FC Copenhagen 0 - 2 Chelsea
Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Carlo Ancelotti as they cruised to a win over Copenhagen in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.
Nicolas Anelka seized on a misplaced pass from ex-Blues winger Jesper Gronkjaer to fire the visitors ahead.
The Premier League club added to their lead when Frank Lampard's reverse pass found Anelka and he drove in a second.
Ancelotti's men were dominant but £50m striker Fernando Torres could not register his first goal for the club.
It was all too easy for Chelsea as the lacklustre Danish champions looked every bit like a team that had not played a competitive game since 7 December because of their league's winter break.
With the visitors desperate to keep alive their Champions League hopes after being knocked out of the FA Cup last Saturday and their chances of defending their Premier League crown seemingly over, Copenhagen had a chance to add to Chelsea's misery.
Instead, a timid home side stood off their opponents and the Blues were too good not to take advantage and earn a commanding lead for the return leg at Stamford Bridge on 16 March.
Ancelotti paired Anelka with Torres in attack as Didier Drogba dropped to the bench and the duo, helped by some poor defending, responded with a performance of hunger and desire, which was also epitomised by their team-mates.
Anelka grabbed the glory with the goals but, if the finishing prowess of Torres had been as clinical as his partner's, the Spaniard would have scored his first goal for Chelsea since his January move from Liverpool.
However, while Anelka ruthlessly punished Gronkjaer by powering in a shot from just inside the edge of the area to put the Blues in front after 17 minutes, Torres failed to round off some of his pace and movement with a goal.
The Spanish forward's first real chance came when an off-target Ramires shot left him with a sight of goal but his first touch let him down and allowed Copenhagen keeper Johan Wiland to fend away the danger.
Torres jinked his way into a promising opening as he produced the type of play which unnerves defenders, but his poked shot was again saved by Wiland.
A lunging Mathias Jorgensen tackle was next to foil Torres as Chelsea dominated proceedings but failed to add to their lead.
Copenhagen appeared to be fearful of the Blues and this was apparent when Anelka was allowed the time and space to turn and shoot at goal with his effort going high.
Visiting keeper Petr Cech was belatedly called into action when he had a Martin Vingaard long-range shot to save after the break.
The Danes had drawn against Barcelona at the Parken Stadium in the group stages earlier this season but could not rediscover the same sort of form as they looked a yard off the pace.
And Chelsea wrapped things up when Anelka again showed Torres how to finish with a first-time shot from Lampard's exquisite pass.
After a faltering season, it was a welcome win for Ancelotti's side and a surprisingly comfortable one given the fact Copenhagen had never before suffered defeat at home in the Champions League.
NBA hopes to speed up games by implementing warning horns
The NBA has a message for players and officials: Be ready to start when a timeout is over.
The league's scoreboard operators have been told to sound warning horns during breaks in the action in an effort to cut down on the length of games. According to a courtside memo Tuesday night at the Detroit Pistons' game against the Houston Rockets, games have been taking longer, "largely due to prolonged delays after breaks."
NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to The Associated Press that the new protocol went into effect Tuesday night.
Memos outlined new procedures for locally telecast games, including warning horns to be sounded shortly before the ends of timeouts and breaks between periods.
Those warning horns are to be followed by final horns ending those breaks, and referees are directed to make sure huddles break promptly.
"We communicated to teams that the first horn was a warning that the TO was to end and that they should be on their way to resume by the second," Frank said in an e-mail.
Detroit's 108-100 loss to Houston ended in 2 hours, 4 minutes -- the Pistons' fastest home game of the season.
Elsewhere, Indiana's game at Washington ended in 2:21.
"I'm a rookie coach, and I need to get my guys out of the huddle faster," Indiana's Frank Vogel said.
Charlotte's home game against Toronto was over in 2:12, and players said the change wasn't a big deal.
"I didn't notice it. I really didn't even know about it," Toronto guard Jerryd Bayless said. "I'm not really worried about the horn too much, I'm worried about what (coach) Jay (Triano) and everybody else is saying. I don't know, I didn't hear it."
Cricket World Cup: Ragged England sneak past Dutch
A ragged England survived a major scare in their opening World Cup match as they beat a spirited Netherlands with only eight balls to spare in Nagpur.
All-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate smashed 119 from 110 balls as the Dutch took advantage of some poor England bowling and abject fielding to post 292-6.
Andrew Strauss (88) and Jonathan Trott (62) gave England a solid start.
But after runs dried up in the middle overs, Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara (both 30 not out) saw England home.
The duo brought a nerve-wracking run chase to a conclusion in the penultimate over, with Bopara crashing a six and two fours off medium pacer Bernard Loots.
However, the day belonged to South Africa-born Ten Doeschate, whose innings paved the way for the closest finish yet of the 2011 World Cup.
After taking 12 balls to get off the mark, he thereafter scored at a rate of a run per ball, scampering intelligent singles, smashing nine fours and three huge sixes.
But, for all the Essex all-rounder's brilliance, Ten Doeschate was also helped by a wretched performance in the field from England, whose body language was devoid of the energy and aggression that won them so much praise during the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia.
The negative vibe was encapsulated in a horrible mix-up between Kevin Pietersen and James Anderson, who allowed a skied drive from Ten Doeschate - on 47 - to drop harmlessly between them to the obvious anger of bowler Graeme Swann and the general bemusement of all those watching.
The innings was punctuated by mis-fields, no-balls, and untidy wicketkeeping by Matt Prior, while both Pietersen and Trott spilled difficult chances, which on a good day would have stuck.
In the penultimate over, captain Peter Borren was bowled by Stuart Broad but he was recalled because England only had three men inside the circle, one fewer than the regulations permit. And, to round off a comedy of errors, in the last over Swann allowed a routine chance to slide inexplicably through his fingers.
The performance may prompt a rethink ahead of Sunday's day-night Group B match against India after the decision to leave out left-arm spinner Michael Yardy backfired.
Back-up spin bowler Pietersen gave away 19 runs from his two overs, while a lack of alternatives meant an off-colour Anderson (0-72) was obliged to run through his full 10 overs.
The Dutch had made a positive start to their innings with Wesley Barresi striking three fours off an over from Broad.
But, in the following over, Tim Bresnan made the breakthrough as Worcestershire opener Alexei Kervezee's attempted pull skimmed off the top edge of his bat and into the gloves of Prior.
Netherlands' bright start forced Strauss to turn to the spin of Swann in the 12th over and England's off-spinner reproduced his handy habit of striking in his first over.
A skilfully flighted ball at a tempting length outside off stump passed Barresi's outside edge and Prior whipped off the bails moments before the batsman could get his foot back behind the line.
Tom Cooper, dropped by Pietersen at fine-leg on 46, was out one run later when he flicked a Collingwood ball straight to Anderson at mid-on.
Bas Zuiderent got himself squared-up and gifted a dolly of a catch to Collingwood and Tim de Grooth was bowled by a Broad yorker after a decent 28 off 31 balls.
Ten Doeschate motored into the 90s with two successive fours off Bresnan before reaching three figures courtesy of more hapless fielding from England as Trott's attempt at a run out cannoned off the stumps and flew away to the boundary for four overthrows.
A magnificent innings finally came to an end in the penultimate over when a slog off Broad picked out Bopara at deep square leg.
But there was still time for the Dutch to take advantage of some comical fielding to post the second highest total by an associate nation against a Test side in all one-day internationals - behind Zimbabwe's 312-4 against Sri Lanka in 1992.
Strauss set the tone for England's reply with three fours in the first over, one of which flew off an edge and almost took out his off stump.
With the Dutch bowlers struggling to adjust their line to the left-hander, the England captain made the most of some leg-stump bowling to race to his fifty off 34 balls with nine boundaries.
Pietersen made a positive start to his innings before getting bogged down by some tight bowling, and prodding left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar straight to short extra cover for 39.
Strauss looked on course for his sixth one-day international hundred before he got a little greedy and pulled the ball straight to deep square leg.
Trott and Ian Bell kept things ticking along with ones and twos but with the required run rate creeping above seven and boundaries a rarity, the game remained in the balance going into the final 10 overs.
Ten Doeschate proved his qualities with the ball by having Trott stumped and clean bowling Bell, who only managed one boundary in his 40-ball 33.
That left Collingwood and Bopara needing 52 from 7 overs and luckily for England they were up to the task.
Airports operator BAA narrows losses to £317m
UK airports operator BAA has reported a loss of £317m for 2010 after a year of volcanic ash, strikes and snow.
The company said these disruptions meant 2.8 million fewer passengers passed through its airports last year, most of these lost at Heathrow.
The company's chief executive, Colin Matthews, said he expected the company to deliver a strong increase in profits and cash flow in 2011.
The pre-tax, unadjusted figure is an improvement on 2009's loss of £822m.
The loss has narrowed because the 2009 figure included losses from its forced sale of Gatwick airport and a £218m charge for its pension deficit.
BAA, which is owned by Spain's Ferrovial, owns and operates Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports.
However, the Competition Commission wants BAA to sell Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports. Last week, BAA lost its latest court challenge against the ruling to sell these airports.
Learning lessons
The three exceptional events affecting the results began in April last year with the Icelandic volcano eruption. That closed Heathrow and Stansted for five days.
BAA also pointed to the 22 days of strike action by BA cabin crew strikes which resulted in 34 days of service disruption at Heathrow.
That was followed by airport closures and flight cancellations caused by December's heavy snow, which BAA said last month had cost it £24m.
The company has appointed an external panel of experts to establish what lessons could be learnt from the disruption in order that the airport can better respond to future problems.
It is due to report its findings next month.
Barnes & Noble profits fall by a quarter
Barnes & Noble has reported a slump in profits and suspended its dividend payments as it continues to invest heavily in its e-book strategy.
Net profits for the three months to the end of January came in at $60.6m (£37.6m), a drop of 25% on the $80.4m it made a year earlier.
Shares in what is the largest US bookseller fell 11% after the results.
Last week, rival bookstore Borders filed for bankruptcy protection amid declining sales.
Barnes & Noble also said it would not be making any sales or profits forecasts for the current quarter.
It has invested heavily in its Nook electronic book reader in an attempt to gain ground on market leader Amazon and its Kindle reader.
"We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," said the group's chief executive William Lynch.
Both Barnes & Noble and Borders have struggled in the face of fierce competition from supermarkets, online sales and digital books.
Wal-Mart reports seventh quarter of declining US sales
Retail giant Wal-Mart has reported a seventh straight quarterly decline in underlying sales at its US stores, as it loses customers to cheaper rivals.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, same-store sales fell by 1.8% in the US, but the firm benefited from strong overseas sales.
Wal-Mart posted a consolidated net income of $6.2bn (£3.8bn) in the fourth quarter, up from $4.9bn a year earlier.
For 2010 as a whole, consolidated net income was $17bn, up from $14.9bn 2009.
The profit figures were boosted by cost cutting and strong international sales, which benefitted from exchange rate movements.
The company told analysts at its previous quarterly profits announcement that it had turned the corner and US sales would turn positive in the fourth quarter.
But sales at its US stores open at least a year fell by 1.8% and are forecast by the company to continue to be below last year's levels for this current quarter.
Wal-Mart shares fell by 3.2% following the announcement.
Regret
The company has been losing customers in its heartland US stores to so-called "dollar" stores after it changed its "every day low prices" strategy and introduced selected price cuts.
It also cut down the range of goods it offered, a decision the firm said it had since regretted and reversed.
The company's chief executive, Mike Duke, said these problems would take time to correct.
"Some of the pricing and merchandising issues in Wal-Mart ran deeper than we initially expected and they require a response that will take time to see results," he said.
Although most of Wal-Mart's business is in the US, its international operations, including the UK's 386 Asda stores, are providing the best growth with sales up by 9% for the quarter.
Asda, whose strategy included a sharp focus on price - it promised its groceries would be 10% cheaper than rivals - and the widening of its product range - reported sales growth over the Christmas quarter picked up strongly with a 1.6% increase in shops open for more than a year.
Wal-Mart as a group made sales of $419bn in the year to the end of January, with the US accounting for about 60% of that
Mexico economic growth hits 10-year high
The Mexican economy recovered from a sharp contraction in 2009 to grow by 5.5% last year, its fastest annual rate in 10 years, official figures show.
The National Statistics Institute said that the agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors all made a strong improvement over the year.
The manufacturing sector was one of the key drivers with a growth rate of 6.1% in 2010.
"Growth is now more balanced," said Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero.
"Manufacturing was stronger but most importantly the services sector grew significantly," said Gabriel Casillas at JP Morgan.
The Institute said the final three months of the year grew at 1.3% compared with the previous quarter.
Unlike many emerging market economies, Mexico is not currently troubled by high inflation, which is currently running at 3.8%, down from 4.4% at the end of last year.
For this reason, interest rates are expected to remain on hold at 4.5%, analysts say.
Libya protests: UN Security Council condemns crackdown
The UN Security Council has condemned the Libyan authorities for using force against protesters, calling for those responsible to be held to account.
In a statement, the council demanded an immediate end to the violence and said Libya's rulers had to "address the legitimate demands of the population".
Nearly 300 people have been killed so far, according to Human Rights Watch.
Earlier, Col Muammar Gaddafi urged his supporters to attack the "cockroaches" and "rats" protesting against his rule.
Anyone who took up arms against Libya would be executed, he warned.
Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi later resigned and called on the armed forces to "join and heed the people's demands".
'Extremely strong'
The UN Security Council's statement came after a day of debate on the uprising in Libya, which has seen the state lose control of much of the east of the country, foreign mercenaries allegedly attacking civilians on the streets and warplanes reportedly shooting and bombing protesters.
The council's 15 members said the Libyan authorities should "meet its responsibility to protect its population", act with restraint, and respect human rights and international humanitarian law.
The Libyan authorities should also hold accountable those people responsible for attacking civilians, and respect the rights of its citizens to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and press freedom, they added.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the statement was "extremely strong" and indicated further measures were likely in the coming days.
Libya's deputy permanent representative to the UN in New York, Ibrahim Dabbashi, who on Monday called on Col Gaddafi to step down, said the council's statement was "not strong enough" but still "a good message to the regime in Libya about stopping the bloodshed".
But his superior, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Shalqam, dissociated himself from the remarks, calling Libya's ruler "my friend".
The Arab League also condemned the "crimes" against protesters in Libya and said it would bar the country from League meetings.
'Genocide has started'
But Col Gaddafi was defiant in a rambling 75-minute speech broadcast on state television, saying he vowing to crush the revolt by "rats and mercenaries".
Standing outside the Bab al-Aziza barracks in Tripoli, which was damaged by a US air strike in 1986, he vowed: "I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr. I shall remain here defiant."
He also called on his supporters to "cleanse Libya house by house" unless the protesters surrendered.
"All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don't be afraid of them... Chase them, arrest them, hand them over," he said.
He portrayed the protesters as misguided youths who had been given drugs and money by a "small, sick group", and blamed "bearded men" - a reference to Islamist - and Libyans living abroad for fomenting the violence.
"The hour of work is here, the hour of onslaught is here, the hour of victory is here. No retreat, forward, forward, forward. Revolution, revolution," he shouted at the end of the speech, pumping both fists in the air.
Shortly after the speech, a BBC correspondent in Tripoli heard the sound of guns being fired, apparently into the air. She said fireworks were also set off and cars drove through the city at high speed, their horns blaring.
In the eastern city of Benghazi, people watching the address reportedly threw shoes at television screens as a sign of their anger.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Col Gaddafi's speech was "very, very appalling" and "amounted to him declaring war on his own people".
In New York, Mr Dabbashi said he had received information that the Libyan leader's supporters had started attacking people in all western cities.
"The Gaddafi statement was just code for his collaborators to start the genocide against the Libyan people. It just started a few hours ago. I hope the information I get is not accurate but if it is, it will be a real genocide," he told reporters.
Refugees
Earlier in the day, Tripoli was reported to be tense, with almost-empty streets enlivened only by lines of people queuing for bread and petrol.
In Sabratah, 80km (50 miles) west of the capital, a large number of soldiers were deployed after protesters destroyed the offices of the security services, the Quryna newspaper reported.
There were also reports that the western city of Ajdabiya was now controlled by the opposition. Ajdabiya is situated close to Libya's main oil fields. Government forces have also been ejected from the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi.
Witnesses in the eastern town of al-Bayda told the Reuters news agency that 26 people had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
Refugees also streamed across Libya's eastern border with Egypt. Many said the Libyan authorities had been using tanks, warplanes and mercenaries.
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in eastern Libya, says the region appears to be wholly under opposition control and people are deliriously happy. Many of the army and police have defected and have been accepted by the opposition.
Local people said the government there had collapsed on Thursday after the first protests. They believe the only people now supporting Col Gaddafi are foreign fighters in the country.
Our correspondent says there is little doubt that Col Gaddafi's rule is finished, but it is not clear how long it will take or how bloody it will be.
New Zealand earthquake: Death toll rises to 75
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has declared a national state of emergency as the death toll from Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch rose to 75.
There are now 55 bodies in a morgue and another 20 being transported there following the 6.3-magnitude tremor.
Police have said there is "incredible carnage right throughout the city", with "bodies littering the streets".
More than 300 people are still missing. Forty-eight were pulled out from collapsed buildings alive overnight.
The earthquake struck at a shallow depth of 5km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday lunchtime, when the South Island city was at its busiest.
It was Christchurch's second major tremor in five months, and New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster in 80 years.
More than 500 search and rescue personnel, police, fire service staff, soldiers and volunteers worked throughout the night to find survivors trapped under the rubble, many using only their bare hands.
"There is incredible carnage right throughout the city," Police Superintendent Russell Gibson said. "There are bodies littering the streets, they are trapped in cars and crushed under rubble."
"We are getting texts and tapping sounds from some of these buildings and that's where our focus is," he added.
"It's quite amazing, we have some people we've pulled out and they haven't got so much as a scratch on them, we've had other people where we've had to amputate limbs to get them out."
Asked how many may still be trapped, Supt Gibson said: "It could be another 100 - it could be more."
Later, officials said a total of 300 people were believed to be missing, but details are unclear and officials are currently trying to refine that list. Some people may simply not have been able to contact friends and relatives.
The ministry of civil defence said 22 people alone were missing in Christchurch Cathedral, which lost its spire and a section of roof.
Twenty-four others have meanwhile been rescued from the Pyne Gould Guinness building and dogs have detected another seven still alive. The earthquake flattened the four-storey structure where hundreds worked.
"I rang my kids to say goodbye," Ann Voss told TV3 from underneath her desk inside the building. "It was absolutely horrible. My daughter was crying and I was crying because I honestly thought that was it."
Iranian warships sail through Suez Canal
Two Iranian warships sailed through the Suez Canal on their way to the Mediterranean Sea, canal officials said Tuesday.
They are the first such ships to sail through the Suez since the Islamic republic's 1979 revolution.
The move, which occurred four days after Egypt's post-Hosni Mubarak government gave the green light to the passage, put Egypt's new military regime in a prickly position with its Israeli neighbor.
The canal is an internal body of water, and as such, Egypt has sovereignty over it. But Egypt also is bound by the 1978 Camp David Accords, which guarantee the right of free passage by ships belonging to Israel and all other nations on the basis of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Before that, Egypt did not allow Israeli ships to sail through the canal.
Earlier this month, Egypt's newly empowered military government said it would honor all its international treaties, including Camp David.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran on Sunday of trying to expand its influence in the region by planning to send the warships.
Netanyahu said Israel views the crossing of the Iranian ships through the Suez Canal "gravely."
The vessels, a frigate and supply ship, are on a yearlong intelligence-gathering mission to prepare cadets to defend Iran's cargo ships and oil tankers from the threat of attack by Somali pirates, Iranian officials have said, according to Fars. The ships, which passed through the canal without incident, are headed to Syria, Fars said, citing officials.
David Schenker, director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said last week that both ships are armed with missiles, and warned that their passage could create more uncertainty in the region.
The Suez Canal is a key waterway for international trade. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, allowing ships to navigate between Europe and Asia without having to go around Africa. Millions of barrels of oil move through the Suez every day en route to Europe and North America.