Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Facebook Pengaruhi Pencabutan Skorsing Nigeria
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Seperti diberitakan sebelumnya, Presiden Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan melarang tim sepakbolanya berkaga di kejuaraan internasional selama dua tahun. Menyusul hasil buruk yang diraih tim Super Eagles di Piala Dunia 2010.
Hal itu pun mendapat reaksi keras dari FIFA yang menganggap langkah itu sebagai bentuk intervensi dari pemerintah. Setelah diberi tenggat waktu yang jatuh pada hari Senin (5/7), pemerintah Nigeria lantas mencabut skorsing tersebut.
Terkait pencabutan skorsing itu, Jonathan mengaku turut dipengaruhi oleh Facebook. Setelah skorsing diumumkan, laman akun Facebook Jonathan oleh ratusan posting yang mayoritas menolak kebijakan tersebut.
"Saya mendengar suara-suara Anda," ujar Jonathan di akun Facebook-nya dikutip BBC.
"Saya membaca komentar-komentar Anda dan mempertimbangkannya dalam keputusan pemerintah untuk mencabut suspensi Nigeria dari sepakbola internasional," tulis dia lagi.
Sang presiden yang baru memiliki laman Facebook pribadi sepekan silam itu saat ini sudah memiliki lebih dari 76 ribu pengikut.
"Saya bertemu dengan NFF (Badan Sepakbola Nigeria) hari ini dan menyampaikan kekecewaan saya dan orang-orang Nigeria (di laman ini) dan menerima jaminan bahwa akan ada perubahan positif," ucap Jonathan.
"Kini kami harus bekerja sama untuk meyakinkan NFF dan para pemain untuk membanggakan kami di masa depan."
Penjualan Chip Komputer Seluruh Dunia Naik Tajam
Penjualan semikonduktor di seluruh dunia meningkat 47,6 persen pada Mei dari setahun lalu dan 4,5 persen lebih tinggi dari bulan sebelumnya, Asosiasi Industri Semikonduktor (SIA) mengatakan Selasa.
SIA mengatakan penjualan global chip komputer mencapai 24,7 miliar dolar pada Mei dibandingkan dengan 16,7 miliar dolar pada Mei 2009 dan 23,6 miliar dolar pada April.
"Penjualan global semikonduktor Mei mencapai titik tertinggi baru dan tetap pada langkah untuk mencapai perkiraan pertumbuhan SIA dari 28,4 persen menjadi 290,5 miliar dolar pada 2010," kata Presiden SIA George Scalise dalam sebuah pernyataan.
"Penjualan chip telah didukung oleh kekuatan dalam penjualan komputer pribadi, telepon seluler, perusahaan teknologi informasi, industri aplikasi, dan otomotif," ujar Scalise.
"Pasar berkembang, termasuk China dan India, yang memicu penjualan produk komputer dan komunikasi," katanya.
"Permintaan dari perusahaan teknologi informasi dan sektor industri mendorong keluar siklus penggantian selama resesi ekonomi global mulai kembali," tambahnya.
Scalise mencatat bahwa tingkat pertumbuhan kuat pada tahun-ke-tahun "menggarisbawahi kondisi pasar semester pertama tahun 2009 sangat tertekan".
"Ke depan, pada perbandingan pertumbuhan tahun-ke-tahun akan mencerminkankan pemulihan industri yang memperoleh momentum pada paruh kedua tahun lalu," kata dia.
Penjualan semikonduktor di Amerika naik 52,9 persen pada Mei dari setahun lalu dan 8,2 persen lebih tinggi dari pada April. Penjualan chip di wilayah Asia-Pasifik pada Mei naik 50,9 persen dibanding tahun lalu dan 5,0 persen lebih tinggi daripada April. (*)
SIA mengatakan penjualan global chip komputer mencapai 24,7 miliar dolar pada Mei dibandingkan dengan 16,7 miliar dolar pada Mei 2009 dan 23,6 miliar dolar pada April.
"Penjualan global semikonduktor Mei mencapai titik tertinggi baru dan tetap pada langkah untuk mencapai perkiraan pertumbuhan SIA dari 28,4 persen menjadi 290,5 miliar dolar pada 2010," kata Presiden SIA George Scalise dalam sebuah pernyataan.
"Penjualan chip telah didukung oleh kekuatan dalam penjualan komputer pribadi, telepon seluler, perusahaan teknologi informasi, industri aplikasi, dan otomotif," ujar Scalise.
"Pasar berkembang, termasuk China dan India, yang memicu penjualan produk komputer dan komunikasi," katanya.
"Permintaan dari perusahaan teknologi informasi dan sektor industri mendorong keluar siklus penggantian selama resesi ekonomi global mulai kembali," tambahnya.
Scalise mencatat bahwa tingkat pertumbuhan kuat pada tahun-ke-tahun "menggarisbawahi kondisi pasar semester pertama tahun 2009 sangat tertekan".
"Ke depan, pada perbandingan pertumbuhan tahun-ke-tahun akan mencerminkankan pemulihan industri yang memperoleh momentum pada paruh kedua tahun lalu," kata dia.
Penjualan semikonduktor di Amerika naik 52,9 persen pada Mei dari setahun lalu dan 8,2 persen lebih tinggi dari pada April. Penjualan chip di wilayah Asia-Pasifik pada Mei naik 50,9 persen dibanding tahun lalu dan 5,0 persen lebih tinggi daripada April. (*)
AMBRUKNYA TENDA Promotor IICF Akui Ada Kesalahan
PT Nant Adipariwara selaku promotor pertunjukan sirkus Indonesia international Circus Festival (IICF) 2010 mengakui adanya kesalahan konstruksi pada tenda yang digunakan dalam pertunjukan sirkus. Hal itulah yang kemudian menyebabkan dua kali insiden ambruknya tiang-tiang tenda.
Syamsul Bahri dari bagian advokasi PT Nant Adipariwara mengatakan ada kesalahan konstruksi bangunan tenda yang dibangun oleh PT Garlic Production. "Kami mohon maaf yang sebesar-besarnya kepada para penonton. Kejadian ini murni karena ada kesalahan dari konstruksi bangunan tenda. Persoalan ini hingga saat ini masih kami negoisasikan dengan pihak kontraktor," kata Samsul Bahri dalam jumpa pers di Hotel Atlet Century, Senayan, Jakarta, Selasa ( 6/7/2010 ) malam.
Menurut Syamsul, kesalahan tersebut kesalahan konstruksi tersebut terdapat pada bagian kerangka yang kurang memadai. Hal ini makin diperparah dengan kondisi cuaca hujan deras yang terus menerus mengguyur tenda. "Secara kasat mata, memang ada kerangka menurut saya kurang, dan ini adalah kecerobohan pihak kontraktor," tegasnya.
Namun demikian, Syamsul belum bisa memastikan apakah PT Nan Adipariwara selaku promotor akan menuntut pertanggungjawaban pihak kontraktor PT Garlic terkait kejadian tersebut. "Kami tidak ingin berpolemik terlalu jauh. Sampai saat ini kami masih negoisasi dan terus membicarakan dengan pihak kontraktor," katanya.
Lebih lanjut, Syamsul menuturkan, pihaknya menyerahkan sepenuhnya penyelidikan atas kesalahan konstruksi tersebut kepada pihak kepolisian. Ia mengatakan, tidak ada unsur kesengajaan dari pihak promotor ataupun kontraktor atas insiden tersebut. Apapun hasil penyelidikan Polri, pihaknya siap menaati.
Sementara mengenai kerugian materi Syamsul mengatakan belum bisa memastikan jumlah pastinya. Namun, dikatakannya, diperkirakan cukup besar karena berbagai pihak yang turut berpartisipasi dalam penyelenggaraan festival sirkus itu cukup banyak.
Obama and Netanyahu urge direct Mid-East peace talks
US President Barack Obama has urged the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct peace talks before a settlement freeze expires in September.
He spoke after Oval Office talks with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it was "high time" for direct talks.
The two leaders also played down any suggestion of a rift between the US and Israel, with Mr Obama saying the bond was "unbreakable".
Mr Obama praised Israel for announcing it would ease its Gaza Strip blockade.
The US president said he hoped direct peace talks would resume "well before" Israel's 10-month moratorium on building new settlements in the West Bank expired at the end of September.
The Israeli prime minister has been under pressure from his right-wing coalition not to cave in to US calls to extend the freeze.
Continue reading the main story
We want to resume direct negotiations, but the problem is that the land that is supposed to be a Palestinian state is being eaten up by settlements
"I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu wants peace. I think he is willing to take risks for peace," said Mr Obama.
Mr Netanyahu said steps were being taken in the coming days and weeks to further the peace process, but he gave no further details.
The Palestinians withdrew from direct negotiations after Israel launched the Operation Cast Lead offensive in Gaza in late 2008.
Scheduled indirect talks were called off in March this year when Israel approved plans for 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians want the capital of their future state.
'Tougher' sanctionsThat announcement, as US Vice-President Joe Biden was visiting to launch the negotiations, triggered a crisis in relations between Israel and its greatest ally, Washington.
The two leaders were all smiles and both said they had had excellent discussions. Barack Obama said the bond with Israel was "unbreakable", Benjamin Netanyahu said reports about the demise of the US-Israeli relationship were "flat wrong".
So on atmospherics it's a success: the spat appears over; in fact, listening to the two men it never even happened. But on substance there was little.
Mr Netanyahu spoke of concrete steps to be taken in the coming days and weeks to further the peace process but he gave no further details.
It was expected that Mr Obama would ask Mr Netanyahu to extend a freeze on Israeli settlement building in occupied territory beyond a September deadline.
It looks as though that is not happening. Mr Obama said he wants direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians to start well before September and once those talks start, he said, the two parties should not seize on actions by the other side to stop talking.
The US president gave Mr Netanyahu a frosty reception at the White House during their last encounter later that month.
Indirect talks finally got under way in May with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell shuttling between the two sides in Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank.
The Palestinians have refused to sit down with Mr Netanyahu until he agrees to freeze construction in areas they want for an independent state. But Israel recently said it has no intention of doing that.
Mr Netanyahu warned during the White House talks that the main threat facing Israel was Iran's nuclear programme, although Tehran denies claims it is building atomic weapons.
The Israeli prime minister praised new US sanctions on Iran that Mr Obama signed last week, but urged "much tougher" measures from other nations.
It was Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu's first meeting since Israel's May raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists and triggered a regional diplomatic crisis.
Mr Netanyahu was snubbed by President Obama during their last encounter in March, when the US president refused even to allow a photo of their meeting to be released.
Afternoon teaCorrespondents say Tuesday's bilateral appeared much warmer, with US First Lady Michelle Obama inviting Mr Netanyahu's wife, Sara, for afternoon tea.
As the two leaders emphasised how strong their bond was, protesters gathered across the road in Lafayette Park and chanted "No More Aid [to Israel]. End the [Gaza] Blockade".
During his three-day US visit, Mr Netanyahu is also expected to travel to New York, where he will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and address Jewish American leaders.
Protesters outside the White House called for no more US aid to Israel
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Mr Netanyahu must choose between settlements and peace.
"We want to resume direct negotiations, but the problem is that the land that is supposed to be a Palestinian state is being eaten up by settlements," he told the Associated Press news agency.
Meanwhile, an Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, says Israel's Jewish settlements have now taken over more than 40% of all the land in the occupied West Bank.
The advocacy group's report says Israel "systematically violates" and reinterprets international, as well as its own laws, to take over private Palestinian land, thus undermining peace negotiations for a two-state solution.
Asean uses cultural assets in diplomacy
Most Asean countries make use of cultural and social assets for diplomacy with other countries, Prof I Ketut Ardhana of Udayana University`s Faculty of Letters said here on Monday.
"Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam make use of social and cultural assets to promote globalization era," said the professor of Asian history at Udayana University (Unud) Faculty of Letters.
He said the application of strategy and policy in cultural diplomacy could give more space in the solution of political and economic relation problem which came up at times as the result of competitiveness and economic crisis from the globalization at regional level.
Therefore, no wonder there we a lot of studies on ethnicity in relation with marginalized ethnic groups as the result of modernization influence.
Professor Ardhana pointed out that the existence of Karen people o the ethnic minority group in Thailand, indigenous people in Malaysia, Dayak Iban, Dayak Bidayu, and Dayak Lun in Vietnam were the example.
He said Thai government for example in its concept of "Becoming Thai" sometimes ignored the existence of local belief adhered by ethnic minority group in the country.
That concept is not much different from the concept implemented in Malaysia namely "Becoming Malays" with their unique characteristic.
Malaysian also makes use of social and cultural assets communicate with Malay ethnic in Indonesia.
Therefore, cultural diplomacy could be made through cultural seminars by involving the participants from Malaysia and Indonesia.
"Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam make use of social and cultural assets to promote globalization era," said the professor of Asian history at Udayana University (Unud) Faculty of Letters.
He said the application of strategy and policy in cultural diplomacy could give more space in the solution of political and economic relation problem which came up at times as the result of competitiveness and economic crisis from the globalization at regional level.
Therefore, no wonder there we a lot of studies on ethnicity in relation with marginalized ethnic groups as the result of modernization influence.
Professor Ardhana pointed out that the existence of Karen people o the ethnic minority group in Thailand, indigenous people in Malaysia, Dayak Iban, Dayak Bidayu, and Dayak Lun in Vietnam were the example.
He said Thai government for example in its concept of "Becoming Thai" sometimes ignored the existence of local belief adhered by ethnic minority group in the country.
That concept is not much different from the concept implemented in Malaysia namely "Becoming Malays" with their unique characteristic.
Malaysian also makes use of social and cultural assets communicate with Malay ethnic in Indonesia.
Therefore, cultural diplomacy could be made through cultural seminars by involving the participants from Malaysia and Indonesia.
AT Mahmud dies because illness
The writer of children`s songs and icon of the education of children Abdullah Totong Mahmud (AT Mahmud) passed away at 80 on Tuesday at 1 pm local time at his home in South Jakarta.
"AT Mahmud died this afternoon at his home", expert in childrens` education Seto Mulyadi said in Jakarta Tuesday.
The remains of the deceased is being laid in state at his home, and the funeral was planned on Wednesday at 10 am local time.(*)
"AT Mahmud died this afternoon at his home", expert in childrens` education Seto Mulyadi said in Jakarta Tuesday.
The remains of the deceased is being laid in state at his home, and the funeral was planned on Wednesday at 10 am local time.(*)
Flight ban on Air Asia, Metro Batavia to Europe lifted
The European Commission has once again eliminated two Indonesian airline companies from the list of flying bans, following the revocation of flying bans imposed on Garuda and three other Indonesian airline companies.
Minister Counsellor for information, social and cultural division of the Indonesian embassy in Brussels P.L.E.Priatna told Antara`s London correspondent on Tuesday that the two airline companies are Indonesia Air Asia and Metro Batavia.
They are allowed to fly to Europe beginning from July 6, 2010.
He said the decision was taken unanimously by representatives of 27 countries of the European Union after considering the direct explanation and written answers from the two airline companies at a meeting of the Air Safety Committee (ASC) on June 22, 2010, in Brussels.
The decision to lift the flight ban was carried in an EC Regulation No. 590/2010 dated July 5, 2010, which was announced officially in the European Community Journal on Tuesday.
The European Commission had lifted the flight ban for the two airline companies as the result of a reform of the civil aviation sector in Indonesia initiated by the Air Transportation Directorate General in promoting the standard of flight security and safety with international regulations.(*)
Minister Counsellor for information, social and cultural division of the Indonesian embassy in Brussels P.L.E.Priatna told Antara`s London correspondent on Tuesday that the two airline companies are Indonesia Air Asia and Metro Batavia.
They are allowed to fly to Europe beginning from July 6, 2010.
He said the decision was taken unanimously by representatives of 27 countries of the European Union after considering the direct explanation and written answers from the two airline companies at a meeting of the Air Safety Committee (ASC) on June 22, 2010, in Brussels.
The decision to lift the flight ban was carried in an EC Regulation No. 590/2010 dated July 5, 2010, which was announced officially in the European Community Journal on Tuesday.
The European Commission had lifted the flight ban for the two airline companies as the result of a reform of the civil aviation sector in Indonesia initiated by the Air Transportation Directorate General in promoting the standard of flight security and safety with international regulations.(*)
Celebrities in porn videos can likely be named suspects
Chief of the National Police Investigation Division Commissioner General Ito Sumardi said all the celebrities in the porn videos could likely be named suspects.
"They can be named suspects. We are just waiting for their further questionings," he said here Tuesday in response to a question on whether all those in the porn videos could be named suspects.
The video scandal involved Rockband singer "Ariel Peterpan", actress-host Luna Maya and model Cut Tari has attracted public attention over the past months.
Ariel himself had even named suspect and detained by the police.
Sumardi said Luna Maya and Cut Tari would again to be questioned in the near future. "They are hopefully questioned again this week. We can then decide their status," he said.
The two had so far maintained their status as witnesses regarding this controversial porn videos, he said.
Sumardi further said that the police had got a person suspected as the first person who uploaded the video to the Internet. The suspect was only identified as K.
The police investigators still probed into some evidence, including laptop that might have been used for uploading the porn videos.
This video scandal has attracted public and media attention in Indonesia.
It had also triggered rallies from various elements in the society, including those of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).
Several hundreds of the HTI-Solo Chapter`s backers had recently staged a rally against what they called Indonesians involving in free sex and pornography.
Bringing various posters and chanting "freeing Indonesia from pornography and free sex", the HTI demonstrators marched for two kilometers before stopping at Gladag Roundabout.
In his speech, the demonstration coordinator, Erland Alfath Fathonie, said the porn video scandal involving a pop rocker, top model, and TV presenter was a fact of worsening free sex practices.
The sex tape videos circulated to public through internet by unknown people was also the fact of a double edge razor of the information technological devices, he said.
Instead of IT devices` positiveness, they also had the negative sides, he said and urged law enforcers to take stern action against those involved in the scandal and those disseminating the videos.
HTI also called on the related authorities to halt the dissemination of those sex tape videos and other porn materials to the public for the sake of the nation.
Young Indonesians need also be protected from those porn videos and materials by teaching them religious values, he said.(*)
"They can be named suspects. We are just waiting for their further questionings," he said here Tuesday in response to a question on whether all those in the porn videos could be named suspects.
The video scandal involved Rockband singer "Ariel Peterpan", actress-host Luna Maya and model Cut Tari has attracted public attention over the past months.
Ariel himself had even named suspect and detained by the police.
Sumardi said Luna Maya and Cut Tari would again to be questioned in the near future. "They are hopefully questioned again this week. We can then decide their status," he said.
The two had so far maintained their status as witnesses regarding this controversial porn videos, he said.
Sumardi further said that the police had got a person suspected as the first person who uploaded the video to the Internet. The suspect was only identified as K.
The police investigators still probed into some evidence, including laptop that might have been used for uploading the porn videos.
This video scandal has attracted public and media attention in Indonesia.
It had also triggered rallies from various elements in the society, including those of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).
Several hundreds of the HTI-Solo Chapter`s backers had recently staged a rally against what they called Indonesians involving in free sex and pornography.
Bringing various posters and chanting "freeing Indonesia from pornography and free sex", the HTI demonstrators marched for two kilometers before stopping at Gladag Roundabout.
In his speech, the demonstration coordinator, Erland Alfath Fathonie, said the porn video scandal involving a pop rocker, top model, and TV presenter was a fact of worsening free sex practices.
The sex tape videos circulated to public through internet by unknown people was also the fact of a double edge razor of the information technological devices, he said.
Instead of IT devices` positiveness, they also had the negative sides, he said and urged law enforcers to take stern action against those involved in the scandal and those disseminating the videos.
HTI also called on the related authorities to halt the dissemination of those sex tape videos and other porn materials to the public for the sake of the nation.
Young Indonesians need also be protected from those porn videos and materials by teaching them religious values, he said.(*)
A brief history of the World Cup: From humble beginnings in Uruguay
On June 21, 1930, a Frenchman boarded the SS Conte Verde at Villefranche-sur-Mer, carrying in his baggage a small winged statuette representing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.
Also aboard the South America-bound liner were footballers from France, Belgium and Romania. The Frenchman was Jules Rimet and the golden trophy was the World Cup.
Rimet's vision, conceived in the aftermath of World War One, was of a global tournament which reflected football's growing international popularity. But as the vessel set sail for Montevideo, the competition's prospects did not look particularly good.
Uruguay had been awarded the event following gold medals at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, and because the competition coincided with the South American country's centenary celebrations.
But, with the world's economy reeling from the Great Depression, just 12 other teams took part. England, claiming de facto supremacy in a sport they had invented and exported, were among those to snub the tournament. Unsurprisingly, the first final would prove a local affair, with the hosts beating neighboring Argentina 4-2.
Two more World Cups would be played before World War Two -- both won by Italy -- but the competition remained an event finding its feet as sporting issues were overshadowed by the darkening mood in Europe. Rimet's trophy spent the war hidden in a shoe box under the bed of an Italian football official.
A new era began in 1950 as hosts Brazil built the world's biggest football stadium, Rio de Janeiro's Maracana, to showcase a competition which they were also expected to dominate.
England, finally sending a team, suffered an ignominious 1-0 defeat against the U.S. but it was the final match that delivered the greatest shock as Uruguay, in front of an expectant crowd of almost 200,000, stunned the hosts 2-1.
In Brazil the match became known as the "fateful final." Yet it was also the trauma of the defeat which would fuel Brazil's obsession with winning the tournament, paving the way for the country's later dominance.
2010 World Cup: A catalyst for a new South Africa?
The World Cup returned to Europe in 1954 with Switzerland playing hosts and Hungary, led by "Galloping Major" Ferenc Puskas, arriving as favorites. The Hungarians thrashed in 17 goals in their opening two games, including an 8-3 win over West Germany, their eventual opponents in the final. But in a match known in Germany as the "Miracle of Berne," it was Fritz Walter's side who emerged as 3-2 winners.
The 1958 World Cup in Sweden marked the arrival of a 17-year-old superstar called Edison Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pele, as Brazil were crowned champions at last. Pele didn't appear until the quarterfinals, but followed the winning goal against Wales with a hat-trick against France and two more in a 5-2 win over the hosts in the final.
Brazil were winners again in 1962 in Chile, this time inspired by Garrincha's trickery. The winger scored four times in wins over England and Chile before Brazil completed the defense of their crown with a 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia.
1966 was the year when England finally embraced the World Cup, with home advantage proving enough to carry Alf Ramsey's side all the way to the title, capped by Geoff Hurst's hat-trick in a 4-2 final win over West Germany. But the victory also marked the beginning of the country's still unfulfilled obsession with repeating the feat.
The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was a technicolored spectacle, brought live to millions of television screens by satellite technology and featuring a virtuoso performance by a Brazilian team considered the greatest in football history.
Pele produced the tournament's most memorable cameos, including his famous near-miss from the halfway line against Czechoslovakia and an astonishing dummy that sent the ball past a bewildered Uruguayan keeper -- though neither moment led to a goal. The save from his downward header by England goalkeeper Gordon Banks is rated by many as the best of all time.
Jairzinho achieved the unique feat of scoring in every match while captain Carlos Alberto capped his side's 4-1 win over Italy in the final with an emphatic finish that summed up the Brazilians' supremacy.
By 1974, the World Cup was starting to resemble its modern incarnation, with teams such as Zaire -- the first from sub-Saharan Africa -- and Australia extending the competition's reach beyond its roots in Europe and South America.
Johan Cruyff's brilliant Dutch side took the tournament by storm with their revolutionary "total football" but it was hosts West Germany who came out on top 2-1 in the final.
Who will be the World Cup's best player?
Home advantage also proved decisive in 1978 as Argentina ended their long wait for World Cup success with Mario Kempes scoring twice in a 3-1 win over the Netherlands in the final. For some however, the tournament was tainted, offering apparent legitimacy to the country's oppressive military regime.
Italy ended their long wait for a third title in 1982 in Spain, recovering from a slow start to beat favorites Brazil in a thrilling second-round match in which striker Paolo Rossi scored a hat-trick on his way to winning the top scorer's Golden Boot.
West Germany were the Italians' opponents in the final, though their passage was marred by a semifinal penalties victory over France principally remembered for a horrendous challenge by West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher which left Frenchman Patrick Battiston unconscious. Rossi opened the scoring in Italy's 3-1 win.
The 1986 tournament in Mexico belonged to Diego Maradona, whose individual brilliance carried Argentina to victory virtually single-handedly -- literally in the case of his notorious "Hand of God" goal against England.
Maradona's second goal of that match, a waltzing solo from inside his own half, confirmed him as football's greatest talent since Pele, and not even a West German fightback from two goals down in the final could prevent Argentina being crowned champions as 3-2 winners.
The 1990 tournament in Italy opened with a stunning upset as Cameroon beat Argentina 1-0 in a brutal performance which saw them end the game with nine men. Argentina regrouped to advance to the final, setting up a rematch of the 1986 final against West Germany. This time the West Germans, the tournament's most impressive side, came out on top, winning 1-0.
Maradona's last World Cup, in the U.S. in 1994, ended in disgrace as he failed a drugs test. Colombia went into the competition as favorites but their participation ended tragically with early elimination and the murder on their return home of defender Andres Escobar, the scorer of a critical own-goal.
That left Brazil, led by Romario, carrying the South American challenge, while Italian Roberto Baggio hauled his team through the knockout stages in a trio of match-winning performances against Nigeria, Spain and Bulgaria.
But Baggio's fate was to be remembered as the man who missed in the first final to be settled on penalties, shooting over the crossbar to send the World Cup back to Brazil for the first time since 1970.
Brazil reached the final once again in 1998, but the buildup to their clash with hosts France would prove more dramatic than the match itself as the world's most feared striker, Ronaldo, was first omitted from the Brazilians' team sheet and then reinstated at the last minute.
Later reports suggested Ronaldo had suffered a pre-match fit, and the incident seemed to be playing on his teammates' minds as Zinedine Zidane struck twice for France in a 3-0 win, triggering wild celebrations on the Champs Elysees.
In 2002 the World Cup visited Asia for the first time, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea. It was a tournament of upsets with Senegal humbling France in the opening game and South Korea riding their luck and some generous refereeing to oust Spain and Italy on their way to the last four.
Turkey were also surprise semifinalists, but the final brought together two heavyweights in Brazil and Germany. Making up for the disappointment of 1998, Ronaldo scored both goals in a 2-0 win as Brazil became five-time winners.
Both Zidane and Marco Materazzi found the net in the 2006 final in Germany between France and Italy, but it was the pair's off-the-ball clash deep into extra time that became the tournament's defining moment.
Zidane had emerged from international retirement to lead his country to the final, a fitting stage for the greatest player of his generation's final game.
Instead, Zidane was dismissed from the field for headbutting Materazzi, apparently in retaliation to some verbal insult offered by the Italian defender. France's 10 men held out for a 1-1 draw but without their talisman the fates had swung decisively against them.
Having defied the distraction of a match-fixing scandal at home and beaten hosts Germany in a tense semifinal, the Italians held their nerve once again to convert five perfect penalties and win the World Cup for the fourth time.
When worlds collide: Soccer vs. politics
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death... I assure you it is much, much more important than that."
As Bill Shankly, the legendary former manager of English club Liverpool, pointed out shortly before he passed away in 1981, the significance of the beautiful game can never be underestimated -- and that doesn't just apply to fans of the sport, either.
Soccer can affect lives on a national and international scale, inspiring revolutions and causing wars as well as having the capability to create peace and lift entire nations.
The "Football War" between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 is perhaps the most famous example of the sport's wider implications. The two Central American nations famously came to blows following their qualification match for the 1970 World Cup.
But this wasn't the first time, and definitely won't be the last, that the worlds of football and politics collide with remarkable results.
1. Mussolini manipulates the "man in black," 1934
"Il Duce" was determined to use this World Cup on home soil to showcase his fascist Italy. Mussolini had his own trophy created for the event -- the Coppa Del Duce -- which was six times the size of the Jules Rimet, and to this day allegations remain the tournament was fixed so that only Italy would collect it.
According to the BBC's "World Cup Stories" book by Chris Hunt, there were suggestions that the Italian dictator himself picked the referees. In the semifinal against Austria, Mussolini's Azzurri team won 2-1, but after the game their opponents complained the game was fixed.
"The referee even played for them," said Austrian striker Josef Bican. "When I passed for the ball out to the right wing, one of our players, Cicek, ran for it and the referee headed it back to the Italians. It was unbelievable."
2. Austrian star humiliates Nazis, 1938
Austria had one of the game's greatest sides in the 1930s, but when the Nazis annexed their neighbors, the nation's "Wunderteam" were forced to withdraw from the World Cup and merge with Germany.
Star striker Matthias Sindelar so opposed his nation's loss of independence that he refused to play for Germany. He pleaded old age, but Germany's manager Sepp Herberger would later recall: "I almost had the impression that discomfort and rejection, linked to the political developments, had prompted his refusal."
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During a so-called "Reconciliation Game" to mark the merging of the two sides, Sindelar made his feelings quite clear in a 2-0 win for Austria. According to German historian Nils Havemann's book "Fussball unterm Hakenkreuz," the center-forward scored his beloved country's first and then, when the second goal went in, he danced in celebration in front of Nazi officials.
In 1939, Sindelar and his girlfriend were killed in his apartment by a gas leak. Controversy still reigns over whether it was murder or suicide -- or just an accident.
3. Algerians play for independence, 1958
Halfway through Algeria's War of Independence, the French national team called up a handful of Algerians playing in the French soccer league for the World Cup in Sweden.
Given the chance of glory, fame and fortune, the players chose national identity instead. Rather than attend a pre-tournament friendly against Switzerland, they decided to flee France, gather at the headquarters of the Front Liberation National in Tunisia and launch an "illegal" national team, risking arrest for desertion in the process.
Rachid Maflouki had won the French championship with Saint Etienne before getting the call from Les Bleus, but decided there were more important matters at stake than his personal success.
"I didn't hesitate," he told Ian Hawkey, author of "Feet of the Chameleon."
"Okay, I would have to give up my club. And yes, I was thinking about the World Cup, but what did that count for in comparison with my country's independence?"
4. Zaire players crack under Presidential pressure, 1974
It's remembered as one of the World Cup's funniest moments, but the truth is much darker. Already 3-0 down and facing a Brazilian free-kick, Zaire's right-back Ilunga Mwepu seemingly forgot the rules of the game, charged at the ball and hoofed it away before the whistle had even been blown.
The Leopards, the first sub-Saharan African nation to reach the finals, had already been humiliated 9-0 by Yugoslavia before losing 2-0 to Scotland, and were told by President Mobutu's henchmen that if they lost to Brazil by more than three goals they wouldn't be allowed to return home.
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"Do you think I'd deliberately make myself look like an idiot? You have to remember we were playing for our lives," he said in the book "Death or Glory, the Dark History of the World Cup" by Jon Spurling.
Mwepu's act of "madness," it turns out, was in fact a very sane attempt to waste time.
5. The German nation divided, 1974
East Germany versus West at the 1974 World Cup was perhaps the most politically-charged match of all time. After the Second World War, the divided nation had become the main arena for the Cold War, and this fixture in Hamburg represented a head-to-head between the two ideologies.
Although the game was actually the last in the group and it had become clear that both teams would qualify from the group stage, that did not diminish the tension surrounding the clash.
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With home advantage, European champions West Germany were favorites but it was the East German Jurgen Sparwasser who scored the only goal of the game.
East Germany heralded their triumph, but the victory was rendered a little hollow after they were knocked out in the next round and their bitter rivals went on to win the tournament.
6. Argentine junta swaps grain for glory, 1978
Argentina's junta, which had seized power just a couple of years earlier, was determined to use the World Cup it was hosting as propaganda for the regime.
According to a 1986 article by journalist Maria Laura Avignolo of Britain's Sunday Times, and supported by David Yallop in his book "How They Stole the Game," the junta used bribery and intimidation to help win the cup.
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In the group stages, Argentina needed to beat Peru by four goals in their last game to progress. General Jorge Videla made a timely pre-match visit to the Peruvian dressing-room to talk to the players about "Latin American unity" before the host nation rattled six past a side that had previously held eventual finalists Holland to a goalless draw.
Avignolo claimed that in the weeks following the Peru game, an impromptu cargo of 35,000 tonnes of wheat left Argentina for Lima and that the military regime issued an interest-free loan of $50 million to the Peruvian government.
7. Iran's football revolution, 1998
They may have been two of the least significant footballing sides at France '98, but nevertheless this fixture caught the world's imagination because Iran and the United States had been at loggerheads since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Although political relations were strained, the clash of civilizations never quite happened on the pitch. Instead, both sides showed the utmost respect, swapping flowers, gifts and photographs before the kick-off.
The Iranians won 2-1, but, celebrations back home had a destabilizing effect as hundreds of thousands of young people, including women, partied in the streets in defiance of government warnings.
"In my neighborhood everybody goes out into the streets," one young Iranian told the BBC's Jim Muir. "It's a good excuse for boys and girls to mix, and in a way it's political, because it's a demand for social change."
8. Germany enjoys "Partyotism," 2006
The tournament slogan "A time to make friends" pretty much said it all. The organizers of Germany 2006 set out to woo the world, and in the process the country learned to love themselves.
A combination of a flawless summer and coach Jurgen Klinsmann's flee-flowing football injected a feel-good factor back into the national psyche, and Germans realized they could enjoy patriotism again -- or as the local media billed it, "partyotism."
"In the space of one month, Klinsmann managed to bring together a society ashamed of displays of nationalism and still divided along East-West lines, turning Germany into a nation of face-painting, flag-waving patriots," Hunt said in his "World Cup Stories" book.
"Never mind the final," Britain's The Times newspaper wrote. "Germans are the real World Cup winners."
9. The Koreas refuse to play nicely, 2008
North and South Korea both successfully managed to qualify for South Africa 2010, but there were plenty of bad-tempered squabbles along the way.
The bickering got so bad that world governing body FIFA eventually had to intervene after North Korea announced it would not let the South play its national anthem or wave its flag on their territory.
So determined were the North Koreans that they were even prepared to play their "home" game abroad. In the end, the fixture took place in Shanghai, where the North Korean coach complained that their rivals had poisoned their food.
In a statement about the match, the North's football association said: "It was beyond all doubt that the incident was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff as [the players] could not get up all of a sudden just before the match."
According to a report by the BBC, the South's soccer federation -- Korea Football Association -- said a sports doctor had examined the North Korean players and found no serious problem.
10. Football diplomacy between old enemies, 2008-09
Serious sport is war minus the shooting, remarked English author George Orwell. So it was refreshing last year when Armenia and Turkey used the beautiful game to make peace.
The leaders of the two countries met up to watch a World Cup qualifier between their nations after almost a century of bitterness following the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Turks during World War One.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended the initial game in Armenia in 2008, which the hosts lost 2-0, and his counterpart Serzh Sarkisian agreed to join him for the return fixture the following year for further thawing of diplomatic relations.
No doubt the fact that neither side had a chance of qualifying for South Africa helped keep things civil.
The 10 biggest World Cup upsets
You could argue that the real spirit of the World Cup is distilled in those fleeting, beautiful moments when the artists and millionaires are humbled by the amateurs and the underdogs.
Video: Switzerland stuns Spain in huge upset 
If that's the case, then South Africa 2010 is shaping up as a vintage tournament in the competition's history with European giants including France, Italy, Spain and England all on the wrong end of shock results against supposedly lesser opposition.
Hosts South Africa beat France 2-1 on Tuesday to confirm the former world champions' first round elimination from the tournament. England face a must-win clash with Slovenia on Wednesday after being held goalless by Algeria, while European champions Spain began their campaign with a 1-0 defeat by Switzerland.
France's nightmare ends but South Africa fall short
But perhaps nothing captures the transient triumph of the underdog better than the final few moments of New Zealand's surprise 1-1 draw against the holders Italy on Sunday, when a team of little-known players held on for dear life to deny their highly-rated opponents.
Before the 2010 tournament started, the "All Whites" -- along with North Korea -- were the rankest of rank outsiders with odds of 2000-1 to win the World Cup.
After all, they hail from a country without a professional league and who only qualified after beating fellow soccer lightweights Bahrain, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to reach South Africa.
Video: Switzerland stuns Spain in huge upset But as coach Ricki Herbert tried to hold on for a historic draw, he brought on Andrew Barron, an amateur footballer who works in an investment bank and who was only there because his boss had given him the time off work.
Barron and his All Whites held on for arguably one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history. In tribute, CNN celebrates 10 more results that shook the world.
North Korea 1-0 Italy (England, 1966)
The mysterious national team of a secretive, Stalinist nation led by a bellicose president went to the World Cup under a cloud of heightening political tensions.
Sound familiar? Just like in 2010, the North Korean national team arrived in England in 1966 as virtual unknowns. The press dubbed them "the Mystery Men."
They were lucky to even be there. Recently-released British Foreign Office documents show that the UK government almost refused visas for the team to play in the tournament because it didn't recognize North Korea. It relented and, unbelievably, North Korea beat Italy 1-0 to become the first Asian side to ever reach the quarterfinals.
The secret machine: Inside North Korea's World Cup squad
"I learned that football is not only about the winning," said goal-scorer Pak Doo-Ik in "The Game of Their Lives," a documentary about the exploits of the 1966 North Korean team. "Wherever we go, playing football can improve diplomatic relations and promote peace."
North Korea went out in a blaze of glory, losing 5-3 to Portugal despite taking a 3-0 lead. The Italians, on the other hand, were pelted with rotten fruit when they returned home.
USA 1-0 England (Brazil, 1950)
The only person who met me at the airport was my wife
--Walter Bahr, part of Team USA at the 1950 World Cup
--Walter Bahr, part of Team USA at the 1950 World Cup
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The English were so sure of their superiority over the U.S., a team made up of mailmen and school teachers, that sports editors back home thought someone had made a typing error when the score first came in over the wires. Surely they meant 10-0 to England? But no, the Americans had produced one of the greatest shocks the tournament has ever seen.
When U.S. postmen and miners humbled England
The only goal was scored by Joe Gaetjens, a Haitian who a few years later went missing, presumed murdered by a death squad during Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier's brutal rule. The humiliation sent shockwaves through the English game. But back home, the American players' exploits went almost totally unnoticed.
"The only person who met me at the airport when we flew [back] was my wife," Walter Bahr, a defender who set up the winner, told CNN. "The papers had nothing in there. The Philadelphia paper, I still have a copy of it, it has a two-inch column. I don't think I did a single interview about the World Cup until 25 years later."
West Germany 3-2 Hungary (Switzerland, 1954)
It seems strange having a final as one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, but the denouement to the 1954 tournament, held in Switzerland, was the biggest mismatch in the tournament's history.
West Germany, a team of amateur footballers still coming to terms with the political and economic aftermath of World War Two, were playing Hungary, the greatest team on the planet led by the inspirational Ferenc Puskas.
The two teams had met in the group stages, with Hungary smashing the Germans 8-3. Yet somehow West Germany managed to hang on. Such was the outpouring of previously-hidden national pride back home that German historian Joachim Fest credited the match as a vital turning point in the country's fortunes.
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"It was a kind of liberation for the Germans from all the things that weighed down upon them after the Second World War," Fest wrote. "July 4, 1954 is in certain aspects the founding day of the German Republic."
No wonder the match is known as the "Miracle of Bern."
Italy lost in 2002 to a golden goal scored by South Korea's Ahn Jung-Hwan.
South Korea 2-1 Italy (Japan and South Korea, 2002)
Not much was expected from co-hosts South Korea at the 2002 World Cup. However, they were being coached by legendary Dutchman Guus Hiddink and his players lit up the tournament on the way to the semifinals -- but it was their controversial defeat of Italy that everyone remembers.
After having a perfectly good goal disallowed, the Italians were knocked out by a golden goal scored by Ahn Jung-Hwan. As it turned out, Ahn played for Perugia in Italy's Serie A league. So incensed were the Italians with the result that the owner of his club decided to sack him.
"I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian soccer," Perugia's owner Luciano Gaucci told the Italian press. Gaucci later apologized, but Ahn refused to play for Perugia again and was promptly sold to a J-League team in Japan.
Spain 0-1 Northern Ireland (Spain, 1982)
Northern Ireland became the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup finals in 1982. If that wasn't disadvantage enough, Northern Ireland's greatest ever player -- the mercurial George Best -- refused to come out of retirement to lend a hand.
So when they met the hosts Spain in Valencia during the group stage, a rout was on the cards. Yet Gerry Armstrong's solitary strike gave Northern Ireland victory despite having a man sent off, earning a place in the quarterfinals.
"At the final whistle, we didn't initially celebrate. We just looked at each other for about 10 seconds in amazement," former midfielder Tommy Cassidy told the Lancashire Telegraph. "We couldn't believe what we'd done. We had beaten Spain in their backyard. It was unthinkable."
Senegal 1-0 France (Japan and South Korea, 2002)
Cast your mind back to a time when the French team weren't ripping themselves to pieces in an orgy of self-destruction. A stunning 3-0 victory over Brazil to win the World Cup on home soil in 1998 was followed by success in the European Championships two years later.
It was no surprise, then, that the French were confident going into the 2002 World Cup. Too confident in fact. In the first game they faced lowly Senegal -- a former French colony and the birth place of "Les Bleus" legend Patrick Vieira -- who managed to sneak a 1-0 victory. The holders went home after the group stage having failed to score a goal.
"The opening game against Senegal was a disaster," Vieira later told FIFA's website. "That just goes to show you that quality alone is not enough. You have to work and keep your feet on the ground."
Argentina lost to underdogs Cameroon at Italia 90, yet weeks later reached the tournament final.
Argentina 0-1 Cameroon (Italy, 1990)
Of course, France weren't the only holders to lose to seemingly inferior African opponents in their opening match. Back in 1990, Argentina -- with Diego Maradona running the midfield -- took on a Cameroon side featuring a mixture of brute force and exquisite skill.
The Miami Herald described Cameroon as "a humble team with an insignificant past," yet it wasn't long before the "Indomitable Lions" were writing a new chapter in their history.
The 1-0 victory was memorable enough, although not as memorable as the Africans' two red cards including a ludicrous tackle on Argentine striker Claudio Caniggia by Benjamin Massing. It was so hard, Massing lost a boot.
"I got a kick from a guy against Cameroon that nearly took my head off," recalled Maradona recently. Unsurprisingly, it is the hosts, rather than the holders, that now play the first match of the tournament.
Iran 2-1 United States (France, 1998)
Team USA haven't ever been considered one of the leading lights in world football, but the 1998 World Cup in France represented a chance for the Americans to push on from the gains they made when they hosted the tournament four years previously.
Instead they were embroiled in a geo-political grudge match against Iran. Even U.S. President Bill Clinton recorded a message before the match preaching reconciliation.
When worlds collide: Soccer vs. politics
But it wasn't a good night for the U.S. as Iran won 2-1 to send a million people into a frenzy on the streets of Tehran, the biggest crowd in the capital since the funeral of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"All we cared about, our only goal was to win against the U.S.," recalled Ali Daei, Iran's then captain. "But we didn't take it seriously for the last match against Germany so that we could qualify for the second round."
The United States and Iran met at the 2002 World Cup against a background of strained relations.
Both teams went home early.
Peru 3-1 Scotland (Argentina, 1978)
It was always going to end in tears. The Scottish had been convinced by their coach Ally MacLeod that they would come home with the 1978 World Cup. They had some great players then too: Archie Gemmill, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness et al. In fact, such was the confidence they had a leaving parade to send off their soon-to-be-victorious boys.
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First up on the inevitable march to glory were South American minnows Peru, a seemingly simple fixture. But despite the Scots going ahead, Peru hit back with three stunning goals.
To make matters worse, Willie Johnston failed a drugs test afterwards and was sent home in disgrace, ending his international career. No-one has talked up Scotland's chances at a World Cup since.
Brazil 1-2 Uruguay (Brazil, 1950)
Brazil were so sure they would win the 1950 World Cup on home soil that some early editions of the South Americans' domestic newspapers hit the streets declaring victory after halftime.
After all, the "Samba Kings" were leading 1-0 against Uruguay in a round-robin match that would determine the title -- there was no one-off final that year, a thusfar unique occurrence.
But a second-half comeback saw Uruguay win 2-1 in front of close to 200,000 fans. It caused some problems: gold victory medals had already been pressed for the Brazilians and a victory song composed, both of which had to be scrapped.
"Our catastrophe, our Hiroshima," wrote novelist Nelson Rodrigues, "was the defeat by Uruguay in 1950."
Brazilian football remained in a funk until the emergence of Pele during the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. They haven't looked back since.
Israeli soldier faces manslaughter charge in Gaza incursion
An Israeli soldier faces a manslaughter charge in the death of a Palestinian waving a white flag during a three-week incursion into Gaza, the Israeli military said Tuesday.
The criminal indictment is one of a few disciplinary actions being taken by the Israeli Defense Forces for conduct in the Gaza incursion, including the use of a Palestinian man as a "human shield," the military said in a news release.
In that incident, a battalion commander authorized sending a Palestinian man into a house sheltering terrorists in order to persuade them to leave the house, the IDF news release said. The commander was indicted "because he deviated from authorized and appropriate IDF behavior" and ignored rules on the use of civilians in military operations, it said.
Israeli investigators looked into more than 150 incidents during Operation Cast Lead undertaken by Israel in late 2008 in response to an escalation of Palestinian rocket attacks, and conducted 50 probes, the IDF said.
Tuesday's news release also said a criminal investigation has been ordered into an incident in which a residence with about 100 people inside was struck from the air, and an officer had been disciplined for failing to exercise appropriate judgment in ordering an attack close to a mosque.
But the Palestinians say Israel's actions are unsatisfactory.
"I think Israel should take all responsibility for all the war crimes that it is responsible for during its unjustified war in Gaza, and what they just announced is too little too late," Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib told CNN.
The shooting incident involving the white flag appeared to be the same one reported earlier in the Goldstone human rights report on the Gaza incursion, in which two women allegedly were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on January 4, 2009, the IDF said.
But conflict between the testimonies of Palestinian witnesses and military personnel made it "impossible to make a criminal connection" between the incidents described by the two sides, the news release said. The chief military prosecutor decided on the manslaughter charge, it said, because there was evidence that the sergeant "deliberately targeted an individual walking with a group of people waving a white flag without being ordered or authorized to do so."
Earlier this year, the Israeli military disciplined two officers -- a brigadier general and a colonel -- for allowing artillery shells to be fired into a populated area of Gaza.
The IDF news release Tuesday noted that Israel "practiced a policy of restraint for a long period of time" against Palestinian attacks from Gaza and accused the Palestinian movement Hamas of terrorizing the population. It said Operation Cast Lead was conducted in crowded urban centers, which created a complex security situation.
More than 1,400 Palestinians died in Israel's incursion, according to officials in Gaza. The Israeli military said 1,166 people were killed, 60 percent of whom were "terror operatives."
The 575-page Goldstone report -- approved by the U.N. Council for Human Rights in 2009 -- accused both Israel and Hamas of "actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during the three-week offensive that ended in January 2009.
The report, known for its author, South African jurist Richard Goldstone, called on both Israel and Hamas to independently investigate the alleged human rights violations cited in the report.
Heiress' accountant claims cash destined for Sarkozy
French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke out Tuesday after being linked to alleged illegal payments from France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. "I would so like it if the country could be passionate about the big problems such as health, pensions, or how we can create growth, instead of getting involved with the first slanderous horror which has only one goal: to bring people down without any element of truth," Sarkozy told reporters.
Sarkozy spoke after a French investigative website, Mediapart, published an interview Tuesday with a former Bettencourt accountant identified only as "Claire T." She said she prepared envelopes of cash that were to be given to both Sarkozy and current Labor Minister Eric Woerth, who previously worked in the Budget Ministry and was in charge of reforms to France's retirement system.
Allegations of payments to Woerth emerged from secret recordings allegedly made by Bettencourt's butler and now being considered as potential evidence in a fraud case involving the heiress.
Claire T.'s lawyer, Antoine Gillot, told French broadcaster BFM that his client never gave any money directly to a politician.
"Her statements are completely credible. She was close to Madame Bettencourt," Gillot said. "My client is under a lot of pressure. (She) had had enough and decided to tell the truth."
Gillot told French news agency Agence France-Presse that Bettencourt's financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, asked his client for 150,000 euros ($188,800) and said he would give it "discreetly" to Woerth at a dinner.
Claire T. said she believed Sarkozy also received envelopes in person while he was mayor of Neuilly-Sur-Seine between 1983 and 2002, Mediapart reported.
"Everyone in the house knew that Sarkozy went to see the Bettencourts to collect money," Mediapart quoted the woman as saying.
Among the claims is that Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign received money in excess of the 7,500-euro ($9,440) limit permitted for political donations to parties. That would make the payments -- if proven -- illegal, according to Agence France-Presse.
Sarkozy's political opponents called Tuesday for him to address the allegations directly.
"Sarkozy should speak up," said Jean Marc Ayrault, president of the Socialist Party group in the French National Assembly.
Jean Francois Cope, president of the Union for a Popular Movement, told broadcaster France 2 that Sarkozy "must speak to the French people."
Woerth vowed not to resign, telling BFM on Tuesday it would only bolster his accusers.
"It's unacceptable to bring people down in this manner," Woerth said. "It's unacceptable. I would go as far as to say it's very upsetting."
The tape with the allegations against Woerth emerged in connection with the trial of a photographer who is accused of scamming Bettencourt.
Photographer Francois-Marie Banier went on trial Thursday in Paris, accused of bilking the 87-year-old L'Oreal heiress out of a billion euros that she allegedly gave to him.
Bettencourt's daughter says her mother is not mentally competent to handle her own affairs and took the case to court to recover the money.
Bettencourt and Banier have known each other for years.
The trial is currently delayed while officials review the secret recordings, which emerged in June.
Banier's attorney welcomed the delay to the trial.
He said that the lawyer for Bettencourt's daughter had manipulated the media to create a negative impression of his client and that time was needed to investigate how the clandestine recordings were obtained.
A website published the secret recordings, allegedly made by Bettencourt's butler, of conversations between the heiress and her financial adviser.
They contain references to a bank account in Switzerland containing 80 million euros ($98.3 million), which had not been reported on Bettencourt's taxes.
The recordings also contain references to payments to two ministers in Sarkozy's government, including Woerth.
The tapes revealed that Woerth's wife was, until late June, the deputy to Bettencourt's financial adviser.
France's Socialists suggest Woerth used his influence to keep the tax authorities from investigating Bettencourt's finances.
Banier's lawyer, Herve Temime, called the case "nauseating" and said, "We are no longer in a fair trial."
Bettencourt's lawyer, George Kiejman, also said there was no chance of a fair trial, in part because of the vast amount of media attention it has received.
Banier faces up to three years in prison and a 75,000 euro ($92,000) fine if he's convicted at the trial, which was held at a court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
3 killed in shooting at McDonald's in Finland
A quarrel between occupants of two vehicles at a McDonald's restaurant drive-through in southern Finland erupted in gunfire Tuesday, leaving three men dead, police said.
Three occupants in one of the vehicles have been arrested, said Peter Fagerholm, a detective inspector in the town of Porvoo.
The two vehicles were in line at the restaurant about 2 a.m. when the quarrel began, Fagerholm said. Shots from a semiautomatic handgun were fired from a Toyota SUV into a convertible driven by a pregnant woman and carrying four men.
Two of the men in the convertible, ages 28 and 45, died at the scene. Another 28-year-old man died Tuesday afternoon at a hospital in Finland's capital, Helsinki, about 50 miles to the west, Fagerholm said. Two of the men were shot in the head, the other in the chest, he said.
The cause of the argument was not immediately known.
"We believe it was a very small issue" that escalated, Fagerholm said late Tuesday. He said he doesn't believe the parties in the different cars knew each other, or that the shooting was preplanned.
The SUV carried one woman and two men, Fagerholm said. One of the men, 41, is the principal suspect. In 1995 he was sentenced to life in prison on one count of murder and two counts of attempted homicide, Fagerholm said. He was released on parole in December. Fagerholm would not release the suspect's name.
Authorities are speaking with witnesses in a third car in the drive-through line.
French parliament debates burqa ban
July 6, 2010 - 
The French parliament begins debate Tuesday on a bill that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils, such as the burqa, that fully cover the face and body.
The French parliament begins debate Tuesday on a bill that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils, such as the burqa, that fully cover the face and body.
A vote is not expected until next week, after which the measure, if passed, will go to the French Senate for a vote likely in the fall.
The French Council of Ministers approved the measure in May, saying veils that cover the face "cannot be tolerated in any public place." Their approval sent the bill to parliament.
The parliamentary debate starting Tuesday is the latest step in France's efforts to ban the burqa, niqab and other Muslim garments that cover a woman's face.
A panel of French lawmakers recommended a ban last year, and lawmakers unanimously passed a non-binding resolution in May calling the full-face veil contrary to the laws of the nation.
"Given the damage it produces on those rules which allow the life in community, ensure the dignity of the person and equality between sexes, this practice, even if it is voluntary, cannot be tolerated in any public place," the French government said when it sent the measure to parliament in May.
The bill envisions a fine of 150 euros ($190) and/or a citizenship course as punishment for wearing a face-covering veil.
Forcing a woman to wear a niqab or a burqa would be punishable by a year in prison or a 15,000-euro ($19,000) fine, the government said, calling it "a new form of enslavement that the republic cannot accept on its soil."
The measure would take effect six months after passage, giving authorities time to try to persuade women who veil themselves voluntarily to stop.
The French Council of State has warned that the ban could be incompatible with international human rights law and the country's own constitution. The council advises on laws, but the government is not required to follow its recommendations.
Amnesty International urged French lawmakers in May not to approve the ban.
"A complete ban on the covering of the face would violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who wear the burqa or the niqab in public as an expression of their identity or beliefs," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's expert on discrimination in Europe.
Belgium's lower house of parliament passed a similar ban in April.
If that bill is approved by the upper house and signed into law, it will be the first national ban in Europe on the burqa, a full-body cover that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil that leaves an opening only for the eyes.
The hijab, which tightly covers the hair and neck but not the face, and the chador, which covers the body but not the face, apparently would not be banned by either law.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimates that France has about 3.5 million Muslims, or about 6 percent of the population.
France does not keep its own statistics on religious affiliation of the population, in keeping with its laws requiring the state to be strictly secular.
Queen Elizabeth II makes first U.N. speech since 1957
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday addressed the United Nations for the first time in more than 50 years, saying she has "witnessed great change, much of it for the better" since her previous speech there in 1957. 
Later Tuesday, the queen was scheduled to visit Ground Zero to lay a wreath at the site of the September 11, 2001, terror attack.
The seven-minute speech to the U.N. General Assembly touched on her first visit decades earlier, when she was a young monarch and the United Nations itself was a young organization.
"When I was first here, there were just three United Nations operations overseas," the queen noted. "Now over 120,000 men and women are deployed in 26 missions across the world."
She spoke of the importance of leadership and how critical the role of the United Nations continues to be in upholding human rights in the 21st century.
"You have helped to reduce conflict, you have offered humanitarian assistance to millions of people," she said, adding that the United Nations has been "deeply committed to tackling the effects of poverty in many parts of the world."
Despite such efforts, she said, "so much remains to be done," citing the struggle against terrorism and the response to climate change.
The queen called for special attention to the "risks facing smaller, more vulnerable nations," many of which belong to the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations that she heads.
"I know of no single formula for success," she said. "But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together."
The United Nations "has helped to shape the international response to global dangers," she said, adding that the challenge is to continue to show such leadership without losing sight of "your ongoing work to secure the security, prosperity and dignity of our fellow human beings."
"It is my hope that when judged by future generations, our sincerity, our willingness to take a lead, and our determination to do the right thing will stand the test of time," she said.
However, she added, her speech was not "to reminisce" but instead to focus on the hard work required ahead "if we are truly to be United Nations."
In welcoming the queen, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called her "an anchor for our age," noting that her reign spanned decades "from the challenges of the Cold War to the threat of global warming," from "the Beatles to Beckham" and from "the television to Twitter."
"You have become a leading symbol of grace, constancy and dignity," Ban said.
The queen's U.N. speech, which followed a trip to Canada with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was in her capacity as head of state of 16 U.N. member states -- the United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Netherlands beat Uruguay to reach World Cup final
The Netherlands reached their third World Cup final with a 3-2 win over Uruguay in a dramatic semifinal in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The Dutch will play the winners of the second semifinal between Germany and Spain for the ultimate prize in football at Soccer City on Johannesburg on Sunday.
Second-half goals from Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben put the Dutch 3-1 up but Maxi Pereira summed up the never-say-die spirit of the Uruguayans with an injury-time strike to ensure a frantic finish.
Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk was proud of his team, who have won all six matches in the finals, the best record of any side.
"It's amazing that we have managed to do this. It's been 32 years (that the Netherlands last played in a final). It is unbelievable. We can be very proud for such a small country," he told AFP.
Netherlands vs Uruguay minute by minute
His 35-year-old captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst put the Netherlands ahead after 18 minutes with probably the goal of the tournament, a stunning 30 meter strike which whistled past Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
But Diego Forlan, the Uruguay captain on the night, equalized shortly before halftime with a long-range effort that eluded Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, his fourth goal of the World Cup.
The second half burst to life just after the hour mark as first Sneijder's shot found its way through a sea of legs to beat Muslera for his fifth of the tournament.
In the 73rd minute, Robben headed home Dirk Kuyt's cross to make it 3-1.
Robben might have added a fourth and his third of the finals on a swift counter attack but he was denied by Muslera.
It looked academic, but the last South American team in the tournament conjured up a late goal as Pereira scored with a low curling shot.
In a desperate finale, Uruguay threatened an equalizer, but it is the Dutch who go into an all-European final.
They were previous losing finalists in 1974, to West Germany, and 1978 against Argentina.
Germany play European champions Spain in Durban on Wednesday.
Top Classical Authors
- William Blake (2191162)
- Robert Lee Frost (1623914)
- Emily Dickinson (1286266)
- Sara Teasdale (1089310)
- Edgar Allan Poe (1089026)
- Rudyard Kipling (908310)
- William Butler Yeats (857205)
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (770931)
- Walt Whitman (720254)
- George Gordon, Lord Byron (515417)
- William Shakespeare (482218)
- Anonymous Works (462511)
- Robert Herrick (461113)
- Robert Browning (443092)
- Sappho (434310)
- William Wordsworth (358205)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (341454)
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (322331)
- Katherine Mansfield (317907)
- John Keats (271405)
- Robert Louis Stevenson (270421)
- Robert Burns (262470)
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson (259805)
- Lewis Carroll (238883)
- Matthew Arnold (226431)
- Rupert Brooke (219437)
- Richard Lovelace (215655)
- Thomas Hardy (212529)
- John Donne (201352)
- Oscar Wilde (181551)
- Charlotte Brontë (173861)
- Anne Brontë (171482)
- Emily Jane Brontë (170272)
- Sidney Lanier (158324)
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- Christina Georgina Rossetti (147648)
- Anne Bradstreet (143815)
- Joyce Kilmer (125006)
- Andrew Marvell (121038)
- Hilaire Belloc (118513)
- Phillis Wheatly (117217)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (116964)
- Paul Laurence Dunbar (114180)
- Tu Fu (112248)
- Oliver Wendell Holmes (96467)
- Henry Lawson (95189)
- William Allingham (90839)
- Wilfred Owen (88394)
Top 20 Classical Poems
"I Am Not Yours"
by Sara Teasdale
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.
You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.
Oh plunge me deep in love -- put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.
If
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
Road Not Taken, The
by Robert Lee Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Fire and Ice
by Robert Lee Frost
Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Without warning
by Sappho
as a whirlwind
swoops on an oak
Love shakes my heart
Love's Secret
by William Blake
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.
I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart;
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears,
Ah! she did depart!
Soon as she was gone from me,
A traveler came by,
Silently, invisibly
He took her with a sigh.
How Do I Love Thee?
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, -- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Alone
by Edgar Allan Poe
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
A Dream
by Edgar Allan Poe
In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed-
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.
Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?
That holy dream- that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.
What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar-
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?
Tiger, The
by William Blake
In the forest of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And What shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Tear, The
by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Our sympathies move;
When Truth, in a glance, should appear,
The lips may beguile,
With a dimple or smile,
But the test of affection's a Tear:
Too oft is a smile
But the hypocrite's wile,
To mask detestation, or fear;
Give me the soft sigh,
Whilst the soultelling eye
Is dimm'd, for a time, with a Tear:
Mild Charity's glow,
To us mortals below,
Shows the soul from barbarity clear;
Compassion will melt,
Where this virtue is felt,
And its dew is diffused in a Tear:
The man, doom'd to sail
With the blast of the gale,
Through billows Atlantic to steer,
As he bends o'er the wave
Which may soon be his grave,
The green sparkles bright with a Tear;
The Soldier braves death
For a fanciful wreath
In Glory's romantic career;
But he raises the foe
When in battle laid low,
And bathes every wound with a Tear.
If, with high-bounding pride,
He return to his bride!
Renouncing the gore-crimson'd spear;
All his toils are repaid
When, embracing the maid,
From her eyelid he kisses the Tear.
Sweet scene of my youth!
Seat of Friendship and Truth,
Where Love chas'd each fast-fleeting year
Loth to leave thee, I mourn'd,
For a last look I turn'd,
But thy spire was scarce seen through a Tear:
Though my vows I can pour,
To my Mary no more,
My Mary, to Love once so dear,
In the shade of her bow'r,
I remember the hour,
She rewarded those vows with a Tear.
By another possest,
May she live ever blest!
Her name still my heart must revere:
With a sigh I resign,
What I once thought was mine,
And forgive her deceit with a Tear.
Ye friends of my heart,
Ere from you I depart,
This hope to my breast is most near:
If again we shall meet,
In this rural retreat,
May we meet, as we part, with a Tear.
When my soul wings her flight
To the regions of night,
And my corse shall recline on its bier;
As ye pass by the tomb,
Where my ashes consume,
Oh! moisten their dust with a Tear.
A Dream Within A Dream
by Edgar Allan Poe
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
She Walks In Beauty
by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
I cannot live with you,
by Emily Dickinson
It would be life,
And life is over there
Behind the shelf
The sexton keeps the key to,
Putting up
Our life, his porcelain,
Like a cup
Discarded of the housewife,
Quaint or broken;
A newer Sevres pleases,
Old ones crack.
I could not die with you,
For one must wait
To shut the other's gaze down,--
You could not.
And I, could I stand by
And see you freeze,
Without my right of frost,
Death's privilege?
Nor could I rise with you,
Because your face
Would put out Jesus'.
That new grace
Glow plain and foreign
On my homesick eye,
Except that you, than he
Shone closer by.
They'd judge us--how?
For you served Heaven, you know
Or sought to;
I could not,
Because you saturated sight,
And I had no more eyes
For sordid excellence
As Paradise.
And were you lost, I would be,
Though my name
Rang loudest
On the heavenly fame.
And were you saved,
And I condemned to be
Where you were not,
That self were hell to me.
So we must keep apart,
You there, I here,
With just the door ajar
That oceans are,
And prayer,
And that pale svustenance,
Despair!
A Divine Image
by William Blake
Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secresy the human dress.
The human dress is forged iron,
The human form a fiery forge,
The human face a furnace sealed,
The human heart its hungry gorge.
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
by Robert Lee Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it's queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Because I could not stop for Death,
by Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.
Since then 't is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.
A Little Girl Lost
by William Blake
Children of the future age,
Reading this indignant page,
Know that in a former time
Love, sweet love, was thought a crime.
In the age of gold,
Free from winter's cold,
Youth and maiden bright,
To the holy light,
Naked in the sunny beams delight.
Once a youthful pair,
Filled with softest care,
Met in garden bright
Where the holy light
Had just removed the curtains of the night.
Then, in rising day,
On the grass they play;
Parents were afar,
Strangers came not near,
And the maiden soon forgot her fear.
Tired with kisses sweet,
They agree to meet
When the silent sleep
Waves o'er heaven's deep,
And the weary tired wanderers weep.
To her father white
Came the maiden bright;
But his loving look,
Like the holy book
All her tender limbs with terror shook.
"Ona, pale and weak,
To thy father speak!
Oh the trembling fear!
Oh the dismal care
That shakes the blossoms of my hoary hair!"
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