craig eastmond were among the youngsters thrown into the starting line up
and hardly minute had elapsed before the home side stunned an arsenal defence
including sol campbell making his second debut for the club
while rory delap gargantuan throws are no longer surprise to anyone arsenal
could not handle the first exocet lukasz fabianski flapped and fuller stole
ahead of the polish goalkeeper to find the net with header
that early setback clearly unruffled arsenal and their first half performance
was littered with stray passes and errors of judgement
stoke could have been awarded penalty ten minutes before half time when fuller
appeared to collapse under desperate lunge from mikael silvestre
but arsenal finally levelled in the nd minute through denilson fabregas
played free kick outside the box across to the brazilian midfielder and he
arrowed low drive past thomas sorensen with the aid of two deflections off
stoke defenders
the second half saw stoke dominant with fabianski under siege for most of the
minutes from an aerial bombardment
fabregas tested sorensen with long range drive but stoke pressed for winner
with coquelin almost turning mamady sidibe cross into his own net
wenger simply had to make changes and with minutes remaining introduced
andrey arshavin eduardo and aaron ramsey in desperate bid to avoid replay
he did avoid one though not in the way he wanted sidibe excellent work down
the right ended in an inch perfect cross for fuller to nod past stranded
fabianski
visibily stunned arsenal exit from the fa cup was confirmed when the
excellent etherington crossed for whitehead to put the icing on the cake with
his first goal for the club in the th minute
some music fans ready for anything to meet idols
cannes france jan afp
it may come as no surprise that enjoying music is the world top pastime but
global survey unveiled this weekend also showed one in five people would do
absolutely anything to meet their idols
just what fans might be prepared to do was not stated but the figure rose to
one in three people in britain and the united states while in hong kong music
stars need not worry as percent of interviewees were not ready to make any
effort to meet their favourite stars or bands
the survey was presented as the four day midem trade fair the world biggest
music industry fest opened sunday it was based on interviews in
territories at the end of last year and was compiled by music matters and
synovate
it showed australia as the country apparently least interested in spending time
listening to music with mere six percent of those questioned describing
themselves as music lovers
on average total percent claimed to be passionate about music figure
that rose to over percent in spain brazil and britain
the survey also showed that percent had bought cd in the month before the
survey that percent bought their music online and that percent had
knowingly bought counterfeit or pirate cd
it also indicated that streaming is the new black jasper donat president of
hong kong based music matters told packed auditorium of movers and shakers in
the digital mobile and live music industry
one in five people streamed their favourite tracks or albums from the fast
growing number of legal music streaming services that include services such as
myspace or spotify that figure rose to percent for people aged under
donat said
around percent admitted to downloading song illegally with china leading
the field followed by south korea he added
as regards advertisements percent said they were happy to accept ads in
order to download music while percent accepted advertising for music
streaming
more bodies found in nigerian village elder
jos nigeria jan afp
twenty eight more bodies were on sunday found in central nigerian village
following muslim christian clashes that have left hundreds dead the kuru karama
village head told afp
we found more bodies today in pit in bush on the western outskirt of the
village they were badly decomposed but they have been buried umar baza said
on telephone
bin laden claims christmas bombing warns of more attacks
dubai jan afp
al qaeda chief osama bin laden claimed responsibility for the botched christmas
day bombing of us airliner and vowed further strikes on american targets in
an audio message broadcast on sunday
the brief statement carried by al jazeera satellite television warned washington
that the attack was meant as similar message to that of the september
attacks on the us by al qaeda militants who hijacked airliners and crashed
them into buildings
bin laden praised as hero nigerian national umar farouk abdulmutallab who
allegedly tried to detonate explosives on northwest airlines plane approaching
detroit on december but was foiled by passengers
the message that was conveyed through the attacked plane of the hero umar
farouk is to stress earlier messages delivered to you by the heroes of the
september attack he said
that message is that america should not dream of security until we enjoy it
as reality in palestine he added
the authenticity of the statement could not immediately be verified but al
jazeera said the voice was bin laden
had we been able to deliver our messages to you in words we would not have
sent them by planes the statement said
it is not fair that you america enjoy good life while our brothers in gaza
endure the worst standard of living therefore god willing our attacks against
you will continue as long as you maintain your support to israel
al qaeda in the arabian peninsula aqap had claimed responsibility for the
christmas day plane attack and analysts said bin laden through his latest
statement is stressing that he is still in overall control of the network
intelligence officials military analysts and other experts have long believed
he is holed up along the remote mountainous border between pakistan and
afghanistan and have hinted that groups such as aqap could be operating
autonomously
washington has accused aqap of training abdulmutallab who spent some time in
yemen
the us administration is putting pressure on yemen to clamp down on al qaeda
militants in the impoverished country and an international meeting to discuss
militancy in yemen will be held on january in london
british foreign secretary david miliband said in london on sunday that the
foiled christmas attack marks new phase in al qaeda campaign against the
west
the heart of the al qaeda senior leadership remains on the afghan pakistan
border miliband said
but there is real issue in yemen the fact that al qaeda in the arabian
peninsula should have tried to strike in detroit marks new phase in the
campaign and that why there an important meeting on yemen on wednesday
yemen government has intensified its campaign against al qaeda launching
waves of air strikes on the extremists hideouts and insists it can battle the
group on its own without any foreign military intervention
sanaa stopped granting visas to foreigners at airports on thursday in bid to
curb feared inflow of militants believed to be training with al qaeda
earlier this week the us senate foreign relations committee released report
warning that aqap might be training as many as three dozen americans who
converted to islam in prison
intelligence reports have pointed for some time at yemen as the new hub for al
qaeda fighters as pressure increases on them in afghanistan and pakistan
michael leiter director of the us national counterterrorism center told
lawmakers in september that yemen could become base for al qaeda to train and
plot anti us attacks
analysts believe that the problems facing yemen including shiite rebellion in
the north secession bid in the south and poverty create perfect environment
for al qaeda to thrive
us intelligence chiefs last wednesday admitted that they missed slew of
warning signs that should have prevented the attempted airliner attack
us grand jury has indicted year old abdulmutallab on six counts arising
from the attempt to blow up the jet packed with passengers and crew on
northwest airlines flight from amsterdam to detroit
bin laden who has million dollar bounty on his head last made public
statement four months ago when he was quoted on september by site
intelligence group monitoring service as urging european countries to withdraw
their forces from afghanistan
afghanistan postpones parliamentary elections official
kabul jan afp
afghanistan postponed parliamentary polls for four months sunday days ahead of
crunch talks on the war torn nation in london saying it was unsafe to go ahead
amid spiralling taliban insurgency
the announcement five months after the presidential election descended into
ballot stuffing farce will deepen global concern that graft and logistical
problems are undermining democracy in one of the world poorest and most
corrupt nations
the ballot originally planned for may will be delayed until september
senior election commissioner fazil ahmad manawi told reporters in kabul
the independent election commission iec made the decision because of lack
of budget security and uncertainty and logistical challenges the official
said
kai eide the top un representative to afghanistan welcomed the decision saying
the postponement gave the electoral institutions additional time to carry out
the necessary preparations for the elections
this would have been extremely difficult to do by the original date eide said
in statement
it also provides time to make improvements to the electoral process based on
lessons learned during the presidential and provincial council elections in
the top un diplomat added
afghanistan has relied on foreign funding for elections since when us
led invasion overthrew the taliban regime and moves towards democracy began
the commission had previously said it was short of around million dollars to
hold the ballot for the wolosi jirga afghanistan lower house of parliament
but the united nations has said it would need to see evidence of significant
reform including replacing senior iec officials before agreeing to release
money to stage the election
president hamid karzai was sworn into office for second five year term in
november following controversial poll steeped in fraud mostly in his favour
and marred by low voter turnout and taliban violence
most cases of fraud during the august presidential elections were reported in
areas rife with taliban and other islamist militants battling the government
and where afghan security forces had little or no control
militants launched wave of attacks killing and maiming dozens in an attempt
to disrupt ballot they called an american process
karzai administration had earlier called for the parliamentary ballot to be
held on time pledging to fund the process if the international community failed
to provide the budget
his office was not immediately available for comment
manawi said low ranking workers had been dismissed from the commission or moved
to different jobs but added that if you mean the leadership and commissioners
this the responsibility of the president
the president has to decide he added
afghanistan held its first direct parliamentary election in september
under the constitution the next poll was due to be held no later than days
before the end of the legislative cycle which ends on june
manawi did not comment on what would happen to the current parliament after this
date saying the us backed karzai government was responsible for the decision
fighting corruption is one of the key topics due to be discussed at an
international conference on afghanistan in london on january along with the
security situation good governance and reconciliation with taliban fighters
the london meeting was called by british prime minister gordon brown after
karzai had already announced plans to hold an anti corruption conference in
kabul early this year
more than international troops are fighting the taliban under us and
nato command and losing troops almost daily as the war escalates on entering
its ninth year
another troops are being deployed this year along with hundreds of
civilian specialists to back military progress with development and aid to shore
up civilian support for the kabul administration
german chancellor angela merkel prepared sunday to sell sceptical voters on
bolstering the german presence in afghanistan with sharper focus on
reconstruction and reconciliation
germany the third biggest provider of foreign troops with deployment of
around would make training security forces its primary focus in
afghanistan merkel said
the chancellor said she would discuss how best to coordinate afghan and
international efforts during talks tuesday and wednesday in berlin with karzai
biathlon men world cup km pursuit race
anterselva italy jan afp
results from sunday men world cup pursuit race km four shooting
rounds lap penalty per missed shot
daniel mesotitsch aut penalty
arnd peiffer ger at
dominik landertinger aut
martin fourcade fra
christoph stephan ger
tomasz sikora pol
anton shipulin rus
simon fourcade fra
sergei sednev ukr
tobias eberhard aut
world cup pursuit standings after of events
simon eder aut points
dominik landertinger aut
arnd peiffer ger
evgeny ustyugov rus
simon fourcade fra
world cup overall standings after of events
simon fourcade fra points
evgeny ustyugov rus
christoph sumann aut
arnd peiffer ger
tim burke usa
biathlon biathlon pre olympic pursuit tonic for mesotitsch
anterselva italy jan afp
austria daniel mesotitsch won the men world cup km pursuit race here on
sunday in perfect pre olympic tonic
mesotitsch triumphed in min sec to beat arnd peiffer winner of saturday
sprint by sec margin while austrian domir landetinger was third at
sec
top stars such as norwegian pair ole einar bjoerndalen and emil hegle svendsen
who between them won seven of the first eight races in which they competed this
season skipped sunday action as they fine tune winter games preparations
the olympic competition which starts with february sprint will also count
towards the world cup
football hamburg van nistelrooy drops holland hint
hamburg germany jan afp
dutch striker ruud van nistelrooy said he has joined bundesliga side hamburg in
bid to win back his place in the holland team before this summer world cup
in south africa
the year old made his last appearance in the orange shirt of holland after
his side were beaten in the quarter finals by russia at euro but has
hinted he would like to play for the netherlands again
want to deliver the goods in the shirt of hamburg and to win things with this
team said the dutch star who signed from real madrid on saturday on the
club website
hope the dutch selectors will contact me again so can take part in the
world cup
the hot shot forward scored goals for holland in matches but announced
his retirement for second time following euro after disagreement with
then coach marco van basten
but hamburg have pulled off something of coup by signing the dutch striker and
the former manchester united star said he was eager to join
the bundesliga has always interested me and is one of the reasons why
accepted hamburg offer said van basten
in my opinion this is one of the best league in the world alongside spain
and england
van nistelrooy has signed contract until june and hamburg are reported to
have spent million euros million us dollars on bringing the dutchman to
the hanseatic city
he joins three other dutchmen joris mathijsen eljero elia and romeo castelen
in the hamburg squad and van nistelrooy said he had spoken to former hamburg
captain and real team mate rafael van der vaart about hamburg
spoke to rafael and joris about hamburg and they both said what good club
it was they all advised me to go there said van nistelrooy
the tall striker has earned glittering reputation for scoring goals wherever
he plays
he has already been crowned the best striker in holland having scored goals
for eindhoven between and england having scored goals for
manchester united between and spain having netted goals for real
between and
there is still some uncertainty about how he will perform for hamburg after knee
surgery in november and he has only played minutes of football for real
this season
may need bit of time to recover my fitness but hope to prove myself to
my team mates as soon as possible he said
biathlon vancouver boost for winner mesotitsch
anterselva italy jan afp
austria daniel mesotitsch won the men world cup pursuit title here on sunday
in perfect pre olympic tonic
mesotitsch triumphed in min sec to beat arnd peiffer winner of saturday
sprint by sec margin while austrian domir landetinger was third at
sec
top stars such as norwegian pair ole einar bjoerndalen and emil hegle svendsen
who between them won seven of the first eight races in which they competed this
season skipped sunday action as they fine tune winter games preparations
the olympic competition which starts with february sprint will also count
towards the world cup
football fuller sends arsenal crashing out of fa cup
london jan afp
arsenal became the latest member of the premier league elite to suffer an
early exit from the fa cup as ricardo fuller double strike inspired stoke
win over the gunners in the fourth round on sunday
manchester united humbled by league one leeds and liverpool shocked by
reading both perished in the third round and arsene wenger much changed side
were condemned to an equally chastening defeat at the britannia stadium
after claiming that arsenal remain vulnerable to physical opponents fuller
underlined his pre match jibe by heading the hosts into the lead after
seconds
the gunners defence including debutant sol campbell failed to deal with rory
delap trademark long throw and fuller nipped in front of hesitant goalkeeper
lukasz fabianski to head home from close range
wenger team drew level in the nd minute when denilson shot trickled past
thomas sorensen after deflecting off two stoke defenders
but fuller who had scored twice against arsenal last season proved thorn in
their side yet again in the th minute
mamady sidibe crossed from the right and jamaican international fuller escaped
campbell attentions to head past fabianski
dean whitehead ensured arsenal would suffer their first defeat in matches
when he turned in matthew etherington cross with four minutes to play
manchester city travel to championship strugglers scunthorpe in sunday late
game with that tie followed by the fifth round draw
biathlon vancouver boost for winner mesotitsch
anterselva italy jan afp
austria daniel mesotitsch won the men world cup pursuit title here on sunday
in perfect pre olympic tonic
mesotitsch triumphed in min sec to beat arnd peiffer winner of saturday
sprint by sec margin while austrian domir landetinger was third at
sec
top stars such as norwegian pair ole einar bjoerndalen and emil hegle svendsen
who between them won seven of the first eight races in which they competed this
season skipped sunday action as they fine tune winter games preparations
the olympic competition which starts with february sprint will also count
towards the world cup
rugby union european cup tables
paris jan afp
european cup pool tables ahead of sunday final two pool matches played won
drawn lost points for against bonus points total points
pool
munster qualified
northampton qualified
perpignan
treviso
pool
biarritz qualified
gloucester
glasgow
dragons
pool
clermont qualified
ospreys qualified
leicester
viadana
pool
stade francais qualified
ulster
edinburgh
bath
pool
leinster qualified
llanelli scarlets
london irish
brive
pool winners and two best runners up qualify for last eight
football english fa cup results
london jan afp
english fa cup results on sunday
th rnd
stoke fuller whitehead arsenal denilson
playing later
scunthorpe manchester city gmt
played saturday
accrington stanley symes fulham nevland duff gera
aston villa delfouneso young delph brighton elphick
forster
bolton steinsson elmander sheffield utd
cardiff bothroyd whittingham burke mccormack leicester
morrison guessan
derby mceveley doncaster
everton osman birmingham benitez ferguson
notts county hughes davies wigan scotland watson
portsmouth utaka sunderland bent
preston chelsea anelka sturridge
reading sigurdsson burnley
southampton thomas antonio ipswich counago
tottenham crouch pavlyuchenko leeds beckford pen
west brom olsson dorrans pen pen thomas newcastle carroll
wolverhampton jones zubar crystal palace lee ambrose
haiti catholics try to understand at post quake mass
port au prince jan afp
hundreds of haitians attended mass in the skeletal shadow of port au prince
shattered roman catholic cathedral on sunday seeking to understand god hand
in the apocalyptic earthquake
father glanda toussaint held the service at an altar improvised on wooden
table and told parishoners the earth can shake but the word of god continues
before the january quake which killed over people and devasted much
of the impoverished haitian capital around people would fill the pews for
mass in the notre dame de assomption cathedral
when toussaint asked today congregation of around if they understood why
the disaster happened the crowd murmured their incomprehension
all is not the will of god but all is providential he said what we are
going through is not finished we must reconstruct the country and reconstruct
our faith as haitian it hurts
between prayers and songs and wearing his chasuble the priest called on all of
haiti deeply religious population catholics protestants and voodoo
practioners to come together to rebuild
thanks be to god we are here but this is not because we are better than anyone
else said toussaint
archbishop joseph serge miot of port au prince died when his office adjoining
the cathedral collapsed in the magnitude quake
his funeral took place on saturday outside the ruined cathedral and he is to be
reburied in the capital once the building is rebuilt
pope calls for just solutions for immigrants
vatican city jan afp
pope benedict xvi called on sunday for just solutions to problems linked to
immigration live issue in italy in recent weeks
speaking after his weekly angelus prayer the pope hailed the family love
movement and all who spent last night in the church of saint gregory in rome
praying for just solutions for welcoming foreigners in italy
the roman catholic church has led criticism of violence against african farm
workers in the southern italian town of rosarno earlier this month that left
foreigners injured and forced more than to flee the area
immigrants are human beings with rights and duties who should be respected the
pope said on january
tensions over immigration have been growing in italy coalition government
between the xenophobic northern league which takes hard line on the matter
and more moderate elements who support better rights for immigrants
football scottish premier league results
glasgow jan afp
scottish premier league results on sunday
falkirk moutinho dundee utd goodwillie daly
playing later
st johnstone celtic gmt
played saturday
aberdeen young kilmarnock
hibernian nish stokes riordan hamilton paixao
motherwell murphy sutton st mirren
rangers little hearts robinson
egypt mubarak defends gaza border barrier
cairo jan afp
egyptian president hosni mubarak on sunday defended the construction of an
underground barrier on the border with the gaza strip as matter of national
security and sovereignty
the works and reinforcements on our eastern border are matter of egyptian
sovereignty we do not accept debate on the issue with anyone mubarak said
in speech to mark police day
it is the right of the egyptian state and even its duty its responsibility
it is the right of every state to control and protect its borders he added
khaled meshaal exiled leader of the palestinian hamas movement which has
controlled gaza since june recently called on egypt to halt construction
of the barrier
what we do not accept and will not accept is that we take our borders
lightly or that our territory is violated or that our soliders or installations
are targetted mubarak said
we continue with the construction and reinforcements on our border not to
please anyone but to protect our national security from violations and from
terrorist acts such as those in taba sharm el sheikh dahab and cairo he
added
series of bombings from to killed total of people in red sea
resorts on the sinai peninsula and bomb attack at cairo bazaar killed
french teenager
egyptian authorities started building the underground steel barrier in bid
they say to stop the smuggling of goods and weapons into the gaza strip via
network of underground tunnels but officials have remained tightlipped about
the details of the construction work
egypt has also been more vocal in its pressure on hamas which it accuses of
refusing reconciliation agreement with the palestinian authority
israel has sealed the gaza strip off to all but very limited supplies of basic
goods ever since the islamist group seized control in ousting forces loyal
to western backed palestinian president mahmud abbas
on january an egyptian policeman was killed and five people wounded during
clashes on the egypt gaza border after palestinian demonstrations to protest at
the construction of the barrier
football angola ghana teams
luanda jan afp
teams for an africa cup of nations quarter final 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 djalma campos flavio amado mateus manucho alberto
coach manuel jose por
ghana
richard kingson capt samuel inkoom isaac vorsah hans adu sarpei lee addy
emmanuel badu andre ayew kwadwo asamoah opoku agyemang asamoah gyan haminu
draman
coach milovan rajevac srb
referee mohamed benouza alg
magic wand bomb detector still rules baghdad checkpoints
baghdad jan afp
bomb detection device newly banned from export in britain and labelled useless
by us forces was still being used at checkpoints in baghdad on sunday to
mixture of confidence and disbelief
we know it doesn work and that it has been banned but we are continuing to
use it an iraqi army lieutenant shaking his head amid busy traffic told an
afp correspondent in the capital
it is bullshit the officer who was not authorised to speak to the press
said of the ade which consists of swivelling antenna mounted to hinge on
pistol shaped plastic hand grip but still we are lying about it
the device known as the magic wand uses series of interchangeable credit
card size paper cards said to be able to detect explosives such as and tnt
as well as weapons
