Blyth Spartans 0-1 Blackburn

By Julian Shea

Gildea (left) set up Blyth's best chance in the dying seconds

Blackburn produced an efficient display to see off non-league Blyth and reach the FA Cup fourth round.

The closest Rovers came to a first-half goal was Matt Derbyshire's shot put into his own net by Andrew Leeson, but Derbyshire was off-side anyway.

Carlos Villanueva's curling free-kick in the second half finally gave Rovers the lead their dominance deserved.

Andrew Wright wasted Blyth's best chance when he volleyed Alex Gildea's cross off-target in the dying stages.

Villaneuva looked dangerous early on and tried a couple of efforts from range before threading a pass through into the path of Derbyshire as he bore down on goal, but he was denied by an expertly-timed block by Kenny Boyle.

Despite dominating early possession, it was a while before Rovers got a shot on target, from Keith Treacy, but Mark Bell in the Spartans goal did well to turn it round the post.

Blackburn were comfortably on top in the first quarter but complacency almost set in when Aaron Mokoena's poor clearance went straight to Ged Dalton.

But the threat vanished the second he made contact with the ball, as the man who scored the winning goal in the second round ballooned the ball into the crowd behind Mark Bunn's goal.

This warning shot inspired Rovers to go on the attack once again, and around the half-hour mark, they thought they had taken the lead.

Treacy's shot was deflected into path of Derbyshire, whose spectacular overhead kick from the right-hand side of the box was deflected in off the head of defender Leeson.

But fortunately for Blyth, Derbyshire had been flagged offside and they stayed on level terms.

Blyth began the second half in confident mood, but then fell behind on the hour mark.

Jason Roberts was standing on the touchline waiting to replace Villanueva when the Chilean's persistence won him a free-kick on the right-hand side of the box.

He picked himself off the ground to curl a beautiful shot into the top left corner before being replaced.

On 75 minutes, Keith Andrews wasted a glorious chance to wrap up the win when he blasted over from close range following Alan Judge's unselfish lay-off.

With time running out, Blyth's first clear chance of the night fell to the unmarked Wright when he got on the end of Gildea's cross but his shot was way off target.

Robbie Dale also tried a desperate late overhead kick, but it was the visitors who advanced to the fourth round and a trip to Sunderland.

---

Blyth Spartans: Mark Bell, Boyle, Pell, Leeson, White (Todd 63), Reay, McCabe, Williams, Gildea, Dale, Dalton (Wright 70). Subs Not Used: Farman, Brown, Hume, Poole, Watson.

Blackburn: Bunn, Simpson, Mokoena, Khizanishvili, Olsson, Vogel, Grella (Andrews 60), Treacy, Judge, Villanueva (Roberts 59), Derbyshire (Hodge 83). Subs Not Used: Brown, Gunning, Doran, Haworth.

Booked: Mokoena.

Goals: Villanueva 58.

Att: 3,445

Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).

AU plea to plug Somali troop gaps

Burundi and Uganda want air and marine units to support their troops

African Union officials in Somalia have told the BBC they will plug the gaps left by departing Ethiopian troops.

The plan comes as Uganda and Burundi - whose peacekeepers currently comprise the AU mission in Somalia - issued an urgent appeal for reinforcements.

They also want their mandate beefed up so peacekeepers can use greater force when attacked by insurgents.

Uganda and Burundi gave the African Union (AU) a two-week deadline to act on their demand.

Ethiopia's military began pulling its 3,000-strong force out of Somalia last week two years after it helped the transitional government oust Islamists from the capital Mogadishu.

BBC Somali service correspondent Abdi Noor Mohammed says there are rumours the Ethiopians have been arming militants to take on the hardline Islamist group al-Shabab.

'Very quickly'

After a meeting on Sunday in Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, the Ugandan and Burundian defence ministers said the AU's force in Somalia (Amisom) needed more troops, as well as air force and marine units.

SOMALIA'S WOES 3m need food aid - a third of the population 1m displaced Government only controls Baidoa Islamist groups control much of southern Somalia No effective government since 1991 Piracy on the rise US fails to break Somali Islamists New year heralds new Somali fears

Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa have not yet met their pledges to send forces.

Burundi Defence Minister Gen Germain Niyoyankana said more troops were needed "very quickly" and added:

"If our conditions are not met, it's normal that our troops will be withdrawn", reported AFP news agency.

The 3,600-strong Amisom force has faced frequent attack from Islamist insurgents in Mogadishu.

The departure of Ethiopian troops, who were in charge of Mogadishu and surrounding areas of the capital, will leave a dangerous power vacuum, says the BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu.

He says that AU officials plan for Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers to fill that void while their appeal for reinforcements is considered.

Ethiopia's departure follows an agreement with the Somali transitional government and the more moderate wing of the Islamist-led political opposition during UN-sponsored reconciliation talks in Djibouti.

Ethiopia was credited with saving Somalia's government from imminent collapse when it deployed its forces in late 2006.

But analysts say the government has not used the time to strengthen its grip on power, while the insurgency has revived in a more extreme form.

Government forces only control parts of Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991.

Israel vows no let-up over Gaza

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Palestinian militant group Hamas had sustained a "hard blow", but the offensive in Gaza would continue.

"We still haven't reached our objectives," Mr Barak told Israeli MPs.

Israel carried out 30 air strikes overnight, with heavy clashes reported east of Gaza City. Palestinian sources say a family of seven were killed.

A top Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Mahmud Zahar, said the Islamists were heading to "victory" against Israel.

Propaganda war: trusting what we see?

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Israel has tried to take the initiative in the propaganda war over Gaza but, in one important instance, its version has been seriously challenged.

The incident raises the question of how to interpret video taken from the air.

Israel released video of an air attack on 28 December, which appeared to show rockets being loaded onto a truck. The truck and those close to it were then destroyed by a missile.

Advertisement

Israeli footage of the truck being attacked

This was clear evidence, the Israelis said, of how accurate their strikes were and how well justified. A special unit it has set up to coordinate its informational plan put the video onto YouTube as part of its effort to use modern means of communications to get Israel's case across.

The YouTube video has a large caption on it saying "Grad missiles being loaded onto the Hamas vehicle." As of Saturday morning UK time, more than 260,000 people had watched it.

Different version

It turned out, however, that a 55-year-old Gaza resident named Ahmed Sanur, or Samur, claimed that the truck was his and that he and members of his family and his workers were moving oxygen cylinders from his workshop.

Ahmed Sanur is challenging Israel's claim that rockets were targeted

This workshop had been damaged when a building next door was bombed by the Israelis and he was afraid of looters, he said.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem put Mr Sanur's account on its website, together with a photograph of burned out oxygen cylinders.

Mr Sanur said that eight people, one of them his son, had been killed. He subsequently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: "These were not Hamas, they were our children... They were not Grad missiles.".

The Israeli response was that the "materiel" was being taken from a site that had stored weapons. The video remains on You Tube.

But the incident shows how an apparently definitive piece of video can turn into something much more doubtful.

B'Tselem said these cannisters were near the destroyed truck

It is reminiscent of an event in the Nato war against Serbia over Kosovo in 1999. In that case, a video taken from the air seemed to show a military convoy which was then attacked.

On the ground however it was discovered that the "trucks" were in fact tractors towing cartloads of civilian refugees, many of whom were killed.

Israel effort

The Israeli propaganda effort is being directed to achieve two main aims.

The first is to justify the air attacks. The second is to show that there is no humanitarian calamity in Gaza.

Both these aims are intended to place Israel in a strong position internationally and to enable its diplomacy to act as an umbrella to fend off calls for a ceasefire while the military operation unfolds.

Israel has pursued the first aim by being very active in getting its story across that Hamas is to blame. The sight of Hamas rockets streaking into Israel has been helpful in this respect.

It has also allowed trucks in with food aid and has stressed that it will not let people starve, even if they go short.

Israel appears to think its efforts are working.

One of its spokespeople, who has regularly appeared on the international media, Major Avital Leibovich, said: "Quite a few outlets are very favourable to Israel."

Ban on foreign media

Israel has bolstered its approach by banning foreign correspondents from Gaza, despite a ruling from the Israeli Supreme Court.

The Arab television news channel Al Jazeera is operating there and its reports have been graphic and have affected opinion across the Arab world. The BBC also has its local bureau hard at work.

But the absence of reporters from major organisations has meant, for example, that Mr Samur's story has not been as widely told as it probably would have been, or his account subject to an on-the-spot examination.

Meanwhile Israel has received good coverage of the threats and damage to its own towns and communities.

Whether Israel retains any propaganda initiative is not all certain. Pictures of dead and wounded children have undermined its claim to pinpoint accuracy and the longer this goes on, the greater the potential for world public opinion to swing against it, with diplomatic pressure building for a cessation.

Its presentational problems would be hugely increased if it engaged in a ground operation, which would bring with it more pictures of death and destruction.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Ethiopia begins Somalia pullout

Many Somalis resent the presence of the Ethiopian troops

Ethiopian military forces have begun pulling out of Somalia after two years helping the transitional government fight insurgents.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's spokesman said the withdrawal would take several days.

A convoy of about 30 Ethiopian vehicles loaded with troops and equipment left the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Hours earlier a roadside bomb killed two Ethiopian soldiers and a number of civilians died when troops opened fire.

"The withdrawal of our troops from Somalia has entered the implementation phase," Bereket Simon, special adviser to the Ethiopian premier, told Reuters news agency.

"The withdrawal is not an event that can be completed within a day. It will be finalised as quickly as possible."

Bomb attack

About 3,400 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers from the African Union in Somalia are taking up positions vacated by the Ethiopians.

SOMALIA'S WOES 3m need food aid - a third of the population 1m displaced Government only controls Baidoa Islamist groups control much of southern Somalia No effective government since 1991 Piracy on the rise US fails to break Somali Islamists New year heralds new Somali fears

Witnesses say the start of Friday's withdrawal passed without incident as a convoy of trucks loaded with troops, mattresses and other equipment left Mogadishu.

But at least four civilians died earlier in the day when Ethiopian troops on patrol opened fire after two of their number died in a roadside blast at a busy junction in the south of the capital.

"A bomb exploded near a group of Ethiopian soldiers at the K4 crossroads," Somali police colonel Ali Hasan told AFP news agency.

"There were many civilian victims."

Addis Ababa announced late last year that it would fully withdraw from Somalia by the first days of 2009.

There are fears the withdrawal of the 3,000-strong Ethiopian force could lead to a power vacuum and that violence will continue despite a peace deal between Somalia's transitional government and one of the main opposition factions.

Others say the pullout, together with this week's resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf, could make it easier for a new government to be formed, including moderate Islamist forces.

The president's critics had accused him of obstructing of a peace deal with the Islamist-led armed opposition.

One hard-line opposition group, al-Shabab, seen as key to any prospect of a lasting peace, is snubbing the idea of power-sharing and has said Somalia risks a new civil war.

The Ethiopians moved in two years ago to help Somali government forces oust the Islamic Courts Union, which had taken control of most of the country and started imposing Sharia law.

But the intervention was deeply unpopular with many Somalis and correspondents say it helped fuel an insurgency by various Islamist and nationalist groups which now control much of southern Somalia.

Government forces only control parts of Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991.

Pakistan resumes Afghan supplies

The Pakistani forces moved into the Jamrud area on Tuesday

The supply route for international forces in Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass has been reopened, Pakistani officials say.

The route was closed on Tuesday when Pakistani forces began an operation against militants in the area, which is still continuing.

The leading administrator in Khyber told the BBC that all transport along the route was now operating.

There has been a spate of hijackings and attacks on vehicles in the area.

Khyber tribal district administrator, Tariq Hayat, said the Khyber Pass was reopened on Friday morning and that lorries "carrying trading goods to Afghanistan as well as Nato supplies" were rolling.

He said there were no security convoys travelling with the lorries.

Dane held for 'shooting Israelis'

Police said they were unsure of the motive for the shooting

A Danish man of Palestinian origin has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and wounding two Israeli salesmen at a shopping centre in Odense in Denmark.

Police said they were unsure what the motive was, but Danish media have speculated it may have been a protest against Israeli air raids in Gaza.

The 27-year-old suspect turned himself in. He reportedly denies trying to kill the men but admits carrying a gun.

The men were shot on Wednesday while selling hair products.

One was hit in the arm and the other in the leg.

They were both still in hospital on Thursday but their injuries were not life-threatening, Reuters news agency reported.

Police said the pair had been in Denmark for about a week.

The attack came on the fifth day of Israeli air strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which Israel says were provoked by Palestinian rocket attacks.

Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets fired into Israel since the campaign began on Saturday, while medical sources say more than 400 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza.