Football: Laudrup tells Swansea to take initiative in final

LONDON: Swansea City coach Michael Laudrup said his side should have no concerns about being branded favourites ahead of their meeting with fourth-tier Bradford City in Sunday's English League Cup final.

Swansea will be appearing in their first major cup final, but their achievement pales in comparison to that of Bradford, who have eliminated three Premier League sides en route to Wembley Stadium.

League Two Bradford are the first team from the English fourth division to reach the League Cup final since Rochdale in 1962 and Laudrup said Swansea must be prepared to shake off their own underdog mindset as a result.

"I would think if you go back, it's very rare to see a major final between a small team in the top flight and a team from the lower leagues," said the Dane.

"When teams from lower down get to the final, it is normally against Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool -- like when Birmingham played Arsenal (in 2011).

"This is different because although we are one of the lower teams, we have to accept we are favourites and we must take the initiative in the game.

"We have no problem with that and we accept the majority of people will want Bradford to win as they are the underdogs.

"We have seen what they have done to Wigan, Arsenal and especially to Aston Villa over two legs.

"It is fantastic. If you say what we have done is a fairytale, then the fact Bradford are there is a huge fairytale."

Laudrup also confirmed that Spanish centre-back Chico Flores will not be available to play at Wembley after he ruptured ankle ligaments in the 4-1 league win over Queens Park Rangers on February 9.

"Chico tried today (Thursday) to go out and train, but it was much too early, we all knew that," said Laudrup.

"It is an injury you would normally estimate to be out for four to eight weeks and this Saturday would be two weeks.

"It is such an important game, but today he realised it is much too soon and he has to accept the fact."

In Flores' absence, Kyle Bartley and club captain Garry Monk will vie for the right to partner Ashley Williams in central defence.

Laudrup also revealed that German second-choice goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel will continue between the posts, having been preferred to first-choice custodian Michel Vorm in Swansea's previous games in the competition.

- AFP/fa

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LG announces Optimus F5, F7 ahead of Mobile World Congress

LG announces the Optimus F series on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2013.

(Credit:
LG)

LG today announced a pair of Optimus F series smartphones on the eve of Mobile World Congress. The two will bridge the gap between the entry-level Optimus L and high-end Optimus G series of phones. Both will run the
Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and will feature 4G LTE connectivity.

The Optimus F5 features a 4.3-inch qHD (540x960) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB internal storage. Juiced by a 2150mAh battery, the smartphone includes a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and microSD expansion slot.

The bigger and more powerful Optimus F7 provides a 4.7-inch HD (720x1280) IPS display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and 2GB RAM. Other noteworthy specifications include an 8-megapixel rear camera, microSD expansion, and a 2,540mAh battery.

LG stopped short of announcing exact time frames or carrier support; however, Europe will see the Optimus F5 in the second quarter. The worldwide roll out and Optimus F7 availability will be made clear in the coming weeks.

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Rubio, Netanyahu poke fun at "water bottle" incident

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Sen. Marco Rubio, right, grin as they hoist bottles of water to poke fun at Rubio's "water bottle-gate" incident. / R-Fla.,Office of Sen. Marco Rubio

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio met today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres during the course of a trip to the Middle East that includes stops in Israel and Jordan.

At his meeting with Netanyahu, Rubio poked fun at his recent "water bottle-gate" incident, in which he took a sorely needed but inartful swig of water during his televised response to President Obama's State of the Union address. In a photo released by Rubio's Senate office, the two men are shown, grinning broadly, holding aloft bottles of water as bystanders in the room look on.

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Marco Rubio's "water bottle-gate" moment

Apart from the self-effacing humor, according to a release from Rubio's press office, the senator and the Israeli leaders discussed the "political landscape changes in the Middle East, Israel's relations with its neighbors, peace negotiations with the Palestinians, the Iranian nuclear threat, and further strengthening the U.S.-Israeli strategic relationship."

Rubio, who sits on the both the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, also made headlines on the trip by declaring that Jerusalem is "of course" the capital of Israel, according to the Associated Press.

The status of Jerusalem, which Palestinians also claim as the capital of a prospective Palestinian state, is one of many issues that have tripped up negotiators working to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The U.S. embassy in Israel is located in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.

The trip to Israel is Rubio's second: he previously visited the Jewish state in 2010 after his Senate victory. He departed for the region last Saturday and is expected to return on Friday.

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Armstrong Snubs Offer From Anti-Doping Officials

Lance Armstrong has turned down what may be his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban.

Armstrong has already admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to a career fueled by doping and deceit. But to get a break from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, all he had to do was tell his story to those who police sports doping. The deadline was today, and Armstrong now says he won't do it.

"For several reasons, Lance will not participate in USADA's efforts to selectively conduct American prosecutions that only demonize selected individuals while failing to address the 95 percent of the sport over which USADA has no jurisdiction," said Tim Herman, Armstrong's longtime lawyer. "Lance is willing to cooperate fully and has been very clear: He will be the first man through the door, and once inside will answer every question, at an international tribunal formed to comprehensively address pro cycling."

But the "international tribunal" Armstrong is anxious to cooperate with has one major problem: It doesn't exist.

The UCI, cycling's governing body, has talked about forming a "truth and reconciliation" commission, but the World Anti-Doping Agency has resisted, citing serious concerns about the UCI and its leadership.

READ MORE: Armstrong Admits to Doping

Livestrong, Elizabeth Kreutz/AP Photo

READ MORE: Lance Armstrong May Have Lied to Winfrey: Investigators

WATCH: Armstrong's Many Denials Caught on Tape

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials seemed stunned by Armstrong's decision simply to walk away.

"Over the last few weeks, he [Armstrong] has led us to believe that he wanted to come in and assist USADA, but was worried of potential criminal and civil liability if he did so," said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "Today, we learned from the media that Mr. Armstrong is choosing not to come in and be truthful and that he will not take the opportunity to work toward righting his wrongs in sport."

Armstrong's ongoing saga plays out amid a backdrop of serious legal problems.

Sources believe one reason Armstrong wants to testify to an international tribunal, rather than USADA, is because perjury charges don't apply if Armstrong lies to a foreign agency, they told ABC News.

While Armstrong has admitted doping, he has not given up any details, including the people and methods required to pull off one of the greatest scandals in all of sport.

Armstrong is facing several multimillion-dollar lawsuits right now, but his biggest problems may be on the horizon. As ABC News first reported, a high-level source said a criminal investigation is ongoing. And the Department of Justice also reportedly is considering joining a whistleblower lawsuit claiming the U.S. Postal Service was defrauded out of millions of dollars paid to sponsor Armstrong's cycling team.

READ MORE: 10 Scandalous Public Confessions

PHOTOS: Olympic Doping Scandals: Past and Present

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French general urges EU to equip "impoverished" Mali army

BAMAKO, Mali (Reuters) - The European Union should complement a mission to train Mali's army, routed by rebels last year, by providing equipment from uniforms to vehicles and communications technology, a French general said on Wednesday.

General Francois Lecointre, appointed to head the EU training mission to Mali (EUTM) that was formally launched this week, said in Bamako equipping the "very impoverished" and disorganized Malian army was as important as training it.

Europe, along with the United States, has backed the French-led military intervention in Mali which since January 11 has driven al Qaeda-allied Islamist insurgents out of the main northern towns into remote mountains near Algeria's border.

European governments have ruled out sending combat troops to join French and African soldiers pursuing the Islamist rebels.

But the EU is providing a 500-strong multinational training force that will give military instruction to Malian soldiers for an initial period of 15 months at an estimated cost of 12.3 million euros ($16.45 million).

While hailing what he called the EU's "courageous, novel, historic" decision to support Mali, Lecointre told a news conference the Malian army's lack of equipment was a problem.

"I know the Malian state is poor, but the Malian army is more than poor," the French general told a news conference, adding that it urgently needed everything from uniforms and weapons to vehicles and communications equipment.

Last year, when Tuareg separatist forces swelled by weapons and fighters from the Libyan conflict swept out of the northern deserts, a demoralized and poorly-led Malian army collapsed and fled before them, abandoning arms and vehicles.

Mali's military was further shaken by a March 22 coup by junior officers who toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure, sowing division among rival army factions. Islamist radicals allied to al Qaeda later hijacked the victorious Tuareg rebellion to occupy the northern half of the country.

In a fast-charging military campaign led by Paris, French and African troops have driven the jihadists out of principal northern towns like Gao and Timbuktu, and are fighting the rebels in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.

HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUCTION

Flanked by Mali's armed forces chief, General Ibrahima Dembele, Lecointre said he was disappointed that a meeting of international donors last month pledged funds for an African military force, known as AFISMA, being deployed in Mali, but included "very few" contributions for the Malian army itself.

"The European Union needs to invest today in the equipping of the Malian army and not just in its training," the general said, adding he would make this point strongly in a report to EU member state representatives early next month.

Asked how much re-equipping the army would cost, he said it would be "much more" than the 12 million euros of EU financing for the training mission, but could not give a precise estimate.

Starting early in April, the EU mission will start instructing Malian soldiers with a plan to train four new battalions of 600-700 members each, formed from existing enlisted men and new recruits.

Lecointre said the EU training would include instruction in human rights. Demands for this increased after allegations by Malian civilians and international human rights groups that Malian soldiers were executing Tuaregs and Arabs accused of collaborating with Islamist rebels.

The European training contingent is drawn from a range of European countries, but the main contributors would be France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain, EUTM officers said.

Mali's army has received foreign training before - several battalions that fled before the rebels last year were trained by the U.S. military and the leader of the March 22 coup, Captain Amadou Sanogo, attended training courses in the United States.

Dembele said U.S. training failed to forge cohesion among Malian units and he hoped the EU training would achieve this.

The United States, which halted direct support for the Malian military after last year's coup, could eventually resume aid if planned national elections in July fully restore democracy to the West African country.

Washington is providing airlift, refuelling and intelligence support to the French-led military intervention in Mali. ($1 = 0.7479 euros)

(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Jason Webb)

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US stocks dive after Fed minutes

NEW YORK: US stocks piled up losses Wednesday after Federal Reserve minutes showed divisions over asset purchases, with some officials suggesting to wind them down before the jobs market picks up.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 108.13 points (0.77 percent) at 13,927.54.

The S&P 500-stock index fell 18.99 points (1.24 percent) to 1,511.95 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite dropped 49.18 points (1.53 percent) to 3,164.41, dragged down by heavyweight Apple, off 2.4 percent.

After opening mostly lower amid mixed housing and wholesale inflation data, the indexes hit fresh session lows after the Fed released the minutes of the January 29-30 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

A "number" of participants said that an ongoing evaluation of the $85 billion per month asset purchases "might well lead the committee to taper or end its purchases before it judged that a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market had occurred," the minutes said.

Paul Edelstein of IHS Global Insight said in a research note that "if markets do not expect the Fed to stay the course, then expectations for economic growth and inflation will stay depressed and demand for safe assets (cash and government securities) will remain high."

Office Depot and OfficeMax meanwhile confirmed their merger after a premature announcement of the news.

The all-stock merger would create an $18 billion office supplies retailer. Office Depot shares slumped 16.7 percent and OfficeMax shed 7.0 percent.

Hotel chain Marriott fell 2.7 percent after posting quarterly results that missed expectations.

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers also suffered from disappointing earnings, losing 9.1 percent.

Dell, which reported a 32 percent profit fall in 2012 that was nevertheless slightly better than expected, rose 0.2 percent.

Yahoo! fell 1.7 percent after unveiling a new homepage.

Sony slid 1.2 percent ahead of its PlayStation 4 news conference

The bond market was mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 2.02 percent from 2.03 percent late Tuesday, while the 30-year edged up to 3.21 percent from 3.20 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

-AFP/ac

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Sony gets touchy-feely with new DualShock 4 controller for PS4

Sony's Mark Cerny demos the DualShock 4 controller.

(Credit:
CNET)

Turns out the leaks were right.

Alongside the unveiling of the PlayStation 4 today, Sony showed off the new controller that goes with it called the DualShock 4.

Key among the new features is a built-in touchpad that goes in the very center of the controller, adding an extra level of control and interaction with games and on-screen menus. There's also a built-in microphone jack, and a share button nestled next to the trigger buttons that lets gamers stream their gameplay live to friends in real-time.

Sony's lead system architect Mark Cerny demos the touchpad on the new PS4 controller.

(Credit:
CNET)

During its press conference, Sony promised that the new design improves the built-in rumble technology, as well as latency to cut down on lag between button presses and what's happening on screen. The new controller also makes use of a peripheral that plugs into the
PS4 and senses your depth and 3D position.

The design matches up with a series of leaks that hit ahead of Sony's unveiling, although some outlets believed the touch sensitive area was actually a secondary display.

It's typical for console-makers to debut a new controller alongside new system hardware. Sony, for its part, launched its first PlayStation 3 controller without rumble, adding it later on with the DualShock 3.

No word yet on price and availability for the DualShock 4.

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Police identify gunman in LA freeway shooting spree

Police investigate a shooting spree in Southern California

/

CBS Los Angeles

(CBS/AP) TUSTIN, Calif. - Southern California law enforcement authorities have identified the gunman in an unexplained shooting rampage as a 20-year-old unemployed part-time student named Ali Syed.

Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan says Syed lived at the Ladera Ranch residence where the first victim was slain.

Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says that victim is a young woman in her 20s who has not been identified and is not related to the shooter.

The rampage early Tuesday left three victims dead and several wounded. The shooter killed himself.

More on Crimesider
February 19, 2013 - Los Angeles Freeway Shooting Update: Police say four dead including gunman after shooting spree
February 19, 2013 - Los Angeles Freeway Shooting: At least 3 dead, others wounded in shooting spree, police say

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Report Fingers Chinese Military Unit in US Hacks

A Virginia-based cyber security firm has released a new report alleging a specific Chinese military unit is likely behind one of the largest cyber espionage and attack campaigns aimed at American infrastructure and corporations.

In the report, released today by Mandiant, China's Unit 61398 is blamed for stealing "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations" since 2006, including 115 targets in the U.S. Twenty different industrial sectors were targeted in the attacks, Mandiant said, from energy and aerospace to transportation and financial institutions.

Mandiant believes it has tracked Unit 61398 to a 12-story office building in Shanghai that could employ hundreds of workers.

"Once [Unit 61398] has established access [to a target network], they periodically revisit the victim's network over several months or years and steal broad categories of intellectual property, including technology blueprints, proprietary manufacturing processes, test results, business plans, pricing documents, partnership agreements, and emails and contact lists from victim organizations' leadership," the report says.

The New York Times, which first reported on the Mandiant paper Monday, said digital forensic evidence presented by Mandiant pointing to the 12-story Shangai building as the likely source of the attacks has been confirmed by American intelligence officials. Mandiant was the firm that The Times said helped them investigate and eventually repel cyber attacks on their own systems in China last month.

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied involvement in cyber intrusions and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said today that the claims in the Mandiant report were unsupported, according to a report by The Associated Press.

"To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional," he reportedly said.

Mandiant's report was released a week after President Obama said in his State of the Union address that America must "face the rapidly growing threat from cyber attack."

"We know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private e-mail. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy," he said.

Though Obama did not reference China or any country specifically, U.S. officials have previously accused the Asian nation of undertaking a widespread cyber espionage campaign.

Referring to alleged Chinese hacking in October 2011, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said in an open committee meeting that he did not believe "that there is a precedent in history for such a massive and sustained intelligence effort by a government agency to blatantly steal commercial data and intellectual property."

Rogers said that cyber intrusions into American and other Western corporations by hackers working on behalf of Beijing -- allegedly including attacks on corporate giants like Google and Lockheed Martin -- amounted to "brazen and widespread theft."

"The Chinese have proven very, very good at hacking their way into very large American companies that spend a lot of money trying to protect themselves," cyber security expert and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke said in an interview last week.

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Syria "Scud-type" missile said to kill 20 in Aleppo

AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian missile killed at least 20 people in a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Tuesday, opposition activists said, as the army turns to longer-range weapons after losing bases in the country's second-largest city.

The use of what opposition activists said was a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds against an Aleppo residential district came after rebels overran army bases over the past two months from which troops had fired artillery.

As the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, now a civil war, nears its two-year mark, rebels also landed three mortar bombs in the rarely-used presidential palace compound in the capital Damascus, opposition activists said on Tuesday.

The United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict between largely Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's supporters among his minority Alawite sect. An international diplomatic deadlock has prevented intervention, as the war worsens sectarian tensions throughout the Middle East.

A Russian official said on Tuesday that Moscow, which is a long-time ally of Damascus, would not immediately back U.N. investigators' calls for some Syrian leaders to face the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Moscow has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have increased pressure on Assad.

Casualties are not only being caused directly by fighting, but also by disruption to infrastructure and Syria's economy.

An estimated 2,500 people in a rebel-held area of northeastern Deir al-Zor province have been infected with typhoid, which causes diarrhea and can be fatal, due to drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates River, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"There is not enough fuel or electricity to run the pumps so people drink water from the Euphrates which is contaminated, probably with sewage," the WHO representative in Syria, Elisabeth Hoff, told Reuters by telephone.

The WHO had no confirmed reports of deaths so far.

BURIED UNDER RUBBLE

In northern Aleppo, opposition activists said 25 people were missing under rubble of three buildings hit by a several-meter-long missile. They said remains of the weapon showed it to be a Scud-type missile of the type government forces increasingly use in Aleppo and in Deir a-Zor.

NATO said in December Assad's forces fired Scud-type missiles. It did not specify where they landed but said their deployment was an act of desperation.

Bodies were being gradually dug up, Mohammad Nour, an activist, said by phone from Aleppo.

"Some, including children, have died in hospitals," he said.

Video footage showed dozens of people scouring for victims and inspecting damage. A body was pulled from under collapsed concrete. At a nearby hospital, a baby said to have been dug out from wreckage was shown dying in the hands of doctors.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Opposition activists also reported fighting near the town of Nabak on the Damascus-Homs highway, another route vital for supplying forces in the capital loyal to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria since the 1960s.

Rebels moved anti-aircraft guns into the eastern Damascus district of Jobar, adjacent to the city centre, as they seek to secure recent gains, an activist said.

"The rebels moved truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns to Jobar and are now firing at warplanes rocketing the district," said Damascus activist Moaz al-Shami.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference a U.N. war crimes report, which accuses military leaders and rebels of terrorizing civilians, was "not the path we should follow ... at this stage it would be untimely and unconstructive."

Syria is not party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council, where Moscow is a permanent member.

(Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Jason Webb)

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