Football: Platt denies Balotelli move and City signings

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom: Manchester City assistant manager David Platt insisted Monday he knew nothing about reports temperamental striker Mario Balotelli was set to leave the Premier League champions.

And he also ruled out any emergency defensive signings for City in the final days of the transfer window, despite their injury problems at the back.

According to Italian media, Balotelli is poised to move to AC Milan, perhaps in a deal involving former Tottenham midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng.

However, Italian forward Balotelli whose rented luxury mansion has been advertised with estate agents since the beginning of the year, was at City on Monday amidst reports he had held a farewell party and handed out mementoes of his time at the club to friends.

"We've three days left before the (January transfer window) deadline, and I haven't heard anything," Platt, deputy to City manager Roberto Mancini said Monday. "It's a shame Robbie's (Mancini) not here because he might know a lot more than me.

"As far as we're concerned, he (Balotelli) is still a Manchester City player. I'm not aware of any negotations."

City paid Inter Milan 22 million pounds for the Italy striker in August 2010, but his time at the club has been peppered with controversy both on and off the pitch.

And Mancini, who found himself in a training ground shoving match with the striker, was forced yet again last week to deny Balotelli was being sold.

Meanwhile City find themselves confronting problems at the back.

City captain Vincent Kompany, who limped out of FA Cup tie at Stoke City at the weekend, could be out of action for up to three weeks with a recurring calf injury that is causing concern at Eastlands.

And senior centre-half Kolo Toure is away on international duty with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, while Matija Nastasic, who would be first choice in league games, has a knee problem that kept him out of action at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

That leaves Joleon Lescott, the England international who has struggled to force his way into the side this season, as City's only fit senior central defender as they resume the pursuit of league leaders Manchester United.

But Platt insisted City, regarded as the wealthiest club in football thanks to their Abu Dhabi owners, will not move to bring in another defender before the transfer window closes.

"We've said before the market in January is very difficult," Platt said. "Even if you're planning to bring somebody in, it's very difficult to do so," he added ahead of Tuesday's match away to bottom of the table on QPR.

"Circumstances often dictate and have done in the past, like last year when Adam Johnson got injured a couple of days before the deadline," the former England midfielder recalled.

"You end up scratching your head and looking through everything to see if you can get a replacement.

"Vinny limped out of the game but he'll be back. With it being such a difficult market, you can't start stepping into it willy nilly and thinking: 'right, we've got to get somebody'.

"We're at Manchester City. It's a top club that competes for top trophies and as a result of that you can't just get anybody and think they are going to fill the gap that somebody leaves."

"That gap Vinny has left could be a fortnight, three weeks, who knows? We'll find out soon, but it's not a six-month gap, it's not something ridiculous that we feel we can't do with the squad that we've got available."

- AFP/fa

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Is your hotel trying to choke you with an iPhone app?

Is that cool?

(Credit:
Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Some like it cold.

It's not everyone's idea of comfort, but sitting in a cool hotel room -- especially when it's hot outside -- can offer a certain pleasure. At least for me.

It's a pleasure that a certain group of people want to deny me. They're called hotel owners.

Hotel owners, it seems, are rather fonder of making a cool profit.

It's bad enough when the room has no windows you can open. However, an ever-increasing trend is for hotels to restrict how cold you can make your room temperature.

You click furiously on the thermostat's "down" arrow and it makes like a prison guard.

Recently, I stayed in a hotel where it was verboten to have less than 67 degrees in your room.

To me, 67 degrees is balmy and barmy. So I called the front desk and wondered whether an engineer might help me in my unreasonable quest to choose the temperature in my room.

When he arrived he took one look and said: "Yes, 67 degrees. That's the hotel policy."

"But my policy is a little different," I explained. "I have blood that boils easily."

"Hotel policy," he repeated.

I gave him a look that explained my blood was already far beyond 67 degrees.

An hour later, his boss arrived. I pointed to the thermostat. He nodded caringly and said: "Hotel policy."

"Sir," I began. "If I owned a restaurant and you ordered fish and chips and I brought them to you cold, would you get annoyed? Would you send them back?"

Look, it was the first thing that came into my head. It was hot in that room. I wasn't thinking so clearly.

"Well, yes," he replied. "But this is hotel policy for all floors. It's 67 degrees."

"My policy is cold fish and chips," I repeated.

He looked at me as if I had drifted in from the Planet PoohBah.

I asked him whether there was anything he could do, you know, just for me. Because I am clearly mad. In the insane sense.

Could he not perform some feat of engineering because I am a little unusual, a little excessively human?

He pulled out his iPhone. I assumed he was going to call some men in dark suits who would attempt to bring my head down to my knees and my blood down to 32 degrees.

Instead, he said: "Look, it's all on this iPhone app. You see, here I can control the temperature in the whole hotel."

"So is it a floor-by-floor thing?" I wondered.

"Oh, no. I can change the temperature in every room," he explained, unwisely but helpfully.

"This is nothing more than a money-saving thing, isn't it?" I whispered.

He nodded.

More Technically Incorrect

Perhaps fed up of my insistently polite European accent, he looked up and sighed: "How cold do you want it?"

"60 degrees," I said. "I want the option to make the temperature in here to go down to 60 degrees."

With one touch of his iPhone, it was done. Suddenly, the down arrow on my thermostat was free to slide toward perfect coolness and he slid away, perhaps regretting he'd shown me the truth.

I can understand that some people carelessly leave the aircon or the heating on all day, when they're not in their hotel rooms. I can understand that hotels are businesses. But the essence of staying in a hotel is comfort.

Temperature shouldn't be any different from the need for hypoallergenic pillows, clean sheets, respect for the "Do Not Disturb" sign and a massive array of exciting movies for all ages on the TV.

So if you happen to be one of those people who simply prefer a little global cooling in your hotel room, it may well be that you need to invite the Head of Maintenance up to your room for a quick chat.

You know, about cold fish and chips.

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Gingrich: Republicans "clearly have to change"

(CBS News) If the GOP had focused more on ideas in the 2012 presidential election, "maybe we could have won," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested today on "Face the Nation."

Reacting to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's speech last week to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte, Gingrich recommended "to every Republican" Irving Kristol's 1976 essay, "The Stupid Party." Then "Ronald Reagan came along with Jack Kemp," Gingrich continued, "and they basically moved us back to being an idea-oriented party. I think we clearly have to change.

"I mean, maybe we could have won or not won this year," continued Gingrich, who ultimately lost out in the GOP primaries to former nominee Mitt Romney. "I was certainly wrong - I thought [Romney] would win up until about 5:30 on Election Day."

Jindal was "right on track," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said during the discussion with Gingrich. "What we need to do is get rid of 'Grand Old Party.' We are the 'great opportunity party.' We're the 'growth and opportunity party.' We are the 'government of the people' party. And that needs to be upon point of view and the perspective we come from and we carry our message forth."

One thing Republicans didn't do well with Romney's campaign, Blackburn argued, "was to penetrate the market place with our message - we didn't have a broad enough basis using social media, using all the different media formats that are there." Gingrich, though, pointed to overly conservative policies as the GOP's 2012 curse.

"When I said as a candidate we're not going to deport a grandmother if she's been here 25 years, we had a nominee who said yes, we would, that she would self-deport," Gingrich said. "I think at that point we lost Asians, we lost Latinos. You can't lose Asians, Latinos, African Americans and young people, and think you're going to be competitive.

"I think we have to come to grips with the reality," he continued. "We have to learn to communicate in the world of young people on their terms but we also have to understand that we need to be a country of immigrants where Republicans are seen as welcoming, hard-working, competent people, not prepared to kick grandmother out."

Appearing later in the program, former Romney adviser Kevin Madden agreed that as the American electorate evolves, "we have to do a better job as Republicans of reaching out.

"It really comes down to this fundamental idea, this principle: Are we going to talk about what we're for or are we going to talk about what we're against? We lulled ourselves into a belief that in the 2010 elections, because we had very good results in the midterms, that we could be a party of 'no' and run against spending, run against deficits. But in order to prosper and become a majority party we have to talk about what we're for.

"Immigration is an example," Madden continued. "What does a modernized immigration system look like and how is it part a larger economic argument, part of the argument of values and families? That is our challenge as part of the rebuilding process going forward."

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Authorities: 245 Dead in Brazil Nightclub Fire

A blaze raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, setting off a stampede that killed at least 245 people attending a university party, police and firefighters said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Witnesses said that a flare or firework lit by band members may have started the fire.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida told local news media that the 245 bodies were brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria, at the southern tip of Brazil near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay

Television images showed smoke pouring out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless, young male partygoers joined firefighters in wielding axes and sledgehammers, pounding at windows and walls to break through to those trapped inside. Teenagers sprinted from the scene desperately trying to find help — others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

Silva added that firefighters and ambulances responded quickly after the fire broke out, but that it spread too fast inside the packed club for them to help.

Michele Pereira, another survivor, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage and that the fire broke out after band members lit flares.

Germano Roratto/AFP/Getty Images

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward. At that point the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak but in a matter of seconds it spread," Pereira said.

Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha earlier that the total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured. Officials earlier said 180 were killed.

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Ezekiel Corte Real, 23, was quoted by the paper as saying that he helped people to escape. "I just got out because I'm very strong," he said.

The fire led President Dilma Roussef to cancel a series of meetings she had scheduled at a summit of Latin American and European leaders in Chile's capital of Santiago, and was headed to Santa Maria, according to the Brazilian foreign ministry.

"It is a tragedy for all of us. I am not going to continue in the meeting (in Chile) for very clear reasons," she said.

"Sad Sunday", tweeted Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He said all possible action was being taken and that he would be in the city later in the day.

Santa Maria is a major university city with a population of around a quarter of a million.

A welding accident reportedly set off a Dec. 25, 2000, fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

At least 194 people died at an overcrowded working-class nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2004. Seven members the band were sentenced to prison for setting off the blaze.

A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, broke out on Dec. 5, 2009, when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches, killing 152

A nightclub fire in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling.

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Nightclub fire kills 245 in southern Brazil

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (Reuters) - A fire in a nightclub killed at least 245 people in southern Brazil on Sunday when a band's pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing patrons were unable to find the emergency exits in the ensuing panic, officials said.

The blaze in the southern city of Santa Maria was started when a band member or someone from its production team ignited a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling, said Luiza Sousa, a civil police official. The fire spread "in seconds," she said.

An estimated 500 people were in the Boate Kiss nightclub when the fire broke out early on Sunday, and many were unable to find the exits as dark smoke quickly filled the room. At least one exit was locked, trapping hundreds inside to die, many from asphyxiation as they inhaled smoke, police said.

"When I looked around, all I saw were dead bodies all around, lying on the floor. It was macabre," survivor Taynne Vendrusculo told GloboNews TV. "It all happened so fast. Both the panic and the fire spread rapidly, in seconds."

Television footage showed people sobbing outside the club, while shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit.

By noon (1400 GMT), the death toll had risen to 245 and 48 people were being treated in local hospitals, said Major Cleberson Bastianello, head of the military police unit leading the rescue efforts. He said all of the bodies of the victims had been removed from the nightclub.

President Dilma Rousseff, who started her political career in the same state where the fire happened, cut short a visit to Chile to return to Brazil to visit the scene. Before departing, Rousseff gave a televised statement in which she broke out in tears as she pledged government help for the victims and their families.

"We are trying to mobilize all possible resources to help in the rescue efforts," she said. "All I can say at the moment is that my feelings are of deep sorrow."

The disaster recalls other incidents including a 2003 fire at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, that killed 100, and a Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 that killed nearly 200. In both incidents, a band or members of the audience ignited fires that set the establishment ablaze.

Brazil's safety standards and emergency response capabilities are under particular scrutiny as it prepares to host the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics.

The Boate Kiss nightclub was a popular venue in Santa Maria, a university town of more than 275,000 people. The massive nightclub sometimes attracts up to 2,000 people on a given night, according to reviews on the Internet.

One of the club's owners had already surrendered to police in Santa Maria for questioning, GloboNews reported.

Rio Grande do Sul state Health Secretary Ciro Simoni said emergency medical supplies from all over the state were being sent to the scene.

Santa Maria is some 186 miles west of the state capital of Porto Alegre. "A sad Sunday!" tweeted Rio Grande do Sul Governor Tarso Genro. He said "all possible measures" were being taken in response.

(Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Gustavo Bonato, Leila Coimbra, Todd Benson, Jeferson Ribeiro and Brian Winter; Editing by Todd Benson, Kieran Murray and Eric Beech)

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi "fond" of army that detained her

LONDON: Myanmar's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi remains "fond" of her country's army despite claims that it has recruited child soldiers and used rape as a weapon, she said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was herself held under house arrest by the military for most of the last two decades, told the BBC radio show "Desert Island Discs" she hoped the army could redeem itself for "terrible" things it has done.

She confirmed that she wants to become Myanmar's president after elections in 2015 -- but she will not be eligible for the post without constitutional reforms that need military backing.

"It's genuine, I'm fond of the army," the 67-year-old told the show, which was recorded last month at her home in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw.

"People don't like me for saying that. There are many who have criticised me for being what they call a poster girl for the army... But I think the truth is I am very fond of the army, because I always thought of it as my father's army."

Suu Kyi's father Aung San, considered the father of modern Myanmar, created the army and led the struggle against British colonial rule.

"I was taught that my father was the father of the army, and that all soldiers were his sons -- and therefore they were part of my family," Suu Kyi told the BBC.

"It's terrible what they've done and I don't like what they've done at all. But if you love somebody, I think you love her or him in spite of and not because of, and you always look forward to a time when they will be able to redeem themselves."

Rights groups have accused Myanmar's army of serious rights violations including rape, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers.

The military remains locked in an escalating conflict with rebels in the northern Kachin state -- where tens of thousands of people have been displaced since June 2011 -- despite the announcement of unilateral ceasefire this month.

Suu Kyi said she was happy to admit that she wants to become Myanmar's president, and dismissed politicians who pretend they are not hungry for power.

"I would like to be president," she said.

"If you're a politician and you're the leader of a party then you should want to get government power in your hands, that you may be able to work out all these ideas and visions that you've harboured so long for your country."

Like all guests on "Desert Island Discs", the longest-running show on British radio which celebrated its 70th birthday last year, Suu Kyi was asked to choose eight songs she would like to bring to a mythical island as a castaway.

She asked friends and family to choose many of the songs, which included "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Green Green Grass of Home" by Tom Jones.

She confessed that she does not have "a talent for music" but that her younger son Kim has tried to educate her musically, introducing her to reggae legend Bob Marley and the US rock band Grateful Dead.

- AFP/xq

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Oppo BDP-105: Not your average Blu-ray player

The Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray, SACD, and DVD-Audio player

(Credit:
Oppo)

Even by Oppo's high standards the BDP-105 is an extraordinary Blu-ray player. Sure, it's loaded with up-to-the-second features -- 4K upscaling, 2D-to-3D conversion, and a high-quality USB 2.0 digital-to-analog converter -- but what really makes the Oppo special is the sound. Pop the cover and look inside and you'll see why. Most of the 17-pound component's chassis space is devoted to the audio circuitry. That's nice, but the audio advantages will be completely irrelevant if you connect the BDP-105 to your receiver with a HDMI cable (the digital-to-analog conversion would then be handled in the receiver). The 105 was designed for buyers still using older $1,000 or $2,000 receivers from the days before HDMI connectivity, that would like to hear the Blu-rays' high-resolution DTS Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD soundtracks at their best. Since the audio won't be transmitted over the HDMI cable, you would run audio cables between the 105's seven- or five-channel analog outputs and the AV receiver's analog inputs.

The BDP-105 has 7.1/5.1 analog output jacks

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Or you could forgo the receiver entirely and hook up the BDP-105 directly to a five- or seven-channel power amplifier. That approach would produce better sound quality, but would lack the connectivity, flexibility, and convenience of today's better receivers. Still, the BDP-105/power amp combo would sound better and be more powerful than most top-of-the-line receivers. The 105's connectivity options won't match any decent receiver, but its connectivity suite is a lot more extensive than most Blu-ray players. The Oppo has two HDMI inputs, so you can connect external devices such as set-top boxes and network streaming devices, three USB 2.0 ports, coaxial and optical digital inputs for satellite boxes, televisions, video-game consoles, etc., and there's a built-in headphone amplifier. The BDP-105's extensive bass management options are on par with a lot of AV receivers. The player's digital volume control is easy to use.

For my listening tests, I hooked up the BDP-105 ($1,199) with an assortment of self-powered Audioengine and Emotiva monitor speakers, and a Hsu subwoofer. With this setup I didn't need to use an AV receiver or separate power amp, but the Raconteurs' "Live at Montreux" Blu-ray was vivid and very live sounding. The system's freewheeling dynamics were really impressive, and the surround mix on King Crimson's "Red" DVD-A projected a remarkably seamless wrap-around soundstage. Each instrument was precisely focused in a near 360-degree sound environment.

The BDP-105 has full speaker setup and bass management options, just like an AV receiver.

(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg/CNET)

Classical music on SACD was just as impressive, the front three speakers produced a three-dimensional soundstage with lots of depth, and string tone was top notch. Dramatic movies on Blu-ray and DVD sounded great. I plugged headphones into the BDP-105, but the sound wasn't special, Schiit Audio's $99 Magni headphone amp was a lot better.

The $499 Oppo BDP-103 shares most of the BDP-105's features, but lacks the upgraded digital-to-analog converters, so if you're planning on using HDMI to connect the player to your receiver, buy the 103, and save $700. You can use the 103's 7.1 analog outputs with an old high-end receiver lacking HDMI connectivity, but the 103's digital converters are a step down from the ones in the 105.

The BDP-105 is an update of the Oppo BDP-95, and the new one has lots of features the old player lacks, but the two players sound about the same. Oppo still has 95s in stock and sells them for $799.

Oppo sells direct and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the return shipping is free.

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Hackers take over gov't website to avenge Aaron Swartz

This screenshot shows the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission after it was hijacked by the hacker-activist group Anonymous, early Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide. The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch, was replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago "a line was crossed." / AP Photo

WASHINGTON The hacker-activist group Anonymous says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide.

The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch, was taken over early Saturday and replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago "a line was crossed."

The message read in part:

Citizens of the world,
Anonymous has observed for some time now the trajectory of justice in the United States with growing concern. We have marked the departure of this system from the noble ideals in which it was born and enshrined. We have seen the erosion of due process, the dilution of constitutional rights, the usurpation of the rightful authority of courts by the "discretion" or prosecutors. We have seen how the law is wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control, authority and power in the interests of oppression or personal gain."

The hackers say they've infiltrated several government computer systems and copied secret information that they now threaten to make public.

Family and friends of Swartz, who helped create Reddit and RSS, say he killed himself after he was hounded by federal prosecutors.

Officials say he helped post millions of court documents for free online and that he illegally downloaded millions of academic articles from an online clearinghouse.

By mid-morning Saturday the website was offline.

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Cops Using More Private Cameras to Nab Suspects

Philadelphia detectives were able to quickly make an arrest in the murder and burning of a female pediatrician by viewing surveillance video of nearby stores and a hospital that captured the suspect entering the doctor's home and later getting into his truck.

In the hours after Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's body was found strangled and burning in her basement, city's Homicide Task Force collected surveillance footage from a coffee shop, drug store and hospital overlooking Ketunuti's block. It was footage taken from Ori Feibush's coffee shop that allowed cops to identify Smith.

The suspect, an exterminator named Jason Smith, soon confessed to detectives, police said.

Lately a range of crimes have been solved by the seemingly ubiquitous security videos maintained by private companies or citizens, and investigators have been able to quickly apprehend suspects by obtaining the video, deftly turning private cameras into effective police resources.

Philadelphia Police Arrest Suspect in Doctor's Killing Watch Video

Pa. Doctor Killing: Person of Interest in Custody Watch Video

Private surveillance cameras have become so pervasive that the face of a suspect who allegedly shot a Bronx, N.Y., cab driver in a botched robbery on Jan. 14 was splashed throughout the media within days because the cabbie had rigged his vehicle with a camera.

The New York Police Department arrested Salvatore Perrone after he was caught on surveillance video recorded near two of three shopkeeper slayings in Brooklyn, N.Y., in November. He has since been charged with murder.

And in Mesa, Ariz., surveillance footage taken in November by resident Mitch Drum showed a man rolling on the ground trying to extinguish flames that had engulfed his shirt, which had caught fire while he was allegedly siphoning gas from a car by Drum's house. The man was arrested.

Though surveillance cameras have been a staple of security since a network of government operated cameras dubbed the "ring of steel" was introduced in London in the early 1990s, police have recently launched programs to partner with more businesses.

In Philadelphia, police have launched a program for businesses to register private cameras with the department. According to the SafeCam website, businesses will only be contacted when there is a criminal incident in the vicinity of the security camera. At that point, police will request a copy of the footage for their investigation.

"Businesses are saying, 'I have a camera at this location, and it may or may not be of use to you. It's a registration to say, 'feel free to call me,'" Sgt. Joseph Green told ABCNews.com

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At least 22 die in Egyptian clashes over death sentences

PORT SAID, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 22 people died on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, adding to bloody street turmoil confronting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said after the violence. The state news agency quoted a general as saying the military aimed to "establish calm and stability in Port Said and to protect public institutions".

The unrest began with nationwide rallies on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, a democratic uprising that protesters now accuse Mursi of betraying by ramming through an Islamist-hued constitution.

While anniversary-related violence subsided, a new flare-up hit Port Said after a court sentenced 21 men to die for involvement in the deaths of 74 people after a local soccer match on February 1, 2012, many of them fans of the visiting team.

Residents ran wildly through the streets of Port Said in rage that men from their city had been blamed for the stadium disaster, and gunshots were reported near the prison where most of the defendants were being held.

State television, citing the Health Ministry, said 22 people were killed and more than 200 wounded. Security sources said at least two of the dead were policemen.

A witness said some men stormed a police station in Port Said, where protesters lit tires in the street, sending black smoke funneling into the air.

At least nine people were killed in clashes with police on Friday, mainly in the port of Suez where the army has also deployed. Hundreds were injured as police rained down tear gas on protesters armed with stones and some with petrol bombs.

The schism between Islamists and secular Egyptians is hurting efforts by Mursi, freely elected in June, to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a slide in Egypt's currency.

The political strife and lack of security that has blighted the Arab world's most populous country over much of the post-Mubarak era is casting a chilling shadow over a parliamentary election expected to start in April.

Highlighting tensions, the opposition National Salvation Front coalition called for a government of national unity and an early presidential vote among other demands. It said it would call for more protests next Friday and could boycott the parliamentary election if its demands are not met.

Mursi's opponents say he has failed to deliver on economic pledges or be a president representing the full political and communal diversity of Egyptians, as he pledged.

His supporters say his critics do not respect the democracy that has given Egypt its first freely elected leader.

VICTIMS' RELATIVES CHEER

At the Port Said soccer stadium a year ago, many spectators were crushed and witnesses saw some thrown off balconies after the match between Cairo's Al Ahly and local team al-Masri.

Families of victims in court cheered and wept for joy when Judge Sobhy Abdel Maguid read a list of 21 names "referred to the Mufti", a phrase used to denote execution, as all death sentences must be reviewed by Egypt's top religious authority.

A total of 73 people have been standing trial. Other rulings will be issued on March 9, the judge said.

One relative in the court shouted: "God is greatest." Outside the Al Ahly club in Cairo, fans also cheered. They had threatened more violence unless the death penalty was meted out.

Thousands took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities on Friday to protest against what they call the authoritarianism of Mursi's rule. Protesters in Cairo were again hurling stones at police lines in Cairo on Saturday.

"We want to change the president and the government. We are tired of this regime. Nothing has changed," said Mahmoud Suleiman, 22, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cauldron of the 2011 anti-Mubarak revolt and near where youths stoned police.

"PURSUING CRIMINALS"

Ahmed Salama, 28, a protester camped out with dozens of others in Tahrir, said: "The protests will continue until we realize all the demands of the revolution - bread, freedom and social justice."

In a statement in response to Friday's violence, Mursi said the state would not hesitate in "pursuing the criminals and delivering them to justice". He urged Egyptians to respect the principles of the revolution by expressing views peacefully.

The president met on Saturday with the National Defence Council, which includes senior ministers and security officials, to discuss the spate of violence.

In a televised statement, the National Salvation Front said it was holding Mursi responsible.

The Front was formed from disparate groups last year when Mursi awarded himself extra powers and fast-tracked an Islamist-flavored constitution to a referendum, opposed by the Front although the document was passed in the popular vote.

"Egypt will not regain its balance except by a political solution that is transparent and credible, by a government of national salvation to restore order and heal the economy and with a constitution for all Egyptians," prominent opposition politician Mohamed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.

Until the Front was formed, the opposition had struggled to unite and their vote had been split at presidential and parliamentary polls, helping Islamists. The last parliament was dissolved based on court order, demanding a new vote this year.

Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the latest violence reflected the frustration of many liberal-minded Egyptians and others.

"The state of polarization between Islamists and others is most likely to continue and will have a very negative impact on the state's politics, security and economy," he said.

Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose among Egyptians two years ago has unraveled, triggering bloody street battles last month.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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