Messi double secures Club World Cup for all-conquering Barcelona

Lionel Messi

(CNN) -- Lionel Messi scored twice as European champions Barcelona secured the Club World Cup with a 4-0 rout of Brazil's Santos in Yokohama Sunday.

Messi opened Barcelona's account and added their fourth and final goal in a one-sided match against their South American counterparts.

Xavi and Cesc Fabregas scored their other goals in a first-half which saw Pep Guardiola's men 3-0 ahead and in total control.

It is their second Club World Cup title after 2009 and the 13th trophy won since Guardiola took charge at the Camp Nou in 2008.

"We've got a core of very talented players and the secret of our success is simple," he told the official FIFA website.

"We study our opponents closely, use space well, keep control of the ball and move it around very quickly. My players are real competitors and I'm sure they're going to want to keep on going and win more trophies."

The match was billed as a showdown between Santos' Neymar, who inspired their semifinal win over Kashiwa Reysol, and Argentina's Messi.

Villa injury mars Barcelona semifinal win

But the Brazilian teenager was kept quiet and uncharacteristically wasted two second half opportunities.

By contrast, Messi was at his irrepressible best, and set up by Xavi on 17 minutes made no mistake with a chipped finish.

Xavi then struck after a fine run by Dani Alves and Barcelona were 2-0 up and cruising.

Barely half and hour was on the clock when former Arsenal star Fabregas beat Rafael Cabral at the near post, with Xavi again the instigator after an impudent backheel from Messi.

Barcelona were able to coast through the second half as Santos enjoyed their best spell, but it was fitting that Messi added his second with eight minutes left.

Earlier Al Sadd, who lost 4-0 to Barcelona in the semifinals, beat Japanese champions Kashiwa Reysol 5-3 on penalties to take third place at the annual intercontinental tournament after the match had ended scoreless.

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David Villa out for six months after breaking shinbone during Barcelona's Club World Cup semi-final

David Villa faces a long time on the sidelines

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola confirmed David Villa would be sidelined for a "long time" after the Spain striker broke his shinbone in today's 4-0 Club World Cup semi-final victory over Al-Sadd.

Reports in Spain suggest the 30-year-old will be out of action for between four and six months after being carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time.

Barca announced soon after that he had suffered a "fracture to the tibia in his left leg", with the player taken to hospital in Yokohama for further tests.

The news comes as a setback not only to Barca but potentially to world and European champions Spain, with their all-time record scorer's availability for Euro 2012 now in doubt.

Guardiola said after the match: "He will now travel to Barcelona as soon as possible. He will be greatly missed as a colleague and as a player. I hope everything goes well.

"He will be a long time. It's a big blow to the team. We just hope that he can play again as soon as possible.

News by The Telegraph


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French mother, 32, set to become first woman to be jailed for wearing banned Islamic veil

Hind Ahmas, left, could be sentenced to two years in prison in France

A 32-year-old mother from France is set to become the first woman ever to be sent to prison for wearing an Islamic veil.

Hind Ahmas refuses to accept the legitimacy of a Paris court which has ordered her to spend 15 days learning her civic duties.

She was sentenced by magistrates in Meaux, a Paris suburb, yesterday - after being arrested wearing an outlawed veil outside the Elysee Palace in the French capital on April 11.

That was shortly after Nicolas Sarkozy's government introduced a ban on all forms of Islamic head coverings, including the niqab and the burka.

Ahmas was not allowed into the hearing at Meaux Criminal Court because she refused to remove her face covering.

But prosecutors made it clear to her lawyer, Gilles Devers, that Ahmas now faces two years in prison and a £27,000 fine.

'There is no possibility of me removing the veil,' Ahmas said.

'I'm not taking it off. The judge needs citizenship lessons, not me.'

Ahmas, who has already refused to pay a fine of around £100 for wearing a veil on another occasion, intends to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

She has launched a pressure group, Do Not Touch My Constitution, along with Kenza Drider, another veil wearer who wants to run for president in the Spring.

If Ahmas does become the first woman in the world to go to prison for wearing a veil, then it will be seen as a huge propaganda coup for Islamic-rights campaigners.

Mr Sarkozy said the ban on head coverings was not aimed at persecuting Muslims, but merely to make France a more tolerant, inclusive society.

When it was introduced, he said the ban was aimed at stopping criminals – from terrorists to shoplifters – disguising their faces from security staff and CCTV.

But the sight of a young mother being led away to the cells merely because she refuses to take off her veil will cause outrage around the world.

Mr Devers said the veil ban was 'unconstitutional', while senior police officers have told judges that it is unenforceable without persecuting women.

France became the first country in Europe to outlaw the veil, while similar legislation has since been passed in Belgium and Holland.

One has been mooted in Britain by a number of politicians, including Conservative backbenchers, but there are no immediate plans to introduce one.

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Grenade attack in Belgium kills 4 and injures 75 at Liege Christmas market

Grenade attack in Liege

A man armed with grenades and an assault rifle attacked shoppers in the Belgian city Liege today, leaving four people dead and wounding 75 others.

The attack ignited a stampede, as hundreds fled the explosions and bullets in the busy Place Saint-Lambert.

Interior Ministry official Peter Mertens said the attack did not involve terrorism.

The attacker was identified as Norodine Amrani, 33, a Liege resident who had served jail sentences for offences involving guns, drugs and sex abuse.

He was among the dead, but it was unclear if he committed suicide or died by accident. He was not killed by police.

The dead included two teenage boys, aged 15 and 17, and a 75-year-old woman. A two-year-old girl was reported to be fighting for her life.

Amrani had been summoned for police questioning today but the reason for the questioning was not clear. He still had a number of grenades with him when he died.

He left his home in Liege with a backpack, armed with hand grenades, a revolver and an assault rifle.

He walked alone to the central square, then got on to a platform that gave him a view of the square below, with a huge Christmas tree and crowded with shoppers.

From there, Amrani lobbed three hand grenades towards a bus shelter, which serves 1,800 buses a day, then opened fire on the crowd. The explosions sent glass from the bus shelter across a wide area.

Witness Dimitri Degryse said: "I heard a loud boom. I thought it was something on my car that was broken or something. Then a few seconds after, a second boom, and I saw all the glass breaking, I saw people running, screaming."

As soon as the shooting began, hundreds of people fled the square, as well as a Christmas market in an adjacent square, rampaging through old city streets looking for cover.

Video from the scene showed people, including a large group of children, fleeing the city centre, some still carrying shopping bags.

As police hunted for possible accomplices, residents were ordered to stay in their homes or seek shelter in shops or public buildings.

A medical post was set up in the nearby courtyard of the Prince Bishops courthouse. Dozens of emergency vehicles took victims away for treatment.

Police closed off the area but found no accomplices and calm returned after a few hours.

The Place Saint-Lambert and the nearby Place du Marche host Liege's annual Christmas market, which consists of 200 tiny shops and attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year.

By dusk, with the Christmas lights gleaming again, King Albert II and Queen Paola came to pay their respects, as did prime minister Elio Di Rupo.

Place Saint-Lambert is a busy crossroads. Every day 1,800 buses serve the square, which leads to central shopping streets.

The Place Saint-Lambert and the nearby Place du Marche host the Liege's annual Christmas market which consists of 200 retail cabins and attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year.

News by Mirror

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Euro-league Basketball: Nancy loses big against Fenerbahçe

Euro-league Basketball

AFP - Nancy has lost much of his illusions in Euroleague basketball in his room leaning heavily against the Turks of Fenerbahce (53-73) Wednesday night at a great shortage of offensive.


The champions of France are now virtually condemned to win their last two matches to hope to qualify for the Top 16, this second phase that no club has not seen since ProA Pau-Orthez in 2007.




That is to say how Wednesday's defeat, his first this season at home, is expensive to Sluc who had run after the score throughout the game and never actually digested anemic first period (25-32) .


Denied by the pace of basketball academic "Fener" players Jean-Luc Monschau never managed to break free of their chains. Expelled from the Turkish bat, they tried their luck from distance, but were too clumsy (30% in the two-point shots, 22% three!) To hope for better.


Stronger after the break, they managed to return a moment to a point (40-41, 28th). But as soon as they sniffed the equalizer, their opponents took up the wide, taking advantage of their awkwardness and their waste in the game to impose a night Lorraine terribly frustrating.


Orphans of Nicolas Batum, left in the NBA, players Nancy did not receive much support from their new winger Kenny Gregory. Arrived only the night before the United States, the former Manceau did with the means at hand but did not logically that weighed (8 points).


Victor Samnick and Adrien Moerman is even less inspired, the Sluc tried to rely on Jamal Shuler (17 points) in an attempt to erase its chronic deficit in the wings. But it would have taken much to trouble Wednesday as serene as a Fenerbahçe Sluc was the draft.

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U.S. ambassador turns salesman in China

U.S. President, and Ambassador to China

(Reuters) - Businessmen in sober suits leapt to their feet, jostling with cameras and mobile phones to snap a quick shot as the new U.S. ambassador to China strode to the podium at a hotel ballroom in Jinan, in coastal Shandong province.

Nine hours later, after a speech on energy cooperation, signing ceremonies for deals of a few million dollars each, and dinner with the governor, he was back on the train to Beijing.

This is how Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American ambassador to Beijing and a local celebrity, is trying to raise U.S. sales in China -- deal by deal, ballroom by hotel ballroom, in cities most Americans have never heard of.

While every U.S. ambassador has put in a plug for American goods and services, Locke takes the effort to a new level. The former commerce secretary has hit the pavement in six provincial cities to try to narrow the trade deficit that gives his boss, President Barack Obama, political heartburn.

"Certainly these trips can help publicize the great products and services made in America that could help meet the needs of China but at the same time create jobs in America," Locke told Reuters as the train sped through fields of winter wheat.

"You may not get immediate sales, or the amount of sales from these initial transactions might be small. But really you need to track the growth of these sales, these exports by these American companies over the next several years."

The effort is needed, say U.S. businesses, which often complain about China's opaque markets and the difficulty of selling to the Chinese government and state-owned businesses.

"I'm not aware that previous ambassadors have actually led trade missions organized in the U.S. around China," said Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. "It reflects a personal commitment."

American exports to China rose by nearly a third to $91.9 billion in 2010, reversing a fall in sales the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But they are still dwarfed by Chinese exports to the United States of $365 billion.

FROM COFFEE TO CHEMICALS

Even before he arrived in China, Locke made a splash. A photo of him wearing a backpack and buying a coffee in the airport Starbucks drew enthusiastic online comments from Chinese used to seeing their own officials flanked by guards and aides.

Locke, who does not speak Mandarin, has turned his celebrity to promoting everything from machines to energy-saving lights.

The wares displayed at folding tables under the Jinan Hotel's crystal chandeliers were nothing a consumer could touch. While American stores are filled with goods made in China, the companies accompanying Locke to Jinan included specialty chemicals and equipment makers, with products designed to upgrade China's inefficient and polluting energy sector.

Small firms in particular find it hard to meet the right person or figure out when tenders are issued, let alone sell products that are often pricier than the Chinese competitor.

But Locke retains the salesman's optimism. "Everyone that has exported to China reports that what may have started off small builds over time, such that we've seen phenomenal increases in exports from the United States to China," he said.

Trade missions like these are very much Chinese affairs, with the local representatives of the American firms greeting clients effusively in Mandarin. The signing ceremony, as always, was replete with hostesses in red, a champagne toast and piped music on endless repeat.

The buffet lunch featured dishes like kelp with garlic, lotus root with ginger and pork lung in spicy sauce.

Locke's presence meant the Shandong governor was there, and the chance for a meal with both drew many of the hard-to-reach bosses of state-owned companies.

"Lots of our customers are refineries in Shandong, and it's hard to meet them. Heads of state-owned enterprises are hard to access," said X.D. Hu, China managing director for specialty chemicals maker Albemarle Corp.

Two of his major clients showed up after the Shandong government sent out invitations for the event.

"They care less about the U.S. ambassador, but the chance to meet the Shandong governor is very exciting for them."

Shandong, one of China's largest provinces in terms of both population and economy, is famously business-oriented. But with its private factories hit hard by the global slowdown, more sales growth has to come from the state-owned sector.

The Jinan trip is the first of five trade missions, each focused on a specific industry, that Locke has pledged to lead.

On the train back to Beijing, embassy staffers were already planning how to make the next one bigger and better.

"Too often U.S. ambassadors get stuck in the geopolitics, things like nuclear negotiations," said James McGregor, senior consultant for APCO Worldwide in Beijing.

"But they should be out promoting American business. That's what the Europeans and Japanese do."

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