Libya details medic release deal

Libya has given details about the deal that led to the release of six foreign medics, found guilty of deliberately infecting 438 children with HIV/Aids.

It said backing for a fund for the victims had come mainly from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Qatar.

The Libyan PM strongly condemned Bulgaria for pardoning the medics - who always protested their innocence - as soon as they arrived in the country.

The six were freed last week after Libya reached a deal with the EU.
Libyan officials said on Saturday they had sent a memo to the Arab League calling for action against Sofia as well as a protest to the EU over the pardoning.

The authorities said that Bulgaria was in violation of international law and their bilateral agreement with Libya on prisoner exchange.

International fund

Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi revealed details of the agreement that was signed with the EU, which led to the extradition of the nurses and doctor.

At a news conference in Tripoli, he said the government had not paid into the Benghazi International Fund, which provided $1m (500,000) for each of the infected children.

Mr Mahmudi said the money primarily had come from Qatar, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic but he did not specify the size of the contributions.

He said France had promised to equip the Benghazi hospital - where the six medics worked and the children were infected - and provide training for Libyan medical staff over five years.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says that the EU is set to significantly ease restrictions on visas for citizens, which could see Libyans obtain them within 48 hours.

Earlier this month, Libya commuted to life imprisonment, the death sentences imposed on the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian-born doctor after the families of the infected children agreed to the compensation deal.

The medics' release to Bulgaria was made possible by a deal struck in Tripoli on improving Libya-EU ties, following years of negotiations.

(BBC News )

1st Test England v India

First Test, Lord's, day five:
England 298 & 282 drew with India 201 & 282-9

Scorecard

England were a wicket away from beating India in the first Test when bad light and rain forced a draw at Lord's.

Sourav Ganguly (40) and Dinesh Karthik (60) fell on the last morning to leave the Indians 145-5 chasing 380 but VVS Laxman and Mahendra Dhoni added 86.
Chris Tremlett (3-52), Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar struck after lunch to take England to the brink of victory.

Dhoni (76) and Sree Santh survived 30 balls of spin before poor light forced tea early and there was no more action.


The teams now move on to Nottingham for the second instalment of the three-Test series, starting on Friday.

India will be relieved to still be on level terms after their much-vaunted batting line-up came off second best to the home side's inexperienced bowlers, particularly the pacemen.

The swing movement on offer throughout the game was again evident as Sidebottom got his 12th ball to straighten enough and pin Ganguly in front of off-stump.

James Anderson had problems with his line but he too was celebrating when Karthik chased a full one outside off-stump and Paul Collingwood held on at second slip.

Both bowlers tested Laxman and Dhoni with some short stuff and the latter led something of a charmed life.

He should have been back in the pavilion for 14 when he slashed a short ball from Panesar and Collingwood failed to grasp a chance he would normally swallow up at slip.

The aggressive wicket-keeper/batsman did make cleaner contact on several occasions, cutting a wide Collingwood long-hop and crashing Tremlett through the covers.

Laxman also had a bit of fortune when he slashed at Sidebottom and the ball went over gully for four, but he was much more in control than his partner.



Two orthodox back-foot drives off Tremlett and a pull off Sidebottom were pleasing on the eye and he continued to look good after the break.

After edging the first ball after the resumption through where a third slip should have been he produced trademark wristy strokeplay to dispatch Anderson and Panesar for three runs each through mid-wicket.

Dhoni continued to provide a mixed bag: flaying Anderson through cover-point and Panesar down the ground but almost edging Panesar and Tremlett behind as he reached his fifty off 120 balls.

Surprisingly, Laxman was the man to go, bowled comprehensively off his pad for 39 by one that Tremlett nipped back in and there was another boost for England with the second new ball when a Sidebottom inswinger hit Anil Kumble's pad in line with middle.

Zaheer Khan blocked out 14 balls before his first attempt to play an aggressive stroke resulted in him tickling the ball down the leg-side to wicket-keeper Matt Prior.

With the light fading, Michael Vaughan brought himself on and Dhoni promptly took a liking to him, cracking four boundaries off the skipper's part-time off-spin.

However, he was almost out of partners when RP Singh missed with a heave across the line at Panesar and Santh survived a confident lbw shout from the left-arm spinner.

It was no surprise when the umpires, who had been regularly checking their light meters, asked the question the Indians wanted to hear and their relief was betrayed by the huge roar their fans let out.

Fowler agrees to sign for Cardiff

Robbie Fowler has agreed to join Cardiff on a two-year contract.

The 32-year-old striker was released by Liverpool at the end of last season and has rejected moves to Leicester City and Sydney FC in Australia's A-League.

Fowler will be re-united with Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale, who was in charge at Leeds when he signed from Liverpool for £11m in November 2001.

He is expected to be officially unveiled at a news conference in Cardiff early next week.

"It's taken a lot of hard work but thankfully it's done now," Cardiff manager Dave Jones told BBC Wales Sport.

"I met Robbie on holiday in America, just a chance meeting, and asked him what he was doing.

"He wasn't sure so I went on the internet to check his record and found he wasn't a bad player so I thought we might chase him.

"Peter [Ridsdale] has worked really hard on it and I'm glad he's decided to we are the club he wants to join."

Fowler's arrival at Ninian Park comes just over a week after Cardiff sold last season's top scorer Michael Chopra to Sunderland for £4.5m.

Jones revealed he would have signed Fowler even if Chopra had stayed, and stressed the former England striker still has the hunger to be successful.

"He's certainly got that, that's not in question," added Jones. "And to bank £4.5m for Chopra and then to get Robbie Fowler on a free transfer is good business.

"It puts the club in a healthy position, which is what we've been fighting for over the last 12 months."

Sydney FC had hoped to lure Fowler, and the former England striker was impressed with the set up after travelling to Australia for talks.

But his representative George Scott revealed Sydney were unable to compete financially with the other offers for Fowler.

"The only thing against them is that Robbie is a Premiership player and he is used to Premiership money," said Scott.

"The Premiership is unique in terms of the crazy money it generates and there is nothing in the world that replicates it, not even Spain. That money is well beyond Sydney and the Australian league and we know that.

"It is really a battle between money and quality of life and believe me, quality of life counts for a lot of money. All the money in the world is not going to buy your family's happiness."

Fowler becomes Cardiff's sixth summer signing of the summer, following Trevor Sinclair, Gavin Rae, Steven MacLean, Tony Capaldi and Michael Oakes to Ninian Park.

Jones revealed he still wants to bring another goalkeeper and a striker before the start of the season, but categorically dismissed reports that Cardiff had agreed a £1m deal to sign Blackburn's Francis Jeffers.

"That is a total fabrication of a story," said Jones. "I just do not know where these people get it from.

"Someone asks you a question, you give an answer and all of a sudden two and two becomes 10. It's totally untrue and I find it absolutely amazing."

Fowler made his Liverpool debut as an 18-year-old in 1993, scoring 171 goals in 330 games before joining Leeds for £11m in 2001 and then Manchester City for £6m in 2003.

Fowler returned for a second spell at Anfield in January 2006, although his starting appearances were limited.

Lim Yo-Hwan

Lim Yo-Hwan (Revised Romanization: Im Yo-Hwan; Surname: Lim), known by the pseudonym SlayerS_`BoxeR` (usually shortened to Boxer), is one of the most successful players of the real-time strategy game StarCraft to date. Dubbed Emperor by his legions of admirers, he is the most popular Starcraft player with a fan club of more than 600,000 members and a DVD compilation of his greatest games released in South Korea.

Success
Lim had an impressive record with 500 wins and 336 losses in his professional career. This success has brought him the highest salary of professional gaming, exceeding an annual income of $300,000 US Dollars per year, excluding the 90,000 dollars contributed in endorsements. In 2004 he was voted the greatest gamer of all time by readers of ESReality, one of the most popular western electronic sports websites, and in June 2006 he was included in an MTV list of "The 10 Most Influential Video Gamers Of All Time."[1]


History
Lim first came to fame by dominating professional Starcraft while choosing to use the Terran race at a time when this was seen as a relatively weak choice in comparison to the other two Starcraft races. In fact, Lim admits in an interview that he actually chose Protoss as his race when starting to play early on, but later chose the more defensive Terran race over the offensive Protoss or Zerg. This reign of dominance earned him the nickname the "Terran Emperor". During this early time in his career he innovated heavily, creating many new strategies which are still used today, most notably making much more effective use of the Terran Dropship unit than had been achieved in the past. He also gained a reputation for being able to turn around matches against the odds and having excellent micromanagement (unit control) skills. In contrast, his weakness is thought by some commentators to be poor macromanagement (economy/unit production) skills in comparison to other top-level professional Starcraft players, although his macromanagement has improved over the last few years.
Though he is no longer the dominant force he once was, he was ranked 11th in the April 2006 Korean e-Sports Players Association (KeSPA) rankings, and made it to the finals of the EVER Ongamenet Starleague of late 2004 (losing to iloveoov by three games to two) and the finals of the 2005 So1 OnGameNet Starleague (losing to Anytime by three games to two).
Lim has played professionally since version 1.07 of Starcraft, and has managed to stay competitive by constantly changing his style, and has had a great influence of the development of modern playing styles, especially for Terran players. He is the all-time leader in games played and won. He is a two time OSL champion, MSL champion, two time WCG champion, and former leader of the SK Telecom "T1" team. He is considered to have a strong eye for talent in that position, as he drew Choi Yeon-Sung (iloveOOv), among others, from the amateur ranks. His team has consistently been the strongest in the Proleague. He now leads the Korean Air Force Team.
Last August Lim announced at the MSL group draws that he had received his draft letter from the government, and would be entering the Air Force by the end of the year. He later said he would try his best to return after his 2 and a half years of service.
After Lim joined the Air Force, he started putting his fame to work. After a month and a half an Air Force progaming team was created. Lim found some retired pro-gamers who joined the Air Force before him, including H.O.T-Forever, CLon, ChRh, fOru, Rage, Qoo) Sunny and MuMyung. Together they formed the first military progaming team ever. After 2 months the team was announced, ACE (Airforce Challenge E-sports) was official. ACE is playing in the 2007 ShinHan Proleague.

Major achievements

• Most wins on televised matches and most televised matches (500 and 886)
• Two times World Cyber Games champion (2001, 2002 and the only StarCraft player to do this)
• First player to achieve 100 wins in Ongamenet Starleagues (OSL)
• First player to win more than one OSL (Hanbitsoft 2001, Coca Cola 2001), and only so far to have won two consecutive OSL's
• Longest time to hold first place in KeSPA (Korea e-Sports Association) rankings (17 months)
• The first progamer in the world to earn a record income of over $US 200,000
• Won the first KPGA Tour (now MBC starleague)
• Has finished 2nd in Ongamenet Starleague 4 times (2001 SKY, 2002 SKY, 2004 EVER, 2005 SO1)
• Finished 2nd in the first KT-KTF Premiere league
• KPGA MBC Starleague Champion February 2002 to March 2002

Raymond Lam

Raymond Lam Fung is a Hong Kong TVB actor and singer. He was born into a wealthy family. His father is a real estate investor in Xiamen and was dubbed as the "Lee Ka Shing of Xiamen".

Profile

• Real Name: Raymond Lam Wooi Man



• Celebrity Name: Raymond Lam Fung (林峯)



• Vietnamese Name: Lâm Phong



• Nicknames: Fung jai, chocolate



• Birthday : December 8, 1979



• Birthplace: Xiamen, China



• Height : 180 cm (5' 11)



• Weight: 155 lb



• Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius



• Hobbies: Singing, Dancing



• Talent: Singing, Swimming



• Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English



• Record Company: EEG- new contract

Favorites

• Food: Japanese,



• Colours: black, blue, white



• Animals: cats, dogs, horses



• Sports: Swimming, Cycling, Horse Riding, Basketball, Ice Skating



• Actors: Chow Yun Fat, Sean Connery



• Singer: Elvis Presley



• Countries: China (Xiamen), Japan, Italy



• TV Series: Twin of Brothers (大唐雙龍傳)

Russia pulls out of key arms pact

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suspended involvement in one of the key post-Cold War arms control treaties.

In a statement, the Kremlin said the choice was due to "extraordinary circumstances" affecting security.

Russia has been angered by US plans to base parts of a missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty limits the number of heavy weapons deployed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Urals mountains.

'Cornerstone'

A Nato spokesperson said that the alliance's secretary general would "very much regret the decision" if confirmed.

"The allies consider this treaty to be an important cornerstone of European security," he said.
In a separate interview, Nato spokesperson James Appathurai told the BBC the move was "a disappointing step in the wrong direction".

The CFE agreement, one of the key Cold War European security accords, was signed eight years after the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.

It sets limits for the number of tanks, heavy artillery and combat aircraft, as well as troops, deployed in the region.

The BBC's Europe editor, Mike Saunders, says that the US announcement of its plans for a missile defence shield within Europe was the last straw for Russia.

Mr Putin saw the plans as further unbalancing a treaty that already limits the conventional arms Russia can deploy on its own territory.

The Kremlin maintains that the 1990 treaty is outdated and restricts its ability to move troops around its own territory.

Russia ratified the 1999 revised version, but Nato has not done so.

Nato is first demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from two breakaway regions with Russia-speaking majorities - Abkhazia in Georgia and Trans-Dniester in Moldova.

(BBC News)

TeamLiquid Hamachi StarLeague

OverviewIf you haven't been following the Tourney section lately, you may have missed out on a homegrown forum event: The TeamLiquid Hamachi StarLeague. Check out the original topic here. You can find the birth of the idea as well as updated standings.To briefly explain, oshibori_probe and Seraphim organized a tournament for forumers to be played over hamachi. The structure was OSL style, with people in six groups of four, and two from each group advancing. Because of the great turnout, there is also a wildcard stage.Players and MapsThe official HSL maps are:

Map #1 [Longinus II]
Map #2 [Python]
Map #3 [Nemisis]
Map #4 [Ride of the Valkyries]

The players of the HSL are:

Victory After Victory: Protoss

KarMa (Seraphim)

fAke.V.oO

XCetron

Arcology

LRM)aSyOhI

rS]taCat

tokyoclassic

oshibori_probe

Overcome All: Zerg

yubee

zXk3

Sezon]i[

stack

QualityGamers.DawN

Superiorwolf

In)Spire

The Triumph of War:Terran

ArtOfPiano

besiger.cry

Zergish

Funkie

fonger_nz

nAi.CyrAx

lastshadow

CapO

Grazze.XcL

Standings

So far the group stages have finished, and the wildcard rounds are about to get underway. Here are the results from the first round:

1st Teamliquid Hamachi Starleague Group Stage Results

In)Spire and Piano advance from Group A

Oshibori_probe and Seraphim advance from Group B

Asyohl and Arcology advance from Group C

Dawn and stack advance from Group D

zkx3 and Cyrax advance from Group E

Grazze and Capo advance from Group F

Wildcards

v.oO (A)

taCat(B)

Besieger (C)

Zergish (E)

yubee (F)

XCetron (F)

Detailed results from each group:

Group A

Piano vs In)Spire 0-1

V.oO vs tokyoclassic

Piano vs v.oO

In)Spire vs tokyoclassic @ 2-0

Piano vs tokyoclassic

v.oO vs In)Spire 0-1

In)Spire and Piano advance!

v.oO goes to the Wildcards

Group B

Seraphim vs Superiorwolf

Tacat vs Oshibori 0-2

Seraphim vs Oshibori 1-2

Superiorwolf vs Tacat

Seraphim vs Tacat 2-1

Oshibori vs Superiorwolf

Oshibori and Seraphim advance!

Tacat goes to the Wildcards

Group C

Asyohl vs Arcology 2-0

Besiger vs Lastshadow

Asyohl vs Lastshadow 2-0

Arcology vs Besiger

Asyohl vs Besiger 2-0

Arcology vs Lastshadow

Asyohl and Arcology advance! Besieger goes to the Wildcards

Group D

stack vs FunkieDawn vs Sezon

Stack vs SezonDawn vs Funkie

Stack vs DawnFunkie vs Sezon

Dawn and stack advance! No person from this group goes to the wildcards. Instead, two people from group F to go the wildcards

Group E

zkx3 vs Zergish

Cyrax vs Fonger

zkx3 vs Fonger

Cyrax vs Zergish 2-0

zkx3 vs Cyrax 2-1

Zergish vs Fonger

zkx3 and Cyrax advance! Zergish goes to the Wildcards

Group F

yubee vs Grazze 0-2

Capo vs XCetron 2-0

Yubee vs XCetron

Capo vs Grazze 1-2

Yubee vs Capo 0-2

Grazze vs XCetron 2-0

Grazze and Capo advance! Yubee and XCetron go to the wildcards

Recap

In)Spire and Piano advance from Group A

Oshibori_probe and Seraphim advance from Group B

Asyohl and Arcology advance from Group C

Dawn and stack advance from Group D

zkx3 and Cyrax advance from Group E

Grazze and Capo advance from Group F

Wildcards

v.oO (A)

taCat(B)

Besieger (C)

Zergish (E)

yubee (F)

XCetron (F)

The next stage is the wildcard battle which will round out the playoffs. Stay tuned to see who wins the cup! You can follow the wildcard action in this thread. In addition there is a user-made site which has the information you need here. Hopefully replays will be up soon.A big thanks should go to oshibori_probe, Seraphim, GTR-2-Go, and many others for running all of this.

Argentina to meet Brazil in final

SEMI-FINAL: ARGENTINA 3-0 MEXICO

Argentina set up the dream Copa America final with Brazil after a comprehensive 3-0 win over Mexico in Puerto Ordaz.
Andres Guardado hit the post as Mexico started well, but Argentina went ahead with a volley from Manchester United's Gabriel Heinze right on half-time.
Lionel Messi doubled the lead with a remarkable goal, lifting the ball home from the right-hand side of the area.
Rafael Marquez brought down Carlos Tevez four minutes later and Juan Roman Riquelme cheekily scored the penalty.
Alfio Basile's side largely outclassed the Mexicans to book their place in Sunday's showpiece encounter at the Jose Pachencho Romero stadium in Maracaibo.
Mexico had started the game well and had the first real chance, Juan Carlos Cacho taking advantage of a defensive mistake only to fire over the crossbar.
Javier Zanetti mis-hit a shot and Tevez fired at keeper Oswaldo Sanchez for Argentina before Guardado rifled against the right-hand post.
Argentina broke the deadlock on half-time, as Riquelme drifted a free-kick into the area and Heinze volleyed home at the far post.
Omar Bravo and Alberto Medina came on for Mexico at the break and they went agonsiginsly close again, Nery Castillo seeing his shot cannon back off the crossbar.
Just as they could see a way back into the game, Barcelona genius Messi put it out of their reach with a moment of pure inspiration.
Collecting Tevez's pass on the right-hand side of the penalty box, Messi cut across the ball to produce an outrageous chip that floated over a stranded Sanchez.
After 65 minutes it was all over, Marquez obstructing Tevez in the area and Riquelme stepping up to audaciously flick home the resulting penalty.
Substitute Rodrigo Palacio fired over when well-placed and Messi saw another effort drift wide as Argentina could have added more towards the end of the game.
They will now bid for a record 15th title when they meet arch rivals Brazil on Sunday.
Mexico must settle for a third-place play-off against Uruguay instead.
Argentina coach Alfio Basile:"It's the last link in the chain and playing in a classic derby against Brazil is the greatest.
"As for Messi's goal, only a genius, a superstar could do this. It was an extraordinary feat that moved everybody."
Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez:"We tried our best, but we must say the opponents were superior.
"There's nothing left but to recognize just how good this Argentina team really is."
Next fixtures (Kick-off times BST):
Saturday 14 July - Third-place play-offUruguay v Mexico (2105)
Sunday 15 July - FinalBrazil v Argentina (2105)

McCain loses 2008 campaign aides

Two top aides on the 2008 White House campaign team of Republican Arizona Senator John McCain have quit.

Their departure, coming a week after a shake-up of his campaign following disappointing fundraising results, is likely to be a blow for Mr McCain.
He has been trailing in polls to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
In the Senate, Mr McCain defended the US troop build-up in Iraq, the stance analysts say has cost him most support.
Mr McCain said reinforcements were only just in place and should be given more time, echoing the message of President George W Bush and senior US military commanders.
"Make no mistake. Violence in Baghdad remains at unacceptably high levels," he said, speaking after his sixth visit to the country.
But, he contended, the efforts of the US and Iraq were "moving in the right direction".
Staff cuts
Mr McCain's Senate address coincided with the announcement that campaign manager Terry Nelson, a veteran of President George W Bush's 2004 campaign, and chief strategist John Weaver had quit. Longtime aide Rick Davis has taken over as manager.
Following last week's news of Mr McCain's $11.2m fundraising total for the second quarter of 2007, Mr Nelson had said he was working for free to save money.
The senator revealed that he had only $2m cash on hand and dozens of staff reportedly lost their jobs in the ensuing shake-up of his operation.
By comparison, Mr Romney announced a second-quarter fundraising total of $20.5m (£10.2m), of which $14m (£7m) was money raised for primary campaigning and $6.5m was a loan from his personal fortune.
Aides to Mr Giuliani said he had more than $18m cash in hand and no debt.
For the Democrats, Barack Obama reported raising $31m for the primary battle, putting him ahead of Hillary Clinton with $21m for the primary and another $6m for the general election.
Republican Ron Paul, an anti-war congressman from Texas considered an outside chance for the Republican nomination but with loyal online supporters, announced he had $2.4m on hand, having raised less but also spent far less than Mr McCain.

(BBC News)