France

• André Villas-Boas stays loyal to Tottenham• Fabio Capello is PSG's fall-back optionParis Saint-Germain have turned to Fabio Capello to be their manager next season, after André Villas-Boas resisted their overtures to remain loyal to Tottenham Hotspur.The French champions have been seeking a replacement for Carlo Ancelotti, who is primed to succeed José Mourinho at Real Madrid, and, after what amounted to a whirlwind trawl of possible candidates, they attempted to lure Villas-Boas from White Hart Lane.Villas-Boas's representative, Carlos Goncalves, listened over the weekend to the proposals of PSG, who are bankrolled by Qatar Sports Investments, but Villas-Boas did not give them the encouragement that they wanted.He has said that he wants to enter a second season at the same club for the first time in his short but spectacular managerial career and he continues to be committed to the project at Tottenham. The club, who are ready to announce the appointment of Franco Baldini in the post of technical director, promise to be active in the summer transfer market.Capello, the former England manager, has been PSG's fall-back option. He signed a two-year contract in July 2012 to manage Russia and he has them set fair to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil. But PSG have reportedly paid his €3m (£2.6m) release clause to secure his services on a one-year contract.There remains the possibility that Capello could return to the international scene at the end of the season to take Russia to the World Cup.More intriguing is the notion that Capello would be a stop-gap appointment and that PSG will try to tempt Arsène Wenger to the club when his current Arsenal contract expires next summer. PSG's president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, is the general manager of al-Jazeera Sport, the Qatar-owned TV station; he employs Wenger as a pundit and he has a good relationship with him.Al-Khelaifi tried unsuccessfully to take Wenger from Arsenal in the summer of 2011 and further soundings towards the end of last season once again failed to turn his head. Wenger has always respected his contracts and Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, has made it clear that he wants the Frenchman to sign a new long-term deal at the club.Paris Saint-GermainFabio CapelloAndré Villas-BoasTottenham HotspurArsène WengerArsenalDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Venus Williams *(Via Fox Sports) – After 16 consecutive years of always showing up at Wimbledon, winning five titles along the way, Venus Williams pulled out of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament Tuesday, citing a lower back injury. Williams, who turned 33 on Monday, never had missed Wimbledon since making her debut there in 1997, although she lost in the first round a year ago. She won the singles trophy — it happens to be called the Venus Rosewater Dish — in 2000-01, 2005 and 2007-08, to go with two more major championships at the U.S. Open in 2000-01. But Williams has been dealing with a bad back for a while, playing only three matches in the last two-plus months. She was clearly hampered by the injury during a three-set, three-hour loss to 40th-ranked Urszula Radwanska of Poland in the first round of the French Open last month, then cited her back when she and younger sister Serena withdrew from the doubles competition in Paris. Get the full story at Fox Sports.

In Syria, death finds those who seek it, and those who flee. It finds the loyal soldier and the rebel. It finds fathers and brothers, sisters and mothers. Sons and daughters. The UN's "conservative estimate" is that the conflict has claimed 93,000 lives. That's more than 100 dead per day. A March 2012 photo shows a woman crying through grief stricken green eyes. Her name is Aida. Her face is caked in dried blood, her head wrapped in a bandage. She was severely injured after the Syrian Army shelled her house in northern Syria. Death missed her, but took her husband and son. The whole conflict started with bullets the Bashar al Assad regime deployed to stop protests in the spring of 2011. Thousands had gathered in Daraa — a small town near the Jordanian border — inspired by calls for change throughout the Middle East. “The Syrian people do not bow,” they chanted. Witnesses said Assad's gunmen appeared on the rooftops. Dr. Taha Sukkari was among those killed in those first days in Daraa. He died when security officials fired upon an ambulance that arrived to care for the wounded. He was among 20 casualties reported in Daraa on April 8, 2011, according to a group that calls itself Syrian Revolution 2011. The situation quickly deteriorated into a full-blown rebellion. For more than two years, death for Syrians has been nimble and versatile. It’s been both systematic and indiscriminate. Just yesterday, a car bomb packed with 6 tons of explosives detonated at a military complex near Aleppo, 60 government soldiers reportedly died. It was unclear if it was a suicide attack. And death hasn't stopped at the national border. Forty-six people lost their lives at a nearby town in Turkey when two vehicles exploded in a coordinated attack. There are more than 300,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey. After the explosion, a mob of Turks took to the streets. “Kill the Syrians,” they shouted. Earlier this year, death found at least 40 Syrian Army soldiers seeking refuge in Iraqi territory. They were ambushed, anti-regime forces killed them with gunfire, rockets, and bombs. Death didn't ignore the hordes of foreign journalists either. It found Marie Colvin in Homs, a city besieged by Syrian military forces. A veteran war journalist, she had lost sight in her left eye from a grenade explosion in Sri Lanka in April 2001. She had snuck into Syria on the back of a motorcycle. She was killed alongside a French photographer named Remi Ochlik during a meeting with local Syrian journalists. They were running to go get their shoes — removed during the meeting, a Middle Eastern custom — so they could flee for more hardened cover. Their deaths shocked the media community, Colvin because they thought she was unkillable, and Ochlik because he was so young. The end also found Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer-prize-winning writer for the New York Times. Shadid survived Iraq, was shot in Beirut, kidnapped in Libya. Death finally came for him in Syria. It was nighttime, in a desert in northern Syria, as he was trying to sneak across the border into Turkey. He met his end in the form of a severe asthma attack, brought on by an allergy to horses. Tyler Hicks, a photographer for the New York Times, carried his body into Turkey. In one photo, from Pulitzer-prize-winning Spanish photographer Manu Brabo, a father holds his son’s body in his arms. The boy is bloody. Barefoot, his jeans cuffed neatly at his ankles. Torn over his left knee. It was October 2012. The U.N. estimates that 6,000 of those killed are children. A young Shiite child in Damascus was reportedly hanged by rebels after they killed his family. Of the 6,000 children killed in Syria, nearly 2,000 of them were younger than 10 years old. Another photo shows a Syrian rebel crying as he carries his slain friend over his shoulder. With a closed fist, he grips his friend’s blue jeans and runs for cover. The man was reportedly killed by a sni

Ok so here goes. End of day one. We have crossed the Pyrennes from France into Spain. 31km with a 1200m climb. Took 10 hours and rained from the moment we left St Jeanne until we arrived in Romscevalles. Hotel amazing refurbished 12th century monastery. Fantastic value at 100. 3 course dinner for 28.A pilgrimage is an opportunity to reflect. Today I got no further than contemplating how the ALP

The French champions were prepared to meet a £10 million buyout clause in the Spurs boss’s contract and drastically improve his salary but the Portuguese has rejected them EXCLUSIVEBy Duncan Castles Andre Villas-Boas has rejected a lucrative approach from Paris Saint-Germain to stay at Tottenham. Seeking a replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Carlo Ancelotti, the French champions were prepared to meet a €11.7 million buyout clause in the Portuguese’s contract at White Hart Lane and substantially improve his personal terms. HERO & VILLAS VILLAS-BOAS’S DEBUT SPURS SEASON LEAGUE POSITIONGOALS SCOREDGOALS CONCEDED Fifth6646 Joining PSG after a single season at Spurs in which he almost returned the London club to the Champions League would have offered Villas-Boas a shortcut back into Europe’s premier club competition and allowed him to work with one of the continent’s most expensively assembled squads. Adding to the attraction of the PSG job was the 35-year-old’s strong personal relationship with president Nasser Al Khelaifi and his agent’s affinity with Leonardo, their director of football. Instead, Villas-Boas has elected to stay at Tottenham; partly in anticipation of facing his former mentor, Jose Mourinho, in league football for the first time, partly in expectation of more aggressive transfer market backing from Tottenham this summer. “Andre is staying put at Tottenham,” a close friend said on Tuesday. “He is looking forward to the challenge of the ‘Happy One’.” The decision was not a straightforward one for Villas-Boas. According to multiple sources, the Portuguese was discomfited by aspects of an impressive campaign at Tottenham in which he guided the club to its highest Premier League points total only to miss out on a Champions League qualifying slot on the season’s final day. He was particularly frustrated by the club’s failure to complete deals for his principal targets in both the summer and winter transfer windows – Joao Moutinho and Leandro Damiao. Though his appointment has still to be formally announced, Tottenham are to make Franco Baldini their new technical director this close season after pursuing the well-regarded Italian for over year. Baldini’s arrival at White Hart Lane, coupled with his friend Villas-Boas’ decision to turn down PSG, is expected to be rewarded with support in this summer’s market. The coach has been working to keep Gareth Bale at Tottenham, despite Real Madrid having talked about investing as much as €100m in the forward’s transfer fee, while he also wants his squad improved in defence, midfield and attack to help drive the club into the Premier League’s top four. “Turning down Paris should see the club recognise that it has to back Villas-Boas and Baldini in the transfer market,” said a source. “It is also a sign for trigger-happy clubs that coaches sometimes stay loyal even when offered huge salary increases.” PSG are not the only club to show an interest in Villas-Boas this year. Napoli approached him before appointing Rafa Benitez but were frightened off by the €11.7m release clause. He was a back-up option at Madrid if Ancelotti could not be extracted from PSG and is being monitored by Barcelona as a long-term candidate to coach at Camp Nou.

Review by Dr?mmarenAdrian — To follow a band's discography and see what happens with the music during the years is very interesting. Now I have examined some great 70s proggers late records. I found they(for example Caravan) were great dispite changing members, styles and instrumentation. Ange's "Vu d'un Chien" is another example of that.Ange's seventh record was made in 1980 and got a mostly blue cover with a picture in a heyhole. At that time Ange consisted of Francis and Christian Decamps, Jean-Pierre Guichard, Robert Defer and Didier Visieux. The two brothers were the only original members left. What's most significant Ange here is the very dramatic vocals we hear right from the start in "Les temps modernes" which is a fast hard rock song with great guitar that screams in the solos. "Les Lorgnons" is a classical Ange song and the best on this record. It also features a great guitar solo and the keyboards reminds me of the German symphonic band Novalis. Just unfortunately I can not speak or understand french. "Foutez-Moi La Paix" is short but special with its uninhibited vocals. "Je Travaille Sans Filet" is also very rocky and in the end we hear a church organ and strong guitars. "La Suisse" is different. It is both mainstream and polished to an intelligent unit with a great perfektion of the sound. And what would the 80s be without languishing saxophone. "Personne Au Bout du Fil" is not very interesting, a fast rock song but "Pour un rien" contains much more interesting stuff. The ending and title track "Vu D'un Chien" ends up with a symphonic background with a praising audience.In terms of progressivity this isn't the most complicated Ange record but that doesn't make it less good. I think Ange managed to seek out new life forms for their music with keeping its spirits. This is better than "Par les fils de Mandrin" which had som inferior tracks but not as good as "Cimeti?re..." or "Carricatures".

The two hottest players on grass courts at the moment also happen to be two members of the fabled Big Four in tennis: Andy Murray and Roger Federer.Both Murray and Federer have been two sides of the same coin in some ways throughout 2013 so far. Where one has been up, the other has likely been down.Federer, the older, more experienced campaigner of the two, has had a tepid, uninspiring, un-Big-Four-like 2013—the Swiss' first title of the year came just last week at Halle where his sternest tests were Tommy Haas and Mikhail Youzhny (Federer's win-loss record against those two stands at 26-3).Andy Murray on the other hand—although classically thought of as the No. 4 of the Big Four—has performed like anything but the No. 4. The Scottish star has won three titles (including a Masters 1000 event and Queens in London) this year and was a finalist at the year's first major, the Australian Open.The dynamics between the two—finalists at Wimbledon and the subsequent Olympics at the same venue last year—makes this season an interesting topic of conversation heading into Wimbledon.At the Australian Open, Murray came out on top in a semifinal between the two—defeating Federer for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament on the way to a clash with Novak Djokovic.At the French Open, where Murray was absent due to injury and would never have been favorite anyway over Djokovic or Rafael Nadal (so he had nothing to lose), Federer's submissive loss to Tsonga—not for the first time in a Grand Slam event—didn't change the balance.Using the coin analogy, once again, Murray's position relative to Federer is better.The question now is: What will happen at Wimbledon between the two? The trend is clear. It is also supported by their head to head. Murray leads Federer 11-8, but both guys are level at one each for matches played on grass.The results so far in 2013 speak, but what is the message? Djokovic and Nadal have distinguished themselves from the pack and, in more ways than one, Andy Murray is doing so, too.

Blink Money is assisted by French Montana, Papoose and Chinx Drugz on his latest single “Get Paid.” Download: Blink Money – Get Paid (Feat. French Montana, Papoose & Chinx Drugz)The post Blink Money – Get Paid (Feat. French Montana, Papoose & Chinx Drugz) appeared first on Rap Dose.

MOUGINS, France  – About half of IPG Mediabrands clients now pay the media agency on a pay-for-performance rather than commission basis, says Matt Seiler, Global CEO, IPG Mediabrands in an interview with Beet.TV. He contends that commission-based fees that incentivize agencies to spend as much of the client’s money as possible are out of step with the reality of the paid, owned and earned marketing world and that pay-for-performance is a better model for the future. “Whatever your KPIs are, those should be our KPIs,” he says in this video interview. A KPI-based payment also affords more flexibility. In the past, if an agency noticed something happening with product pricing that was out of synch with how it’s paid, the agency had little motivation to suggest changes. A pay-for-performance helps the agency look out for the client more. In addition, Mediabrands is shifting to use more real-time campaigns. “We have committed in North America to delivering 50% automation across our buys in three years.” We spoke with him on Monday at YuMe Video event hosted by IPG at the agency’s villa in the hills above Cannes.

Wine war fears already slowing French exports to China: Asian buyers discuss with a French wine producer durin...