likeliest club to give jose mourinho inter run for their money
their impressive victory over genoa on wednesday left them with record of
eight wins two draws and just one defeat since october and their run could not
be in starker contrast to juventus who have totally lost the run of things
victory over parma on wednesday albeit an unimpressive display was welcome
news for the old lady after run of five defeats in their last six matches of
including home defeat to german giants bayern munich in the champions
league which saw them crash out of the competition
juventus coach ciro ferrara conceded that while he was happy with the commitment
of his players in the win over parma taking on milan was an entirely different
matter
all that commitment will not be enough against milan admitted ferrara
we have to improve notably in our strategy
however ferrara hopes of beating milan have taken serious blow with their
leading scorer david trezeguet being sidelined for over five weeks with
sprained ankle he suffered in the parma match
the seven goal striker joins growing injury list which also includes world cup
winning trio goalkeeper gianluigi buffon winger mauro camoranesi and striker
vincenzo iaquinta while on loan defender martin caceres is suspended after
being sent off against parma
milan have less problems on the personnel front with just fullback gianluca
zambrotta veteran dutch midfielder clarence seedorf and alexandre pato out
through injury with the latter absence likely to see former england captain
david beckham start his second successive match since returning on loan from la
galaxy
beckham put up an impressive showing on his return and milan outstanding
captain massimo ambrosini was singing his praises
david is great champion and like all great champions he knows how to adapt to
different situations in hurry the year old was quoted as saying on the
football italia website
ambrosini whose form could well see him make marcello lippi world cup finals
squad said that even with juventus coming up he had not conceded the title to
inter
the road is the one we are travelling down now and it is long one he said
we know it but things were going well at the end of the year as well
elsewhere fourth placed napoli will be looking to take advantage of any slip ups
by either juventus or ac milan when they host sampdoria on sunday while
relegation threatened atalanta start life without antonio conte who resigned as
coach on thursday away at palermo
fixtures kick off times in gmt
saturday
as roma chievo inter milan siena
sunday
bologna cagliari fiorentina bari genoa catania livorno parma
napoli sampdoria palermo atalanta udinese lazio juventus ac
milan
scuffles between immigrants and italian police report
rome jan afp
scuffles broke out thursday between italian police and hundreds of immigrant
workers in the southern city of rosarno injuring several people the italian
news agency ansa reported
the farm labourers mostly from africa were angered after number of them had
been shot earlier in the day with an air rifle
while local officials were holding talks with some of the demonstrators others
began to throw rocks at police who responded with charges
number of the demonstrators suffered minor injuries and police made several
arrests ansa reported
the conditions on farms in southern italy are notoriously poor with immigrant
workers often being housed in barracks without electricity and running water
football chelsea to battle hull without african troops
hull england jan afp
life starts to get little harder for chelsea this weekend as the premier
league leaders face the first significant test of their ability to cope without
their quartet of players who have headed off to the african nations cup
carlo ancelotti side are unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions but
must now face up to life without ivory coast pair didier drogba and salomon
kalou nigerian john obi mikel and ghana midfielder michael essien
they coped easily without the foursome against championship side watford in the
fa cup last time out cruising to victory but saturday league trip to
hull is expected to be far tougher
the outcome will be used as marker of whether the blues do have the strength
in depth to make it through the remainder of the month without bringing in new
signings
manager carlo ancelotti has confidence in his side but will have to put much of
his faith in french forward nicolas anelka who has scored five times in the
league so far
he is likely to start in attack with daniel sturridge who scored twice in the
win over watford and anelka realises there is weight of expectation on his
shoulders to find the goals that drogba would have been expected to deliver
much of this season he has played in support role and it is possible that
sturridge will occupy central striker position in order to allow anelka to
thrive
we are still first in the league and we will try our best to stay there
anelka said
wanted to play this position when first came to chelsea with didier in
front and me just behind always said that
this season the manager gave me the chance to do it to be free on the pitch
and feel good
it gives me the chance to have some versatility and that is why do what do
not lot of people knew could do this
chelsea main injury concerns are portuguese midfield player deco who has
groin strain and knee injury to full back jose bosingwa
hull will be attempting to end seven match winless run in all competitions
the tigers have failed to win game since beating everton at the end of
november although their fightback in draw at bolton wanderers recently
proved they are hungry to move away from the relegation zone
bad weather has played havoc with their training schedule ahead of this
enounter though
preparation has been very very difficult but the lads have enjoyed it because
it can be break from the mundane training sessions manager phil brown said
chelsea are formidable outfit they don have drogba and few others but
they can bring in nicolas anelka and daniel sturridge who has really impressed
me
so that is the size of the challenge we face but we are at home and must put
our best foot forward to make sure we play to our full potential and put last
week result behind us by getting positive one here
hull have won only four of their league matches and are still without jimmy
bullard who has been sidelined since limping out of last month defeat at
aston villa
he has shown signs of improvement and hopes to make return against wolves at
the end of january date that can not come soon enough for manager brown
he on target when he got injured we hoped he would play some part in
january and that is still the case the manager added
seyi olofinjana is on international duty with nigeria as is daniel cousin with
gabon ian ashbee knee remains unavailable while dean marney is battling to
overcome calf problem
scuffles between immigrants and italian police report
rome jan afp
scuffles broke out thursday between italian police and hundreds of immigrant
workers in the southern city of rosarno injuring several people the italian
news agency ansa reported
the farm labourers mostly from africa were angered after number of them had
been shot earlier in the day with an air rifle
while local officials were holding talks with some of the demonstrators others
began to throw rocks at police who responded with charges
number of the demonstrators suffered minor injuries and police made several
arrests ansa reported
the conditions on farms in southern italy are notoriously poor with immigrant
workers often being housed in barracks without electricity and running water
football red devils fire out warning to rivals
birmingham england jan afp
manchester united veteran ryan giggs has delivered warning to the rest of the
premier league about the dangers of writing off the champions
united stumbling form of late has offered genuine hope to those challenging
them for honours this season that sir alex ferguson side might be vulnerable
to finishing the season empty handed
ferguson men are smarting from last weekend shock fa cup third round defeat
to league one leaders leeds united at elland road
their form in the premier league has also been inconsistent and saturday trip
to birmingham appears to represent another potential banana skin considering the
blistering form alex mcleish side has been in
for once victory for united is far from guaranteed as birmingham look to
extend an match unbeaten run in the league
giggs though is adamant united have what it takes to bounce back from last
weekend setback and get their season back on an even keel
the welshman said it has always been the same here one defeat and it is
disaster that is never going to change
but we don get carried away with that just the same as we wouldn get
carried away if we had won on the bounce
it is up to us to work hard and get back to winning ways we are still in
strong position in the league and we are still in the champions league
the turn of the year is when we are notoriously at our best we have great
team at the moment and still believe there is more for me to win
ferguson will once again be without rio ferdinand due to his ongoing back
problem although goalkeeper edwin van der sar is back in contention having
returned to manchester from amsterdam where his wife had been taken ill before
new year
ferguson is expected to make several changes with giggs michael carrick and
nemanja vidic all expected to be recalled to the starting line up after missing
the defeat by lees
ferguson has also revealed that new signing mame biram diouf is close to making
his united debut
diouf joined united from norwegian side molde in the summer but has only
just linked up with his new colleagues after ferguson allowed him to remain on
loan at his old club until the end of their domestic campaign
the senegal international has been granted international clearance and ferguson
said he has adapted very well to our training regime and has looked very
impressive he is quick very good in the air and good striker of the ball
overall he is really good centre forward and he will play part this
season
birmingham meanwhile are closing in on making sunderland striker kenwyne jones
their record signing
mcleish bid to sign jones in an million pound deal is said to be at an
advanced stage and could be completed over the weekend
birmingham are also close to signing playmaker michel from spanish side sporting
gijon and confidence in the home camp couldn be higher even if mcleish
himself admits to still being slightly in awe of ferguson manager he played
under for aberdeen and scotland
the big one for all of us who have played for sir alex is to beat him but
you re not allowed mcleish said
ve never done it we lost at ibrox in the champions league when was
manager of rangers and then got thumped down the road
ve lost two games since ve been here at birmingham both so
getting closer do pick up the phone to him sometimes and get phone calls
from him
we all like to think his best protege or his best pal but he got
millions and they are not only players who ve played for him
the amount of managers who phone him or are friendly with him is incredible and
they revere him
special us envoy king to visit south korea and japan
washington jan afp
robert king the us envoy on human rights in north korea will visit south korea
and japan later this month the us state department announced thursday
ambassador king who was confirmed in his post by the senate in november will
visit south korea from january and japan on january the office of the
department spokesman said in statement
he will meet with south korean and japanese government officials as well as
north korean defectors family members of abductees and non governmental
organizations it added
north korea on monday faced barrage of demands from western countries to open
up to international organizations and independent monitors to improve its human
rights situation during hearing at the un human rights council
north korea on wednesday rejected calls to grant access to un independent
expert but agreed to consider allowing international agencies such as the world
food program into the country and signing up to international labor and human
rights treaties
king said it was encouraging that pyongyang had participated in the process
think it was useful that it was the beginning of dialogue hope it would
be an opportunity to continue he told reporters
football afp african nations cup advisory
paris jan afp
we will shortly begin to file our fourth and final series of advancers on the
african nations cup which begins in angola on sunday
our preview includes profiles and factfiles on all qualifiers portraits of
all the major stars plus comprehensive package of background information and
all the breaking news
from friday three days before the curtain raiser in luanda between the hosts
and mali afp will have its experienced team of reporters and photographers in
place
they will be providing in depth coverage of each game up to the january final
as well as reporting on all the excitement and drama surrounding this biennial
event
we will also be supplying full video and graphics service throughout the three
week competition
we will shortly move the following
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spanish police detain convicted eta collaborator report
madrid jan afp
spanish police detained overnight man who was sentenced to two years in jail
for cooperating with the armed basque separatist group eta spanish media
reported friday
police arrested pedro maria olano zabala in the basque town of lizartza in the
first detention of the year of someone linked the group considered terrorist
organisation by both the european union and the united states the online
edition of daily newspaper el mundo reported
in february the national audience spain top criminal court ruled that while
zabala did not belong to eta he contributed to its goals by threatening to
kill the mayor of the town regina otaola who was taken hard line against
basque separatists
the court sentenced him to jail for in september for pointing his finger at
the mayor who belongs to the conservative popular party and saying otaola
you are going to die when she hung the spanish flag at the town hall over the
protests of about people
otaola has angered many basque separatists since she was elected mayor of the
town located in valley just south of the seaside resort of san sebastian of
may of that year with her vocal support of spanish unity
aside from hanging the spanish flag at the town hall she has removed photos of
jailed eta members and demanded that all official meetings be conducted in
spanish rather than in the basque language
eta is blamed for deaths in year campaign for independence in the
basque region of northern spain and southwestern france
british troops tried to rescue hostages at iran border report
london jan afp
british troops in southern iraq were rushed to the iranian border after the
kidnapping of five british hostages in in failed bid to stop them being
taken over the border report claimed friday
peter moore computer expert was freed unharmed in december after months
in captivity during which all four of his bodyguards are thought to have been
killed three of the bodies were handed to british officials last year
the guardian has alleged that iran revolutionary guard led the kidnap
operation and took the five to iran within day of their abduction
the newspaper said friday that british troops were sent to the iraq iran border
area north of basra to intercept the kidnappers after receiving intelligence
but failed to find them
it is unclear whether the british unit arrived too late or went to different
crossing point along the lengthy border the daily said citing unnamed sources
british officers who had taken part in the operation briefed journalist
several months after the kidnapping according to the paper
the foreign office said it did not comment on operational security matters and
reiterated that there was no evidence of an iran link
we have no evidence that the british hostages were held in iran or to
substantiate claims that iran was directly involved in the kidnapping
foreign office spokeswoman told afp
the five were kidnapped from the finance ministry in baghdad in may by
some gunmen from the league of the righteous breakaway shiite militia
moore was freed after several hundred insurgents from the group including the
leader were released from us custody
the body of the sole remaining briton kidnapped would be handed over in the
coming days iraq said on sunday
us regional military commander general david petraeus has said that moore spent
at least part of his time in captivity in iran citing an american intelligence
assessment
cia plans more analysts for yemen africa
washington jan afp
the central intelligence agency said on thursday it plans to increase the number
of analysts looking at yemen and africa after an attempt to blow up us
airliner was blamed on al qaeda branch in yemen
the cia announced the move as part of several measures designed to disrupt
terror plots after intelligence agencies failed to uncover bid to blow up
jet bound for detroit on christmas day
the cia will increase the number of analysts focused on yemen and africa areas
that have been of concern to the agency for long time spokesman george
little said in statement to afp
growing concern that yemen has become haven for al qaeda was confirmed when
nigerian man allegedly trained in yemen was charged with trying to set off an
explosive in us bound northwest airlines jet
the botched christmas day attack was claimed by al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula aqap which also urged attacks on western interests in yemen
cia director leon panetta also ordered the agency to formally distribute
information on possible terrorists within hours and to expand records on
those suspects
panetta instructed the agency to review information on individuals in countries
of concern and to recommend if their status on terror watchlists should be
changed little said
panetta orders were issued on tuesday he said
the cia statement came after us president barack obama ordered spy and security
agencies to carry out urgent measures after the al qaeda attack exposed serious
intelligence failures
us authorities have charged year old nigerian umar farouk abdulmutallab
with attempted murder and trying to use weapon of mass destruction aboard us
plane
while pledging to take immediate steps to bolster security efforts the cia
defended its role prior to the attempted attack
before the detroit incident the cia collected and shared information about
abdulmutallab with other agencies little said
the cia has taken close look at how we can do even more to support our
government efforts to disrupt terrorist plots
ford rolls out twitter for the car
las vegas nevada jan afp
ford is going to let you listen to your tweets and internet music and news
stations while behind the wheel as the number two us automaker expands what it
calls in car connectivity
ford executives outlined number of the new features which are activated by
voice or touch commands to minimize driver distraction in keynote speech at
the annual consumer electronics show ces here on thursday
the new internet services which require mobile phone with bluetooth
connection are twitter application built by developer openbeak pandora music
radio and stitcher personalized newscast service
the us automaker also announced it was in active talks with google about
bringing unspecified devices and services from the internet giant to its cars
and had forged partnership with online mapping website mapquest
the new technologies being rolled out are systems known as sync developed with
us software giant microsoft which also gives traffic reports navigation
information and even provides health report on the state of the car
ford introduced sync two years ago and president and chief executive alan
mulally said the company now has more than one million sync equipped cars on the
road
mulally added that the features will eventually have place in every ford
vehicle and not just our luxury models
addressing the obvious safety concerns derrick kuzak ford global product
development chief said making the sync interfaces simple and intuitive was
critical and they emphasize hands free voice controls
they have to minimize driver distraction he said we even block things like
touchscreen destination entries when the vehicle is at speed
our vision for sync is that customers can connect to friends and family to
their favorite entertainment devices and to all of the data stored in the cloud
using voice commands touch controls and colorful lcd graphics kuzak said
they can chat with their kids listen to their rss feeds scan their ipods and
make dinner reservations all while driving home from work he said and all
while keeping their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel
jim buczkowski director of electrical and electronics systems engineering said
among the features that can be controlled by voice commands are the radio cd
player mp player climate control system navigation and phone
an eight inch lcd touchscreen screen between the driver and the front passenger
allows for touch commands new system called myford touch
ford said touch technology will be standard equipment on all future lincoln
models beginning this year and will appear in the new ford edge later this year
and the ford focus
doug vandagens head of ford connectivity group said myford technology will
allow internet cloud connectivity using built in wi fi
the sync internet browser can only be accessed when the car is in park but
think you agree that good thing vandagens said
sync product manager julius marchwicki said for twitter pandora or stitcher to
work in the car user needs to have the services as an application on their
mobile phone and bluetooth connection
they can be voice activated or through the car touchscreen our customers who
tweet will be able to hear their timelines friends and direct messages he
said
marchwicki also stressed they were designed with safety uppermost in mind in
bid to keep your phone in your pocket your hands on the wheel and your eyes on
the road
obama orders immediate steps after security failure
washington jan afp
president barack obama on thursday ordered intelligence and security agencies to
undertake immediate actions after us authorities failed to uncover plot to
blow up an airliner on christmas day
in memorandum to government departments obama said the measures including
improving airport security technology and reviewing how information on suspected
terrorists is managed were needed to counter militant groups employing new
tactics
have concluded that immediate actions must be taken to enhance the security
of the american people obama said in the memo
these actions are necessary given inherent systemic weaknesses and human errors
revealed by the review of events leading up to december th
here are the main points of the memo on corrective actions
state department
review rules for how visas are issued and withdrawn taking into account
concerns over terror threats
department of homeland security
improve procedures and technology for screening passengers while respecting
privacy rights
bolster cooperation with other governments on airport security
director of national intelligence
clarify the roles of different intelligence agencies in sifting through
information on terrorist threats
improve the use of technology for managing data and linking biographical
details on suspects with other intelligence information
cia
ensure intelligence reports are distributed quickly
improve procedures for how lists of suspected terrorists are compiled
analyzed and acted on
fbi
review the data base and the visa status for suspected terrorists starting
with the no fly list for airlines
draw up recommendations on possible changes to how watchlists of suspected
terrorists are prepared
national counter terrorism center
ensure terrorism threats are tracked exhaustively and assigned priorities
alert intelligence and law enforcement agencies for follow up action
create team devoted to improving records on possible terrorists
white house national security staff
review the systemic failures in the run up to the attempted attack on the
northwest airplane preparing the way for policy changes and making clear the
roles of various agencies
review how different terrorist watchlists are drafted and whether computer
technology needs to be improved or better linked together
ab inbev staff take bosses hostage over layoffs
brussels jan afp
workers at an anheuser busch inbev brewery in eastern belgium took their bosses
hostage thursday after an announcement of layoffs at the world biggest brewer
local media reported
we are demanding that the company senior managers come here and call off
the layoffs marc devenne union representative was quoted as saying by the
