Manchester United survived a European scare....

By Neil Johnston BBC Sport

Manchester United survived a European scare after Toby Alderweireld's goal sentenced them to defeat.

But they still advanced on aggregate to book a last-16 Europa League tie with Athletic Bilbao despite a nervous display.

Ajax fell behind to Javier Hernandez's composed finish following Dimitar Berbatov's fine pass.
Aras Ozbiliz levelled from 20 yards but Alderweireld's headed winner arrived too late for the Dutch visitors.
Although United remain on the road to Bucharest, the city chosen to host the final, the result took some of the gloss off England caretaker boss Stuart Pearce's decision to name six players from Old Trafford in his new-look 25-man squad to face the Netherlands in next Wednesday's friendly.
Pearce was at Old Trafford to witness four of the six - Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and Phil Jones - all start against four-times European champions Ajax as Sir Alex Ferguson named an experienced side despite returning from last week's trip to Amsterdam with a two-goal cushion.

 

Mark Lawrenson Football Analyst

 

"Manchester United will be pleased because they've got through the tie. But they did all the hard work in Ajax last week. The sloppiness in the second half was almost because of the belief 'it's alright we will score and go through'. And the way they conceded the second goal will seriously peeve the manager. They've just done enough to get over the finishing line - but the manager will not be happy with that."

The highly damaging 3-3 draw with Basel during their doomed Champions League campaign earlier in the season - when United led 2-0 before falling 3-2 behind - ensured the manager left nothing to chance.

But Ferguson was once again left biting his fingernails as United made hard work of going through.
Yet the anxious finish was in stark contrast to their confident start as Berbatov, making a rare start in place of the ill Wayne Rooney, made up for lost time.
Having teed up a chance for Nani inside the opening minute, the Bulgarian striker threaded a delicious pass which allowed Hernandez to take his goal tally for the season into double figures with a composed sixth-minute finish.
Trailing 3-0 on aggregate, Ajax, a shadow of the side that once dominated Europe, appeared as though they were just playing for pride.

United's last four European games at Old Trafford

23 Feb: Lost 1-2 to Ajax
22 Nov: Drew 2-2 with Benfica
2 Nov: Beat Otelul Galati 2-0
27 Sept: Drew 3-3 with Basel

Frank de Boer's side created plenty of chances and United goalkeeper David de Gea was forced to earn his wages but, more times than not, there was no end product.

They should have been dead and buried in the 15th minute when Hernandez tried to return the earlier favour from Berbatov by attempting to set up the striker to make it 2-0.
But to the visitors relief, Hernandez's pass was cut out by Jan Vertonghen before any further damage could be inflicted.
In an entertaining game, De Gea saved well from Ozbiliz before the midfielder hauled his side back on level terms on the night after firing home from 20 yards with the aid of a deflection off Jones in the 38th minute.
That will not have impressed Ferguson, who has moaned recently about the number of sloppy goals his side have conceded.
United responded with Cleverley testing keeper Kenneth Vermeer, but the save-of-the-match came at the other end in the 58th minute as De Gea produced a stunning stop to keep out Siem de Jong's close range header.
It was a crucial moment. Had that gone in then United might have had problems.
As it was, Alderweireld's winner on the night, a powerful header from Ozbiliz's deep ball into area, arrived too late to cause any serious damage other than to United's pride.
But Ferguson knows his side will have to play better if they are to progress to the final.
Source: BBC Sports

Syria faces ultimatum from international conference

Hillary Clinton: "The obstruction of a few countries cannot be allowed to stop the world community from coming to the aid of the Syrian people"

Syria Crisis

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A major world conference is being held in Tunisia to seek a breakthrough in the increasingly bitter Syrian unrest.

The US, Europe and Arab countries plan to challenge President Bashar al-Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to the worst-affected areas.
There is growing pressure on Damascus to give access to civilians trapped by the onslaught on Homs, which has lasted for more than two weeks.
Activists say another 50 or 60 people died across Syria on Thursday.
Russia and China will not attend the Tunisia "Friends of Syria" conference, organised by the Arab League.
The two countries have faced Western and Arab criticism for blocking a UN Security Council resolution that would have backed an Arab League peace plan for Syria.
Around 70 other nations, including the US, UK, France and Turkey are attending.
The conference will agree a declaration on Syria, expected to demand an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian assessment, with the threat of further sanctions if ignored.
The declaration may also boost the standing of the main opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Council, by naming it as a "legitimate" representative of Syrians, but stopping short of giving it full endorsement.
On the eve of the conference, the UN and Arab League appointed Kofi Annan as their envoy to Syria.
Mr Annan, a former UN secretary general, has in recent years acted as a diplomatic troubleshooter in several long-running conflicts.
The UN said in a statement he would "provide good offices aimed at bringing an end to all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis".
'Assad's stranglehold'

Activists say many civilians have been killed and injured in the bombardment of Homs

On the eve of attending the Tunisia conference, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said all countries should "aggressively implement" measures they had already agreed.
"We look forward to concrete progress on three fronts - providing humanitarian relief, increasing pressure on the regime, and preparing for a democratic transition," she said.
"To that end, we hope to see new pledges of emergency assistance for Syrians caught in Assad's stranglehold, and international co-ordination and diplomatic pressure on Damascus to allow it to get to those who need it most. We also expect additional nations to impose effective sanctions against the regime."
The UK Prime Minister David Cameron said it was vital that the international community came together on the issue of Syria.
The French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, speaking in London before leaving for Tunis, said the conference needed to exert the maximum pressure on the Syrian government and also on Russia.
He said there was no military option on the table and France could not envisage such an option without an international mandate.
Journalists' plea The conference comes two days after journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik died during shelling in Homs.

Edith Bouvier: "I need an urgent operation"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has described the killing of the two journalists as "murder", according to AFP.
"Those who did this will have to account for it," Mr Sarkozy said, alleging that the journalists were specifically targeted.
Two journalists wounded in the same attack have made internet appeals for medical help. Frenchwoman Edith Bouvier is being treated by Syrian medics but needs surgery which they are unable to perform. Paul Conroy, who is British, also asked for outside help to bring him to safety.
Meanwhile, a United Nations panel has drawn up a confidential list of Syrian military officials - believed to include President Assad - who could face investigation for crimes against humanity.
It says these include shooting unarmed women and children, shelling civilian areas and torturing the wounded.
Source: BBC

Baghdad blasts: Hashemi accuses government over attacks

 

Mr Hashemi says Mr Maliki should be focusing on security, not 'chasing patriotic politicians'

Struggle for Iraq

• Risky rift
• New dawn
• US troop timeline
• War in figures

Iraq's Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has said Iraq's government was behind Thursday's series of bombings that killed nearly 70 people in Baghdad.

The attack could not have happened on such a scale without government help, he told BBC Persian television.
Mr Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, fled to Iraq's Kurdish region after PM Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia, issued an arrest warrant against him on terror charges.
The crisis has sparked fears of renewed sectarian conflict in Iraq.
Mr Hashemi said only members of Iraq's security apparatus were capable of co-ordinating such large-scale attacks.
"This style of terrorist attack, it's well-beyond even al-Qaeda to do it. What has been done is well-organised, the people who plant all these explosives, they went freely, without any obstacles, regardless of many checkpoints that we do have, and simultaneously all these car bombs and explosives went off in one time," he said.
"Those who were behind all these explosions and incidents [were a] part in the security of the government. I'm sure about that."
Unity doubt Thursday's attacks were the worst to hit Iraq in months. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 200 injured as car and roadside bombs went off in 16 separate locations, mostly Shia areas of the city.
The violence came days after the US withdrew the last of its combat troops from Iraq on Monday, ending nearly nine years of military engagement.
Mr Hashemi said the US should bear responsibility for the way Iraq was now being governed.
Earlier, he said that Mr Maliki should be focusing on security, not "chasing patriotic politicians".
Mr Hashemi has been accused of orchestrating terror attacks on officials and security forces, a charge he denies. In response, the main Sunni political bloc, al-Iraqiyya, is blockading parliament and the cabinet, putting the future of the fragile year-old unity government in doubt.
Mr Hashemi has previously compared the prime minister's behaviour and style of government to that of deposed former leader Saddam Hussein, telling US Foreign Policy magazine Mr Maliki was "very much adamant about running this country in a very bad and tough way".

Queen visits Prince Philip in hospital

 

Prince Philip turned 90 in June

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The Queen has visited the Duke of Edinburgh in hospital in Cambridgeshire, where he has been treated for a blocked coronary artery.

A "minimally invasive procedure of coronary stenting" was successfully performed after he was taken to hospital suffering chest pains.
The duke, 90, is in "good spirits" but remains under observation at Papworth Hospital, Buckingham Palace said.
The Queen was accompanied by their sons Edward and Andrew, and daughter, Anne.
They arrived by helicopter for a 45-minute visit, where they were met by the hospital's chief executive and Professor John Cunningham, chief physician to the Queen.
After they left, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall arrived by car from Highgrove.
Specialist unit BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said the fact the Queen had visited her husband so promptly suggested it was a "moment of real anxiety" for the royal family, albeit one which appeared to have passed.
The coronary stenting procedure involves pushing a balloon into the artery and blowing it up to remove the blockage.

The stent is a metal sleeve fitted over the balloon, which remains inside the body when the balloon is removed.
The duke would have remained conscious during the procedure.
He was flown to the hospital by an RAF helicopter. No other member of the Royal Family travelled with him.
Buckingham Palace said he was eager to leave but it was likely he would have to stay in overnight.
Papworth is the UK's largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital and the country's main heart and lung transplant centre, treating more than 22,800 inpatient and day cases and 53,400 outpatients each year.
'Extraordinarily fit' Senior members of the Royal Family, including the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, had been due to arrive at Sandringham on Saturday for Christmas.
Prince Philip, who arrived at Sandringham on Monday, is the longest-serving royal consort and celebrated 64 years of marriage to the Queen in November.

 

Analysis Peter Hunt BBC royal correspondent

The treatment, we are told, has been successful. The focus now, and in the coming days, is on how a 90-year-old duke recovers from what Buckingham Palace has called a "minimally invasive procedure".
His advancing age is obviously a factor. His health though has been good. The duke's last significant problem was in 2008 when he spent three nights in hospital with a chest infection.
And he leads an active life. One member of his staff once said their task was not so much organising his diary as trying to keep up with him.
It's far from clear whether Prince Philip will be joining his family at Sandringham for Christmas, or whether he'll remain confined to a hospital bed.

• Read more from Peter
• Q&A: Coronary stenting

He was last in hospital in April 2008, when he spent three days in London with a chest infection. On that occasion, the Queen did not visit him.

In October this year he pulled out of travelling to Assisi in Italy because he had a cold - he had just returned from an 11-day tour of Australia with the Queen.
Speaking ahead of his 90th birthday, in June, the duke said he wanted to slow down. He stepped down as president or patron of more than a dozen organisations.
Royal biographer Penny Junor said the duke was generally in good health for his age.
"He is an extraordinarily fit man. He takes a lot of exercise, he does an awful lot of work. He's in very good shape generally. So with luck this is a blip and he'll be back fighting fit and back with the family for Christmas."
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister has been kept informed of the situation and wishes the Duke of Edinburgh a very speedy recovery."
Meanwhile, the Queen's Christmas Day broadcast to the nation will highlight the importance of the family unit. The speech, taped on 9 December, reflects on a year in which her grandson Prince William got married and her husband turned 90.

Nigeria conflict: Boko Haram battles 'kill at least 50'

 

Damaturu was the scene of an attack by Islamists last month

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More than 50 people have died in days of fighting between Nigerian troops and suspected Islamist gunmen in the country's north-east, officials say.

Boko Haram militants had suffered heavy casualties in a lengthy gun-battle in the town of Damaturu, said army chief of staff Lt Gen Azubuike Ihejirika.
"We lost three of our soldiers... but we killed over 50 of them," he said.
The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", often targets security forces and state institutions.
"They came with sophisticated and heavy weaponry... and bombs but our trained soldiers subdued them," Lt Gen Ihejirika told local radio.
Deaths were also reported after clashes in Potiskum to the west of Damaturu.
'Lobbing grenades' The fighting had erupted in Damaturu - the state capital of Yobe - on Thursday afternoon, Yobe's Police Commissioner Lawal Tanko, told the BBC earlier.

One eye-witness told the BBC that bomb blasts and shooting could be heard around Damaturu for several hours.
"People are scared and they are just moving out of the town now," said the witness, who gave his name as Suliman.
Boko Haram first came to prominence in 2009 when hundreds of its followers were killed when they attacked police stations in Maiduguri.
Its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was arrested but died in police custody.
Boko Haram resumed its attacks - mostly in Maiduguri - a year later and has since staged deadly raids across the mostly Muslim north, as well as central areas such as Jos and Abuja.
Under Yusuf's leadership, the group demanded that Nigeria become an Islamic state but it is now believed to be made up of several factions, with various demands.

Thousands surge into Moscow to challenge Kremlin

 
Demonstrators in Moscow held a poster of Vladimir Putin draped in a condom after he compared the protest symbol of a white ribbon to a sheath

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Thousands of people have gathered in central Moscow to protest against allegedly rigged parliamentary polls.

Protest leader Alexei Navalny told the crowd to loud applause that Russians would no longer tolerate corruption.
"I see enough people here to take the Kremlin and [Government House] right now but we are peaceful people and won't do that just yet," he said.
A sea of demonstrators stretched along Sakharov Avenue, a few miles from the Kremlin, in sub-zero temperatures.
Rallies are taking place across Russia, with the first big protest in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
In the capital, Moscow, organisers expect some 50,000 people to gather for speeches by opposition figures.

“Start Quote

We are peaceful people but we can't put with this forever”

Alexei Navalny Protest leader

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President Dmitry Medvedev announced political reforms this week, but many demonstrators say it is not enough.

They are demanding a re-run of the poll, which was won by the party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - but with a much smaller share of the overall vote.
With the temperature a few degrees below zero, the Moscow mayor's office was reportedly laying on tea and simple hot food from field kitchens.
Security is tight in the city, with 40 busloads of riot police lined up along the avenue, according to Russian media.
At one point, police manning metal detectors briefly closed access to the avenue, Interfax news agency reports.
'We're the power ' At least 28,000 people have turned out in Moscow, Russian interior ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin told Russian news agencies.

At the scene

Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Moscow

Sakharov Avenue is packed with protesters - tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets to demand fresh parliamentary elections and much of their anger is directed at Vladimir Putin.
There are placards declaring "don't vote for Putin in the presidential elections", and many in the crowd are blowing red whistles - their attempt to blow the whistle on Mr Putin's decade in power.
The large turnout today will keep up the pressure on the Kremlin. The authorities have already promised limited political reforms but so far they have shown no intention of cancelling the results of the recent parliamentary vote which is widely believed to have been rigged in favour of Vladimir Putin's party.

A police official who spoke to AFP news agency said there was space for 50,000 on the avenue.

In Moscow, protesters clutched white balloons and banners with the slogan "For Free Elections" as the rally began.
This is a huge, mass movement of Muscovites, the BBC's Daniel Sandford reports from the scene.
Mr Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption blogger who was jailed for 15 days over a street protest just after the elections, condemned Russia's leaders as "swindlers and thieves".
He listed victims of injustice including imprisoned former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody.
"Who's the power here?" he shouted to cries of "We are" from the crowd.
"We are peaceful people but we can't put with this forever."
Saturday's rally in Moscow - authorised by the authorities - was organised by a coalition of opposition forces.
The 22 speakers expected in Moscow included Mr Putin's presidential challenger Mikhail Prokhorov and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Apart from politicians, the eclectic line-up included rock musician Yuri Shevchuk, speaking by video link, detective fiction writer Boris Akunin, Urals anti-heroin campaigner Yevgeny Roizman and satirist Viktor Shenderovich.
Organisers said as many as 50,000 people rallied on 10 December, in what was the biggest anti-government protest since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The opposition has been encouraged by that success, forcing the Kremlin on the backfoot.
On Thursday, Mr Medvedev proposed to hold direct elections of regional governors and simplify the procedure for registering political parties, but protesters say the concessions do not go far enough, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says.
However, one of the main problems for the opposition is that there is no single leader able to unite it, our correspondent adds.
'Flawed elections' According to the official results of the elections to Russia's Duma, the ruling United Russia party saw its share of the vote fall from 64% to 49%, though it remains easily the biggest party.
But there is a widespread view, fuelled by mobile phone videos and accounts on internet social networking sites, that there was wholesale election fraud and that Mr Putin's party cheated its way to victory.
The Kremlin denies the claim.
In the Pacific port of Vladivostok, demonstrators carried posters calling for Mr Putin to be put on trial and regional MP Artyom Samsonov said the election results should be cancelled
Rallies against ballot-rigging were reported across Russia's time zones on Saturday by Interfax

• In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, a rally of between 800 and 1,500 people passed off peacefully

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Turkey retaliates over French 'genocide' bill

 

Turkish riot police officers stood guard in front of the French consulate in Istanbul on Thursday

The Turkish prime minister has announced measures against France after MPs passed a bill criminalising denial of the 1915-16 Armenian "genocide".

Ankara is recalling its ambassador and freezing political visits as well as joint military projects, including exercises, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The bill was passed by the French National Assembly on Thursday and is due to go before the Senate next year.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has publicly opposed it.
Under the bill, those publicly denying genocide would face a year in jail and a fine of 45,000 euros (£29,000; $58,000).
Armenians say up to 1.5 million people were killed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-16.
Ankara says closer to 300,000 people died, and that Turks were also killed as Armenians rose up against the Ottoman Empire when Russian troops invaded eastern Anatolia, now eastern Turkey.
More than 20 countries have formally recognised the killings as genocide.
'Irreparable wounds' According to French news agency AFP, angry crowds in the Turkish capital, Ankara, have been chanting: "We have not committed genocide, we defended the homeland.

“Start Quote

My bill doesn't aim at any particular country”

Valerie Boyer French MP

"Wait for us France, we will come."

Speaking in Ankara, Mr Erdogan suggested the bill would create lasting damage to relations with France.
"This will open very grave and irreparable wounds," he said.
Mr Erdogan told reporters: "This is politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia.
"This is using Turkophobia and Islamophobia to gain votes, and it raises concerns regarding these issues not only in France but all Europe."
He said Ankara would cancel permission for French military planes to land and warships to dock in Turkey as a result of the bill, Reuters news agency reports.
Relations between the two countries are at an all-time low thanks to French President Nicholas Sarkozy's opposition to Turkey's bid for membership of the EU, the BBC's David O'Byrne reports from Istanbul.
'Inspired by European law' The bill's author, Valerie Boyer from France's ruling conservative UMP party, said she was "shocked" at Turkey's intervention.
"My bill doesn't aim at any particular country," she said.
"It is inspired by European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the genocides must be sanctioned."
Maurice Delighazarian, 75, lost his grandparents in 1915.

Turkey and the Armenians

• Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians died during mass deportations by Ottoman Turks in 1915-6
• More than 20 countries say it was genocide
• Turkey and some historians say it was part of widespread turmoil in World War I in which Muslims also died
• Estimated 500,000 ethnic Armenians now in France
• Turkey closed Armenia border in 1993 because of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
• Turkey signed 2009 deal with Armenia to examine 1915 killings and open borders: ratified by neither side

"Our ancestors can finally rest in peace," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency in Paris.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian thanked the French parliament, and France's "top leadership" and its people, for the bill.
France had, he said, "once again proved its commitment to universal human values".
But Mr Juppe criticised the proposed law, which follows France's formal recognition of the killings as genocide in 2001. No penalty was attached for denial at the time.
Mr Juppe told reporters it was a critical juncture in the Middle East and he emphasised the role Turkey had been playing in the Arab Spring, as well as the strong economic ties that existed between Turkey and France.
"It [the bill] is useless and counter-productive," he said.
His disapproval appears to be in direct conflict with the tacit support that has been given by President Nicolas Sarkozy to the bill, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Paris.
There are some half a million ethnic Armenians living in France and their vote is considered important in next year's presidential election, our correspondent notes.