Uzbek coach wary of Aussies before Asian Cup semis

23 January 2011 - 11H43

Uzbekistan's coach Vadim Abramov, pictured at his team's Asian Cup quarter-final against Jordan on Friday, is wary of Australia's big-match exerience ahead of their semi-final clash.

AFP - Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov said Sunday he was wary of Australia's big-match exerience ahead of their Asian Cup semi-final clash after watching them grind down Iraq to make the last four.

Abramov was among the crowd at Al-Sadd Stadium on Saturday evening to watch Socceroo Harry Kewell score an extra-time winner to send the defending champions home.

Most of the Australian team play in Europe and the Uzbek handler said their experience made the difference against Iraq.

"I think the extensive international experience of some key Australian players helped them win the match because Iraq are a very strong team," he told the official Asian Cup website.

"The level of play was of the highest standard but the experience of individual performers was the overall crucial factor."

Abramov's team, who beat Jordan in their quarter-final, face Australia on Tuesday with the prospect of a final against either Japan or South Korea at stake.

He predicted an ultra-tough match.

"I foresee very tough opposition in the semi-final," he said, adding that striker Alexander Geynrikh and goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov were on track to full recovery after picking up minor knocks against Jordan.

Despite a lowly world ranking of just 108, Uzbekistan have been impressive in Doha, beating hosts Qatar and then Kuwait before drawing with China in the group stages.

Deal on Afghan parliament opening 'in question'

23 January 2011 - 11H52

Afghanistan's parliament members chat during a gathering in a hotel in Kabul. A deal between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rebel lawmakers on opening the country's new parliament looked in doubt Sunday amid disagreement over a special tribunal on electoral fraud.

Afghani members of parliament gather in a hotel in Kabul on January 22. A plan for Afghan President Hamid Karzai to open a new parliament this week looked in question Sunday as an official source said his attendance was "conditional" and fresh talks with lawmakers were announced.

Speaker of Afghanistan's parliament Mohammad Younus Qanooni speaks during a gathering in a hotel in Kabul. A deal between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rebel lawmakers on opening the country's new parliament looked in doubt Sunday amid disagreement over a special tribunal on electoral fraud.

Afghan men look as a former Afghan Member of Parliament (unseen) talks during a demonstration against the paliamentary elections results, in Kabul. A deal between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rebel lawmakers on opening the country's new parliament looked in doubt Sunday amid disagreement over a special tribunal on electoral fraud.

AFP - A deal between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and rebel lawmakers on opening the country's new parliament looked in doubt Sunday amid disagreement over a special tribunal on electoral fraud.

It had seemed that a constitutional crisis in the war-torn country had been averted after lawmakers said late Saturday that Karzai, under heavy pressure from the West, had dropped a plan to delay parliament's opening by a month.

But now lawmakers are threatening to reject a key condition of Karzai's for opening it Wednesday instead -- that they recognise a special tribunal on fraud in September's parliamentary polls which many say is unconstitutional.

An official source, speaking anonymously, said Karzai was unlikely to open parliament Wednesday, as agreed under the deal, if the lawmakers did not promise to respect the tribunal.

The disagreement between the lawmakers and Karzai centres on the fact that the Pashtuns, Karzai's traditional power base and Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, were left under-represented in parliament after September's elections.

The polls were hit by massive fraud -- around a quarter of the five million votes cast were thrown out and 24 early winners disqualified.

MPs fear that the tribunal will oust some of their number, paving the way for their replacement by Pashtun candidates.

"What's being said about the opening of the parliament on Wednesday, that's conditional," the official source told AFP.

Asked if Karzai will open the parliament Wednesday if the MPs fail to accept his condition over the tribunal, the source added: "I don't think so."

He continued: "The MPs said that they will accept the outcomes of the legal process that is currently underway. The president sent them to write this down, sign it and bring it back to him. So far, they have not returned."

Meanwhile, lawmaker Molawi Rahman Rahmani said a fresh round of talks between Karzai and MPs was set to be held Monday, adding that most lawmakers wanted to see the special tribunal abolished.

"The same 38 people (who held talks with the president Saturday) are going to talk to Karzai regarding the abolishing of the special tribunal," he said.

"We are going to inaugurate the parliament on Wednesday" with or without Karzai, Rahmani added, while saying he thought Karzai would "probably" be there.

Highlighting wider tensions caused by the long-running saga, up to 150 losing candidates and supporters from the September elections held a protest in Kabul against any opening of the parliament Sunday.

They want Karzai to cancel their election results and hold recounts.

One losing candidate, Najibullah Mujahid, told AFP: "This agreement is the result of pressure by drug dealers and foreign embassies.

"We don't accept it. We tell the president we support you and you, president, should follow constitutional law."

Early Sunday, around 200 out of 249 members of the Wolesi Jirga -- the lower house -- gathered in Kabul for talks after announcing Saturday that Karzai had agreed to open parliament Wednesday, a U-turn on a previous plan to delay for a month.

This averted a potential clash with MPs Sunday, the date originally slated for the inauguration, when they had planned to open parliament without Karzai in defiance of his authority.

In the wake of the deal, lawmakers were debating whether to agree that Afghanistan's Supreme Court rather than the tribunal can rule on electoral fraud, as Karzai stipulated.

They later agreed to go back for more talks with Karzai on this point.

One leading MP, Mohammad Younus Qanooni, said: "We're against the special tribunal and we only recognise the regular Supreme Court.

"We're working to convince the president to agree to scrap the electoral tribunal."

Karzai's office, which has not commented on the latest situation, announced on Wednesday it was delaying the inauguration of parliament for a month from the original date of Sunday.

That came after the head of the Supreme Court special tribunal called for a delay of at least four weeks, warning that some results could be thrown out.

In a statement on Friday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan expressed "deep concern and surprise" at Karzai's plan to delay the inauguration and, along with the US, urged a swift resolution to the impasse.

International troops fighting the Pashtun-dominated Taliban are due to start limited withdrawals in July ahead of Afghan forces assuming control of security in 2014.

Japan ready for tough Asian Cup test vs S.Korea

23 January 2011 - 11H53

Japan's Makoto Hasebe (left) outjumps Saudi Arabia's Mohammed al-Shalhub during the teams' Asian Cup group match last week. Hasebe says Japan are ready for their semi-final meeting with South Korea

AFP - Three-time champions Japan have long expected to face South Korea at the Asian Cup and are ready for a tough semi-final with their old cross-strait rivals.

South Korea edged Iran 1-0 on Saturday with a 105th-minute winner from substitute Yoon Bit-Garam to book a last-four clash with the Blue Samurai, who struggled past hosts Qatar 3-2 in their quarter-final.

"We had hoped to play South Korea in the final. We have seen them as opponents we must fight at one stage," Japan captain and Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe said Sunday.

"I think South Korea played better than Iran. I could feel the mental strength of their players. We want to prepare ourselves so we won't be outdone mentally."

Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni said: "It's going to be a difficult match but it's going to be a difficult match for the opponents as well."

Japan battled to a scoreless friendly draw with South Korea away in October in Zaccheroni's second match as Japan coach, after the two East Asian giants reached the World Cup last-16 in June.

"South Korea are a team with potential. They have quality players and their positioning on the pitch is great," added the former AC Milan boss, who took over from Takeshi Okada after the World Cup.

The Taeguk Warriors beat Japan twice earlier in 2010.

Algerians defy ban to protest government

From Lamia Tagzout, For CNN

January 22, 2011 -- Updated 2142 GMT (0542 HKT)

Algerian forces clash with protesters

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: 11 individuals, 8 police injured, Algeria's official news agency reports
• Security forces clashed with demonstrators in Algiers
• Protesters are demanding the government lift restrictions
• A state of emergency in place for almost two decades bans such protests

Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Baton-wielding Algerian security forces clashed Saturday with protesters who defied a ban and took to the streets of the capital demanding political reform.

Eleven individuals and eight policemen were injured, two seriously, the official Algerie Presse Service reported.

Police arrested nine protesters, the news service said.

Algeria's largest opposition party, Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), last week called the demonstration to demand the release of detainees, the lifting of a state of emergency that has been in place for almost two decades, and the restoration of individual and collective freedoms.

"We asked to do a march, in a legal way, but they told us: 'You are the opposition and you don't have any rights in your country,'" said Said Saadi, head of the RCD.

Algeria's opposition: We don't kneel

Saadi said the government wants Algerians to "kneel in front of them. But we don't kneel."

The government called the demonstration "small" with about 250 people and said it was "unauthorized." Security forces prevented journalists from photographing the demonstration or interviewing organizers.

Anti-government protests erupted in Algeria in early January after weeks of similar demonstrations in neighboring Tunisia that eventually ended 23 years of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's rule.

In Algeria, the protests broke out over spiraling food costs. The opposition blames the government of failing to use the north African nation's energy wealth to better the lives of ordinary people.

A law adopted in 2001 indefinitely bans all demonstrations in Algiers, according to the monitoring group Human Rights Watch. A nationwide state of emergency in effect for nearly two decades allows the government to ban any event that is "likely to disturb public order and tranquility."

Jobs will be SOTU 'main topic,' Obama tells supporters in video

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 23, 2011 -- Updated 0055 GMT (0855 HKT)

In a videotaped message to supporters, Obama also addressed the need to make government "leaner and smarter."

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• President Obama sends a video to supporters previewing State of the Union
• He stresses the need to bolster the economy, boost competitiveness, create jobs
• Critics said a lack of focus on the economy were to blame for Democrats' 2010 losses
• Obama reiterated his call for bipartisanship

(CNN) -- President Obama said jobs and the economy would be central to his upcoming State of the Union address in a videotaped preview of the speech that was sent to supporters on Saturday.

"My principal focus, my number one focus, is going to be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future," Obama said.

The message, taped Friday, went up on YouTube and went out to backers of the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America initiative on Saturday.

It comes three days before Obama delivers his second State of the Union, a speech that is usually the most important and well-watched address that a president gives each year.

This will be Obama's first such address since Democrats suffered a major setback in last November's elections, losses that some critics attributed to what they said was the president's lack of focus on a sluggish economy.

In his videotaped remarks, Obama acknowledged the challenging economic times, calling the past two years "as tough as anything we've gone through since the Great Depression."

He said significant progress has been made recently, claiming that more than a million jobs had been created on his watch and that the once-shrinking economy is growing again. But the president added that many Americans are still struggling to make ends meet.

The president said that, while he hadn't yet finished his State of the Union, alleviating such struggles -- and spurring the economy -- would be "the main topic" in the speech.

"I'm focused on making sure the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family," he said.

Wearing a jacket and purple tie, Obama also addressed the need to "deal with our deficits and our debt in a responsible way" and make government "leaner and smarter." During last year's election and since, Republicans have emphasized decreasing the size of government and lowering the size of the federal budget.

Such differences notwithstanding, Obama hinted that he might also include a call for bipartisanship in Tuesday's speech, as he has in recent weeks following the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona.

"These are big challenges that are in front of us," he said. "But we're up to it, as long as we come together as a people -- Republicans, Democrats, Independents -- as long as ... we're willing to find common ground even as we're having vigorous debates.

"That's what built this country, that's what we're all about, and that's what it's going to take to win the future."

Evidence retested in case of American convicted of murder in Italy

By Barbie Nadeau, for CNN

January 23, 2011 -- Updated 0222 GMT (1022 HKT)

Amanda Knox arrives in court for her appeal trial in Perugia on January 22.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 2 forensic experts will retest a knife and bra clasp from Amanda Knox trial for DNA evidence
• Retesting is part of Knox's appeal of 2009 murder conviction
• Knox's stepfather says "she's doing well and is happy it's going her way"

Perugia, Italy (CNN) -- Amanda Knox, the American convicted in December 2009 of the sexual assault and murder of her British roommate in Italy, is "cautiously optimistic" as she begins the lengthy appellate process in Perugia, Italy, her best friend Madison Paxton said on Saturday.

Two forensic experts from Rome's La Sapienza University were sworn in Saturday by Italian judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman, taking an oath to uphold objectivity as they retest crucial forensic evidence used to convict Knox, 23, and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, of killing Meredith Kercher in Perugia.

The experts' work begins on February 9 and they must conclude their analysis by May 9. Results will be presented to the two-judge and six layperson jury on May 21.

Carla Vecchioti and Stefano Conti, both professors of forensic science at La Sapienza University in Rome, will test the validity of the forensic results of two controversial forensic exhibits from Knox's trial.

Appeals judge allows review of key evidence

The first is a knife found in Sollecito's apartment with Knox's DNA on the handle and what Perugia prosecutors say is Kercher's DNA in a tiny groove on the blade. The prosecution contends that the knife was used to stab Kercher in the neck and that it had been cleaned and the DNA matter attributed to Kercher consists of flesh, not blood.

The sample, however, was so small that forensic scientists investigating Kercher's murder were not able to double test it in accordance with international forensic science norms, which Knox's legal team says raises doubts about its validity.

Conti asked the Perugia judge if she and her colleague could disassemble the knife, removing the handle from the blade, to see if there is other forensic evidence that has not been tested.

Judge Hellman reserved the right to pass judgement on that decision until a later date, telling Conti that she could petition the court for permission to take the knife apart if necessary.

The second piece of evidence the forensic experts will test is the tiny metal clasp from Kercher's bra, which was cut from her body after her murder.

Forensic scientists in the investigatory phase determined that Sollecito's DNA is present on the metal clasp. The clasp was

identified on an investigatory video tape on November 2, 2007, when Kercher's body was found. But the clasp was not collected until nearly six weeks later, giving the defense cause to question whether the sample may have been contaminated.

Sollecito's DNA was also found on a cigarette butt in the house where Kercher was murdered, but nowhere else.

Jude Hellman ruled that testimony from several key witnesses could be heard during the lengthy appellate process. On March 12 and 26, the court will hear testimony from Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man who testified during the criminal trial that he saw Knox and Sollecito near the crime scene the night of the murder.

Curatolo, who is also facing trial on separate drug charges, said during the initial criminal trial that the same night he saw Knox and Sollecito he also saw student revelers waiting for shuttle buses headed to Perugia's discotheques.

Judge Hellman granted the defense's request to hear testimony from both the bus drivers and disco owners, who will testify

that the discos were closed the night Kercher was murdered because of the religious All Saint's holiday.

Hellman has not yet ruled on whether to hear testimony from Rudy Guede, the third man convicted of Kercher's murder. Guede chose a fast-track trial and was convicted in October 28, 2008 and sentenced to 30 years for his part in Kercher's murder.

His sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal in December 2009 and then upheld by Italy's high court of appeal in December 2010.

Italy's high court ruled that Guede acted as one of three conspirators in Kercher's murder. Hellman has granted the prosecution the right to have the appellate court consider the high court ruling in Knox's and Sollecito's current appeal.

Knox's stepfather Chris Mellas told reporters in Perugia Saturday that Knox is hopeful that the appellate judge will overturn her conviction and send her home.

"She's doing well and is happy it's going her way," he told reporters in the courtroom. "But she is also apprehensive." The

court is not expected to make a final ruling on the appeal until next summer.

Students, activists stage rival demonstrations at Yemeni university

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

January 23, 2011 -- Updated 0259 GMT (1059 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Some protesters demand President Saleh step down; others urge him to stay
• One protest banner reads: "Blessings for the Jasmine Revolution -- it woke us up"
• Supporters of the president carry his picture through the streets of Yemen's capital

(CNN) -- Hundreds of students and activists staged rival demonstrations Saturday at Sanaa University in Yemen's capital, the editor of the Yemen Post said.

The larger of the two groups demanded that Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, step down, while the other group called for him to stay.

Saturday's demonstrations were the latest in Yemen since the Tunisian people forced their president to leave office and the north African country, according to the Yemen Post's Editor-in-Chief Hakim Almasmari.

Citing his own reporting as well as that of other journalists who work for his newspaper, Almasmari said the gatherings, which were peaceful, were held on the campus of Sanaa University. Roughly 1,500 security personnel were present.

Protesters demanding that the president step down carried banners, several of which referred to the recent protests in Tunisia -- dubbed the Jasmine Revolution -- that started last year and ended 23 years of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's rule.

The uprising in Tunisia, one of the Arab world's most secular countries, has ignited unrest elsewhere in the region, including Algeria and Egypt.

One of the banners held up Saturday read, "If you are threatening that Yemen could be another Somalia, we're threatening that Yemen could be another Tunisia."

Another stated, "Blessings for the Jasmine Revolution -- it woke us up."

The other group of protesters in Sanaa, who supported their country's president, carried posters that showed Saleh's picture.

Earlier this year, Yemen's parliament began debating proposed amendments to the country's constitution. The measures, which would cancel presidential term limits, have sparked concerns among the opposition that Saleh might try to appoint himself president for life.

People are also upset at fuel shortages that have caused long lines as gas stations throughout the impoverished nation