Fair Proxy Web

Villarreal miss chance to challenge

MADRID, Spain — Villarreal missed the chance to close the gap on Barcelona in the Spanish Primera Liga as they were held to a goalless draw by visiting Osasuna on Sunday.

Villarreal are hanging on to slim hopes of splitting leaders Real Madrid and Barca, but the sterile draw leaves them still eight points adrift of the Catalans who suffered a shock defeat to Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

Real are five points clear after beating Recreativo Huelva.

The closest Villarreal came to breaking the deadlock came in the 66th minute when Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez dived to stop striker Guille Franco’s angled shot.

Racing Santander moved into sixth place by beating Valladolid 1-0. Aldo Duscher lobbed in Oscar Serrano’s low cross in the 86th minute to boost Santander’s hopes of claiming a European place next season.

Getafe’s fine recent run came to an abrupt end as they let a two-goal lead slip in the second half to go down to a 3-2 loss to 10-man Real Mallorca.

Brazilian striker Edu scored his seventh headed goal in his last seven games as he helped Real Betis to a 4-0 win over Murcia.

The victory helped Real Betis pull further clear of the relegation zone where Levante are rock bottom but gave their fans some cheer with a 2-1 win over Real Zaragoza who are sliding into trouble. E-mail to a friend

found here.

Ajax close after shock PSV defeat

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Ajax closed to within six points of runaway Dutch leaders PSV Eindhoven with a 4-0 win over bottom side Excelsior while PSV suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at FC Utrecht.

Timmy Simons put reigning champions PSV ahead from the penalty spot just before the half-hour mark but the home team quickly replied before half time with goals from Robin Nelisse and Tim Cornelisse.

Gregoor van Dijk made the points safe 15 minutes from time from the spot.

Second-placed Ajax had no such troubles in their game, with Urby Emanuelson and Leonardo’s second-half goals adding to Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s first-half brace.

Meanwhile, fourth-placed Feyenoord suffered a surprise 3-1 defeat at home to NEC Nijmegen.

In Sunday’s other match, Heracles Almelo boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop and dented FC Groningen’s European aspirations with a 2-1 away victory. E-mail to a friend

found here.

Tendulkar steers India to tri-series win

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored his 42nd limited-overs century to lead India to a comfortable six-wicket win over Australia in the first tri-series final Sunday.

Man-of-the-match Tendulkar’s unbeaten 117 was his first one-day hundred in 39 matches in Australia.

I’m not sure why it took so long, but the timing was right tonight, Tendulkar said after the visitors scored 242-4 in reply to Australia’s 239-8, reaching the target with 25 balls to spare.

It was India’s first one-day win over Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 12 matches.

Rohit Sharma added 66 runs for India, who will take a 1-0 lead into the second match Tuesday at the Gabba in Brisbane. A third match, if necessary, is scheduled for Friday in Adelaide.

Dale Steyn claimed three wickets for four runs on Sunday in Chittagong on Sunday to crush Bangladesh’s top order and put South Africa on the brink of an innings victory in the second test.

Robin Peterson claimed the other two wickets as the hosts were reduced to 54 for five following on in the second innings at the end of day three, having been bowled out for 259 in the first innings.

Mushfiqur Rahim (4) and Abdur Razzak (0) will resume Monday, with Bangladesh needing a further 270 runs to make South Africa bat again.

Bangladesh resumed on Sunday at 60-3 in their first innings and at 176-4 looked capable of providing a contest after South Africa’s mammoth first innings of 583-7 declared.

But from thereon, South Africa’s pacemen Makhaya Ntini and Steyn destroyed Bangladesh’s resistance, and hospitalized Aftab Ahmed in the process. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

found here.

Former presidents join Philippine rally

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two former Philippine presidents, once bitter foes, joined tens of thousands of protesters at a rally Friday to press for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignation over a raging corruption scandal.

It was the largest crowd yet since Arroyo’s latest crisis erupted weeks ago when the Philippine Senate heard testimony, broadcast on live television, that linked her husband to multimillion-dollar kickbacks in a government telecommunications deal.

The crowd included former opponents ex-President Corazon Aquino, who ushered in democracy when the country’s first people power revolt ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and former President Joseph Estrada, who was forced out over massive corruption by a second people power uprising in 2001.

I thought my work was done because I am already old, said Aquino, 75. But this is what the times ask for, for us to unite so that the deceit will end and we will find out the truth. Thankfully there are still many of us shouting, ‘Gloria, enough, resign already.’

Aquino used to be one of Arroyo’s biggest supporters before breaking away in 2005 amid allegations that the president had rigged the 2004 election.

Soldiers and police went on high alert, setting up checkpoints at major highways as demonstrators braved a drizzle and gathered in Manila’s financial district. Police estimated turnout at 15,000, while organizers estimated the crowd at about 80,000.

The rally was organized by a loose coalition of opposition groups, business people, left-wing activists, Roman Catholic church-backed organizations and a large evangelical group, the Jesus is Lord Movement.

The crowd included former opponents who, like Aquino and Estrada, have united to oppose Arroyo, who has fended off three impeachment bids and four coup plots in seven years in power.

No single group or person claims credit in leading this initiative, said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing alliance Bayan.

Mrs. Gloria Arroyo made this possible. Her bankrupt and corrupt regime provided the urgency for everyone to set aside their differences and struggle together for truth and justice.

In southern Iligan city, about 1,000 Muslim and Christian protesters — including lawyers, teachers, priests, nuns and Muslim guerrillas in civilian clothes — gathered in a public plaza to call for Arroyo’s ouster.

Smaller anti-Arroyo rallies were held elsewhere in the country.

Arroyo’s latest trouble stems from allegations of corruption in a $330 million broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp., which she was forced to cancel.

Former consultants for the telecommunications contract have said the president’s husband and the country’s elections chief — who has since quit — benefited from huge kickbacks linked to the aborted contract. Both men have denied wrongdoing.

Arroyo has not directly addressed the allegations against her and her husband but says she opposes corruption and that her family does no business with the government. ZTE also has denied the allegations.

Aquino said growing public discontent over the scandal could force Arroyo to quit.

I am growing optimistic because I can see that more and more Filipinos are taking part in the effort to find the truth, Aquino said. What came out in the Senate hearings was really shocking.

Arroyo, who has ordered an investigation by the Justice Department and the government ombudsman, inaugurated the country’s first public aquarium Friday and attended Mass at police headquarters.

The powerful military and Roman Catholic bishops — both of whom played key roles in the two people power revolts — have refused to join calls for Arroyo to resign, although both have had to deal with dissension among their ranks for not doing so.

Military chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon warned troops they would face arrest if they joined the rally, saying such involvement could threaten the country’s nascent democracy.
found here.

Israeli airstrike damages Hamas premier’s office

JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israeli aircraft hit the Gaza City building housing the office of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh early Sunday, heavily damaging it.

No one was in the building when it was struck.

Shortly afterward, Israeli aircraft also struck a metal workshop in Gaza City and a house to the south belonging to a member of the military wing of Hamas, according to a CNN producer on the scene.

It was the fifth consecutive day in which Israeli forces launched air and ground operations against militants in northern Gaza, aimed at stopping what Israel says is a steady barrage of rocket fire into its towns.

The continuing unrest prompted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to call for an end to the back-and-forth attacks at an emergency U.N. Security Council session Saturday night.

I am deeply concerned [about] the violence escalating, he said. I call on all parties to step back from deeper and even more deadly clashes.

A Palestinian representative warned that Israel’s attacks threaten to derail the peace process and will undermine any progress that has been made.

Fifty-two Palestinians have been killed and 200 wounded since Friday in Gaza, Palestinian medical sources said, in the deadliest 24 hours of violence in more than a year.

The sources said 85 people, including civilians and children, have been killed in the Jebaliyah area since the incursion began Wednesday.

Israel launched airstrikes and limited ground operations in northern Gaza after militants fired rockets into Israeli territory.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded in clashes Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

Hamas security and medical sources said that an Israeli airstrike early Saturday in northern Gaza killed Hamas commander Iyyad al-Ashram.

The Israeli military confirmed that it had hit at least 23 armed Palestinians late Friday and early Saturday. Watch as Israeli-Palestinian fighting escalates

An IDF spokeswoman said the operations mostly involved ground forces backed by air support. Some of the Palestinian militants targeted were seen planting explosives and firing at IDF troops, she said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government announced that more than 50 Qassam rockets had been fired into Israel from Gaza on Saturday, injuring 22 people in Sderot and Ashkelon and causing property damage. The IDF said earlier that some of those injured were children.

The government put the number of rockets at more than 90 since Thursday.

Israel’s defense minister has said the Jewish state is ready for escalation in the confrontation with militants in Gaza.

The big military operation is actual and concrete, Ehud Barak said. We are not eager for it [but] are not deterred by it.

Israel is threatening to launch a major ground offensive into Gaza unless Hamas, the Islamic militant organization that seized control of the Palestinian territory in June, stops the daily rocket attacks into Israel.

The short-range Qassam missiles are fired from Gaza into Sderot and surrounding communities almost daily.

We have to blame the Hamas, said Matan Vilnai, Israel’s deputy defense minister. It’s their responsibility, and they are going to pay for it. I feel sorry for their population, because they are using their population in order to launch rockets from their area to our area.

He told Israeli Army Radio that militants were bringing onto themselves a worse shoah, a Hebrew word usually used to refer to the Holocaust.

That drew a strong reaction from exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who told the Arabic network Al-Jazeera from Damascus, Syria: From last Wednesday until now, that is the real Holocaust.

Palestinian leaders in the West Bank are threatening to call off peace talks with Israel because of the ongoing operations.

Babies no more than 5 months old are being bombed, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said. We ask the world to see with its own eyes and judge for itself who is really carrying out international terrorism.

Meanwhile, Israeli citizens urged their government to respond harshly to the barrage of Palestinian rocket attacks. A college student was killed last week, and an 8-year-old boy’s leg had to be amputated after he was wounded in an attack.

Before this week’s battles, a poll showed that 64 percent of Israelis favored negotiating with Hamas, a group that has refused to recognize Israel’s existence, in an attempt to reach an agreement.

Border access between Gaza and neighboring Israel and Egypt has been greatly restricted since June, when Hamas took over the territory.

Human rights groups have protested the blockade of electricity and fuel shipments into Gaza, blaming Israel for punishing civilians along with the territory’s Hamas leadership.
found here.