tranmere wolverhampton gmt
west ham arsenal gmt
postponed frozen pitch
notts county forest green
played saturday
aston villa delfouneso cuellar carew pen blackburn kalinic
blackpool ormerod ipswich colback garvan
bolton swaibu og lee cahill davies lincoln
everton vaughan cahill baines pen carlisle hurst
fulham zamora swindon
huddersfield west bromwich dorrans wood
leicester king guessan swansea cotterill
middlesbrough manchester city benjani
millwall grabban derby commons
milton keynes dons morgan burnley alexander pen fletcher
nottingham forest birmingham
plymouth newcastle
portsmouth boateng coventry bell
preston brown sedgwick parkin pen williams og carter
colchester
reading church liverpool gerrard
scunthorpe hayes barnsley
sheffield wednesday hill og crystal palace danns andrew
southampton lambert luton
stoke parslow og fuller etherington york barrett
sunderland malbranque campbell barrow
torquay brighton crofts
tottenham kranjcar defoe keane pen peterborough
wigan zogbia mccarthy sinclair hull geovanni
postponed all frozen pitches
accrington stanley gillingham
brentford doncaster
bristol city cardiff
urgent football leeds stun manchester united in huge cup shock
london jan afp
third tier leeds united produced major fa cup upset by knocking record
times winners manchester united out of this season competition with
third round win at old trafford on sunday
alert
football leeds united knock manchester united out of fa cup
football honours even in old firm derby
glasgow jan afp
rangers retained their seven point advantage at the top of the scottish premier
league as two late goals meant the old firm derby ended at celtic park here
on sunday
super sub scott mcdonald looked to have sealed well deserved win for celtic
when the australian international headed past allan mcgregor with minutes
left
but lee mcculloch nodded in the equaliser two minutes later with his side
first shot on target before mcgregor produced superb save to deny georgios
samaras late winner
celtic will rue host of missed chances including first half marc antoine
fortune goal which was controversially ruled out for foul on mcgregor as the
parkhead side dominated the league leaders who looked pale shadow of the side
which had previously won six successive matches
walter smith was forced to make two changes to the side that put seven past
dundee united with danny wilson replacing madjid bougherra and steven whittaker
in for the suspended kenny miller
rangers game plan was further disrupted when nacho novo was injured in an early
collision with georgios samaras and limped off in the th minute and was
replaced by maurice edu
aiden mcgeady was causing all sorts of problems for rangers down the left wing
as the ibrox side who had scored times in their previous six games
struggled to get out of their own half
celtic thought they had made the breakthrough in the th minute when they had
the ball in the net
mcgeady miss hit shot looked to be covered by mcgregor but fortune leapt above
him to head the ball into the net
however the home side were incensed when referee steve conroy controversially
ruled it out for foul after the striker appeared to make slight contact with
the keeper
kyle lafferty was lucky to stay on the pitch when he was booked on the half hour
mark for high and late challenge on andreas hinkel
danny fox curling free kick went straight to mcgregor before robson rose
unmarked in the box to meet hinkel cross from the right and slam header off
the bar
five minutes from the break mcgeady headed another hinkel cross just wide before
samaras missed golden chance to put celtic ahead as rangers somehow ended the
half on level terms
in the th minute lafferty struck fierce drive from outside the box which was
deflected out for corner by gary caldwell
from the resultant corner celtic broke quickly and irish international mcgeady
sent an angled low shot just by the post
caldwell again came to celtic rescue when he blocked wilson on target half
volley at the edge of the box
misplaced pass from edu allowed fortune to play in mcgeady but he fired high
over the bar
samaras should have done better when he beat wilson but he sent tame shot
straight to mcgregor
mcdonald came on for marc crosas and the australian made an immediate impact
when he gave celtic the lead in the th minute
mcgeady sent over cross from the right and the socceroos striker nodded past
mcgregor from couple of yards out
the lead was short lived and incredibly rangers equalised with their first shot
on target
mcculloch got in front of caldwell to meet steven davis corner and send
downward header bouncing over artur boruc
mcgregor then produced magnificent one handed save to deny samaras when the
greek strike looked destined for the top corner
no troops for yemen white house aide
washington jan afp
the united states is not opening new front against al qaeda in yemen and has
no plans to send troops there top white house counterterrorism adviser said
on sunday
however washington plans to take whatever steps necessary to protect us
citizens after president barack obama accused yemen based affiliate of osama
bin laden group of targeting us bound northwest airlines jet on christmas
day
wouldn say we re opening second front this is continuation of an
effort that we had underway as said since the beginning of the obama
administration john brennan homeland security and counterterrorism adviser
said on fox news sunday
we re not going to let al qaeda continue to make gains in yemen because we need
to take whatever steps necessary to protect our citizens there as well as
abroad he said after the united states and britain shuttered embassies in
yemen due to terror threats
brennan described as determined and concerted effort the move by washington
and london to finance special counterterrorism unit in yemen
asked if that could mean sending us troops into yemen brennan replied we re
not talking about that at this point at all
he also hailed the yemeni government for making real progress against al
qaeda
the yemen government demonstrated willingness to take the fight to al qaeda and
they re willing to accept our support we re providing everything they ve asked
for they ve made real progress he said
in the past month al qaeda has take number of hits number of al qaeda
leaders in yemen are no longer with us he said
brennan said senior us officials made the decision overnight to close the us
embassy in sanaa out of an abundance of caution
we re not going to take chances with the lives of our diplomats and others at
the embassy he said spoke with the ambassadors last night and again this
morning to make sure we re doing everything possible to protect our diplomats
there
yemeni officials are providing support but we re not taking chances he said
adding that until the yemeni government gets on top of the situation with al
qaeda there is risk of attacks
family urges inquest for briton executed in china
london jan afp
the family of briton executed in china wrote sunday to the government in
london demanding an inquest into his death their lawyers said
akmal shaikh year old father of three whom supporters say was mentally
ill was executed on tuesday for drug smuggling despite extensive british pleas
for clemency
in letter to foreign secretary david miliband the deceased brother akbar
shaikh called for coroner inquest to be held in britain
my family is suffering incredible grief and torment over the many unanswered
questions surrounding akmal death he wrote
we have begged the chinese for answers but none have been forthcoming all
this uncertainty is just too much for the family to bear
we therefore implore you to direct coroner inquest so that some of our
questions can be answered and the terrible mysteries surrounding my brother
apparent death can be resolved for us
shaikh from north london was arrested in september in urumqi in china
western xinjiang region with four kilogrammes of heroin campaigners say he was
duped into carrying the drugs for criminal gang
the execution added to diplomatic tensions between london and beijing after
britain blamed china for hijacking last month united nations climate change
summit in copenhagen
human rights lawyers reprieve cited sections of the coroners act under
which an inquest might be held
reprieve director clive stafford smith said despite having flown to china to
be with him akmal shaikh family were not told of his death until he was
already apparently buried in the frozen soil of urumqi
nobody told the family how or where he would be killed no family member or
independent observer was allowed to witness his death view his body or verify
his burial
we have only the word of chinese press release that he was even killed
an inquest would give this grieving family crucial insight into akmal final
hours his mental state and the extent to which he suffered before he died
only then can they begin to recover from the trauma of akmal lonely and
senseless death
can ghana coach facing injury crisis
accra jan afp
milovan rajevac the serbian coach of the ghana national football team is
faced with serious injury crisis ahead of the africa cup of nations can set
to kick off in angola on january
the absence of experienced captain stephen appiah of italian side bologna john
mensah of english premier league side sunderland fulham john paintsil and
laryea kingston of scotland hearts represent serious blow to the the black
stars chances of winning fifth title
but rajevac is optimistic that ghana can overcome these hurdles over the course
of the three week competition and thereby become the first foreign coach of the
west african nation to win the trophy
know that foreigner is yet to win the competition and want to become that
first coach to deliver the title and it is possible rajevac told journalists
last week before the team left accra for nelspruit south africa to begin their
pre tournament training
german trainer otto pfister came close to winning the trophy with ghana in
but lost out on penalties to ivory coast in senegal and under frenchman claude
leroy they finished third when hosting the last tournament in
also on the injury list but expected to recover before the start of the
tournament is chelsea midfield kingpin michael essien who limped off
clutching his hamstring in chelsea champions league game against apoel nicosia
in early december
rajevac has blended his squad with eight members of the fifa under world cup
winning team in egypt last year
you can see the coach has brought in talented youngsters who have shown great
quality already so while it unfortunate that injuries have come we have to
concentrate on what we have eric addo of dutch club roda jc was quoted as
saying by the official website of the ghana football association
ghana football association vice president fred pappoe says there is no point
brooding over the injury problems
am perennial optimist don pay attention to the dark side of life
he told local television station by phone from the team camp in south
africa
am not looking at the injured players injured am looking at those who are
here
ghana will also have to do without inter milan midfielder sulley muntari
usually regular in the team after rajevac axed him from the squad for
indiscipline
on the streets of accra not everyone is sharing in the optimism of the coach
and officials despite conceding to the technical capabilities of the coach
for me do not think we can do well in angola football fan johnson armah
told afp
with the absence of these key players wonder if the young lads can stand the
difficult and rather physical games you usually get at the africa cup of
nations but perhaps luck will be on our side
the black stars have been drawn in group of the can alongside ivory coast
burkina faso and togo in an all west african battle
no result so far in russia belarus oil talks officials
moscow jan afp
russia and belarus have restarted talks to agree terms of oil supplies but
negotiations have so far led nowhere russian officials said sunday amid
concerns that supplies to europe may be affected
negotiating process is currently continuing irina yesipova spokeswoman
for the russian energy ministry told afp
russia and belarus failed on new year eve to agree new terms for oil supplies
for and belarussian delegation was called back to minsk
the country government said in statement that its delegation in moscow had
been put under unprecedented pressure which it called absolutely unfounded
and unacceptable
talks led on the russian side by igor sechin prime minister vladimir putin
powerful deputy and energy czar restarted saturday but have so far led
nowhere said yesipova and spokesman for russia oil pipeline monopoly
transneft igor dyomin
russian officials pledged the current talks would not affect oil supplies to the
european union
belarus wants to receive russian crude duty free russian officials say they
want to receive it for free process it and then send it abroad said an
official with transneft
officials denied media report that said sunday russia had stopped oil supplies
to belarussian refineries from january raising the spectre of repeat of
energy crisis that led to cut in russian oil supplies to the european
union for several days
putin spokesman dmitry peskov indicated that if supply interruptions were to
take place it would not be russia fault
there is supply and it is percent guaranteed peskov told afp
spokesman for the belarussian government alexander timoshenko said he was
unaware of any possible cuts in russian oil supplies to belarus and
spokesperson for the country oil processor belneftekhim declined comment
together with kazakhstan russia and belarus have sought to create single
customs bloc but ties between the two neighbours have steadily deteriorated amid
efforts by minsk to resuscitate relations with the west
football scottish premier league table
glasgow jan afp
scottish premier league table after sunday early match played won drawn
lost goals for goals against points
rangers
celtic
hibernian
dundee utd
hearts
aberdeen
motherwell
st johnstone
st mirren
hamilton
kilmarnock
falkirk
football scottish premier league result
glasgow jan afp
early scottish premier league result on sunday
celtic mcdonald rangers mcculloch
hibernian hearts gmt
played saturday
dundee utd aberdeen mulgrew
st mirren innes kilmarnock
postponed
falkirk st johnstone frozen pitch
motherwell hamilton safety reasons
new north korea banknotes plunge in value report
seoul jan afp
north korea new banknotes have plunged in value against china yuan since
being introduced month ago in move that knocked two zeroes off the currency
south korea yonhap news agency reported sunday
by late december traders on china border with the north were exchanging
north korean won per chinese yuan compared to per yuan on december after
the notes were launched yonhap said citing seoul based open radio for north
korea
on november communist north korea knocked two zeroes off its currency
for one revaluation seen as aimed at clamping down on emerging market activity
the authorities restricted the amount of old notes that could be changed for
new sparking widespread anger among those who stood to lose savings
this was followed by ban on the use of foreign currency starting on new year
day
there have been rumours circulating after the currency reform took place
causing the new won to depreciate against chinese money said the open radio
for north korea which aims to circumvent the north media controls
the new notes fell in value to won per yuan by mid december indicating the
steadiness of the decline yonhap added
taliban deny abducting french reporters
kandahar afghanistan jan afp
the taliban militia sunday denied kidnapping two french television journalists
and three afghan assistants who were snatched at gunpoint five days ago in
afghanistan
we are not involved self styled taliban spokesman zabihullah mujahid told afp
by telephone from an undisclosed location
we ask our fighters to inform us if they do anything but we have no information
coming from this area he said
there has been no claim of responsibility since gunmen snatched the group of
five in the eastern province of kapisa on wednesday but french colleague of
the journalists blamed the taliban
the five men disappeared while going to meet contact kilometres miles
from the afghan capital near french military bases
criminal groups and taliban insurgents have kidnapped several dozen foreigners
many of them journalists since the us led invasion ousted the taliban
regime in kabul sparking the current insurgency
most foreign hostages in afghanistan have been released unharmed and relatively
quickly but the situation can be more complicated if the kidnappers take them
into the remote mountains on the border with pakistan
senior executive at public broadcaster france television is travelling to
kabul on monday to lobby for the group release
am going to kabul to take stock of the situation said director of news paul
nahon am going to meet with different afghan authorities
source involved in efforts to free the journalists said on friday they were
believed to be alive and in good health
far from being homogenous the afghan taliban are nebulous collection of
largely autonomous local networks and remnants of the regime ousted from power
by the us led invasion
the french were abducted in volatile area where the taliban and wanted warlord
gulbuddin hekmatyar hezb islami network have presence
french troops said sunday they were stepping up hunt for the five
all vehicles heading north towards kabul are being searched hours day
senior french military official in kapisa told afp
in an interview published in france on sunday french defence minister herve
morin said there had been no claim and no demand over the missing reporters
the less we talk about it the better for the security of the five we have
no direct contact allowing us to give you news of them he said
the latest media abduction in afghanistan comes just weeks after two afghans and
an iraqi journalist working for british newspaper were kidnapped and then
freed following six day ordeal in remote region of afghanistan
israeli diplomats too diplomatic fm says
jerusalem jan afp
israel outspoken foreign minister avigdor lieberman told the jewish state
ambassadors to stop grovelling and defend its national honour an official at
his ministry said on sunday
have seen that some ambassadors identify themselves with the other side to
such an extent that they are all the time trying to justify and explain the
ultra nationalist thundered during closed meeting with some envoys at the
foreign ministry last week the official said on condition of anonymity
terms like national honour have value in the middle east he said as his
audience listened in stunned silence
there must not be an attitude of obsequiousness and self deprecation and the
need to always justify the other side this is the wrong approach said the
soviet born lieberman in comments that were first reported by the liberal
haaretz daily
the era of grovelling is over he concluded we must be on good terms and
respect the host nations but we will not tolerate insults and challenges
we will not turn the other cheek there will be response to everything
the leader of the far right yisrael beitenu party is known for controversial
statements including once saying as an mp that egyptian president hosni mubarak
could go to hell if he continued to decline to visit the jewish state
as result israel top diplomat is currently not welcome in egypt one of
only two arab countries with which the jewish state has diplomatic relations
his blunt comments particularly regarding israel arab minority have earned
him reputation as needed firm hand among admirers and as racist bully
among critics
mafia blamed for italian court bomb reports
rome jan afp
powerful homemade bomb exploded sunday at court in southern italian city
in an attack the authorities blamed on the local mafia according to media
reports
the device consisting of gas cylinder with dynamite attached to it detonated
at am gmt in an entrance to the court in reggio calabria damaging
the building according to police quoted in the media
no one was injured in the explosion which happened in the entry to the building
housing the prosecutor office in the centre of the city
second gas cylinder bomb attack on sunday morning targeted fishmonger in the
north of the city
the reggio calabria prosecutor salvatore di landro told journalists that
surveillance camera footage showed two men in motorcycle helmets placing the
bomb at the court
we are sure this serious attack was carried out by organised crime di landro
said in comments reported by the ansa news agency
the cameras showed two individuals wearing helmets arriving on vespa
scooter and placing the bomb he said
di landro said the attack targeted the prosecutor office because of its work
confiscating mafia assets and number of ongoing cases against organised crime
deputy prosecutor franco mollace said the incident was prompted by sharp
change of tack in our team activities which has not pleased organised crime
confiscating mafia assets during investigations is seen as an important weapon
in the fight against crime
sunday attacks came after another gas cylinder bomb targeted bar run by
associates of emilio di giovine former member of the calabrian mafia known as
the ndrangheta shortly before christmas
di giovine drug and gun trafficker thought to be one of the ndrangheta
bosses in milan is co operating with the authorities to try to have his
sentence reduced
agazio loiero the head of government in the calabria region said the attack on
the prosecutor office was an attempt to frighten judges in reggio calabria
the region administrative capital
the true calabria stands with the judges in reggio who will certainly not let
themselves be intimidated by these incidents he said quoted by ansa
the national anti mafia prosecutor piero grasso expressed his solidarity with
the reggio prosecutor and all the city judiciary who are victims of very
serious act of intimidation
meeting of the regional public security committee was immediately organised in
reggio calabria with politicians police and judiciary
we will ask the police chief for proper measures to ensure safety di landro
said
football eriksson warns england of high expectations
london jan afp
sven goran eriksson the former england manager on sunday warned england of the
danger of over expectations as the world cup finals draw ever nearer
eriksson who led england to the quarter finals four years ago as well as in
before defeats to brazil and then portugal on penalties said he believed
fabio capello side had it in them to match or even exceed those showings
the swede noted stalwarts such as frank lampard are more mature today than four
years ago
but he said the fervour of the fans back home often brought its own problems
especially given the team impressive qualifying form
as usual england have won the world cup almost before the first kick it
always like that eriksson told bbc radio
eriksson shocked the football world last summer when after parting company with
mexico where he spent an ill fated spell in the national side hotseat before
announcing his arrival of director at fourth tier side and the oldest club in
the league notts county
the club promptly announced an ambitious five year plan to reach the english
premiership after takeover by munto finance
however executive chairman peter trembling took over from munto in december and
county are now seeking investors prompting eriksson to admit the plan is now
on hold
there have been too many bad things at notts county in the last six months but
hopefully in just couple of weeks it ll take off again eriksson told bbc
radio live
eriksson who went to mexico after year in charge of manchester city also
looked back at his time in the city hotseat before the club became the richest
side in the world following buyout by sheikh mansour bin zayed al nahyan
came at the wrong moment he joked having been jettisoned before he had the
chance to get his hands on the transfer kitty that has since been available to
city
think it dream for every manager in the world to have that kind of
money said eriksson adding he had talked to new coach roberto mancini who
last month took over from sacked mark hughes and who now has what the swede
terms golden opportunity to buy his way to success
eriksson added that he thought it unlikely he would take another international
hotseat despite reported interest from his homeland prior to his arrival at
notty county
bodies of three guards burned after north iraq shooting
mosul iraq jan afp
three iraqi security guards were killed and their bodies set on fire near the
restive northern city of mosul on sunday police and medical officials said
their charred bullet riddled corpses were found on construction site near the
town of tal abta kilometres miles southwest of mosul police officer
said speaking on condition of anonymity
the officer said the trio had been killed early sunday morning
according to an independent group tracking and analysing violence in iraq mosul
became more violent than baghdad on per capita basis in
the british based iraq body count ibc said in report on friday that
civilian deaths were recorded in mosul last year out of an estimated population
of million people while baghdad which has population of around
million people saw deaths
ibc added that mosul experienced nearly twice as many violent incidents as
baghdad
underdog pm brown ready for british election fight
london jan afp
british prime minister gordon brown admitted sunday he was the underdog for this
year general election but said he would fight to the end to win it
the day after conservative main opposition leader david cameron drew out his
battle themes for the election brown said the vote due by june at the latest
would be the decision of the decade for britain
brown set out his case why voters should stick with him and his governing
centre left labour party to lead britain out of recession and back into economic
growth
cameron centre right conservatives have consistently been ahead in opinion
polls for more than year
when you re behind in the polls you ve got to regard yourselves as the fighter
everything ve ever won in my life ve had to fight for brown told bbc
television
he described himself as someone who is ready to fight for every aspect of
britain future and will not stop fighting
we the labour party will fight every inch of the way he vowed
brown explained my vision for the future of britain is as the digital low
carbon biotechnology education creative industry leader of the world
we are the only party that can take people from recession to recovery and
guarantee that we have growth in the future
this is defining issue of the election believe in an age of aspiration of
opportunity and prosperity afraid the conservatives have gone for an age of
austerity and that means the majority of hard working families suffer as
result
cameron said we cannot go on for another five years with gordon brown on
saturday as he kicked off his campaign to become prime minister
labour took power in under tony blair brown replaced him as premier in
june
asked why voters should plump for the year old scot for another term brown
said because he knows how to deal with the british economy problems and take
us through them and he knows what sort of economy we can build for the future
he got passionate desire to improve our public services and his whole
career has been built on wanting to see everybody realise their potential to the
full
