Fair Proxy Web

Cavenaghi keeps Bordeaux in title hunt

PARIS, France — Fernando Cavenaghi’s second-half brace gave Bordeaux a 2-1 victory over Caen and reduced French League leaders Lyon’s advantage to four points, with five matches to play.

Cavenaghi had missed two first-half chances, twice shooting straight at Caen goalkeeper Vincent Plante, but was in the right place to turn in Wendel’s free kick in the 52nd minute.

Cavenaghi has played a big part in Bordeaux’s late surge up the table, and the Argentina striker improved his tally to 14 league goals in just 19 games when he converted a penalty in the 77th.

The spot kick was awarded after Nicolas Seube handled Alejandro Alonso’s cross, moments after Bordeaux midfielder Johan Micoud hit the crossbar with a near-perfect chip over Plante.

Jeremy Sorbon pulled a goal back for Caen in the 89th when he volleyed past goalkeeper Ulrich Rame from close range.

Bordeaux are seeking their first league title for nine seasons. E-mail to a friend

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U.S. Catholics pleased with pope, survey finds

NEW YORK (AP) — American Catholics said in a new survey they were pleased with the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI, ahead of his first visit to the U.S. since he was elected.

The study also found intense interest in faith among some young people.

Yet, few parishioners overall said they go to confession, and most believed they could be good Roman Catholics without going to Mass.

The poll, released Sunday, was commissioned by the nation’s bishops and conducted in February by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer, head of the bishops’ communications committee, was encouraged by the openness to faith in the survey but said it highlighted the need for better religious instruction.

The challenge for church leaders, he said, is to help them see what Catholicism really means.

Strengthening Catholic identity and observance are central themes of Benedict’s papacy, and topics he is expected to address when he travels to Washington and New York starting Tuesday.

On Sunday, Benedict asked pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City to pray that his visit will be a time of spiritual renewal for all Americans.

In the survey, eight of 10 Catholics said they were somewhat or very satisfied with his leadership. Nearly half a million people sought tickets to his public events in both cities.

The poll found that Catholics born before 1960 — among the most faithful parishioners — and those born since the 1980s have similar outlooks.

For Catholics who attend Mass at least once a month, an overwhelming majority of the young and older generation believe Christ is present in the Eucharist.

Even more, the younger, regular Mass-goers surpass their elders in observing Lent, with nearly all saying they abstain from meat on Fridays and receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. The young people are also more likely to consider devotion to saints very important to their faith.

However, the study found that only 36 percent of the younger Catholics attend Mass at least once a month, compared with 64 percent of the older generation.

Sixty-eight percent of all Catholics surveyed said they agreed that they believed they could be in good standing with the church without going to weekly Mass.

The poll, Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice Among U.S. Catholics, found that nearly one-third of the nation’s 64 million Catholics attend Mass in any given week. That figure has remained the same in the last five years, according to the report.

Thirty percent of the respondents said they go to confession less than once a year and 45 percent said they never go.

Regarding the church’s social justice teaching, two-thirds of Catholics said helping those in need is a moral duty for Catholics.

The survey also measured satisfaction with the American church hierarchy. Seventy-two percent of Catholics said they were somewhat or very satisfied with the bishops’ leadership, a 14-point jump since 2004, when the clergy sex abuse crisis was still roiling the church.
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Police: Spears has minor accident in Mercedes

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Britney Spears’ motoring misfortunes continue.

The pop star was involved in a minor traffic accident late Saturday.

No one was injured and no vehicles were damaged, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol Officer Patrick Kimball says Spears was driving her 2008 Mercedes on the eastbound Ventura Freeway just east of the 405 freeway when the nighttime accident occurred.

Spears was in stop-and-go traffic when her car struck a 2006 Nissan in front of her that had stopped.

The Nissan then pushed forward into another vehicle. No damage was noted to any of the vehicles.

The Highway Patrol took a report and no one was cited.
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Beijing ‘thinking deeply’ over Taiwan

BOAO, China (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao said he was thinking deeply about improving relations with Taiwan, state-run media reported Sunday, one day after an ice-breaking meeting between the rivals that have been locked in a standoff for nearly six decades.

Hu made history Saturday by briefly visiting with Taiwanese Vice President-elect Vincent Siew, who will take office next month. Their chat on the sidelines of a business conference made Siew the highest-ranking elected figure from across the Taiwan Strait to meet with a Chinese president.

After the discussion, Siew quickly met with reporters and characterized his late afternoon sit-down with Hu as friendly, and he praised him for being pragmatic. But Beijing waited until after midnight on Sunday to share Hu’s account of the 20-minute meeting at the southern Chinese resort of Boao.

Hu’s comments in the Xinhua report were cautious and simply summarized the meeting without reciprocating Siew’s praise. But Hu reportedly said the annual weekend conference in Boao — where businesspeople mix with world leaders — inspired us to think deep about cross-Straits economic exchanges and cooperation under the new circumstances.

Hu endorsed two of Siew’s key proposals: opening up Taiwan to more Chinese tourists and allowing weekend charter flights, Xinhua said. Direct air travel across the Taiwan Strait has been banned since the two sides split amid civil war in 1949.

Many hoped the Hu-Siew meeting would mark a thawing in the relations that have been in a deep freeze during the eight-year rule of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian. Hu and Chen distrusted each other, and neither was ready to make compromises that would get them to the bargaining table.

At times, an improvement in relations seemed hopeless and both sides appeared to be moving toward a war, which could quickly involve the U.S. — Taiwan’s most important friend.

Beijing loathed Chen because he refused to embrace China’s sacred goal: eventual unification. Chen believed that only Taiwan’s 23 million people had the right to determine the democratic island’s future. But Beijing insisted that Taiwan was an inseparable part of the motherland that must return — the sooner the better.

In the Xinhua report Sunday, Hu didn’t mention Chen by name but the Chinese leader said relations with Taiwan suffered twists and turns for reasons known to all in recent years.

Beijing is much more comfortable with Siew and his political partner, President-elect Ma Ying-jeou. Neither have publicly opposed unification, but they insist the thorny issue should be set aside for now so that future generations can settle it.

Daniel Tang, a China expert at Taiwan’s Chungyu Institute of Technology, said Hu was using his meeting with Siew to help improve China’s image as it deals with criticism over issues like its crackdown in Tibet.

China needs to produce positive results in cross-strait relations to divert attention from rows over its human right record before the Olympics, Tang said.

But Tang added that problems could emerge after the Olympics when the Taiwanese sovereignty issue would likely become a contentious point once again.
found here.

Beijing ‘thinking deeply’ over Taiwan

BOAO, China (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao said he was thinking deeply about improving relations with Taiwan, state-run media reported Sunday, one day after an ice-breaking meeting between the rivals that have been locked in a standoff for nearly six decades.

Hu made history Saturday by briefly visiting with Taiwanese Vice President-elect Vincent Siew, who will take office next month. Their chat on the sidelines of a business conference made Siew the highest-ranking elected figure from across the Taiwan Strait to meet with a Chinese president.

After the discussion, Siew quickly met with reporters and characterized his late afternoon sit-down with Hu as friendly, and he praised him for being pragmatic. But Beijing waited until after midnight on Sunday to share Hu’s account of the 20-minute meeting at the southern Chinese resort of Boao.

Hu’s comments in the Xinhua report were cautious and simply summarized the meeting without reciprocating Siew’s praise. But Hu reportedly said the annual weekend conference in Boao — where businesspeople mix with world leaders — inspired us to think deep about cross-Straits economic exchanges and cooperation under the new circumstances.

Hu endorsed two of Siew’s key proposals: opening up Taiwan to more Chinese tourists and allowing weekend charter flights, Xinhua said. Direct air travel across the Taiwan Strait has been banned since the two sides split amid civil war in 1949.

Many hoped the Hu-Siew meeting would mark a thawing in the relations that have been in a deep freeze during the eight-year rule of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian. Hu and Chen distrusted each other, and neither was ready to make compromises that would get them to the bargaining table.

At times, an improvement in relations seemed hopeless and both sides appeared to be moving toward a war, which could quickly involve the U.S. — Taiwan’s most important friend.

Beijing loathed Chen because he refused to embrace China’s sacred goal: eventual unification. Chen believed that only Taiwan’s 23 million people had the right to determine the democratic island’s future. But Beijing insisted that Taiwan was an inseparable part of the motherland that must return — the sooner the better.

In the Xinhua report Sunday, Hu didn’t mention Chen by name but the Chinese leader said relations with Taiwan suffered twists and turns for reasons known to all in recent years.

Beijing is much more comfortable with Siew and his political partner, President-elect Ma Ying-jeou. Neither have publicly opposed unification, but they insist the thorny issue should be set aside for now so that future generations can settle it.

Daniel Tang, a China expert at Taiwan’s Chungyu Institute of Technology, said Hu was using his meeting with Siew to help improve China’s image as it deals with criticism over issues like its crackdown in Tibet.

China needs to produce positive results in cross-strait relations to divert attention from rows over its human right record before the Olympics, Tang said.

But Tang added that problems could emerge after the Olympics when the Taiwanese sovereignty issue would likely become a contentious point once again.
found here.