World Cup heartbreak for England

England's roller-coaster campaign to host the 2018 World Cup ended in bitter and controversial defeat in Zurich on Thursday.

FIFA's executive committee voted to give the tournament to Russia ahead of England, Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium.
England looked to have suffered from a backlash against corruption investigations into FIFA members by BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times over the last two months.
These investigations were criticised both by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and Spain/Portugal bid president Angel Villar Llona in his presentation to fellow FIFA members on Thursday.
Villar Llona: said: "I love FIFA dearly but those I love the most are my colleagues in the ExCo.
"Recently we have been criticised by many media outlets. Unfortunately for them FIFA is a clean institution.
"FIFA values honesty, FIFA works for football and for the world and all my colleagues here present are all honest, hard-working football people and the people not here are also honest and hard-working.
"You have already heard enough slander in the media, the bidding process is clean regardless of what they say."
Six FIFA officials were last month suspended following a Sunday Times investigations and on Monday BBC Panorama claimed three other FIFA members had taken bribes in the 1990s.
The defeat comes despite an impressive presentation by England that was described by FIFA president Sepp Blatter as "excellent and remarkable".
Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham all sparkled but were all outshone by 27-year-old Eddie Afekafe, who works on Manchester City's community programmes.
Afekafe explained how football had changed his life before introducing the prince to the 22 FIFA executive committee members.
William then said: "I love football, we English love football and it would be an honour for us to host the World Cup."
Beckham had made an emotional pitch, drawing on memories of his grandad Joe who died a year ago today, just before he took part in the South African World Cup draw in Cape Town.
Beckham said: "My life in football began with my grandad Joe. A year ago today my grandad died, the day before the draw. Now I want to do something that will make my grandad proud.
"Now I want to do more. Our dream is to stage a World Cup that benefits billions, that makes you, your grandchildren and everyone in football truly proud."
Earlier, Cameron had highlighted the Government's support and a commercial success for the tournament, and said England's bid would deliver for players, fans and FIFA.


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Vladimir Putin: World Cup decision was fair

The contest to host the 2018 World Cup was "fair", Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted.

The contest to host the 2018 World Cup was "fair", Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted tonight.
Putin, who did not go to Zurich until after Russia was declared the winner, said the country was "honoured" by FIFA's decision and dismissed suggestions England's bid was cheated.
He told a press conference: "Each bid is very special and significant.
"Each bid is a challenge and we are honoured to win in this tough and fair fight."
Mr Putin dismissed the suggestion that England had been "cheated" out of holding the World Cup.
He replied: "No, I don't think. You know, Great Britain is a great football country and in Russia we have a lot of fans of your football in general and your football players in particular.
"Great Britain lost. It lost, but we are waiting for you in 2018 and we will do our best for the football players, for the English football players, for them to realise themselves."
Describing the power of football to make a difference in the world "for the better", Putin pledged a successful World Cup in eight years' time.
He said: "You can take my word for it that the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be up to the highest standards.
"New modern stadiums and facilities will be built in time and to perfection.
"We are eager to do our best to secure the comfort and safety of our guests.
"Thank you for supporting Russia.
"Together let us make sure that football promotes fair play, tolerance, honour."
Asked why he did not join the bid team to take part in the presentation, Putin said it was a "complicated" decision which he had made himself.


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England's 2018 World Cup bid timeline

A look at the timeline of England's 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

2007: October 31 - The FA confirm England will bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals.
2008: October 12 - The FA confirm Manchester United chief executive David Gill and Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney will both be on Lord Triesman's England 2018 Limited executive board.
October - Current and former England internationals David Beckham and John Barnes are appointed vice-presidents of the bid.
November 11 - England head coach Fabio Capello is one of six new bid vice-presidents announced. The others are Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, former FA chairman Geoff Thompson, Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy and Lord Stern of Brentford, formerly chief economist of the World Bank.
November 20 - Andy Anson, the former commercial director of Manchester United, is appointed chief executive of England's bid.
2009: January 27 - England officially submit their bid.
February 2 - England are one of 11 nations - along with Spain/Portugal, Russia, Holland/Belgium, USA, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Qatar, Indonesia and South Korea - to express an interest in hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cup finals.
March 17 - Mohamed Bin Hammam, the president of the Asian football Confederation and a FIFA executive committee member, said England ``deserve'' to host the World Cup.
March 19 - Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards is appointed a deputy chairman of England's bid.
May 18 - Beckham, Wayne Rooney and then Prime Minister Gordon Brown officially launch England's bid at Wembley.
October 13 - Karren Brady, a former managing director of Birmingham, and former Celtic and Chelsea defender Paul Elliott are appointed as bid board members.
October 22 - The full 50-man squad of ambassadors for the bid is announced and includes then England captain John Terry.
October 22 - England chiefs insist they are acting ``within the spirit and letter'' of bidding rules after being criticised for making gifts of designer handbags to FIFA executive members.
November 4 - Jack Warner returns the designer handbag given to his wife by England bid leaders.
November 12 - England bid leaders announce a major re-structuring of its board following an emergency meeting. FIFA vice-president Geoff Thompson is included alongside Sir Dave Richards, Lord Mawhinney, Lord Coe, Elliott and Anson. Original board members such as David Gill, Sir Keith Mills and sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe are to join an advisory group headed by Brady.
November 24 - Premier League chairman Richards resigns from the England bid board.
2010: May 14 - Beckham presents England's 1,700-page bid book to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich.
May 16 - Allegations emerge that Lord Triesman accused the Spanish and Russian football federations of bribery. Triesman resigns from his positions as Football Association chairman and 2018 bid chief. He is replaced as bid chairman by Thompson.
May 17 - FIFA announce that their ethics committee will investigate Lord Triesman's comments but later decide not to pursue the matter.
October 19 - Russia's bid leader Alexei Sorokin speaks of London's ``high crime rate'' and youth alcohol problems in an interview.
October 26 - England bid chiefs confirm they have made a complaint to FIFA over Sorokin's comments.
October 28 - England bid is described as ``absolutely primitive'' and ``comical'' by Russian bid advisor Viacheslav Koloskov.
October 28 - England ready to withdraw complaint to FIFA against the head of Russia's World Cup bid after receiving an apology from Russian sports minister.
November 2 - A senior FIFA figure condemns an undercover investigation into World Cup bidding as ``unethical''.
November 4 - England leaders admit an undercover investigation into FIFA by a British newspaper has ``significantly damaged'' their bid to host the World Cup.
November 4 - England chiefs visit BBC director-general Mark Thompson to express fears that a Panorama investigation into FIFA could fatally harm their World Cup bid.
November 10 - The contents of a notorious note passed between two FIFA members indicates that Spain/Portugal and Qatar's World Cup bids will escape any action over allegations of collusion.
November 11 - Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron revealed as part of England's delegation for December's vote.
November 12 - Dein meets Blatter in Zurich in an effort to revive the struggling bid.
November 15 - England bid leaders send letter to all FIFA executive committee members to try to repair the damage caused by two media investigations.
November 17 - England and Spain/Portugal's 2018 World Cup bids are ranked equally as 'low risk' overall by FIFA's inspectors but rivals Russia are 'medium risk'.
November 17 - Anson accuses the BBC of being ``unpatriotic'' and ``sensationalist'' by choosing to broadcast a Panorama expose of FIFA three days before the vote.
November 18 - Cameron telephones FIFA's vice-president Warner to invite him to lunch in an effort to boost England's hopes.
November 22 - Warner hits out at Panorama's investigation by claiming it has been ``deliberately designed to negatively impact'' on England's chances of hosting the tournament.
November 23 - The head of Spain/Portugal's World Cup 2018 bid claim they already have as many as eight of the 22 FIFA votes in the bag.
November 24 - England's bid hopes dealt a blow after it was reported that South America's three FIFA members will all vote for Spain/Portugal.
November 25 - The Qatari president of the Asian Football Confederation confirms for the first time that he will support Spain/Portugal's bid.
November 26 - Cameron speaks of his frustration that Panorama will screen their programme just three days before the World Cup vote.
November 28 - Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam denies reports stating that he has agreed to back the Spain/Portugal bid.
November 29 - Panorama accuse three FIFA executive committee members of taking bribes.
November 30 - UEFA president Michel Platini insists the BBC Panorama programme should not affect England's bid.
November 30 - Warner brushes aside the Panorama programme insisting he has no interest in the claims made.
November 30 - Panorama's claims of corruption against FIFA vice-president Issa Hayatou to be investigated by the International Olympic Committee. Hayatou threatens legal action against Panorama. Hayatou also says he will not take out his anger on England's bid.
December 1 - England's bid receives a huge boost after Vladimir Putin, prime minister of Russia, confirms he will not be travelling to Zurich for the vote.
December 2 - Prince William leads England's 2018 World Cup presentation to FIFA by telling members: ``I love football, we English love football and it would be an honour for us to host the World Cup.''
December 2 - England lose the bid to Russia and Qatar gets the 2022 hosting rights.


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Russia and Qatar land World Cups

Russia and Qatar have won the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively as announced by FIFA on Thursday in Zurich.

The result means England's roller-coaster campaign to host the 2018 World Cup ended in bitter and controversial defeat.

FIFA's executive committee voted to give the 2018 tournament to Russia ahead of England, Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium.

England looked to have suffered from a backlash against corruption investigations into FIFA members by BBC Panorama and the Sunday Times over the last two months.

These investigations were criticised both by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin yesterday and Spain/Portugal bid president Angel Villar Llona in his presentation to fellow FIFA members on Thursday.

Villar Llona: said: "I love FIFA dearly but those I love the most are my colleagues in the ExCo.

"Recently we have been criticised by many media outlets. Unfortunately for them FIFA is a clean institution.

"FIFA values honesty, FIFA works for football and for the world and all my colleagues here present are all honest, hard-working football people and the people not here are also honest and hard-working.

"You have already heard enough slander in the media, the bidding process is clean regardless of what they say."

Six FIFA officials were last month suspended following a Sunday Times investigations and on Monday BBC Panorama claimed three other FIFA members had taken bribes in the 1990s.

The defeat comes despite an impressive presentation by England that was described by FIFA president Sepp Blatter as "excellent and remarkable".

Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham all sparkled but were all outshone by 27-year-old Eddie Afekafe, who works on Manchester City's community programmes.

Afekafe explained how football had changed his life before introducing the prince to the 22 FIFA executive committee members.

William then said: "I love football, we English love football and it would be an honour for us to host the World Cup."

Beckham had made an emotional pitch, drawing on memories of his grandad Joe who died a year ago today, just before he took part in the South African World Cup draw in Cape Town.

Beckham said: "My life in football began with my grandad Joe. A year ago today my grandad died, the day before the draw. Now I want to do something that will make my grandad proud.

"Now I want to do more. Our dream is to stage a World Cup that benefits billions, that makes you, your grandchildren and everyone in football truly proud."

Earlier, Cameron had highlighted the Government's support and a commercial success for the tournament, and said England's bid would deliver for players, fans and FIFA.

Handed the World Cup by Blatter, Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov celebrated, saying: "You have entrusted us with the Fifa World Cup for 2018 and I can promise, we all can promise, you will never regret it.

"Let us make history together."

Major of London Boris Johnson told reporters that, according to information he had received about the voting, England had been knocked out in the first round.

Meanwhile, Qatar will host the World Cup finals for the first time after FIFA awarded them the rights to the 2022 tournament.

Qatar beat bids from Australia, the United States and 2002 World Cup co-hosts Japan and South Korea.

The FIFA executive committees' decision comes as a slight surprise after the US and Australia bids had been highly-fancied.

Qatar's staging of the tournament had come in for some criticism because of the weather in the country during June and July - when temperatures can rise as high as 50 degrees Celsius - while the close proximity of the stadiums had also raised some questions.

Qatar's success in Thursday's vote comes just over a month before they are schedule to host the Asian Cup finals.

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Leaks expose US and UK fears over Pakistan nuclear arms

US and UK diplomats feared Pakistan's nuclear material could fall into the hands of terrorists, the latest leaked classified US diplomatic cables reveal.

The documents, released by Wikileaks, warn that Pakistan is rapidly building its nuclear stockpile despite the country's growing instability.

There is also scepticism about whether Pakistan could cut links to militants.

A Pakistan spokesman quoted by AFP said the fears were "misplaced and fall in the realm of condescension".

Separately, Interpol has issued a notice asking for information on the whereabouts of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.

'Historical biases'

In one of the latest cables to be released by Wikileaks, senior UK Foreign Office official Mariot Leslie told US diplomats in September 2009 that Britain had "deep concerns about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons".

In another cable seven months earlier, then-US ambassador Anne Patterson told Washington: "Our major concern is not having an Islamic militant steal an entire weapon but rather the chance someone working in government of Pakistan facilities could gradually smuggle enough material out to eventually make a weapon."

Another cable concerning a US intelligence briefing in 2008 said: "Despite pending economic catastrophe, Pakistan is producing nuclear weapons at a faster rate than any other country in the world."

On Wednesday, Agence France-Presse news agency quoted Pakistan foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit as saying: "Their fears are misplaced and doubtless fall in the realm of condescension.

"There has not been a single incident involving our fissile material, which clearly reflects how strong our controls and mechanisms are. It is time they part with their historical biases against Pakistan."

Ms Patterson had also said there was "no chance" of Pakistan "abandoning support for [militant] groups".

The Pakistan government, she added, saw militant groups "as an important part of its national security apparatus against India".

The US also expressed concern about tensions between the powerful Pakistani army and President Asif Ali Zardari.

In material from March 2009, US cables noted that army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani might "however reluctantly" put pressure on President Zadari to stop down, although he "distrusted [opposition leader] Nawaz [Sharif] even more".

Reliability questioned The US has condemned the Wikileaks disclosures as an attack on the world community.

Analysis

International concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear materials are not new, nor is Pakistan the only country to attract such concerns.
But the stark language used in these confidential diplomatic cables gives us the clearest picture yet of what Western governments really fear - al-Qaeda or fellow jihadist militants getting their hands on enough nuclear material from Pakistan to build a crude nuclear device.
This is thought unlikely to be a full-scale nuclear bomb but more feasibly a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), consisting of radioactive material wrapped around conventional explosive.
If detonated it could scatter dangerous material over a wide area.
The Pakistani media has expressed indignation in the past over any suggestion that the country's nukes are not secure. Some commentators have suggested this is deliberate scaremongering by the West so as to eventually seize control of Pakistan's strategic weapons.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the diplomatic service relied, as did other professions such as law and medicine, on confidential communications to conduct some important business.

She said the international partnerships the US had worked hard to build would withstand the challenge posed by the leak cables.

The latest cache of messages, published by the UK Guardian newspaper, shows that Russia shared US and UK concerns over Pakistan.

Yuri Korolev, of the Russian foreign ministry, told US officials in February that "Islamists are not only seeking power in Pakistan but are also trying to get their hands on nuclear materials".

"There are 120,000-130,000 people directly involved in Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes. There is no way to guarantee that all are 100% loyal and reliable," he said.

He said that extremists were able to recruit more easily.

"Pakistan has had to hire people to protect nuclear facilities that have especially strict religious beliefs, and recently the general educational and cultural levels in Pakistan has been falling," he says in the cable.

'Spoiled child'.

The communications between the US State Department and its embassies and consulates around the world were sent between 1966 and 2010.

Other revelations from the despatches include:

• China has become frustrated with North Korea behaving like a "spoiled child" and was coming around to the view that the Korean peninsula could become reunified under Seoul's leadership
• Several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, urged the US to take military action to bring an end to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme
• Afghan President Hamid Karzai freed dangerous detainees and pardoned suspected drug dealers because they were linked to powerful or historically significant figures
• Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed a deal with the US in which suspected computer hacker Gary McKinnon plead guilty in return for a guarantee that he serve his sentence in the UK
• Former British Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg was praised by US ambassador to Luxembourg Cynthia Stroum for his campaign to persuade European countries to take in remaining inmates. Mr Begg was arrested by the CIA in 2002 and released from Guantanamo in 2005. He was never charged with any offence.

Wikileaks has so far posted only 291 of the 251,287 messages it says it has obtained. However, all of the messages have been made available to five publications, including the New York Times and the Guardian.

No-one has been charged with passing them to Wikileaks, but suspicion has fallen on US Army Private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak of a classified video.

On Tuesday, Wikileaks said it was coming under cyber-attack for the second time in three days. The Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, as it is known, works by flooding a target with too much data for it to handle.

The cables release is the third mass Wikileaks publication of classified documents; it published 77,000 secret US files on the Afghan conflict in July, and 400,000 documents about the Iraq war in October.

Meanwhile, Interpol has issued a "Red Notice" asking people to contact the police if they have any information about Mr Assange's whereabouts.

It said the Australian was wanted for questioning in Sweden over an alleged sex offence, which he has denied.

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U.S. fears Iran has long-range missile, but Russia calls it a 'myth'.

Washington (CNN) -- The United States believes that North Korea is supplying Iran with long-range missiles, suggesting Iran has strike capabilities are stronger than discussed in public, according to one of the leaked U.S. diplomatic cables released Sunday.

The issue was raised by American diplomats in a high level-meeting with their Russian counterparts in late 2009, but the Russians expressed doubt on the U.S. concern, according to the cable. The revelation is in one of the documents published by WikiLeaks, the online whistleblower website that began releasing a cache of more than 250,000 cables Sunday.

The document, dated February 24 and labeled "secret," details a meeting between the United States and Russia in which U.S. representatives expressed belief that North Korea supplied Iran with missiles.

The cable cites the U.S. belief that 19 BM-25 missiles were shipped to Iran in 2005. According to Jane's, a weapons research company, the missiles are reported to have a range somewhere between 2,500 and 4,000 km (1,560 to 2,500 miles)

The Russians expressed doubts about the claim, citing lack of evidence, the cable states. But the Americans countered that some countries have offered direct evidence, and said they would try to bring further evidence to future meetings.

The United States believes that Iran wanted the missiles for the propulsion technology. But in an exchange described in the cable, U.S. and Russian officials debated whether North Korea even had the BM-25 missile at all, and the Russians asked whether the United States had any images of the missile.

"The U.S. did not, but noted that North Korea had paraded the missile through the streets of Pyongyang. Russia disagreed," the cable noted. The Russians countered that a review of the video of that parade showed a different video and "the missile appears to be a myth."

In what the cable describes as a "vigorous session of questions and answers" discussing ballistic missile threats, Russia detailed its assessment of Iran's missile program, and the degree to which Russia believes these programs constitute threats that would require missile defense responses. The cable said Russia believes Iran's "success" is that it has created Shahab-3 missiles that can reach targets in the Middle East and southeastern Europe, but they cannot do substantial damage with conventional warheads.

According to the cable, the Russian Defense Ministry's Evgeny Zudin said that although Iran can build prototypes of long-range systems, it lacks structural materials such as high-quality aluminum to do so, and it also does not have the materials necessary for the kind of mass production that would make it a security threat at the moment or in the near future.

Russia believes although Iran might be able to begin a ballistic missile program with a 2,000- to 3000-mile (3,200-to 4,800-km) range after 2015, it does not see Iran moving in this direction. Russia has instead concluded that Iran's ballistic missile program is directed toward developing combat-ready missiles to address regional concerns, the cable states.

"In their analysis, the missile programs of Iran and the [North Koreans] are not sufficiently developed, and their intentions to use missiles against the U.S. or Russia are nonexistent, thus not constituting a "threat" requiring the deployment of missile defenses," the cable's author noted.

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Spanish LA Liga : FC Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid CF

A brace from David Villa led Barcelona to an incredible rout of Real Madrid - who lost for the first time under Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho had gone unbeaten in his first 19 games in all competitions since joining Madrid in the summer, but the Portuguese was unable to avoid defeat in the biggest one of all as Pep Guardiola maintained his perfect record as Barca coach in the Clasico with a fifth straight victory over Real.

Xavi and Pedro put Barca two up within 17 minutes, while Villa made it a night to remember at a packed Nou Camp with two goals early in the second half and substitute Jeffren Suarez added a fifth right at the end.

To add insult to injury for Madrid, they finished the match with 10 men after Sergio Ramos pushed Carles Puyol in the face late on.

It was some revenge for Barca - and Guardiola - after Mourinho, then coach of Inter Milan, knocked the Catalan side out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage last season here.

Mourinho handed a rare start to France striker Karim Benzema, out of favour for most of this season, after Gonzalo Higuain failed a late fitness test.

Guardiola, though, was able to field his strongest XI, which of course included Lionel Messi.

And the Argentina winger, yet to score against a side coached by Mourinho, almost did so after five minutes, when he beat Madrid keeper Iker Casillas with an exquisite chip from a tight angle, only to see his effort rebound off the post.

But four minutes later, Barca did go ahead.

Andres Iniesta's perfectly-weighted through-ball found Xavi and the midfielder took one touch to control, albeit with some fortune, before clipping the ball past Casillas on the volley from close range.

Angel di Maria tested Victor Valdes with a stinging effort at the other end two minutes later, but Barca made it 2-0 in their very next attack.

It came after 17 minutes and was scored by Barca's number 17 - Pedro.

The Spain forward was left with a simple tap-in from close range after Casillas failed to deal with Villa's low cross from the left.

That followed a long passing move from the home side and the Catalans looked good for their lead.

An unseemly brawl followed after half an hour, when Cristiano Ronaldo pushed Guardiola in the chest, with the Barca coach having refused to hand the ball to the Portugal winger on the touchline.

Ronaldo was shown the yellow card and received huge jeers every time he touched the ball after that.

The former Manchester United forward came close with a free-kick later in the half and also saw a decent penalty appeal turned down after he went to ground following a challenge with Valdes.

Messi was booked for simulation a minute before the interval for exaggerating a foul by Ricardo Carvalho.

Barca began the second half brightly and after Xavi and Villa missed good chances early on, the latter made it 3-0 with only 54 minutes on the clock.

The Spain striker latched onto Messi's pass and beat Casillas with a clinical finish in the area, although he looked to be marginally offside when the ball was played.

The same combination made it 4-0 three minutes later as Messi set up Villa once more and the former Valencia forward slid the ball through Casillas' legs as the keeper came out to narrow the angle.

The Nou Camp was rocking after that and Barca dominated right until the end.

Substitute Bojan Krkic saw his fierce effort saved by Casillas and was unable to stay on his feet as he raced clear moments earlier.

But Jeffren, who replaced Pedro with three minutes left, did make it five in added time when he clipped the ball past Casillas from close range after a low cross from the right.

Madrid's misery was compounded right at the end as the visitors finished the game with 10 men after Ramos hit out at Puyol and was shown the red card.

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