Abhisit: PT's special zone vote bait

The Pheu Thai Party's proposal to make the three troubled southern border provinces a special administrative zone is purely intended to win votes, and is not a realistic solution to the problem, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday.

Mr Abhisit was commenting on an interview by Yingluck Shinawatra, the No 1 Pheu Thai list candidate, who said  her party would turn the three southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat into a special administration zone.
He said what Ms Yingluck said was not being realistic.
The Democrat Party's policy is to give more power to local administrations - municipalities, tambon and provincial administration organisations (TOA and POA).
"If a special administration is set up, like Pattaya City, the TOAs or POAs would be gone.
"I assume that the special administration (mentioned by Pheu Thai) would be based in Pattani.  If this is true, the people in Betong and Sungai Kolok would come under Pattani.
"I don't see how this would improve the people's quality of life," Mr Abhisit said.
The prime minister also disagreed to an idea to relocate heavy industries to the three southern border provinces, saying this would only cause more conflict to the area.

Snr officials probed over chicken scare

The livestock chief of Nakhon Ratchasima’s Pak Chong district and the district police chief are being investigated following weekend raids on illegal slaughterhouses in Pak Chong district.

Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Raphee Phongbupphaki said on Wednesday that a panel will  look into whether  the two officials are guilty of negligence of duty.
The inquiry, headed by deputy governor Pititham Thitimontri, is expected to complete its work in three days, said Mr Raphee.  
The Pak Chong district chief, the district chief and two senior police officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations will be asked to testify before  4 pm on Wednesday.
The Pak Chong district chief, the district chief and two senior police officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations will be asked to testify before  4 pm on Wednesday.
The governor ordered the transfer of  provincial livestock chief Suksawat Thongnoi to an inactive post after  the contaminated meat scandal broke.

The raids on 11 illegal butcheries in Pak Chong which allegedly illegally bought chicken carcasses from farms and sold them for human consumption after treating them with formalin, a disinfectant solution of formaldehyde and water.  The chicken meat was sold within and outside the district.
Pol Col Wachirawit Kritrittisak, deputy chief of Nakhon Ratchasima police, said police are bringing at least  10 charges against operators of four illegal slaughterhouses in Pak Chong district.
They were among the 11 illegal butcheries raided during the weekend.
The suspects allegedly confessed they supplied butchered chicken corpses to fish and crocodile farms.  They told police they had bought the dead chickens from local  farmers through middlemen.
 The investigation team is gathering evidence against operators of the seven other butcheries, said Pol Col  Wachirawit.
 Police have not yet determined where the chickens came from.  An initial investigation suggested they came from farms in several provinces, including those in the Central Plains.
Pol Col Wachirawit on Wednesday ordered all police stations to set up road checkpoints to search trucks and other vehicles suspected of transporting chicken carcasses.

Mine clearers wounded by land mine

Six members of navy humanitarian team involved in deactivating land mines were wounded by an explosion in Chanthaburi's Pong Nam Ron district, near Cambodia, on Wednesday.

The six were part of a 10-member  team scouring a former mine field in a tapioca plantation near Marum village in tambon Khlong Yai on the border with Cambodia.
One of them stepped on a mine.
Of the six, three were seriously wounded.  The wounded were admitted to Krungthep Chanthaburi Hospital.
The team was on a mine clearing operation after being informed by planters whose tractor working in the field ran over a mine on June 11.  The explosion damaged the tractor and slightly wounded the driver.

Don't write US off over major drought, Phil warns

For the first time since 1994, no American golfer holds a major title, but four-time major winner Phil Mickelson of the United States warns rivals not to write off US players just yet.

Phil Mickelson signs autographs for fans during a practice round prior to the start of the 111th US Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. For the first time since 1994, no American golfer holds a major title, but four-time major winner Mickelson of the United States warns rivals not to write off US players just yet.

"Although international golf has really taken off, American golf is still in very good shape," Mickelson said. "There are some American players that are ready to win majors. I think there are a lot of international players as well."
Should no American capture the crown at the 111th US Open that starts on Thursday at Congressional Country Club, it will mark the longest title drought by the nation which hosts three of the four elite championships in the sport.
The only prior time Americans had none of the four major crowns was 17 years ago when Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal took the Masters, South African Ernie Els won the US Open and Zimbabwe's Nick Price won the British Open and PGA Championship.
"It has been quite a while," Els said. "Everything happens in cycles, and I can see it happening again now."
Els points to the glory days of Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Ian Woosnam and the current world rankings, which have England's Luke Donald as World No. 1, England's Lee Westwood second, Germany's Martin Kaymer in third and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell as the defending US Open champion.
"Back in the early '90s, Europe was dominating like they are dominating now on the world rankings. You had Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Woosie, Seve, those kind of guys, and now you've got the same: Luke Donald and Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell and so forth. They have definitely got the upper hand at the moment and it will probably change again in the future."
Mickelson, whose third career Masters triumph last year was the most recent major win by an American, sees a host of young US talent pushing for a major breakthrough that could come this weekend.
"I'm actually very encouraged with where American golfers are, especially the young players," Mickelson said. "We've got some really good, young, talented players coming up through the ranks, and I think we're going to be very competitive in the team events.
"But it's obvious that world golf as a whole has become so much stronger and that international and European golf has become world class and top notch and some of the best players in the world and certainly on the rankings right now."
Mickelson notes that Donald and Westwood have yet to win a major either.
"Some of our higher ranked, 1 and 2 in the world, haven't won a major yet," Mickelson said. "They are certainly ready and able to and they are international players. There are a lot of guys throughout the world that have the golf game that could easily win here or at any other major."
One factor in the slide has been the collapse of Tiger Woods, a 14-time major champion who has not won any title in 20 months since the revelation of a secret sex life that led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren. He withdrew from the US Open last week due to nagging left leg injuries.
McDowell, who was the top US collegiate golfer in 2002, sees no problem with US talent, just a global spread in the talent pool.
"American golf is probably as healthy as I've ever seen it in my career," McDowell said. "There are a lot of quality young players coming through -- Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan. These guys are quality players who are winning tournaments.
"For a while there you had Tiger, you had Phil. You really didn't have a lot of stand-outs. They have a lot of talent spread across the age brackets now and they are sort of on the verge of being very strong again and winning major championships.
"So I don't think American golf is in bad shape."
Mickelson cited Fowler, Mahan, Jeff Overton, Anthony Kim and Jamie Lovemark and one of his playing partners for the first two days, Johnson, as Americans who could produce great results.
"We have a plethora of great players coming up and I think at the forefront is a guy like Dustin Johnson," Mickelson said. "This guy has got so much raw talent that I really enjoy playing with him because he's a fun guy and he's got all kinds of game."
Johnson does not worry about a power shift away from US talent when every rival, no matter his homeland, is a foe who must fall to win a major title.
"The American guys are playing really good," Johnson said. "A lot of things have to go right to win a major and obviously the guys that have won the last four majors have played really good golf. That's what you have to do to win a major."

McGinley to star in Indonesia Golf Open

Europe's Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley will be the star turn at the Indonesia Open next month in a strong field which also includes Japanese legend Shigeki Maruyama.

Europe's Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley (pictured) will be the star turn at the Indonesia Open next month in a strong field which also includes Japanese legend Shigeki Maruyama.

The Irishman is most famous for holing the winning putt for the European team in the 2002 Ryder Cup -- the start of a remarkable stretch for the golfer who was also part of the victorious teams of 2004 and 2006.
Last season he was one of the non-playing vice-captains and played an important role in marshalling Europe to another victory.
It will be a debut appearance on the OneAsia Tour for the 44-year-old, who has triumphed four times on The European Tour with his best season coming in 2005 when he finished third on the Order of Merit.
Maruyama, nicknamed the "Smiling' Assassin", has won three times on the US PGA Tour and has amassed 10 more titles globally.
The US$1 million tournament tees off at the Damai Indah Golf-Pantai Indah Kapuk Course from July 14 to 17 and is the seventh stop on OneAsia in 2011

USA reach Gold Cup quarter-finals

Jozy Altidore scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe on Tuesday as the United States seized the last quarter-final berth on offer in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Jozy Altidore (pictured, L) scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe as the United States seized the last quarter-final berth on offer in the CONCACAF Gold Cup at Livestrong Park in Kansas City.

The United States advance as the runners-up in Group C behind Panama, who sealed their group win with a 1-1 draw over Canada.
That result also insured that Group A's El Salvador would advance as one of the top two third-placed teams.
The Americans, whose shock loss to Panama had put them in a precarious position, gained some breathing room when Altidore buried a driving shot from 25 meters in the ninth minute.
The defeat was the third in a row for Guadeloupe, surprising semi-finalists four years ago.
Earlier at Sporting Park, Luis Tejada scored in a goalmouth scramble in the first minute of injury time to give Panama their 1-1 draw.
After Anibal Godoy's attempt was blocked, Canadian keeper Milan Borjan couldn't get the ball cleared from in front of the goal and Tejada was able to nudge it across the line.
Canada's Dwayne De Rosario had converted his second penalty in as many games in the 62nd minute to give Canada the lead.
The Canadians, knowing they needed a victory to guarantee a quarter-finals berth, pressed hard from the start.
They failed to convert several chances but got an opportunity from the spot when De Rosario was fouled in the penalty area by Eybir Bonaga.
DeRosario induced Panamanian keeper Luis Mejia to go the wrong way and powered a low shot into the left corner of the net.
The quarter-finals of the tournament, which is the regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean, will be held next weekend.
On Saturday at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, defending champions and Group A winners Mexico will take on Guatemala and Costa Rica face Honduras.
Mexico are trying to repeat despite a squad reduced to 17 after the national federation withdrew five players who tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol during a pre-tournament training camp in May.
Although the federation believes the players ingested clenbuterol inadvertently through contaminated meat, CONCACAF has not ruled on their request to replace them.
On Sunday at RFK Stadium in Washington Group B winners Jamaica play the United States and Panama take on El Salvador.
The semi-finals will be held on Wednesday, June 22 in Houston, with the final slated for Saturday, June 25 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The winners of the tournament book a berth in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

No Japan PGA action over Ishikawa driving row

The Japanese PGA will not punish teenage golf star Ryo Ishikawa after he was found to have driven a car without a valid licence, its chairman said Wednesday.

The Japanese PGA will not punish teenage golf star Ryo Ishikawa (pictured) after he was found to have driven a car without a valid licence, its chairman said Wednesday.

The board of the Professional Golfers' Association of Japan agreed at a meeting on Tuesday that it would not take any action at the moment against Ishikawa, Isao Matsui said.
"We found that people around Ishikawa, including his father, did not understand Japan's road traffic laws well. They voiced regret about it," Matsui told AFP.
"It was somewhat disappointing that Ishikawa himself, already a responsible adult at the age of 19, had failed to check it himself."
The young star acquired both a US and an international driving licence while staying in the United States to play in events between February and April.
Ishikawa needed to be abroad for at least three months to make his international licence valid at home but he was apparently unaware of the rule and was seen driving a silver Audi to a domestic tournament in late May.
If charged and convicted, the golfer could be jailed for up to a year or fined 300,000 yen ($3,750).
The PGA chief said he had no plan to call a meeting of the association's disciplinary committee to discuss the issue.
But he said the board might take it up again at its next monthly meeting after seeing what kind of action police may take against the golfer.
Ishikawa, who has a host of sponsorship deals banking on his squeaky-clean image, apologised for the mistake last Friday before leaving to play in this week's US Open in Bethesda, Maryland.
He blamed the mistake on "my own carelessness".
The Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO), which governs the men's tournaments at home, said last week that its disciplinary committee would also wait and see what action police took against Ishikawa.

Badminton star Hidayat outburst over media no-show

Badminton star Taufik Hidayat angrily lashed media Wednesday for giving him a "bad name" after he missed a press conference, while Chinese legend Lin Dan offered a grovelling apology.

Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia reaches for a return shot against Daren Liew of Malaysia in the round one men's single during Singapore Open badminton tournament on June 15. Hidayat angrily lashed media for giving him a "bad name" after he missed a news conference, while Chinese legend Lin Dan offered a grovelling apology.

Hidayat said Indonesian press had accused him of lacking professionalism for not meeting journalists before this week's Singapore Open, but he insisted he was never told about Monday's media commitment.
The outspoken 2004 Olympic gold medallist opened fire immediately after scraping through his first-round match 22-24, 21-12, 21-18 against Malaysian qualifier Daren Liew.
"I'm sorry about not coming for the press conference on Monday, but the media said I'm not professional. How come I'm not professional?" Hidayat asked.
"You tell me one hour before (about the press conference) so why do you write in the Indonesian media that I'm not professional? It gives me a bad name," he fumed.
"It's big. In Indonesia, badminton is big. My name is bad about it through the media. I never said 'no' to the press conference."
A tournament official said Hidayat and defending champion Sony Dwi Kuncoro were never told about the press commitment, which China's Lin skipped with a stomach upset.
"If the player did not receive the message it's not the fault of the player," said media director Rose Tan.
India's Saina Nehwal turned up so late the press conference room was closed, while five Chinese players who did come for interview looked bad-tempered and angered journalists with their short answers.
The incidents provided further negative headlines for badminton after its much-criticised attempt to force women players to wear skirts, in a bid to attract more fans.
Chinese mega-star Lin, the reigning Olympic champion and the only player to complete badminton's "Golden Grand Slam" of the eight biggest titles, gave an unreserved apology for failing to attend.
"I sincerely apologise for my absence and for letting the local media wait. It has been a long time since I played in Singapore and I am very excited to be here. I feel better today and I do apologise again for my absence," he said.
"In order to make badminton a more popular sport, we have to combine our efforts and do what we can to make it popular worldwide. It is not just about getting a gold medal."
Badminton officials said they accepted the explanation and would not fine Lin, who romped through his opening match 21-14, 21-15 against South Korea's Shon Wan-Ho.
Meanwhile Hidayat put the Singapore Indoor Stadium crowd through one of his traditional first-round scares, but came through a tight deciding set when the inexperienced Liew pushed a smash and a net parry long.
"My coach always says it's scary when I play the first round. It's always like that, so many mistakes like today," he said.
"In the third set when Daren was leading, I was just thinking tomorrow I go back to Indonesia if I lose. But point by point I tried to reconstruct. And then he made so many mistakes in the last points -- thanks Daren!"
In the women's draw, China's "Three Wangs" -- Shixian, Yihan and Xin, who top the seedings -- all enjoyed comfortable wins.
The Singapore Open is the fifth leg of badminton's 12-stop Super Series and also carries qualification points towards next year's London Olympics.

Chelsea say they will name coach within two weeks

Chelsea's chief executive said on Wednesday the English Premier League club would name a new coach within two weeks and was looking to buy at least two players ahead of the new season.

Blues captain John Terry (pictured) has backed former Chelsea striker Mark Hughes or Turkey coach Guus Hiddink to take charge at Stamford Bridge.

Ron Gourlay said the team were close to announcing a new manager following the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti after the club's poor performance last season.
"The process is moving along very well... We would look to have a new coach in place maybe within a week, two weeks," Gourlay told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
"We are certainly working to a week, two weeks. But it could be sooner," he said.
Blues captain John Terry has backed former Chelsea striker Mark Hughes or Turkey coach Guus Hiddink to take charge at Stamford Bridge.
But Gourlay, in Kuala Lumpur to launch a football training programme ahead of the Blues' visit next month, would not reveal who was in the running.
He said the squad, including a new manager and several more new players, would be unveiled when the Blues play their friendly against Malaysia's national side on July 21.
"I'm delighted to tell you that we will bring our full squad," Gourlay said, but remained equally tightlipped on the club's transfer targets.
"I think we are looking at probably two to three players minimum coming into this side," he said.
"It's just making sure we can get the right players available who can strengthen the team. Because we are a very, very strong team," he said. "We are in good shape. There is not too much meddling with the team to be done."
On speculation that the team could let go of Didier Drogba, Gourlay said as far as he knew the Ivorian would be staying.
"Didier is very much a mainstay of the Chelsea team so yes, Didier will be here with us in a few weeks' time," he said.
Chelsea have already signed on three players so far this year to strengthen the team to prepare for what is "undoubtedly going to be a very, very difficult season ahead", Gourlay said.
"Our target is very much to be back competing. Last year was a difficult year of course," he said.
"However that's history now. We will move on. We expect to be competing for all the major trophies next season."
"Let's not get too despondent. I'm sure a club like ours will bounce back very, very strongly this coming season," he added.
The Malaysia stop will mark the Blues' third visit to this Southeast Asian country since 2003. As part of its Asia Tour, the team will also play in Bangkok on July 24 and Hong Kong on July 27 and 30.
Liverpool and Arsenal will also play friendlies in Malaysia in July.

F.T. Island to conclude “Hello Hello” promotions to prepare for Japanese tour

F.T. Island will be wrapping up their third mini-album promotions to prepare for their Japanese tour.
On June 15th, a representative of FNC Music spoke through Star News and revealed, “F.T. Island will be concluding their Korean promotions through next week’s ’Inkigayo‘. Starting on the 29th, they’ll be going on a one-month-long summer tour in Japan. The boys will be leaving on the 28th, the day after vocalist Hongki completes his recording for ‘Immortal Song 2‘.”
He continued, “The members have been practicing for their Japanese tour on days that they didn’t have any music programs scheduled. Although it’s undecided for now, we are considering an Asian tour after they complete their Japanese tour.”
Starting on the 29th, F.T. Island will be holding their “2011 F.T. Island Natsu Tour Messenger” concert, which concludes on July 29th.
Source + Photos: Star News via Nate

Introducing the lovely ladies of Super Junior!

On June 12th, Super Junior’s Leeteuk had fans howling with laughter over two hilarious photos he shared through his Twitter.
The star wrote, “Introducing Teuk-yonce, Hyuk-yonce, Lady Hee-Hee, and Biman-ce”.
In the photos, Eunhyuk, Heechul, Shindong, and Leeteuk can been seen sporting Lady GaGa’s famous ‘hair-bow’, tight leather dresses, and bright red lipstick. While Heechul channeled Lady GaGa for his look, it looks like Eunhyuk, Shindong, and Leeteuk were inspired by Beyoncé.

Fans left comments like, “I can’t believe they dressed up as women, even in Paris”, “Leeteuk looks just like his older sister”, and “They’re the prettiest girls I’ve ever seen“.
We think our boys look just fabulous, don’t you agree?
Source + Photo: Newsen via Nate, Leeteuk’s Twitter

SECRET’s “Starlight Moonlight” tops the weekly charts

After ranking on the live music charts immediately after releasing their comeback track, “Starlight Moonlight“, the ladies of SECRET have gone on to conquer the weekly charts!
As of June 14th, “Starlight Moonlight” ranked first in not only the live and daily charts, but on the weekly charts as well. The sweet, refreshing song is proving to be a hit with everyone during this stifling summer heat. Since it was produced by Kang Ji Won and Kim Kibum, we didn’t expect anything less!
The girls have also revealed that they have something special in store for this week’s Mnet’s “M! Countdown“, so stay tuned to allkpop on June 16th!

KARA releases MV teaser for “Go Go Summer!”

Via tokyohive:
We’re only a few days away from hearing KARA’s new song, “Go Go Summer!“, and the girls have upped everyone’s anticipation with this adorable MV teaser!
KARA has prepared a music video that checks off the requisite points for a summery song: Beach shots, check. Cute choreography shots, check. Seeing KARA with sunny smiles on their faces?
Check, check, and check.
We can’t wait to see what the girls have in store for us, but until then, check out the teaser below!
Tip: Randy

Japan to hand out radiation meters to kids near crippled plant

From Junko Ogura, CNN

June 14, 2011 -- Updated 1111 GMT (1911 HKT)

Tokyo (CNN) -- Officials of Japan's hard-hit Fukushima city will begin handing out radiation measuring devices to 34,000 children in a plan to help calm fears about radiation.
Fukushima city is located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi Plant, which experienced full meltdowns at three reactors in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The measuring devices, called dosimeters, will be given to the children for three months starting in September, officials said.
"We received the voice from the parents and citizens concerned about radiation exposure of the children. We decided to distribute them for the safety and assurance," said Masazo Kikuchi, officer of the city's education board.

The devices wil be given to nursery schools, kindergartens, elementary schools and middle schools in the city

Two U.S. troops killed in Iraq

Iraqi policemen man a checkpoint after blasts in June killed five U.S. soldiers. Moday's attacks have reportedly killed a further two.

Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Two U.S. service members were killed Monday during operations in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
There were no further details about the incident, and their names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Violence has dropped dramatically in recent years in Iraq. Under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact, which set a timetable to withdraw American forces, U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by Jan. 1, 2012.
However, U.S. troops have increasingly been targeted by roadside bombings and mortar attacks, largely in Baghdad and southern Iraq -- a Shiite stronghold.

Five American soldiers were killed June 6, the single largest loss of life among U.S. troops since 2009, and the military says that attack is likely the work Shiite militia trying to take credit for driving forces out of the country.

50-plus years later, Cuba publishes Che Guevara diary

People line up at a Havana store on Tuesday to buy "Diary of a Combatant," the diary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Havana (CNN) -- More than 50 years after the fact, Cuba has published the diary that Ernesto "Che" Guevara kept during the armed struggle he waged alongside Fidel Castro from the Sierra Maestra mountains.
"Diary of a Combatant" recounts Guevara's experiences after coming ashore in Cuba on December 2, 1956, until shortly before the rebels declared victory on January 1, 1959.
According to Guevara's widow, Aleida March, the goal is "to show his work, his thoughts, his life, so that the Cuban people and the entire world get to know him and don't distort things anymore."
The book was edited by the Che Guevara Studies Center, which is directed by March, and published by Australia's Ocean Press/Ocean Sur.
Researchers said Guevara kept his diary in hand-written notebooks and that part of the reason they had put off publishing the diary was that some of the notebooks were missing.
"Where are the notebooks? We don't know and there are a lot of different versions," Maria del Carmen Ariet, a leading researcher from the Che Guevara Studies Center, said at a press conference to launch the book.
But she also said that much of the material was included in "Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War," a more polished account of his time in the Sierra Maestra mountains that Guevara published in 1963.
"We'd have to ask if he really wanted the 'Diary of a Combatant' published," she said.
Some of Guevara's other diaries have been commercially successful, most notably "The Motorcycle Diaries," the memoir of a 23-year-old medical student on a road trip in Latin America.
Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928 and met Castro in 1955 in Mexico City, where he was plotting his return to Cuba to overthrow Fulgencio Batista.
During the guerrilla fighting in the mountains, Guevara was the first subordinate to be promoted to the rank of "comandante" by Castro.

He went on to become Cuba¹s Central Bank chief before heading to Africa and then Bolivia to continue armed struggles. He was killed in 1967.

New Greek bank plan 'set to cost $29B'

(FT) -- A German-inspired plan to reschedule Greek debt could force eurozone governments to provide up to an extra €20bn ($29 billion) to avoid a meltdown of its financial sector, European finance ministers have been warned.
A briefing paper circulated by the European Commission, and seen by the Financial Times, warned the extra money may be needed to recapitalise Greek banks following a proposed maturity extension of Greek government bonds, which would be classified by rating agencies as a "selective default".
A further cash reserve may be required for emergency Greek bank liquidity if the European Central Bank refuses to accept downgraded bonds as collateral. Ministers have been told all the Greek collateral -- some €70bn -- might have to be replaced.
Opponents of Greek default, led by Europe's central bankers, warned of the German debt exchange plan's drawbacks.
"If despite everything you try to reduce the debt and you provoke a risk of default, you'll have to finance the entire Greek economy," said Christian Noyer, Bank of France governor.

Greece downgrade explained

Brothers torn apart by Greek crisis

Rate rise possible in Europe?

Trichet: Consider big picture on Greece

RELATED TOPICS

• Greece
• EU Economy

"All in all, the costs seem to outweigh the benefits," said Mario Draghi, incoming ECB president. The ministers, meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, are looking to involve private creditors in a new Greece rescue programme, to gain parliamentary support in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland without precipitating a disorderly default by Athens.
Ministers are considering three options for private sector involvement, which have been set out in a document circulated by the European Commission.
The most drastic is for a voluntary debt exchange, involving an extension of maturities on Greek government bonds to buy time for Athens to cope with its debt crisis. Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, suggested a seven-year extension.
European officials calculate a successful debt exchange with 100 per cent participation would "virtually eliminate the need for official financing" for the next five-and-a-half years, on top of the €57bn still to be paid from Greece's €110bn rescue programme agreed last year.
But the plan could also leave the eurozone responsible for propping up Greece's financial system.
The second and third options are for a voluntary "rollover" of bonds, less likely to trigger a bond downgrade, and therefore favoured by the ECB and France, in particular.

One would be a co-ordinated rolling-over of bonds at maturity, probably organised by Athens itself, and designed to enable the broadest possible participation. The third option, likely to contribute the lowest level of private creditor participation in any rescue plan, is for an informal rollover of bonds.

Nepal's PM detonates its last landmine

Nepalese PM Jhala Nath Khanal, second from left, observes an army deminer outside Kathmandu on Tuesday.

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- With the detonation of the last landmine, Nepal on Tuesday became free of minefields, the United Nations said.
Nepal's Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal on Tuesday detonated the last of the minefields at an army base protecting a telecommunications tower near Kathmandu valley to mark the clearance of minefields in Nepal, U.N. spokesman John Brittain told CNN.
The Nepal Army had laid 53 minefields during the 10-year insurgency around army barracks and physical infrastructure like telecommunication towers and hydropower plants.
According to the U.N., Nepal is the second country in Asia after China to be minefield free.
Soldiers of the Nepal Army began clearing the mines with assistance from United Nations Mine Action Team in 2007.
Four people, including three women, were killed and 19 others wounded, including 10 women, by these mines since 2006, according to United Nations Mine Action Team.
The then-Maoist rebels had fought a 10-year insurgency from 1996 to 2006, during which more than 13,000 people were killed, to end centuries-old monarchy.
The Maoist rebels signed a peace deal in 2006 and took part in elections in 2008 following which Nepal became a republic.

But Nepal's peace process is yet to be completed with the Maoists and the other political parties yet to agree on the future of the 19,602 Maoist combatants living in camps across the country.

Israel denies student held in Egypt is a spy

Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman (pictured) says he has no idea why Ilan Grapel, 27, should be detained.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Israel's foreign minister Tuesday denied that an American-Israeli law student being held as a spy in Egypt worked for Israeli intelligence.
Avigdor Lieberman has no idea why Ilan Grapel, 27, should be detained, he told Israel Radio.
Grapel was apprehended Sunday and ordered held for 15 days on suspicion of spying for Israel, said Adel Saeed, a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor.
Grapel was taken into custody in a five-star hotel in downtown Cairo, Saeed said Sunday. Grapel's mother said he had been staying at a $9-a-night youth hostel.
Israeli diplomats visited Grapel on Tuesday, according to Egypt's Israeli embassy, and found him to be in good health. Israel continues working for Grapel's release, the embassy said.
Grapel's mother denied Monday that her son was involved in espionage, saying: "Law students don't have time to be spies."
"There is no chance he's a spy," Irene Grapel said from her home in New York. Her son, a former paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship.
He worked briefly for St. Andrew's Refugee Services in Cairo, said its assistant director Fiona Cameron.
"Ilan Grapel worked for us for four days last week. We were unaware of his dual citizenship or of his military record," she told CNN Tuesday, saying he had been "thoroughly vetted before he came, though obviously not thoroughly enough."
The organization had "no reason to be suspicious of his activities" for the four days he'd been with them, she said.
She learned of Grapel's detention from his friends when she called them to ask why he hadn't shown up for work, she said.
Cameron said St. Andrew's had been "pro-actively in touch with the Egyptian authorities" about his case. St. Andrew's Refugee Services seeks to help "the isolated and vulnerable refugee communities in Egypt to come together for empowerment, education, community development and social services," according to its website.
Grapel is a rising third-year student at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, school officials said Monday in a statement. "We are in touch with his family and are working with them to provide support and assistance," it said.
He is involved in the Emory Public Interest Committee as well as Emory Law's Pro Bono program, working with Student Legal Services, it said.
He traveled May 10 to Cairo to volunteer at St. Andrews, his mother said.
Though Grapel was working without pay, he received a public-service grant from Emory, which has no link to the organization, his mother said.
Grapel's IDF work could have been what led Egyptian authorities to focus on him, his mother said. "He loves the Arab culture. He loves the Arab religion," she said.
Grapel speaks Arabic, which he studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and he spent his junior year at Ben Gurion University in Israel.
"He gravitates toward Arabic-speaking students on campus so he can speak with them, simply to use the language," Irene Grapel said.
She said she spoke Monday morning with her son, who told her he was being held at a security center in Cairo.
Saeed, the general prosecutor spokesman, said Grapel had participated in the Lebanon war of 2006 and was relieved of field combat duties after being injured. Investigators had been following his activities for months, Saeed said.
The Israeli government allegedly sent Grapel to Egypt after the January 25 revolution to take advantage of the security vacuum that then existed by recruiting others to provide the Israelis with military and political information, Saeed said.
The revolution forced former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power; he stepped down February 11.
The suspect, who was present at most of the protests, tried to incite sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians and encouraged demonstrators to engage in violence against the military, Saeed said. His goal was to foment chaos between the Egyptian people and the military, Saeed said.
The supreme state security prosecutor has questioned Grapel, and the general prosecutor will announce the results of the investigation when it is complete, Saeed said.
Egyptian newspapers carried the story on their front pages Monday alongside photos of Grapel republished from his Facebook account. "Egypt arrests Israeli Intelligence Officer, a big blow to the Israeli Mossad Intelligence Agency," one headline said.
Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979.
The United States has been granted consular access to Grapel and is following the investigation to determine the exact charges, the State Department said Monday.
"We've confirmed that he was in good health, Mr. Grapel's family is aware of his arrest, and refer you to the government of Egypt for details on the charges against him," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday.

The Egyptian authorities provided the United States with "almost immediate consular access" to Grapel, Toner said. "Our function, as they would in that case of any American citizen held overseas, is to provide them with consular services, work with local authorities to make sure he's being treated fairly under local law, provide information about the local legal system and facilitate communication with his family and friends."

Ash clouds from Chile volcano prompts more cancellations

(CNN) -- Ash clouds from a Chilean volcano continued to cause numerous flight cancellations in Australia and New Zealand Tuesday for at least one airliner.
Australia's national carrier Qantas said it had canceled flights to and from Adelaide and Tasmania but lifted its ban on flights to and from Melbourne. The airliner has also canceled flights to and from New Zealand Tuesday because of the ash cloud.
The company said it would resume flights to and from Adelaide on Wednesday and that all mainland Australian flights would run as scheduled on Wednesday, as well.
Virgin Australia announced on its website that flights to those same areas were expected to run on schedule Tuesday.
Is Chilean volcanic ash cloud hazardous?

Spread of ash from Chile volcano

Explainer: How ash affects aircraft engines

Air New Zealand had no announced cancellations on its website Tuesday.
The disturbance was caused after Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano erupted earlier this month.
In 1982, a British Airways 747 Jumbo suffered severe damage and had all four engines fail when it encountered ash from an Indonesian volcano.
The plane was able to restart some engines before making an emergency landing in Jakarta.
The U.S. Geological Survey says more than 80 commercial aircraft have unexpectedly encountered volcanic ash in flight and at airports in the past 15 years.

Ash ingested by jet engines may lead to the deterioration in performance and engine failure, the U.S. agency says.

Nicolas Cage settles lawsuit with his son's mother

Christine Fulton accused Nicolas Cage of breaking his promise to let her keep the Hollywood home where she raised their son, Weston Cage.

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Nicolas Cage and his ex-girlfriend agreed on a financial settlement to end a lawsuit that she filed against the actor over his promise to give her the home where she raised his son.
Christina Fulton's lawyer would not disclose the terms of the deal, but she called it "mutually satisfying" for both sides.
When a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, who was escorting Cage out of the courthouse Tuesday afternoon, said to him "Long day, huh?" the actor grunted and said "Yeah."
Cage, Fulton and their lawyers spent much of the day mediating the case in the chambers of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa Sanchez-Gordon.
At one point, Judge Sanchez-Gordon walked into the courthouse hallway to consult with Fulton and her lawyers, with reporters standing nearby. It was the only public clue that a large sum of cash was about to change hands, although the amount is secret.
Fulton, the mother of Cage's 20-year-old son, filed her $13 million lawsuit two years ago, accusing Cage of breaking his promise to let her keep the Hollywood home where she raised Weston Cage. Although she is still living in the home, she faces eviction since Cage allowed it to go into foreclosure, she said in a recent CNN interview.
It was not revealed whether the lawsuit settlement would allow her to keep the house.
A huge federal tax debt and the falling value of his investments caused Cage to lose several other homes in the past two years.
Their son was placed on a psychiatric hold in a Los Angeles hospital for several days last week after a violent incident on a Hollywood sidewalk.
Fulton said the resolution of her lawsuit clears the way for her to seek a conservatorship of her son. The mother claims he needs special psychiatric care that he has not gotten since he moved out of her home after he turned 18.
Weston Cage issued a statement through his father's lawyer last week saying he didn't want "anything to do with my mother."
"Any problems that I have ever had is because of the relationship that I had with my mother," his statement said.
That drew a quick retort from Fulton: "My son is under a spell. He's under a trance. Weston would say whatever his dad wants him to say." She suggested that Cage's lawyer solicited it from her son while he was under a psychiatric hold at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
On Tuesday, Fulton said she would not be deterred from seeking control over her son.
"The right parent is not the most popular," Fulton said.

Earlier, Fulton called the quote, she called it "an absolute disgrace," suggesting that Cage's lawyer solicited a statement from her son while he was under a psychiatric hold at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Government 'may have hacked IMF'

A spear-phishing attack is likely to have kick started the breach

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Hackers who broke into the International Monetary Fund's computer system may have been backed by a nation state, according to security experts.

They point to the sophisticated nature of the attack and the resources needed to develop it.
Malicious software, designed to steal confidential files, was installed on at least one IMF computer.
Although government involvement is widely suspected, the IMF has not released enough details to be sure.
Digital insider Based on the limited information made public, it appears that the attack came from a specific PC that had been deliberately infected.
Hacker software was likely to have been installed on it in what is known as a spear-phishing attack, which sees highly targeted scam e-mails sent to specific victims.
A memo circulated internally at the IMF reported that "suspicious file transfers" had been detected.
Tom Kellerman, a security expert who has worked for the IMF and now sits on the board of the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance told Reuters news agency that it was "a targeted attack" with code written specifically to give a nation state a "digital insider presence" on the IMF network.

Graham Titherington, a security analyst with research firm Ovum agreed with the nation state theory.

"Any attack that shows money, time and resources went on it points to a state attack. States and their intelligence agencies have far more resources than criminal gangs," he said.
The information held by the IMF would clearly be most valuable to a country, he added.
"It has masses of economic information from the performance of countries to the state of their balance sheets. For countries deciding where to invest it is invaluable," he said.
State-sponsored hacking has gained prominence in recent months.
"Google shifted the debate by going public on a hack attack believed to be by China," said Mr Titherington.
The Chinese government has denied involvement in the recent attack on Google's e-mail accounts.
The incident compromised the personal Gmail accounts of hundreds of top US officials, military personnel and journalists.
Google said that the campaign to obtain passwords originated in the Chinese city of Jinan and was aimed at monitoring e-mail.
According to Mark Darvill, director of security firm AEP Networks, many countries are involved in cyber espionage but China remained at the "forefront".
"China has recently set up a cyber terrorism unit which is very likely to be looking at opportunities rather than to stop attacks," he said.
Convenient excuse Not everyone is convinced that state-sponsored attacks or Advanced Persistent Threat (APTs) are the cause of the IMF hack.
Tal Be'ery, a web researcher at security firm Imperva said it could be a "convenient excuse".
"It is easier for organisations to hide under this excuse when really it is something lacking in their defences.
"We don't have enough credible information about the IMF attack. It needs to provide good evidence that it was a APT. It is just as likely to be a lone hacker acting out of curiosity," he said.
The most high profile state-sponsored attack to date remains the Stuxnet worm, which targeted Iran's nuclear facilities.
Experts believe the complex malicious code originated from either the Israeli or US governments.

Spanish police website hit by Anonymous hackers

A member of Spain's Technological Investigation Board displays an Anonymous mask

The website of Spain's national police force has been briefly knocked offline by hacker collective Anonymous.

The attack on the site was carried out in retaliation for the arrest of three Spanish men the police claimed were 'core' members of the group.
The hackers managed to keep www.policia.es offline for about an hour from 2130 GMT on 12 June.
Spanish authorities would not confirm that Anonymous was behind the attack, saying only that the site was offline.
However, a statement was posted on a website linked to Anonymous, claimed responsibility for the hack, which it called #OpPolicia.
The group said it had used a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) which bombards a target website with so much data that it becomes overwhelmed.
A spokesman for the Spanish police said the cause of the outage had not yet been established.
"A website can collapse if too many people try to access it at once. I cannot confirm the link with the Anonymous group," said the spokesman.
In its statement, Anonymous said the DDoS attack was a "direct response to the Friday arrests of three individuals alleged to be associated with acts of cyber civil disobedience attributed to Anonymous."
The group said DDoS attacks were a legitimate form of peaceful protest. Some of its members are thought to have carried out similar attacks on Turkish government websites to protest against net censorship.
Anonymous also denied that the men arrested were part of the "core" of Spanish members of the group.
"They did not arrest any core group, because we don't have a core group," said Anonymous in its statement.

Laser is produced by a living cell

The single-cell lasers were less than 20 millionths of a metre across

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A single living cell has been coaxed into producing laser light, researchers report in Nature Photonics.

The technique starts by engineering a cell that can produce a light-emitting protein that was first obtained from glowing jellyfish.
Flooding the resulting cells with weak blue light causes them to emit directed, green laser light.
The work may have applications in improved microscope imaging and light-based therapies.
Laser light differs from normal light in that it is of a narrow band of colours, with the light waves all oscillating together in synchrony.
Most modern forms use carefully engineered solid materials to produce lasers in everything from supermarket scanners to DVD players to industrial robots.
The new work, by Malte Gather and Seok Hyun Yun at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in the US, marks the first time the phenomenon has been seen in a living system.
The pair used green fluorescent protein (GFP) as the laser's "gain medium", where light amplification takes place.
GFP is a well-studied molecule, first isolated from jellyfish, that has revolutionised biology by acting as a custom-made "torch" that can light up living systems on command.
In the new work, cells derived from human kidney cells were genetically engineered to produce GFP.
Bathed in light The cells were then placed one at a time between two tiny mirrors, just 20 millionths of a metre across, which acted as the "laser cavity" in which light could bounce many times through the cell.
Upon bathing the cell with blue light, it could be seen to emit directed and intense green laser light.
The cells remained alive throughout and after the process. The authors note in an accompanying interview in the journal that the living system is a "self-healing" laser; if the light-emitting proteins are destroyed in the process, the cell will simply produce more.
"In cellular sensing, we may be able to detect intracellular processes with unprecedented sensitivity," they said.
"For light-based therapeutics, diagnosis and imaging, people think about how to deliver emission from an external laser source deep into tissue. Now we can approach this problem in another way: by amplifying light in the tissue (itself)."

Nokia and Apple settle patent dispute

Nokia claimed some technology in the iPad infringed its patents

Nokia and Apple have agreed a technology licensing agreement that ends the long-running legal dispute between the two firms.

"The agreement will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies," Nokia said.
Nokia sued Apple for patent infringements in 2009 and extended the action in December last year.
Apple had countersued, accusing Nokia of infringing its patents.
Nokia said Apple had agreed a one-off payment, the value of which was not disclosed, and ongoing royalties to use its technologies.
Apple said the deal covered both companies' patents.
Counter claims

"We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees," said Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop.

"This settlement demonstrates Nokia's industry-leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."
Apple said the two firms had agreed to "drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a licence covering some of each other's patents, but not the majority of the innovations that make the iPhone unique".
"We're glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses."
'Positive news' Nokia's various claims against Apple included alleged patent infringements of touch interfaces, caller ID, display illumination, and 3G and wi-fi technology.
Apple had also claimed that Nokia had infringed many of its patents.
Both sides had always denied each other's claims.
"This is the first positive news from Nokia for a long time. They can both focus on their businesses now, and the dispute was settled to Nokia's advantage," said Mikael Rautanen at research group Inderes in Helsinki.
At the end of last month, Nokia said it expected sales and profit margins for the current quarter to be well below its previous forecasts.
The company has been struggling to reposition itself in the rapidly-growing smartphone sector, where it is trying to make up ground lost to competitors such as Apple's iPhone and phones using Google's Android operating system.

Stirling defend cash trials and invite more hopefuls

Wearing Stirling's red shirt is the offer from manager Jocky Scott

Stirling Albion have defended their pay-for-a-trial scheme and invited along another 17 hopefuls.

Players' union representative Stuart Lovell suggested that it might be more of a money-making exercise for the club than a useful way of unearthing talent.
But, in a statement, the Binos stresses that, as a result, 12 players had been invited to pre-season training.
"We're excited at having uncovered players who could be part of our squad for next season," they said.
"A further 17 players have indicated that they now wish a trial.
"Manager Jocky Scott will invite them in to play in a closed-door match.
"We recognise that this is different to how its been done in the past, but football, in particular in the lower leagues, is facing harsh financial realities and we need to explore new ways of bringing income into our club to pay our running costs, the bulk of which are players' wages.
"We've even been complimented by other clubs for having the initiative to do something like this.

Continue reading the main story

We are a community football club which is working hard to put the club on a secure footing. We make no apology for trying new ideas

Stirling Albion statement

"Every player that paid to take part in the trial was there voluntarily, was aware of the format, including the £200 fee, right from the beginning and was also aware there was no guarantee of a contract at the end of the trial period."
Stirling stress that they had received more requests - from all over the UK and abroad - to take part in the 4 June trial than were eventually invited to the "So You Think You're Good Enough?" initiative.
Those taking part were a mix of players released from professional contracts, former professionals who had dropped out of the game in recent years, amateur players and others who had recently completed football scholarships in the United States.
Four players with past or current experience in Scotland's Homeless World Cup squad were also invited along free of charge.
Of more than 30 who took part, 12 were invited along to two weeks of pre-season training, which started on Tuesday as Stirling became the first senior club in Scotland to do so.
"If the management team decide that any of the players from the initial trial are good enough, we'll be delighted," said the club relegated to Division Two.
"If, after those two weeks of working closely with the trialists, the decision is not to offer any contracts then we'll be disappointed but pleased that it's another route we've explored to find new players for the club.
"We are a community football club which is working hard to put the club on a secure footing. We make no apology for trying new ideas."

Birmingham expect to sign midfielder Morgaro Gomis

Gomis rejected a new contract with Dundee United

Birmingham City remain confident of signing Morgaro Gomis despite the departure of Alex McLeish as manager.

The 25-year-old France born-Senegal midfielder has rejected a new contract with Dundee United.
And acting Blues chairman Peter Pannu said: "Gomis is still coming into Birmingham."
Gomis had become a mainstay of the United midfield after moving to the Scottish Premier League club from Cowdenbeath in 2007.
Having been at Montpollier in his youth, Gomis had brief stays at several English non-league clubs - Windsor & Eton, Dagenham & Redbridge, Barnet and Lewes - before heading for Central Park.
The clever and nimble central midfielder grabbed the opportunity given to him by then Blue Brazil manager Mixu Paatelainen and, within four months, won a move to Tannadice.
United manager Craig Levein had not initially signed Gomis as an immediate first-team prospect, but he quickly established himself in the future Scotland coach's midfield.
However, financial restrictions meant that present United boss Peter Houston was unable to meet the wage demands of the Senagal international and several other key members of his squad.
Scotland winger Craig Conway has been linked with Rangers as well as Championship outfits Leeds United, Leicester City, Watford.
Ghana midfielder Prince Buaben was a target for Swansea City before their promotion to England's Premier League via the play-offs.
Meanwhile, David Robertson moved to SPL rivals St Johnstone saying he needed a fresh challenge.
Houston has compensated for those midfield departures by signing Willo Flood, who was released by Middlesbrough, and John Rankin, who was out of contract with Hibernian.
McLeish had lined up Gomis for Birmingham before he resigned this week from the side relegated to the Championship and became favourite to become manager of Aston Villa.

Algerians deny offering national job to Domenech

Domenech's advisors claim that he has been contacted by Algeria

The Algeria Football Federation (FAF) has denied reports linking former France coach Raymond Domenech with the vacant post of national team coach.

On Monday, Domenech's advisors said he had been approached by the Algerians.
A statement on the federation's website has revealed that a shortlist of 43 coaches has been whittled down to five.
Local media suggests that former Ivory Coast coach Vahid Halilhodzic, ex-Brazil boss Carlos Dunga and Jurgen Klinsmann are all on the shortlist.
A decision is expected next Tuesday, says FAF's website.
FAF has yet to name the five coaches in contention and says it will consider any applications received before the 20 June deadline.
Talks with the five shortlisted men will begin in the next few days, for a post that became vacant on 5 June.
Algeria are looking to replace Abdelhak Benchikha, who stepped down after this month's 4-0 loss to Morocco in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
On Monday, Domenech's advisors, the Laminak Conseil agency, stated that the coach had been contacted by FAF.
"Domenech has indeed been approached over the possibility of his being taken on by the Algerian federation," the statement read.
"He has not bid for the job. However, Raymond Domenech confirms his affection for Algeria."
But FAF president Mohamed Raouraoua firmly denied reports of an approach to Domenech in an interview in Tuesday's edition of the Algerian daily Liberte.
Halilhodzic says he is a candidate for the post and will be meeting Raouraoua on Friday.
Algeria hope to have a new coach in place by the time they travel to face Tanzania for their next Nations Cup qualifier in September.
The loss to Morocco left the Desert Foxes bottom of Group D.

Norwich swoop for Brighton midfielder Elliott Bennett

Bennett started his career at home-town club Wolves

Norwich City have signed Brighton midfielder Elliott Bennett on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The Canaries had an approach for Bennett rejected in January, which led to the 22-year-old handing in a transfer request.
He played 53 times in all competitions for the League One champions last season, scoring eight goals.
"He is a young and exciting player with plenty of pace," Norwich boss Paul Lambert told the club website.
"He can play in a wide position or in behind the forwards, he's a quick lad and he's got a winning mentality.

Continue reading the main story

I didn't make it through at Wolves, which was my home-town club, and Brighton gave me the opportunity and I'm grateful for that

Elliott Bennett Norwich City signing

"He played his full part in what Brighton achieved last season and that desire to succeed will stand him in good stead here."
A Wolves youth product, Bennett made two appearances for his boyhood club and had to gain experience through loan spells at Crewe and Bury.
In 2009 the Seagulls moved to sign the youngster, initially on a three-year deal.
But after a string of impressive performances at the beginning of the 2010/11 campaign, boss Gus Poyet acted quickly to hand him a new three-and-a-half-year contract in November.
He went on to contribute 17 assists as Brighton won promotion to the Championship.
"It's an unbelievable opportunity for me to fight for a place in a team which will be playing in the Premier League," he said.
"I like the mentality at Norwich City that has seen them get back-to-back promotions and I'm grateful to Paul Lambert for giving me the chance to be part of what's happening at the club.
"I didn't make it through at Wolves, which was my home-town club, and Brighton gave me the opportunity and I'm grateful for that.
"Now I'm just really excited about the chance to try to help Norwich in the Premier League."

Mevlut Erding interests Newcastle boss Alan Pardew

Erding joined Paris Saint-Germain from Sochaux in 2009

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew is interested in signing Paris Saint-Germain striker Mevlut Erding.

The 24-year-old Turkey international scored 12 goals for the French side in the 2010/11 season.
Pardew told The Journal: "Erding has always been on our radar. He's a very good player and that is all I will say at the moment.
"We are working extremely hard to make the deal happen and I'm pretty happy with how things have gone so far."
The Magpies have turned their attention to Erding after missing out on two other targets.
Kevin Gameiro has joined PSG from Lorient, while Lille frontman Gervinho looks set for a move to Arsenal.
"We had a bit of a disappointment with Kevin Gameiro as he has decided to go elsewhere," said Pardew. "We made a fantastic offer to the club and to him, but these things happen.
"We tried very hard on that one, but we always knew there would be setbacks along the way and we have always had other people in mind, deals we have been trying to keep to ourselves for obvious reasons."
Newcastle are also thought to be interested in West Ham striker Demba Ba and have made a bid for Swansea left-back Neil Taylor.

Manchester City's Boateng 'agrees Bayern Munich move'

Boateng has been played out of position at right-back by City

Manchester City defender Jerome Boateng says he has agreed a four-year deal with Bayern Munich, pending approval from Eastlands.

The 22-year-old arrived from Hamburg in 2010 but after failing to win a regular starting place at City has repeatedly said he wants to leave.
"It's true that I have agreed a four-year deal with Bayern. Now it is up to Manchester to make it work," he said.
"At the moment they are making things a bit difficult."
After a successful 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Germany international signed a five-year contract with City that summer, but his first season was disrupted by injury and he was limited to 24 appearances.
Boateng was also played at right-back, rather than in his favoured central defensive position, something a move to Munich would end.
"It is about the position. Bayern want me as a central defender. That is also an advantage for the national team," Boateng told Kicker magazine.
His last game for City was on 2 March in the FA Cup fifth-round victory over Aston Villa.
"My dream is to have a starting spot within a year, hopefully at Bayern, and then I want to win the European Championship [with Germany]," Boateng added.

Man City 'favourites to sign Udinese's Alexis Sanchez'

Sanchez helped Udinese into the Champions League last season

Udinese owner Gianpaolo Pozzo claims Manchester City are in pole position to sign highly rated Chile international Alexis Sanchez this summer.

The winger, 22, is reportedly valued at £44m by the Italian club.
"Inter, Juve, Barca and Manchester City are all interested in him," Pozzo told Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I think there is a 50% chance that he will stay in Udine. However, if he was to leave, I would say City have the highest probability of success."
Sanchez, who is under contract with Udinese until June 2014, scored 12 goals last season as his side finished fourth in Serie A to qualify for the Champions League.
Earlier this month, Inter Milan looked to be favourites to acquire Sanchez before negotiations stalled between the clubs.
Pozzo said: "Concrete offers regarding the real value of the player have not arrived yet.
"We did speak to Inter but we have not spoken to them since to reach an agreement. Things are nevertheless done at the last minute."
City have yet to make a significant move in the transfer market since the season ended, while rivals Manchester United have signed Blackburn youngster Phil Jones and are close to deals for Aston Villa forward Ashley Young and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea.

Cristiano Ronaldo would relish long Real Madrid stay

Ronaldo joined Real Madrid for a world record £80m in July 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo would be happy to stay at Real Madrid for another 10 years.

He moved to the Bernabeu from Manchester United for £80m in 2009 and has now been linked to Manchester City.
However, the 26-year-old winger told the Cadena Cope radio station: "I can't see myself leaving Madrid.
"If [Madrid president] Florentino Perez told me to sign on for 10 years today, I would do it - although I don't know what will happen tomorrow."
The Portugal international scored 53 goals last season as Jose Mourinho's side won the Copa del Rey and finished second in La Liga.
Reports have suggested that City could be lining up a £150m bid for the former Sporting Lisbon man and are prepared to offer £21m a year in wages.
"If I was after just money I could have doubled what I have in my account," added Ronaldo. "I'm very happy here, it has been phenomenal."
But, despite distancing himself from a move to Eastlands, Ronaldo refused to rule out ever joining Real's biggest rivals Barcelona.
"Could I think differently tomorrow? Yes. No-one knows the future of a player," he said.
"Never play for Barcelona? Never is a strong word."

Libya remain hosts of 2013 Nations Cup - Caf

BBC Sport Caf is waiting and watching before making a decision on Libya 2013

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has said Libya is still scheduled to host the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.

But other options are also being considered because of the ongoing violence in the country.
Rebels fighting to overthrow Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi control much of the east of the country.
"Of course we are thinking about it as a matter of priority," Caf secretary-general Hicham El Amrani told the BBC.
"All the tournaments that Libya has agreed to host - not only the Africa Cup of Nations but also the CHAN [African Nations Championship] and the Futsal Championship next year are today still [to be] held in Libya.

Hicham El Amrani Caf secretary-general

"At the same time the Caf executive committee is thinking about plan bs or plan cs.
"We agreed an internal timeline [for the] latest moment at which we should decide on switching the tournament to another venue but as of today the Nations Cup of 2013 is still in Libya."
El Amrani did not want to make the timescale public but pointed out that Caf's executive committee is due to meet in September this year.
Caf has already had experience of moving a tournament from Libya, having been forced to switch the African U20 event to South Africa earlier this year.
"It was a challenge; when it became clear that it was impossible to organise it, we only had about five weeks to look for another host," El Amrani added.
"We were grateful to have South Africa ready to host - they did a terrific job."

19 killed in Venezuela prison riot

At least 19 inmates have been killed since Sunday in armed clashes among prisoners in Venezuela's El Rodeo prison, an official said Tuesday.

There was ``a regrettable situation that occurred Sunday in El Rodeo where 19 inmates lost their lives,'' Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told reporters.
About 20 wounded inmates have been transferred to hospitals, he said.
It would be the deadliest prison uprising in Venezuela since 1999 when 27 inmates were killed in a confrontation with security forces, according to rights organizations.
Gunfire and explosions could be heard into the night on Monday at the prison in the northern state of Miranda, but El Aissami did not say whether the situation had been brought under control.
Inmates' family members gathered outside the prison anxiously awaiting news of the fate of loved ones.
Humberto Prado, director of the non-governmental Venezuelan Prison Observatory, said that El Rodeo was overcrowded with more than 3,500 inmates in a facility built for 750.
That reflects a national trend, with 44,500 prisoners in a penitentiary system built for 15,000. More than 300 inmates die in prison violence each year.
President Hugo Chavez recently created a ministry to oversee the nation's prisons and allocated nearly 100 million dollars to ``humanize'' conditions in them.

'Partying' Gullit faces last Chechnya chance

The Russian managerial career of Dutch legend Ruud Gullit was on the line on Tuesday after he was accused by the strongman leader of Chechnya of caring more about parties than his Terek Grozny club.

Terek Grozny football coach Ruud Gullit, centre, speaks with football players before an exhibition match against Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning side in March. The Russian managerial career of Dutch legend Gullit is on the line after he was accused by the strongman leader of Chechnya of caring more about parties than the club.

Gullit and his unfancied side from war-ravaged Chechnya travelled on Tuesday to a crunch away match at fellow Russian Premier League strugglers Amkar Perm that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has said he must win or face the sack.
The 48-year-old international celebrity and two time world football player of the year stunned observers this year by accepting an invitation from Kadyrov to head Terek.
The honeymoon was short-lived after Terek started the season with three wins from 12 matches and tensions came to a boil this week when the club issued a furious statement accusing Gullit of leading a playboy's lifestyle.
"Gullit has to know he was not invited so that he could go hiding in nightclubs and discos, but to work in a football club," the football club said in an extraordinary statement posted on the Chechen government's website.
It also accused Gullit being disrespectful of Chechnya Muslim traditions and "crossing the boundaries of civil behaviour".
"Recently, the coach has been trying to find fault with anyone but himself," the republic's sports minister Haidar Alkhanov told NTV television.
The match starting at 1345 GMT sees 14th-place Terek -- third from bottom in Russia's top flight -- face the club directly above them and on same goal difference as the Chechen side.
The possibility of Gullit being axed by Kadyrov -- a hate figure among rights groups and a man of great power and allegedly immense wealth -- topped some national television broadcasts and provoked loud debate among fans.
"Ruud Gullit has to come back with the three points. Anything else and he will be relieved of his duties as coach," said Kadyrov in a statement late on Monday.
The Sovietsky Sport daily said that Gullit was reportedly "shocked" by Kadyrov's comments and had promised do his best to win Tuesday's match.
But other commentators said victory in the Ural Mountains city will hardly revive Gullit's Russian career or preserve a contract worth a reported two million dollars.

Sri Lanka Cricket seeks bailout after World Cup

Sri Lanka Cricket is seeking government grants and a soft loan to meet part of the $69 million it spent on co-hosting the 2011 World Cup, the island's sports minister said on Tuesday.

The Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Cricket is seeking government grants and a soft loan to meet part of the $69 million it spent on co-hosting the 2011 World Cup, the island's sports minister says.

The governing body has asked for a grant of two billion rupees ($18.35 million) and a 1.5-billion-rupee loan from the state-run Bank of Ceylon, minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.
"Sri Lanka Cricket ran out of funds after hosting the World Cup and sought government help to settle some payments," the minister told reporters in Colombo.
Sri Lanka, which lost the final to India by six wickets, hosted 12 matches during the World Cup, with others held in India and Bangladesh.
The island built brand new grounds in the southern town of Hambantota and the central town of Pallekele while nearly eight million dollars was spent to renovate the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
"In total, we spent about five billion rupees ($46 million) to build the three World Cup venues," Aluthgamage said.
The minister said the governing body was forced to pledge the newly-built stadiums, along with income from upcoming tours, as collateral to raise funds to pay for the lavish tournament that ended on April 2.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport's world governing body, has promised to pay about $25 million by way of hosting rights, the minister said.
Local media have been reporting that cash-strapped Cricket Sri Lanka has been unable to meet staff salaries, while suppliers, including hotels, were reluctant to host future teams due to a backlog in payments.
Sri Lanka are currently touring England and are lined up to face Australia, Pakistan and South Africa this year. The country is also due to host the World Twenty20 championships in 2012.
"It's not a crisis situation yet. We are confident the government will help us out," the minister said.
Since their World Cup final defeat, Sri Lanka's captain, vice-captain and selectors have quit while the head coach, Australian-born Trevor Bayliss, also ended his contract to take up his old job at New South Wales.
Sri Lanka won their sole World Cup in 1996 and emerged finalists in 2007.

Page has turned for golfer McDowell

Graeme McDowell believes it is time to get on with the rest of his career a year after he made his major breakthrough by winning the US Open.

Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland gives a press conference during a practice round prior to the start of the 111th US Open, at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. McDowell believes it is time to get on with the rest of his career a year after he made his major breakthrough by winning the US Open.

Up until last year's edition of the year's second major at Pebble Beach, the Northern Irishman had been better-known as a top amateur and US collegiate champion who had failed to fully fulfill his potential.
After his stunning come-from-behind win in California, though, he was propelled into golfing stardom and he responded with last-day Ryder Cup heroics for Europe, a playoff win over Tiger Woods and a spot in the top 10.
It was all stirring stuff and the personable McDowell lapped it up, but there was a price to pay and he duly paid it as his golf game suffered from the saturation he was experiencing both on and off the course.
"It was such a busy end to 2010 that 2011 seemed to just be there all of a sudden on my doorstep and I was in Hawaii and in the Middle East, and those four weeks that came right after the Middle East, there's no doubt I came back after those four weeks and I wasn't the same guy." he said.
"I wasn't swinging it the same way. I wasn't feeling the same way.
"Sometimes a run of momentum and adrenaline sort of has to hit a brick wall, as I guess I hit my brick wall. I've been trying to get over that wall ever since.
"At some point, those kind of runs, I guess, inevitably have to come to an end, especially if you're playing as much golf as I was."
Still, the 31-year-old who was brought up playing golf on the famed links of Portrush believes that the last few weeks have shown that he has gotten back that edge and focus to his game that has been missing.
There have been no more tournament wins but strong, if inconsistent, performances at the Players Championship, the British PGA and the Welsh Open have brought him into the US Open with a renewed feeling of optimism.
And the fact that he has now finally handed back the US Open trophy he has been displaying to all and sundry over the last year provides him with a fitting symbol that the page is turning.
"If anything, I feel like the glare is off me this week," he said. "I feel like I've done it.
"I've spent the last just under 12 months looking back at Pebble. I spent the last six months reflecting on 2010.
"And I mean, somehow having arrived here this week, I feel like I've done it now.
"I'm back yeah, my US Open trophy is back here with the USGA. I've handed it back and I'm ready to sort of get on with the rest of my career now."
McDowell says he is delighted with his draw for the first two rounds, which sees him set of in the company of British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and US Amateur champion Peter Uihlein.
"I couldn't ask for a better group than that. I'm excited," he said.
"I feel less pressure already this week. I'm hoping it continues to Thursday. I really feel like I'm in a good frame of mind this week."

Serena reverses momentum in comeback opening win

Serena Williams came back from a slow start Tuesday to reach the second round at the Eastbourne grasscourt event after not playing for nearly year, posting a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Tsvetana Pironkova.

Serena Williams of the US returns to Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in a women's singles match on the third day of the AEGON International tennis tournament in Eastbourne. Williams came back from a slow start Tuesday to reach the second round at the Eastbourne grasscourt event after not playing for nearly year, posting a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Pironkova.

The 13-time grand slam champion American, who last played in a winning Wimbledon final in July, returned to the court at the grass warm-up tournament after battling a foot injury and blood clots in her lungs.
Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the Italian fourth seed, took an opening win on a sunny day on the south coast over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 while Serb Ana Ivanovic, another former holder at Roland Garros, beat German Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3.
Despite her 0-5 start against her Bulgarian opponent, Williams won in just over two hours of battle with seven aces as she tries to whip a rusty game into shape. After one particularly long exchange, the former number one was warned for time-wasting as she tried to catch her breath.
Williams will get another test in the second round when she faces the winner from top seed Vera Zvonareva and British wild card Heather Watson.
The Williams win was the second success for the family this week after sister Venus advanced on Monday after not playing for almost five months due to an abdominal injury. Unseeded Ivanovic took a small step in the rehabilitation of her inconsistent recent game, with her victory over Goerges.
Ivanovic has been through several coaches and consultants in recent seasons as the number 18 fights to settle and finally start improving her ranking. Currently without a coach, she is sharing the time of adidas' Darren Cahill along with the rest of the marque's top players including coach-less Andy Murray.
"It's been good times and it's been not too good times in the past year," said the Serb. "I did play really well at the end of last season (to win a year-end event in Bali). Also some bits and pieces this year.
"But in the last few weeks I'm starting to gain more confidence again. I have things that I have to work on and work on while the attitude during matches. It's been a good last couple of weeks for me in that sense."
Brit Elena Baltacha did the home crowd proud as she beat slumping Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-1 to next face third seed Victoria Azarenka. Number 61 Baltacha's victory was her first on grass this season after a loss last week to start in Birmingham.
Holder Ekaterina Makarova took the first step in her title defence, beating Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
On the men's side of the dual event, South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson started with a victory over a Brit qualifier as he defeated Alexander Slabinsky 7-5, 6-3.
German veteran Rainer Schuettler, a Wimbledon semi-finalist three years ago, upset fifth seed Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-2 after qualifying into the field at Devonshire park.
American Donald Young beat Britain's Daniel Cox 6-1, 7-5 while Illya Marchenko of the Ukraine, stopped Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-1, 6-3.

Yingluck in the clear with SEC Tul says verdict intended to 'protect' Shinawatras

The Securities and Exchange Commission has cleared Pheu Thai Party's No.1 list candidate Yingluck Shinawatra of accusations that she broke securities law, insisting that its investigation into her had been concluded.

Flying high

Yingluck Shinawatra, Pheu Thai's No.1 party-list candidate, takes a helicopter ride from Phrao district to Chom Thong district in Chiang Mai during her trip to promote party candidates in the North.

The SEC investigation was prompted by calls from two groups accusing her of making false transaction reports among other infractions in relation to securities she had allegedly held on behalf of her brother, ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Kaewsun Atibhodhi, a member of the disbanded Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), and Tul Sitthisomwong, leader of the anti-red-shirt Network of Citizen Volunteers Protecting the Land, recently demanded that the SEC probe the alleged irregularities of Ms Yingluck's cases, which were related to an order by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to seize 46 billion baht from Thaksin.
They had accused Ms Yingluck of making false transaction reports to the SEC following the court's verdict that she and three other people had held shares in Shin Corp and Ample Rich Investments on behalf of Thaksin and his ex-wife Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, when he was prime minister.
In addition, they accused Ms Yingluck of making a false statement to the SEC that the Shinawatra family was not associated with two overseas investment funds and Win Mark Co, which together owned Shin Corp and SC Asset Plc. The SEC found, after she had made her statement, that Thaksin and Khunying Potjaman owned the funds and companies.
Regarding the shareholding in Shin Corp and Ample Rich, the SEC said the agency had lodged a complaint against Thaksin and Khunying Potjaman with the Department of Special Investigation on April 28, 2010, for making false transaction reports for the sale of Shin Corp shares in 2000, 2001 and 2006. However, the DSI and public prosecutors decided last year not to pursue the case.
The SEC noted that Ms Yingluck had not breached securities law by not filing reports on her shareholding transaction because she held less than 5 per cent of Shin Corp's total shares.
"The SEC has forwarded all evidence concerning the case to the DSI and the National Anti-Corruption Commission," it said in a statement.
Also, the SEC said that the charge that Ms Yingluck had made a false statement was beyond the scope of its authority to take action because it was not related to a listed company's financial status or share prices.
As for the alleged share concealment in SC Asset, the public prosecutors decided not to press any charges against any of the accused, and hence, the SEC would not pursue the case.
"But, if new evidence is found, the SEC is ready to reconsider the cases," it said.
Dr Tul yesterday said the SEC's statement was just another attempt by the agency to help conceal the Shinawatra family's alleged wrongdoings, he said.
"The SEC intentionally overlooked other acts which violated SEC law," he said.
The SEC's statement does not clear Ms Yingluck of the charges, he said.
Dr Tul said his network would lodge a complaint against Ms Yingluck with the DSI next Tuesday.
"We have evidence proving that Ms Yingluck breached SEC law," he said.
Dr Tul challenged the SEC to resign en masse if his network could prove Ms Yingluck committed the illegal acts.
Mr Kaewsun said the SEC's statement was not based on the letter of the law.
He said the SEC had not focused on his allegation that Ms Yingluck made false reports, but instead deflected the issue by saying that she was not required to report because she had owned less than 5% of the shares.