How to Lobby the Pope

Matt Keller spent a decade in Washington lobbying senators and congressmen on campaign finance reform and ethics legislation. But lobbying the Pope presented a unique challenge to the 42-year-old former senior staffer at Common Cause, who could once get John McCain or Warren Beatty on the phone. Keller has, since 2003, worked for the United Nations World Food Program in Rome, and his mission, ahead of the Pope's trip to Brazil, was simple: get Benedict XVI to mention the aid group's annual worldwide anti-hunger march, Walk the World, which coincided with the final day of the pontiff's trip. And Benedict could be assumed to be amenable: After all, he has repeatedly called for action against hunger, and even commended last year's Walk the World march during a weekly prayer in Rome. Still, a papal endorsement amid the raised visibility of the Brazil trip would be both a bigger boost and a bigger challenge, given the clamor of demands on the papal agenda while he's abroad. Getting access to the Pope proved incomparably more difficult than lobbying Washington lawmakers. "Talking to someone like me is part of certain people's job description [on Capitol Hill]," says Keller. "At the Vatican, it all seems so shrouded in mystery." But as an advocate for the global poor, his objective is not crafting legislation, but "raising visibility." And on that front, Keller quips, "The Pope is a 2-for-1 deal. He's world famous, and can speak with moral authority."
Keller began in March by helping draft a letter addressed to the Pope from the U.N. agency, asking him to again announce his support for Walk the World. But he knew that in order to achieve his goal, he had to find someone who both shared his agenda and also had direct access to the pontiff.
After querying cardinals, church aid groups and Brazilian officials, in late April Keller was told by a Brazilian diplomat that his best bet might be Rev. Martinho Lenz, the former rector of the Brazilian seminary in Rome and a longtime advocate for the poor who was now working on the agenda for the conference of Latin American bishops to be attended by the Pope.

Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved

Premiership - Pompey sign Distin, Muntari to follow

Premiership - Defender Sylvain Distin has signed for Portsmouth on a three-year contract after leaving Manchester City on a free transfer, while the club are also close to signing Sulley Muntari from Udinese. Pompey boss Harry Redknapp had been interested in signing Distin last season but the Frenchman, 29, opted to see out the final year of his deal at the City of Manchester Stadium.
He left the club on Tuesday claiming he was seeking a new challenge.
Distin said he was delighted to join an ambitious side and admitted: "Harry Redknapp was a big influence. I like the way his teams play and this is definitely a club on the way up.
"I was five years at Manchester City and made a lot of friends there. It was a tough decision but it was my decision and I am happy to stick by it.
"You have got to have ambition and for me that means trying to push for Europe. Portsmouth are capable of doing that, more than capable, and that's why I am here.
"When you are on a free transfer you are going to get a lot of offers but this is the one I wanted to take."
Boss Redknapp revealed he panicked when he heard that rivals from the Premiership's top four, with Liverpool one of the teams linked with a late bid, had moved in on Tuesday night.
Redknapp said: "I've been down that road a few times before and to be honest I panicked when I heard about it.
"But thankfully we struck an agreement with Sylvain and I am really pleased we've got him.
"Last year when we showed an interest in him his price was £5million so to get him for free has got to be great business for the club.
Meanwhile, Redknapp admitted midfielder Muntari is very close to signing.
The Ghana international will cost around £7m from Italian club Udinese and it's understood personal terms have already been agreed.
Redknapp said: "We are very close to getting him and I am keeping my fingers crossed.
"He is a fantastic midfielder, strong and quick and with an eye for goal and he is only 22."
Redknapp also confirmed he was interested in signing Middlesbrough's Mark Viduka, Charlton's Hermann Hreidarsson, and Titus Bramble, who has just been released by Newcastle.

Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! and Eurosport. All rights reserved.

Czechs Clinch Win in Match Tie-break

For the second day in a row, Center Court II provided the stage of a comeback that came down to the Match Tie-break.
Czechs Tomas Berdych and Martin Damm took the late break in the second set of the decisive doubles match against Spaniards David Ferrer and Bartolome Salva-Vidal, and then clawed back from a 4-7 deficit in the Match Tie-break. They won five consecutive points and clinched both the doubles match and the Round Robin tie on their second match point, 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 (Match TB).
Throughout their opening tie Monday at the 30th ARAG ATP World Team Championship, the Czech Republic was forced to play catch up with Spain.
Ferrer, who along with compatriot Nicolas Almagro were coming off of quarterfinal runs at ATP Masters Series Hamburg, forcefully established the early lead for Spain in the day's first singles match. He easily took the first five games against Berdych, who made 30 unforced errors in the 68-minute match, and conceded just four games total in his victory.
Jan Hajek kept the Czech Republic in the tie by notching his first ATP-level match win of the season. He defeated 20-year-old Salva-Vidal 6-2, 6-4.
The Czech Republic moved to second place in the Blue Group behind host nation Germany with their victory. They will place first-time qualifiers Belgium on Wednesday and Germany on Friday.

Copyright © Rochusclub Turnier-GmbH, 2005. All Rights Reserved

La Liga - Real sink brave Recreativo at the death

La Liga - Real Madrid moved to the top of La Liga with a last-gasp 3-2 away win at Recreativo de Huleva. Fabio Capellos side had looked in control as they completely dominated the first hour of play to stroll into a 2-0 lead. Robinho gave Real the lead in the ninth minute, and a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty doubled that advantage in the 53rd.
Recreativo fought back though and Jesus Vazquez got them back into the game in the 74th minute with a spot-kick. Ikechukwu Uche looked to have earned the home side a deserved point when he levelled the score with four minutes remaining, but Roberto Carlos struck in the third minute of added time to ensure a Real win.
Capello's men completely owned the first half and David Beckham, returning from suspension, began a masterful performance by curling in a cross from the right wing to set up Robinho for the opener. A complete lack of Recreativo marking contributed to the ease with which the Brazilian was able to finish the move.
Eight minutes later another superb Beckham delivery gave Fernando Gago a simple header which he looked certain score. The Argentinian somehow put his effort wide, highlighting more woeful Recreativo defending in the process.
Sergio Ramos very nearly gifted Recreativo a way back into the game against the run of play when he failed to deal with a ball over the top midway through the first half. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas was alert to clear the danger and save his team mate's blushes as Laurentiu Rosu lurked with intent.
Gago was inches away from connecting with another sweetly struck Beckham cross in the 25th minute, and Fabio Cannavaro picked up a yellow car for pulling down Florent Sinama-Pongolle as Recreativo made a rare first-half trip forward.
Raul showed magnificent control shortly after the half hour mark to take on a Roberto Carlos long ball, but the Real captain's finish could not complement his skill in creating an opening for himself as he sliced his shot wide.
The second half was an action-packed affair, and barely 20 seconds after the restart Recreativo had a clear penalty claim turned down as Sinama-Pongolle went down under a Sergio Ramos tackle. Whether the Real defender got a toe on the ball was highly debatable, but the referee declined the incoming appeals regardless.
Ramos was then guilty of a glaring miss minutes later as he tried to nonchalantly lift the ball over Bertrand Laquait as a Beckham corner found him unmarked and in acres of space at the far post. Recreativo's French &lsquokeeper saved well though to keep his side in the game.

Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! and Eurosport. All rights reserved

1st Test: Day 3 play abandoned due to rain

CHITTAGONG, May 20: Heavy rain played spoilsport as third day's play of the opening cricket Test match between India and Bangladesh was called off on Sunday without a ball being bowled due to poor ground conditions. The two umpires, Billy Doctrove and Daryl Harper, decided to cancel the day's play in consultation with curator Shaiful Alam Belal after inspecting the conditions around 1100 IST. The rains, which had allowed only 20 overs of play on Saturday, continued throughout the night and there was more downpour in the morning leading to water logging on the ground at the Bir Sreshta Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium. Scorecard It created several puddles in the outfield which could have led to injuries to the players and there was no sunshine either since morning. The overcast conditions made it impossible to dry the ground in time to squeeze in even a few overs. The grounds men were on their job since early morning but they could do little in the face of adverse weather conditions. Belal had earlier conceded that due to the clay soil in the lower layer, drainage was a problem at the venue in case of rains. After more than six hours' wait, the play began at 1600 IST on Saturday and India moved to 384/6 at stumps in their first innings. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly struck tons while Bangladesh picked up three quick wickets to peg back the Indians. While the Bangladesh players did some practice at the indoor gymnasium in the stadium premises, the Indian players stayed in their hotel. Earlier, the third and final One-dayer between the two sides had also been washed out at the same venue on May 15 following rains triggered by 'Hurricane Akash'. The organisers have decided that play would start half an hour early on Monday to partially compensate for the lost time. But with around 12 hours of playing time already lost, the sports buffs are keeping their fingers crossed.

Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited

Blair's Farewell Tour Makes Stop in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Outgoing British leader Tony Blair, whose premiership has been dominated by his unpopular decision to join the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, arrived in Iraq on Saturday for his seventh -- and final -- visit as prime minister.
Blair, who was making an unannounced visit before he steps down from office in June, planned to reassure Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that his departure will not bring an end to Britain's support.
Shortly after Blair arrived in the capital's Green Zone, three mortar rounds or rockets exploded in the heavily fortified compound, wounding one person, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.
One round struck the British Embassy compound, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. It was not known if Blair was in the embassy at the time.
A fourth projectile exploded just outside the Green Zone.
Fintor made no mention of Blair's presence, and it was unclear how far the explosions occurred from where the British leader was to meet Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani.
Blair's official spokesman downplayed the incident, saying there was ''nothing to suggest anything other than business as usual.''
Blair arrived in Iraq via Kuwait, following talks in Washington with President Bush on Thursday.
Blair told a Rose Garden news conference that Britain's next leader, current Treasury chief Gordon Brown, would continue to back al-Maliki's government, saying Iraq was a critical battleground in the fight against global terrorism.
''The forces that we are fighting in Iraq -- al-Qaida on the one hand, Iranian-backed elements on the other -- are the same forces we're fighting everywhere,'' Blair told reporters.
Talks with al-Maliki and Talabani were to center on speeding up reconciliation between divided communities, British officials said.
Blair's official spokesman, who briefs reporters only on condition of anonymity, said tribal elders and community leaders who may be ''connected with people who have committed violence'' must be engaged with.
Coalition officials have been cautiously optimistic over evidence that some tribal leaders in Anbar province had ousted al-Qaida-linked insurgents hiding in their communities, Blair's spokesman said.
Britain did not believe in talks with foreign terrorists, he said, but would support moves to bring those whose violence was motivated by ''concerns about whether their community will have a place in the new Iraq'' into the political sphere.
Blair hopes provincial elections could take place in 2007 and that Sunni groups, who boycotted the last similar poll, would field candidates, his spokesman said.
Britain has almost completed the process of pulling about 1,600 troops out of Iraq, leaving a force of around 5,500 based mainly on the fringes of the southern city of Basra.
Troops levels are likely to fall below 5,000 in late summer, but Blair has said British soldiers will stay in the Basra region until at least 2008 to train local forces, patrol the Iran-Iraq border and secure supply routes.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

TIME FOR FRANK ASSESSMENT

Frank Lampard will have to make one of the biggest decisions of his career if Chelsea fail to increase their contract offer to the England midfielder.
The Blues' FA Cup final preparations have been hampered by speculation that the club have issued final 'take-it-or-leave-it' offers to captain John Terry, Lampard and Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
Terry and Lampard want pay parity with top earners Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack but Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich is understood to have blocked such an increase.
Ballack and Shevchenko, who will both miss Saturday's final through injury, are reportedly earning £121,000 a week.
Robben is believed to have been offered a new four-year contract worth £84,000-a-week and has two years left on his current deal.
Terry, who has led Chelsea to the Barclays Premiership title twice in the last three years, is understood to have rejected a deal worth £115,000-a-week along with Lampard.
Lampard, like Robben, 23, could potentially resign from his contract in the 15 days after the FA Cup final.
The 28-year-old wants to finish his career at Stamford Bridge but is determined to be rewarded for his loyalty.
But if there is no agreement with the club in the next three weeks, Lampard will weigh-up leaving or running down the final two years of his contract.
The latter option would suit him best as he has salary increases built into the last 24 months of his £80,000-per-week deal.
By next summer, his bargaining position would have improved considerably but the fee Chelsea could command for him would have diminished alarmingly.
A FIFA rule, relating to Lampard's age and his time served at the club, means he could break his contract in the 15 days after the final - with Chelsea entitled to around just £8 million in compensation.
But on the eve of this weekend's clash with Manchester United, Lampard kept his eyes firmly fixed on the game, rather than his future.
The Chelsea midfielder remains full of praise for the Russian owner, even though he has blocked his bid for pay parity with Ballack and Shevchenko and may not even be at Wembley.
Lampard declared: "So much gets made out of whether the owner of the club is here or not.
"He has every right to be wherever he wants. What he has given to the club is amazing and I think people should stop analysing his every move because he has been great for us."
Chelsea are also struggling with an injury crisis that may yet rob them of midfielder Mikel John Obi, defender Ashley Cole and winger Robben.
Shevchenko, Ballack and defender Ricardo Carvalho are already out but Lampard, who admits to being hurt by the loss of the title to United, is determined not to use the injury setbacks as an excuse before the game.
Lampard added: "Losing the title hurts. I am man enough to live my life but when you get back on the pitch you have to feel that.
"If it doesn't hurt you that Chelsea don't win and you are a Chelsea player then you shouldn't be here. We need characters who are going to come back and we have certainly got that.
"If you are missing important players you are frustrated because they help the team and in a game like this you want them to play - big players deserve to play in this sort of spectacle.
"It is frustrating but if you put those excuses in your mind before you start then you have got problems. We have still got more than enough, for sure.

Copyright © TEAMtalk Media Group 2006

Who Is Stealing Iraq's Oil?

It took quite a while, but it appears that the Bush Administration has finally gotten around to acknowledging that Iraq has an oil problem. The Government Accountability Office is about to release a report that estimates 100,000 to 300,000 barrels of oil goes missing every month. According to the New York Times, the GAO will not offer a conclusion about what specifically is happening to the missing oil, other than it is probably lost to corruption, smuggling or just bad accounting. Iraqis oil traders, on the other hand, tell me they think they know exactly where the stolen oil is going — the militias appropriate it to arm and feed the rank and file. The same traders also tell me there's a lot more pilfered oil than the GAO acknowledges, and that the practice started as soon as Saddam fell. And why would anyone be surprised? Saddam's regime itself survived off stolen oil during the 12-year U.N. embargo.
The oil traders tell me the principal market for stolen crude is Basra, Iraq's only access to the Gulf. Fadhila, the strongest Shi'a militia in the city, pretty much monopolizes the trade. Fadhila currently offers pilfered oil for $10-12 a barrel. Buyers have to arrange for small freighters to ship it to Dubai, where it is sold at the dock for around $30 a barrel. The oil is sold on the international markets, commonly using a false certificate of origin or blended with other oil to disguise its origin. More and more frequently, however, co-opted employees in Iraq's Ministry of Oil help document the oil. Traders can expect to make a 4% return on the oil for themselves, with the rest of the money going to Fadhila and other militias.

Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved

Serena Wins in Rome

ROME, Italy - On Tuesday, eight-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams opened her 2007 Internazionali BNL d'Italia campaign with a straight-sets win over Michaella Krajicek at the $1.34-million Tier I event.
Williams, who received a first-round bye, admitted to a slow start against the 18-year-old Krajicek, who kept the reigning Australian Open on the run in the first set.
"I felt like I wasn't playing my game at all," said Williams, who now holds a 17-2 record for the year after winning the Australian Open and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. "I felt like I was just making a lot of errors and I was letting her dictate play, and that wasn't my game at all."
Williams would eventually find her game and secure the win in an easy second set, 64 61.
"I knew I was going to stay out there all night if I had to, so I just had to relax," added the No.8 seed, who is the first to advance into the third round.
Williams will now face the winner of the second-round match between No.11 seed Shahar Peer and Ai Sugiyama.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, the Italian favorites continued to drop out as Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, wildcard Romina Oprandi and lucky loser Sara Errani all lost their first-round matches. Errani was a replacement for Ana Ivanovic who withdrew because of an ankle injury.
But two Italians kept the local fans' hopes alive with first-round wins.
No.16 seed Tathiana Garbin defeated compatriot, No.53-ranked Pennetta, 63 76(3), while No.30-ranked Mara Santangelo beat recent Prague champion Akiko Morigami 62 60.
Santangelo set up a second-round clash on Wednesday with No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who had a first-round bye.
"I played Svetlana twice last year, in Melbourne and Paris. At the French Open, it was a close first set, and playing her on clay, and in front of my home crowd, I hope I can put in a good performance," Santangelo said.
Two other seeds also advanced into the second round - No.14 Patty Schnyder and No.15 Katarina Srebotnik.
Schnyder needed little time to beat Vasilisa Bardina 61 62, while Srebotnik scored a 64 62 win over Martina Muller.
The crafty left-handed Schnyder will next meet Meilen Tu, who was responsible for taking out Italy's Vinci 26 62 64. Srebotnik next faces Anabel Medina Garrigues, a 62 62 winner over Zheng Jie.
Zheng's Chinese countrywoman Yan Zi survived a three-setter against Severine Bremond, 26 60 63.
Other winners on Tuesday were Sybille Bammer, Kaia Kanepi, Nathalie Dechy, Samantha Stosur, Katarina Bondarenko, and lucky loser Yuliana Fedak. Fedak took advantage of the lucky loser spot she was given after Li Na withdrew due to a gastrointestinal illness.
In the doubles first round, the No.8 seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Nadia Petrova took out Peer and Dinara Safina, 62 64, while Martina Muller and Gabriela Navratilova beat Eleni Daniilidou and Jasmin Woehr.
On Wednesday, the top seed in Rome will play her opening match as Amelie Mauresmo takes on Samantha Stosur.
Stosur doesn't have a good record against the former world No.1.
"I've played Amelie five times, and every time, I've been beaten easily," said Stosur, who ousted Schiavone 63 64 to set up her meeting with Mauresmo. "But I'm getting more experience playing these top players, and even though I wasn't brought up on clay, I'm feeling more comfortable on it, so I hope tomorrow will be a better chance for me."
Wednesday's matches begin at 1 p.m. local time with the top two seeds, Mauresmo and Kuznetsova, in action on Campo Centrale.

Copyright © 2003-2007 Tennis-X.com. All rights reserved.

McCarthy Wants Champions Chance

Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy is hoping Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho will give him another crack at the Champions League.
McCarthy, the 29-year-old who played under Mourinho at Porto, finished second in the Premiership goalscoring charts and admits he would relish a return to the highest level.
Moving from Ewood Park would give Blackburn a healthy return on the £2.5million they paid Porto last year but would also deprive them of the striker that kept them in the hunt for UEFA Cup qualification.
"It's not like I owe them my life or they owe me for bringing me into the Premier League, for which I am totally grateful, and they will always have a place in my heart," said South Africa international McCarthy, speaking at the WKD Nuts Football Awards 2007.
"With the goals I've scored and the work I've put in, in that way I've paid back my dues.
"If something extraordinary does come and it's a big team, a Champions League team, then I would love to ask for the opportunity to try my fortunes at a higher level, at the biggest stage."
He added: "I'm still a Blackburn player but I'd love to play in the Champions League again."
With Mourinho and a host of ex-Porto players at Stamford Bridge, McCarthy is supporting Chelsea in Saturday's FA Cup final.
"I've grown up supporting Manchester United and I still love them but on the other hand I've got a lot of friends at Chelsea and one special friend who is Mourinho," he said.
"We go a long way back and he's been amazing to me. I've only got good things and great memories about him. Obviously I want Chelsea to win because of Mourinho, (Ricardo) Carvalho, (Paulo) Ferreira and all my mates like (Didier) Drogba, (Michael) Essien and (Claude) Makelele.
"They could have won everything and in a week it was like Arsenal - they lost the league and the Champions League. They have the FA Cup left.
"Hopefully if they win that they can probably build a stronger team. Next season he'll want to win the league and Champions League.
"He'll want to come for bigger and better players and hopefully I'll fall in the category that he'll look for."
Mark Hughes had to rebuild his attack last summer when Craig Bellamy left for Liverpool after a season at Ewood Park, and the Blackburn boss would have to do so again if McCarthy departs.
Chelsea has been suggested as a destination because of McCarthy's friendship with Mourinho and other African players at Stamford Bridge, and also their reliance on Didier Drogba in attack last season.
If he did move, McCarthy would have nothing but positive things to say about Blackburn after Hughes beat West Ham, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough to his signature.
"When you come from a Champions League team you miss playing against the likes Barcelona, AC Milan and the big-shots of world football," said McCarthy.
"Blackburn are probably not a team that will help me with that but it's a great team, a family team and I'm loving every moment of it.
"Sometimes I do have wishes that I will one day hopefully have the chance to play Champions League football again, and hopefully that will come true.
"I'm not saying I want to leave Blackburn if the chance did come then I'd love to have a go.
"I've felt very flattered because you play for a small team compared to the big four, to come into the hardest league and do well and get linked with one of the big four, it's amazing."
Along with reaching the FA Cup semi-final, McCarthy described the highlight of his rookie season in England: "To come second ahead of players like Ronaldo and Rooney who are playing for the big teams and I'm only playing for a modest team."

Copyright © 2007 Sporting Life All rights reserved

In China, It’s Not Always Clear for Whom the Booth Tolls

CHEN VILLAGE, China — Few motorists in any country brighten at the sight of tollbooths ahead. In China, which is building more toll roads than any other country in the world, legions of drivers are trying almost anything to avoid them. In Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in central China, so many owners of private cars and trucks are using fraudulent toll-exempt military plates that one toll highway has estimated its annual losses at roughly 10 million yuan, or $1.2 million.
In March a driver outfitted his vehicle like an ambulance, with flashing lights and an emergency response phone number painted on the side. He then raced through a highway tollbooth as if rushing to a hospital, until the police arrested him.
For centuries, commoner and collector have waged a volatile contest in China that has occasionally toppled dynasties but never quite been resolved. Leaders of the current dynasty, the Communist Party, are worried enough about angry peasants that they lifted the centuries-old agriculture tax as a populist gesture.
Tolls are another matter. By 2020, if all goes as planned, China will have completed almost 53,000 miles of expressways, a network roughly equivalent to the Interstate System in the United States. China considers expressways crucial to maintaining its economic growth and developing its western and interior provinces.
But the cost is so exorbitant that China is financing much of the system with tolls that are, by Chinese standards, pricey.
Two people who should know are Mr. Wang and Mr. Gu. The two men — who were nervous about divulging their first names to a snooping foreigner — are posted at a dingy intersection in this farming village in Hebei Province.
Not far away is a highway tollbooth. Every day cars and heavy trucks, as steady and determined as a trail of ants, try to skip the toll by cutting through the village on a narrow road.
Mr. Wang, 65, and Mr. Gu, 58, try to send them back. They say the tollbooth operator is paying the village a monthly fee to help crack down on toll jumpers. For its part the village is trying to stop heavy trucks from ruining its roads. The two men regulate traffic with a long, crooked stick that goes up and down like a crude crossing barrier.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Sissoko Attracting Barça And Juve Winks

Both the Italian and the Catalan giants are rumoured to be preparing approaches that may lever French-Malian midfielder Mohamed Sissoko out of Anfield and over the mainland next season… With the transfer season about to get into gear, neither club wants to lose sight of a potential prize piece for their holding midfield. The 22 year-old tower (six foot two) may be just the right shape and size to fill the gaps in both teams.
Juve saw the Torsten Frings option bite the dust as the Mannschaft dynamo decided to stay with Werder Bremen and are eager to net a player that can shoulder the burden of commanding the rearguard.

In Catalunya the priority is a defensive midfielder as Rafael Marquez is seen as needing stiffer competition. Rijkaard needs an alternative to the Mexican and doesn’t appear to deposit much faith in an out-of-favour (and often out-of-position) Edmílson.

Juve boss Didier Deschamps reportedly asked his hierarchy to snap the player up in the winter transfer break, but the board were reluctant to open their starved wallets then.

Now the player is seen as being ready to ask Rafa Benitez to be released as it looks as if playing time will be limited for the African next season. The competition in the Red midfield is stiff – and has just got stiffer.

With Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard already fleshing out a mean midfield, Brazil Under-20 Captain Lucas Pezzini Leiva will arrive in July from Brazilians Grêmio – direct competition for the number 22.

A distinct advantage of signing the midfielder is that the footballer was born in Mont-Saint-Aignan, France and comes complete with that natty European fashion accessory of a European passport and wont take a non-EU place.

Sissoko has already played in La Liga, two years at Valencia following on from his explosive appearances at Auxerre. Benitez lifted him from Mestalla and it remains to be seen if he’s willing to let him go before seeing his full potential.

Goal.com 2007®

WHELAN: JEWELL NOT FOR CITY

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan insists Paul Jewell will not be heading for Manchester City but will instead take "six months off" after his shock resignation as manager.
Jewell resigned less than 24 hours after Wigan had escaped relegation with their dramatic 2-1 win at Sheffield United on Sunday, sending the Blades down instead.
But as Whelan was announcing Jewell's departure and the appointment of his assistant Chris Hutchings as replacement, the news came through to the JJB stadium that Manchester City had sacked Stuart Pearce.
Whelan took a second to reply, but said: "Stuart Pearce is unlucky, he is a good lad and a good manager. I don't know the reasons why he has been sacked and I don't want to know.
"If Manchester City were to go for Paul Jewell, I would be very surprised. I would say, 'don't waste your time' because Paul is a man of his word.
"I asked him a straightforward question: 'have you been tapped up by another club?' And his answer was: 'on my children's lives I have not been approached by another club, and I will not be going to another club. I love it at Wigan and I am sorry to be resigning. But for my health I have got to do it.'
"I could feel it, I could see it coming since Christmas. I have seen Paul's health deteriorate, and he needs a break."
Jewell said in a statement: "I have made this decision with a heavy heart, but I feel it is time for me to have a break from football.
"I have given everything I have as a person to bringing success here over the past six years and it is not an easy thing to walk away from somewhere and something which has been such a part of your life for so long.
"The intensity of football at the highest level, although completely addictive, is also very draining, and I feel I would be kidding the chairman, my players and the supporters if I was to carry on without being able to put in the energy and dedication I know is required to be successful at this level.
"I would like to thank Dave Whelan for all his help and support over the years, I could not have asked to work with a better with a better chairman.
"Our relationship has been a key factor in the success we've shared. He has never once put me under pressure, has always backed me to the hilt and I feel he is now as much a friend as he was a boss."
Hutchings, Jewell's deputy for six years at Wigan, will take over on a 12-month contract and has the job of re-structuring the club's playing staff and backroom.
Whelan said: "I want to thank Paul for his six years here, not only is he a fantastic, brilliant manager but he has also been a very good friend of mine and my wife.
"I am sorry to lose him, but I wish him a speedy recovery from his health problems.
"I offered him the option of going to my house in Barbados for a holiday, for a week, a month and then see how he felt. But he is very determined he wants six months out.
"There is no other club behind this, there is nobody coming in for him, and I know everyone suspects that. They will say, 'what happens in three or four weeks if a club short of a manager - Manchester City or Newcastle - comes for him?'
"There is no chance of that, he has given me his word and I accept that fully. He is going to take six months out. Then I do hope he will come back into football then.
"I have seen him suffering with the pressure since Christmas. We have been under pressure because we have not played well, we have signed players who have not performed to expectations and we have not had the run of the ball.
"We have had a few decisions from referees that have really got to him and I have seen his health go downhill. I was expecting this to have happened this morning, to be honest.
"After the match yesterday at Sheffield, he said he wanted a meeting with me this morning.
"Obviously he would have wanted that at the end of a season, it would be normal and natural. However, I had a sneaky feeling that Paul had had enough.
"His nerves and his will had gone to some degree. He told me today that he could not give me 100 per cent, his will had gone to manage football."
Whelan has promise Hutchins his full financial backing, saying: "We are going to get increased funds next season, £35-£40million, and he can have half of that to go into the market."

© 2007 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved

Al-Qaida claims to have 3 missing troops

BAGHDAD (AP) -- An al-Qaida front group announced Sunday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly attack the day before, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades.
The statement came on one of the deadliest days in the country in recent weeks, with at least 124 people killed or found dead. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 people, and a car bombing in a crowded Baghdad market killed another 17.
Troops surrounded the town of Youssifiyah and told residents over loudspeakers to stay inside, residents said. They then methodically searched the houses, focusing on possible secret chambers under the floors where the soldiers might be hidden, residents said. The soldiers marked each searched house with a white piece of cloth.
Soldiers also searched cars entering and leaving the town, writing "searched" on the side of each vehicle they had inspected. Several people were arrested, witnesses said.
The Islamic State in Iraq offered no proof for its claim that it was behind the attack Saturday in Mahmoudiya that also killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator. But the Sunni area known as the "triangle of death" is a longtime al-Qaida stronghold.
If the claim proves true, it would mark one of the most brazen attacks by the umbrella Sunni insurgent group against U.S. forces here.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the U.S. military, said 4,000 U.S. troops backed by aircraft and intelligence units were scouring the farming area as the military made "every effort available to find our missing soldiers."
President Bush was also getting regular updates on the missing soldiers, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council in Washington.
The early morning attack on two U.S. military vehicles outside of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, left the bodies of the four U.S. soldiers and their translator badly burned.
Caldwell said the bodies of the interpreter and three of the slain soldiers had been identified, but the military was still working to identify the fifth.
Later Sunday, the Islamic State of Iraq posted a brief message on a militant Web site saying it was responsible for the attack and held an unspecified number of U.S. soldiers. The group promised more details later.
The Islamic State is a coalition of eight insurgent groups. Late last month, it named a 10-member "Cabinet" complete with a "war minister," an apparent attempt to present the Sunni coalition as an alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. military officials said they had no indication of who was behind Saturday's attack.
"It's difficult to verify anything that al-Qaida in Iraq would say because they lie," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman. However, "it would not surprise us if it were al-Qaida behind this, because we've seen this type of attack, this type of tactic, before."
Insurgents also launched attacks across the country Sunday, with a suicide bomber in northern Iraq slamming a truck into local offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which is headed by Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Cars were charred and crushed by the blast in Makhmur, a town with a substantial Kurdish population just south of the autonomous Kurdish-controlled areas.
At least 50 people were killed and 115 were wounded, including the city's mayor, Abdul Rahman Delaf, who also is a prominent Kurdish writer, and the director of the KDP office, said Ziryan Othman, the health minister of the Kurdish regional government.
"Makhmur is an open, peaceful area, and al-Qaida is trying to destabilize it by causing fighting between Arabs and Kurds," said Qassim Amin, who son and daughter - who both work for the party - were injured.
The attack was the second suicide bombing in Kurdish areas in five days. On Wednesday, a suicide truck bomber devastated the security headquarters in Irbil - the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region and one of Iraq's most peaceful cities - killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100. The Islamic State of Iraq also claimed responsibility for that blast.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, a parked car exploded near the popular Sadriyah market in the center of the city Sunday, killing at least 17 people and wounding 46, police said. AP Television News footage showed a crater in the ground filled with debris, splintered wood, metal and a tire.
"I saw pools of blood and charred pieces of flesh," said Firas Fhadil, the owner of a nearby electrical appliances shop.
Market workers used fruit carts to evacuate the casualties, because road closures made it difficult for ambulances to reach the area, he said.
Sadriyah has been hit by several blasts usually blamed on Sunni insurgents, who are suspected of targeting commercial areas to kill large numbers of people and derail the Baghdad security crackdown that began 12 weeks ago.
On April 18, 127 people were killed in a car bombing in the same area - one of four bombings that day that killed a total of 183 people.
With violence on the rise, Caldwell announced that an additional 3,000 forces have been sent to Diyala province, a province northeast of Baghdad and scene of recent sharp fighting.
Last week, the top U.S. commander in the north, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, said he didn't have enough troops to restore order in Diyala.
On Sunday, Iraqi gunmen drove into the Diyala capital of Baqouba, pulled two handcuffed men out of the trunk and shot and killed them, police and witnesses said.
"This is the destiny of traitors," the gunmen yelled. Three other civilians also were killed execution-style in a market in the city center, police said.
(This version CORRECTS RECASTS to correct number of killed for day to 124 from 137, after recounting deaths from across country; ADDS attack Wednesday in Irbil, corrects it was five days ago, sted four. Minor edits to trim. AP Video. AP Video.)

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Wenger Unsure Over Transfer Budget

Arsene Wenger has admitted that he is not yet sure how much money he will have to spend in the summer. "Certainly there is money to spend in the summer," began Wenger. "How much? Frankly at the moment I do not know.
"We have to see. It is linked as well with who goes out, who comes in.
"You can create money. That is what we always try to do - but how much I do not know.
"I will be meeting the board at some point next week to discuss the budget."
The Arsenal coach was honest in admission, though, that the club needed to replace some key players they had lost over the last few years.
"You look at the last two years - we have lost Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Patrick Vieira, Edu, Kanu, Martin Keown.
"It is a capital of experience you lose, and you do not replace that from one second to the next. We have potential, but at the moment we are a bit short."
Franck Ribery and Samuel Eto'o are two players he seems to be keen on, but unless he is handed a big budget, it is very likely that he could be priced out by the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United and AC Milan.

Goal.com 2007®

Benedict and Brazil's Catholic Leftists

When he ran the Vatican's doctrinal office, one of the nicknames slapped on Joseph Ratzinger was "Cardinal No." As Pope John Paul II's enforcer of orthodoxy, he condemned errant personal behavior among the Catholic faithful, and reined in dissident Church theologians. Now, as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI spends most of his time trying to convince his followers to say yes to the Christian gospel. Indeed his one Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), surprised some of his longtime critics by the positive note on which he was beginning his now two-year-old papacy. There have, though, been intermittent reminders that the old Ratzinger thinking lives on inside the person of the Pope, including his message at the beginning of his current five-day trip to Brazil: Catholic politicians who support abortion rights risk excommunication. His arrival in Sao Paulo is also a reminder of another of the German Cardinal's more notable crackdowns — his critique of "liberation theology," the Latin American movement that Ratzinger and John Paul II condemned in the 1980s for mixing Church teachings with Marxism. Speaking to reporters on his plane, Benedict reiterated his warning against "mistaken mixing of Church and politics, of faith and politics," insisting the Church's mission was the "education of personal and social virtues," not direct intervention in the political sphere. And while he spoke positively of the push for sainthood for progressive Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was killed in 1980 while celebrating Mass, Benedict complained that Romero's cause had been hijacked by supporters of liberation theology.
Of course, the battle lines in the region have changed considerably since John Paul wagged his finger at Nicaraguan priest and Sandinista government minister Ernesto Cardenal on a trip to Managua in 1983, warning him to "straighten out the situation in your church." Catholics in Latin America continue to fight for social justice, and disagreements persist about just how and if welfare policy and religious piety should cohabitate. But after the specter of Marxism faded and John Paul proved to be a great champion of the poor, new alliances have formed. Liberation theologians still say and write things that are at odds with the Vatican hierarchy, but liberation theology as such is no longer at the center of the debate, although the issues it raised remain so — today, the Church is conducting a more broadly defined debate about how to fight for social justice. For example, a group of progressive bishops last week sent a letter to the Brazilian National Bishops Conference urging a more enlightened stance on social issues.
In fact, with communism gone as an historical antagonist to the Church, there may be more room for social activists and the Roman hierarchy to seek solutions together. It seemed only natural this week for the Pope and Brazil's leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a longtime ally of the liberation theology movement, to agree on making a central priority of shrinking of the gap between rich and poor, and challenging the "mercantilization" of human beings in an age of globalization. Benedict, on Friday, led the canonization ceremony in Sao Paulo for the first-ever Brazilian-born saint, an 18th century Franciscan priest named Frei Antonio San'Anna Galvao, admired for his work with the disadvantaged. He praised Frei Galvao's "willingness to be of service to the people whenever he was asked... a bringer of peace to souls and families, and a dispenser of charity especially towards the poor and sick." Benedict is also set to visit a drug rehabilitation center on Saturday in the town of Aparecida.
Helping those in need is at the very heart of the Christian faith, and Benedict appears inclined to strongly reiterate that principle. In his 2005 encyclical, he wrote passionately about the need to faith and charity one and the same. "For the Church, charity is not a kind of welfare activity which could equally well be left to others, but is a part of her nature, an indispensable expression of her very being," he writes. "It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism of many Christians engaged in charitable work."
Duncan MacLaren, the executive director of Caritas, the worldwide Catholic charity, says Benedict's message is a subtle departure from the Church's tradition of social teaching, which has been about changing unjust social structures. MacLaren told TIME: "The Pope is saying that there is something inside us, that there should be a Christian transformation within the process of people serving others." But it remains to be seen whether Benedict's emphasis on a personal spiritual response to poverty and inequality will satisfy those in his church who emphasize the fight for social justice outside of its walls.

Copyright © 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved

Official quits after arrest

NEWTOWN -- Tom Gissen has resigned from the Board of Education in the fallout from a underage drinking party Saturday at his home that led to his arrest, the arrest of his wife, Lisa, as well as the arrest of eight teenagers.
"He did the right thing for the school system and his family," said First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. "It was his own choice."
The Gissens would comment only through their attorney, Joseph Dimyan of Danbury, who said Thursday, "The whole thing was started as an attempt by the Gissens to provide a safe venue for a post-prom gathering."
The couple's son, Newtown High School senior Teddy Gissen, invited 75 fellow students to the party with fliers that said "This is an alcohol/drug free party."
The prom ended at midnight and guests were asked be at the Gissen home before 1 a.m. Police estimated some 100 to 150 youths were present when they arrived after 2:30 a.m.
Police said four or five officers confiscated about 400 cans and a keg of beer, and some 75 bottles of hard liquor from the Gissen's backyard on Horseshoe Ridge Road in the Sandy Hook section of town.
Tom and Lisa Gissen were cited for failing to halt alcohol possession by a minor and each given a $146 fine.
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Four teens under 18 and four 18-year-olds were charged with possession of alcohol by a minor and given a $181 infraction ticket.
The 18-year-olds were Amanda Norling of Marlin Road, Maxwell Reed of Bankside Trail, Brendan Hintzen of Main Street, and Jennie Iodice of Arlyn Ridge Road, all in Newtown.
The identities of the younger students were not released because they are juveniles..
Police said the teens brought the alcohol. It was not provided by the Gissens, who had locked up their own alcohol in the house.
Dimyan said the Gissens don't believe there was as much alcohol at the party as the police reported. Also, the keg was untapped and a lot of the other alcohol was also unopened, he said.
Attempts to confirm this with police were unsuccessful.
The Gissens do not know the source of the alcohol, except for the keg of beer, which an adult neighbor brought through the woods on the back of an all-terrain vehicle.
One of arrested minors whose name was withheld, senior Ethan Canfield, 17, told The News-Times he did not bring alcohol to the party, but other teens brought alcohol in through the woods behind the Gissen property.
Canfield said he arrived at the party about 1:30 a.m. with his brother. He said some teens were grilling food and others were playing video games in the house. Tom Gissen was going to start a camp fire.
"The kids should be blamed for it. The parents didn't know," said Canfield. "They were not hosting an alcohol party. It was a place to come after prom. A bunch of people took advantage of the situation."
He called the Gissens good people who tried to "give us a place to go. Otherwise, we would have been partying in the woods" and student could have left "whenever they want and as drunk as they want."
Around 12:30 a.m., Pat Dunseith, 17, said he tried to get into the party at the Gissens, but was turned away. "I don't think they were permitting drinking," Dunseith, said.
Susan Mayer, a longtime neighbor, said when she went by the home around 1:30 a.m., "it all was in control at that time."
Her son was invited to the party, but he chose not to go because he didn't go to the prom.
"It was a place I would have felt comfortable sending him," she said. "I know how much care and effort they put in to trying to put on a alcohol-free and problem-free party."
As teens arrived the party, the Gissens wrote down their car makes and license plate numbers and verified they were sober, Dimyan said. Guests had been told they could not leave the party until 7 a.m. and were asked to hand over their car keys.
Dimyan said the keys was not taken because the Gissens were allowing alcohol consumption, but because they "didn't want kids to come and go so they could sneak in alcohol.
"The whole idea of why they couldn't leave until 7 a.m. was they didn't want kids driving at 2 or 3 a.m."
Dunseith said taking the keys was a sensible precaution. "They were definitely trying to do the right thing, but too many people came," he said. "It got out of hand."

Copyright © 2006 News-Times Media All rights reserved.