Ancelotti praises 'calm' Drogba

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti thinks Didier Drogba still has his best years ahead of him.

The Blues manager believes the Ivorian striker has matured since he took over at the club, and seems rejuvenated after signing a new three-year contract.

Drogba had an indifferent campaignad an indifferent campaign in the Premier League last term, after falling out with former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, but Ancelotti believes he will play a massive part in Chelsea's season.

"I think Didier has had a very good career up to now," the Italian told the Daily Mirror.

"He can do better because at 31, he's not an old player. He's a player who's at the right time to do his best.

"Physically he's very strong. He hasn't had big problems in his career with injuries. He can do - he will do, I'm sure - the best."
History

Chelsea take on Burnley on Saturday, and it was against the Clarets in the Carling Cup last season when Drogba threw a coin back into the crowd.

The Ivory Coast international is also still serving a European ban after his reaction to the Blues' defeat to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, but Ancelotti believes the striker has improved his temperament.

"I didn't know him before," he said. "It can happen that one player, in the match, can lose his mind, can lose his control.

"But now, I think he's very calm. It's the past. I've seen a very good professional whose focus is on the team, on the play, and I don't think we'll have other problems.

"He is a very good guy. He likes to joke. But he knows very well when he can joke and when we must do the serious things.

Ancelotti praises 'calm' Drogba

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti thinks Didier Drogba still has his best years ahead of him.

The Blues manager believes the Ivorian striker has matured since he took over at the club, and seems rejuvenated after signing a new three-year contract.

Drogba had an indifferent campaign in the Premier League last term, after falling out with former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, but Ancelotti believes he will play a massive part in Chelsea's season.

"I think Didier has had a very good career up to now," the Italian told the Daily Mirror.

"He can do better because at 31, he's not an old player. He's a player who's at the right time to do his best.

"Physically he's very strong. He hasn't had big problems in his career with injuries. He can do - he will do, I'm sure - the best."
History

Chelsea take on Burnley on Saturday, and it was against the Clarets in the Carling Cup last season when Drogba threw a coin back into the crowd.

The Ivory Coast international is also still serving a European ban after his reaction to the Blues' defeat to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, but Ancelotti believes the striker has improved his temperament.

"I didn't know him before," he said. "It can happen that one player, in the match, can lose his mind, can lose his control.

"But now, I think he's very calm. It's the past. I've seen a very good professional whose focus is on the team, on the play, and I don't think we'll have other problems.

"He is a very good guy. He likes to joke. But he knows very well when he can joke and when we must do the serious things.

Obama: No turf wars, red tape in Katrina recovery

ABC NES

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. — President Barack Obama marked the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Saturday by pledging to make sure that turf wars and red tape don't slow the pace of the continuing recovery.

He also said he would visit New Orleans by years' end.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president noted that the Buresident noted that the Bush administration's response to the killer storm raised questions among people in the U.S. about whether the government "could fulfill its responsibility to respond in a crisis."

He said he wanted to ensure "that the legacy of a terrible storm is a country that is safer and more prepared for the challenges that may come."

Since taking office, Obama has sent 11 members of the Cabinet to the region to inspect progress and to hear local ideas on how to speed up repairs.

"Our approach is simple: Government must keep its responsibility to the people, so that Americans have the opportunity to take responsibility for their future," Obama said in his address, released during his vacation on Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, killing more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and leaving behind more than $40 billion in property damage. Hurricane Rita followed almost a month later, with billions of dollars in additional damage and at least 11 more deaths.

Obama acknowledged that recovery has not come at an acceptable pace.

"I have also made it clear that we will not tolerate red tape that stands in the way of progress or the waste that can drive up the bill," said Obama. "Government must be a partner — not an opponent — in getting things done."

As a candidate, he promised during a speech at Tulane University in February 2008 to help the city hire police officers, repair schools, improve public transit, finish rebuilding the levee system and offer financial incentives to attract teachers, businesses and medical professionals.

Obama's disaster relief chief, Craig Fugate, has been cited by Gulf Coast officials and Obama administration officials alike for breaking through the gridlock that has delayed recovery.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., recently said he had a lot of respect for Fugate and his team. "There is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done," he said of the career emergency official.

In half a year, Obama's team says it has cleared at least 75 projects that were in dispute, including libraries, schools and university buildings.

Even so, many towns remain broken, littered with boarded-up houses and overgrown vacant lots. Hundreds of projects — including critical needs such as sewer lines, fire stations and a hospital — are entangled in the bureaucracy or federal-local disputes over who should pick up the tab.

"No more turf wars," Obama said. "All of us need to move forward together, because there is much more work to be done," he said.

No complaints from Carlo

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti declared himself more than content with his side after a comfortable defeat of Burnley.

A classy and dominant display from Ancelotti's men saw them cruise to a 3-0 victory once Nicolas Anelka broke a spirited Burnley resolve on trited Burnley resolve on the stroke of half-time.

Michael Ballack stooped to score a header after the interval before Ashley Cole's stunning drive capped an excellent all-round display.

Chelsea now have a 100 per cent return from four league games and look primed for a sustained title tilt; a situation that delights Ancelotti.


Chelsea chief happy with lot after easy win
"We played very well in the first half," said Ancelotti. "I am very happy not just for the result but for the players.

"We were lucky to score in the last minute of the first half. Then the game was more easy in the second half.

"I am very proud to train this team because they have a lot of quality. We are very happy."

Ancelotti singled out midfielder Michael Essien for special praise.

He added: "All of the players did a very good job. In my personal opinion the best player in this match was Essien.

"He did a very good defensive job and then going forward."

Florida governor names aide to replace senator

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday named one of his closest confidants to fill out the term of resigning Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., assuring that he will have an ally serving as a caretaker senator as Crist seeks election to the seat himself in 2010.

Crist, a Republican, named George LeMieux, 40, a lawyer and Crist's former chief of staff, to serve the final 17 months of Martinez's term, ending speculation about how the governor would deal with the politically tricky issue of appointing someone to a job he wants for himself.

Florida governor names aide to replace senator

"I'm happy for my friend and I'm extremely happy for my state," Crist said in announcing his choice.

Democrats immediately raked the governor for his choice. State Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman accused Crist of "political cronyism" in naming someone who has been at his side politically for so long. Thurman said LeMieux "has made millions over the past several years selling access to Crist to the highest bidders among Tallahassee's special interests."

LeMieux was Crist's campaign manager in 2006 and also served as deputy attorney general of Florida when Crist was attorney general. He is regarded as one of the shrewdest political strategists in the state and, like Crist, is a moderate conservative.

Martinez said Aug. 7 that he would resign from the Senate as soon as a replacement was selected. He had long ago announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010, but his announcement that he would not serve out his term was unexpected.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/29/MNJG19F82F.DTL#ixzz0PaS4KGIy

Chelsea cruise past Clarets

An assured and dominant display by Chelsea in West London proved too much for the Premier League's surprise package to date as Burnley left the capital with only a 3-0 defeat for their efforts.

In claiming a fourth successive league victory Chelsea showed ue victory Chelsea showed ue victory Chelsea showed fluidity and ease of movement throughout that suggests they are enjoying life under the gregarious Carlo Ancelotti. Goals either side of half-time from Nicolas Anelka and Michael Ballack were trumped by a stunning third from Ashley Cole.

Burnley's efforts to play an attractive brand of football of their own were commendable, if ultimately fruitless, as Owen Coyle's declaration not to park the proverbial bus at Stamford Bridge made for an entertaining and open first half.

Indeed had Martin Paterson shown a modicum of composure to match that of his team-mate, Tyrone Mears, in presenting him with a clear sight on goal after dispossessing Frank Lampard, Burnley would have taken a first-half lead totally against the run of play. Instead he dragged his shot meekly wide as Burnley's afternoon, like Paterson's nerve, was shot.

Prior to Paterson's miss it was a case of 'thou shall not pass the Beast' as Chelsea were repeatedly thwarted by the sprawling and not unsubstantial mass of Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

Lampard, Ballack and Anelka were all guilty of profligacy in front of goal as Jensen made sterling saves, to keep Chelsea at bay for all but the dying seconds of the first period.

Slack play at the back allowed Anelka the first sniff of goal but his heavy second touch when through on goal allowed Jensen to scramble off his line to frustrate the Frenchman. Burnley were far from daunted though, as Chris McCann's surging run from midfield concluded with a stabbed effort a yard or so over before Paterson's moment to forget.
Patience key

As Chelsea's pride was pricked by their visitors' impertinence, Terry's snapshot from a corner tested Jensen's agility further before the giant custodian had Ballack scratching his head in bewilderment as he denied the impressive German from close range.

Chelsea kept playing their football as Ancelotti urged patience from the sidelines and their superiority, possession wise, was finally recognised on the scoreboard when in injury time Anelka struck.

Michael Essien's through ball cut through Burnley's backline with the precision of a Saville Row tailor, while Drogba's whipped low ball across goal was bespoke for Anelka to slide home behind a despairing Clarke Carlisle.

If Chelsea teased their prey for much of the first half they went for the jugular at the start of the second. Just two minutes had elapsed when Ballack made sure of a profitable home return as he dived to head Lampard's delicate clipped cross past Jensen from around eight yards. Anelka, immaculate in his build-up play all afternoon, deserves mention for his bright delayed pass that made space for Lampard down the left.

While Chelsea's first two goals were examples of fine team play, their third was the product of Ashley Cole's making alone.

After feeding the ball into Lampard the buccaneering left-back made inroads into Burnley's box and after taking his team-mate's angled pass in his stride he let fly with a searing, angled finish of perfection that rasped past Jensen into the top corner.

Dominant

With Burnley deflated by Chelsea's all consuming dominance the home side began to take pot-shots at Jensen, who continued to excel. Essien was twice denied, the first with an accurate daisy-cutter from the edge of the box, before a full-blooded drive was tipped over the top.

Drogba left the field to a standing ovation with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, before a linesman's flag denied Anelka's second of a productive afternoon. Mears then saved Burnley's blushes further when his excellent goal line clearance prevented substitute Salomon Kalou from making it four.

Burnley will learn from their lesson in the capital but their footballing ideals should not be compromised by a comprehensive defeat. After all, there is no disgrace in losing to a side who on this showing would be worthy champions come May.

Chelsea Team Statistics Burnley
3 Goals 0
1 1st Half Goals 0
15 Shots on Target 0
10 Shots off Target 3
8 Blocked Shots 1
10 Corners 1
9 Fouls 5
3 Offsides 1
0 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 0
86.5 Passing Success 72.2
26 Tackles 32
80.8 Tackles Success 68.8
60.5 Possession 39.5
57.2 Territorial Advantage 42.8

New Garrido search: Prostitute serial killings

PDT ANTIOCH -- As Phillip Craig Garrido and his wife pleaded not guilty Friday to kidnapping an 11-year-old girl and imprisoning her as a sex slave for 18 years, police began picking through his house outside Antioch to determine whether there is evidence tying him to a string of prostitute killings in the 1990s.

Police are staying tight-lipped about the new search, butbout the new search, but they say Garrido worked in the area where some of the prostitutes' bodies were found.

Garrido, 58, and his 55-year-old wife, Nancy Garrido, were arraigned on a total of 29 charges of rape and kidnapping in connection with the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Lee Dugard. Sitting in the jury box with their hands chained to their waists, neither spoke a word during the four-minute hearing in El Dorado County Superior Court in Placerville, letting their court-appointed public defenders enter their pleas for them.

Phillip Garrido looked frail and thin and sat stoically. His wife kept her head hung low, face covered by her long hair, and sobbed.

Both could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted of all counts. Phillip Garrido is already a registered sex offender.

No bail
Superior Court Judge Doug Phimister ordered the couple held without bail.

They are accused of kidnapping Dugard outside her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, when she was 11, and taking her to their property outside Antioch. property outside Antioch. There, authorities say, she was kept in a secret, ramshackle compound in the backyard and forced to have sex with Phillip Garrido. She gave birth to two of Garrido's daughters, now 15 and 11, authorities say.

Dugard, now 29, and
Dugard, now 29, and her daughters are in a motel in the Antioch area. Her reunion with her parents has gone well, according to statements made by her stepfather, Carl Probyn.

The Garridos were arrested Wednesday when Dugard told a state parole officer that she was the child who had been kidnapped 18 years ago. The officer was interviewing the family after being told that Phillip Garrido had behaved strangely with his two young daughters on a visit to UC Berkeley.


Police return to homeWhile the Placerville court hearing was unfolding, police were conducting a new search of the Garridos' home on Walnut Avenue on unincorporated land just outside Antioch.

Officers had been poring over the home and its backyard collection of tents and shacks this week for evidence in the Dugard kidnapping case. But this time, they were hunting for clues in the killings a decade ago of about 10 prostitutes in the Pittsburg area, said Capt. Dan Terry of the Contra Costa County sheriff's office.

"Pittsburg police, for whatever reason, decided he was a person of interest," Terry said.

He said some of the women's bodies were found in 1998 and 1999 in an industrial area near where Garrido worked. Among those found strangled, stabbed and dumped in ditches in a two-month period were Valerie Schultz, 27, Rachael Cruise, 32, and Jessica Frederick, 24.

A month before those slayings started, in November 1998, the body of Lisa Norrell, 15 - younger and not a prostitute - was found in the same area.

Terry said Garrido has been interviewed by authorities about the killings but has said nothing to indicate he was involved.


UC officers' role
Also Friday, UC Berkeley police recounted how campus officers' suspicions were raised on Tuesday when Garrido brought his two young daughters to the university to discuss holding an event related to God, the FBI and other topics.

The officers said the children behaved robotically and were unusually subdued for girls their age, staring straight ahead with "penetrating blue eyes" and answering questions as if rehearsed.

The pale, blond girls were wearing drab sundresses, "like 'Little House on the Prairie' meets robots," Officer Ally Jacobs said.

"The younger daughter was staring directly at me, as if she was looking into my soul, with this eerie smile on her face," Jacobs said. "I just got a weird, uneasy feeling."

Jacobs checked Garrido's background, saw that he had been convicted of rape and kidnapping in the 1970s and was a registered sex offender, and contacted his parole officer. She told the parole officer that Garrido was accompanied by two daughters.

"He said, 'Garrido doesn't have any daughters,' " she recalled. "At that point, my stomach just sank."

from: http://www.sfgate.com/