Valencia name Koeman as manager

Valencia have appointed Ronald Koeman as their new manager.

Koeman, 44, left his post in charge of PSV Eindhoven earlier this week and has signed a two-and-a-half year deal with the Spanish outfit.

Former Holland and Barcelona defender Koeman replaces Quique Sanchez Flores, who was sacked after Sunday's 3-0 defeat at Sevilla.

"We wanted to sign an internationally recognised coach," said Valencia president Juan Soler.

"We are convinced we will be in very good hands. He knows what Valencia's objectives are, he knows the squad and he will bring us the success we want."

Source. BBC

Gasquet defeat ends Murray hopes

Andy Murray's hopes of reaching the Masters Cup ended as he lost 6-3 0-6 6-4 to Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.

A win would have made Murray a strong favourite to claim the final place for the season-ending showpiece but Gasquet now looks likely to take that spot.

Gasquet totally lost his form in the second set but a single break in the first and third was enough for victory.

The Masters Cup features the top eight players in the regular season.

Source. BBC

Hollywood writers go for strike

The last such action, nearly 20 years ago, lasted 22 weeks and disrupted the autumn television season.

The studios and the union will meet on Sunday morning for last-ditch talks.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the talks to try to avert the strike would take place at a neutral venue.

Source. BBC

Mexico head pledges disaster aid

In a visit to the state capital, Villahermosa, Mr Calderon said the entire air force was involved in shifting supplies to the region.

Rescue workers are trying to help thousands of people trapped in their homes by the floodwaters.

Some 70% of the state is under water in the worst floods for 50 years.

On Friday, the floodwaters were still rising and more rain was forecast for the weekend.

Rescue workers are using helicopters and boats to move people stranded on rooftops or pockets of high land.

The state governor has urged anyone who owns a boat to help the rescue efforts, alongside army and navy crews.

Source. BBC

Police Officer a Suspect in Wife's Disappearance

Peterson has become the focus of the investigation, and police searched his home and his car Thursday. They have also sent divers and cadaver dogs to search a pond near the couple's home.

Stacy, 23, was on her way to visit her sister Sunday, but never showed up. Peterson, 53, said Stacy called him Sunday night and told him she was leaving. He said she has suffered from "mood issues" since a sister died.

He told reporters that he believes she left him for another man.

The couple's two young children are staying with neighbors.
Source. abc

US interest rate cut again

The US Federal Reserve has lowered benchmark borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point to 4.5%. The thinking of Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and his policy makers is that the move will help prevent the US economy being dragged down by the housing slump and tighter credit.

The cut in the key interest rate follows last month's surprisingly large half-point reduction which Fed officials had hoped would head off any potential economic weakness. Making the US central bank's job more difficult is the fact that the latest government figures, released just hours before their decision, showed US economic growth was even stronger than analysts had expected in the third-quarter.

Border blockages highlight Russia/EU problems

As Russia and the EU talked trade differences in Portugal, among other things, there are very concrete signs of their discord on Russia's border.

Hundreds of lorries - queuing for days to get into Russia - are blocking roads in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.

In south eastern Finland the line of lorries is now said to be 50 kilometres long, and the government fears if nothing is done they could be looking at 100 km long queues this winter.

At the Narva border crossing in northern estonia the estimated waiting time is 52 hours. 200 lorries are in line.

All three countries are blaming badly-organised Russian customs authorities who have started to take longer and longer to process each vehicle.

Most border crossings boast few facilities for the drivers with no foodstalls or restaurants, or even toilets.
Source. euronews

Nations, states, provinces join to fight climate change

A wide-ranging collection of national governments, the European Commission, American states and Canadian provinces have put their names to a partnership to fight global-warming. They gathered in Lisbon to announce the formation of the International Carbon Action Programme.

Among the signatories - the UK, Germany, and France - California, New Jersey and New York - all hoping that their co-operation will provide the basis for what they call a global carbon market. Together, they believe they can better monitor emissions, and through the carbon market, can trade greenhouse gas output among them.
Source. Euronews

Pro-EU feeling gathers political force in Poland

Following the political changes in Poland, Europe is among the main areas of conflict between the incoming government and the President, Lech Kaczynski. They will be sharing power. The pro-Europe head of last week's election-winning Civic Platform Party, Donald Tusk, says he is eagerly looking forward to visiting Brussels, Paris and Berlin.

In contrast, however, the Conservative eurosceptic Kaczynski says he is worried about the centre-right Civic Platform's plans to sign up to the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights. The president and his twin brother, defeated outgoing Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, reluctantly agreed to a new EU reform treaty this mid-October but, along with Britain, they negotiated an opt-out from the charter.
source. euronews

Uganda rebels on historic visit

Lord's Resistance Army rebels have arrived for their first offical visit to the capital without fear of arrest.

They are being accompanied by some of the mediators and observers from the talks taking place in southern Sudan.

The negotiations are aimed at ending 21 years of conflict between LRA fighters and government forces in the north.

On Friday, they will go up north to start consultations with victims on the issues of justice and accountability.

They were greeted at Entebbe airport by the interior minister and the government's chief negotiator at peace talks, Dr Ruwakana Rusunda
Source.BBC

Cat joins exclusive genome club

A pedigree cat called Cinnamon has made scientific history by becoming the first feline to have its DNA decoded.

The domestic cat now joins the select club of mammals whose genome has been deciphered - including dogs, chimps, rats, mice, cows and people.

The genome map is expected to shed light on both feline and human disease.

Cats get hundreds of illnesses similar to human ones, including a feline version of HIV, known as SIV, and a hereditary form of blindness.

Winehouse to sing at MTV Awards

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse has been added to the line-up at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Munich, Germany.

But the Back To Black star will not be performing with Pete Doherty and his band Babyshambles as has been reported.

Rapper Snoop Dogg will host the event, which will feature live performances from Mika, Avril Lavigne, My Chemical Romance and the Foo Fighters.

Justin Timberlake leads the field with four nominations, while Winehouse is shortlisted in three categories.

Joss Stone, Craig David and REM singer Michael Stipe are among those lined up to hand out awards.

Her appearance follows her withdrawal from the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony in Las Vegas in September.
Source . BBC

Soaring oil climbs past $96 mark

Oil prices have passed the $96-a-barrel mark after figures on Wednesday showed a surprise fall in US crude reserves.

US light crude rose as high as $96.24 before falling back to $93.16. Brent crude was trading at $89.31 in London.

Analysts said that crude probably would break through $100 a barrel this year, despite Thursday's cooling of prices.
Source. BBC

Floodwaters swamp Mexican state

"We have lost 100% of our crops and 70% of the state is under water," Tabasco's governor said.

Rescuers have been using boats and helicopters to try to reach people stranded on rooftops.

The heavy rains began at the weekend, forcing rivers to burst their banks in the largely low-lying state.

"We are just like New Orleans," Tabasco governor Andres Granier said. "All the water that comes in has to be pumped out."

Deaths in Iraq 'continue to fall'

There is no single reliable source for statistics but a number agree on a marked improvement, correspondents say.

They say this is generally attributed to the US and Iraqi troop surge in and around Baghdad that began in February.

Analysts say other key factors are the halt in operations by Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr and the abandonment of al-Qaeda by some western Sunni tribes.
Source  BBC