|  |  |  | | | | | The Guardian World News | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nearly two-dozen have died as disease is traced back to fungal contaminate at New England compounding company The death toll from a rare form on fungal meningitis linked to contaminated steroid shots prepared by a Massachusetts pharmacy has now risen to 23, health officials said Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted in its latest update that a further two additional patients are now known to have been given the fatal injection. It also increased the total number of reported cases to 284. Some 16 states have now been affected by the widening health scare, thought caused by batches of infected medications shipped out by the New England Compounding Center (NECC) – a pharmacy compounder near Boston that could face criminal charges over the outbreak. On Thursday it was confirmed that a fungal contaminate found in a sealed vial of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate at the company matched that blamed for the 20-plus deaths. All the victims had all received steroid shots made by the NECC, mostly to treat back pain. As many as 14,000 people received injections derived from batches mixed at the pharmacy. Earlier this week, federal agents from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided NECC's premises in the Boston suburb of Framingham. Accompanied by local police officers, the raid came amid growing concerns that other medications sent out by the company may be contaminated, a concern that could drastically escalate the national health scare. The pharmacy compounder has a checkered history of violating health and safety standards, having been cited on numerous occasions by the FDA prior to the latest outbreak. As well as the prospect of potential criminal action, the company is already the subject of numerous civil lawsuits by those affected by the meningitis outbreak. It is thought that at least 10 different complainants have now lodged legal documents suing the NECC.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | President goes to Camp David and GOP rival studies in Florida as Ryan and Biden headline rallies in battleground states For the second Saturday running, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney went to ground to prep for a televised debate that could prove crucial in a tight White House race now entering its home straight. President Obama hunkered down in Camp David ahead of the third head-to-head with his Republican rival. He is due to remain there until Monday night's encounter, leaving the donkey work of the campaign to his deputy Joe Biden, who hit the stump in Florida on Saturday. Likewise, Romney was leaving nothing to chance ahead of the foreign policy debate, having slipped up on the topic in the last match-up between the pair – an occurrence that seemingly arrested his momentum ahead of the November 6 vote. Romney is due to spend the weekend in Florida boning up on the issues. Meanwhile his vice-presidential pick, Paul Ryan, is due to campaign in the Democratic-leaning battleground of Pennsylvania on Saturday. Political pundits have by-and-large scored the two presidential debates in this race 1-1, with Obama winning the second after a poor performance in the first initially handed the electoral running to Romney. Monday's debate, due to be held in Boca Raton, Florida, and moderated Bob Schieffer of CBS News, is dedicated solely to foreign affairs. It should be a strong area for the president, as he consistently tops polls as to which of the candidates is more trusted on international affair. During his tenure at the White House, Obama has pulled American troops out of Iraq and presided over drawdown in Afghanistan – both popular measures in a country grown weary by more than a decade of war. Additionally, terror chief Osama bin Laden was assassinated by a US crack team under the president's watch, providing a further boost to his claims of competence in pushing forward US objectives overseas. But the timing of the debate isn't great for the White House incumbent, coming just weeks after a confused response from the administration over a deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The assault resulted in the death of four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens. It also, so the Republicans claim, raised questions over Obama's foreign policy and leadership after conflicting messages over who was responsible for the assault were initially released. On Friday, Ryan continued to needle the president over claims that he should have known earlier that militants were responsible for the consulate siege, and not, as some in the administration appeared to initially think, that it was the work of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film produced in the US. Ryan told Wisconsin radio station WTAQ that the Benghazi attack and its handling by the president represented the "absolute unravelling of the Obama administration's foreign policy". But some believe that the Republican ticket has already overplayed the attack for political advantage. An attempt to press the president over the semantic point of whether he actually called it an "act of terror" the day after the siege, backfired on Romney in the second debate. Meanwhile, the White House has been trying to put some distance between Obama and the initial confusion over who was behind the Benghazi killings, seemingly shifting the blame for the response on the State Department. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she took responsibility over the response. "In the wake of an attack like this, in fog of war, there's always going to be confusion," she explained. It is likely that any exchange over the Benghazi incident at Monday's debate will be closely watched for inconsistencies. But whether or not the Republicans can make enough of it to overturn a perceived advantage for Obama on foreign policy remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Obama and Biden have been focusing their attack on Romney's apparent policy shifts on issues such as women's health, dismissively referring to moves by the Republican hopeful to appeal to the centre as "Romnesia". With the race now bending into the home straight, Monday night's debate could provide a final chance for both White House contenders to land a few blows in front of an audience of tens of million voters. Perhaps of equal importance, both will be eager to avoid any verbal missteps or gaffes that could provide the 24-news networks with the equivalent of a water-cooler moment to play relentlessly in the days leading up to 6 November.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | In Napoleon's birthplace, riven by feuds between bandits and nationalists, a brilliant lawyer's murder brings deep pessimism Even by Corsican standards of cold-bloodedness, the assassination of Antoine Sollacaro was shocking. Not because it was especially brutal on an island where a father was recently gunned down in front of his young children and a woman was shot eight times in the back outside a shopping centre last year. Not even because it was that unusual; Sollacaro's murder was the 16th this year in Corsica. Hours before he was killed, another body had been found in a car up one of the island's many mountains. Sollacaro's murder was shocking because he was a lawyer, recognised as a brilliant advocate and a man who defended Corsican nationalists, traditionally associated with such violence. "I'd have been more surprised if the priest was shot in his church," one lawyer said after the killing. "To shoot a lawyer, this is very symbolic." Marc Maroselli, the president of the bar, described the murder as intolerable. "It is cowardly and shows the slide into deadly madness that is covering Corsica in blood," he said. Islanders living with the daily drip-drip of violence believed Sollacaro's profession was his protection, that it conferred some kind of guarantee in the Corsican underworld's code of conduct. Except that on Wednesday morning it didn't. Sollacaro, 63, was driving to work in his black convertible Porsche when he decided to pop into a Total petrol station just outside the Corsican capital, Ajaccio, to buy his morning newspaper. His vehicle was still moving when a BMW motorcycle came alongside. The pillion rider drew an automatic pistol and fired at least five shots into the lawyer's head and several more into his body. As the car hit a wall with Sollacaro slumped dead over the wheel, the assassin sped off. Murderous violence is nothing new in Corsica. The Ile de Beauté, famed for its mountains, pine groves and sandy beaches, has a heart of darkness and a history of collective and individual slaughter. The island has been a battleground since the first century BC with Carthaginians, followed by Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, Saracens and other invaders spilling blood over this extraordinarily lush and beautiful rock in the Mediterranean. It was, after all, Corsica that spawned one of the ultimate international braggarts and bullies, Napoleon Bonaparte. Between 1821 and 1852, the "vendetta" code of honour is believed to have led to 4,300 murders. In the 1950s, the crime and bloodshed was linked to the French Connection, a network of international heroin smugglers. In the 1970s, it was dominated by nationalists and organised criminals and some people who were both. The nationalists have struggled against Paris's rule since 1768 when Corsica became French – it is one of the country's 27 administrative regions today – but the movement reached its apogee in 1998, when members killed the prefect Claude Erignac, the French government's highest representative on the island. Sollacaro famously defended the man convicted of Erignac's murder, Yvan Colonna, and a number of other leading nationalists. Since the start of 2007, there have been around 100 killings and at least another 100 attempted murders, most blamed on disputes and tit-for-tat score-settling between mafia-like gangs of what the local people call "bandits". Few of the killers make it to court. Most are themselves killed in revenge, creating an endless spiral of violence and bloodshed that becomes deeply personal. The French magazine L'Express said this made Corsica, with a population of just over 300,000 but where there are an estimated 30,000 weapons, the "bloodiest" region in western Europe, and more crime-ridden than Sicily. On Friday, Sollacaro's coffin made the slow and winding 63km journey from Ajaccio south through the mountains and pine forests to his birthplace, the former fishing port of Propriano. As the bells of Notre Dame de la Miséricorde jangled and the luxury motor cruisers and yachts at the port jiggled in their moorings, up to 1,000 friends, relatives, colleagues and residents gathered outside the already packed church to pay their respects. The lawyers donned their fur-trimmed robes and looked grim. Hard men with red eyes embraced and wept. Elegant, tanned women in stilettos fiddled with gold jewellery. Given the autumn sun and the occasion, the dress code adopted by most mourners, dark glasses and tailored black suits, was entirely appropriate. Given the setting and circumstances, it became cinematic and vaguely ominous. Afterwards, the mourners lined up to offer their condoléances according to local tradition: to the women of the family inside the church, the men outside. Some spoke of a "gangrene" or "cancer" on the island, but most said that it was not a time for talk. Jacques, aged 81, a retired sheep farmer, shook his weatherbeaten face but could not find many words to say. "I don't know what's happened to Corsica, it is terrible to see what has happened to our island. Nothing will ever be the same." He added: "In the past, murders have been over questions of honour, but now life is cheap. Where is the honour in this killing? Young people use bullets to resolve their differences, but bullets resolve nothing." Pierre-Louis Maurel, a former president of the bar in the northern city of Bastia, said he was a lifelong personal friend of the dead man. "Antoine was a lawyer, a defender of men," he said. "We do not know if he was targeted as a man or as a lawyer. If he was targeted for his advocate's robes, then it is very symbolic; it is nothing less than an attack on democracy, liberty and justice. It means the killers respect nobody and nothing. I hope this is not true, but I fear it is. As lawyers, that makes us very afraid." Many Corsicans blame the French establishment for the island's plight, complaining they have been abandoned to crime, rising unemployment, poverty and economic decline, which they say has left the island's youth disaffected, dangerous and fodder for organised crime. President François Hollande has described the violence as unacceptable and tomorrow his Socialist government is expected to announce measures to combat it. If there is stupefaction on Corsica, there is widespread incomprehension elsewhere. "Nobody understands what's going on here and it's impossible to explain," said one French reporter at Sollacaro's funeral on Friday. "Before, it was the nationalists fighting for independence, then it was nationalists fighting each other, and some were also bandits who started fighting each other for different reasons. Then people started getting killed, not because they were involved in anything but because they knew people who were ..." his voice trailed off. "As I say, impossible to explain." Veteran Corsican journalist Jacques Renucci described a sense of collective resignation and pessimism. "People here are not in fact particularly shocked by the killing, sadly. What they're shocked about is that someone so high-profile was targeted," he said. Renucci added: "Every time Corsicans say 'never again', and it happens time and time again. They hark back to a golden age on the island when everyone lived happily together, but it is a myth, a fiction. "The truth is we have always killed each other, and I am not optimistic that we're about to stop."
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Grant Holt's goal earned Chris Hughton his first league win as Norwich's manager and lifted them out of the bottom three Reading, West Ham, Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough, Bradford City, Wigan Athletic, Hull City and Birmingham City. There. A list of teams afflicted by a curious case of "second-season syndrome", included regardless of whether or not they were relegated from the Premier League. Of course, to experience second-season syndrome it necessarily follows that the first season must have been all right. So every cloud, etc. Better to have the memories! And what memories Norwich have from last season. Following two successive promotions, they finished 12th in swashbuckling style, they scored goals for fun, they drew at Arsenal and Liverpool and they beat Tottenham in one of the performances of the season. Grant Holt was seriously being discussed as England material. Let's just say he's not any more. The main reason for the slump is pinned on the departure of Paul Lambert in the summer. It's not the worst theory about. His replacement, Chris Hughton, has struggled to replicate last season's success so far and after seven games, Norwich are without a win and one point off the bottom of the table. Only fives goals scored. Seventeen conceded. It's not going to plan. Bloody second-season syndrome. They're probably not best pleased to see Santi Cazorla's Arsenal pitching up at Carrow Road then. Especially as Norwich haven't beaten them here since 1984. Arsenal are unbeaten on their travels this season and were mightily impressive in their last two away matches, drawing against Manchester City and winning at Sam Allardyce's West Ham. They remain a work in progress but are starting to click up front. For all the chuckling about Olivier Giroud, the mockery ignores the signs that he looks like a proper player. How else to explain becoming the first player to score a goal against Spain since 1973? Norwich: Ruddy; Russell Martin, Bassong, Turner, Garrido; Hoolahan, Tettey, Elliott Bennett, Johnson, Pilkington; Holt. Subs: Rudd, Snodgrass, Howson, Jackson, Surman, Morison, R Bennett. Arsenal: Mannone; Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Andre Santos; Arteta, Ramsey; Gervinho, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud. Subs: Martinez, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Djourou, Coquelin, Arshavin, Gnabry.
Referee: Lee Probert. Kick-off: 5.30pm. An email. "Have you got any plans to dress up for Halloween this year?" says JR in Illinois. "I never do but this year I am thinking of going as Mark Clattenburg. You'd think it would be easy enough, just put on some black shorts and a shiny yellow shirt. I have a couple potential problems though. Problem one: I would guess that there are only about 100 people in the
U.S. who know who Mark Clattenburg is. Problem two (and related to problem one): How am I meant to get his hairdo right? Since no one here knows who he is it's not like I can just walk into the barber shop and say "Give me the Clattenburg". Any suggestions on how to mimic his hair would be appreciated." 1. No. I don't think I have ever dressed up for Halloween. It's not very Jewish. I'm all about Purim.
2. An industrial amount of hair gel. The big team news is that Jack Wilshere is back on the Arsenal bench, which means that England have immediately been installed as favourites for the World Cup. "I would love to dress up as my hero Jose Mourinho for Halloween," says Shooby Taylor. "Any suggestions on how a shy & pasty Irish man could pull this off would also be welcome." In the current climate, I'll not be offering any advice. Here come the teams. Norwich in their bright yellow shirts and green shorts, Arsenal in their red shirts and white shorts. There's Delia clapping in the crowd. It's a late kick-off. She's had a long time to get comfortable, which is the beauty of going to a game at this hour. Let's hope she's not... y'know. Here we go. Norwich, kicking from left to right, get us underway. They take three seconds to give the ball back to Arsenal, which is actually quite impressive. Take a bow, Norwich. 2 min: Norwich are on the attack straight away. Pilkington cuts back on the left flank and curls a cross into the area towards Hoolahan. Mannone comes off his line but Mertesacker takes control of the situation, heading it away. But Norwich continue to impress, Hoolahan finding space on the edge of the area and firing in a low shot that Mannone watches go wide of the left post. A purposeful start from the home side. 3 min: But immediately they demonstrate their frailty in defence. Ruddy spanks a clearance straight at Gervinho, who finds Podolski clean through on goal. He just takes too long to get the ball out from under his feet though and Martin steams across to concede a corner, which comes to nothing. 4 min: Podolski looks to have his gameface on. Santos slips a pass down the left channel for him. His first touch takes him away from Turner, whose marking was slack, and with his left he whips a vicious, swerving effort inches past Ruddy's far post from the left side of the area. What an effort. The power in that left foot. 6 min: Arsenal have the ball. They have had it for some time. There could be a lot of this. 7 min: Arsenal still have the ball. 8min 03sec: Jenkinson is caught offside. Norwich have the ball! 8min 30sec: Arsenal have it back. 9 min: The home fans don't seem to be very up for this. Maybe they could do with a few Pro Pluses. I did find that story strange actually. Pro Plus never seemed to have much of an effect on anyone at university. 10 min: Vermaelen slides a pass down the left for Giroud to chase. He's held up by Bassong though and forced away from goal, before eventually losing possession. The ball is hoofed up to Holt, who wins a timely free-kick off the foolish Ramsey. Which was for the best, because Holt is so isolated without a partner at the moment. Norwich seem quite content to sit back and try to hit Arsenal on the break. 12 min: Cazorla skips away from Johnson and then pings a pass out of touch, looking for Podolski on the left. You won't see that happen too often this evening. 14 min: A long diagonal free-kick comes to Martin at the far post. He hammers an inviting cross across the face of goal, but not one Norwich player had bothered joining him in the area. Dearie me. A bit of ambition please! "I have an idea for how Mr. Taylor could pull off a Mourinho costume: Just get a set of red horns for his head and a red tail for his
backside and carry a pitchfork around with him," says JR. 16 min: If you put a gun to my head and asked me which team is going to score, I'd probably make like Leonardo Bonnuci and leave you on the floor. But I'd also say Arsenal, even though their possession has been edging towards the sterile domination Arsene Wenger turns his nose up. Norwich have been rather supine. GOAL! Norwich 1-0 Arsenal (Holt, 20 min): The commentator's curse strikes again. This has to go down as a bad mistake by Vito Mannone, who also erred at Manchester City last month. Tettey was allowed too much time to line up a shot from 25 yards out. His shot was hit firmly but was straight down the middle and instead of pushing it to the side, Mannone reacted too slowly and parried it out in front of him. Holt got to the rebound before Mertesacker and could hardly miss from three yards out. Holt for England. Arsenal also conceded at a similar stage at West Ham two weeks ago and came back to win 3-1, mind you. 21 min: Arsenal go close to finding an instant equaliser, but Giroud's glancing header from Cazorla's corner is straight at Ruddy. 23 min: Norwich smell blood. Martin drills a low cross-shot towards the far post and Mertesacker has to hack clear with Holt lurking. 24 min: Johnson is booked for a crude lunge on Cazorla. That's one way to stop him. It's only Norwich's third booking this season. 26 min: Mannone is all over the place at the moment. Hoolahan overhits a through-ball intended for Holt, but although Mannone should claim it, he's too tentative, allowing the striker to reach the pass and turn the ball back across the area, demanding a crucial clearance from Jenkinson with the goal vacant. Arsenal are yet to respond to going behind. 27 min: "All this talk of dressing up has made me, and one imagines many another MBMer, wish I'd order those replica Anakin Skywalker robes when I was still svelte (ish) enough to fit into them," says Ryan Dunne. "Re: dressing up. I can remember Mourinho's interview for a Braun shaver ad, where he pointed out that "I'm either not shaved or shaved well. Never badly shaved" so Shooby might want to try that, coupled with an expensive coat. As for your own dillemma, surely it's acceptable, shunning devil costumes or drag, to dress up as a notable Jewish person? You could have Woody Allen (glasses), Larry David (bald wig), Einstein (funny moustache, wig) , Noah (beard, loincloth) etc etc. The possibilities are endless!" I admit it, I just don't like fancy dress. I thought you'd leave me alone if I brought religion into it. 29 min: Gervinho's deflected shot squirms through to Giroud, whose volley is smothered by Ruddy. He was an inch offside anyway. 31 min: Arsenal force a couple of corners in quick succession. But they're not doing a great deal. They need something to spark them because Norwich look surprisingly comfortable. Podolski, Gervinho and Cazorla aren't really in the game. 34 min: Martin hurtles down the right flank and sees his cross deflected behind for a corner. Pilkington whips it to the far post and Turner arrives to nut miles wide from six yards out. That is a shocking miss and could prove so costly. Norwich should lead 2-0. They might do sooner or later if Arsenal continue to defend as abjectly as this though. Where was the marking? 36 min: "You don't like fancy dress?" says Robin Hazlehurst, who's busting chops today. "You don't like to fantasise that you are someone are not and leave your sad pathetic little life behind for the duration of a party, or at least for as long as it takes the kicking to stop at the bus stop just outside your house? And yet you are writing an MBM on a Saturday night... How did you sneak in here, are you really one of us?" You can mock me all you want but after this I'm going home to pack some bags and fly away to somewhere hot. 37 min: "Did Cazorla just take a corner on his weaker foot?" asks Maxi Krause. Like a Paul Scholes tackle, he's two-footed. 38 min: Arteta swings a free-kick to the far post. It finds Gervinho all alone on the left. He tries to volley it goalwards and succeeds only in producing a comical air kick, the ball hitting his standing leg and clattering out for a goal-kick. I know he scored a few goals recently but he's not actually very good at football, is he? 40 min: Podolski scampers in behind to reach a ball over the top but Ruddy is on hand to boot clear. Arsenal are still a bit flat. "When I was a kid, my dad spent his whole Saturday making a milk-bottle fancy dress outfit out of some kind of industrial cardboard barrel, with a foil top and "your daily pinta" stencilled on the side," says Simon Frank. "Come the big day I couldn't bring myself to wear it, and sat in the car weeping. It was the first time I remember getting my own way. My older sister wore the same costume the following week and won her competition. Life lessons." 44 min: Gervinho finally beats a defender, skittering past Martin on the left but his poked cross is knocked behind for a corner, which Cazorla plonks straight into Ruddy's hands. Arsenal are dominating but they're really struggling to create anything worthwile. 45 min: "Right, Dunne, you've already brought the travesty that was Episode III into one live blog, lets not go there again," says Matt Dony. "Episodes IV, V and VI were the glorious, exciting first season. Heady highs, a swagger, wilful abandon. However, Episodes I, II and III were the ill-fated second season. Carried away with own success, lazy, and ultimately an embarrassment to their own history." Like Norwich. 45 min+2: A corner for Norwich in the second of the one minute that was added on. Nothing comes of it and that's the cue for the half-time whistle. Half time: Norwich 1-0 Arsenal. Norwich have a lead at half time for the first time this season and are 45 minutes away from their first league win. Arsenal have been poor. Apparently Arsenal flew to Norwich from Luton. And you thought George Osborne was bad. 46 min: Arsenal get the second half going. Neither side has made any changes. "Pro plus never had any effect on anyone at Uni-??" says J Willough. "Huh? I once stayed awake for two whole nights at the end of one term by popping multiple ProPlus to finish a project that I'd, er, forgotten to work on at all during the previous three weeks. By the end of this I was twitching, hallucinating and needing to pee every five minutes. My friend drove me home for the hols, and on the way I asked him to stop in the middle of the
countryside so I could take a leak in the field. Apparently that's when the ProPlus wore off, as I never came back. He found me asleep in the field, unzipped, in a pool of my own urine, and apparently it was a devil of a job to get me back to the car without me dropping off again." It had no effect on me. That's the main thing. 47 min: Arsenal have the ball. "Arsenal flew from London to Norwich!" exclaims Alex Hanton. "How do they plan to get to White Hart Lane for the next Spurs game? Charter the QE2 and sail it up the river?" 49 min: Norwich are being pinned back already but Arsenal have not got in behind yet. "That flying nonsense never would've happened in Bergkamp's days," parps @tresdessert on Twitter. 50 min: Garrido dinks a lovely cross towards the far post. For a moment it looks like Holt has the run on Santos but the Brazilian does well to ease the big striker away from the ball, else it surely would have been a second goal for Norwich. "On my last day of school we had an Emergency Services themed fancy dress pub-crawl," says Benedict Simmons. "One of my friends was the one guy who turns up in his leather jacket and jeans but comes along to get sloshed anyway. He was also the kind of guy who made me wait for him to finish his pint and cigarette at one pub well after everyone else had buggered off. With me not knowing the crawl route he takes me to the wrong pub for the next stage and forces me to play a game of horrendously embarrassing pool dressed as a ghostbuster complete with water gun before we move to the real pub. Never again." 52 min: Gervinho finds Jenkinson on the overlap. Ruddy flaps at his cross but Giroud's weak overhead kick dribbles well wide with the Norwich goal empty. Ruddy, normally so composed, got away with one there. "Arsenal flew Luton to Norwich?" says Tim Whelan. "Did Chelsea fly Heathrow to Stansted?" 53 min: Maybe Arsenal are jetlagged. 54 min: Anthony Pilkington is booked for playing on after being flagged offside. He claims he couldn't hear over the din but Lee Probert is having none of it. 56 min: "All these reminiscences are fascinating, but any news of the actual game?" asks Keith Smith. Ok. Mertesacker has the ball. He oasses it to Arteta. Back to Mertesacker... and now Mannone has it. He's still got it. Still got it. STILL GOT IT!! Ok, now he's kicked it up field. Norwich have it. Back to Arsenal though. But they're not going anywhere at the moment. All a bit slow. And that's enough of that. 57 min: "Get a life losers, you'd all fly to Norwich if you could afford it," says Bernard Keenan. A quick search suggests that it would cost £19 to fly from London to Norwich. 58 min: GET A LIFE LOSERS! LOL! ROFLMAO! 59 min: Holt charges through the middle - where are the Arsenal midfielders - before the ball breaks to the left for Pilkington. It looks like he's going to sneak through but he's denied by an excellent challenge. No matter, Norwich continue to pour forward. A high cross comes all the way to the far post but Holt can't react quickly enough to Hoolahan's cushioned pass. 60 min: Johnson cracks one high and wide from the edge of the area. Arsenal are doing absolutely bugger all. It's very strange. This has probably been their worst performance of the season by some distance. I'm tempted to label it complacent. 62 min: Grant Holt is booked for dissent. Up the other end, Giroud gets between his markers and heads to Gervinho, who nods straight at Ruddy from the edge of the area. "Now I understand why your address has the word 'casual' in it," honks Keith Smith. 64 min: "Does that GBP 19 fare London-Norwich include allowance for extra weight from luggage, egos, etc.?" asks Lou Roper. 65 min: Lukas Podolski, who faded very quickly after a bright start, is replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsenal need something - anything - to lift them. 66 min: But this isn't what they need. Oxlade-Chamberlain is hobbling after his very first run. He did take quite a buffeting from Pilkington along the way, so we'll not question what he was doing in his warm-up. 67 min: Gervinho cuts the ball back from the byline but finds a yellow shirt. Arsenal need more men in the box. They're almost sleepwalking to defeat here. "There are no motorways in Norfolk and Suffolk," lies Harry Tuttle. "True facts." 69 min: It's just a lot of midfield nothingness at the moment. Far too scrappy for Arsenal's liking. There has been no flow to the game at all in the second half, which suits Norwich just fine. "I've just dropped into the MbM to see how Carzola is doing," says Ken Mulumbi. "Clearly nothing much." 71 min: Cazorla pushes a pass through the middle for Giroud, who's taken out by Turner in exceedingly clumsy fashion 25 yards from goal in a central position. He's booked, despite trying to make out he's injured. Nice try. No dice. Giroud felt that one too, but he should be fine. 72 min: Cazorla's tame free-kick is straight at Ruddy. "Wait, if it's only £19 to fly from London to Norwich, and Arsenal are famously the most expensive UK team to follow, then does that mean that a London-based Arsenal season ticket holder who switched their allegiances to Norwich and flew to every home game would actually SAVE money?!" points out Ryan Dunne. "Man alive." 73 min: Holt knocks the ball around Mertesacker on the halfway line. The German handles it but advantage is played and Holt races forward, ignores options to the left and right and then slices a shot well wide from long range. 74 min: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's outing has lasted all of nine minutes. He limps off injured and is replaced by Andrey Arshavin. Remember him? That hasn't always been one of the most popular substitutions among Arsenal fans. 76 min: There's a way to go yet but this has been such a nothing performance by Arsenal. What a puzzling season they're having. For all the talk of a title challenge, a defeat here would leave them in mid-table. 77 min: "£19 with which airline?" asks Johny B. What do you think this is, a price comparisons website? "I'm flying in to London from Italy in a couple of weeks and this is sounding like the budget option.
As for the game, proceeding nicely. To think that just a few days I ago I had a bit of a falling out with my dad after he kept offering to get me tickets for Norwich Stoke. Still, plenty of time for Arsenal to knock in the odd three or four before the close." 79 min: The impish Robert Snodgrass replaces Elliott Bennett. 81 min: Grant Holt gets ideas above his station as he races clear after a mistake in midfield by Arsenal and then tries to chip Mannone from the edge of the area. The ball gets about two feet off the air. Dear lord, that was terrible. Some players should just hit it. 82 min: Arsenal counter and Cazorla's effort from 25 yards out is deflected wide. Vermaelen sends a harmless header wide from the resulting corner. The response is to replace the anonymous Aaron Ramsey with the 17-year-old, Serge Gnabry. 83 min: After Giroud has a swing and a miss at a volley, Gnabry drags a low shot wide with his very first touch in an Arsenal shirt. He claims a corner, but Norwich are awarded a goal-kick. The boy's not short of confidence then. "Obviously Arsene's hairdryer got lost by the airline," says Christopher Price. 85 min: Arsenal's first two goals against West Ham came from counters and when they were allowed to run at an exposed defence, using their speed on the break. But Chris Hughton's tactics have been spot on. I can't remember Arsenal being allowed to do that at all this evening. Norwich have been so cautious and have attacked when it suits them, but it looks like paying off. 86 min: Arteta skims a low drive off the wet surface from the edge of the area but Ruddy does extremely well to hold the shot. Arsenal are pushing forward but Norwich are hardly hanging on. 88 min: There's a stoppage in play while Alex Tettey gets treatment for an injury. Norwich are down to 10 men for the time being. 89 min: What a challenge by Sebastien Bassong! Gnabry slips a wonderful pass through to Gervinho, who's been left all alone by the Norwich defence on the right of the area. He sizes up his options and lets fly, only for Bassong to throw himself in front of the ball, preserving Norwich's lead. Brilliant defending. Arsenal have a corner but before they can take it, Steve Morison replaces Grant Holt. 90 min: There will be five minutes of Wenger Time. Arsenal are just planning to fling the ball in the box now. Norwich are enduring some hairy moments, Ruddy not exactly covering himself in glory, but they just about deal with two corners. 90 min+3: Ryan Bennett replaces Wes Hoolahan. Norwich are so close now. Arsene Wenger has the face on. 90 min+4: Robert HuthPer Mertesacker is playing up front. Needs must in a time of crisis. Giroud knocks a long ball down to the edge of the area and Gnabry arrives on the scene to slice a dismal volley high, wide and not very handsome. Arsenal's shooting has been awful. 90 min+5: Cazorla fires over from 30 yards out. The Norwich fans exhale. That should be it. Full time: Norwich 1-0 Arsenal. And that is it! The full time whistle goes to a huge roar in Carrow Road! Chris Hughton finally has his first league win as a Norwich manager and what a game to get it in. They've only gone and beaten Arsenal, lifting themselves out of the bottom three in the process. Football, eh? Norwich's tactics were spot on, restricting Arsenal's space in the final third and protecting John Ruddy's goal with ease. Grant Holt's winner, secured after a mistake by Vito Mannone, is enough to see off a desperately sluggish Arsenal side. The title challenge can wait for now: they're eighth. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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• Find out the latest scores in the matches here 60 min: Johnson cracks one high and wide from the edge of the area. Arsenal are doing absolutely bugger all. It's very strange. This has probably been their worst performance of the season by some distance. I'm tempted to label it complacent. 59 min: Holt charges through the middle - where are the Arsenal midfielders - before the ball breaks to the left for Pilkington. It looks like he's going to sneak through but he's denied by an excellent challenge. No matter, Norwich continue to pour forward. A high cross comes all the way to the far post but Holt can't react quickly enough to Hoolahan's cushioned pass. 58 min: GET A LIFE LOSERS! LOL! ROFLMAO! 57 min: "Get a life losers, you'd all fly to Norwich if you could afford it," says Bernard Keenan. A quick search suggests that it would cost £19 to fly from London to Norwich. 56 min: "All these reminiscences are fascinating, but any news of the actual game?" asks Keith Smith. Ok. Mertesacker has the ball. He oasses it to Arteta. Back to Mertesacker... and now Mannone has it. He's still got it. Still got it. STILL GOT IT!! Ok, now he's kicked it up field. Norwich have it. Back to Arsenal though. But they're not going anywhere at the moment. All a bit slow. And that's enough of that. 54 min: Anthony Pilkington is booked for playing on after being flagged offside. He claims he couldn't hear over the din but Lee Probert is having none of it. 53 min: Maybe Arsenal are jetlagged. 52 min: Gervinho finds Jenkinson on the overlap. Ruddy flaps at his cross but Giroud's weak overhead kick dribbles well wide with the Norwich goal empty. Ruddy, normally so composed, got away with one there. "Arsenal flew Luton to Norwich?" says Tim Whelan. "Did Chelsea fly Heathrow to Stansted?" 50 min: Garrido dinks a lovely cross towards the far post. For a moment it looks like Holt has the run on Santos but the Brazilian does well to ease the big striker away from the ball, else it surely would have been a second goal for Norwich. "On my last day of school we had an Emergency Services themed fancy dress pub-crawl," says Benedict Simmons. "One of my friends was the one guy who turns up in his leather jacket and jeans but comes along to get sloshed anyway. He was also the kind of guy who made me wait for him to finish his pint and cigarette at one pub well after everyone else had buggered off. With me not knowing the crawl route he takes me to the wrong pub for the next stage and forces me to play a game of horrendously embarrassing pool dressed as a ghostbuster complete with water gun before we move to the real pub. Never again." 49 min: Norwich are being pinned back already but Arsenal have not got in behind yet. "That flying nonsense never would've happened in Bergkamp's days," parps @tresdessert on Twitter. 47 min: Arsenal have the ball. "Arsenal flew from London to Norwich!" exclaims Alex Hanton. "How do they plan to get to White Hart Lane for the next Spurs game? Charter the QE2 and sail it up the river?" 46 min: Arsenal get the second half going. Neither side has made any changes. "Pro plus never had any effect on anyone at Uni-??" says J Willough. "Huh? I once stayed awake for two whole nights at the end of one term by popping multiple ProPlus to finish a project that I'd, er, forgotten to work on at all during the previous three weeks. By the end of this I was twitching, hallucinating and needing to pee every five minutes. My friend drove me home for the hols, and on the way I asked him to stop in the middle of the
countryside so I could take a leak in the field. Apparently that's when the ProPlus wore off, as I never came back. He found me asleep in the field, unzipped, in a pool of my own urine, and apparently it was a devil of a job to get me back to the car without me dropping off again." It had no effect on me. That's the main thing. Apparently Arsenal flew to Norwich from Luton. And you thought George Osborne was bad. Half time: Norwich 1-0 Arsenal. Norwich have a lead at half time for the first time this season and are 45 minutes away from their first league win. Arsenal have been poor. 45 min+2: A corner for Norwich in the second of the one minute that was added on. Nothing comes of it and that's the cue for the half-time whistle. 45 min: "Right, Dunne, you've already brought the travesty that was Episode III into one live blog, lets not go there again," says Matt Dony. "Episodes IV, V and VI were the glorious, exciting first season. Heady highs, a swagger, wilful abandon. However, Episodes I, II and III were the ill-fated second season. Carried away with own success, lazy, and ultimately an embarrassment to their own history." Like Norwich. 44 min: Gervinho finally beats a defender, skittering past Martin on the left but his poked cross is knocked behind for a corner, which Cazorla plonks straight into Ruddy's hands. Arsenal are dominating but they're really struggling to create anything worthwile. 40 min: Podolski scampers in behind to reach a ball over the top but Ruddy is on hand to boot clear. Arsenal are still a bit flat. "When I was a kid, my dad spent his whole Saturday making a milk-bottle fancy dress outfit out of some kind of industrial cardboard barrel, with a foil top and "your daily pinta" stencilled on the side," says Simon Frank. "Come the big day I couldn't bring myself to wear it, and sat in the car weeping. It was the first time I remember getting my own way. My older sister wore the same costume the following week and won her competition. Life lessons." 38 min: Arteta swings a free-kick to the far post. It finds Gervinho all alone on the left. He tries to volley it goalwards and succeeds only in producing a comical air kick, the ball hitting his standing leg and clattering out for a goal-kick. I know he scored a few goals recently but he's not actually very good at football, is he? 37 min: "Did Cazorla just take a corner on his weaker foot?" asks Maxi Krause. Like a Paul Scholes tackle, he's two-footed. 36 min: "You don't like fancy dress?" says Robin Hazlehurst, who's busting chops today. "You don't like to fantasise that you are someone are not and leave your sad pathetic little life behind for the duration of a party, or at least for as long as it takes the kicking to stop at the bus stop just outside your house? And yet you are writing an MBM on a Saturday night... How did you sneak in here, are you really one of us?" You can mock me all you want but after this I'm going home to pack some bags and fly away to somewhere hot. 34 min: Martin hurtles down the right flank and sees his cross deflected behind for a corner. Pilkington whips it to the far post and Turner arrives to nut miles wide from six yards out. That is a shocking miss and could prove so costly. Norwich should lead 2-0. They might do sooner or later if Arsenal continue to defend as abjectly as this though. Where was the marking? 31 min: Arsenal force a couple of corners in quick succession. But they're not doing a great deal. They need something to spark them because Norwich look surprisingly comfortable. Podolski, Gervinho and Cazorla aren't really in the game. 29 min: Gervinho's deflected shot squirms through to Giroud, whose volley is smothered by Ruddy. He was an inch offside anyway. 27 min: "All this talk of dressing up has made me, and one imagines many another MBMer, wish I'd order those replica Anakin Skywalker robes when I was still svelte (ish) enough to fit into them," says Ryan Dunne. "Re: dressing up. I can remember Mourinho's interview for a Braun shaver ad, where he pointed out that "I'm either not shaved or shaved well. Never badly shaved" so Shooby might want to try that, coupled with an expensive coat. As for your own dillemma, surely it's acceptable, shunning devil costumes or drag, to dress up as a notable Jewish person? You could have Woody Allen (glasses), Larry David (bald wig), Einstein (funny moustache, wig) , Noah (beard, loincloth) etc etc. The possibilities are endless!" I admit it, I just don't like fancy dress. I thought you'd leave me alone if I brought religion into it. 26 min: Mannone is all over the place at the moment. Hoolahan overhits a through-ball intended for Holt, but although Mannone should claim it, he's too tentative, allowing the striker to reach the pass and turn the ball back across the area, demanding a crucial clearance from Jenkinson with the goal vacant. Arsenal are yet to respond to going behind. 24 min: Johnson is booked for a crude lunge on Cazorla. That's one way to stop him. It's only Norwich's third booking this season. 23 min: Norwich smell blood. Martin drills a low cross-shot towards the far post and Mertesacker has to hack clear with Holt lurking. 21 min: Arsenal go close to finding an instant equaliser, but Giroud's glancing header from Cazorla's corner is straight at Ruddy. GOAL! Norwich 1-0 Arsenal (Holt, 20 min): The commentator's curse strikes again. This has to go down as a bad mistake by Vito Mannone, who also erred at Manchester City last month. Tettey was allowed too much time to line up a shot from 25 yards out. His shot was hit firmly but was straight down the middle and instead of pushing it to the side, Mannone reacted too slowly and parried it out in front of him. Holt got to the rebound before Mertesacker and could hardly miss from three yards out. Holt for England. Arsenal also conceded at a similar stage at West Ham two weeks ago and came back to win 3-1, mind you. 16 min: If you put a gun to my head and asked me which team is going to score, I'd probably make like Leonardo Bonnuci and leave you on the floor. But I'd also say Arsenal, even though their possession has been edging towards the sterile domination Arsene Wenger turns his nose up. Norwich have been rather supine. 14 min: A long diagonal free-kick comes to Martin at the far post. He hammers an inviting cross across the face of goal, but not one Norwich player had bothered joining him in the area. Dearie me. A bit of ambition please! "I have an idea for how Mr. Taylor could pull off a Mourinho costume: Just get a set of red horns for his head and a red tail for his
backside and carry a pitchfork around with him," says JR. 12 min: Cazorla skips away from Johnson and then pings a pass out of touch, looking for Podolski on the left. You won't see that happen too often this evening. 10 min: Vermaelen slides a pass down the left for Giroud to chase. He's held up by Bassong though and forced away from goal, before eventually losing possession. The ball is hoofed up to Holt, who wins a timely free-kick off the foolish Ramsey. Which was for the best, because Holt is so isolated without a partner at the moment. Norwich seem quite content to sit back and try to hit Arsenal on the break. 9 min: The home fans don't seem to be very up for this. Maybe they could do with a few Pro Pluses. I did find that story strange actually. Pro Plus never seemed to have much of an effect on anyone at university. 8min 30sec: Arsenal have it back. 8min 03sec: Jenkinson is caught offside. Norwich have the ball! 7 min: Arsenal still have the ball. 6 min: Arsenal have the ball. They have had it for some time. There could be a lot of this. 4 min: Podolski looks to have his gameface on. Santos slips a pass down the left channel for him. His first touch takes him away from Turner, whose marking was slack, and with his left he whips a vicious, swerving effort inches past Ruddy's far post from the left side of the area. What an effort. The power in that left foot. 3 min: But immediately they demonstrate their frailty in defence. Ruddy spanks a clearance straight at Gervinho, who finds Podolski clean through on goal. He just takes too long to get the ball out from under his feet though and Martin steams across to concede a corner, which comes to nothing. 2 min: Norwich are on the attack straight away. Pilkington cuts back on the left flank and curls a cross into the area towards Hoolahan. Mannone comes off his line but Mertesacker takes control of the situation, heading it away. But Norwich continue to impress, Hoolahan finding space on the edge of the area and firing in a low shot that Mannone watches go wide of the left post. A purposeful start from the home side. Here we go. Norwich, kicking from left to right, get us underway. They take three seconds to give the ball back to Arsenal, which is actually quite impressive. Take a bow, Norwich. Here come the teams. Norwich in their bright yellow shirts and green shorts, Arsenal in their red shirts and white shorts. There's Delia clapping in the crowd. It's a late kick-off. She's had a long time to get comfortable, which is the beauty of going to a game at this hour. Let's hope she's not... y'know. "I would love to dress up as my hero Jose Mourinho for Halloween," says Shooby Taylor. "Any suggestions on how a shy & pasty Irish man could pull this off would also be welcome." In the current climate, I'll not be offering any advice. The big team news is that Jack Wilshere is back on the Arsenal bench, which means that England have immediately been installed as favourites for the World Cup. An email. "Have you got any plans to dress up for Halloween this year?" says JR in Illinois. "I never do but this year I am thinking of going as Mark Clattenburg. You'd think it would be easy enough, just put on some black shorts and a shiny yellow shirt. I have a couple potential problems though. Problem one: I would guess that there are only about 100 people in the
U.S. who know who Mark Clattenburg is. Problem two (and related to problem one): How am I meant to get his hairdo right? Since no one here knows who he is it's not like I can just walk into the barber shop and say "Give me the Clattenburg". Any suggestions on how to mimic his hair would be appreciated." 1. No. I don't think I have ever dressed up for Halloween. It's not very Jewish. I'm all about Purim.
2. An industrial amount of hair gel. Reading, West Ham, Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough, Bradford City, Wigan Athletic, Hull City and Birmingham City. There. A list of teams afflicted by a curious case of "second-season syndrome", included regardless of whether or not they were relegated from the Premier League. Of course, to experience second-season syndrome it necessarily follows that the first season must have been all right. So every cloud, etc. Better to have the memories! And what memories Norwich have from last season. Following two successive promotions, they finished 12th in swashbuckling style, they scored goals for fun, they drew at Arsenal and Liverpool and they beat Tottenham in one of the performances of the season. Grant Holt was seriously being discussed as England material. Let's just say he's not any more. The main reason for the slump is pinned on the departure of Paul Lambert in the summer. It's not the worst theory about. His replacement, Chris Hughton, has struggled to replicate last season's success so far and after seven games, Norwich are without a win and one point off the bottom of the table. Only fives goals scored. Seventeen conceded. It's not going to plan. Bloody second-season syndrome. They're probably not best pleased to see Santi Cazorla's Arsenal pitching up at Carrow Road then. Especially as Norwich haven't beaten them here since 1984. Arsenal are unbeaten on their travels this season and were mightily impressive in their last two away matches, drawing against Manchester City and winning at Sam Allardyce's West Ham. They remain a work in progress but are starting to click up front. For all the chuckling about Olivier Giroud, the mockery ignores the signs that he looks like a proper player. How else to explain becoming the first player to score a goal against Spain since 1973? Norwich: Ruddy; Russell Martin, Bassong, Turner, Garrido; Hoolahan, Tettey, Elliott Bennett, Johnson, Pilkington; Holt. Subs: Rudd, Snodgrass, Howson, Jackson, Surman, Morison, R Bennett. Arsenal: Mannone; Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Andre Santos; Arteta, Ramsey; Gervinho, Cazorla, Podolski; Giroud. Subs: Martinez, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Djourou, Coquelin, Arshavin, Gnabry.
Referee: Lee Probert. Kick-off: 5.30pm.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Romney's latest FEC filings expected to be slightly lower as campaigns and Super Pacs prepare to saturate the airwaves President Barack Obama's campaign to win a second term in the White House is approaching the end of the US election cycle flush with cash after yet another massive month of fundraising. The latest figures from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that Obama for America pulled in a total haul of more than $126m in September. The campaign, which has faced a resurgent Republican challenge from Mitt Romney ahead of the 6 November ballot, now sits atop a cash mountain of some $100m as money taken in has outstripped money spent so far. The news provides a welcome shot in the arm for the Obama team which appeared to be cruising to a comfortable lead in the polls before a poor performance by Obama in the first presidential debate in Denver saw the race suddenly narrow. The impressive fundraising total means the Obama camp's advertising campaigns will continue relentlessly onwards via the airwaves of the crucial battleground states and help ensure a well-funded "ground game" that will get out the vote on election day. Romney's own returns for September are set to be filed to the FEC later Saturday. It is set to be a roughly similar sum though a little lower than Obama's. Earlier this week the Romney team indicated it would raise around $170m in September but in conjunction with the Republican National Committee (RNC). The RNC has now released sums showing it hauled in $48m, meaning Romney's campaign would have to directly raise in the region of $122m to hit their stated total. But it is not just parties and candidates that matter in the 2012 election. Outside bodies, known as Super Pacs, are also big players after a loosening of campaign finance regulations. They are controversial because of much less strict laws governing disclosure of
donor identities and how much any individual can fork over. The newest figures from the FEC also show the Democrats' main Super Pac brought in a big sum. The pro-Obama group Priorities USA Action said it raised $15.2m in September, compared with $14.8m for the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Republicans showed greater fundraising strength at the party level in September. But on a party level the Republicans are doing better. The Democratic National Committee could not compete with the RNC's efforts. The DNC raised $20.3m in September and actually borrowed $10.5m. It ended September $20.5m in debt, according to its filing with the FEC.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | New report by the American Academy of Paediatrics shows that boys as young as nine are showing signs of maturity It is a truism common to nearly all family gatherings that grandparents will frequently remark on how fast their beloved grandchildren seem to be growing up these days. But now, instead of provoking a bout of eye-rolling at such platitudes, a new report seems to show the old folks were right all along: boys are indeed hitting puberty at an earlier age than they used to. A comprehensive new study by the American Academy of Paediatrics, first revealed by the New York Times, was published on Saturday. Widely seen as the best measure of the onset of puberty in American boys, it demonstrated that they are showing signs of puberty six months to two years earlier than previously assumed. The surprise finding builds on previous discoveries that appeared to show girls have also been developing faster. A study in 2010, which was published in the US Journal of Pediatrics, created headlines when it revealed that girls were hitting puberty earlier, with some developing breasts as young as seven. Nor was it just in the US. Other studies have revealed the same trend in girls all over the world. Now the AAP study, officially unveiled at a national conference in the US, is showing the same trends in boys. It primarily identified the signs of puberty as the growth in size of testicles and largely shied away from speculating on what may be causing the shift, though it did refer to changes in diet, the fact that modern children are being less physically active and other environmental shifts. All that has led some to speculate that weight gain might be a possible factor. It certainly might explain the earlier development among girls, as body fat is linked to production of the female hormone oestrogen. But the link might be less clear with boys. Also, it is not certain if weight gain is a trigger for puberty or simply a consequence of it. The investigation also showed that American boys are divided by race when it comes to puberty. The study found that, on average, black American boys started showing signs of puberty at a little older than the age of nine, while their white and Hispanic counterparts did likewise just after turning 10. Prior to this study, 11 and a half was generally seen as the age of hitting puberty for boys. The study covered a large sample. It looked at more than 4,000 boys in 41 different US states in an age range of six to 16 years. The policy implications of the shift could be helpful when it comes to dealing with boys as they grow up, especially in schools and within their own families. Dr Frank Biro, a puberty researcher at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, told the New York Times: "If kids are looking older, it means that parents should be monitoring them, because that superego doesn't kick in until late teens or early 20s. The kids need a hand. Know what they're doing."
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | New report by the American Academy of Paediatrics shows that boys as young as nine are showing signs of maturity It is a truism common to nearly all family gatherings that grandparents will frequently remark on how fast their beloved grandchildren seem to be growing up these days. But now, instead of provoking a bout of eye-rolling at such platitudes, a new report seems to show the old folks were right: boys are indeed hitting puberty at an earlier age than they used to. A comprehensive study by the American Academy of Paediatrics was published on Saturday. Widely seen as the best measure of the onset of puberty in American boys, it showed that they are showing signs of puberty six months to two years earlier than previously assumed. The surprise finding builds on previous discoveries that appeared to show girls have also been developing faster. A study in 2010, which was published in the US Journal of Pediatrics, created headlines when it revealed girls were hitting puberty earlier, with some developing breasts at seven. Nor was it just in the US. Other studies have revealed the same trend in girls all over the world. Now the AAP study, officially unveiled at a national conference in the US, is showing the same trends in boys. It primarily identified the signs of puberty as the growth in size of testicles and largely shied away from speculating on what may be causing the shift, though it did refer to changes in diet, the fact that modern children are less physically active and other environmental shifts. All that has led to speculation that weight gain might be a possible factor. It certainly might explain the earlier development among girls, as body fat is linked to production of the female hormone oestrogen. But the link might be less clear with boys. Also, it is not certain if weight gain is a trigger for puberty or simply a consequence of it. The investigation also showed that American boys are divided by race when it comes to puberty. It found that, on average, black American boys started showing signs of puberty at a little older than the age of nine, while their white and Hispanic counterparts did likewise just after turning 10. "It could be biological, genetic or environmental. It could be something African American kids are being exposed to that white kids aren't. We really don't know," said Richard Wasserman, director of the AAP's Pediatric Research in Office Settings network. "We have raised as many questions as we've answered." The study covered a large sample. It looked at more than 4,000 boys in 41 different US states in an age range of six to 16 years. Based on the so-called Tanner stages of development – a technique doctors use to measure how far along in puberty a young person is – genital changes in boys started around the age of 9 or 10, and pubic hair appeared between age 10 and 11 and a half, on average. Testicle size hit a common measure for the start of puberty just before the age of 10 and full sexual maturity happened at 15 to 16. Prior to this study, 11 and a half was generally seen as the age boys hit puberty. The policy implications of the shift could be helpful when it comes to dealing with boys as they grow up, especially in school and within their own families. Dr Frank Biro, a puberty researcher at Cincinnati children's hospital, told the New York Times: "If kids are looking older, it means that parents should be monitoring them, because that superego doesn't kick in until late teens or early 20s. The kids need a hand. Know what they're doing." Regardless of general trends, it is important for parents to pay attention to their own child's development, researchers said, and to know when to start talking to them about sexual activity.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Edin Dzeko scored two late goals to give ten-man City a vital win at West Brom, while West Ham thrashed Southampton Preamble Good afternoon. Between us, the clockwatch is usually a bit of a duff gig: you can't see the matches, it's all a bit too frenetic and you only get one 47-second toilet break in a two-hour period. Today, however, I feel blessed that Tom Lutz decided he couldn't be bothered to do it has allowed me to do it. There are six games, and all of them look pretty interesting. Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Reading
Manchester United v Stoke
Swansea v Wigan
West Brom v Man City
West Ham v Southampton
We have Dimitar Berbatov and ten toilers against 11 toilers; the Brendan disciples against the Brendan naysayers; Michael Owen returning to a hero's welcome at his old club; a La Liga match played in Wales; the champions going to Fortress Hawthorns; and an ostensible clash of football philosophies at Upton Park. West Brom v Man City team newsWest Brom (4-2-3-1): Foster; Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Mulumbu, Yacob; Dorrans, Morrison, Fortune; Long.
Subs: Luke Daniels, Popov, Rosenberg, Jara Reyes, Lukaku, Gera, Odemwingie. Man City (4-4-2) Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Milner, Y Toure, Barry, Nasri; Balotelli, Tevez.
Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Dzeko, Sinclair, Kolarov, Aguero, K Toure. Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 2.25pm As predicted, Rio Ferdinand isn't wearing a Kick It Out T-shirt. I just don't know what point he is trying to make. 2.29pm There are five minutes to go at White Hart Lane, where Chelsea lead 3-2 in an excellent if not great game. Follow the denouement with Scott Murray. I could have just said 'follow the rest of the game', couldn't I? Always with the big words, this one. West Ham v Southampton team newsWest Ham (4-3-3): Jaaskelainen; Tomkins, Collins, Reid, McCartney; Noble, Nolan, Diame; Benayoun, Carroll, Jarvis.
Subs: Spiegel, Cole, Maiga, Spence, O'Neil, Chambers, Hall. Southampton (4-2-3-1): Boruc; Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Yoshida; Schneiderlin, Steven Davis; Puncheon, Do Prado, Lallana; Rodriguez.
Subs: Kelvin Davis, Lambert, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka, Seaborne, Chaplow,
Reeves. Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) Man Utd v Stoke team newsMan Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Scholes, Carrick; Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck; Van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Giggs, Hernandez, Nani, Powell, Wootton. Stoke (4-5-1): Begovic; Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson; Walters, Whitehead, Nzonzi, Adam, Kightly; Crouch.
Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Jones, Owen, Upson, Etherington, Wilkinson. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) Liverpool v Reading team newsLiverpool (4-2-3-1): Jones; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Gerrard, Allen; Sterling, Sahin, Suso; Suarez.
Subs: Gulacsi, Jose Enrique, Assaidi, Henderson, Downing, Carragher, Shelvey. Reading (4-5-1): McCarthy; Cummings, Gorkss, Mariappa, Shorey; Kebe, Guthrie, Leigertwood, Karacan, McAnuff; Pogrebnyak.
Subs: Stuart Taylor, Gunter, Pearce, Le Fondre, McCleary, Robson-Kanu,
Roberts. Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire) Swansea v Wigan team newsSwansea (4-3-3): Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies; De Guzman, Ki, Britton; Routledge, Michu, Hernandez.
Subs: Tremmel, Graham, Dyer, Monk, Shechter, Moore, Tiendalli. Wigan (3-4-3, maybe): Al Habsi; Ramis, Caldwell, Figueroa; Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour; Kone, Di Santo, Maloney. Subs: Pollitt, Jones, Watson, Gomez, McManaman, Boselli, Miyaichi. Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire) 2.54pm This email, from my colleague Grant Klopper means nothing to me as I still have a phone from 2002, but it might mean something to you under-90s. "You might want to give a shout out to mobile users to try the Clockwatch blog on the beta site, just remind them it is in beta ..." Fulham v Aston VillaFulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise, Sidwell, Baird, Richardson, Rodallega, Berbatov, Petric.
Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Kasami, Karagounis, Diarra, Dejagah, Kacaniklic. Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Bennett, Ireland,
El Ahmadi, Delph, Holman, Bent, Agbonlahor.
Subs: Given,N'Zogbia, Albrighton, Benteke, Bannan, Weimann, Lichaj. Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 2.58pm Listen to Clive Tyldesley growling here. It almost sounds like he's having the world's first fatal goalgasm. Who's hungry? I was until I saw what MOTDs Conor McNamara will be eating at Anfield today. 3pm Six men who may or may not have been bullied at school; six whistles; six nascent Premier League matches. 3.01pm "Is Rio seriously not wearing a Kick it Out shirt?" says Kevin Smith. "After all the shit his manager said about Jason Roberts' decision?" Eh? What would that have to do with anything? 3.02pm "What's Ferguson's method of picking a keeper?" says Zach Neeley. "The possibilities seem endless." Weird, isn't it? Especially as one of those keepers is the best shot-stopper. There aren't too many precedents for this at the highest level. Ron Greenwood/Petr Shilton/Ray Clemence is the obvious one, but it can't be a good thing. 3.04pm "Conor McNamara's food," says Sam Bates. "Is that also the smallest coke bottle in recorded history? LFC must be spending all their budget on stalking 'journalists'." 3.05pm Dimitar Berbatov has already made two chances for Fulham, according to Chris Kamara on Sky. Berbarotica is going to be a recurring theme of this season now he has a manager who trusts him and – maybe – a stage with which he is more comfortable. 3.10pm "I can't believe I'm emailing your football clockwatch to discuss cricket," says Phil Podolsky, "but this lady I know got to hang out with John Emburey and was the recipient of some serious b***er. She learned that cricket can bridge cross-cultural barriers, and that b***er can be as important as batting. Worth a shout!" B***er? Do you mean banter. My use of the word in full has nothing to do with the fact that, according to this, I have used the word 'banter' more than anyone else in the history of the Guardian website. I won't give up my crown easily. Banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter. 3.11pm: Manchester United 0-1 Stoke (Rooney own goal 10) Wayne Rooney scores the opening goal at Old Trafford. So far, so normal, but this time he has diverted a Charlie Adam free-kick into his own net. "It's a hown goal!" says Paul Merson on Sky. God bless him. 3.13pm Stoke almost made it 2-0 just then, with Charlie Adam trying to catch David de Gea out at the near post and almost succeeding. 3.14pm These are the latest Premier League scores. It's all happening. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 0-0 Reading
Manchester United 0-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.17pm A note for those whose principal vice is nostalgia: you have seen this wonderful Match of the 90s archive, yes? 3.20pm Stoke usually roll over pathetically away to the big clubs, but not today. Jonathan Walters just had a half-chance to make it 2-0, and it sounds like Stoke have been much the better side thus far. 3.21pm "So how do you do MBMs?" says Chris B. "I'd always imagined some sort of Minority Report hi-tec thingy involving a massive screen and lots of waving your hands around to get the info on different matches at the same time. Possibly also involving poor, young interns sitting in some blue watery gunk feeding you the data." That's remarkably close to the reality of the MBMs. Remarkably close. I don't need to describe how it actually works, because we have live footage from the webcam on my monitor. 3.22pm: James Milner sent off I'd like to see the look of Roberto Mancini's coupon right now. James Milner has been given a straight red card – the first of his career – by Mark Clattenburg. It was for a tackle on, er, a West Brom player, and Phil Thompson on Sky reckons a yellow card would have been more appropriate. If there's one place you don't want to go down to 10 men, it's Fortress Hawthorns. 3.24pm David de Gea has just made a fine save from Jon Walters at the end of an orgiastic burst of tiki-taka from Stoke. Yep. They are playing tiki-taka today, not kicki-hacka. "It's all Stoke," says Paul Merson. "Man United don't know how to cope. The keeper's keeping them in the game." 3.25pm A great point from my colleague Sean Ingle: United have conceded the first goal in six of their eight league games this season. They regularly conceded the first goal in the 1998-99 Treble season as well. This is where the comparisons between the two sides start and stop. Schmeichel-Neville-Stam-Johnsen-Irwin-Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs-Yorke-Cole. And weep. 3.26pm "Monsieur Parkington-Smythe, when did football get so confusing? Is it now racist or not to wear an anti-racism T-shirt?" says Nathan Fisher. "I think we should be told." GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Stoke (Rooney 27) Wayne Rooney Tommyhutchisons United level with a fine goal, heading in a wonderful cross from Robin van Persie. GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Reading (Sterling 29) Raheem Sterling puts Liverpool ahead with his first senior goal, a fine finish according to Charlie Nicholas on Sky. He is the second youngest goalscorer in Liverpool's history after former footballer Michael Owen. Liverpool have been battering Reading, and Sterling alone could already have a hat-trick. 3.31pm "Afternoon Rob!" says Ryan Dunne. "Although the clockwatch is enjoyable enough on its own merits, today's is especially good as one can combine following it with watching (the much underrated) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the telly! This, surely, is the stereotypical MBMer equivalent of James Bond saving the world and getting the girl." 3.32pm The latest scores. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 1-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.33pm "Milner's was a deserved red," writes 'not the' Chris Price. "Milner lunged at the Bromwich player at the top of the penalty area with the nearest City player several yards behind. And Mancini's expression was excellent. 3.34pm "Just had a look at the benches named at Old Trafford and there's little to choose between them," says Gary Naylor. "When did that happen?" United do have around 47 injuries, in their defence. 3.35pm There are no hard footballers any more, right? Well ... 3.36pm "Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs," says George Solomon. "Oh-me-oh-my. How unappreciated was that four at the time? Unreal." The last great British and Irish midfield, and probably the best. 3.37pm Can somebody score a goal please? I'm bored. Thanks. 3.38pm Goals please! 3.39pm Emails please! 3.42pm Danny Welbeck has hit the bar at Old Trafford, according to Paul Merson. Well, according to Paul Merson he has hit the Demba. GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Stoke (Van Persie 44) United have savaged Stoke in the last 15 minutes and now they lead. Antonio Valencia roasts his man in the usual style, screams the ball across the box, and Robin van Persie finishes adroitly. (I'm paraphrasing Merse with that description.) 3.45pm "I'm sorry," begins Sir Ian Botham Nick Smith, "but Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a crime against the original episodes. A bit like building a time machine and putting Joe Kinnear in charge of Barcelona." Which one of you is Sergio Busquets? 3.47pm Look at this goal. This is how you Brendan the ball out from the back. 3.48pm Rooney, by the way, is the first United player to score at both ends since David Beckham at Blackburn 11 years ago. 3.49pm It's half time. You want some latest scores, don't you. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 2-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.50pm "NO WAY should Milner have been sent off," says James Hopkin. "Lescott was a stride behind and gaining. Clattenberg is dishing out cards all over the place in this game, and he's always had it in for us (City). PS got a story on Radio 4 tonight, in the broadcasting blackhole of 12.30am – please help!" You do realise the clockwatch has an average readership of 4, don't you? And one of those is my imaginary friend. 3.51pm BANTER. 3.59pm "Is George Solomon having a laugh?" says Nick Thorp. "We appreciated the hell out of that midfield, not least in the Camp Nou in 99 when half of it was missing and the other half out of position. They had everything. Everything." I don't think they were underrated but I do think they were taken slightly for granted – inevitable when you are winning the title by New Year's Day. I watched the 2000-01 DVD last night (order, ladies) and the aggression, conviction, economy and class of their football made me want that DeLorean real bad. That said, were they really as good as the famed quartet of Bellion-Kleberson-Djemba-Djemba-Miller? 4.02pm "Greatest British midfields?" says Jeremy Boyce. "Do me a lemon... Sorry to mention the nasties but perleeeeease give me Lorimer-Bremner-Giles-Gray any day. fit, fast, fighting (?) spirit, and ultimately more British given their history of heroic failure." Hmm. A great midfield, no question about that, but I'd take United's over them. And Everton 1984-85 and Liverpool 1978-79, great though they also were. The greatest midfield of all time? Hard to look past Fernandez-Giresse-Platini-Tigana I suppose. 4.03pm "Banter," banters Tom Chivers. 4.04pm: West Ham 2-0 Southampton (Noble 46, Nolan 47); Man Utd 3-1 Stoke (Welbeck 46) Goalscoring midfielder Mark Noble has chipped a free-kick past Artur Boruc, while Danny Welbeck has put Manchester United 3-1 up with a diving header from Wayne Rooney's excellent cross. In fact West Ham are 2-0 up now thanks to Kevin Nolan. 4.06pm Asmir Begovic has made an amazing save to deny Jonny Evans at Old Trafford. Stoke started this game extremely well, and could have gone 2-0 up, but they are in danger of a hiding now. 4.08pm "Milner's foul wasn't in the area, but when they are, it seems harsh to give the last man a red card AND the penalty," says Jordan Pickering. "What do you think of giving a penalty goal (rather than a penalty kick) and a yellow? Seems fairer to me." Agree completely. The red card is for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity, but a penalty is a clear goalscoring opportunity. (Insert your own Jaap Stam joke here.) 4.09pm "But because West Germany beat Holland," says Gary Naylor, "we know that Steven-Reid-Bracewell-Sheedy beats Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs." How many European Cups did they win? Eh? 4.10pm Reading have crossed the halfway line at Anfield. Not just that, they've had a good chance, with Brad Jones making an excellent save from Garath McCleary. 4.11pm "The greatest midfield of all-time is Spain's at Euro 2012," says Gary Naylor. "Mind you, there were nine of them." 4.12pm "RE: The greatest midfield of all time?" says Admir Paljiae. "Hard to look past Fernandez-Giresse-Platini-Tigana I suppose. Maybe Spanish midfield that conquered Europe (twice) and won World Cup?" Except that wasn't the same midfield, was it? Senna played in 2008. You could still make a very strong case for Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta of course. In fact I would pick them, I just have a default setting in my brain that doesn't consider anything since 2000. 4.14pm The latest scores. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 3-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 2-0 Southampton
4.16pm "Re: Denmark's goal v Ireland," says John Foster. "What a goal. What a team. Elkjaer and Laudrup would both be in my 'turbulent geniuses' all-time XI, alongside Hagi, Stojkovic, Prosinecki, various other east European midfielders, and Dimitar Berbatov. Anyway, isn't this an opportune moment to plug the Twitter account of a certain upcoming Denmark-related book?" Oh, is there one coming out? #banter 4.17pm: Manchester United 3-2 Stoke (Kightly 58) Michael Kightly, who was about to be substituted, has given Stoke a chance at Old Trafford. United have conceded 11 in the last six league games at home. There's a 2001-02 whiff about United this season. They are playing like a team managed by Kevin Keegan. 4.19pm Even with ten men, City are creating the better chances at the Hawthorns. Yaya Toure has just missed the best of all, heading over from a few yards. 4.21pm: West Ham 2-1 Southampton (Lallana 63) Adam Lallana converts Jay Rodriguez's mishit shot to bring Southampton back into the match at Upton Park. 4.22pm: Swansea 1-0 Wigan (Hernandez 65) Pablo Hernandez has scored his first goal for Swansea after a fine run from Wayne Routledge. GOAL! Manchester United 4-2 Stoke (Rooney 65) Wayne Rooney taps in a loose ball to put United two ahead again. It's his third goal of the day, two of which have come at the right end. GOAL! Swansea 2-0 Wigan (Michu) Michu has put Swansea two ahead, heading in Jonathan de Guzman's near-post corner. Laudrup in! 4.25pm "Garrincha-Zito-Didi-Zagallo," says Mike Gibbons. "Won the World Cup in Europe in 1958 and doubled up without Pele's help in Chile in 1962. That's Blockbusters." Ah, it would be, but many people will tell you Garrincha was a forward rather than a midfielder; apparently he played much further forward than Zagallo on the other flank. The word is Brazil were playing a kind of lopsided 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1. GOAL! Swansea 2-1 Wigan (Boyce 69) Can people stop scoring goals please? Emmerson Boyce has brought Wigan back into the match at Swansea, apparently with a kind of scorpion kick over his own shoulder. Emmerson Boyce do Nascimento. 4.28pm "Rob, your description of Adam Lallana's goal didn't really do it justice," says R Johnson. "A fine touch, spin and smash." It's almost as if I'm completely winging this with only Soccer Saturday for company! 4.29pm: West Brom 1-0 Man City (Long 67) Shane Long diverts Peter Odemwingie's miserable shot past Joe Hart to give West Brom the lead at Fortress Hawthorns. They've already beaten Liverpool and Everton at home; this would be on another level entirely. 4.30pm: West Ham 3-1 Southampton (Noble pen 72) Can people stop scoring goals please? West Ham have a decent tradition of penalty takers – Stewart, Dicks, Di Canio and now Noble. He rarely misses, and he has put West Ham further ahead from the penalty spot at Upton Park. 4.32pm "They aren't the greatest midfield of all time, but one of my favourite midfields is Argentina's from the Copa America in 2007," says Christopher Faherty. "It was Cambiasso-Mascherano-Veron-Riquelme. On paper it doesn't work. Where's the width? Two central, immobile playmakers? But there was such a lovely passing balance to them, intelligent players working intelligently for each other. Back when Messi was still a freewheeler and Tevez a charming, wavy-haired grafter too. Simpler times. Happier times." Veron was a glorious disgrace in that final, when they were hammered by Brazil. 4.34pm A rare sight indeed in modern times: Michael Owen is on the field at Old Trafford. 4.35pm "Could someone please buy Welbeck a set of studs?" says Jenny Sofia. "He always seems to be playing in bowling shoes - I have never seen anyone slip/fall over as much as Welbeck." 4.36pm Luis Suarez has just missed his 471st chance of the afternoon. 4.37pm "Cerezo, Zico, Falcao and the late great Socrates," says Richie Ramsahoye. Hmm. Serginho made that overrated shower look good. 4.38pm Manchester City will be seven points behind Chelsea if they lose today. That's a big gap, even in October. I wonder what odds you'd get on Roberto Mancini being gone by the start of next season. It's certainly not beyond the realms. 4.39pm Right, the latest scores. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 4-2 Stoke
Swansea 2-1 Wigan
West Brom 1-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 3-1 Southampton
4.40pm: West Brom 1-1 Man City (Dzeko 80) For all his limitationos, Edin Dzeko scores some bloody important goals for Manchester City. I vaguely remember one last May. He's scored another today, coming off the bench to equalise at Fortress Hawthorns. That's a pretty impressive display of character from City, who were down a man and a goal. 4.41pm: Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa (Baird 84) Chris Baird has scored his triennial goal to put Fulham ahead at Craven Cottage. 4.42pm "How about the greatest midfields that could've/should've been (feasible ones, not Maradona-Cruyff-Messi dream teams)?" says Ryan Dunne. "Obvious pick: Figo-Zidane-Makelele-Beckham. And surely a Man U guy like yourself has pondered combinations that really could have utilised Veron for a Europe-conquering side?" I wouldn't waste a millisecond on that magnificent, fraudulent bald villain. All I think about is whether United would have won a record five or six titles in a row if Ferguson had not tampered with possibly the greatest midfield in British and Irish football history. 4.44pm: West Ham 4-1 Southampton (Maiga) The substitute Modibo Maiga has clinched victory for West Ham with a delicious curler. Southampton's defence? Bloody hell. 4.45pm "Maybe it's just because he was playing when i was getting into football but am I the only one who thinks Paul Ince was a great player when he was at United?" says David Flynn. "It's just me isn't it." Crikey, not at all. Until he got delusions of being a playmaker, he was immense. 4.46pm "Collins, McStay, Thom," says Stephen Finkel, "behind Van Hooijdonk, Cadate, DiCanio." And that's Blockbusters. 4.47pm Micah Richards has a header cleared off the line for Man City at the Hawthorns. These are the latest scores. Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 4-2 Stoke
Swansea 2-1 Wigan
West Brom 1-1 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 4-1 Southampton
4.48pm Southampton have conceded 24 goals in eight games. No team in Premier League history – not even Swindon, not even Man Utd when Fabien Barthez was having his phase – have let in that many at this stage of the season. 4.49pm "Mancini should be gone anyway," says Tom Barneby. "He'll never do it in Europe – see his meltdowns for Inter after the Liverpool game (when Moratti has to stop you quitting in the changing room at full time something is amiss), for City with the Tevez affair (when he was in a red hot funk after Dzeko didn't look happy when subbed off for Barry) and castigating Hart for saying the right thing after the Madrid defeat. Fergie would have had the title wrapped up by Easter with that squad and Mancini needed an extra time winner at home against QPR. They'll get rid and get Pep/Jose in." Yes, if you swapped managers like year City would have been won by at least 10 points, probably 20. 4.50pm Romelo Lukaku has missed a great chance to put the hurt of Manchester City, planting a header straight at Joe Hart from just 8.124441 yards. That would have been a goal for both his clubs, West Brom and Chelsea. 4.51pm Michel Vorm has made a save from his opposite number Ali al-Habsi at Swansea. 4.52pm: West Brom 1-2 Man City (Dzeko 90) Manchester City have won it! This is a sensational comeback with ten men. I have no idea how the goal came about; I do know that the substitute Edin Dzeko scored it, his second of the game. City have won four of their last eight league games in the final few minutes. They are few better habits for a football team to develop. 4.55pm "Can I guess that Wilson-Smyth-Murray-Lutz is a midfield that strikes hearts into teams all around the King's Cross area?" says Robin Hazlehurst. "If not it should be. And not necessarily only football teams." 4.56pm It has finished at West Brom, Liverpool, Manchester United and Swansea. 4.57pm Chelsea and Manchester City only took three points today, but the manner of their victories, on today of all days, will give them so much impetus for the next few weeks. They are both huge wins. 4.58pm It's finished at Fulham and West Ham. It finished there a few minutes ago; as the girl said in Peep Show, I'm a bit sloww. 4.59pmThese are the final scores. Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 4-2 Stoke
Swansea 2-1 Wigan
West Brom 1-2 Man City
West Ham 4-1 Southampton
I'm spent after a oxygenless second half. Ta for your emails. Night!
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hezbollah denies responsibility for death of general but country risks being dragged ever deeper into Syria conflict The crisis in Lebanon following the assassination of Beirut's top police official appeared to be deepening as the prime minister, Najib Mikati, announced his cabinet would resign as soon as a caretaker national unity government could be formed. General Wissam al-Hassan was one of 10 people killed and more than a hundred wounded on Friday after a car bomb exploded in a cramped middle-class Christian neighbourhood in central Beirut. The explosion rocked the Sassine Square area just after 3pm, leaving windows shattered and broken glass littering the streets. The killing of Hassan has followed months of rising tension as Lebanon has been drawn ever deeper into the conflict in neighbouring Syria – whose government has been blamed for the murder. Hassan was a key investigator for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the international investigation into the 2005 assassination of another former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, and several other bombings that the Lebanese street has blamed on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Tensions between the pro-Syrian government and an opposition that is openly backing the rebels in Syria's 18-month civil war have steadily risen over the past year and the death of Hassan, a Sunni, left supporters around the country calling for a national strike and retaliatory violence against the Shia militant group Hezbollah and its allies in the government. Hezbollah denied that it was behind the blast. Gangs of angry protesters took to the streets on Friday night, blocking roads, burning tyres and calling on the government to resign. As protesters demanded justice and revenge, Hezbollah and its allies began deploying their gunmen to the streets to protect Shia neighbourhoods from revenge attacks by infuriated Sunnis. Immediately after Hassan's assassination, the ruling coalition, led by Hezbollah, announced that it would block any attempt to transfer jurisdiction over the investigation into the car bombing to the STL, a move that prompted Mikati to announce that his cabinet would resign as soon as a caretaker national unity government could be formed. The dramatic announcement came after a security council meeting with President Michel Sleiman to determine the proper course forward the day after the worst bombing to strike Lebanon in the past five years. The Lebanese government had previously thrown its support behind the STL, but after it became clear that prosecutors planned to indict members of Hezbollah in the Hariri assassination, the group's allies in the cabinet took steps to limit co-operation with the tribunal. After the cabinet refused to discuss transferring the investigation into Hassan's murder to the STL, the prime minister made his announcement that he would resign as soon as a caretaker government could be formed. "The request for a timeframe stems from a realisation that Lebanon is facing a plan to create strife in the country," the prime minister said. "This is a national issue and we are keen on preserving the nation. We do not want to leave Lebanon in a vacuum," he added in a statement to reporters after meeting the president. Hezbollah has described the STL as an Israeli project to sow discord between Lebanese factions already bitterly divided over support for the rebels battling for control of Syria. Hassan was considered one of the key backers of the tribunal and sources say he had recently turned over a considerable amount of evidence in the form of telecoms records to prosecutors, in a move widely criticised by Hezbollah and its allies. In announcing his eventual resignation, the prime minister also stated that he did not believe that Hassan had been acting in an irresponsible or politically biased manner. "I have never felt that Hassan was aligned with any political camp," said the premier. "I stress that the investigations must take their course until the truth is revealed." Hassan had recently uncovered an alleged plot by Syria's Lebanese allies to spread discord and instability throughout Lebanon with a wave of bombings and assassinations. Arrested in that plot was former minister Michel Samaha, who prosecutors allege had smuggled explosives into Lebanon from Syria to support the bombing campaign. The prime minister said it was obvious that Hassan's murder was tied to that case, as well as to other investigations into a series of political assassinations from 2005 to 2008. The killing comes as Lebanon is struggling over how to respond to the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Syria. Syrian rebels have taken to using Lebanon as a safe haven and as a jumping-off point for military operations against Syrian troops posted along the border. A close ally of the Syrian regime, Hezbollah is often said to be conducting military operations inside Syria to help dampen the rebellion,in which more than 30,000 people have been killed since it began in the spring of 2011. The assassination of Hassan prompted Lebanon's political opposition to place the blame for the killing squarely on Assad, who has had a poor relationship with Lebanon's Sunnis since Syria was accused of murdering the former prime minister. Following the car bomb and ensuing violent protests that erupted around the country, the streets of the capital were almost deserted as people stayed indoors in case of violence or further assassinations. In one incident, Lebanese army troops opened fire on a car that ran a roadblock in the Beqa'a Valley, wounding two people. Throughout Lebanon, security forces took steps to protect government buildings and maintain order. But in Sunni areas, security forces were scarce and cars cruised the streets ordering Sunnis to call for the government's removal. Several Sunni militiamen could be seen carrying weapons on Friday night in a clear violation of Lebanese law. Lebanon appears to be destabilising as more than 100,000 Syrians fleeing violence in their country have taken refuge within the country, causing friction between government supporters who oppose supporting the rebels and Sunni politicians who strongly and openly support the Syrian rebel movement.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | • Hit F5 or auto-refresh for the latest news
• Banter rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk to within an inch of sanity
• The latest scores from around England and Europe
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• Buy Rob's new book (sort of)
• Follow Rob on Twitter (sort of) 4.17pm: Manchester United 3-2 Stoke (Kightly) Michael Kightly, who was about to be substituted, has given Stoke a chance at Old Trafford. United have conceded 11 in the last six league games at home. 4.16pm "Re: Denmark's goal v Ireland," says John Foster. "What a goal. What a team. Elkjaer and Laudrup would both be in my 'turbulent geniuses' all-time XI, alongside Hagi, Stojkovic, Prosinecki, various other east European midfielders, and Dimitar Berbatov. Anyway, isn't this an opportune moment to plug the Twitter account of a certain upcoming Denmark-related book?" Oh, is there one coming out? #banter 4.14pm The latest scores. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 3-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 2-0 Southampton
4.12pm "RE: The greatest midfield of all time?" says Admir Paljiae. "Hard to look past Fernandez-Giresse-Platini-Tigana I suppose. Maybe Spanish midfield that conquered Europe (twice) and won World Cup?" Except that wasn't the same midfield, was it? Senna played in 2008. You could still make a very strong case for Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta of course. In fact I would pick them, I just have a default setting in my brain that doesn't consider anything since 2000. 4.11pm "The greatest midfield of all-time is Spain's at Euro 2012," says Gary Naylor. "Mind you, there were nine of them." 4.10pm Reading have crossed the halfway line at Anfield. Not just that, they've had a good chance, with Brad Jones making an excellent save from Garath McCleary. 4.09pm "But because West Germany beat Holland," says Gary Naylor, "we know that Steven-Reid-Bracewell-Sheedy beats Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs." How many European Cups did they win? Eh? 4.08pm "Milner's foul wasn't in the area, but when they are, it seems harsh to give the last man a red card AND the penalty," says Jordan Pickering. "What do you think of giving a penalty goal (rather than a penalty kick) and a yellow? Seems fairer to me." Agree completely. The red card is for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity, but a penalty is a clear goalscoring opportunity. (Insert your own Jaap Stam joke here.) 4.06pm Asmir Begovic has made an amazing save to deny Jonny Evans at Old Trafford. Stoke started this game extremely well, and could have gone 2-0 up, but they are in danger of a hiding now. 4.04pm: West Ham 2-0 Southampton (Noble 46, Nolan 47); Man Utd 3-1 Stoke (Welbeck 46) Goalscoring midfielder Mark Noble has chipped a free-kick past Artur Boruc, while Danny Welbeck has put Manchester United 3-1 up with a diving header from Wayne Rooney's excellent cross. In fact West Ham are 2-0 up now thanks to Kevin Nolan. 4.03pm "Banter," banters Tom Chivers. 4.02pm "Greatest British midfields?" says Jeremy Boyce. "Do me a lemon... Sorry to mention the nasties but perleeeeease give me Lorimer-Bremner-Giles-Gray any day. fit, fast, fighting (?) spirit, and ultimately more British given their history of heroic failure." Hmm. A great midfield, no question about that, but I'd take United's over them. And Everton 1984-85 and Liverpool 1978-79, great though they also were. The greatest midfield of all time? Hard to look past Fernandez-Giresse-Platini-Tigana I suppose. 3.59pm "Is George Solomon having a laugh?" says Nick Thorp. "We appreciated the hell out of that midfield, not least in the Camp Nou in 99 when half of it was missing and the other half out of position. They had everything. Everything." I don't think they were underrated but I do think they were taken slightly for granted – inevitable when you are winning the title by New Year's Day. I watched the 2000-01 DVD last night (order, ladies) and the aggression, conviction, economy and class of their football made me want that DeLorean real bad. That said, were they really as good as the famed quartet of Bellion-Kleberson-Djemba-Djemba-Miller? 3.51pm BANTER. 3.50pm "NO WAY should Milner have been sent off," says James Hopkin. "Lescott was a stride behind and gaining. Clattenberg is dishing out cards all over the place in this game, and he's always had it in for us (City). PS got a story on Radio 4 tonight, in the broadcasting blackhole of 12.30am – please help!" You do realise the clockwatch has an average readership of 4, don't you? And one of those is my imaginary friend. 3.49pm It's half time. You want some latest scores, don't you. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 2-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.48pm Rooney, by the way, is the first United player to score at both ends since David Beckham at Blackburn 11 years ago. 3.47pm Look at this goal. This is how you Brendan the ball out from the back. 3.45pm "I'm sorry," begins Sir Ian Botham Nick Smith, "but Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a crime against the original episodes. A bit like building a time machine and putting Joe Kinnear in charge of Barcelona." Which one of you is Sergio Busquets? GOAL! Manchester United 2-1 Stoke (Van Persie 44) United have savaged Stoke in the last 15 minutes and now they lead. Antonio Valencia roasts his man in the usual style, screams the ball across the box, and Robin van Persie finishes adroitly. (I'm paraphrasing Merse with that description.) 3.42pm Danny Welbeck has hit the bar at Old Trafford, according to Paul Merson. Well, according to Paul Merson he has hit the Demba. 3.39pm Emails please! 3.38pm Goals please! 3.37pm Can somebody score a goal please? I'm bored. Thanks. 3.36pm "Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs," says George Solomon. "Oh-me-oh-my. How unappreciated was that four at the time? Unreal." The last great British and Irish midfield, and probably the best. 3.35pm There are no hard footballers any more, right? Well ... 3.34pm "Just had a look at the benches named at Old Trafford and there's little to choose between them," says Gary Naylor. "When did that happen?" United do have around 47 injuries, in their defence. 3.33pm "Milner's was a deserved red," writes 'not the' Chris Price. "Milner lunged at the Bromwich player at the top of the penalty area with the nearest City player several yards behind. And Mancini's expression was excellent. 3.32pm The latest scores. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Manchester United 1-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City (James Milner sent off)
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.31pm "Afternoon Rob!" says Ryan Dunne. "Although the clockwatch is enjoyable enough on its own merits, today's is especially good as one can combine following it with watching (the much underrated) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the telly! This, surely, is the stereotypical MBMer equivalent of James Bond saving the world and getting the girl." GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Reading (Sterling 29) Raheem Sterling puts Liverpool ahead with his first senior goal, a fine finish according to Charlie Nicholas on Sky. He is the second youngest goalscorer in Liverpool's history after former footballer Michael Owen. Liverpool have been battering Reading, and Sterling alone could already have a hat-trick. GOAL! Manchester United 1-1 Stoke (Rooney 27) Wayne Rooney Tommyhutchisons United level with a fine goal, heading in a wonderful cross from Robin van Persie. 3.26pm "Monsieur Parkington-Smythe, when did football get so confusing? Is it now racist or not to wear an anti-racism T-shirt?" says Nathan Fisher. "I think we should be told." 3.25pm A great point from my colleague Sean Ingle: United have conceded the first goal in six of their eight league games this season. They regularly conceded the first goal in the 1998-99 Treble season as well. This is where the comparisons between the two sides start and stop. Schmeichel-Neville-Stam-Johnsen-Irwin-Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs-Yorke-Cole. And weep. 3.24pm David de Gea has just made a fine save from Jon Walters at the end of an orgiastic burst of tiki-taka from Stoke. Yep. They are playing tiki-taka today, not kicki-hacka. "It's all Stoke," says Paul Merson. "Man United don't know how to cope. The keeper's keeping them in the game." 3.22pm: James Milner sent off I'd like to see the look of Roberto Mancini's coupon right now. James Milner has been given a straight red card – the first of his career – by Mark Clattenburg. It was for a tackle on, er, a West Brom player, and Phil Thompson on Sky reckons a yellow card would have been more appropriate. If there's one place you don't want to go down to 10 men, it's Fortress Hawthorns. 3.21pm "So how do you do MBMs?" says Chris B. "I'd always imagined some sort of Minority Report hi-tec thingy involving a massive screen and lots of waving your hands around to get the info on different matches at the same time. Possibly also involving poor, young interns sitting in some blue watery gunk feeding you the data." That's remarkably close to the reality of the MBMs. Remarkably close. I don't need to describe how it actually works, because we have live footage from the webcam on my monitor. 3.20pm Stoke usually roll over pathetically away to the big clubs, but not today. Jonathan Walters just had a half-chance to make it 2-0, and it sounds like Stoke have been much the better side thus far. 3.17pm A note for those whose principal vice is nostalgia: you have seen this wonderful Match of the 90s archive, yes? 3.14pm These are the latest Premier League scores. It's all happening. Fulham 0-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 0-0 Reading
Manchester United 0-1 Stoke
Swansea 0-0 Wigan
West Brom 0-0 Man City
West Ham 0-0 Southampton
3.13pm Stoke almost made it 2-0 just then, with Charlie Adam trying to catch David de Gea out at the near post and almost succeeding. 3.11pm: Manchester United 0-1 Stoke (Rooney own goal 10) Wayne Rooney scores the opening goal at Old Trafford. So far, so normal, but this time he has diverted a Charlie Adam free-kick into his own net. "It's a hown goal!" says Paul Merson on Sky. God bless him. 3.10pm "I can't believe I'm emailing your football clockwatch to discuss cricket," says Phil Podolsky, "but this lady I know got to hang out with John Emburey and was the recipient of some serious b***er. She learned that cricket can bridge cross-cultural barriers, and that b***er can be as important as batting. Worth a shout!" B***er? Do you mean banter. My use of the word in full has nothing to do with the fact that, according to this, I have used the word 'banter' more than anyone else in the history of the Guardian website. I won't give up my crown easily. Banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter banter. 3.05pm Dimitar Berbatov has already made two chances for Fulham, according to Chris Kamara on Sky. Berbarotica is going to be a recurring theme of this season now he has a manager who trusts him and – maybe – a stage with which he is more comfortable. 3.04pm "Conor McNamara's food," says Sam Bates. "Is that also the smallest coke bottle in recorded history? LFC must be spending all their budget on stalking 'journalists'." 3.02pm "What's Ferguson's method of picking a keeper?" says Zach Neeley. "The possibilities seem endless." Weird, isn't it? Especially as one of those keepers is the best shot-stopper. There aren't too many precedents for this at the highest level. Ron Greenwood/Petr Shilton/Ray Clemence is the obvious one, but it can't be a good thing. 3.01pm "Is Rio seriously not wearing a Kick it Out shirt?" says Kevin Smith. "After all the shit his manager said about Jason Roberts' decision?" Eh? What would that have to do with anything? 3pm Six men who may or may not have been bullied at school; six whistles; six nascent Premier League matches. Who's hungry? I was until I saw what MOTDs Conor McNamara will be eating at Anfield today. 2.58pm Listen to Clive Tyldesley growling here. It almost sounds like he's having the world's first fatal goalgasm. Fulham v Aston VillaFulham: Schwarzer, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise, Sidwell, Baird, Richardson, Rodallega, Berbatov, Petric.
Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Kasami, Karagounis, Diarra, Dejagah, Kacaniklic. Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Bennett, Ireland,
El Ahmadi, Delph, Holman, Bent, Agbonlahor.
Subs: Given,N'Zogbia, Albrighton, Benteke, Bannan, Weimann, Lichaj. Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 2.54pm This email, from my colleague Grant Klopper means nothing to me as I still have a phone from 2002, but it might mean something to you under-90s. "You might want to give a shout out to mobile users to try the Clockwatch blog on the beta site, just remind them it is in beta ..." Swansea v Wigan team newsSwansea (4-3-3): Vorm; Rangel, Chico, Williams, Davies; De Guzman, Ki, Britton; Routledge, Michu, Hernandez.
Subs: Tremmel, Graham, Dyer, Monk, Shechter, Moore, Tiendalli. Wigan (3-4-3, maybe): Al Habsi; Ramis, Caldwell, Figueroa; Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour; Kone, Di Santo, Maloney. Subs: Pollitt, Jones, Watson, Gomez, McManaman, Boselli, Miyaichi. Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire) Liverpool v Reading team newsLiverpool (4-2-3-1): Jones; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Gerrard, Allen; Sterling, Sahin, Suso; Suarez.
Subs: Gulacsi, Jose Enrique, Assaidi, Henderson, Downing, Carragher, Shelvey. Reading (4-5-1): McCarthy; Cummings, Gorkss, Mariappa, Shorey; Kebe, Guthrie, Leigertwood, Karacan, McAnuff; Pogrebnyak.
Subs: Stuart Taylor, Gunter, Pearce, Le Fondre, McCleary, Robson-Kanu,
Roberts. Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire) Man Utd v Stoke team newsMan Utd (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Scholes, Carrick; Valencia, Rooney, Welbeck; Van Persie.
Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Giggs, Hernandez, Nani, Powell, Wootton. Stoke (4-5-1): Begovic; Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson; Walters, Whitehead, Nzonzi, Adam, Kightly; Crouch.
Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Jones, Owen, Upson, Etherington, Wilkinson. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) West Ham v Southampton team newsWest Ham (4-3-3): Jaaskelainen; Tomkins, Collins, Reid, McCartney; Noble, Nolan, Diame; Benayoun, Carroll, Jarvis.
Subs: Spiegel, Cole, Maiga, Spence, O'Neil, Chambers, Hall. Southampton (4-2-3-1): Boruc; Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Yoshida; Schneiderlin, Steven Davis; Puncheon, Do Prado, Lallana; Rodriguez.
Subs: Kelvin Davis, Lambert, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka, Seaborne, Chaplow,
Reeves. Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 2.29pm There are five minutes to go at White Hart Lane, where Chelsea lead 3-2 in an excellent if not great game. Follow the denouement with Scott Murray. I could have just said 'follow the rest of the game', couldn't I? Always with the big words, this one. 2.25pm As predicted, Rio Ferdinand isn't wearing a Kick It Out T-shirt. I just don't know what point he is trying to make. West Brom v Man City team newsWest Brom (4-2-3-1): Foster; Tamas, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell; Mulumbu, Yacob; Dorrans, Morrison, Fortune; Long.
Subs: Luke Daniels, Popov, Rosenberg, Jara Reyes, Lukaku, Gera, Odemwingie. Man City (4-4-2) Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; Milner, Y Toure, Barry, Nasri; Balotelli, Tevez.
Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Dzeko, Sinclair, Kolarov, Aguero, K Toure. Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) Preamble Good afternoon. Between us, the clockwatch is usually a bit of a duff gig: you can't see the matches, it's all a bit too frenetic and you only get one 47-second toilet break in a two-hour period. Today, however, I feel blessed that Tom Lutz decided he couldn't be bothered to do it has allowed me to do it. There are six games, and all of them look pretty interesting. Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Reading
Manchester United v Stoke
Swansea v Wigan
West Brom v Man City
West Ham v Southampton
We have Dimitar Berbatov and ten toilers against 11 toilers; the Brendan disciples against the Brendan naysayers; Michael Owen returning to a hero's welcome at his old club; a La Liga match played in Wales; the champions going to Fortress Hawthorns; and an ostensible clash of football philosophies at Upton Park.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trade unionists march against government cuts in London, Glasgow and Belfast
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | USS George Washington enters South China Sea as display of naval strength and support of smaller Asian nations claims A US aircraft carrier group cruised through the disputed South China Sea on Saturday in a show of American power in waters that are fast becoming a focal point of Washington's strategic rivalry with Beijing. Vietnamese security and government officials were flown onto the nuclear-powered USS George Washington ship, underlining the burgeoning military relationship between the former enemies. A small number of journalists were also invited to witness the display of maritime might in the oil-rich waters, which are home to islands disputed between China and the other smaller Asian nations facing the sea. The visit will likely reassure Vietnam and the Philippines of American support but could annoy China, whose growing economic and naval strength is leading to a greater assertiveness in pressing its claims there. The United States is building closer economic and military alliances with Vietnam and other nations in the region as part of a "pivot" away from the Middle East to Asia, a shift in large part meant to counter rising Chinese influence. The Vietnamese officials took photos of F-16 fighter jets taking off and landing on the ships 1,000-foot-long flight deck, met the captain and toured the hulking ship, which has more than 5,000 sailors on board. The mission came a day after Beijing staged military exercises near islands in the nearby East China Sea it disputes with US ally Japan. Those tensions have flared in recent days. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, where the US says it has a national interest in ensuring freedom of navigation in an area crossed by vital shipping lanes. Vietnam, the Philippines and several other Asian nations also claim parts of the sea. The disputes attracted little international interest until the late 1990s, when surveys indicated possible large oil reserves. American rivalry with China has given the disputes an extra dimension in recent years. The US navy regularly patrols the Asia-Pacific region, conducting joint exercises with its allies and training in the strategic region. The trip by the George Washington off the coast of Vietnam is its third in as many years. A second aircraft carrier, the USS John C Stennis, has also conducting operations in the western Pacific region recently, according to the US Pacific Fleet. Captain Gregory Fenton said the mission was aimed in part at improving relations with Vietnam and ensuring the US had free passage in the South China Sea. China's military buildup, including the launch of its own carrier last year and rapid development of ballistic missiles and cyber warfare capabilities, could potentially crimp the US forces' freedom to operate in the waters. The United States doesn't publicly take sides in the territorial disputes among China and its neighbors. "It is our goal to see the region's nations figure out these tensions ... on their own, our role of that to date is to conduct freedom of navigation exercises within international waters," Fenton said in an interview on the bridge. Although claimant countries have pledged to settle the territorial rifts peacefully, the disputes have erupted in violence in the past, including in 1988 when China and Vietnam clashed in the Spratly Islands in a confrontation that killed 64 Vietnamese soldiers. Many fear the disputes could become Asia's next flash point for armed conflict. Vietnam is pleased to accept help from its one-time foe America as a hedge against its giant neighbor China, with which it also tries to maintain good relations. Still, the Hanoi government reacted angrily to recent moves by Beijing to establish a garrison on one of the Paracel islands, which Vietnam claims. The United States also criticized the move by Beijing, earning it a rebuke from the government there. "China will take this (cruise) as another expression by the United States of its desire to maintain regional domination," said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii. "The US also wants to send a message to the region that it is here for the long haul ... and that it wants to back up international law." While most analysts believe military confrontation in the waters is highly unlikely anytime soon, they say tensions are likely to increase as China continues pressing its claims and building its navy.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chelsea - and Juan Mata in particular - were superlative as they took Tottenham apart "It's Tottenham v Chelsea, it's not about me, says André Villas-Boas." Fair enough, we'll take you at your word. You just stand there and look pretty in your coat. It is about Villas-Boas, though, isn't it. The young man's clearly already one of the best managers in Europe - look at the pots on the table - though things never quite worked out for him at Chelsea. He'll surely be looking for a modicum of revenge over Roman Abramovich today - "It's highly unlikely that [Abramovich] will be allowed into the dressing room or the tunnel," says AVB - while Spurs will be desperate to avenge their 5-1 humbling in the FA Cup semi-final last season. It'll be a tough ask, though: Spurs have only won three of their 40 Premier League games with Chelsea. Oh dear. Still, the way the White Hart Lane fixture has panned out lately will give them a little hope: they've won three of the last six league encounters, drawing the other three. Chelsea haven't won here in the league since 2005, although they belted Spurs out of the cup two years later. Recent form is probably more relevant, isn't it. And the league leaders Chelsea have won five on the bounce. As a result, they're favourites with the turf accountants. I would tell you the odds, but let's not encourage betting. Kick off: 12.45pm. Tottenham Hotspur, who are without Gareth Bale, who is off to witness the birth of his first little bundle of joy, taking a large bundle of Tottenham's hope with him: Friedel, Walker, Gallas, Caulker, Vertonghen, Huddlestone, Sandro, Lennon, Sigurdsson, Dempsey, Defoe.
Subs: Lloris, Adebayor, Naughton, Dawson, Falque, Livermore, Townsend. Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Ramires, Mikel, Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Torres.
Subs: Turnbull, Romeu, Lampard, Moses, Sturridge, Azpilicueta, Bertrand. Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) PRE-MATCH LONDON SING-SONG:
With the greatest respect to Haringey and Hammersmith & Fulham, neither are God's own borough. All together now... "Ya won't be sorry that ya breeeeezed in..."
A rare old atmosphere at White Hart Lane. The crowd are giving it plenty. And here come the teams, Spurs in their trademark white with blue trim, Chelsea in their equally iconic blue, with gold flashes. Or they might be silver. My eyes are going. I probably shouldn't admit that, should I? "Let's not encourage betting, by, say, putting an advert on the bottom right of the screen for Blue Square?" tut-tuts Jonathan Leeuwenburgh. Erm. Hey, we're a broad church of opinion. Anyway, I can't control the whims of the marketing department. They're feral, I tells ya. Feral. Andre Villas-Boas is a class act. He goes over to the Chelsea bench and shakes hands with as many of his old charges as he can reach. It's a lovely moment. Then a warm handshake with Roberto di Matteo, a gent himself. And, after a wee bit more faffing around, we're off! Both teams take turns to stroke it around a bit. Nothing to report yet. 2 min: Can you have a lull in the first two minutes? Why not. A lull. A pantomime moment when Cole fails to control a pass down the left. Roy Hodgson's in the stand. He looks depressed. Does someone want to go over and give him a hug? 4 min: The fans really are belting out their songs at the moment. This is a magnificent atmosphere. The players respond by battling over the ball in the middle of the Chelsea half. It's a free kick to Spurs, 40 yards out, just to the left of goal. Sigurdsson lifts a ball into the area down the channel. Chelsea are snoozing, allowing Gallas to swing a leg at the ball from six yards. He doesn't connect properly, the ball wafting out wide on the left. But that was half a chance. 5 min: Better from Cole down the left this time; he wins a corner. The set piece is an egregious disgrace, a waste of energy and time. 7 min: Mata dances dangerously down the inside-right channel. Just as it looks like he'll be breaking into the Spurs area, Sandro sticks a toe in to nudge the ball away. But all of a sudden Chelsea look up for this, with Hazard coming straight back at Spurs down the right. His low ball inside is godawful, but that was a decent run. "Champions of Europe, we know what we are," chant the Chelsea faithful. Will this Sloop John B trend ever end? Sail On Sailor is much more tuneful. 9 min: Torres is this close to latching onto a ball rolled into the Spurs area from the right, but Friedel is out quickly to smother, and put a stop to his gallop. 10 min: Hazard is given two chances to find a team-mate from a wide position on the right. He does so with the second, a low fizzing ball which finds Oscar on the edge of the area. Oscar looks to thread a shot into the bottom-left corner, and isn't far away at all. Chelsea have started strongly here. 12 min: Corner for Spurs down the right, after Cole is forced to bundle a low cross from the left out of play on the other side. The set piece is an obnoxious disgrace, cleared easily by Chelsea. Sandro tries to return the ball into the net from nigh-on 40 yards, but his hopeless blooter sails harmlessly into the stand. 13 min: Oscar rolls a sliderule ball down the inside left to release Torres, but the Liverpool Chelsea man is marginally offside. 16 min: A nice end-to-end feel about this now. First Oscar goes on a blithering left-to-right diagonal run and nearly breaks clear into the Spurs box. Then Dempsey rattles down the left and isn't far from skinning Ivanovic, but his heavy touch runs the ball out of play at the last. 18 min: WHAT A GOAL THIS IS!!! Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Chelsea. A corner down the left for Chelsea. It's swung to the far post. Gallas heads clear to the edge of the area. Cahill runs in from the left and meets the dropping ball with his right peg, sending a thunderous volley straight into the net. It's straight at Friedel, but hit with such screeching power that the keeper had no chance. Possibly a slight deflection too, but take nothing away from the violent beauty of that strike. Wow. 20 min: Spurs respond brilliantly. Defoe makes good towards the Chelsea area, skittering down the inside-right channel. He skelps a low shot towards the bottom right, which Cech does well to parry. Dempsey gets on the end of the rebound, but can't guide the ball over the keeper and the ball's bustled out on the right for a corner. From which nothing comes. 23 min: Spurs are stroking the ball around quite a lot, but mainly in their own half. Chelsea are quite happy to let them do this, and look extremely comfortable at the moment. Mikel and Torres cause a wee kerfuffle in the Spurs area, though it's easily dealt with by Vertonghen and Gallas. "Jonathan should count his blessings, advert wise," writes Ryan Dunne. "Surely I can't be the only one wondering if those omnipresent Guardian Soul Mates adds are, rather offensively, assuming that MBM-haunters are painfully single?" I think they're aimed towards the staff, Ryan. State of us. 25 min: Ivanovic is booked for diving as he goes past Sigurdsson. There was no contact, so fair enough. But all this fuss about diving is manufactured outrage about bugger all, if you were to ask this scribe. But then I'm simple folk, so don't be listening to me. "Spurs must bring back Gareth Bale with an ambulance from the hospital!" cries Gokhan Evci. What do you want him to do with it, Gokhan? Doughnuts in the centre circle, with the siren on? 28 min: Another lull. But it's been a very entertaining game so far, so can't complain. "I'm pondering the really crucial question of the day," claims Gary Naylor, who as we shall see is doing nothing of the sort. "Is AVB a handsome man who, somewhat unluckily, is a bit ordinary in photos; or is he an ugly man who, somewhat luckily, is a bit ordinary in photos? I suspect we might need Hadley Freeman's judgement on this one." Hadley, I would hazard a guess, has a life, and is therefore not glued to either this match or this MBM report. My opinion will have to do, Naylor. And I'm saying he's a handsome chap. He certainly looks that way from my position, as a gent who somewhat unluckily photographs like a scuffed boot. 30 min: Spurs are coming back into this. Sigurdsson has a dig from a free kick. But he's nearly 40 yards out, so come on. Then Lennon drives down the right and chips a ball across into the middle. Sigurdsson takes up possession ten yards out, and swivels a shot goalwards in one smooth movement. It's not far off, fizzing inches wide of the left-hand post. Chelsea escape. The White Hart Lane faithful turn up the volume. 33 min: It's high-paced stuff, this, and Chelsea are again having the better of it. Oscar is close to breaking free down the left, but Sandro scuttles back to rob the ball from him. Torres dances down the right, and flicks a little pass forward with a view to releasing Mata, but Vertonghen is solid and staunch. "We need more like Luiz and Vertonghen, centre backs who will drive forward," writes Ben List. "I'd love to see a back four of Luiz-Vermaelen-Agger-Vertonghen. They'd leave some gaps." Aye. To hell with locking things down. And balls to tactics. Goals are underrated. 36 min: Huddlestone strokes a delicious diagonal ball to the left for Sigurdsson, who curls a deep cross towards Dempsey. Cole is forced to head out for a corner down the right. But nothing comes from Sigurdsson's set piece, and Chelsea stream forward, breaking upfield, winning a corner themselves down the left. And from that, Spurs stream upfield! They look very dangerous, until Dempsey checks, turns, and loses the ball, much to the crowd's displeasure. This is end to end alright. 38 min: What a miss by Mata! Ramires sashays down the left, cuts inside, and feeds Mata, who takes a low shot from the edge of the area. Friedel parries. The ball comes straight back to Mata, who is under pressure but has an open goal ahead of him with Friedel prone on the floor. He sidefoots powerfully over the bar. Highly profligate. The whole thing came seconds after, down the other end, Luiz left a ball to bounce through to Cech without looking, so nearly letting Defoe in. He's a slack sod sometimes. But, yep, this is end to end alright. 39 min: Gallas is booked for a crude slide from behind on Torres. It's the second booking in a couple of minutes, Huddlestone having gone in the referee's notebook for... I'll be honest, I have no idea. It might have been for a cheeky obstruction as Chelsea stormed upfield on 36 minutes, but don't bet the farm on that being the case. 42 min: Spurs instigate a couple of scrambles in the Chelsea area. First a low cross from the left isn't dealt with convincingly by Cech, and is hacked away. Then Defoe takes a whack from short range. Corner. From which Dempsey tries to guide the ball home from eight yards, level with the right-hand post. But he's bustled out of it. Spurs are turning up the heat on the leaders here. 44 min: Torres looks to break into the Spurs half with the home side light on defenders. But Luiz has been clattered on the noggin in the Chelsea area by Sandro, and the play is stopped. Torres has the face on. The Chelsea support isn't altogether pleased either. Luiz is fine, though, after a couple of minutes with a sponge. 45 min: Defoe tries to curl one into the top right-hand corner after cutting inside from the left. It's a great effort, but Cole is on the line and heads clear. Chelsea stream upfield through Ramires, looking dangerous as they do so. Walker slides in to send Ramires skidding across the turf on his face. He's booked for his trouble. No complaints, and nor should there be. 45 min +3: Ramires, having taken notes from Walker, executes a similar trip on an in-full-flight Lennon. He's booked too. HALF TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Chelsea. And that's that, the end of a highly entertaining half. Chelsea deserve their lead, and it should be a two-goal advantage, Juan Mata having missed that superb chance towards the end of the half. But Spurs have had their moments as well. Should be a cracking second period. Don't go flipping and flicking. HALF-TIME ADVERTISEMENT: Some of our older readers may recall books, and the concept of paying for content, and of not expecting everything for nothing like a small, grizzling, entitled child. Those good, good people, these fans of the written word, should get on this: The Shape of Shit to Come, a hilarious new book by Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur, authors of the bestselling Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit? Once, we were promised a sci-fi future that never arrived. But what if it really is on its way now? The Shape of Shit to Come takes a funny tour of the future taking shape before our eyes - a future of sex robots, hotels in space, kids making their own pets with gene-splicing kits and people planning, for real, how they can turn themselves into hyper-intelligent genetically enriched cyborg immortals of the future. Because these things are happening. As of yet only the geeks are talking about this stuff. But is that wise? Shouldn't we all be getting with the programme? Otherwise we're leaving the future of humanity in the hands of people who ride scooters indoors.
And we're off again! No changes. And no change in the atmosphere, either, which is still a belter. "With that Sideshow Bob mop of hair, how could Luiz actually suffer a head injury?" wonders Benoît Rivard. Split ends? Thinking too hard about positioning? No, it's got to be split ends, hasn't it. 46 min: GOAL!!! Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Chelsea. Fifty eight, maybe 59 seconds of the half have elapsed, and Gallas makes good his mistake for the Chelsea goal. Luiz clatters into Dempsey down the right. Huddlestone swings a ball towards the far post. Vertonghen heads the ball back across the goal, allowing Gallas to bundle home from a yard or so. That was a wicked free kick, but Chelsea were still in the dressing room. What a start to the half! 48 min: There's an atmosphere at White Hart Lane now, alright. 50 min: Lennon dances down the inside-right channel and stands one up into the centre for Defoe. The ball balloons out left to Sigurdsson, who ten yards out in space should really volley home, but hammers a shot straight at Luiz. The resulting corner - the ball having sailed over the bar - is a nonsense. "Your half time advertising waffle," begins Matt Dony, clearing his throat. "You may laugh about youngsters not being familiar with 'books', but I recently had to show an 18 year old how to use a tape deck." 51 min: Wow, Spurs have really come out all guns blazing. Sigurdsson powers in from the left, takes a touch inside to skate past Cahill, and hammers a low shot straight at Cech. The keeper snaffles. Chelsea are rocking. 54 min: Vertonghen makes good down the left and smacks a ball straight at Cech. Spurs definitely have the upper hand here. Anyway, to hell with this football. Some breaking news: Hadley Freeman does not have a life! "And, as it happens, I was pondering this question earlier this morning as I read my trusty Saturday Guardian sports section," she begins. "After much musing on the matter I have decided that, yes, M Villas-Boas is a handsome chap - but in a very Euro way. There's just a bit too much care in the wave of the hair, too much sculpting in the stubble, too much handsome twinkle in the eye for my grubby New York / London tastes. Everything is clearly in the right place (on his face, anyway, I have no insight on further detail), so much so that he looks a bit like a Disney Prince. And I'm no royalist. Sorry to break your heart, AVB." Oh dear. But at least he doesn't look like a scuffed boot, the favoured style of the craggy MBM hack. So he's still got that. 55 min: GOAL!!! Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Chelsea. Spurs have the upper hand here, that's for sure! Lennon skates down the inside-right and shoots for goal, but drags his shot diagonally across the box. The ball flies towards Defoe, eight yards out, the striker sidefooting powerfully past a helpless Cech. What a turnaround! Spurs have been superlative since the restart! 57 min: A couple of questionable refereeing decisions in the space of 30 seconds, Chelsea coming out evens pretty much. First Cole goes down in the box as he looks to break down the inside left. He's nudged by Gallas. There's not much contact, but you've seen them given. Clumsy defending. And then from the resulting corner, Torres swings a haymaker at Sandro! He doesn't connect. Hmm, perhaps it's more of a petulant waft, but you're still not permitted to act like Ali. That could easily have been a sending off, were the referee so inclined. 60 min: This game is belting along at 100mph, good old-fashioned Premier League fare. Mata looks to break up the right but is robbed by a thundering challenge from Caulker. Spurs break upfield, Sandro coming in from the right and hammering a low shot straight down Cech's throat. This really could go either way. It's a very entertaining, open game played out by two attractive (if you don't count AVB, let's listen to Hadley) teams. 63 min: Oscar scoops a pass down the right for Torres, who goes racing into the box before falling to the ground. There are the usual pious screams for a dive, but the guy clearly just lost his balance while racing at full pelt. The referee, thankfully, takes no action. "As I sit pondering your MBM on my ownsome indulging in a bargain all you can eat buffet at the Jade Palace, a Chinese restaurant in Crouch End, I can't help but reflect the coverage of this game is one mass advertorial or product placement," writes James Randolph. "It rather makes me glad I'm following on my iPhone not my Sony laptop." Ah the Jade Palace. A fine establishment. It's no La Bota, though, the tapas place a few doors down. Kidneys in sherry, chorizo, and espresso with Spanish booze in it. It's healthy and hearty. They can have that slogan for free. 66 min: GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Chelsea. Vertonghen goes on a sortie upfield, but is stopped abruptly in his tracks. He's jogging back shaking his head, having demanded a free kick, but he was fairly robbed. And he really could have done with picking up his legs, because he's left a massive gap down the right. Oscar screams into it, then wheechs a low ball into the centre. Gallas hacks clear, but only to Mata on the edge of the area. Mata takes one touch, and passes powerfully into the bottom right. Friedel was planted. A magnificent finish. 68 min: Defoe has an ambitious hack from 30 yards, just to the left of goal. It may or may not be going into the right-hand corner, but Cech takes no chances, and palms out on the right. The corner's wasted. 70 min: GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 Chelsea. What a match this is! First Torres tears down the inside-right channel. He's clear on goal, but hesitates, allowing Vertonghen to come back and nick the ball away from him. No matter, though. Chelsea come straight back at the home side within 30 seconds, Mikel cutting in from the left and sliding the ball to Hazard, who strokes a delicate first-time pass down the inside-left to release Mata into the area. Mata has the confidence Torres doesn't, and steers the ball past Friedel with power and precision. This is a marvellous game of football. 72 min: What a response by Chelsea, who were all over the show at the start of this half. Now it's Tottenham's turn to show us what they've got. In fairness, they've done that once already. Can they do it again? let's see. (By the way, they've replaced Huddlestone with Livermore.) 73 min: Mata is once again found in space down the left. He tries a first-time dink over Friedel from a tight-ish angle, but doesn't get any power on the effort. No hat-trick for him. Yet. 74 min: Dempsey is replaced by Adebayor. 75 min: Oscar, tight on the left, one-twos with Mata and advances on the Spurs box. He lashes a low shot towards the bottom-left corner. Friedel does well to parry clear. Chelsea are playing some marvellous stuff at the moment. Way to early in the season to say, but they've got the swagger of title-winners right now. 76 min: Spurs aren't out of this by any means, though. Adebayor wins a towering header to send Sigurdsson into the area down the inside-left channel. Sigurdsson juggles the ball a couple of times, then larrups a decent effort just over. Two of the best teams in the league, going at it in the swashbuckling style. The Premier League at its best. 79 min: Mata sliderules the ball down the inside right and is this close to releasing Hazard into the area. Nearly, but not quite. "As a 40 year old Scot who has been known to eat and drink a bit too much at times, I'm not really qualified to comment on the physical appearance of young, wealthy, successful European football managers," admits Simon McMahon, "but looks aside, there's a lot to like about AVB. He's no Sergio, though, is he?" Yes, but who is? Even Sergio struggles to live up to the beautiful concept of Sergio. 82 min: Spurs triangulate awhile, then Defoe is upended by Mikel as he looks to break into the area from the left. That's a free kick to the home side, just to the left of the D. Sigurdsson looks for the top-left corner, but his effort is obvious. Cech's got it covered, and anyway the ball flies over the bar. "Apparently the key question about the scuffed boot is whether you are deliberately scuffed in a euro way," writes Robin Hazlehurst. "Do you look like distressed leather that has had sandpaper carefully applied to artificially age it to make it look authentic and experienced, or do you just look, y'know, haggard, knackered and suffering the after effects of last night's gin? Hmm, I'm suspecting I can guess the answer here can't I." Yep. Here, rather deliciously, you've misspelt your own name as "Robin Hazlehurts". Very apt, seeing you're riffing and scatting on my pain! 83 min: Oscar, who has been excellent, is replaced by Sturridge. 85 min: Lennon juggles the ball to the right of the Chelsea D, eventually making enough space to whack a looping shot goalwards. But it's straight at Cech. Chelsea haven't looked too troubled since going in front, but Spurs aren't taking this lying down by any means. "Hadley Freeman has been on the cricket OBO at least twice before," reports Niall Mullen. "I think mentioning her name on the sports pages is like the Batman sign in the sky summoning her to help fashion troubled men too bashful to contact 'Ask Hadley'." Maybe we should see if Pamela Stephenson Connolly's about, too. Does anyone have any, y'know, ahem, problems they'd like to talk about? 86 min: Torres should have wrapped this up. He's released into the Spurs area down the left, but overcooks the low curler towards the bottom-right corner, and the ball slides out the wrong side of the post. Not far away by any means, but not particularly good with only Friedel to beat. 88 min: Chelsea are spurning chance after chance now. Hazard's in acres down the right, and racing into the box, but his ball across for Torres is hilariously useless, the clank of a lummox. The ball's recycled, and Mata's sprung clear down the right, but his touch is heavy and Friedel claims. Chelsea really should have four goals by now. 89 min: And are Chelsea going to pay for their profligacy? First Cech fumbles a low cross from the left, nearly gifting a close-range chance to Adebayor before snatching the second chance. Then Walker sends a daisycutter towards the bottom right from nigh on 30 yards; Cech does wonderfully well to palm round for a corner. The set piece is a nonsense. 90 min: Lampard replaces Hazard. There will be four adde minutes of this. 90 min +1: GOAL! Tottenham Hotspur 2-4 Chelsea. This is it now. Walker fannies around down the Chelsea left. Looking to usher the ball out of play, he's shoved off it by tiny Mata, who diddles into the area and rolls the ball across the face of goal, allowing Sturridge to tap in. 90 min +2: On the touchline, Andre Villas-Boas wears a haunted look. Mouth agape, a thousand-yard stare. He's aged about 40 years! I'm surprised his hair isn't falling out in clumps. Oh dear. Hadley Freeman was well ahead of the curve on this one. FULL TIME: Tottenham Hotspur 2-4 Chelsea. And that's that. Villas-Boas regains his composure to shake hands with his successor Roberto di Matteo. No revenge for him today. But he shouldn't take this too badly. Spurs gave it a real go, playing some very nice stuff at times. But Chelsea were simply superlative. They've now won at Arsenal and Spurs, two huge results. It's not too early to talk of a proper title challenge. It'll take some team to beat them over the season, with the only question being their slightly shaky defence. But with that front line, they'll not need too many answers to that one.
  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kateri Tekakwitha, praised for role curing in five-year-old's infection, will be the first Native American to be made a saint Jake Finkbonner was so close to death after flesh-eating bacteria infected him through a cut on his lip that his parents had last rites performed and were discussing donating the five-year-old's tiny organs. Jake's 2006 cure from the infection was deemed medically inexplicable by the Vatican, the "miracle" needed to propel a 17th century Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha, on to sainthood. Kateri will be canonized on Sunday along with six other people, the first Native American from what is now the US to receive the honor. Jake is fully convinced, as is the Catholic church, that the prayers his family and community offered to God through Kateri's intercession, including the placement of a Kateri relic on Jake's leg, were responsible for his survival. Jake, now 12 and an avid basketball player and cross-country runner, will be present at the canonization, along with hundreds of members of his own Lummi tribe from northwest Washington state and indigenous communities across the US and Canada who have converged on Rome to honor one of their own. It's a ceremony the Catholic church hopes will encourage Native Americans to keep to their Christian faith amid continued resentment among some that Catholicism was imposed on them by colonial-era missionaries centuries ago. "I believe everybody has a purpose on this earth," Jake's mother Elsa Finkbonner said this week soon after the family arrived in Rome for the ceremony. "I think this Sunday Jake will define his purpose, and that's to make Kateri a saint." Jake, a poised, lanky kid who just got his braces off, seems perfectly at ease with his role in the whole thing, gracious and grateful to the doctors who performed 29 surgeries to save his life and reconstruct his face. "It's a really special thing," Jake said, flanked by his parents on a hotel terrace sofa. "We've never been to Rome, and especially meeting the pope? It'll be an experience of a lifetime." Besides Kateri, Pope Benedict XVI will declare another American a saint Sunday, Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun from Utica, New York near where Kateri lived two centuries earlier who cared for lepers exiled to Hawaii's Kalaupapa Peninsula. Another new saint is Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino teenager who was killed in 1672 along with his Jesuit missionary priest by natives resisting their conversion efforts. The Catholic church creates saints to hold up models for the faithful, convinced that their lives even lived hundreds of years ago are still relevant to today's Catholics. The complicated saint-making procedure requires that the Vatican certify a "miracle" was performed through the intercession of the candidate a medically inexplicable cure that can be directly linked to the prayers offered by the faithful. One miracle is needed for beatification, a second for canonization. In Jake's case, Kateri was already an important figure for Catholics in the Lummi tribe, of which his father Donny is a member. A carved wooden statue sits in the church on the Lummi reservation near Bellingham, Washington, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the Canadian border, where Jake's grandparents worshipped and where Donny remembers being told of Kateri's story as a child. Known as the Lily of the Mohawks, Kateri was born in 1656 to an Iroquois father and an Algonquin Christian mother in what is today upstate New York. Her parents and only brother died when she was 4 during a smallpox epidemic that left her badly scarred and with impaired eyesight. She went to live with her uncle, a Mohawk, and was baptized Catholic by Jesuit missionaries. But she was ostracized and persecuted by other natives for her faith, and she died in what is now Canada when she was 24. The Rev Tim Sauer was the Finkbonner's parish priest in Ferndale, Washington, as well as the pastor on the Lummi reservation when Jake cut his lip while playing basketball on Saturday, February 11, 2006. The necrotizing fasciitis bacteria that entered Jake's body through the cut immediately began spreading, and by the time Sauer arrived at Seattle Children's Hospital where Jake was airlifted two days later, Donny and Elsa Finkbonner were preparing to bury their son. "At that point, we were desperate, and we were looking for anyone's help that would help our son," Donny said, recalling how doctors had said there wasn't much else for them to do but pray, and that they had come to terms with the possibility that their oldest of three children might not survive the week.
"We wanted Jake back with us desperately," he recalled. "But we were willing to give him up" to God. Sauer, who performed the last rites ritual on Jake that Wednesday four days after he cut his lip said he immediately urged the Finkbonners and the congregation back on the reservation to pray to Kateri, thinking their shared Native American heritage and scarring diseases were relevant. He said he did so first and foremost to save Jake, but also because he thought that Native Americans could use a "boost of faith" if one of their own were held up as a saint. Indigenous Catholics in the US and Canada, he said, increasingly find themselves ostracized and criticized within their communities for embracing and retaining the Christian faith spread by imperial colonizers. "There's been a growing sense of a return to Native American spirituality on reservations, which are good things, but at the same time along with that has been some criticism that native people should let go of Christianity because that was brought by the 'white man' and should go back to their own native culture entirely," he said.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Israeli marines board the Estelle and direct it to port of Ashdod as 30 activists on board attempt to break Gaza blockade Israeli forces have intercepted a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists seeking to breach the naval blockade on Gaza. A military spokeswoman said no one was hurt when marines boarded the Estelle, which was rerouted to Israel's southern Mediterranean port of Ashdod. A campaigner said the boat had "come under attack" after being pursued by Israeli naval vessels. Activists said they lost contact with the Swedish-owned, Finnish-flagged boat early on Saturday. "The Estelle is now under attack. I have just had a message from them by phone. Some time ago, they said that they had military ships following them," Victoria Strand, a Stockholm-based spokeswoman for the Ship to Gaza Sweden campaign, told Agence France Presse (AFP). She added that it was unclear what the activists onboard meant when they said they had been attacked. The Estelle is carrying 30 activists from Europe, Canada and Israel, humanitarian cargo such as cement, and goodwill items such as children's books. Israeli army radio reported that its naval forces had ordered the Estelle to halt its course. The Estelle is the latest in a series of vessels manned by activist that have tried to challenged Israel's blockade on Gaza, imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007. It left the Italian port of Naples on 7 October with about 20 people from eight countries on board. Israel maintains a tight naval blockade of Gaza, which it maintains is necessary to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas and other Palestinian militants. Palestinians describe the blockade as a collective punishment on Gaza's 1.6 million residents, and supporters abroad have mounted several attempts to break it by sea. Nine Turkish activists were killed in May 2010 when Israeli naval commandos boarded their flotilla of six ships. An inquiry into that incident commissioned by UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, found that Israel's Gaza blockade was legal but criticised the navy for using excessive force.
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Bus overturns in south-west Iran killing at least 26 students, after speeding driver loses control in wet weather At least 26 students have been killed and 19 injured in a bus crash in south-west Iran, according to state media. The driver lost control of the bus while driving at high speed in wet weather, senior police official Colonel Mohammad Reza Mehmandar told state radio. The accident took place on the Izeh-Lordegan road, about 310 miles (500km) south-west of Tehran. Iran has one of the world's worst road safety records, with more than 400,000 accidents and about 20,000 deaths on its roads every year. The high death tolls are blamed on high speed, unsafe vehicles, widespread disregard of traffic laws and poor emergency services.
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