Highlights – Italy 1-1 Paraguay

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino said his side have gained confidence from the 1-1 draw with reigning champions Italy.

The South Americans took the lead through Antolin Alcaraz’s first-half header only for Italy to hit back thanks to Daniele de Rossi’s equaliser.

But Martino said: “We were very organised and we defended well in the second half. It’s a good result for us against an opponent like this.

“It gives is a lot of confidence going ahead in this tournament.”

With New Zealand and Slovakia as their two remaining opponents in Group F, Paraguay – who had defeated Brazil and Argentina during the qualifying campaign – are now nicely positioned to qualify to the knock-out stages.

“We played this game equally against the current world champions,” said Argentina-born Martino. “To play against such a rival with such skills is a very good sign for us.”

Paraguay looked set to cause the first major upset of the World Cup in South Africa when a fantastic Alcaraz header gave them the lead.

But a goalkeeping error by Justo Villa gifted the equaliser to Marcello Lippi’s side.

“We weren’t terribly accurate when we moved the ball, especially due to Italy’s play,” added Martino.

“Only a few times were we able to move the ball because we knew they would be that kind of opponent. But we also made it hard for them. It was very close.”

Alcaraz heads home for Paraguay

// <![CDATA[//

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

// <![CDATA[//

// <![CDATA[// ]]> http://digitalfamily.blog.com/2010/06/15/worldcup-football-live/feed/ 0 http://digitalfamily.blog.com/2010/05/30/u-s-treasury-says-it-has-not-considered-any-other-aia-deal/ http://digitalfamily.blog.com/2010/05/30/u-s-treasury-says-it-has-not-considered-any-other-aia-deal/#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 00:34:03 +0000 dwnsense http://digitalfamily.blog.com/2010/05/30/u-s-treasury-says-it-has-not-considered-any-other-aia-deal/ (Reuters) – The future of Prudential’s (PRU.L) deal to buy AIG’s (AIG.N) Asian life insurance arm remained uncertain on Saturday, with the U.S. Treasury saying it has not considered any other deal than the existing contract on the table.American International Group Inc was bailed out with a $182.3 billion U.S. aid package and has been selling assets to pay back the debt.

It agreed a massive deal earlier this year to sell its Asian life insurance unit, AIA, to Prudential, but in recent days Prudential has entered talks to cut the $35.5 billion price tag in a last-ditch bid to salvage a deal criticized by its shareholders as too expensive, sources previously said.

The UK’s biggest insurer wants to cut the price to about $30 billion, a reduction of 15 percent, one source close to the deal, who asked not to be named, previously told Reuters.

AIG feels that $30 billion for AIA is too low and is not in a rush to do a deal, another source familiar with the matter said late on Friday.

AIG believes it has many options for AIA, as it views AIA as a “valuable property” and does not want to sacrifice value, the source said.

An AIG spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Options such as an IPO for AIA may not be so attractive in the current volatile equity market. The insurance giant could, however, try to find other partners for a deal.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which bailed out American International Group Inc in 2008, said in a statement released late on Friday that it has not looked at any alternative offer.

“Treasury has not considered any alternative other than the existing contract,” Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said. “We believe AIA is a valuable business for which there is significant interest.”

The clock is ticking for Prudential, which faces a shareholder vote on the deal in little over a week, meaning negotiations are likely to intensify in the coming days.

CEO FUTURES AT STAKE

The future of Prudential Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam hinges on the success of his bid for American International Assurance (AIA) launched by the former Ivory Coast government minister in March after less than a year in the top job.

“Discussions regarding the current status of the transaction have taken place between Prudential and AIG and are continuing,” Prudential said in a statement on Friday.

“These discussions may or may not lead to a change in the terms of the combination,” it said.

A collapse of the deal would also be bad news for Robert Benmosche, the head of AIG, which is operating with $132 billion in government support and under pressure to return the money to taxpayers.

The new price negotiations come amid fears the deal, to be funded in part by a record $21 billion rights issue, could fall short of the required 75 percent approval in a June 7 shareholder vote.

“The only way that the Pru is going to get a yes vote at the (meeting) is if they manage to get a price cut. In its current form, I am almost certain the vote will fail,” one Prudential shareholder told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

A $5 billion price cut “would certainly get more people on side. We would certainly revisit our view,” the investor said.

Olivetree Securities strategist James Chappell estimated that cutting the price to below $31 billion would give the deal a greater than 50 percent chance of going ahead, compared with about 20 percent now.

“Prudential will still need to rebuild relationships with investors and reassure that they can execute on the acquisition,” he said.

A large majority of 72 percent said Prudential was paying too much in a Reuters poll of 23 shareholders and analysts on Thursday, while half of the shareholders polled said they expected the company to lose the June 7 ballot.

“We have made the decision to move on to the next option,” he added.

That next option is called the lower marine riser package cap, one that captures oil from the well rather than plug it. Suttles said it could take four days or longer to show results.

U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry, flanking Suttles at a daily briefing, said the news of the top kill failure was disappointing and that the best option for ending the spill was drilling a relief well which BP estimates will take two months.

The top kill maneuver started on Wednesday and involved pumping heavy fluids and other material into the well shaft to stifle the flow, then seal it with cement.

The failure was a further blow to BP’s reputation and bottom line. The company has spent $940 million so far to try to plug the leak and clean up the sea and soiled marshlands vital to wildlife and fishing.

The news will also put further pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama, who is struggling to persuade Americans that his administration can handle the crisis. The plodding clean-up effort has sickened workers and left Gulf coast residents frustrated and angry.

The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and unleashing an underwater torrent of oil that the government estimated at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (504,000 to 798,000 gallons/1.9 million to 3 million liters) a day.

Obama faced criticism that he responded too slowly and assured people in Louisiana during a visit on Friday that they “will not be left behind” and that the “buck stops” with him.

There is not much Obama can do other than apply pressure to BP to get it right and put his best scientists in the room. The government has no deep-sea oil technology of its own.

This week, government estimates showed that the Gulf spill surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaskan waters.

About 110 passengers were injured when the Mumbai-bound Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express derailed. Railway authorities said the crash was an act of sabotage by Maoist rebels in West Bengal state.

“The blast was carefully timed,” India’s Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said on television. “The tracks were sabotaged 15 minutes before the train passed over them.”

India’s Home Ministry also said the wreck was caused by sabatoge.

“It appears to be a case of sabotage where a portion of the railway track was removed. Whether explosives were used is not yet clear,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram said.

Police said they have not found signs of explosives on the scene. Manoj Verma, the district police superintendent, said investigators were looking into the possibility of fishplates that secure rail joints missing from the track. An investigation was under way to determine the cause of derailment.

But the role of Maoists “cannot be ruled out”, Verma said.

The crash about 1.30 a.m. (4 p.m. ET) occurred when a passenger train bound for India’s financial capital, Mumbai, jumped the track, railway spokesman Anil Kumar Saxena said.

At least 13 cars of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express derailed on an adjacent line and were slammed by a cargo train, he said.

The match, which takes place on 22 May, will also pitch two heavyweight coaches against one another in the shape of Portugal’s Jose Mourinho and Holland’s Louis Van Gaal.

Mourinho, who won the European Cup with Porto in 2004, is hoping to cap a treble for the Nerazzurri after already wrapping up the Italian title and domestic cup prior to the game.

Bayern are also looking to seal the capture of three pieces of silverware for the campaign, after beating Schalke to the Bundesliga title and also having won their domestic cup. Check out our profiles of the two coaches by clicking the links in the photo gallery above.

Can Mourinho beat Van Gaal to become king of Europe?

The match will also see some of the greatest players in the world — Arjen Robben, Samuel Eto’o, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lucio among them — vie for the most lucrative title in club football before jetting off to South Africa to take part in the 2010 World Cup.
CNN will have all the build up to the big match with Pedro Pinto and Alex Thomas hosting a special half-hour preview program on CNN International at 1800 GMT.

Your can also have your say on which coach you think will emerge as the new king of Europe by adding your comment to the blog.

Reuters) – Greece appeared set to announce a deal with the European Union and the IMF for a multi-billion euro financial bailout on Sunday, a day after thousands protested in Athens against planned state cutbacks

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was to hold a televised cabinet meeting at 6:30 a.m. GMT (2:30 a.m. EDT) which was expected to confirm a deal had been reached, a government official said on Saturday.

The EU planned to give its go-ahead to the aid — which will come in return for tough austerity measures in Greece — at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers at 2 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. EDT) in Brussels.

Greece and its international backers hope the deal, which could reach up to 120 billion euros ($159.8 billion), will help stem a crisis that has hit the euro and shaken markets worldwide.

Greek, European and IMF officials remained tight-lipped late on Saturday and declined to say whether a deal on the terms of the package had been reached at talks in Athens.

The Greek government official had said earlier in the day that the debt-choked country expected the talks to be concluded some time on Saturday, adding that the Sunday morning cabinet meeting was meant to confirm the deal.

“The cabinet meeting will confirm the deal and after that the Finance Minister (George Papaconstantinou) will announce the deal in a press conference. He will then fly to participate in the Eurogroup,” the official told Reuters, referring to the Brussels meeting.

All other steps taken so far by Greece and the EU have failed to calm months of market jitters that have brought the country’s borrowing costs to record highs and also affected other peripheral euro zone countries.

MAY DAY PROTEST

Analysts say whatever ultimately happens in the Greek debt crisis, investors are having to come to grips with an unstable euro zone.

French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Saturday she expected a package of 100-120 billion euros ($133-$160 billion) to help Greece out of its debt crisis, and had “good hopes” a deal could be reached by the end of this weekend.

A bailout will come in return for draconian budget cuts in Greece, where thousands marched on May Day shouting slogans against austerity measures they say only hurt the poor and will drag the country further into recession.

“No to the IMF’s junta!,” protesters chanted, referring to the military dictatorship which ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. “Hands off our rights! IMF and EU Commission out!,” the protesters shouted as they marched to parliament.

More than half of Greeks say they will take to the streets if the government agrees to new austerity measures, according to an ALCO poll released on Friday by the newspaper Proto Thema.

European banks would contribute to Greece’s bailout, Germany said on Friday, and that could make it easier for EU governments to persuade taxpayers to rescue Greece from its debt crisis.

If euro states fail to engineer a Greek bailout that calms markets, they could end up footing a bill of half a trillion euros ($650 billion) to save several nations, economists say.

Markets have worried that countries such as Portugal and Spain, whose debt was downgraded by ratings agencies this week, could be threatened unless they tackle their deficits swiftly.

The IMF believed it would take 10 years for Greece to overcome its financial problems, according to a report to appear in Monday’s Der Spiegel magazine.