with shotgun on saturday policemen and locals
nine buses with police escorts evacuated immigrants early saturday to
reception centre at crotone some kilometres miles from rosarno as
locals applauded
police said some more had fled the town on their own and preparations were
going ahead to move another out to centres elsewhere in southern italy
police chief antonio managnelli announced late friday the despatch of
reinforcements which press reports said would number more than officers
to rosarno
the violence broke out thursday when hundreds of immigrants most of them
africans employed illegally as farm labourers demonstrated after some of them
had been shot at with air rifles ansa said
demonstrators set fire to cars and smashed windscreens before police intervened
leading to scuffle that left several of the demonstrators wounded ansa said
the disturbances continued on friday with about immigrants holding sit
in in the centre of rosarno while italian residents blocked roads and occupied
the town hall
in separate incidents on friday two immigrants were beaten and seriously
wounded with iron bars media and officials said one of the wounded was
admitted to hospital for brain surgery
two other immigrants were hit in the legs with shotgun pellets and five more
were deliberately run over by vehicles driven by locals they said they were
lightly hurt
interior minister roberto maroni member of the anti immigrant northern league
party said the tensions were result of too much tolerance towards
clandestine immigration
the right wing daily il giornale owned by the family of prime minister silvio
berlusconi agreed that illegal immigrants should be kept out
but it added once they are here they cannot be shamefully exploited and shot
at while they do work that our unemployed sneer at
priest luigi ciotti founder of the anti mafia association libera pointed
the finger at the ndrangheta the local criminal organisation which dominates
calabria
the mafia which controls the region cynically and pitilessly exploits the
immigrants he told the daily la stampa
the criminal bosses know that illegal immigrants cannot even try to rebel
because they have no identity documents and there fore no protection from the
state
according to italy main trade union cgil about immigrant workers in
italy live in poor conditions similar to those in rosarno being housed in
insalubrious huts without running water
it said immigrants employed as farm labourers earned low wages of around euro
dollars day
the union also accused the mafia of controlling the sector and criticised
maroni statement saying immigrants were paid miserable salaries and have
terrible hours similar to slavery
injured togo team member stable in africa
johannesburg jan afp
togo goalkeeper kodjovi obilale was in stable condition in south african
hospital on saturday after deadly rebel ambush on the squad convoy in
angola the hospital said
he is conscious and in stable condition he has suffered two gunshot wounds
to the lower back and abdomen said richard friedland head of the private
milpark hospital where the year old was admitted
he is being currently assessed by our trauma team and being scanned and it is
envisaged that he ll be taken into theatre very shortly
obilale was airlifted to south africa arriving at gmt day after hooded
gunmen who opened fire on togo buses on friday in the restive northern cabinda
enclave killing at least two people ahead of the african nations cup
the togo team withdrew from the tournament on saturday
medical assistance firm international sos said that it had been contacted late
friday to evacuate two team members but that one died before the emergency team
arrived in cabinda
both had serious gunshot injuries and unfortunately one of the patients demised
prior to arrival of the air ambulances the firm regional medical director
fraser lamond told afp
confederation of african football caf official kodjo samlan said earlier that
togo assistant coach abalo amnalete and its squad spokesman stanislas ocloo
died early friday
news of obilale condition emerged as togo government recalled its football
team from the african nations cup saying the players were in shock
alert
oil talks fail between russia belarus news agencies
golf aiken and his former caddie share africa open lead
east london south africa jan afp
thomas aiken and his one time caddie trevor fisher shared the africa open third
round lead saturday as south africans tightened their grip on the european tour
event
four under par left aiken on at the metre east london golf club
while fisher carded in the hunt for first prize at the one million euro
tournament
jbe kruger is alone in second position on and two more south africans
jake roos and charl schwartzel are further shot off the pace at the
links cum parkland course
englishman miles tunnicliff is the leading overseas player and lies three
strokes behind the leaders with another south african bradford vaughan in
this eastern cape city
the first two south africa europe co sanctioned events last month on the
road to dubai were won by spaniard pablo martin and scot richie ramsay neither
of whom competed in east london
crowd favourite darren clarke from northern ireland returned disappointing
for total after triple bogey seven finish to his round and has little
chance of bettering second place finish last year
it will be friendly rivalry when the leaders tee off sunday in the final round
as fisher caddied for aiken in miami tournament last year and their friendship
spans two decades
fisher who entered the third round one shot ahead is not enjoying much luck
off the course as he nearly overslept before the second round and was rocked by
stomach bug saturday
the johannesburg born golfer rested in his car before teeing off hit only six
greens in regulation and still managed to card two under round because he
needed mere putts
football rosicky rides to arsenal rescue
london jan afp
tomas rosicky stoppage time leveller rescued point for title chasing arsenal
in their english premier league draw at home to everton on saturday
everton were on course for shock victory after south african midfielder steven
pienaar scored brilliant goal to put the visitors who kicked off four points
above the relegation zone up with nine minutes left
but there was still time for czech midfielder rosicky to equalise after his shot
looped off australian defender lucas neill and over united states international
goalkeeper tim howard
arsenal both of whose goals came via deflections would have gone into second
place if they won but the draw left them in third place three points adrift
of leaders and london rivals chelsea
reigning champions manchester united will go top if they win away to birmingham
in saturday late match
in one of only two of the weekend nine premier league matches to survive the
freezing conditions sweeping britain everton took th minute lead when
midfielder leon osman headed in corner from on loan united states
international landon donovan making his debut for the merseysiders
but the gunners were level at snow covered emirates stadium before the half
hour mark when denilson shot deflected off osman
then in the st minute australia tim cahill held the ball up and released
pienaar who strode through before cheekily lofting shot over arsenal
goalkeeper manuel almunia
we were up into injury time it should have been our day we deserved to
win today everton manager david moyes told sky sports
he added we played well enough created enough chances and we should be coming
away with three points
earlier sunday match between west ham and wolves was postponed hours after
saturday game between wigan and aston villa was also called off
wigan match was the only one of the seven premier league matches postponed
this weekend to be called off because of pitch problems
the under soil heating at wigan dw stadium failed on friday and engineers were
unable to fix the problem by the time referee stuart atwell made an early
morning pitch inspection saturday
friday saw several postponements with saturday scheduled premier league
matches between burnley and stoke fulham and portsmouth hull and chelsea and
sunderland and bolton as well as sunday fixture between liverpool and
tottenham called off
in all five cases the pitches were playable but concerns over issues such as icy
streets surrounding grounds which pose safety risk for supporters led clubs
who generally follow advice from local police in making decision to call off
the games
monday encounter between manchester city and blackburn rovers was still
unaffected by the conclusion of the arsenal everton match
togo recalls team from african nations cup lome
lome jan afp
togo recalled its football team from the african nations cup on saturday
following rebel ambush on the team convoy that left at least two dead
togolese government spokesman pascal bodjona said
the togolese government has decided to recall its team bodjona said we
cannot in such dramatic circumstance continue the african nations cup
competition this is necessary because the players are in shock
the team was travelling overland on friday to cabinda for the tournament which
begins sunday when their convoy was sprayed by gunfire killing at least two
rebels in the oil rich angolan enclave claimed responsibility
government hopes to cash in on devaluation in venezuela
caracas jan afp
venezuela first devaluation of its currency since should come as boon
to the massive public sector while adding pressure to an already soaring
inflation rate experts said saturday
and venezuela inflation rate which topped percent in is latin
america highest
president hugo chavez devalued the bolivar friday for the first time since
creating dual exchange rate system
the move aims to favor some sectors of the economy the government considers
priorities with the bolivar pegged at per dollar down from per
dollar
the leftist leader said that the health food imports machinery books and
technology sectors as well as public sector imports and remittances would
benefit from the preferential rate
meanwhile non essential imports were to be subject to rate of bolivars per
dollar
the higher exchange rate would apply to items such as automobiles
telecommunications tobacco beverages chemicals petrochemicals and
electronics
the government allowed that inflation would remain concern
it would be foolish on my part to deny that this measure will have an impact on
prices said finance minister ali rodriguez
economist orlando ochoa said that was the understatement of the year and that
venezuelan consumers would pay big for the dual rate move
the measures really are throwing gasoline on fire as far as inflation is
concerned ochoa said
prices are going to go up but the government needs more income and it will be
getting more for its exports he said
indeed it is very rare to see anywhere in the world an exchange system that so
greatly favors the public sector the state imports at bolivars to the
dollar but is going to receive bolivars for every dollar in exports mainly
in oil he noted
former central bank chief jose guerra summed it up as more money for the
government and less for the people
devaluation in the absence of fiscal and monetary steps just means inflation
he stressed noting that an imported car in theory would see its price doubled
at least
the largest oil producer in south america venezuela slipped into recession in
for the first time in six years due to drop in oil prices and production
caracas had repeatedly ruled out devaluating its currency fueling black market
trading
athletics bekele slumps in edinburgh cross country defeat
edinburgh jan afp
ethiopia distance star kenenisa bekele could only manage fourth place in the
nine kilometre edinburgh cross country race as he suffered rare defeat on
saturday
joseph ebuya led kenyan clean sweep of the podium places as bekele returning
to the snow covered holyrood park venue for the first time since winning his
sixth world championship on the course in finished well behind the leading
trio
got killed by three kenyans said bekele the reigning olympic champion at
both and metres after ebuya titus mbishei and eliud kipchoge came
in ahead of him
bekele added he had missed training sessions after coming to scotland via
london where he visited the olympic games site on thursday
normally would only arrive day before so missed couple of training
sessions added beleke who apart from failing to finish at the world
championships had only once before suffered cross country defeat
better news for ethiopia came in the women race where tirunesh dibaba who
also won the and titles at the beijing olympics outpaced
her opponents on the final lap to take victory on the six kilometre course
kenya vivian cheruiyot and ethiopia kalkidan gezahegn were second and third
respectively
togo recalls team from african nations cup lome
lome jan afp
togo recalled its football team from the african nations cup on saturday
following rebel ambush on the team convoy that left at least two dead
togolese government spokesman pascal bodjona said
nordic skiing val di fiemme nordic combined results
val di fiemme italy jan afp
results from saturday world cup nordic combined jump and km cross country
race here
felix gottwald aut min sec st after jump
magnus moan nor at sec
eric frenzel ger
johnny spillane usa
bjoern kircheisen ger
todd lodwick usa
pavel churavy cze
bill demong usa
akito wataba jpn
jason lamy chappuis fra
overall world cup standings after ten of events
jason lamy chappuis fra points
felix gottwald aut
tino edelmann ger
eric frenzel ger
johnny spillane usa
football aberdeen shatter hearts cup hopes
glasgow jan afp
aberdeen moved into the scottish cup fifth round with clinical win over
hearts on saturday
goals from darren mackie and lee miller in the second half at pittodrie were
enough to seal the victory for mark mcghee side and end hearts five match
unbeaten run
it was aberdeen first home win since november and they were rarely troubled by
lacklustre hearts team
mackie broke the deadlock in the th minute with his first goal for the dons
since february
peter pawlett released lee miller with an intelligent pass and the striker
clipped the ball past the onrushing marian kello for mackie to shoot home
chris maguire who had come on as replacement for paul marshall just minutes
earlier created aberdeen second when his deep cross to the far post was
slotted home by miller in the th minute
the pittodrie clash was one of only five cup fixtures to survive the snowy
conditions in scotland
celtic clash at morton was postponed as were nine other matches including
kilmarnock falkirk and inverness motherwell rangers trip to hamilton on
sunday is still scheduled to go ahead
in the other matches that beat the freeze hibernian avoided shock as they
cruised past irvine meadow at easter road
irvine who beat arbroath in november to set up the first ever cup clash between
an spl and junior level side hadn played competitive match for more than
month
it showed as derek riordan put hibernian ahead in the nd minute when his shot
deflected in off alexander ryan
merouane zemmama increased hibernian lead in the nd minute before paul
hanlon added the third goal in the th minute
elsewhere dundee united won at partick thanks to goals from damian
casalinuovo and david goodwillie dunfermline thrashed stenhousemuir and st
mirren beat alloa
alert
togo recalls football team from african nations cup togolese government
nordic skiing gottwald wins at val di fiemme
val di fiemme italy jan afp
austria felix gottwald served notice of his intentions for next month winter
olympics by claiming his first win in three years in the world cup nordic
combined event here saturday
gottwald who placed just st in the ski jump event set blistering pace in
the km cross country section to finish sec ahead of norway magnus moan
with germany eric frenzel third at sec
the year old austrian double olympic champion from retired in
but returned to competition this winter
he claimed the st victory of his career and fourth straight podium finish and
is now sitting second in the world cup rankings points behind france jason
lamy chappuis lamy chappuis finished tenth at sec despite placing second in
the ski jump
us drone strike kills four in nw pakistan officials
miranshah pakistan jan afp
us missile strike on saturday killed at least four militants in pakistan
lawless tribal belt pakistani security and intelligence officials said
the missile struck compound in ismail khel village kilometres miles
west of miranshah the main town in north waziristan tribal region on the afghan
border
us drone fired two missiles which hit compound used by militants as
training centre senior security official told afp
he said that the identity of the militants was not immediately known adding it
was also not clear whether any high value target was present in the area at the
time of the strike
an intelligence official in the area also confirmed the strike and casualties
the latest death toll is four now he said
residents said that the compound belonged to local tribesman named rasta
barkhan who had links with taliban militants
local resident on condition of anonymity told afp that five drone aircraft
made very low altitude flights before the missile strike
officials say the attack took place in the stronghold of hafiz gul bahadur
militant who fought with the taliban when us led troops invaded afghanistan
bahadur is reputed to control up to fighters whom he sends across the
border but who do not attack in pakistan
the united states does not confirm drone attacks but its military is the only
force that deploys combat drones in the region
it was the sixth missile strike by an unmanned us spy plane so far this year as
the administration of us president barack obama puts pakistan at the heart of
its fight against al qaeda and islamist extremists
suspected us drones have increasingly targeted north waziristan bastion of
al qaeda fighters the taliban and the haqqani network who attack the us
and nato troops fighting in neighbouring afghanistan
washington is increasing pressure on pakistan to tackle militants who use its
soil to launch attacks in afghanistan and american officials have said that the
highly secretive drone programme has eliminated some top fighters
but the attacks on pakistani territory fuel anti american sentiment in the
nuclear armed muslim nation and the government publicly condemns the strikes
speaking during visit to islamabad on friday us republican senator john
mccain defended the attacks saying friends don always agree on every issue
and admitting that it was an issue of tension between the nations
we will continue to try to find common ground with the pakistani government as
we have to do everything we can to protect americans from the attacks of
terrorists who may be based here and operate out of pakistan he said
his comments came day after al qaeda reportedly said an attack on us
military base in eastern afghanistan which killed seven cia agents last month
was carried out to avenge drone strikes that have killed prominent militants
north waziristan neighbours south waziristan where pakistan has been focusing
its most ambitious military offensive yet against homegrown taliban militants
it sent about troops into the region on october
rugby union beauxis makes biarritz pay the penalty
paris jan afp
france international fly half lionel beauxis kicked points as stade francais
got welcome victory over another out of form french rugby giant biarritz
at the stade de france on saturday
beauxis was in imperious form as he converted the only try of the match by
centre mathieu bastareaud while biarritz former french international dimitri
yachvili kicked of his side points in what was scrappy encounter
leaders castres golden run came to an abrupt halt as they lost away at
improving montpellier who gained the scalp of stade francais days ago
castres who have enjoyed revival this season after narrowly avoiding
relegation last term still lead the table though should clermont beat toulouse
on sunday they could slip to second as the former trail them by just four
points
on friday reigning champions perpignan had returned to winning ways after poor
run with win over racing metro
the catalan side bounced back from their recent european cup exit as they handed
racing metro second straight loss the club having last weekend seen nine
match winning streak ended by bourgoin
given the tough conditions we didn expect to land five tries we just wanted
the win said perpignan coach jacques brunel
stade francais stormed out of the blocks and took the lead in the first minute
bastareaud refused to be denied when he took the ball metres out and despite
being brought to ground by three biarritz defenders he climbed to his feet and
burrowed his way over the line through another three biarritz players
beauxis converted to make it
biarritz reduced the deficit to in the th minute as yachvili converted
penalty and whilst bastareaud produced trysaving tackle stade still conceded
penalty in the ensuing move which saw no juan leguizamon yellow carded
yachvili who earlier this season was linked with move to stade landed the
penalty to pull to within point of the hosts but beauxis made it shortly
afterwards with penalty and then added another in the th minute
beauxis stretched the lead to points when another biarritz infringement
handed him an easy penalty which he gratefully accepted to make it
the impeccable beauxis added another penalty shortly after the break while
yachvili failed with an attempt soon afterwards but made no mistake after an
infringement by prop rodrigo roncero
yachvili further reduced the deficit with another penalty to make it in
the rd minute as stade indiscipline threatened to throw victory away but
beauxis added two more penalties while the visitors fly half julien peyrelongue
dropped goal
it has been bit hot and bit tense this week admitted bastareaud
we have to continue to pull together and work hard to get sixth place he
added referring to making the top six which at least gets them into the play
offs for the championship semi finals
in other matches toulon rebounded from their humbling last weekend by
clermont to beat montauban scoring two tries and with england star jonny
wilkinson scoring eight points with the boot
brive good run continued and took them further from the relegation zone as
they followed up last sunday victory over perpignan with victory
england international back jamie noon scoring the second of the visitors tries
away at albi who look almost certainly doomed to be relegated
however albi joint coach daniel blach said that their thoughts were not on
going down
we were really good apart from in the scrum and that is where the two tries
stemmed from and the penalty said blach
we should have won this match by whisker but instead we lost by whisker we
are not even thinking of the second division at the moment
football cardiff miss chance to boost promotion push
london jan afp
championship promotion chasers cardiff wasted chance to close the gap on the
division top two after being held to draw by blackpool on saturday
dave jones side would have moved within six points of second placed nottingham
forest with game in hand if they had won at the cardiff city stadium
cardiff who are reported to be facing second winding up order by her
majesty revenue and customs over an unpaid tax bill took the lead in the
ninth minute when mark hudson headed in peter whittingham free kick
but blackpool hit back in the th minute when brett ormerod found charlie adam
and he slotted into the bottom corner from close range to leave cardiff in
fourth place in english football second tier
scunthorpe demolished derby at pride park to move clear of the relegation
zone
nigel adkins side are now five points ahead of the bottom three after garry
thompson double and further goals from gary hooper and jonathan forte
marcus williams own goal reduced the deficit but scunthorpe cruised to their
first away league win since september and jumped over derby in the table
nigel clough rams fell behind in the th minute when martyn woolford pass
picked out hooper and the striker slotted home his ninth goal of the season
thompson increased scunthorpe lead when miles addison failed to cut out long
pass allowing him to run clear on goal and fire past stephen bywater
scotland midfielder kris commons helped derby get one back when his th minute
shot deflected off williams and trickled past goalkeeper josh lillis
scunthorpe put paid to any derby dreams of late fightback in the th minute
when michael connor broke down the right and pulled the ball back for thompson
to finish effeciently
forte bundled in loose ball with three minutes left to compound derby
despair
coventry warmed up for their fa cup clash against premier league strugglers
portsmouth with win over barnsley at the ricoh arena
chris coleman side who host pompey in the third round replay on tuesday went
ahead in the th minute through freddy eastwood header and sammy clingan
added second goal three minutes later
barnsley were back in the game in the th minute when jon macken got on the
scoresheet but substitute clinton morrison added late third to confirm the
visitors first defeat in nine league matches
refugees in congo face urgent need un
brazzaville jan afp
the un refugee agency announced on saturday an urgent appeal to meet the
enormous needs of refugees here who have fled the violence in
neighbouring democratic republic of congo
the needs are enormous we are going to launch very soon an international
appeal we need funds logistics food said stephan grieb representative of
the un high commissioner for refugees in the republic of congo
there are lot of refugees currently grieb told journalists in the
capital brazzaville last month the estimate stood at refugees
the refugees come from the likouala region along the oubangui river which marks
the border between congo and dr congo where inter tribal clashes erupted in late
october in dispute over rich fishing waters
according to official figures at least people including civilians
were killed in the violence and more than people displaced within the dr
congo and in congo
another refugees are in the central african republic the un said
strong unit of dr congo commando reinforcements wrested back control of
the northwest region on december
the situation has been calm grieb said noting that the flood of refugees has
slowed but the un has had difficulty reaching the refugee encampments which
are mainly accessible only by travelling the river
what has helped us is the hospitality of the congolese people who have accepted
the refugees with open arms grieb said that has helped us enormously and
we ve avoided major catastrophe up to now
some help for the refugees has been promised by france whose foreign minister
bernard kouchner was on an official visit to brazzaville on saturday
the french are sending cargo plane next week with boats and vehicles that can
be used to get aid to the refugees kouchner said
football arsenal indebted to supersub rosicky
london jan afp
tomas rosicky salvaged point for arsenal with an added time equaliser to
secure draw with everton here on saturday
the draw moved arsene wenger side to within three points of premier league
leaders chelsea
it had appeared the gunners were about to suffer their second home defeat of the
season when steven pienaar fired the vistors into deserved lead with just
nine minutes remaining at snow covered emirates stadium
earlier leon osman had put everton ahead in the th minute only for that
advantage to be cancelled out by denilson deflected shot
and fortune was again with the home side when rosicky who appeared as second
half substitute saw his late strike hit the legs of everton australia
defender lucas neill and loop into goalkeeper tim howard net
everton failure to turn succession of draws into wins meant they came into
this game having won just one of their last eight league matches although their
form has been steadily improving in recent weeks
and with landon donovan now amongst their ranks following his loan switch from
la galaxy david moyes side showed no lack of confidence as they set about
disrupting arsenal plans to increase the pressure on chelsea
donovan had an immediate impact in his first premier league start operating
effectively on the right
with south africa steven pienaar and australia cahill pushing forward down
everton left hand flank the arsenal defence was repeatedly stretched in the
opening minutes creating space for striker louis saha
the french forward got his first sight of goal in the seventh minute when he
finished from close range only for the effort to be disallowed for offside
everton five man midfield effectively smothered their opponents and when
arsenal did manage to work their way through the visitors back four was equally
resolute
the gunners were clearly missing alex song the holding midfielder who has been
so impressive this season and is now absent on international duty with cameroon
at the african nations cup
