BARCA - AC Milan 0 - 0

Barcelona will need to beat AC Milan at the Nou Camp to ensure their place in the Champions League semi-finals after being held to a goalless draw in Italy.

The defending champions' claims for a penalty were turned down when Alexis Sanchez fell under Christian Abbiati's challenge in a dominant first half.

But Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had clear openings at the other end as AC Milan threatened on the break.

Cristian Tello was denied by a last-ditch block as Barca ran out of ideas.

The sides played out two pulsating games in Group H earlier in the tournament and AC Milan once again provided a fascinating counter to Barcelona's staccato passing style.

With the winners set to play the winners of Chelsea and Benfica's quarter-final, the Serie A leaders maintained their record of never having lost a home quarter-final tie in the competition.

The visitors created a raft of excellent chances in the opening half as they weaved passing patterns around Milan's defensive veterans Alessandro Nesta and Massimo Ambrosini.

But their finishing could not match the precision of their build-up play.

Xavi's toe-poke was clawed away by Christian Abbiati after a sharp one-two with Lionel Messi, before Sanchez could not quite burn off the pursuing Luca Antonini, allowing the left-back to get in a last-ditch block.

The Catalan side also had a strong claim for a penalty turned down by the officials after Sanchez was up-ended after he had peeled off the end of the Milan wall as part of a clever free-kick routine.

But in an absorbing contest, Milan also headed to the dressing rooms ruing what might have been.

Their pressing game frequently unsettled Barcelona and twice they carved through the remnants of the defending champions' rearguard after winning possession high up the pitch.

Robinho's awkward side-foot volley cleared the bar from six yards early on before Zlatan Ibrahimovic, playing against his former club, scuffed a shot into the grateful arms of Victor Valdes after holding Carles Puyol at bay.

The hosts continued to disrupt Barcelona's usually reliable supply lines after the break and Pep Guardiola's side could not muster the same sustained level of threat.

The more attack-minded Tello was introduced in place of Andres Iniesta and the 20-year-old wriggled away from Daniele Bonera before rippling the wrong side of the side-netting.

But it was rare opening as the ageing legs in the AC Milan side chased gamely and Barcelona's stream of attacking invention dried up.

Ambrosini, 34, slid in to block Messi's shot as the Argentine shaped to pull the trigger just inside the box, before Antonini stretched every sinew to get to a loose ball first in the six-yard box.

Their efforts were rewarded as Milan became the first side to keep a Champions League clean sheet against Barcelona for two years.

Turkey's PM in Iran for talks on nuclear program

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, is accompanied by Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, left, during an official welcoming ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 28, 2012. AP Photo

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials were to discuss Tehran's disputed nuclear program and the crisis in Syria with visiting Turkish prime minister on Wednesday.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Tehran from South Korea, where he attended a nuclear security summit and also held talks with President Barack Obama.

Turkey has built close economic ties with Iran and has been at odds with Washington over the best way to get Tehran to halt its nuclear program, arguing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff instead of sanctions. However, Turkey has also decided to host a NATO defense shield radar that would warn of any Iranian ballistic missiles in the region.

Iran and six world powers U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have agreed to meet on April 13 for new nuclear talks but no decision has been made on the venue.

The last round of nuclear negotiations was held in Istanbul in January 2011, but ended without agreement.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he favored Istanbul as the venue for the April talks, but that a final decision is yet to be made by top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "within the coming days." "Istanbul has expressed its readiness to host these talks and it remains one of the probable options for the negotiations," Salehi told the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying the program is peaceful and aimed at producing electricity and radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

The U.N. has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bomb.
Also, the European Union as well as the U.S. and others have imposed an oil embargo as part of sanctions to pressure Tehran into resuming talks on the country's nuclear program. They have also imposed tough banking sanctions aimed at limiting Iran's ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenue.

Apart from Iran's nuclear issue, Erdoğan and Iranian officials will also likely discuss the crisis in Syria an issue Tehran and Ankara vastly differ on.

Turkey has demanded that Assad step down over the yearlong conflict, which the U.N. says has left more than 9,000 people dead. Iran is a key ally of the Syrian regime and Ahmadinejad praised President Bashar Assad on Tuesday for the way the "Syrian authorities are managing the situation with confidence." Turkey is to host about 60 countries, including the United States, for the "Friends of the Syrian People" conference in Istanbul on Sunday. The meeting will discuss ways to further isolate and pressure Assad, as well as measures to support the Syrian opposition.

March/28/2012

Mobile operators seek to block skype in Sweden

A spokesperson for telecom service provider Telia told Sveriges Radio (SR) that the technology exists to block users' ability to use mobile voice over IP (VoIP) telephony services.



"It's going to mean that there will be service plans where it's not included so it won't work," Telia spokesperson Charlotte Züger told SR.

"I believe, quite simply, that we need to be able to get paid for our various services no matter what, as different service plans include different things."

A recent report by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), which oversees telecom regulations across the European Union, has found that Swedish telecom operators are not alone in their desire to prevent users from making free VoIP calls.

However, Swedish companies looking to ensure users don't forego paid mobile phone calls in favour of VoIP services, may find their plans scuttled by the European Commission, which is considering banning telecom companies from blocking services like Skype and Viber.

According to the European Commission, maintaining "net neutrality" – whereby all internet traffic is treated equally – is important and companies shouldn't be able to control how customers use the network.

The findings of the BEREC report, published earlier this month, prompted calls by net neutrality advocates for legislation to ensure that competition isn't hampered by the blocking of VoIP services.

"These preliminary findings prove that EU operators impose unjustifiable restrictions to Internet access," said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson of France-based citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

Swedish MEP Gunnar Hökmark of the Moderate Party told SR he's open to exploring legislation, but is generally critical of telecom companies' attempt to block customers from using VoIP services on their mobile phones.

"From the start I think we should have an openness which means that we never have to take such measures," he told SR.

TT/The Local/dl
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