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/

Afghan's Karzai extends poll lead

President Hamid Karzai has extended his lead over his main rival in the Afghan presidential election, according to partial official results.

The election commission announced he has just over 46% to Abdullah Abdullah's 31.4%.

The result is based on a third of the votes from the poll held nine days ago.

Mr Abdullah has again alleged "massive, state-crafted" fraud. He told the BBC ballot boxes had been stuffed with hundreds of thousands of votes.

"My conctes.

"My concern is about massive fraud, state-crafted, state-engineered fraud which has taken place throughout the country," he said.

"Today we were having meetings with representatives of five provinces. In eyewitness accounts of the elections, it's just dreadful. It's just alarming.

"My point is whether the outcome of the elections will be decided based on massive fraud or the vote of the people," said Mr Abdullah.

Run-off poll

The election commission has maintained that there were only a few complaints of voting irregularities.

A candidate needs 50% of votes cast to avoid a second round run-off. Election officials say final results will not be available until 3 September at the earliest.
The election commission said just over two million votes had now been counted.

Kabul lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost was placed in third position, ahead of former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.

In an unexpected move, UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, arrived in Afghanistan where he visited British troops fighting the Taliban in southern Helmand province.

He praised the soldiers' role in helping prevent the Taliban from disrupting the elections and promised to speed up the training of Afghan security forces.

Voters wooed on eve of Japan poll

Voters wooed on eve of Japan poll Candidates across Japan have made their last pitches to voters ahead of Sunday's election, which is expected to herald a rare change of power.

Most polls suggest the ruling LDP will lose to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), amid disaffection about the recession and high unemployment.

The Liberal Democratic Party has ruled for more than 50 years, with just one single break of less than one year.

DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said that this election could change history. "At last, it is the election tomorrow, one that we will be able to tell the next generation changed Japanese history," Mr Hatoyama told crowds in Sakai in the west of Japan.

The DPJ wants to shift the focus of government from supporting corporations to helping consumers and workers - challenging the status quo that has existed since the end of World War II.

'Experienced'

But Taro Aso, the prime minister and leader of the LDP, questioned if the opposition, with little experience of power, could really run the country.

"I beg you to give power to the LDP so we can complete the recovery," he told a rally in Tokyo.
In Oyama, north of Tokyo, he added: "Can you trust these people? It's a problem if you feel uneasy whether they can really run this country."

Many voters are likely to use the election to voice their frustration with the government's handling of the economy during the global recession.

Figures released on Friday showed that the jobless rate was at a record high of 5.7% last month. In July, 3,590,000 Japanese were out of work, over a million more than a year ago.

While its economy grew by 0.9% between April and June, the latest unemployment figures cast doubt on the strength of the recovery.

Eager for change?

Turnout is expected to be high, with roughly 10% of the country's eligible voters expected to cast early ballots.

Some voters simply want to ring the changes after almost a half century of LDP rule.

"The government now is just not effective. I am not sure if the Democratic Party is good or bad, for now I just want change," Kotaro Kobayashi, a 75-year-old in Tokyo, told the Reuters news agency.

In fact, one analyst argued, few voters are paying close attention to the rival parties' policies.

"The election is more about emotions than policies," said Takashi Mikuriya, a professor of political science at Tokyo University.

"Most voters are making the decision not about policies but about whether they are fed up with the ruling party."

Reports: North Korea releases South Korean fishing boat

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- A South Korean fishing boat and its four crew members were heading home Saturday after being held for a month in North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The Yeonan-ho and its crew were handed over to a South Korean patrol boat waiting at the sea border Saturday evening, Yonhap reported, citing South Korean maritime police.

North Korean officials captured the vessel and its crew July 30 after the boat strayed deep into North Korean territorial waters, North's Korean Central News Agency reported at the time.

South Korea's Defense and Unification Ministry said the 29-ton vessel had been returning from its fishing operations and mistakenly crossed seven miles into North Korean waters in the process, according to Yonhap.

South and North Korea have remained in conflict since the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953. The war ended in a truce but no formal peace treaty was ever signed.

Rapprochement talks between the two sides hit a wall after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008. He had a tougher stance toward the North than his liberal predecessor, Roh Moo-Hyun. Tensions between the two were heightened in July when North Korea launched seven short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan. The launches came after North Korea conducted a nuclear test on May 25 and threatened the United States and South Korean ships near its territorial waters.

Several steps in the past week have hinted at a thaw in relations, however. Last week, the two sides had the first high-level, cross-border contact in nearly two years.

On Friday, the countries reached an agreement on future reunions for families separated for decades by the Korean War. The agreement on reunions came after three days of talks between the two sides, mediated by the Red Cross, in North Korea, Yonhap reported.

Reunions will be held from September 26 to October 1 at Mt. Keumgang, Yonhap reported.

Pressure grows on Gordon Brown over Libya trade talks

The pressure on Gordon Brown over the UK's dealings with Libya has intensified after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son said there was an "obvious" link between their trade talks and efforts to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

The Tory leader, David Cameron, led a chorus of opposition complaints after Saif Gaddafi said it was "not a secret" that Libya's oil and trade talks with the UK were linked to its efforts to get Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, jailed in 2001 for planting the bomb that killed 270 people, returned to Libya.

The Tories, Liberal Democrats and senior SNP MPs said Brown now had to disclose all the details about ministerial meetings and dealings with the Libyan regime before Megrahi was released last week by the Scottish government.

Saif Gaddafi attempted to dampen down the row by insisting that the prisoner transfer agreement signed by Tony Blair in 2007 ultimately had no bearing on the decision by Scottish ministers to free Megrahi, who is close to death with prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds.

The prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) "was one animal and the other was the compassionate release," he told the Herald newspaper. "They are two completely different animals. The Scottish authorities rejected the PTA. It did not work at all, therefore it was meaningless. He was released for completely different reasons."

Gaddafi added, however, that although Megrahi was never mentioned by name when the trade deals and prisoner transfer deal were being negotiated, "it was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about. People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA."

Even so, Gaddafi said there was "zero link" between Megrahi and his meeting with the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, in Corfu. But Cameron suggested the clear association between the prisoner transfer agreement and trade deals raised questions about the ethics of ministers.

The Tories would table parliamentary questions pressing for answers when Westminster returns from the recess, Cameron said. "The real questions remain unanswered. To begin with, what dealings has his government had with that of Libya on this issue?"

"And most importantly of all, what is Gordon Brown's opinion of the decision to return Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds? I have made my view clear. I think it was wrong. I see no justice in affording mercy to someone who showed no mercy to his victims."

The BBC released a poll showing 60% of Scots opposed Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds and 74% believed it had damaged Scotland's reputation. The same BBC poll said 68% of Scots also thought it had harmed Brown's standing.

Scottish government officials in Edinburgh said neither the first minister, Alex Salmond, nor his industry ministers had had discussions about Libyan oil deals with any Scottish businesses, Libyan officials or ministers before Megrahi was freed.

The SNP sought to deflect criticism by supporting Cameron's demands for greater transparency by UK ministers. Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, said Salmond had been furious the UK government had signed the PTA without his agreement, knowing it had no power to influence Scottish ministers or judges. "The SNP spoke out against Tony Blair's deal in the desert when it was first struck, but the UK denied that Megrahi was the target and refused to exclude him from the agreement," Robertson said.

"The UK government's negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement and meetings between the UK government and Libya remain shrouded in secrecy. It is time for the UK to open up on Blair and Brown's dealings with Colonel Gaddafi."

Saif Gaddafi also tried to play down the controversy over last Thursday's celebrations at Tripoli airport, when Megrahi was greeted by him and a saltire-waving Libyan crowd. He insisted it was not an official celebration but a spontaneous display organised by Megrahi's large extended family and ordinary Libyans.

The Libyan government had planned to keep it low-key, but Megrahi's heavily televised release from Greenock prison and transfer to Glasgow airport had made his arrival home much more public.

"There was no official celebration, no guards of honour, no fireworks and no parade," he said. "We could have arranged a much better reception."

He denied speculation that Megrahi would be guest of honour at next week's 40th anniversary celebrations of his father's seizing power.

He added: "The decision by Scotland was not influenced by any of these things. I think the Scottish justice secretary is a great man. He made the right decision.

"So many of us think that, including so many of the relatives of the victims, because Mr Megrahi is innocent. One day, history will prove this."

Progress Report II

Sent "Long-A-Coming" poetry book off for typesetting.