Chelsea's Deco to quit Portugal after 2010 World Cup

　　

　　

　　Chelsea's Portuguese playmaker Deco is to retire from international football after this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

　　The 32-year-old told Radio Globo: "I will end my cycle after the World Cup.

　　"For my age and because it is tiring, I will say goodbye to the national team after the World Cup."

　　Deco won titles in Portugal and Spain with FC Porto and Barcelona respectively before moving to Chelsea in a deal worth £8 million in 2008.

　　The midfielder, who has enjoyed a successful career for both club and country, added that the prospect of winning the Premier League this season would be his "professional fulfilment.".

　　

　　He scored on his international debut as Portugal beat the country of his birth, Brazil, 2-1 in 2002 and has won 71 caps to date, playing a key part in helping Portugal reach the Euro 2004 final and the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

Owner Al-Faraj may challenge latest Portsmouth takeover

　　

　　

　　Defeat at Fulham on Wednesday left Portsmouth rooted to the foot of the table

　　Portsmouth have been taken over by their fourth different owner of the season but his ownership could be subject to a legal dispute.

　　Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai has taken 90% of the club's shares after the existing owners defaulted on loan payments due to him.

　　He says he is only looking after the club until yet more new owners come in.

　　But a lawyer for the club's previous owner, Ali Al Faraj, will challenge whether such a takeover can go through.

　　Chainrai and any directors he wants to appoint must now pass the Premier League's fit and proper persons test, but there is every likelihood his tenure will be brief.

　　

　　"He is understood not to be interested in a long-term ownership, just averting the current crisis," said BBC sports news correspondent Gordon Farquhar.

　　A Pompey spokesman stated: "Portpin (Chainrai's company) have exercised a clause in their contractual agreement to take a controlling interest. They are taking control on a temporary basis to allow new owners to be found.

　　"Portpin's aim is to come in and stabilise the club, sort out the business with the winding up order from HM Revenue and Customs and sell it on to new owners."

　　Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie previously admitted his position at the cash-strapped club was "probably" untenable after learning that transfer deals were being done behind his back.

　　However, Storrie will retain his position under the club's new ownership.

　　"New directors will be appointed to the board and Peter Storrie will remain as chief executive and will be running the club," said a Portsmouth spokesman.

　　Pompey have lurched from one crisis to the next in recent months, with the Premier League club facing a winding-up petition from HMRC at the High Court on 10 February for unpaid taxes.

　　They have also been late paying wages four times this season, while Storrie appeared before a crown court accused of tax evasion in January.

　　Now Chainrai, 51, has taken charge after his company took over Al Faraj's 90% shareholding in the south-coast club.

　　"Chainrai has invoked a clause in a loan contract he struck with the club's third owner this year, Ali Al Faraj, giving him the right to take over 90% of the shares should they default on repayments to him," added Farquhar.

　　"He recently loaned the club £15m to £20m to help get them through their current financial crisis, which still isn't resolved.

　　"Now the loans have not been repaid, he's the new owner of the club."

　　Had Chainrai simply stood back and allowed Portsmouth to founder and enter liquidation, he would have lost the money he had invested.

　　"That's the real risk for them, so they need to keep the club afloat by doing whatever they can," added Farquhar.

　　Chainrai's loans were secured against Al Faraj's 90% shareholding, Fratton Park stadium and future TV revenue.

　　The businessman told the Portsmouth News newspaper: "Portpin has made substantial loans to Portsmouth to try and ensure the club's future. Portpin will continue to work for the best interests of the club."

　　Meanwhile, Pompey manager Avram Grant said he will continue to try to save the Premier League strugglers but remains non-committal about his long-term future.

　　The club remain rooted to the bottom of the table after a 1-0 defeat by Fulham on Wednesday.

　　Key players Asmir Begovic and Younes Kaboul were sold against Grant's wishes in January.

　　But Grant stated: "As long as I am here, I will keep fighting."

　　As well as the delays in paying player wages, Portsmouth have debts of £60m.

　　But, for the moment, Grant is committed to trying to keep Portsmouth in the top flight, with a trip to Manchester United the next challenge on Saturday.

　　"I think that we need to do our best all the time and, as long as we have a chance, we have to fight," he added.

　　"It's very hard times off the pitch but I'm very proud of the players. I think if everything was a little bit more calm the results would be even better."

　　Pompey and England goalkeeper David James told BBC Radio 5 live of the "frustration" felt by the players.

　　"You try and tell the lads that you do get paid even if it's a week late, 10 days or whatever - we are getting paid one way or the other," said James.

　　"We're not sure if we've got anyone else to sell to get paid.

　　"The fact is we do get paid and there are other clubs with players who aren't getting paid and historically there have been other clubs that players haven't got paid, so it could be worse."

DUP backs power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein

　　

　　Peter Robinson said the decision had been "unanimous"

　　The DUP says it has agreed a deal with Sinn Fein over the devolution of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Northern Ireland.

　　Party leader Peter Robinson said just before 0000 GMT that the decision to back the deal had been "unanimous" among the party's 35 assembly members.

　　Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has welcomed the DUP's decision.

　　PM Gordon Brown is expected to go to Northern Ireland later, along with his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen.

　　"We have had a very constructive meeting of our assembly group and I had the opportunity to put to them proposals which we have been working on," said Mr Robinson.

　　

　　"Everyone present believes that this is consistent with our election manifesto and pledges we have made to the people.

　　"We look forward to going tomorrow to Hillsborough and the document should be published."

　　Mr Adams said the DUP's decision had followed "a lengthy stretch of negotiations".

　　Commending his own party's negotiating team, he added: "I believe that the Assembly and political institutions can now proceed on the basis of equality, fairness and partnership.

　　"They also have to deliver for all citizens, that is the collective responsibility of all the political parties."

　　On Thursday night Mr Robinson said there was a basis for a deal which he could recommend to his party and to the community.

　　DUP assembly members gathered at Stormont at about 2200 GMT.

　　"An essential element of the Democratic Unionist manifesto is the requirement for community confidence and we believe that this can be the basis of gaining that confidence," Mr Robinson said.

　　"It does more than dealing with devolving further powers. It deals with how we deal with the powers that we have."

　　The DUP decision has been welcomed by Alliance Party leader David Ford, who is widely tipped to be the new justice minister.

　　He said: "This is what the people of Northern Ireland have waited so long to hear and it means that the Executive can get back to the real work of providing quality services and strengthening our economy.

　　"We may face a few challenges in the coming months as regards the justice devolution process, but I am very hopeful that this will signal a new, more positive era for Northern Ireland."

　　Snowmen

　　However Traditional Unionist Voice, which opposes mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein, described the DUP as "snowmen who had melted".

　　Its leader Jim Allister said: "The DUP MLAs who buckled tonight not only let themselves down, but, more importantly, let their country down."

　　Referring to the fact that 14 DUP assembly members reportedly voted against a deal on the table on Monday, he added: "The deal the DUP so meekly accepted tonight is the same deal they rejected.

　　"The deal hasn't changed, only the snowmen of the DUP who melted once the heat came on."

　　Earlier on Thursday it emerged that policing and justice powers could be transferred to Northern Ireland in April if the DUP and Sinn Fein were able to reach a deal.

　　Talks between the British and Irish governments, Sinn Fein and the DUP have been going on for the last 10 days.

　　The relationship between Sinn Fein and the DUP - Northern Ireland's two biggest political parties - has been strained for some time because they disagreed about the timetable for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.

Brittany Murphy's death caused by pneumonia

　　

　　

　　Murphy collapsed at her Los Angeles home on 20 December

　　US actress Brittany Murphy died of pneumonia, a Los Angeles coroner has ruled.

　　Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey added that iron-deficiency anaemia and "multiple drug intoxication" were secondary factors in her death.

　　The drugs were all prescription medicines. More details are due in two weeks when a complete report is ready.

　　Murphy collapsed at her Los Angeles home and was pronounced dead in hospital on 20 December, aged 32.

　　The coroner ruled the death was accidental.

　　The actress had been taken to hospital after the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at her home.

　　Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack and mother, Sharon Murphy, said the actress had been experiencing flu-like symptoms in the days before she died.

　　Monjack told The Associated Press last month that his wife had several prescriptions, including one for an anti-seizure drug, but did not abuse her medication.

　　He added she had also been taking over-the-counter remedies for her ailments.

　　Murphy was best known for her roles in Clueless, Sin City and 8 Mile and also provided the voice of Luanne Platter in more than 200 episodes of the animated US sitcom King Of The Hill.

Iraq election campaigning delayed

　　

　　

　　Sunni groups have felt particularly targeted by the ban

　　Iraq's electoral commission has said it will delay the start of campaigning for next month's parliamentary elections.

　　The move follows a court decision to overturn a ban on candidates barred because of alleged affiliations with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party.

　　An appeals panel ruled the ban should be overturned, but the government wants it to remain in place.

　　The political campaign, due to start on Sunday, will now begin next Friday to allow time for the row to be resolved.

　　"The start of election campaigning has been postponed from 7 February to 12 February to give time to the federal court to look into our inquiry," Hamdiya al-Husseini, an official with the Independent High Electoral Commission said.

　　The delay will allow time for an emergency parliamentary debate, to be held on Sunday, on the court ruling, which the government has called "illegal and unconstitutional".

　　The election is regarded as a crucial test for Iraq's national reconciliation process ahead of a planned US military withdrawal.

　　On Wednesday, the appeals panel ruling overturned a ban on some 500 politicians from running for public office.

　　The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says that although the list of names straddles the sectarian divide, it is Sunni groups who have felt most targeted by the exclusions, and whose voices of protest have been heard loudest.

　　Post-polls investigations

　　Baathism is a form of secular Arab nationalism and was the ideology espoused by Saddam Hussein when he came to power.

　　Although a minority, Sunni Muslims were dominant under Saddam Hussein's rule but have since complained of being marginalised under the post-Saddam Shia-led government.

　　The ruling would allow the candidates to stand for election, and be subject to investigation only after the polls.

　　US officials had voiced concerns about the ban, fearing that it could inflame sectarian tensions and undermine confidence in the electoral process.

　　There are still more than a 100,000 American troops in Iraq and the Pentagon's exit strategy depends in large part on a peaceful and credible election, our correspondent says.