the home side were behind inside the first minute at the walkers stadium after
ipswich managed by former manchester united midfielder roy keane broke
through
jack colback cross came to the near post where leicester ryan mcgivern
under pressure from ipswich david norris who made superb run put through
his own net
but leicester were level before half time when after ipswich failed to clear
cross the ball fell to leicester strike steve howard who struck an equaliser
from the edge of the yard box
the result in one of the few english league matches to survive the big freeze
engulfing britain this weekend left leicester fifth in the table
meanwhile ipswich who had wretched start to the season have now lost just
once in their last league matches but they remained in th place with
relegation still worry for the club
disappointed we didn build on our great start to the game but know we
can do lot better than today said keane
leicester manager nigel pearson said he was happy to have come out of the match
with point
it wasn very good game and we struggled to get anything going but at least
we ve come out of it with something positive said pearson
football greek league results
athens jan afp
greek league results on sunday
asteras kavala
olympiakos larissa
panthrakikos giannina
aris salonika iraklis
aek athens atromitos
played saturday
ergotelis panionios
xanthi panathinaikos
levadiakos paok
standings all played panathinaikos pts olympiakos paok
aris asteras aek kavala panionios ergotelis
atromitos iraklis xanthi larissa giannina
levadiakos panthrakikos
togo withdraws from africa cup of nations spokesman
cabinda angola jan afp
togo on sunday withdrew from the africa cup of nations in angola after at least
two people died in rebel ambush on their convoy said spokesman for the
confederation of african football
the bus has left for the airport to bring togo team home along with the two
bodies the spokesman told afp
the bus left around gmt from the team base camp in the restive province
cabinda where the attack took place on friday according to an afp journalist
curtains on the bus windows were drawn as it headed down the road to the
airport under heavy police protection
togo government ordered the team to return home even though the players
wanted to compete in the tournament to honour the assistant coach and team
spokesman killed in the attack claimed by separatist rebels
football dynamo sign voronin from liverpool
moscow jan afp
russian top flight side dynamo moscow have signed ukrainian striker andriy
voronin on three year contract from liverpool the russian club announced
sunday
the year old forward who spent last season on loan at hertha berlin has
signed his personal contract with the russian side after meeting his new coach
andrey kobelev
dynamo sporting director konstantin sarsania told the club official website
the transfer of andriy voronin can be considered accomplished
the clubs have reached an agreement and the player signed contract for three
years
no financial details of the deal were disclosed
voronin moved to anfield in from bayer leverkusen after years in germany
but scored only five goals in league appearances for liverpool
had options for continuing career in germany and several in russia but
eventually opted for dynamo voronin said
liked the professional approach of the leaders of the moscow club during
negotiations and also liked the conversation with head coach andrey kobelev
urgent togo withdraws from africa cup of nations spokesman
cabinda angola jan afp
togo on sunday withdrew from the africa cup of nations in angola after rebels
ambushed their convoy and killed at least two people said spokesman for the
confederation of african football
israel pm vows not to free terror masterminds for shalit
jerusalem jan afp
prime minister benjamin netanyahu vowed on sunday not to release several high
profile palestinian prisoners in exchange for captive israeli soldier gilad
shalit
we will not agree to release terror masterminds and never agree to the
return of dangerous terrorists to the west bank netanyahu told members of his
likud party in parliament according to officials at the meeting
israel and the palestinian islamist movement hamas have been locked in arduous
indirect negotiations for the release of shalit
the jewish state has reportedly agreed to release about prisoners demanded
by hamas but baulked at several who were behind particularly bloody attacks
netanyahu was apparently referring to marwan barghuti the popular palestinian
leader who israel holds responsible for instigating the outbreak of the
second palestinian intifada or uprising
barghuti who was elected to the governing body of the secular fatah party of
western backed palestinian president mahmud abbas in august is currently
serving five life sentences for murder and his role in the intifada
he is widely seen as the uprising architect although he has said he opposed
attacks on civilians inside israel including the scores of suicide bombers sent
in by armed groups
during his time behind bars the man once seen as the natural successor to the
iconic leader yasser arafat and today to abbas has remained highly popular on
the palestinian street
he told an italian newspaper in late november that he believed he was on list
of hundreds of prisoners whose release hamas which controls gaza is demanding in
exchange for shalit
shalit who holds both israeli and french nationalities was captured in june
when three gaza militant groups including hamas tunnelled out of the
territory and attacked an israeli army post killing two other soldiers
football angola mali teams
luanda jan afp
teams for the africa cup of nations group game here on sunday
angola
carlos fernandes jose mabina alberto rui marques stelvio cruz carlos
kali alonso capt fernando chara costa felisberto gilberto amaral
zuela santos aderito dede carvalho flavio amado mateus manucho alberto
coach manuel jose por
mali
mahamadou sidibe adama tamboura bakary soumare souleymane diamoutene
ousmane berthe mahamadou diarra capt bakaye traore el hadj traore mamadou
bagayoko frederic kanoute modibo maiga
coach stephen keshi ngr
referee essam abdel fatah egy
jumblatt and hezbollah seal lebanon reconciliation accord
beirut jan afp
hezbollah finalised reconciliation agreement on sunday with druze leader walid
jumblatt that has diffused tensions between the two lebanese parties after
deadly clashes in may
leaders of the two sides emphasised their commitment to national unity in
speeches broadcast on hezbollah television station al manar with jumblatt
stressing the importance of ending the tensions
if the fighting had spread the country would have fallen into vicious
cycle of violence that would have put an end to the co existence of lebanon
multiple religious communities jumblatt said at the reconciliation meeting in
shweifat southeast of beirut
hezbollah mp mohammad raad praised jumblatt courage
he said the partnership was of strategic interest and that the two parties
would remain united on different issues against the israeli enemy that
threatens us reading speech on behalf of hezbollah chief hassan nasrallah
the agreement crowns reconciliation efforts which were launched after the deadly
clashes between lebanon political majority and minority blocs the worst since
the country civil war
the fighting which took place in the capital and other parts of lebanon pitted
the shiite party and its allies against supporters of current prime minister
saad hariri and jumblatt progressive socialist party
around people were killed in week
since august jumblatt has gradually distanced himself from the western backed
parliamentary majority in lebanon national unity government which hariri
formed in november
the formation came after more than four months of tough negotiations with
hariri hezbollah led rivals
alert
togo leaves africa cup of nations confederation of african football
africa cup of nations opens with condemnation of rebel attack
luanda jan afp
the africa cup of nations opened sunday with president jose eduardo dos santos
condemning the rebel attack that killed at least two members of the togo squad
but insisting the games would go on
the gun attack friday in the restive northern province of cabinda has cast
pall over the opening of africa premier football tournament which had been
meant as coming out party for the oil rich nation after decades of civil war
we condemn this act of terror but the competition will continue in cabinda
dos santos said we are together may the best man win
togo government has dispatched plane to return its team home even though
players wanted to contest the nation competition to honour their assistant
coach and team spokesman killed in the attack claimed by separatist
guerrillas
coach hubert velud told afp in cabinda that the team was ready to leave but
angolan authorities and the confederation of african football caf were said to
be in talks with togolese officials in last minute effort to convince the team
to stay
cabinda is to host seven of the tournament matches but with togo
goalkeeper kodjovi obilale still in critical care at south african hospital
their prime minister ordered the team home
we understand the position of the players who want to in some way avenge their
dead colleagues but it would be irresponsible for the togolese authorities to
allow them to continue houngbo told reporters in lome
captain emmanuel adebayor told french radio station that togo president faure
gnassingbe had personally told the team to return conversation that turned
the team decision
we all decided to do something good for the country and play to honour those
who died said adebayor manchester city striker unfortunately the head of
state and the country authorities have decided otherwise we will pack up and
go home
south african president jacob zuma condemned the shooting as shocking and
unacceptable but brushed away speculation that the attack could affect his
nation hosting of the world cup in june
he reiterated that south africa remains percent ready to host the fifa
world cup and dismissed speculation that the angolan incident had any bearing
on the world cup tournament in south africa his office said in statement
rebels ambushed the togo convoy as they drove into the cabinda enclave from
neighbouring congo brazzaville on friday leaving players cowering under their
seats during minute gunbattle with security forces
separatist rebels threatened to carry out more attacks saying they had warned
caf boss issa hayatou against holding matches in cabinda
this is going to continue because the nation is at war because hayatou
persists said rodrigues mingas secretary general of the forces for the
liberation of the state of cabinda military position flec pm
we wrote two months before the nations cup to mr issa hayatou to warn him that
we were at war he did not want to take our warnings into consideration mingas
told afp by telephone
they were warned they knew it and they closed their eyes
mingas faction is one of several groups battling for independence in small but
oil rich cabinda cornerstone of angola economic boom despite peace
agreement
the cabinda shooting had security forces on edge in the capital luanda in the
run up to sunday opening game in one incident police fired into the ground
after driver failed to make stop witnesses said
goalkeeper obilale came through surgery in johannesburg hospital for gunshot
wounds to the lower back and abdomen
he is ventilated at the moment it still early stages at the moment
hospital spokeswoman said he is in critical condition but he stable
israeli strike kills palestinian militants in gaza
jerusalem jan afp
israeli warplanes killed three islamic jihad gunmen on sunday after prime
minister benjamin netanyahu warned the military would use maximum force to
counter attacks by palestinian militants in gaza
the aircraft targeted group of militants in the central gaza strip killing
the three with air to ground missiles palestinian medics said
the israeli military said they targeted the group as they were preparing to
fire rockets into israel
earlier on sunday prime minister benjamin netanyahu warned that israel would
react harshly after recent upsurge in rocket and mortar attacks from the
islamist hamas ruled enclave
our government policy is clear he said before the weekly cabinet meeting
we will respond to any firing into our territory strongly and immediately
militants fired four mortar rounds at southern israel on sunday without causing
casualties
later in the day the air raid struck east of deir el balah in central gaza
muawiya hassanein head of gaza emergency services said the bodies of three men
were later taken to hospital in the town
the dead were all members of the militant islamic jihad group he said
it was the latest violence along gaza border which has been mostly quiet
since war israel launched on the islamist hamas in gaza on december
in response to rocket fire ended with mutual ceasefires on january
the ceasefires have largely held despite violations by both sides and hamas
has largely succeeded in restraining islamic jihad smaller rival islamist
group
job loss setback obama economics adviser
washington jan afp
president barack obama top economic adviser acknowledged sunday that
continuing job losses pose somewhat of setback to us economic recovery
efforts
christina romer who chairs the white house council of economic advisers said
she still expected the us economy to show steady growth this year
the real question is going to be is it going to be strong enough to really
add lot of people back into employment she said in an interview with abc
television
and that is what we are focusing on and think that you know that got
to be the top priority
romer comments followed the release of jobs figures on friday that showed
jobs were lost in december after net gain of jobs the previous
month the first positive month after consecutive months of losses
think what is true is it was somewhat of setback romer said
analysts said the numbers were consistent with gradually healing economy but
with percent unemployment some have raised the specter of double dip
recession once the effects of economic stimulus measures fade
romer said forecasts that jobs will begin to grow again in the spring was still
very realistic estimate but that it would depend much on the pace of
economic growth
think the whole question is going to be how strong it is she said
you know the big variable in all of this is the private sector the government
has been doing lot to hold up demand added romer and the whole question
is when does the private sector get its sea legs again
football napoli give warning of champions league intentions
rome jan afp
napoli went games unbeaten under coach walter mazzarri following home
victory against sampdoria on sunday that boosted their growing challenge for
top four finish
german denis second half goal earned the southerners three points that leaves
them fourth in the serie table just goal difference behind juventus and
point above as roma
they have not been beaten since october league games and one cup match
when former samp boss mazzarri took over from the sacked former italy coach
roberto donadoni
mazzarri refused to get carried away though
we ll add up the points at the end of the season this league is very balanced
it the details that will make the differences he said
we ve got to keep working on those details without setting goals that are too
high too soon
so that how we ll go forward because that the right attitude to obtain
results
it was just deserts from game napoli largely bossed against free falling samp
the early season pace setters now in the bottom half
cristian maggio had the best chance of the opening period when played in one on
one with luca castellazzi from walter gargano through ball but the midfielder
shot straight at the goalkeeper body
denis who had replaced the injured ezequiel lavezzi in the first half had
goal harshly ruled out three minutes into the second period for dubious
looking offside decision
maggio had two more opportunities but fired wide with the first and was denied
by substitute goalkeeper vincenzo fiorillo with the second
but minutes from time denis beat fiorillo to lofted cross from hugo
campagnaro to head home the winner
french goalkeeper sebastien frey made two crucial second half stops to help
fiorentina beat bari in florence and go sixth
romania captain adrian mutu had cancelled out paulo barreto opener in the
first period
frey made great saves from sergio almiron and sergio alvarez before riccardo
meggiorini beat the frenchman but not the woodwork
after almiron was dismissed substitute jose castillo grabbed the winner his
first goal for fiorentina before he too saw red
fiorentina coach cesare prandelli was happy with his team second win in
week especially considering their injury problems
it was great game played by two teams who wanted to win it was decided by
certain moments he said
even so proud of the way we played despite the players missing
palermo are level on points with fiorentina after uruguayan forward edison
cavani penalty gave them win over coach less atalanta
sunday main action was due to take place in the evening as third placed juve
host second placed ac milan
both teams will be trying to reel in runaway leaders inter milan whose stunning
late come from behind victory over siena at the san siro on saturday gave
them an point lead in the scudetto race
the champions have played two more games than milan and one more than juve
though
josipovic projected to win croatia presidency exit polls
zagreb jan afp
social democrat ivo josipovic was set to win croatia presidential run off
election by wide margin exit polls showed after sunday vote
josipovic took percent of the vote while his rival populist zagreb mayor
milan bandic had percent the exit polls by rtl and nova private
television stations showed immediately after voting ended at pm gmt
in the first round vote on december exit polls from the same stations almost
exactly mirrored the official outcome
josipovic law professor and classical music composer who has enjoyed an
untarnished political career has vowed an uncompromising fight against
corruption
croatians cast ballots on sunday to elect their third president since the
country proclaimed its independence from yugoslavia in
the next head of state is expected to lead the country which has been hit hard
by the economic crisis into the european union zagreb hopes to join it by
the fight against corruption is among key criteria for croatia eu bid
some million people were eligible to vote
partial official results were expected at midnight gmt
snooker ding and fu beaten at masters
london jan afp
china ding junhui and hong kong marco fu both suffered crushing first round
defeats in the masters snooker tournament at wembley here on sunday
ding lost to mark selby and fu went down to former world champion peter
ebdon
ding who last month won the uk championship snooker second most prestigious
tournament by beating world champion john higgins in the final was swept
aside as selby raced into lead
the most successful asian player in professional snooker history ding only
avoided the embarrassment of whitewash when selby failed to pot what would
have been the clinching ball in the sixth frame
that gave ding consolation frame before selby wrapped up the match in the
seventh
both the first two frames were relatively competitive with ding compiling
break of in the second only for mistake on the blue to let selby in
fu won the first two frames against ebdon and was looking good in the third but
missed brown which let the englishman in for frame winning break of
ebdon renowned for his safety play fought back and following scrappy fifth
frame was in front
from then on ebdon found his touch with succession of fluent breaks and might
have finished the match with century before missing pink
selby will now face either higgins or mark allen in the quarter finals with
ebdon up against the winner of the match between ronnie sullivan and
australia neil robertson
wildcard jimmy white appearing in front of his london home crowd at wembley
plays later sunday in preliminary round match against mark king with the
whirlwind seeking his first masters title years after he won the
tournament
angolan president condemns rebel attack on togo team
luanda jan afp
angolan president jose eduardo dos santos on sunday condemned the deadly rebel
attack on togo national football team as he opened the africa cup of nations
in luanda
at least two people were killed and nine wounded friday when separatist rebels
ambushed togo convoy in the restive province of cabinda where they were due
to play their first match on monday
we condemn this act of terror but the competition will continue in cabinda
dos santos said
we are together may the best man win he added
nobel winner urges ireland leader to quit over scandal
belfast jan afp
northern ireland first minister peter robinson has lost his authority and
should quit one of his predecessors said sunday amid scandal over robinson
wife affair with teenager
david trimble who jointly won the nobel peace prize in for his efforts to
bring stability to northern ireland predicted in an interview with the bbc that
robinson would quit in the next few days
robinson leader of the democratic unionist party dup is under intense
pressure after it emerged that his wife iris lawmaker in the northern ireland
assembly and westminster parliament had an affair with year old
she also secured pounds euros dollars from two wealthy
developers to help her lover set up cafe in belfast
robinson denies any knowledge of his wife financial dealings if he had been
aware of them he should have reported them to parliamentary authorities
iris robinson who has also revealed she suffered from severe depression is
expected to step down from her political roles next week under pressure from the
dup
trimble an ulster unionist who was northern ireland inaugural first minister
from said if peter robinson is going to fight to clear his name then
the place to do that is from the back benches
to have situation where party leader sees his wife expelled from the party
and acquiesces in it doesn even persuade the party to give her decent way
out shows there has been complete loss of authority
meanwhile sinn fein president gerry adams vowed to keep working to resolve
northern ireland political problems regardless of the scandal
there is crisis but it is political crisis that is the difference he
said we are prepared and others are prepared to work through these issues and
more particularly to work beyond these issues
adams recently faced his own family problems after his brother liam was accused
of child sex abuse and handed himself in to police
the robinson row comes as tensions run high between the pro british protestant
dup and its catholic partners in the power sharing government in belfast sinn
fein who want united ireland
the two former arch enemies have shared power since but have failed to
reach agreement on when policing powers in northern ireland should be
transferred from london to belfast the final part of the devolution process
fears of return to frequent political violence surfaced last year when two
british soldiers and policeman were killed in attacks claimed by dissident
republicans
in the latest incident friday catholic police officer was seriously injured
after bomb exploded under his car as he was driving to work he remains in
critical condition
urgent angolan president condemns rebel attack on togo team
luanda jan afp
angolan president jose eduardo dos santos on sunday condemned the deadly rebel
attack on togo national football team as he opened the africa cup of nations
in luanda
football spanish league table
madrid jan afp
spanish league table after sunday early matches played won drawn lost
goals for goals against points
barcelona
real madrid
valencia
deportivo la coruna
real mallorca
sevilla
getafe
athletic bilbao
sporting gijon
villarreal
atletico madrid
racing santander
espanyol
osasuna
almeria
valladolid
tenerife
malaga
real zaragoza
xerez
alert
angolan president condemns rebel attack on togo team
football away specialists valencia close on real
madrid jan afp
valencia made it seven wins from nine on the road defeating bottom side xerez
on sunday to move three points behind second placed real madrid in the
spanish top flight
spanish internationals juan mata david silva and carlos marchena were all on
target to clinch victory at xerez and boost confidence for thursday last
king cup match at deportivo la coruna
deportivo are four points behind valencia in fourth after home victory
over osasuna on sunday thanks to juan rodriguez goal
going into the xerez game valencia had the best away record in the league while
xerez had the worst home record so everything pointed to an away win
mata put valencia into th minute lead firing past goalkeeper renan brito on
loan at xerez from valencia as the home fans feared the worst
carlos calvo then equalised for xerez on minutes only for silva returning
from injury for his first start since the end of november to restore the lead
eight minutes later
marchena added third on minutes as valencia eased to victory and they now
prepare for thursday king cup second leg against deportivo at the riazor
stadium to reach the quarter finals valencia will have to overturn
deficit from the first leg
xerez continue to prop up the table after their th loss of the season and are
eight points from safety
in other matches new real zaragoza coach jose aurelio gay has not managed to
change the club fortunes as his side crashed to loss at espanyol and
stay second from bottom
gay has yet to win any of his three league matches in charge while zaragoza have
not won away from home this season
elsewhere malaga remained third from bottom after home draw with athletic
bilbao
brazilian centre back weligton put malaga ahead two minutes after the break but
fernando llorente equalised from the penalty spot minutes from time
it was another draw for specialists malaga who have drawn eight out of their
matches so far
later real madrid can go top of the table with victory over fifth placed real
mallorca at the santiago bernabeu
real have won all eight of their home matches and mallorca coach gregorio
manzano believes madrid can end the dominance of treble winners barcelona
now see real madrid side able to break the hegemony of barcelona said
manzano each time see better team better armed and with better
knowledge of what they want
barcelona two points ahead of real travel to tenerife in sunday late match
looking for their first win of the new year
it will be special game for barcelona year old winger pedro rodriguez who
was born on the island of tenerife and supported the club as boy
will be among my own people and with me friends said pedro it will be
very special game for me
will not celebrate if score though out of respect for all the people on
tenerife that have supported me
josipovic projected to win croatia presidency exit polls
zagreb jan afp
social democrat ivo josipovic was set to win croatia presidential run off
election by wide margin exit polls showed after sunday vote
josipovic took percent of the vote while his rival populist zagreb mayor
milan bandic had percent the exit polls by rtl and nova television
stations showed immediately after voting ended at pm gmt
