league places
he has played for argentina and atletico madrid and is player with
personality
he can play in three positions on the right left or as second striker
and is someone with very positive mentality which is what we are looking for
he is comfortable on the ball can pass and keep possession he is good at
getting into the box and scoring goals and good finisher every year he gets
five to goals from the right side of midfield
know he was not doing as well as he did in the past at atletico madrid but
he is doing really well with argentina and wants to impress for the world cup
rodriguez joined atletico from espanyol in but was replaced as captain this
season by spain antonio lopez
benitez hopes rodriguez will settle quickly with the help of compatriot javier
mascherano and former atletico team mate fernando torres
he knows mascherano and torres and he can provide lift for some players
said the liverpool boss
think he will adapt to english football because he is clever player and
takes up good positions on the pitch
atletico who finished fourth in the league last year have been active in the
transfer window after poor start to the season that has seen them crash out of
the champions league and struggling in the league
however wins in their last two league games against sevilla and valladolid
have given cause for optimism
spanish media said on tuesday atletico had reached deal to sign year old
striker eduardo salvio from argentine side lanus for eight million euros
and last week it bought portuguese international midfielder tiago from juventus
syria to allow foreigners to own majority stake in banks
damascus jan afp
syria is to allow foreign investors to hold majority stakes in its private
banks as part of economic reforms the central bank governor said on wednesday
adib mayala told afp that under january banking law the maximum capital
stake for foreign investors was being raised to percent from the current
percent as measure to boost the capacity of syrian banks
private banks were authorised in syria in but with syrian nationals holding
the majority stakes over the past six years more than private banks have
been opened including banque bemo saudi fransi sa
mayala said private banks would also be authorised to raise their capital to
million dollars from the pre january cap of million the limit for private
islamic banks was being tripled to million dollars
football former championa tunisia held by zambia
lubango angola jan afp
tunisia the champions were held to draw by spirited zambia in group
of the africa cup of nations here on wednesday
jacob mulenga put the copper bullets into an early lead only for zouhaier
dhaouadhi to level for the north africans before the break
given the spate of upsets angola has already produced cameroon were
turned over by minnows gabon earlier in lubango it came as no surprise to see
the carthage eagles being outplayed by zambia for much of the match
they went into th minute lead when james chamanga who plays his club
football in china charged down the centre and found mulenga on his right
the utrecht midfielder controlled the ball well fighting off tunisia defender
ammar jemal to slot an angled shot right footed past goalkeeper aymen mathlouthi
who should have done better
zambia coach herve renard claude le roy assistant with ghana in
justifiably raised his arms in delight
zambia were worthy of the lead after almost constant pressure up to this point
and they continued to bely their underdog status with forays into tunisian
territory
on rare early incursion up the other end of the pitch skipper karim haggui
the lone survivor from the title winning squad hit over the bar
zambia with skipper christopher katongo joined in midfield by his younger
brother felix were proving real handful for faouzi benzarti north africans
with only the back of red shirt stopping rainford kalaba close range
thunderbolt after the half hour mark
tunisia were back on level terms though on minutes when teenage striker
youssef msakni tore the zambian defence apart down the left cutting the ball
back to dhaouadhi who slammed it into the roof of the net
the two sides both making their th appearance in this continental
championship emerged for the second half with everything to play for after
gabon shock win over cameroon earlier which split the group wide open
zambia appeared the more likely to regain the advantage harrying the tunisian
backline seemingly at will
benzarti took off ousama darragi on the hour and sent on lens attacker issam
jemaa in bid to reinforce his goal scoring options against side that had
only mustered paltry four goals in qualifying ties
mulenga almost got his and his country second goal in the nd minute when he
unleashed powerful climbing shot which thudded into the side netting
maccabi tel aviv forward emmanuel mayuka did score seconds later but his effort
was ruled offside
in injury time mathlouthi could only punch kalaba powerful freekick away
to retain the status quo
un envoy killed in quake haiti president
port au prince jan afp
un special envoy to haiti hedi annabi was killed when the un headquarters here
collapsed in deadly earthquake haitian president rene preval said wednesday
send my condolences to the united nations and all the victims of the
earthquake which has struck haiti he said
but french un officer contacted by afp could not immediately confirm that the
tunisian envoy had been killed when the quake hit on tuesday afternoon but he
said dozens of bodies had been pulled from the ruins of the un building
football africa cup of nations group standings st update
lubango angola jan afp
africa cup of nations group standings after late match on wednesday played
won drawn lost goals for against points
gabon
tunisia
zambia
cameroon
fixtures
lubango unless noted times gmt
jan
gabon tunisia
cameroon zambia
jan
cameroon tunisia
at benguela
gabon zambia
note group winners and runners up qualify for quarter finals
football africa cup of nations tunisia zambia
lubango angola jan afp
result of an africa cup of nations group match on wednesday
tunisia dhaouadhi zambia mulenga
urgent football tunisia zambia draw in africa cup of nations
lubango angola jan afp
tunisia and zambia drew in an africa cup of nations group match on
wednesday
fresh snowfalls heap more woe on shivering europe
london jan afp
fresh heavy snowfalls brought new winter woe to parts of europe on wednesday
closing schools disrupting transport links and delaying humanitarian flight
to earthquake stricken haiti
as overnight snow ended recent thaw british business leaders said the worst
winter in decades was costing the country hundreds of millions of pounds
dollars day
london gatwick airport was closed for snow clearance for most of the day
holding up flight carrying rescue specialists bound for haiti with
tonnes of equipment
priority is being given to flight departures with some limited arrivals there
are significant delays and cancellations the airport added while london city
birmingham cardiff and southampton airports also reopened
london heathrow airport reported the cancellation of nearly flights
our airfield team is working round the clock to keep both runways clear but the
threat of further snow and ice at the airport remains the world busiest
international passenger air hub said
there was similar disruption for air travellers in france
in paris the main charles de gaulle airport cancelled percent of its
afternoon flights having scrapped percent in the morning while at orly
airport traffic was reduced by percent due to snow and sleet
french aviation authorities said the disruption was compounded by an air traffic
controllers strike which is due to continue on thursday
around half of flights into and out of orly are expected to be cancelled because
of the industrial action on thursday and around percent at charles de
gaulle according to an airport source
air authorities advised travellers with tickets for thursday to contact their
airline before going to the airport
the french national weather service said icy conditions had gradually improved
in the north of the country while traffic was back to normal by noon in most
areas according to the national road information centre
trucks were banned from entering paris until noon in bid to ease the traffic
problems caused by the snow
the french agriculture minister bruno le maire said the government would help
farmers including milk and fruit and vegetable producers affected by the bad
weather
french dairy farmers whose milk has not been collected during the freeze called
for compensation
eurostar rail services between britain and continental europe were running
near normal service though six trains were cancelled
in britain the federation of small businesses estimated that the bad weather
was costing the economy at least million pounds million dollars
million euros day
small businesses have been particularly hard hit during the recent bad weather
with staff unable to make it to work because of school closures and snowbound
roads said fsb chairman john wright
the met office national weather service said that mixture of rain sleet and
snow across england and wales was causing very icy conditions and warned the
situation may persist for several days
in germany one of the countries worst hit by the big freeze temperatures fell
to minus six degrees celsius with fresh snow in the south while some secondary
roads in the north were still blocked
switzerland main publicly owned salt works said it had turned down new orders
from the netherlands and germany in order to supply booming domestic needs
heavy snow on the runway forced geneva airport to open several hours late on
wednesday morning delaying around flights
in iberia temperatures were on the rise again in spain but nearly all of
portugal was put on orange alert for high winds and heavy rain expected
wednesday
month of heavy rainfall has seen nearly all of portugal reservoirs fill up
with the alqueva dam which holds back europe largest artificial lake
reaching its maximum capacity for the first time since it was built in
alert
football tunisia zambia draw in africa cup of nations
top bankers admit missteps in financial crisis
washington jan afp
top us bankers wednesday admitted mistakes that led up to the global financial
crisis as they came under intensive grilling at special inquiry into the
economic calamity
congressionally mandated member commission which has been compared to the
panel that studied the september terror attacks on the united
states began its first hearings on the crisis wednesday
brian moynihan the new chief executive and president of bank of america
acknowledged that the banking industry caused lot of damage over the course
of the crisis which led to the government pumping hundreds of billions of
dollars into the firms to keep them afloat
never has it been clearer how mistakes made by financial companies can affect
main street and we need to learn the lessons of the past few years said the
head of the largest us bank measured by assets
morgan stanley chairman john mack said that in retrospect many firms were too
highly leveraged took on too much risk and did not have sufficient resources to
manage those risks effectively in rapidly changing environment
while we were able to withstand the crisis and believe emerge as stronger
institution we like many others made mistakes admitted jamie dimon
chairman and chief executive of jpmorgan chase
phil angelides chairman of the the financial crisis inquiry commission said
the forum may be our last best chance to take stock of what really happened so
that we can learn from it and restore faith in our economic system
if we ignore history we re doomed to bail it out again said angelides
former california state treasurer
the crisis which peaked in september triggered by an american home
mortgage meltdown sent financial tsunami across the globe slamming the
brakes on growth and plunging the united states and many other nations into the
worst recession in decades
more than seven million americans lost their jobs in the recession and nearly
million americans are unemployed underemployed because they could not find full
time work or have given up looking for work
in addition more than two million families have lost their homes in the last
three years and over million have been in the foreclosure process during that
period
the expected final us taxpayer cost of the financial crisis and the recession
was more than two trillion dollars or percent of the country gross domestic
product mark zandi chief economist at moody economy com told the hearing
goldman sachs chairman and chief executive lloyd blankfein said accumulation
of risk was the biggest problem that financial institutions faced ahead of
the crisis
wall street have been blamed for taking excessive risks such as bundling
troubled mortgages and passing the securities off as sound investments to
investors
as blankfein explained the intricacies of these transactions commission chief
angelides showed apparent displeasure over the way risks were managed
well just going to be blunt with you he said it sounds to me little
bit like selling car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on
the buyer of those cars it doesn seem to me that practice that inspires
confidence
michael mayo analyst at calyon securities said he was shocked and amazed
that severe revamp of the banks had not taken place despite the crisis
perhaps this related to the size of the banks he said pointing out that the
four banks whose chief executives testified wednesday had annual revenues of
billion dollars
goldman boss blankfein cautioned against overregulation
taking risk completely out of the system will be at the cost of economic
growth we know from economic history that innovation and the new industries
and new jobs that result from it require risk taking he said
the banking chiefs also addressed public concerns over fat bonuses paid to top
executives as compensation practices that critics say fueled the global
financial crisis came under scrutiny
many have questioned the extent to which compensation practices at financial
institutions incentivized excessive risk taking think some of those concerns
are quite legitimate jpmorgan chase dimon said
house subpoenas aig documents from ny fed geithner
washington jan afp
congressional panel wednesday subpoenaed documents on the us federal reserve
bailout of insurance giant aig in including from timothy geithner the
former new york fed chief and current treasury secretary
representative edolphus towns said his house oversight and government reform
committee was seeking information on payments made to aig counterparties
major global banks including goldman sachs morgan stanley barclays bank of
america deutsche bank and societe generale
the panel seeks emails phone logs and meeting notes from the new york fed and
geithner among others on the discussions held ahead of the bailout decision
questions remain surrounding aig credit default swap counterparties and why
these companies received full compensation when the best they could have hoped
for in bankruptcy proceeding was perhaps or cents on the dollar the
panel said in statement
the subpoena specifically requests all documents surrounding the decision to
pay aig counterparties cents on the dollar
snow bound britain scrambles aid to haiti
london jan afp
plane carrying british rescue experts left for haiti on wednesday to help
after the devastating earthquake there but only after delay due to heavy
snowfalls which blocked flights
strong team of rescuers along with eight experts from aid groups search
dogs and rescue equipment left gatwick airport south of london after four
person emergency assessment team went ahead to help coordinate needs
vital equipment and trained uk experts are now on their way to haiti where they
are desperately needed international development secretary douglas alexander
said
this is tragedy on massive scale already britain is playing its part in
the huge international response
heavy snowfalls overnight in britain closed up to five airports in southern
england including gatwick south of london where authorities reopened the
runway at around pm gmt
gatwick spokesman said that the haiti relief flight took off around pm
gmt and was among the first to depart after the snow was cleared
prime minister gordon brown said he was deeply saddened and worried about the
reported scale of the earthquake in haiti adding we stand ready to provide
whatever humanitarian assistance is required
meanwhile aid agencies including oxfam said it had emergency response teams in
the region poised to respond
chris martin frontman of top british band coldplay threw his weight behind the
appeal for aid for haiti
visited haiti with oxfam few years ago it country of extreme poverty
and brutal living conditions most people in port au prince live in tin shacks
he said cited by the british charity
the earthquake that has struck haiti will have turned the city into an
unimaginable hell the people of haiti will be desperate for help and
assistance he added
the strongest earthquake to hit haiti in more than century rocked the
impoverished caribbean nation tuesday toppling buildings and triggering fears
that hundreds have been killed in widespread destruction
there were no immediate reports of britons among the dead in haiti although the
foreign office had received some calls from concerned families with
relatives there according to alexander
urgent un envoy killed in quake haiti president
port au prince jan afp
un special envoy to haiti hedi annabi was killed when the un headquarters here
collapsed in deadly earthquake haitian president rene preval said wednesday
corrected row over bulgarian eu commissioner threatens barroso team
brussels jan afp
row over bulgaria eu commission pick split the european parliament along
political lines wednesday casting cloud over the endorsement of commission
chief jose manuel barroso entire new team
at the centre of the row stands bulgarian foreign minister rumiana jeleva who
has had to fend off accusations that her list of financial interests was
incomplete and that her husband has mafia links
she endured stormy session in the eu parliament on tuesday as meps grilled her
on her suitability to become the next humanitarian aid commissioner with
particular focus on her involvement in bulgarian outfit global consult notably
by its absence from her list
the socialists in the european parliament announced that they could not yet
support the controversial candidate while the centre right european people
party epp the biggest bloc in the chamber came out in support of her
the angry conservatives even threatened to block the socialist candidate for
another commission portfolio as tit for tat response
bulgaria prime minister boiko borissov while maintaining support for jeleva
admitted on wednesday in sofia to having plan in place should she be
rejected further delaying the work of new commission already behind schedule
because of foot dragging over ratification of the lisbon treaty
members of the socialist group the second largest in the eu parliament said
they had written to barroso to explain their serious doubts over jeleva
competence for the job as well as her financial interests
their head german mep martin schulz has written to barroso to inform him of
the very serious doubts the group has regarding the bulgarian candidate said
his spokesman armin machmer
calls for clarification over her financial interests were also addressed to the
parliament juridical service
the eu parliament is this week questioning all would be members of barroso
new team at the eu executive
while the meps cannot veto any individual commissioner they can refuse to
endorse the team as whole they will announce their decision next week with
vote on the new commission set for january
as battle lines were drawn the conservative epp rushed to jeleva defence
denouncing the unfounded allegations against her
it was witch hunt against her and the parliamentary committee on development
did not find anything to go against her and she was given humiliating
treatment by the left complained vice chairman jozsef szajer
he went on to the attack slovak eu commissioner in waiting maros sefcovic over
questionable views he expressed in against the roma minority in his
country
barroso spokeswoman said has confidence in all the commissioners
designate
all the commissioners designate declarations have been looked at very carefully
for compliance with the code of conduct spokeswoman pia ahrenkilde hansen told
reporters
however she added that the commission had no body to police the declarations of
financial interests
barroso has of course made entirely clear that the code of conduct must be
fully and entirely respected and the declarations must be made in full she
cautioned
alert
un envoy hedi annabi found dead in quake ruins haiti president
vietnamese american lawmaker pushes rights
washington jan afp
the only vietnamese american member of congress said wednesday he urged hanoi
communist government to improve human rights on quiet restricted visit back
to his nation of birth
representative anh joseph cao the son of south vietnamese army officer who
fled to the united states when he was eight paid his first trip back since
as part of trip to asia during the holiday recess
cao longtime advocate for human rights who was joined by two fellow
congressmen said he agreed not to meet with dissidents hold news conferences
or issue press releases as condition to enter vietnam
the vietnamese government did not want to issue visa because they felt that
my visit potentially could be guess you could say explosive cao told
conference call after returning to washington
in order to get the visa had to quietly go into vietnam and to leave
quietly cao said
but cao said he raised specific concerns including vietnam imprisonment of
internet activists whose blogs have rattled the government
directly addressed to them the issues of human rights violations cao said
cao said he received no specific assurances on any case but cao said his
discussions with vietnamese unaffiliated with the government including his
sister offered reason for hope
they all said that conditions in vietnam have greatly improved people are
allowed to operate their businesses and allowed to worship freely as long as
obviously they don speak out against the government cao said
cao said the primary goal of visiting vietnam laos and cambodia was to study
ways to help clear up unexploded ordnance dropped by us forces that have killed
thousands since the end of the vietnam war
he said the us contribution of million dollars year to laos was only
quarter of what that nation needed
cao became the first vietnamese born member of the us congress in when the
then little known immigration lawyer pulled off an election upset against
corruption tainted veteran of the democratic party
cao who represents predominantly democratic and african american district
has since proven maverick the former seminarian was the only republican house
member to support president barack obama drive to bring health care to
millions of uninsured americans
football french league cup results
paris jan afp
french league cup round of results on wednesday
guingamp sakho og paris saint germain
lyon toulalan lisandro metz
le mans bordeaux postponed due to heavy snow
lens eduardo pen lorient marchal amalfitano
toulouse macaluso og machado pen dupuis nancy
playing later
lille rennes saint etienne marseille
played tuesday
sedan allart clermont
urgent house subpoenas aig documents from ny fed geithner
washington jan afp
us congressional panel wednesday subpoenaed documents on the federal reserve
bailout of insurance giant aig in including from timothy geithner the
former new york fed chief and current treasury secretary
baseball giants sign huff to one year deal
san francisco jan afp
the san francisco giants completed three million dollar one year contract
with aubrey huff on wednesday after the left handed slugger passed medical
first baseman huff struggled offensively last season and batted career worst
he was traded from baltimore to detroit in august but the move did little to
ignite his numbers as he finished the season with homers and rbis in
games for the two teams
san francisco are counting on huff returning to his form when he hit
with home runs and career best rbis
the giants are in need of offensive power they ranked th out of the major
league teams for home runs in with better only than the of the new
york mets
dutch filmmaker will face prosecution on racial hatred charges
the hague jan afp
dutch court on wednesday dismissed challenge by far right lawmaker geert
wilders against his pending prosecution for inciting hatred against muslims
the court declares wilders challenge against his indictment inadmissible
said statement by the amsterdam district court
wilders who claims his prosecution is political process is due to appear
in an amsterdam court next wednesday for hearing to plan the modalities of his
trial set to be held later this year
prosecutors meanwhile said wednesday they had finalised their hate speech
indictment against the mp listing five counts of religious insult and anti
muslim incitement
the document made available to afp was the definitive version spokesman
franklin wattimena said
the indictment charges wilders with insulting muslims by describing islam as
fascist religion and calling for the banning of the koran which he likens to
adolf hitler mein kampf
he is also accused of inciting hatred and discrimination for stating moroccan
youths were violent calling for the koran to be banned and for dutch borders to
be closed to all non western immigrants as well as for advocating an end to
what he terms the islamic invasion
wilders faces up to one year in jail if convicted
the controversial lawmaker is the maker of minute film fitna which has
been called offensively anti islamic by un secretary general ban ki moon
the screening of the film in the netherlands in prompted protests in much
of the muslim world including afghanistan indonesia iran and pakistan
the prosecution service initially declined to charge wilders dismissing dozens
of complaints from around the country in the context of freedom of speech
but an appeals court last january ordered prosecutors to put wilders on trial
saying politicians should not be permitted to make statements which create hate
and grief
football liverpool swoop for argentine ace maxi rodriguez
madrid jan afp
argentina international winger maxi rodriguez agreed switch to english giants
liverpool on wednesday his spanish side atletico madrid announced on its
internet site
atletico madrid liverpool and maxi rodriguez have reached an agreement in
which the argentina player will leave atletico and join the english team said
the statement
canadian warships aircraft ready to help quake hit haiti
ottawa jan afp
canada readied two warships military helicopters and planes with medical
supplies as well as large relief and rescue force on wednesday to help
residents of earthquake stricken haiti
canadian forces began mobilizing very quickly overnight with respect to
anticipated needs in haiti said defense minister peter mackay as prime
minister stephen harper ordered his entire government to stand ready to help
out
cf hercules transport aircraft with some military personnel and medical
supplies was expected to land in port au prince in the afternoon
we understand there won be difficulty with respect to the airstrip in port
au prince although there has been damage to some of the infrastructure around
the airfield and roads mackay said
once there the reconnaissance team is to assess the needs on the ground and
draw up recommendations for the government he said
as more information becomes available we will make the determination over the
next two to three days as to the numbers of personnel and the type of
equipment most notably medical supplies medical personnel and the type of
search and rescue equipment that may be necessary with respect to the collapse
of buildings which appears to be one of the major causes of injury and death
said mackay
this is catastrophic situation and the decision has been made that the dart
disaster assistance response team will deploy however its composition will
be determined after preliminary assessment of the needs in haiti
the elite unit of about troops engineers and doctors is normally deployed
at the request of foreign governments for up to days to provide humanitarian
relief including potable water in disaster zones
canada planned to take the unusual step of deploying the team without an
official request as lines of communication with haiti government were down
said foreign minister lawrence cannon
we consider discussion we had with the charge affaires from haiti as good
enough he said canada will come to the aid of the haitian people
meanwhile two navy frigates were on standby in the atlantic ocean one was to
return to port to be equipped with search and rescue helicopter then sent to
