from yet another corner ashley young cut in from the left and lashed way wide
of paul robinson goal
martin neill side were still dominating and gabriel agbonlahor had low
drive held by robinson after he was fed by emile heskey
and midway through the first half they grabbed the lead with quick counter
attack
robinson long free kick into the villa area was headed away by collins
milner raced into the blackburn half and knocked it wide for downing who guided
the ball into the area for milner to stab in
rovers looked to be running out of ideas fast and brett emerton hopeful drive
straight at stephen warnock summed up their frustration
six minutes before the break villa looked like they might add second but
agbonlahor was booking for diving
the england striker cut in from the left and went down under chris samba
challenge in the area but instead of pointing to the spot referee mark
clattenburg showed the him yellow card
when dunn finally managed to thread kalinic through the croatian was denied by
richard dunne sliding challenge
villa could have doubled their lead just before the interval but robinson pulled
off fine block at the near post from stiliyan petrov
minute after the restart milner threatened once again with powerful low
strike that was held by robinson
and young rifled straight across robinson six yard box after run that beat
rovers substitute martin olsson
kalinic passed up great chance to level nine minutes after the restart when he
headed against the post from morten gamst pedersen cross
dunn also flashed shot wide after olsson cross from the left caused panic in
the villa defence
pascal chimbonda cross picked out kalinic yards from goal but the
croatian effort again came back off the post
villa continued to threaten on the break and young could have killed the tie
midway through the second half but failed to make contact with downing whipped
cross from the left
young was wasteful once again when he was played through by steve sidwell only
to fire wide of goal
rovers manager sam allardyce threw on south african star benni mccarthy with
quarter of an hour to go
and australian midfielder emerton forced fine save from bradley guzan as
blackburn looked for way back into the game
it could have been even worse for blackburn if robinson had not pulled off an
impressive late save from agbonlahor
rugbyu european challenge results collated
paris jan afp
collated european challenge results on thursday
pool
bourgoin fra bucuresti oaks rom
pool
saracens eng toulon fra
pool
london wasps eng rome ita
friday
pool
castres fra rovigo ita
pool
connacht irl montpellier fra
pool
albi fra newcastle eng
saturday
pool
rugby parma ita leeds carnegie eng
pool
worcester eng olympus rugby xv madrid esp
pool
bayonne fra racing metro fra
pool
petrarca padova ita montauban fra
bolivia to buy aircraft from china for anti drug fight
la paz jan afp
bolivia will buy six chinese military planes and russian built helicopters
this year to aid the government fight against illegal drug trafficking and
organized crime the country defense minister said thursday
defense minister walker san miguel told local radio here that the chinese planes
have price tag of million dollars and will be ready for delivery in about
months
bolivia has worked out special financing arrangements with china to allow la paz
to purchase the aircraft the minister said
the announcement comes as bolivia bolsters its drug enforcement capabilities
after ejecting us drug enforcement agents from its territory
the removal of the us agents has allowed his government to focus on regional
aspects of the anti drug fight san miguel told local radio here
traffickers take out crystallized cocaine to brazil and other countries via
airplane the defense minister said adding that every country in south
america has an active role to play in the anti drug fight
san miguel said the bolivian government was also seeking congressional approval
to purchase the russian built cargo helicopters for use by the police
president evo morales ordered the us drug enforcement administration in november
to leave after accusing it of having had hand in political unrest and
drug trafficking in bolivia
the us state department in september identified countries as major drug
transit or drug producing countries with bolivia one of handful at the top of
the list
football coppa italia quarter final draw
rome jan afp
draw for the quarter finals of the coppa italia
fiorentina lazio
juventus inter milan
ac milan udinese
as roma catania
matches to be played between jan
football coppa italia results
rome jan afp
results from the coppa italia on thursday
last
fiorentina mutu babacar chievo granoche bentivoglio
lazio kolarov floccari palermo
udinese lodi pen corradi lumezzane
played wednesday
ac milan inzaghi flamini novara gonzalez
genoa rossi catania plasmati
juventus diego del piero pen napoli
played tuesday
as roma brighi vucinic baptista triestina della rocca pen
played december
inter milan sneijder livorno
football english league cup result
london jan afp
english league cup result on thursday
semi final st leg
blackburn aston villa milner
nd leg jan
to play
man city man utd
st leg jan nd leg jan
american express waives fee on haiti donatins
washington jan afp
american express on thursday offered to waive transaction fees for donations
made via its credit card to quake hit haiti amid criticism over profits by banks
and credit card firms on contributions
american express said it would rebate the merchant discount rate for charitable
contributions made on its credit card directly to any of the non profit
organizations in support of haiti relief
the organizations should be listed on the website of the us agency for
international development usaid company statement said
the rebate was effective retroactively from january through february
american express said
it announced dollar donation to assist several groups with their haiti
relief efforts including american red cross doctors without borders
international rescue committee and the united nations friends of the world food
program
it is not known whether other credit card companies would make similar rebates
there was no immediate response to afp queries from master card and visa
american banks and credit card companies make huge profits about million
dollars year from people charitable donations through transaction costs
an analysis by huffington post us news website and aggregated blog showed
those profits rise sharply after major disasters when humanitarian relief
organizations such as oxfam and operation usa take in more than percent of
their donations via credit card it said
the credit card providers with only few exceptions refuse to waive their
fees the report said
credit card companies have only been willing to waive their processing fee for
charity once for the tsunami disaster said richard walden the chief
executive of operation usa according to the report
peter larson of the washington humane society said it unfortunate that
portion of our individual contributions are eaten up by processing fees but
that the nature of business we have no choice but to use credit cards because
without them we would lose great deal of money in donations
spain ambassador to haiti evacuated to guantanamo
madrid jan afp
spain ambassador to haiti has been evacuated to the us naval base in
guantanamo bay cuba to receive treatment for an injury sustained in the
earthquake diplomats said thursday
they said juan fernandez trigo was slightly injured in one arm when the spanish
embassy was badly damaged in tuesday devastating quake
he was flown by helicopter to guantanamo so doctors can ensure that the injury
does not become more serious
the united states on wednesday evacuated four critically injured members of the
american embassy staff in haiti to guantanamo bay to receive medical treatment
football flavio manucho help angola down malawi
luanda jan afp
angola avoided another mali style collapse to beat malawi and move to the
top of africa cup of nations group thursday
the hosts put the trauma of seeing four goal lead evaporate in the last
quarter of an hour of their opening game behind them with goals from flavio and
manucho
the result put angola on four points with malawi and algeria on three and mali
beaten by the algerians in thursday first match propping up the table on
one point
the team put in fantastic effort said angola coach manuel jose
we had lot of injuries had to take gilberto off early if he had stayed on
perhaps we could have closed down the game sooner
then there was flavio and zuela who had problem in the last minute but they
are the sort of sacrifices you have to make if you want to be champions
believed before the game we could win it the players were free in their
minds their confidence was very high
angola captain carlos kali alonso added we showed our strength we felt more
secure and our morale was high
malawi coach kinnah phiri was upset over training facilities accorded to his
team in the run up to the game
we ve written letter of protest to organisers caf they didn let us
train at the stadium we were denied chance to train yesterday wednesday
angola with president eduardo jose dos santos sporting the team scarf among
the crowd burst out of the blocks
they almost took lightning lead when manucho volleyed flavio cross only for
malawi keeper swadick sanudi to smother the ball
on minutes djalma set up former manchester united and hull city striker
manucho whose fierce effort was only stopped by superb save from sanudi
jose was forced into an unscripted change of personnel when jamuana came on for
injured gilberto
there was touch of artistry from malawi peter wadabwa in the th minute
when with his back to the angola goal he flicked the ball with his heel at
keeper carlos fernandes whose reflex save was equal to the threat
in first half injury time flavio corner found manucho in the box but the
striker headed over the woodwork from close range
the second half was only three minutes old when angola got the goal they
deserved
djalma enjoying bright game raced down the left in move started by mabina
and lofted the ball into the box for charging flavio the striker based in
saudi arabia to head past sanudi
the president tapping his white trainers excitedly beamed
his smile was even wider when on minutes manucho beat off malawi skipper
peter mponda to score from close range
mali had defied greater odds to grab point last sunday but angola weren
about to be caught napping twice
the one sting in the tail for jose was the sight of raft of his troops hit the
deck with various degrees of injury flavio had to be stretchered off as the
hour struck
imf korea to co host international asia conference
washington jan afp
the international monetary fund and south korea will jointly host high level
international conference on asia in seoul in july the imf and the south korean
government announced thursday
the july conference will be held to examine asia economic dynamism and
evolving role in international policy making they said in joint statement
more than leading figures were expected to attend ranging from central bank
governors and finance ministers to business leaders financial market experts
and representative of civil society they said
south korea which chairs the group of major developed and developing
economies this year has pledged the group will double its efforts to help the
global economy transition from recovery from recession into more sustainable and
balanced growth
asia is at an important crossroads said dominique strauss kahn the imf
managing director
in post crisis world asia is well positioned to build on its strong
macroeconomic track record and engage prominently in the debate on policy
challenges facing the global economy
strauss kahn said the theme of the conference was transformation and that
participants would share their insights on the challenges and opportunities
facing asia and the global economy in the next decade
the conference will also underscore the imf renewed commitment to serving
as global partner for the region he added
the imf chief welcomed the government agreement to co host the conference
as chair of the process in korea will be playing critical role in
shaping the global economic policy agenda this year including on imf reforms
he said
the is set to hold two leaders summits this year in canada in june and in
south korea in november
canada considers fast tracking haitian immigration
ottawa jan afp
canada is to announce measures to possibly fast track immigration of haitians
after quake devastated the caribbean nation prime minister stephen harper
said thursday
opening up the immigration process will be something the government will be
addressing in the next couple of days harper said while stopping at red cross
offices to make donation to help haiti relief efforts
the minister of immigration has been discussing these matters with us and we
will have announcements in the not too distant future he added
earlier foreign affairs minister lawrence cannon commented that immigration
minister lawrence kenney was looking at allowing haitians who lost their homes
in the quake to be reunited with family living in canada
nba arenas faces felony gun charge charge report
washington jan afp
suspended washington wizards star guard gilbert arenas faces felony charge
after bringing four guns into the locker room of the nba club the washington
post reported thursday
on its website the newspaper said arenas has been charged with carrying
pistol without license outside home or business felony that carries
maximum five years in jail and fine
lawyers for arenas and the us attorney office had been in negotiations for
plea deal and it was not immediately known if the charge was part of an
arrangement
arenas is expected to appear in superior court on friday
in the charges prosecutors said that on december arenas did carry openly
and concealed on or about his person in place other than his dwelling place
place of business or on other land possessed by him pistol without license
issued pursuant to law
citing unnamed sources the newspaper had reported that negotiations between
lawyers for arenas and the us attorney office could keep the player out of
jail despite him bringing guns to his locker at the wizards home arena in the
chinatown section of the american capital
arenas and teammate javaris crittenton argued after card game last month and
crittenton said he should shoot arenas in his surgically repaired left knee the
post reported
on december the paper said arenas brought four guns and put them on chair
next to crittenton locker with note saying pick one
wizards coach flip saunders team president ernie grunfeld and eight wizards
players have been interviewed by the grand jury or spoken with authorities
police searched crittenton apartment early thursday morning
nba commissioner david stern suspended arenas indefinitely without pay on
january an nba investigation that could bring more suspensions and fines
could come in the next week
arenas missed most of the past two seasons with knee injuries and had hoped for
breakout comeback season instead the team has pulled his image from an arena
banner and pre game video and stopped displaying his no zero jersey
wall street struggles higher after weak retail report
new york jan afp
wall street looked past disappointing data on us retail sales and posted modest
gains thursday as traders banked on positive news on corporate earnings
the dow jones industrial average rose points percent to end at
reversing weak opening and hitting its best close since october
the nasdaq composite rose points percent to its best level
since september the broad market standard amp poor index advanced
points percent to month high of
the market wobbled at the opening on the news that us retail sales fell
unexpectedly by percent in december poor sign for the critical holiday
shopping season
the report stunned analysts expecting gain of percent in sales the key
driver of us economic activity
andrea kramer at schaeffer investment research said computer chip giant intel
paced the advancing issues amid pre earnings optimism
others said intel earnings and release from financial giant jpmorgan chase
would provide signals on the health of the sectors and ther overall economy
this should give investors good gauge on the strength of the global economic
recovery and an update look at technology spending said fred dickson at da
davidson amp co
revenue growth will be more important than ever as investors are becoming
anxious to see the reported top line revenue growth needed to sustain an
economic recovery and eventually drive employment growth and consumer spending
after the bell intel reported profit for the fourt quarter of billion
dollars up stunning percent from year ago and better than analyst
forecasts revenues also topped most forecasts
intel rose percent to dollars at the close
in the retail space target rose percent to dollars as it announced
that it is resuming its share buyback and hinted at better results in both its
retail and credit card segments
elsewhere kodak rose percent to dollars after filing patent
infringement suit related to digital imaging technology against apple down
percent at dollars and research in motion up percent at
dollars
jpmorgan chase added percent to dollars
bonds gained the yield on the year us treasury bond eased to percent
from percent wednesday and that on the year bond dipped to
percent from percent bond yields and prices move in opposite directions
cricket flintoff to miss ipl as he targets county honours
london jan afp
andrew flintoff will not fulfil the second year of his contract with indian
premier league ipl franchise the chennai super kings after undergoing another
operation on his right knee
however the england all rounder has set his sights on playing for his native
county side lancashire in all competitions in the next english season having
believed he would be fit for one day matches only even if he won be returning
until midway through the domestic campaign
pace bowler and hard hitting batsman flintoff retired from test cricket after
helping england regain the ashes last year saying his injury hit body could no
longer stand the strain but stressed he wanted to remain involved in the one
day set up
however he has not played at all since undergoing micro fracture operation on
his right knee soon after the ashes
but following what statement released thursday by his agent said was
routine arthroscopy operation this week to check on his knee which is
expected to sideline him for six months flintoff altered his ambitions
my goals have changed since last summer flintoff said trust the surgeon
andy williams implicitly and he is very pleased with the progress of the
operation
when first had the operation did not think would be able to play anything
other than one day cricket but the news of my recovery has led me to believe
may play in all forms of cricket for lancashire
my first love remains playing for lancashire and want to help them win
trophies and hopefully can help achieve that later this english summer
the statement added flintoff decision to undergo another operation took into
account he would not be able to fulfil the second year of his contract with
chennai in the ipl
it is disappointing not to be able to play for chennai who have been very
supportive throughout my time with them but took this decision because love
playing cricket and want to give myself the best chance of extending my career
flintoff said
he added have worked extremely hard over the last few months to get to this
position and realise there is lot more hard work in front of me if want to
return and play international cricket again
but if am going to go through another six months of hard rehabilitation and
training for long hours need big incentive to be the driving force of that
and playing for lancashire and england again will become that
flintoff said watching england tour of south africa where the concluding
fourth test in johannesburg is currently taking place had whetted his appetite
for cricket
during my time in rehabilitation have been watching england playing well in
south africa and it has made me realise how much have missed cricket the
year old explained
flintoff career has also been blighted by four ankle operations but when fit
he remains capable of high class bowling spells as was shown when he took five
wickets for runs in july to help england win test against australia at
lord for the first time in years
in tests flintoff scored runs at an average of with five
hundreds and best of he took wickets at three times taking
five wickets in an innings
flintoff has also scored nearly runs in one day internationals with
three hundreds and taken wickets
sex therapist pushes love stimulus plan for us capital
washington jan afp
the pioneer of media sex therapists dr ruth westheimer has teamed up with the
city of washington to promote day romance stimulus plan for the us capital
the word stimulus is dream it has something arousing westheimer who is
better known under as dr ruth said at press conference to announce the
partnership
dr ruth will serve as honorary us secretary of love and relations during the
month of february the month of valentine day with the brief to jump
start the district love economy
around million tourists including million from abroad visit washington
every year but few head to the us capital for romantic get away
in fact washington ranked second to last out of us cities that visitors
think of as romantic destinations according to an annual poll to find america
favorite cities
throughout february washington will put new lovey dovey spin on its
monuments museums and restaurants
couples are being offered percent off the entrance fee at madame tussaud
museum in the us capital and two for the price of one offer during the week
of valentine day february at the news orientated newseum
born karola ruth siegel in germany in dr ruth was sent to children
home in switzerland at the age of to escape the holocaust
at she went to israel and later moved to paris where she studied at the
sorbonne and taught kindergarten
she emigrated to the united states in and obtained masters degree in
sociology from the new school of social research in new york doctorate of
education from columbia university and later studied human sexuality at cornell
university
in she started minute radio program in new york called sexually
speaking year later the show had grown to an hour long live show
dr ruth has now appeared on television has her own website and even an iphone
app that says sex related words in the doctor distinctive european accent
her message to washington locals and visitors in february was to get out and do
something in the city
do something for valentine day go to the museum take the risk to talk to
someone at least you know one thing this person is not couch potato she
said
china defends web censorship after google threat
beijing jan afp
china declared its internet open thursday but defended censorship that has
prompted web giant google to threaten to pull out of the country adding
potential new irritant in china us relations
but google backed by the white house appeared to be winning the battle for
hearts and minds with chinese online users flooding the web and visiting the
company beijing offices to express support and urge the internet giant not to
leave china
the chinese government administers the internet according to law and we have
explicit stipulations over what information and content can be spread over the
internet foreign ministry spokeswoman jiang yu told reporters
jiang comment marked china most direct response yet after google shock
announcement tuesday that it would stop bowing to chinese internet censors and
could pull out of the world largest online market of million users
google said the move was protest against censorship and what it called highly
sophisticated cyber attacks on its systems which were aimed at chinese human
rights activists and believed to have originated in china
china employs vast system of web censorship dubbed the great firewall of
china that blocks content such as political dissent pornography and other
information viewed as objectionable
but at google offices in beijing dozens of supporters stopped by to voice
their support leaving messages flowers and fruit
goodbye google you can build the wall but you can separate the hearts of
the people we want to see the other side of the wall said message from one
supporter
freedom said another message in english and chinese
the chinese spokeswoman jiang declared the country internet open but
declined to offer detailed response to us secretary of state hillary clinton
call for china to explain the alleged cyber attacks
believe if there are some appeals for that authorities will investigate
it jiang said at the regular news briefing
she refused to elaborate and also refused to comment when asked repeatedly
whether the purported attacks originated in china and were orchestrated by the
government
the white house backed google thursday we strongly support google action
white house spokesman robert gibbs said recalling that president barack obama
had spoken out publicly in favour of internet freedoms during webcast event in
shanghai last year
but he avoided question on whether the google row could threaten wider us
china relations which obama has attempted to improve since coming to office
last year
the issue was shaping up as the latest item on growing list of disputes
between china and the united states over trade climate change and human rights
in another development thursday us lawmakers sought to prevent internet
companies from censoring information overseas hailing google move as
turning point
members of congress said they had new momentum to enact bill that would
prohibit us firms from storing users personal information in countries that
restrict the peaceful expression of political and religious views online
meanwhile state media said chinese parliamentary leader wu bangguo told group
of visiting us senators the two sides should respect each other core
interests and properly handle sensitive affairs without specifically
mentioning google
the statement by wu nominally china second ranking political figure is
typically used by beijing to express displeasure about what they view as
unwanted interference in chinese affairs
chinese official said tight internet controls were needed saying the nation
online environment faced severe challenges as it grew and became more central
to the nation economy
wang chen head of the central government information office said in
comments on the government website that the nation must strive to build
healthy civilised safe and orderly internet environment
such wording is usually employed to justify censorship
chinese internet users flooded the web with messages of support for google and
the ideal of free and open online environment
it not google that withdrawing from china it china that
withdrawing from the world one user said on twitter sentiment echoed in
other tweets the micro blogging site is currently blocked by beijing
nfl colts saints try to regain magic touch in playoffs
new orleans louisiana jan afp
indianapolis and new orleans who flirted with perfect seasons before poor
decembers will try to recapture the magic when their national football league
playoff runs begin saturday
indianapolis will play host to baltimore while the saints entertain arizona in
second round playoff matchups saturday
dallas will visit minnesota and the new york jets will travel to san diego in
