and it great to see the french connection continuing michel platini me
didier deschamps and now david trezeguet and the president jean claude
blanc
to ciro would say only to stay calm and to concentrate on his objectives
winning the europa league would be important and would allow juve to play in
the european supercup hopefully against real
zidane also had words of comfort for the man currently filling his boots in the
playmaker role at the club diego
when zidane left juve bought czech pavel nedved from lazio to replace the
frenchman and he proved great success
he retired at the end of last season and brazilian diego was acquired from
werder bremen but despite great start he has since been widely criticised
but zidane insisted he too had needed time to settle down
my first three months were difficult wanted to chase everything luckily
for me there was certain marcello lippi who always showed faith in me and
protected me
with new foreigner you have to give him time and patience but there no
question over diego ability he very good
zidane also insisted that italian football as whole is not in crisis despite
their clubs struggles to progress in europe premier competition these last
couple of seasons
last year no team made the quarter finals of either the champions league or the
uefa cup while the year before only as roma made the champions league last
eight
it not crisis it the classical period of difficulty before you were
winning and the spanish and english clubs seemed to be in crisis he said
now it the opposite but you ll soon be back and don forget that you re
world champions
looking ahead to the world cup later this year zidane said he wished his former
club coach lippi now the italy boss well
we talk frequently we re friends hope he has great world cup but
preferably finishing behind france this time
zidane last ever competitive match was the world cup final against italy
as he captained his country
he scored penalty for france but was sent off in extra time for head butting
centre back marco materazzi and italy led by lippi went on to win on
penalties
footballer thierry henry makes haiti donation
madrid jan afp
barcelona striker thierry henry has made euro donation to french ngo
medecins sans frontieres as contribution to rescue efforts in earthquake
ravaged haiti his club said on friday
our striker has collaborated with medecins sans frontieres and has decided to
give euros to help the haitian population the catalan club said on
their website
am very touched by this tragedy and it is very good that everybody should
mobilise in order to help haiti henry the captain of france told the club
television station
this touches me because almost years ago something similar happened in the
french caribbean island of guadeloupe and know what the haitians must be
going through have many friends over there haiti is former french colony
and it as if we are cousins
we must help them felt should do something and that why have decided
to make donation to medecins sans frontieres said the former arsenal
favourite
according to un figures the quake killed at least and injured further
henry comments on guadeloupe from where his father hails referred to
hurricane hugo which struck in killing on the island and leaving some
people homeless
the forward who joined barca in is one of europe best paid players with
spanish media putting his salary at around millions euros season
speed skating pechstein named in german squad list
berlin jan afp
the german speed skating federation desg on friday included claudia pechstein
in provisional squad list for the german winter olympics team despite
her two year suspension for doping
pechstein name was on list of athletes handed to the germany olympic
committee by desg president gerd heinze
we re assuming that the olympic committee can decide on individual cases until
january the deadline established by the international olympic committee
heinze told german news agency sid
the german olympic committee is required to provide definitive list of
athletes going to vancouver by friday afternoon but desg have opted to give
themselves room for manoeuvre in the hope that pechstein appeal is upheld by
swiss court
the year old five time olympic champion appealed to the swiss federal court
the highest judicial authority in switzerland to challenge her suspension by
the international skating union isu last july on the basis of abnormalities in
her blood passport
the court ruled in december that pechstein could participate in world cup
event at salt lake city but she did not obtain the desg minimum qualification
requirement after finishing th in her preferred event the metres
pechstein who has never failed drugs test has always maintained her
innocence and claims that the abnormal readings in her biological passport
occurred naturally
her suspension was nonetheless upheld in november by the court of arbitration
for sport cas in lausanne
jr thw cw
football atletico pounce for argentine starlet salvio
madrid jan afp
atletico madrid on friday announced the recruitment of argentine forward eduardo
salvio from lanus on five and half year contract
atletico madrid have concluded the transfer of eduardo antonio salvio an
attacking midfielder from club atletico lanus argentine first division who
has committed to the club for the next five seasons read statement from the
spanish club
salvio will reinforce atletico attacking options follow the recent sales
of frenchman florent sinama pongolle to sporting lisbon and argentine
international maxi rodriguez to liverpool
atletico are currently th in la liga points behind league leaders
barcelona and were eliminated from the champions league at the group stage
they were held to draw at home to second tier celta vigo in the first leg
of their copa del rey quarter final on thursday
putin warns against despotism chaos in russia
moscow jan afp
russian prime minister vladimir putin on friday warned against the dangers of
totalitarianism and despotism but said russia must not adopt similar political
system to its neighbour ukraine
we shouldn allow the ukraine ization of political life in russia but we
should on no account slide in the other direction towards totalitarianism and
despotism putin said
ukraine last week held the first round of presidential elections that were
hailed by international observers as high quality and offering wide choice
of candidates but the country also suffers from chronic political instability
speaking at major meeting chaired by president dmitry medvedev and attended by
russia political elite putin called for cautious reform of the russian
political system
we need to bring in necessary amendments but we need to act extremely
carefully he said speaking at meeting of leaders of political parties
any effective political system needs healthy level of conservatism
political system shouldn wobble like liquid jelly every time it touched he
said
putin harshly rejected call for officials to examine complaints on the
internet about vote rigging in the recent regional elections
on the internet percent is porn material why should we refer to the
internet he said
putin stern comments contrasted with speech by medvedev who called for
shake up of the country political system to promote opposition parties
criticising non existent competition in local government
the more tech savvy medvedev is also keen user of the internet and has video
blog
at the meeting which included the leaders of all russia registered parties
medvedev called astonishing the fact that almost percent of deputies in
regional councils are members of the ruling united russia party
communists make up two percent of deputies while just russia has one percent
and the liberal democrat party has less than one percent he said
this situation is simply astonishing it shows that our parties primarily the
opposition ones still work very weakly at municipal level medvedev said
real political competition is virtually non existent there
medvedev comments were backed by sergei mitrokhin leader of the liberal
yabloko party which has no seats in the lower house of the russian parliament
the state duma
there is lack of real full political discussion he complained political
parties are unable to work in such conditions
medvedev said he would send draft bill friday to the state duma guaranteeing
all parties that gain more than five percent of votes in elections seat in
regional parliaments
united russia which is led by putin even though he is not card carrying
member holds majority of out of seats in the duma
our political system works it far from being ideal but it works said
medvedev
medvedev address was his latest call for reform in russia coming after
keynote speech in november where he urged russia transformation into
democratic high tech society
analysts have praised medvedev for making sequence of promising statements
since taking over the kremlin from putin in may but some have criticised
him for failing to translate the ambitious words into practice
most observers believe that despite putin subsequent move to prime minister he
still remains russia de facto number one
maoist rebels importing arms indian home minister
raipur india jan afp
india home minister said friday that outlawed maoists rebels who hold sway
across large parts of the country were importing weapons to arm their followers
there is no evidence of the naxals getting monetary help from abroad but they
are able to smuggle arms chidambaram said after meeting security experts
battling the guerrillas in the central indian state of chhattisgarh
they buy it from the arms bazaar of the world and are able to smuggle them into
india chidambaram told reporters in raipur capital of chhattisgarh
chidambaram reaffirmed that the government had no plans to use the military to
crush the left wing guerrillas also called naxalites in eastern india after the
town of naxalbari where the movement was born in
he said indian states such as chhattisgarh which have teamed up with new
delhi sponsored crackdown against the rebellion had adequate civilian security
forces to tackle the rebels
state police and paramilitary forces alone are engaged in the operation and
they are quite competent to take on the maoists there is no question of
inducting the army into the crackdown he said
the minister accused the maoist leadership of rejecting government offers for
talks
all state chief ministers agreed that if the maoists suspend violence and
don indulge in killings then we can talk to them but there is no response
chidambaram said branding the rebels anti development
the allegations came month after the us based human rights watch said that
maoists routinely destroy school buildings
in the last seven months insurgents have blown up at least five schools in
bihar and have attacked others in the maoist hit states of west bengal orissa
and chhattisgarh besides torching other government property
the insurgency began as peasant uprising and has now spread to of india
states
cycling beijing world cup results
beijing jan afp
results from the first day of the track cycling world cup here on friday
men
team sprint
china cheng chang zhang lei zhang miao
team jayco aus daniel ellis shane perkins scott sunderland
france gergory bauge michael almeida thierry jollet
km points race
zachary bell can pts
kwok ho ting hkg pts
thomas scully nzl pts
km individual pursuit
vitaliy shchedov ukr
michael hepburn aus
valery kaikov rus
women
km individual pursuit
alison shanks nzl
vilija sereikaite ltu
tara whitten can
scratch
vera koedooder ned
ausrine trebaite ltu
evgeniya romanyuta rus
sprint
guo shuang chn
anna meares aus
lin junhong chn
us envoy meets abbas amid pessimism over mideast peace
ramallah west bank jan afp
us envoy george mitchell met palestinian president mahmud abbas on friday to
push middle east peace efforts despite president barack obama admission that
his drive for deal may have been overambitious
mitchell talks in ramallah the political capital of the occupied west bank
came day after meetings with the israeli government and talks in syria and
lebanon two countries the envoy said should play key role in achieving
comprehensive middle east peace deal
but there were no expectations of breakthrough as israel and the palestinians
sparred anew and the us president acknowledged the scale of the difficulties
this is as intractable problem as you get obama said in an interview
published in time magazine latest issue
both the israelis and the palestinians have found that the political
environment the nature of their coalitions or the divisions within their
societies were such that it was very hard for them to start engaging in
meaningful conversation obama said
think it is absolutely true that we didn produce the kind of
breakthrough that we wanted he said adding that if his administration had
anticipated the political problems on both sides we might not have raised
expectations as high
washington had pressed hard for israel to freeze settlement construction which
abbas says is precondition for negotiations to resume after hiatus of more
than year
hawkish israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced in november
month moratorium on issuing construction permits for israeli homes in the
west bank outside annexed arab east jerusalem but the palestinians said this
fell far short of their demands
on thursday un chief ban ki moon noted with concern that despite israel
decision to restrain some settlement construction in the west bank activity
and financial support for expansion are continuing there and in east jerusalem
settlement construction violates international law and contravenes the roadmap
under which israel is obliged to freeze all settlement activity he said
he also stressed the need for both sides to resume negotiations if we do not
move forward on the political process soon we risk sliding backwards
the israeli premier further complicated the task facing mitchell on wednesday by
laying down new precondition for any peace deal
netanyahu insisted that israel would keep permanent presence in the jordan
valley on the eastern border of the palestinians promised state
the palestinians categorically rejected the suggestion
israel haaretz newspaper on friday quoted senior minister it did not name as
saying the chances for resumption of peace talks were slim
the mass circulation yediot aharonot for its part said that israeli officials
believe the us administration will now put the israeli palestinian issue at the
bottom of its list of priorities
the administration will continue to try to renew negotiations but will not go
out of its way it quoted an official it did not name as saying
angola opposition denounces tyranny in new charter
luanda jan afp
angola main opposition party friday blasted the country new constitution
which strengthens the president powers saying it creates state of tyranny
in africa top oil producer
this represents coup against democracy and the sovereignty of the angolan
people isaias samakuva president of the union for the total independence of
angola unita told reporters in luanda
this constitution creates state of tyranny he said
unita boycotted thursday vote on the charter which boosts the powers of
president jose eduardo dos santos who has ruled for years
under the new system the leader of the party that wins majority in
parliamentary elections will become president
parliament will be able to suggest the removal of the president but the motion
would need approval from the supreme court whose members are appointed by the
president
the system means dos santos will remain in office at least until when the
next parliamentary elections are scheduled
samakuva accused the government of sneaking through the vote while the public
were distracted by the africa cup of nations football tournament which angola
is hosting and which runs through next week
he claimed it had been pushed through parliament by the ruling party abusing
their majority and using brutal and brazen lawlessness
the ruling popular movement for the liberation of angola mpla holds out
parliamentary seats and had no problems passing the constitution
the charter still needs approval from the constitutional court before dos santos
can sign it into law
the mpla has rejected unita criticism denying any illegalities in the
constitution making process
unita has been savaged in angola state controlled media for its walkout and
been accused of not respecting democratic processes
unita and mpla fought year civil war which only ended in following the
death of former unita leader jonas savimbi
alpine skiing men super results
kitzbuehel austria jan afp
men world cup super results here on friday
didier cuche swi
michael walchhofer aut
georg streitberger aut
andrej jerman slo
erik guay can
tobias gruenenfelder swi
aksel lund svindal nor
mario scheiber aut
hannes reichelt aut
adrien theaux fra
andrew weibrecht usa
marco sullivan usa
didier defago swi
marco buechel lie
stephan keppler ger
ivica kostelic cro
bode miller usa
klaus kroell aut
carlo janka swi
hans grugger aut
patrick kueng swi
werner heel ita
kjetil jansrud nor
ted ligety usa
andrej sporn slo
christof innerhofer ita
benjamin raich aut
ales gorza slo
patrik jaerbyn swe
rok perko slo
natko zrncic dim cro
joachim puchner aut
steven nyman usa
aronne pieruz ita
cornel zueger swi
romed baumann aut
ralf kreuzer swi
stefan thanei ita
petr zahrobsky cze
sebastien pichot fra
hans olsson swe
edward drake gbr
dominik paris ita
timo bruederl ger
alexandr horoshilov rus
frederik van buynder bel
tennis nadal made to work as murray coasts
melbourne jan afp
defending champion rafael nadal was made to fight for place in the australian
open fourth round and join other title contenders andy murray juan martin del
potro and andy roddick on friday
nadal claimed hard fought victory over german th seed
philipp kohlschreiber to reach the last
the spanish second seed was kept on court for three and half hours and will
have day to recover from the long physical match before taking on his fourth
round opponent unseeded croatian ivo karlovic
karlovic won the all croat encounter with th seed ivan ljubicic
murray serve was back in the groove as the scot maintained his impeccable
tournament form with straight sets win over frenchman florent serra
the year old equalled his best ever performance here with the
win and has not dropped set in three matches as he takes aim at maiden
grand slam title
the fifth seed out to become the first british man to win grand slam since
will face giant john isner in the next round and then potential
quarter final against world number two nadal
isner is playing really well and won the tournament last week he said of the
american who upset th seed gael monfils
the guy is and has close to the best serve on the tour
ve got to try to take care of that one first
us open champion del potro survived another searching examination to make his
way into the last
the argentine fourth seed emerged from two hour minute dogfight with
florian mayer to down the th ranked german
del potro will play th seeded croat marin cilic in the fourth round
cilic qualified with win over swiss th seed stanislas
wawrinka
it has been rugged work for del potro at the year opening grand slam
he needed four sets to get past american michael russell in the first round and
five sets to overcome another american james blake in the second round
he has now spent almost hours on court in his three matches and should he
get past the next round he could face american seventh seed andy roddick in the
quarters
roddick won war of attrition with spaniard feliciano lopez to claim fourth
round showdown with former finalist fernando gonzalez
in grinding three and half hour contest the american seventh seed proved
the more consistent to register win
roddick who is now for the new season after his lead up brisbane tournament
victory will now play the chilean th seed who was beaten here in the
final by roger federer
gonzalez came through tough five setter against
kazak evgeny korolev
roddick four time australian semi finalist was relieved to get through to
the round of after dropping the opening set in tiebreaker
felt like was real close to getting on top of the match and turning it into
little bit more comfortable just didn quite get there he said
but the only thing that matters you re just trying to get through day and
that happened so no complaints
haiti rescuers switch focus to the living
port au prince jan afp
un led teams in haiti on friday switched their focus away from searching for
people trapped in collapsed buildings to providing aid to hundreds of thousands
of increasingly desperate survivors
more than nine days after the devastating magnitude quake which killed at
least people and left million homeless the un said some rescue teams
were exhausted and starting to go home
the rescue teams are concentrating more and more on humanitarian aid for those
who need it said elisabeth byrs spokeswoman for the un office for the
coordination of humanitarian affairs ocha
those that remained were equipped with heavy equipment and would continue to
pull out corpses she added
meanwhile the un children fund unicef said it believed children had gone
missing from hospitals raising fears of trafficking for adoption abroad
we have documented let say around cases of children disappearing from
hospitals and not with their own family at the time said unicef adviser jean
luc legrand
unicef has been working in haiti for many years and we knew the problem with
the trade of children in haiti which existed before and unfortunately many of
these trade networks have links with international adoption market he said
the haiti government was on friday working to move an estimated people
out of the devastated capital port au prince where they are living in squalid
conditions to temporary accommodation outside the city
the government has made available to people free transportation large
operation is taking place we re in the process of relocating homeless people
said interior minister paul antoine bien aime
the government had hired buses to take quake victims to the south and north of
the caribbean nation to hastily set up villages designed to hold people
each
alongside the haitian plan french and us rescue workers had also begun to clear
debris and human waste from around the city ceremonial square the champ de
mars which has become giant refugee camp
we want to stop living like animals said carole deslouis who finally
received the promise of food and shelter in the square thursday after days of
washing her children with filthy water and begging for rice
us forces hoped to begin reopening the main port from friday following repairs
in order to receive international aid shipments and relieve pressure on the
international airport
but hopes had faded that any more survivors would be found alive beneath the
rubble after no new survivors were found thursday oh wednesday two children
were rescued
international search and rescue teams coordinated by the united nations have
managed to find people alive since the january quake record number in
such disaster
survivors however still faced desperate fight for life and medics said
gangrene had begun to set in
tens of thousands of seriously injured haitians remained in makeshift field
hospitals set up in tents amid the ruins of the ravaged capital
international doctors working in miserable conditions and without supplies and
modern equipment have carried out scores of amputations to save victims with
serious crush wounds or to repair internal injuries
bed capacity us naval hospital ship was moored off the coast with about
medical personnel and had begun taking some of the most seriously injured
elsewhere us homeland security secretary janet napolitano urged haitains to
remain at home to help rebuild their shattered country
haitians who entered us territory illegally would be repatriated she told
news conference during visit to spain
haitians need to be there to rebuild the country this is not an opportunity to
immigrate to the united states she added
children missing from haiti hospitals unicef
geneva jan afp
children have gone missing from hospitals in haiti since the devastating
earthquake struck raising fears of trafficking for adoption abroad the un
children fund unicef said friday
we have documented let say around cases of children disappearing from
hospitals and not with their own family at the time said unicef adviser jean
luc legrand
unicef has been working in haiti for many years and we knew the problem with
the trade of children in haiti which existed already beforehand and
unfortunately many of these trade networks have links with the international
adoption market legrand explained
the agency underlined that it had warned countries during the past week not to
step up adoptions from haiti in the immediate wake of the quake
several are fast tracking adoption procedures already under way including
belgium canada france germany the netherlands spain and the united states
legrand said the situation was similar to the aftermath of the tsunami in asia
five years ago
trafficking networks were springing into action immediately after the disaster
and taking advantage of the weakness of local authorities and relief
coordination to kidnap children and get them out of the country legrand told
journalists
rupert colville spokesman for the office of the un high commissioner for
human rights said that child enslavement and trafficking in haiti was an
existing problem and could easily emerge as serious issue over the coming
weeks and months
the un mission in haiti has stepped up surveillance of roads unicef officials
said
legrand said there was separate but only anecdotal evidence of people taking
children by road to the neighbouring dominican republic and planes loading
children before they left the airport
we have seen over the last years many children being taken out of the country
without any legal procedure this is going on this is happening now and we are
starting to have the first evidence of that this is unquestionable he
claimed
he was unable to give details on the missing children or their condition or
clearly connect the anecdotal observations in haiti chaos with trafficking
the cases were documented by social workers and by partner non governmental
organisations working for unicef in hospitals
italy eni to lead billion dollar investment in iraq
rome jan afp
consortium led by italian oil company eni early friday finalised year
