Everton easily beat Wolfsburg in first Europa League match of campaign

Everton’s traditional Z-Cars anthem was rudely interrupted by the Europa League theme tune before kick-off, but the teething troubles went no further for Roberto Martínez’s men against Wolfsburg. Goodison Park hosted a display of clinical efficiency on its first European night in five seasons. Everton have returned with clear intent.
The final scoreline suggests a comfortable night’s work for the victors but there was defensive resilience as well as superior finishing behind Everton’s triumph. Tim Howard was by far the busier goalkeeper and the home side were gifted a penalty for their third goal when Aiden McGeady was tripped outside the area. Wolfsburg had 24 attempts to Everton’s 11, 12 on target to Everton’s five, but not the cutting edge or solidity of their Premier League hosts.
“We weren’t smart enough, we were naive,” seethed the Wolfsburg coach, Dieter Hecking. “I wonder if my players listen to me with the performance they put in.” His Catalonian counterpart, by contrast, revelled in the maturity the players displayed on his European debut as Everton manager. “The scoreline doesn’t reflect the difference between the two sides, both were similar,” he said. “We had to defend well and every time we went forward we were very clinical. It was a very satisfying performance. It felt really natural. The environment was incredible, with European football back at Goodison. It was everything you could expect and more. The fans were special and the performance was full of dynamic play from both sides. But we wanted to be ourselves and our performance showed real maturity.”
Having declared his ambition to win the Europa League, the Everton manager backed his words by naming an unchanged team from the weekend win at West Bromwich Albion and was vindicated with an opening goal based on intuitive understanding between his players. Wolfsburg started well with their four-man midfield controlling the opening exchanges, pushing Everton deep and allowing Brazil’s anchor at the World Cup, Luiz Gustavo, time and space to dictate the play. But the difference between the teams was illustrated in Everton’s first attack, a move to savour.
Goodison was enraptured as Leighton Baines combined with Steven Naismith, Naismith found James McCarthy, McCarthy flicked a glorious return ball to Baines with his back to goal, and the left-back drew the German defence before squaring to the Scot. The former Switzerland international goalkeeper Diego Benaglio got a hand to Naismith’s low shot but the ball squirmed under his body and took a final touch off Ricardo Rodríguez en route to the net. Uefa credited Rodríguez with an own goal, yet there was no detracting from the quality of the build-up. It also provided a rare glimpse of McCarthy’s creativity in the final third and should prompt Martínez to demand more from the Republic of Ireland midfielder.
Everton extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when they again prospered against the right-hand side of the Wolfsburg defence. Benaglio could only parry a dipping Kevin Mirallas shot into the path of Baines, who turned the loose ball across goal for the incoming Seamus Coleman to head his second goal of the season into the Park End net.
If there was a touch of fortune about Rodríguez rolling the first Everton goal into his own net and Baines managing to find Coleman for the second, there was a gigantic dollop attached to their third. McGeady capitalised on a defensive error seconds after the restart and was clearly fouled as he attempted to beat Robin Knoche, albeit contact was outside the box. The Italian referee, Luca Banti, having looked to his assistant, immediately pointed to the spot and Baines ignored the understandable German protests to send the Wolfsburg keeper the wrong way from 12 yards.
“It was outside the area and a fault by the referee,” said Hecking. “At 3-0 the game was lost.” His team’s response suggested otherwise as they exerted pressure on Howard’s goal but either found the US international in commanding form or their precision deserting them in front of goal. Daniel Caligiuri, Gustavo, Maximillian Arnold and the substitute Aaron Hunt all sent presentable chances at the Everton keeper, who produced a fine save to thwart a Rodríguez free-kick towards his top corner.
The Swiss left-back finally broke Howard’s resistance with another superb free-kick in stoppage-time but by then, with the again impressive Samuel Eto’o sending Mirallas sprinting clear for the fourth, Everton were home and dry. “Tim was magnificent and didn’t deserve to have that feeling at the end,” said Martínez. “In my eyes Tim’s performance was worth a clean sheet and that’s the way I’m going to keep it.”

Labour considers staking all on saving the NHS

Labour is debating whether to make a bold commitment to extra spending on the National Health Service the centrepiece of its election offer, raising the profile of the service, which is the party's single strongest issue and possibly its best route to forming a majority government in May.
The alternative being discussed is to claim that reform of the NHS, including integration of health and social care, as well as reversal of "government privatisation", will release sufficient funds.
However, a commission for the influential Kings Fund thinktank concluded that while integration of social care and health was necessary, it was unlikely to create large-scale savings.
Polling this week by Ipsos/Mori found that health was the third most important issue facing voters, sitting at only two points behind the economy, which topped the list, with asylum and immigration coming second. Labour has a huge lead over the Tories on health, and it is the issue which forms its dominant lead.
The Guardian reported this week that the NHS  was facing a mounting financial crisis with more than half of all hospitals now in deficit and the service likely to end the year almost £1bn in the red.
Separately on Tuesday, David Prior, head of the NHS regulator, the Care Quality Commission, warned that treatment provided by hospitals and GPs was so "dangerously" variable that poor care killed up to 10,000 patients a year.
In an election briefing issued on Tuesday the Kings Fund warned: "The next government will arrive in office with the NHS facing financial meltdown and social care in crisis."
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has already ruled out earmarking a 1p increase in national insurance contributions to help fund the NHS, saying people felt they were already paying too much tax. He has also ruled out an inheritance tax to pay for an integrated health and social care service.
But other sources for temporary funding have not been ruled out, including a "sin tax" on public health polluters. Revenue from tobacco duty in 2011-12 was £9.55bn, up from £8.09bn in 2007-08. The equivalent figures for alcohol duty were £10.04bn and £8.3bn. The Treasury estimates that these taxes each represent 9-10% of NHS spending for those years.
More sin taxes, or a windfall tax, has been proposed by the former Labour health minister Lord Warner, who has suggested that a range of such taxes could reach £25bn by the end of the decade.
New research for Progress magazine, the centre-left Labour journal, prepared by Peter Kellner, the YouGov president, and given to the Guardian shows voters are evenly split on whether they would like to see income tax rise to fund the health service.
YouGov tested four areas of government spending and asked people whether, all else being equal, they would prefer income tax to increase so that more money could be spent, or see income tax fall with less spent, or keep the present balance.
The status quo was the most popular option for three of the four areas: welfare benefits for poor families, state schools, and (more narrowly) state pensions and social care for the elderly.
Only with the NHS did a majority opt for higher tax – though only by a three-point margin ("higher tax/more spending" had 42%; "keep the present balance" had 39%).
The poll also showed that higher tax for spending on the NHS was only a popular option with Labour voters, with 60% supporting the proposal. Only 29% of Conservative voters backed the idea. There have been other polls, including one by ComRes in the summer that found that 49% of people were prepared to pay more tax to help fund the health service, though one in three (33%) of people said they would not be ready to do so, and 18% did not know either way.
By contrast, a more recent Populus poll for Reform, the centre-right thinktank, found that only 33% were willing to pay higher income tax to fund more spending on the NHS, with 67% of voters saying no. A large majority thought the NHS needed reform, not more money.
The danger for Labour of going into the election highlighting the NHS without a funding pledge was pointed out by the Kings Fund.
It said: "The NHS is going through the biggest financial squeeze in its history. Since 2010 its budget has effectively been frozen, increasing by just enough to cover inflation. While this is generous compared to other areas of public spending, the increasing demand for care means services are under huge pressure.
"The NHS has responded well to these challenges, but financial pressures are growing, with more than a quarter of hospitals reporting deficits in 2013-14, and many more set to follow suit this year. Meanwhile, cuts in funding have led to a reduction of more than a quarter in the number of people who receive publicly funded social care.
"Unless significant additional funding is found patients will bear the cost as staff numbers are cut, waiting times rise and quality of care deteriorates.
"Some emergency support will be needed for otherwise sound NHS organisations that are in financial crisis as a result of the unprecedented pressures on their budgets."
It proposed that the next government established a ring-fenced health and social care transformation fund – of up to £3bn – to be used to develop new community-based services and to cover double-running costs during the transition between old and new models of care.
The idea is attracting some Labour health thinkers. But some Labour strategists are also concerned that politicians' pledges are simply discounted.

Russia stokes tensions with the west by cutting gas exports to Poland

A decision by Russia to cut gas exports to Poland without warning has rekindled fears about Europe's reliance on Siberian gas at a time of increasing tension between Moscow and the west.
The Polish state energy group, PGNiG, said it was trying to find out why volumes had been slashed by up to 24% when it had been exporting gas itself to Ukraine to make up for Russian shortfalls there.
Its counterpart in Kiev, Ukrtransgaz, accused Kremlin-controlled Gazprom of penalising Poland and undermining onward gas supplies to Kiev.
"Today Russia started limiting gas supplies to Poland in order to disrupt the reverse (flows) from Poland that we receive ... Poland stopped reverse supplies to Ukraine in the range of 4m cubic metres," said Ihor Prokopiv, chief executive of Ukrtransgaz, according to the Russian news agency, RIA.
Mutual suspicions are higher than at any point since the collapse of the Soviet Union, following the conflict in Ukraine and western accusations that Russia has augmented the rebellion in the east with its own troops. Moscow denies the claim.
Nato last month estimated that more than 1,000 Russian soldiers were operating covertly in Ukraine, as part of a separatist effort to roll back advances by Kiev.
Earlier Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, said most Russian troops had now been withdrawn. "According to the latest information I have received from our intelligence, 70% of Russian troops have been moved back across the border," he said. "This further strengthens our hope that the peace initiatives have good prospects." Poroshenko said parts of east Ukraine would be given special status. But Ukraine would remain a sovereign and united entity, under a peace deal agreed in Minsk last Friday. But Ukrainians are anticipating a difficult winter ahead, reliant as they are on Russian gas to power their economy and heat their homes.
Nick Perry, a British energy consultant, said that it was not surprising that Gazprom's actions had prompted a nervous response. "Since the 1990s, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has been investigating how Europe would survive if they lost some of its biggest sources of gas for six months. People have been looking at this for a long time."
But Gazprom sources insisted the shortfall could be attributed to maintenance work that was going on fields and pipelines ahead of the important winter season when demand is at its highest.
A statement from the group sidestepped the issue by saying it was pumping gas to all destinations "according to the resources available for exports and for the continuing pumping to storage facilities in the Russian Federation".
Jonathan Stern, a gas expert at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a member of the EU-Russia Gas Advisory Council, believed there was more likely a technical, not a political problem.
"If Gazprom wanted to punish the Poles then it would not do so surely when the weather was warm and in breach of its contractual obligations," said Stern who met the Russians for a gas summit in Vienna this week. "The Russians are acutely aware that any (commercial) moves at this time will be interpreted in the worst possible light (by the west)."
But energy has been at the centre of previous conflict. Gazprom cut off gas to Ukraine in June arguing that Kiev had not paid its bills but the move was interpreted in the west as an attempt to destabilise its southerly neighbour. Similar boycotts by Gazprom against Ukraine – usually in the middle of winter – have been imposed against Ukraine and others in the past decade.
The latest upset comes as the European Union has drawn up deeper sanctions against Russia over its support for separatist rebels who have taken over parts of eastern Ukraine.
Slovakia, a major hub for Russia gas exports to Europe, said volumes were steady on Wednesday, and operators in Hungary, Bosnia and Serbia said there was no disruption to their supplies.
Igor Gorsky, a spokesman for Gazprom Transgaz Belarus, the Gazprom subsidiary that operates export pipelines via Belarus, said: "There have been no extraordinary situations from our side, or any maintenance work, which could have an impact on supply volumes."
Political relations between Warsaw and Moscow are particularly bad. Poland has lobbied the EU hard to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow, and it is to host elements of a new Nato rapid reaction force, created in response to the Russian intevention in Ukrainer.
Gazprom supplies a third of Europe's gas and for many EU countries it is the main source of power for homes and industry but the Russian firm is a big revenue earner for the Kremlin and any volume cuts would damage the company and country financially.

Obama authorises air strikes against Isis militants in Syria

Barack Obama announced a open-ended US bombing campaign against Islamic State militants on Wednesday that will extend into Syria for the first time, despite acknowledging that the extremist group did not currently pose a direct threat to the US homeland.
In a markedly interventionist speech on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Obama announced an aggressive offensive to combat Isis, which has been responsible for the beheading of two American citizens in the past month and captured a swath of territory in northern parts of Iraq and Syria.
He compared the campaign to those waged against al-Qaida in Yemen and Somalia, where US drones, cruise missiles and special-operations raids have battered local affiliates, yet without notably improving the stability of either country nor dealing decisive blows to Islamic militants there.
Obama said the air strikes were a necessary counter-terrorism measure to prevent the group, also known as Isil, from becoming a future threat to the US and therefore did not require fresh congressional approval.
But he is expected to receive overwhelming congressional support for separate authorisation to provide military support to rival Syrian rebels, a vote that some Republicans fear could help boost Democratic chances in this November’s midterm elections by providing political support for his tough new foreign policy.
“We will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists,” said Obama. “I will not hesitate to take action against Isil in Syria, as well as Iraq,” he added.
The speech came a year to the day of another TV address, when Obama declared his intention not to launch air strikes against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Then, Obama said: “I’ve spent four-and-a-half years working to end wars, not to start them.”
A year on, Obama’s hand has been forced by the remarkable advance of Isis in Iraq and Syria. A more limited campaign of air strikes against Isis targets in Iraq has been portrayed as an attempt to defend US interests there. But the credibility of that definition has been stretched: the US military has so far launched 154 air strikes in Iraq and deployed more than 1,100 troops and “advisers” in ostensibly noncombat roles.
The Pentagon is currently working on identifying suitable targets in Syria, according to White House officials speaking to reporters in advance of the speech. The US will also deploy a further 475 troops to Iraq, where they are expected to help identify further targets for air strikes.
Obama struck an unusually nationalist tone in his speech, referring to American leadership as “the one constant in an uncertain world”. He said: “America, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead.”
“Tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked. Next week marks six years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the Great Depression. Yet despite these shocks; through the pain we have felt and the grueling work required to bounce back – America is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on Earth,” he added.
Strikes against Syria are expected to take some time to identify and Obama warned of a protracted campaign. “This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out Isil wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground,” he said.
But he echoed a number of recent US intelligence assessments that suggest there is not current threat to the US. “If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region – including to the United States,” said the president. “While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, Isil leaders have threatened America and our allies.”
A key part of the plan is the enlistment of robust support from regional allies. “This is a moment for international cooperation to prove its value,” Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, said during a meeting with the incoming Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi in Baghdad on Wednesday. “This is a moment for multilateralism to prove its value and have its effect.”
At the Nato summit in Wales last week, Obama indicated that securing the backing of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey would be key to any broad front to the insurgents. On Wednesday, the president spoke by phone with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Separately, France indicated that it would join the US in airstrikes against Isis fighters in Iraq if called on to do so. But its foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, warned that extending the attacks westward into Syria could be seen as supporting President Bashar al-Assad.
Kerry also hopes to enlist further support from Sunni governments in the region. “Nearly every country on Earth could have an ability and an interest to join in this effort, whether by providing military assistance, by helping to track and stop the flow of foreign fighters, helping to track and stop the flow of money,” Kerry said during a press conference at the US embassy in Baghdad.
Earlier in the day, Jeh Johnson, the homeland security secretary, stressed that the administration did not believe Isis posed a direct threat to the United States at home. “At present, we have no credible information that [Isis] is planning to attack the homeland of the United States,” Johnson told a Council on Foreign Relations audience in New York.
The discrepancy between Isis’s assessed threat to the US and the buildup of US military action has sparked accusations of fearmongering.
Despite the assessed lack of an imminent threat, Johnson portrayed Obama’s latest anti-Isis strategy as a responsible approach against the “serious threat” posed by a “depraved” adversary.
“After 13 years of war since 9/11, the decision by the president to take on a new fight against this enemy was not an easy one,” said Johnson, who signaled that one of his main tasks in the coming months will be preventing Isis fighters from entering the United States.
Johnson said he had arranged new deals with foreign airports for enhanced passenger screening, which he called an “imperative” that he seeks to expand. Additional intelligence sharing between the department, the FBI and intelligence agencies in the US and Europe will attempt to identify people attempting to enter the US from Syria. Identifying “terrorist travel patterns” will be a priority, he said, with more nations enlisted for the effort.

Party leaders take high road to Scotland in united effort to avert yes vote

Britain's three main party leaders will cast aside partisan Westminster politics on Wednesday, abandoning the routine of the weekly battle of prime minister's questions, to travel to Scotland in a desperate joint bid to stop a haemorrhage of votes towards Scottish independence.
Travelling separately and speaking to different audiences, David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will fan out across Scotland on Wednesday to make an impassioned collective appeal to Scots to vote to stay inside the what they will say be a changedUnited Kingdom.
"There is a lot that divides us – but there's one thing on which we agree passionately: the United Kingdom is better together," the leaders said in a joint statement on Tuesday. "That's why all of us are agreed the right place for us to be tomorrow is in Scotland, not at prime minister's questions in Westminster.
"We want to be listening and talking to voters about the huge choice they face. Our message to the Scottish people will be simple: 'We want you to stay.'"
Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland, described the trio's decision to travel north as "the biggest blunder of the campaign" and claimed the Westminster establishment was "in a total and utter panic" as its campaign disintegrated.
The unprecedented cooperation across the Westminster divide exposes the naked fear in London that Scottish voters are not heeding the jitters in the financial markets or dark warnings about the irreversible risks to the Scottish economy entailed in a vote for yes next week.
The three leaders arrive a day after Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, warned that a currency union was "incompatible with sovereignty", rejecting Salmond's claim that Scotland could share the pound and become an independent nation. The governor set out three elements necessary for a successful currency union: free movement of capital, banking union, and joint fiscal arrangements over tax and spending.
The currency debate is being watched closely by financial markets, along with the approach that would be taken by the banking industry in the event of a yes vote. Analysts at Credit Suisse said Scotland would fall into a deep recession in the event of a yes vote. "We think deposit flight is both highly likely and highly problematic," they said, pointing out that Scotland's bank assets were 12 times GDP.
The Queen also stepped into the debate, with Buckingham Palace releasing a statement saying the outcome of the independence referendum is "a matter for the people of Scotland". Currently in Balmoral, where she will stay until after the vote on 18 September, her intervention came after Salmond suggested she would be "proud to be Queen of Scots" and the Sunday Times said she had a "great deal of concern" about a yes vote.
Cameron had not been expected to travel to Scotland until the final week of the campaign, but the prime minister agreed to tear up this timetable after a meeting with Ed Miliband on Monday afternoon at which the two men discussed a second opinion poll from TNS that had the yes vote surging to 38% and in effect tied with the no camp on 39% once undecided voters are excluded.
Cameron ordered the saltire to fly over Downing Street until the referendum is concluded, as Miliband urged towns and cities across the UK to fly the flag in support of the union.
Miliband's team rejected the prospect of the three party leaders appearing together on a joint platform, fearing the Labour leader would be tainted if he appeared alongside Cameron, and might come across as part of a bullying Westminster elite entering Scotland to demand surrender terms. "We agreed to march separately but to strike together," said a Labour source.
Salmond was scathing about the politicians' arrival in Scotland, pointing to opinion polls giving all three leaders a substantial negative rating – adding up to minus 150 points in the latest YouGov poll. That made them the most distrusted Westminster politicians ever, Salmond said. He added: "The message of this extraordinary, last-minute reaction is that the Westminster elite are in a state of absolute panic as the ground in Scotland shifts under their feet." He even offered to pay for their travel costs.
In what appears to be a deliberate attempt to offer rolling news networks a stream of pro-UK events, Cameron is due to appear in the Edinburgh area in the morning, followed by an event featuring Clegg in the Scottish Borders, while Miliband is due in the Glasgow area later.
In his speech in Glasgow, Miliband will deliver the strong message of change that the former prime minister Gordon Brown is now sending to Labour supporters in an attempt to reassure them the choice next week is no longer between an unsatisfactory status quo or separation.
Reminding voters that they would be casting their vote in indelible ink, Cameron writes in the Daily Mail that he "agrees wholeheartedly" with Brown's timetable for further devolution. He says: "This is the sort of clarityyou need as you make this decision, especially when you're not just making this decision for yourself, but for your children, your grandchildren, and their children too.
"With this timetable, we are giving people that clarity, showing that by voting no, Scotland gets the best of both worlds: power over the policies that matter, and the stability of the United Kingdom; the freedom to chart its own destiny, and the support of three other nations; the reputation in the world as a successful nation, and the clout of a world-renowned union".
He adds: "While a yes vote may be a lucky dip, a no vote is a guaranteed win for anyone who wants a stronger, more autonomous Scotland."
Miliband will say on Wednesday: "A vote for no is not a vote for no change, it is a vote for change, a vote for change in terms of more devolution of power, and a vote for change in the way our economy and our country works, because we've heard the call for change from the voters of Scotland."
Some Labour sources acknowledged that alongside an emotional appeal for the UK to stay together the three leaders needed to put pressure back on Salmond to explain how Scotland could operate alone. "It has got to the position where he appears like a commentator on the campaign," said one frustrated London official.
The last party political broadcast from the cross-party Better Together campaign is aimed at wavering and rebellious Labour voters after the latest polls suggested up to a third of them intend to vote yes in the referendum.
It features emotive black-and-white-footage of the Jarrow jobs march, of the early NHS and promotes Labour's role in introducing the minimum wage and the Scottish parliament. It ends with Brown speaking directly to the camera, where he says: "I love Scotland. It's as simple as that. I'm proud of our history and of our culture."

Donetsk's pro-Russia rebels celebrate expelling 'fascist Ukrainian junta

With jaunty pop numbers about "expelling the fascist junta", rousing war poetry and – somewhat incongruously – a parade of performing dogs, the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic celebrated on Monday what they see as victory over Kiev.
Held in the shadow of an austere second world war monument in central Donetsk, the event was officially a celebration of the 71st anniversary of the liberation of the Donbass region from Nazi occupation. But the parallels with the current Ukrainian conflict, where local leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin have compared the Ukrainian government to the Nazis, were not hard to find.
The self-proclaimed prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, signed a peace deal in Minsk last Friday with Ukraine's representative, former president Leonid Kuchma. The deal included a ceasefire, an "all-for-all" prisoner exchange, and increased autonomy for Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the implicit assumption that they would remain part of Ukraine.
After the talks, however, Zakharchenko said the regions were still planning to declare full independence, suggesting the region could become a kind of "breakaway state" with Russian backing. In Donetsk, which had come under heavy shelling in recent weeks as both the rebels and the government forces fired into residential areas, the rebels see the agreement as a victory, "freezing" the conflict and forcing the Ukrainian government to negotiate with the rebel leaders, whom it had previously dismissed as "terrorists".
Since the ceasefire was signed, each side has accused the other of breaking the truce, most notably in the port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian checkpoints have come under heavy artillery fire from the pro-Russian side.
Zakharchenko, speaking at the rally in Donetsk, said all Ukrainian forces must leave the eastern regions, "or we will throw them out". Kiev's forces lost a lot of ground in the two weeks before the ceasefire, with evidence suggesting Russia sent reinforcements of armour and soldiers over the border, something Moscow has vehemently denied. But Ukrainian troops still control Donetsk airport and many other key sites, leading to fears the fighting could resume at any moment.
Alexander Khryakov, a minister in the Donetsk government, told the Guardian that a "real ceasefire" would only happen when Kiev was fully defeated.
"Today we are celebrating the liberation of the Donbass from fascism," he said. "And that is a battle that is still going on. The ceasefire will come when there are no more fascists. And not just in the Donbass but in Kiev as well."
Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko made a surprise visit on Monday to the southern port city of Mariupol, which has come under heavy artillery fire, after separatist fighters allegedly backed by Russian support took the town of Novoazovsk, further along the coast and near the border with Russia, a fortnight ago.
On Saturday night, a day into the ceasefire, the edge of the city came under fire and the Donetsk rebels wrote on their Twitter account that they were "taking Mariupol", although they later said they were reacting to provocations from the Ukrainian side and were keeping the ceasefire. On Sunday, Ukrainian fighters claimed the rebels had again shelled their positions on the outskirts of Mariupol, leading to casualties, and that they had began to return fire, although Monday was largely quiet.
Poroshenko, who spoke to a crowd of steel workers in Mariupol, promised that the pro-Russians would face a "crushing defeat" if they tried to take the city, which would give the Donetsk rebels an outlet to the sea.
"I have ordered (the military) to secure the defence of Mariupol with howitzers, multiple rocket launchers, tanks, anti-tank weapons and air cover," said the Ukrainian president, dressed in military-style fatigues. "Mariupol was, is and will be Ukrainian."
A number of fighters on the Ukrainian side have said in recent days that Kiev needs the ceasefire to regroup, but will resume military operations against the "occupying forces" at the first possible opportunity.
In Donetsk, there was anger and resolution among the 1,500-strong crowd who had gathered at the rally.
"We loved Ukraine until they started bombing us, now we can never go back there," said Zinaida, a 58-year-old local. "They are fascists and they have your support. We read that you have Scotland wanting to secede there. Why don't you send your tanks there and destroy them instead of sending them here? We will be part of Russia now and will never go back to those fascists."
Donetsk, a city of 1 million in peacetime, has come to resemble a ghost town in recent weeks as more than half of the population have left, and those who remain stay indoors. While the mood at the rally was unanimous, many of those who want to remain part of Ukraine have left the city. Last month, a rare pro-Ukrainian activist was captured by rebel fighters and made to stand draped in a Ukrainian flag in a central street while passers by threw insults and projectiles at her. She was later released.
Poroshenko, from Mariupol, said the rebels had agreed to release around 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners from captivity under the terms of the Minsk agreement. There was no immediate confirmation of this from the rebel side, nor any information about whether Kiev had freed the estimated 200 prisoners it had taken among rebel fighters.

MH370: Chinese police break up families' prayers

Relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 gathered at a temple in Beijing to mark the six-month anniversary of its disappearance, as a small band of plainclothes police pressured them to disperse.
While the family members ostensibly gathered on Monday morning to pray for their relatives, the meeting quickly turned into a demonstration.
The family members, most of them elderly, stood in a cluster at the gates of the Lama Temple in central Beijing, wearing T-shirts that read "pray for MH370 to peacefully return home". Many of them sobbed and one man recited poems he had written since the plane vanished. Only a few minutes into the demonstration, plainclothes security officers broke through a ring of camera-wielding journalists and shouted for him to stop.
Eventually, they succeeded in subduing the crowd, shoving the journalists away and dragging women by the wrists. "Where are our children?" cried one woman. "Mum and dad are waiting for you!" cried another.
"I think Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government are cheating people – and while the whole world is watching, nobody will tell us anything," Dai Shuqin, 61, whose sister was on the plane, said before the demonstration. "We don't know if [Chinese president] Xi Jinping knows anything or not, but if he does know something, we hope he'll tell us."
Victims of perceived injustice in China have few formal channels to air their grievances – the country's media and courts are controlled by the government, there are few civil society groups and so many family members of Chinese passengers have turned to protests, online posts and uncensored foreign media to make themselves heard.
Some family members say that authorities have begun to treat them like dissidents. In July, police detained about 30 family members, including two young children, for attempting to sleep at a MH370 relatives support centre, Dai said, despite permission from centre staff to do so. At least two family members were beaten in detention, she said.
"It makes me so sad that they'd treat us this way, because we haven't done anything illegal," said Bian Liangwei, a 26-year-old resident of neighbouring Hebei province, whose older brother was on the flight. Bian said that he and other relatives have written to the Malaysian and Chinese governments, to the airline, even to the United Nations, in their quest for information. Local lawyers have refused to help them because of "issues with international law", and domestic journalists have been barred from writing extensively about their plight.
Bian said the airline had offered the families of passengers USD $50,000 (about £30,000) each in compensation. Most families have refused the offer. "All we care about is getting back our relatives," Bian said. "Without any proof that they're dead, we can only assume they're still alive."
No trace of MH370 has been found since the Boeing 777 became unresponsive and veered off course while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March with 239 passengers and crew on board, 154 of them Chinese. International investigators have used satellite information to narrow the search area down to a 60,000 square kilometre area of the Indian Ocean west of Australia. Investigators suspect that the plane may have been deliberately diverted – yet even if they find the wreckage, they say, it has been underwater for so long that it may not reveal what caused the greatest aviation mystery in recent history.

Kei Nishikori a slight favourite against Marin Cilic in US Open final

there is no obvious tennis reason for Michael Chang to be advising Kei Nishikori, apart from their sharing winged feet, but helping him to the US Open final makes a strong case for the former world No2 and famed baseline defender to be made coach of the year.
Certainly, if Nishikori beats Marin Cilic on Monday – after first doubting he would play at all, then getting rid of Milos Raonic, Stanislas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic in 14 tough sets – there will be no argument that Chang has returned to the coaching scene like a New York storm.
Nishikori, with speed not dissimilar to that with which Chang terrorised the Tour in the 80s and 90s, has played some remarkable tennis over the past fortnight, none better than when seeing off the world No1 in four sets in the first semi-final on Saturday. So emphatically did the 24-year-old do the job that Cilic’s upset of Federer a few hours later seemed like an addendum to a wider narrative.
Whether the story continues thus we will learn over the course of the next year or so but for now this title is going to have a first-time major champion, whatever the result – and the feeling is that there will be more jubilation afterwards in Japan than Croatia. Chang – who coached José Higueras briefly in the 80s, then his own brother, Carl, for a year – has watched Nishikori mature at a rapid rate this year and puts it down to a rather prosaic reason: fitness.
He said: “I had told him coming into the Open: ‘Look, you are playing well and, when you have been healthy, you have had good results.’ That has been evident all season. Whenever he has struggled it has always been when he is coming back from injury or has been injured.”
The latest worry was a cyst on his right foot which required surgery in August – not long after his hip gave up on him when he was all over Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Masters and had to quit in the third set.
“The cyst wasn’t an injury,” Chang said. “There was nothing to rehab, it just had to heal. I told him to keep up with his physical stuff and, although he may not have had the amount of matches he wanted coming into the Open, we will go early, work on the timing and once you get through the first two matches anything can happen. I gave him examples of myself, Pete Sampras where we weren’t quite sure if we were going to play; Pete got to the finals in Australia one year, I almost got the final of the French in ’95 and was very close to pulling out of the tournament before it started.”
So that is the tennis pedigree Chang brings to the party – more successful in terms of results than Stefan Edberg’s association with Federer (although reaching the Wimbledon final this year was a considerable achievement), Amélie Mauresmo’s still-young partnership with Andy Murray and on a par with Boris Becker, who was there for Djokovic at Wimbledon – and, of course, on Arthur Ashe Court on Saturday.
But does it stand up that Chang, born in the Hoboken, New Jersey, of Chinese parents, and Nishikori, a proud, life-time citizen of Japan, latterly with a residence in Florida, should have chemistry that works?
“We get on great,” Chang said. “Obviously with myself being Chinese and Kei Japanese there are cultural differences but cultural similarities too, as we are both Asian. If we are going out to eat we don’t have to say: ‘Hey, do you want Asian food?’ There is no hesitation. So it has been easy for us to adapt to one another. It is important for him to rest and relax his mind right now.”
Empathy means a lot in life, not just sport. Chang and Nishikori seem to have it, whatever their roots – and, if it survives the pressures of high-grade elite tennis, this may indeed be the start of a new era.
Cilic will play his part in this intriguing piece of theatre. He seems to have banished the cloud that hung over him after his drugs ban and he won many new admirers with his free-hitting tennis against Federer. But he will start as a slight underdog – and without even a single journalist from his homeland to chronicle his efforts. Times are tough in Croatia.
Chang, meanwhile, has a player, a year younger than Cilic, who may be on the verge of much wider acclaim.
“Tennis is a much more mature sport in Japan [compared with China],” Chang said. “While I know Kei has already had a huge impact in Japan, with what Li Na has done, her influence in China is continuing to grow. Peng Shuai’s results here too have helped.”
A key member of his team is his conditioner, Dante Bottini, who said: “He believes in himself and in his tennis. He has had some great results this year. Last year also he was beating top 10 players. The fact that he is now in better condition helps too.
“I know it wasn’t the greatest preparation but I was working with him in Bradenton, he was sitting in a chair [he couldn’t run because of the cyst, and was sat on a collapsible chair on the practice court] and I was feeding him balls for an hour. We came here to see [what physical shape he was in] but by Sunday we knew he would be ready.
“He hits the ball very early and with a lot of acceleration. He has a lot of power from his hips down so his power comes from there.”
The strength derides, also, from Nishikori’s mind, to which Chang is obviously well attuned.
“He’s beaten everyone and I have constantly reminded him of that,” Chang said. “We have similar styles so I have been able to advise him well with certain things. He’s a great individual who works extremely hard. He is very focused. I keep telling him after every match: ‘We are not done yet.’
It is easy to be satisfied with what he has done so far but here is an opportunity to win a grand slam. I will keep reminding him that. Kei has matured a lot here. He learned a lot during Wimbledon this summer. He applied what he learned and managed to stay strong through some difficult circumstances.”

Caroline Wozniacki through to US Open final after Peng Shuai retires

Five years after losing here to Kim Clijsters in her only slam final, the former world No1 Caroline Wozniacki gets her second chance to win a major – this time against her good friend Serena Williams, who hopes to draw alongside Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 grand slam titles.
So publicly at one during a summer when they endured a variety of personal and health problems, the battling Dane and the American legend arrived at the summit of the tournament via radically different routes in Friday’s semi-finals.
Wozniacki, seeded 11 and in splendid form after her split with fiance Rory McIlroy in March, watched her heat-distressed opponent Peng Shuai wheeled away in tears midway through the second set of the first semi-final in mid-afternoon.
The Chinese player was among several struck down in the draining conditions of a gruelling tournament, after Andy Murray, Benoît Paire, Julien Benneteau, Ivan Dodig and Steve Johnson all wobbled at some point. The latter two retired in the first round.
Wozniacki, who was leading 7-6, 4-3 with the ball in her hand ready to serve out the eighth game, expressed her concern for the unseeded Peng but was also thrilled to be in the final. “It’s incredible,” she said. “I’ve got goosebumps right now, five years since I’ve been in a final here.”
Peng, who has had a remarkable run in the tournament, collapsed after an hour and 53 minutes. She stopped before receiving serve when trailing 3-4 in the second set after an hour and 53 minutes of a fairly even struggle and grabbed at her left leg. It seemed cramp had struck – although doctors later described it as a non-specific “heat illness” – and she was rendered immobile when one point away from breaking back to level the scores.
Peng was helped from the court the first time to receive what the tournament director David Brewer called “an off-court medical assessment”. He explained: “When a player is in stress she is allowed to be evaluated by medical personnel. There is no time limit. You are allowed a reasonable amount of time.”
Wozniackiwas as confused as the spectators on a packed Arthur Ashe court, and filled in the break with some serving to keep her shoulder warm – not knowing, of course, if she would have to hit another shot to reach the final. Peng, meanwhile, was in tears in the locker-room, desperate to get back on court.
After a lengthy medical examination, the chair umpire was advised and then called a three-minute medical timeout, after which Peng told doctors she wanted to continue. She hobbled on after 10 minutes, clearly still upset, but encouraged by the sympathetic crowd, who cheered her loudly.
Wozniacki, who had shown admirable patience, duly served for deuce against her struggling opponent, only to dump her fifth double fault of the set, , and her 10th of the match, into the net. If Peng could hang on, she had a chance of drawing level – but she suddenly dropped to her knees, sobbing. Staff brought two large bags of ice and a wheelchair. “I feel sick to my stomach watching this,” John McEnroe said on CBS.
Wozniacki, who earlier in the week won the WTA’s sportsmanship award, came around from her side of the court to commiserate with her stricken opponent. Only then did Peng reluctantly leave the battlefield for the second and final time – in a wheelchair – handing the match to Wozniacki.
“It was very difficult,” Wozniacki said. “You want to finish it off properly. I feel sorry for Peng, who played really well out there. It was just unfortunate she fell ill, and I hope she is OK. I’m feeling OK. I had two days off. I’m probably going to have an ice bath, chill, watch [the second semi-final] and eat some nice food.”
Peng, 28, came into the semi-final on a golden run, having spent a little over six-and-a-half hours accounting for her five opponents – including fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round – without dropping a set and for the loss of only 30 games. They exchanged two breaks apiece in the first set and were similarly vulnerable in the second. Neither, however, was prepared for the drama that would curtail an otherwise fine contest.

Italian air traffic controllers strike hits British flights

Many Ryanair and easyJet flights have been cancelled due to an air traffic control strike in Italy. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA

Air passengers in Britain are facing major disruption due to a strike by Italian air traffic controllers, with scores of flights cancelled.
The four-hour stoppage from 11.30am to 3.30pm on Saturday has led to Ryanair axing 96 flights to and from Italy, including four return services involving flights to and from the UK.
EasyJet has had to cancel up to 60 flights and other UK carriers are also likely to be affected by the action.
The Ryanair cancellations include Manchester-Bologna, Stansted-Ancona, Stansted-Trieste and Liverpool-Pisa.
Ryanair warned that further delays and cancellations were likely and advised passengers to check the status of their flights.
Ryanair’s Robin Kiely said: “We sincerely apologise to all passengers who have had their travel plans disrupted by these unjustified ATC strikes.”
EasyJet said: “We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact to our customers and we are offering anyone flying to and from Italy during those times the opportunity to transfer their flight free of charge to another day to avoid the strike. They should go to easyJet.com to make changes to their flights.”
EasyJet said up to 20 of its cancellations would affect flights into and out of the UK.
British Airways flights are also affected. A BA spokeswoman said: “We are doing all we can to minimise disruption to customers affected by the threatened strike.
“We have retimed a number of flights and are using larger aircraft where possible to help more customers, from cancelled flights, fly to where they need to be.
“We are advising customers flying to and from Italy to keep checking the very latest information on our website.”