round tie against relegation threatened premier league side
burnley
the guys were fantastic purred mcdermott we missed three or four good
chances but you ve always got to think you are going to get another one
but we were good value tonight wednesday the lads were all brilliant
the chairman john madjeski is well pleased but not worried about the
job just so pleased for him and the players
supreme court weighs nfl fan gear controversy
washington jan afp
the us supreme court weighed wednesday whether the us national football league
qualifies for an anti trust law exemption because the league teams
constitute single entity
the case was brought before the court by american needle an illinois
manufacturer that lost its contract with local american football team after
the nfl signed an exclusive league wide contract with sports outfitter reebok
american needle argues the nfl abused its power and violated us anti monopoly
laws by awarding to single company the contract for items branded with the
logos of the league teams
but the nfl argues that its teams constitute single entity that is not
required to abide by competition regulations intended to prevent monopolies
ahead of arguments wednesday analysts predicted the court might hand down
broad ruling that would affect number of professional sports leagues
including the hockey tennis and baseball leagues and even financial
organizations like visa and mastercard
the nfl earlier convinced an appeals court that it was justifiably exempt from
anti trust regulations but wednesday the supreme court nine justices appeared
less certain questioning the relationship between the game and the sale of fan
goods
what does this have to do with the games we re speaking about selling tee
shirts said justice stephen breyer one of the court liberal judges
the purpose is to make money not to promote the games added justice antonin
scalia on the opposite end of the court political spectrum
justice sonia sotomayor president barack obama first appointment to the
court also appeared skeptical
you are seeking what you haven got from congress an absolute bar of anti
trust claims she told gregg levy an attorney for the nfl
the justices appeared to be leaning towards charting middle path that would
see them remand the case to lower court for narrower decision rather than
ruling on whether the nfl is single entity exempt from anti trust laws
instead the justices could ask lower court to determine whether the league
sale of fan goods constitutes part of its sporting activity or is
commercial undertaking subject to anti trust regulations
the supreme court decision is expected this spring
house subpoenas aig documents from ny fed geithner
washington jan afp
congressional panel wednesday subpoenaed documents on the us bailout of
insurance giant aig in including from timothy geithner the former new
york fed chief and current treasury secretary
representative edolphus towns said his house oversight and government reform
committee was seeking information on payments made to aig counterparties
major global banks including goldman sachs morgan stanley barclays bank of
america deutsche bank and societe generale
the panel seeks emails phone logs and meeting notes from the new york federal
reserve and geithner among others on the discussions held ahead of the bailout
decision
questions remain surrounding aig credit default swap counterparties and why
these companies received full compensation when the best they could have hoped
for in bankruptcy proceeding was perhaps or cents on the dollar the
panel said in statement
the subpoena specifically requests all documents surrounding the decision to
pay aig counterparties cents on the dollar
the statement said the subpoena also demands all documents pertaining to the
decision to not disclose to the public information about the counterparty
payments
the federal reserve bank of new york said it would provide any relevant material
to the congressional panel
we will work with the committee to provide relevant information as
appropriate said deborah kilroe the bank spokeswoman
the congressional panel noted that internal aig emails obtained by the committee
to date indicate that the new york fed may have urged aig to keep secret the
details of the counterparty payments despite the fact that taxpayer dollars
made the payments possible
asked to react to the announcement the treasury said it had no comment on the
subpoena
the announcement came after news reports said that geithner while president at
the new york fed sought to limit disclosure of aig payments to counterparties
that had purchased credit default swaps or form of insurance for troubled
mortgage securities
fed officials later said they had no legal authority to impose haircut or
reduction on these payments because aig was not in bankruptcy
the fed provided loan of billion dollars to aig in september in what
would be the first portion of bailout worth some billion dollars
because aig used the funds to reimburse banks holding the distressed mortgage
securities some have called the move backdoor bailout of those firms
including goldman sachs and number of foreign banks
the details of the counterparty payments were initially kept secret but the
recipients were disclosed in march
the billion dollars payments were made to number of firms france
societe generale germany deutsche bank and new york based investment bank
goldman sachs were the top three recipients
football spanish cup results collated
madrid jan afp
results from the second legs of spanish cup last matches on wednesday
racing santander alcorcon
racing stander win on aggregate
deportivo la coruna filipe luis juan rodriguez valencia zigic
deportivo win on aggregate
osasuna masoud hercules alicante
osasuna win on away goals rule after tie ended on aggregate
getafe soldado rafa pedro leon parejo malaga juanmi
getafe win on aggregate
fc sevilla barcelona xavi
sevilla win on away goal rule after tie finished on aggregate
played tuesday
villarreal celta vigo trashorras
celta vigo win on aggregate
playing thursday first leg score in brackets
real mallorca rayo vallecano
atletico madrid recreativo huelva
injured haitians flee across dominican border
jimani dominican republic jan afp
dozens of gravely injured haitians sought refuge and medical attention in
neighboring dominican republic on wednesday afp journalist at the scene said
buses from earthquake struck port au prince arrived to the general meleciano
hospital kilometers miles west of santo domingo carrying the
injured
president leonel fernandez ordered border hospitals to open their doors but
fearing sharp influx of migrants dominican authorities also stepped up
immigration controls
victims were seeking treatment for range of serious injuries from badly
damaged limbs to skull fractures
the most serious cases were transferred to larger hospitals dominican
authorities said
earlier on wednesday members of the un peacekeeping force in haiti were
transferred to the dominican capital of santo domingo for treatment
haiti has long had troubled relations with its eastern neighbor which has
frequently been bombarded with refugees fleeing haiti political and natural
disasters
in the dominican dictator rafael trujilo ordered the slaughter of tens of
thousands of haitians in an assault on the border
mistrust between citizens of the two countries remains strong but appeared to
be put aside wednesday as dominicans offered help to their neighbors from the
western third of hispaniola
other dominican hospitals near the border also received injured haitians
including those in barahona province
in jimani logistics center was also set up for aid groups to use trucks
carrying water and food as well as mobile kitchens left from the camp the
first batch of mission to supply around meals day
us drops case against alleged mobster gotti
new york jan afp
us prosecutors announced wednesday an end to their long running but futile case
against john junior gotti son of new york most famous modern gangster
in light of the circumstances the government has decided not to proceed with
the prosecution against john gotti preet bharara us attorney in manhattan
said in statement
accordingly today we submitted proposed order of nolle prosequi to the
court the order has been approved by the presiding united states district
judge and thus the prosecution of the case has ended
the order cancelling the prosecution marks dramatic victory for gotti who
inherited his father john gotti nickname of teflon don after walking free
from four mistrials in five years
his last racketeering and murder trial ended december when the jury failed to
reach verdict on any count
prosecutors had been desperate to put away gotti who admits to life in the
gambino family of the italian mafia but denies murder allegations and says that
he quit the mob and reformed his ways
new york embraces california unwanted chihuahuas
new york jan afp
new york is like totally awesome especially when you re an abandoned
californian chihuahua
fifteen of these goggle eyed living toys best known for inhabiting the handbags
of paris hilton and other hollywood listers became new yorkers wednesday
after being rescued from the west coast
the evacuation was in response to what the american society for the prevention
of cruelty to animals aspca calls the massive overpopulation of chihuahuas in
california
all of sudden they found themselves with these chihuahuas said diane
wilkerson director of the aspca volunteer program
she blamed change in hollywood trends and the sour economy for an increase in
homeless chihuahuas but small dogs are very very popular here in new york so
there seemed to be really nice way new york could work with this
the rescue operation maintained the luxurious standards to which the breed is
famously accustomed
all flew in the cabin of virgin america jet from san francisco last week
and took up residence at the shiny aspca headquarters in manhattan
by wednesday of them bebop honey hancock annie jeb colette tina
orlando bella holly and nalla were ready to choose new owners
more than new yorkers lined up in icy temperatures to get their chance some
waited from am to midday to be sure
they got famous watched them on channel channel channel said oleg
russian immigrant at the front of the line
the dog take will be really lucky he said in his still pronounced accent
he going to live with me and sleep next to my bed
amoura leigh planned even greater delights for her dream chihuahua
leigh sporting pink hair pink eyebrows and studs through her bottom lip said
chihuahuas are perfect pets because they like to be held and like to hold
them
and dress them up she added pink rhinestone collar oh yes
chihuahua bought in pet store can cost anything from to dollars
dog lovers in the queue said so free animal is big attraction
but while chihuahuas are small they are not maintenance free realization
that may have led to fashion crazed californians dumping their pets in shelters
they re not accessories wilkerson said the novelty wears off they think
this isn fun anymore
dog fanciers said the little beasts also have real attitude
they re aggressive and very protective of owners they love to snap said mari
anna ficco but they also like to dress up they know they re cute they re
drama queens
not everyone in new york went gaga over the miniature exodus
can stand chihuahuas yelled passing bus driver through his open window
go get pit bull
haiti eye witness reports aid appeals flood twitter
washington jan afp
with communications in haiti ravaged by an earthquake tech savvy residents
turned to twitter to send first hand reports and pictures of the devastation
while others used the microblogging service to mobilize appeals for aid
heart rending photos from quake ravaged haiti and rallying cries for relief
assistance spread swiftly on twitter as the web service once again became key
communications tool during disaster
solidarity groups sprang up on facebook meanwhile and video of the aftermath
of the magnitude quake appeared on video sharing site youtube
one clip on youtube which appeared to have been taken within minutes of the
quake included images taken from hilltop with what appeared to be mobile
phone of an enormous cloud of dust hanging over port au prince
yele the name of charity foundation set up by haitian born hip hop star
wyclef jean was top trending topic on twitter on wednesday and the
website for his group yele org was struggling to handle deluge of visits
haiti related words red cross help haiti port au prince took
several other spots in twitter list of most popular items and so did pat
robertson after the controversial us preacher said haitians had made pact to
the devil
in twitter message wyclef jean who now lives in the united states said he
was flying into the neighboring dominican republic to make his way to haiti and
urged his million followers on twitter to pray for the people of haiti me
please
with traditional telephone communications disrupted by the quake but some web
connections still available some of the first photos video and eye witness
reports from haiti came from users of twitter
one of the most gripping twitter accounts came from troy livesay who identifies
himself on his blog livesayhaiti blogspot com as working with heartline
ministries and world wide village in haiti
livesay provided stream of twitter messages throughout the day on tuesday on
his twitter feed troylivesay and in blog postings
just experienced major earthquake here in port au prince walls were
falling down we are all fine pray for those in the slums was his first
tweet
it was followed soon afterwards by for those that don know haiti does not
enforce building codes
walking around port au prince he said we saw few bodies that had been
pulled out of the rubble laying dead in the sidewalk many others injured
after nightfall livesay wrote church groups are singing throughout the city
all through the night in prayer it is beautiful sound in the middle of
horrible tragedy
aftershocks continued all night long he said the next morning the sun went
down shortly after the big quake it is up now it is eerily quiet
with livesay and others in haiti providing information via twitter the los
angeles times cnn national public radio new york times huffington post and
other media outlets created lists of twitter accounts in haiti to follow
as livesay gave running account on twitter of the devastation haitian radio
host carel pedre documented it in pictures sent to flickr and twitpic
interspersed with appeals for international aid
photos of quake damage taken from twitpic service that lets people post
pictures on twitter were also being compiled at haiti needs us and we need
haiti group at facebook
the brothers and sisters out there suffering the group leader said in
message on the opening page yeah we can pray but prayer without action
means nothing if you believe that lets get together and do what we can
the us federal bureau of investigation warned potential donors of earthquake
relief funds meanwhile to be on the lookout for fraud schemes
the fbi today reminds internet users who receive appeals to donate money in the
aftermath of tuesday earthquake in haiti to apply critical eye and do their
due diligence before responding to those requests the fbi said
past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal
intent to solicit contributions purportedly for charitable organization and or
good cause the fbi said in statement
latin america rallies to help haiti
mexico city jan afp
latin american nations many with experience of devastating earthquakes and un
peacekeepers in haiti scrambled to send aid to the earthquake hit island
wednesday
rescue efforts stepped up as haiti prime minister warned the death toll may
top from tuesday brutal magnitude earthquake that flattened much
of the capital port au prince
neighboring cuba which also felt the quake and evacuated some people
following brief tsunami alert sent doctors on wednesday according to
cuban media
some cuban medical staff already in haiti were largely unharmed and two
cuban field hospitals in the capital port au prince had dealt with almost
