There were 31 deals, the most ever on the deadline day, involving a record 55 players and 25 draft picks.

The Flyers didn’t join the frenzy, but both the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils added players.

The Devils added defenseman Martin Skoula, who had moved from Pittsburgh to Toronto on Tuesday night. The Leafs flipped him to Jersey for a fifth-round draft pick.

The Rangers sent prospect Jordan Owens to Detroit for forward Kris Newbury.

New York also acquired defenseman Anders Eriksson from Phoenix for minor-league goalie Miika Wiikman and a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft.

Blues active. St. Louis traded center Yan Stastny to Vancouver for forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie, 23. Stastny has played in parts of four NHL seasons, all with the Blues.

St. Louis also acquired forward Matt D’Agostini from Montreal, where he had 12 goals, for prospect Aaron Palushaj, 20.

Carolina moves five. The Hurricanes moved five veteran players and stockpiled draft picks.

They dealt defenseman Joe Corvo to Washington, and sent forward Stephane Yelle and prospect Harrison Reed to Colorado and defenseman Andrew Alberts to Vancouver.

Carolina received defenseman Brian Pothier, left winger Oskar Osala, and a second-round pick in 2011 from Washington; prospect Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and a sixth-round draft choice from Colorado; and Vancouver’s third-round pick for Alberts.

Those moves came after they sent defenseman Aaron Ward to Anaheim for a minor-league goalie and a draft choice, then traded forward Scott Walker to Washington for another pick.

Blue Jackets. Columbus waited until the final hour to deal forward Raffi Torres to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Nathan Paetsch and a second-round draft pick.

The Blue Jackets also sent defenseman Milan Jurcina, acquired from Washington with forward Chris Clark earlier this season, back to the Capitals for a sixth-round draft pick.

They then sent forward Fredrik Modin to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional seventh-round pick.

Coyotes. Phoenix made three moves, getting 40-year-old defenseman Mathieu Schneider from Vancouver for defenseman Sean Zimmerman and a conditional draft pick.

The Coyotes also acquired left winger Wojtek Wolski from the Colorado Avalanche for forwards Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter. Earlier, the Coyotes acquired defenseman Derek Morris from Boston for a conditional 2011 draft pick.

Ducks. Anaheim acquired high-scoring defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky from Edmonton in a trade for U.S. Olympic defenseman Ryan Whitney. Edmonton also will get a sixth-round draft pick.

Bruins. In addition to sending Morris to the Coyotes, the Bruins acquired defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, a member of Germany’s Olympic team, from Florida, sending forwards Byron Bitz and Craig Weller to the Panthers.

The Panthers also sent the rights to defenseman Matt Bartkowski to Boston and got a second-round pick.

Slapshots. Washington acquired center Eric Belanger from Minnesota for a second-round draft pick. . . . Edmonton sent defenseman Steve Staios to Calgary for defenseman Aaron Johnson and a future draft pick. . . . Calgary also sent forward Dustin Boyd to Nashville for a fourth-round draft pick. . . . Buffalo traded left winger Clarke MacArthur to Atlanta for a third- and fourth-round draft pick. . . . Los Angeles also acquired veteran center Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay for center Teddy Purcell and a third-round pick in the draft.

Rochette, whose mother died on the weekend, stands third in the women’s figure skating competition going into Thursday’s long program.

“This must be a very tough time for her, I respect totally what she does,” Rogge told reporters Wednesday. “I wish her well for the long program . . . A bronze or even better would be nice, it is never going to be a consolation but I totally respect her decision (to compete) and I admire her courage.”

At an event to honour Olympic mothers at Canada Olympic House, dozens of Olympic moms past and present observed a moment of silence in honour of Therese Rochette after an emcee read a letter from Joannie.

“I never thought life could change so quickly, but it has,” Rochette said in the letter.

“I’m fortunate enough to have a close family and friends that are helping me. I don’t know if I could have gotten to where I am today without these incredible people supporting me. I’m sorry I cannot be here with you tonight, but please know that I feel your love and support.”

Carol Morrison, whose son Denny Morrison competed in speed skating at the 2006 Olympics and is also competing in Vancouver, said learning about Therese Rochette’s death hit home.

“I was watching (Joannie Rochette’s performance) on television and I cried probably like the rest of everyone else in Canada,” said Morrison after the event.

“Her mother is only a couple years older than I am, and as soon as I heard that news, I thought of Denny, and I thought, ‘How would he react if that was me?’ I give Joannie so much credit – she is a remarkable girl.”

Morrison said Rochette did the right thing by competing.

“I know that any mother would want their child to do what she’s doing and to go on and finish their competition – they would want that,” she said. “And I’m sure that her mother’s right there with her every step of the way. She is just one strong, awesome girl, and I feel for her.”

Meanwhile, fans have flocked to social networking websites to show their support for Rochette.

“You may not have seen us, but worldwide you were getting a standing ovation! My sympathies from Boston!” said Facebook user Susan Szambelan.

Ahmed V. Ortiz called Rochette’s short program Tuesday night ”inspired.”

“Simply amazing,” Ortiz wrote on Facebook. “Know that you have millions and millions of people in your corner. God bless you.”

One Twitter user suggested Rochette as a candidate for flag-bearer at the closing ceremonies.

“Time 2 start talking about flag-bearer at closing ceremonies,” said @McD-Canada. “For the grace and courage she displayed, Joannie Rochette is my choice.

Daisuke Takahashi developed interest in figure skating at the age of 8 after he watched the skaters in the newly built skating rink near his house. He watched the skaters and soon enrolled himself at the figure skating club. His mother planned to enroll him in the ice hockey club, but Daisuke didn’t like the shielding gears of ice hockey, so he went for the figure skating club, as an alternative.

Success started to flow for Daisuke Takahashi right from the very beginning of her career and in his very first and only appearance at the Junior World Figure Skating Championships in 2002, Daisuke won it and became the first Japanese man to won the World Junior Championships. It clearly indicated bright future for the skater in the same field and it’s turned true as well.

With 90.25 points Daisuke Takahashi is ranked third in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, after Plushenko at 90.85 and Lysacek at 90.30.

Examiner and other sources reporting on current updates of Olympics 2010 state that Shaun White has created a record with his new trick Double McTwist 1260. It is a revised version of McTwist invented by skateboarder Mike McGill in 1980s.

The basic trick called McTwist has been adopted by the snowboarders since ages and Shaun has worked to recreate the magic adding something more to make it a Double McTwist 1260!

To perform the basic trick, the athlete flips at the front and spins a backside 540 simultaneously. Some verities of grabs are added to make it more stylish. Shaun’s Double McTwist has been the latest trick which includes two flips and three and a half spins.

Shaun made a smashing 46.8 which was way better than his previous score of 45.3 last year. But he didn’t stop with 46.8 and continued with Double McTwist, which though seemed to be tough for others but was a cakewalk for Shaun. And thanks to his trick, he made a 48.4 to easily take away the gold medal.

Driver Mark Webber took the new model, the RB6, out for a test drive at the Jerez Circuit on Wednesday (February 10th).

According to the Australian, the new car is more of an evolution of last year’s model, rather than a total rebuild.

“To be honest we finished last season with a first and a second, so we didn’t want to go to great lengths to design another car on the back of that or go too crazy,” Webber told the Associated Press.

“I think there are a lot of subtle, small things that will hopefully make this car more successful than last year’s.”

Changes to the car include a reworked front wing which incorporates a rear diffuser, shark fin engine cover and an increase in length to accommodate a larger fuel tank since re-fuelling during a race is banned this season.

The first race of the 2010 Formula One season takes place at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain on March 14th.

Had the administrators of tennis been stronger — which is a bit like the FA asking Sir Alex Ferguson to accept refereeing decisions with good grace — Ms Tsurubuchi would have been placed in the line of fire a little earlier in the day. After all, the meeting of Serena and her official bête noire will have to come around sooner or later — just as it was inevitable that Williams would play Justine Henin tomorrow in the final of the Australian Open women’s singles. The moment that Kim Clijsters departed the scene, this was the match that had to be.

Of course, if some folk had had their way, Williams would not have played in this championship at all, yet a fine of $175,000 (about £109,000) and a two-year good behaviour bond was declared to be punishment enough for her horrible outburst at Tsurubuchi during the semi-final of last year’s US Open against Clijsters when she was foot-faulted and then defaulted.

Instead, here she is, tearing into the opposition with renewed vigour. It took Williams a while to wear down the admirable resistance of Li, the American No 1 seed winning in two tie-breaks before acceding that for her to have reached this final was “shocking”. To her perhaps; not to us.

The more dressing that is applied to her person, the more freely Serena appears to play. Yet her performance seemed nothing special yesterday compared with that of Henin, who faced a second Chinese woman, Zheng Jie.

Henin, who dropped one game, played almost flawlessly, winning 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes, and was happy to describe her performance afterwards as “perfection”. Nothing in the woman’s event has so far touched it for sheer composure, or the sustained level of shot-making and versatility. It is quite wonderful to have her back, and difficult to believe that this is just her second competitive tournament since she returned to the game after a 20-month retirement.

“Serena and I have not played in a grand-slam final so this is the best test I could possibly have,” Henin said. “Now that is a reality that is coming. I shall try to be at my best.”

Laura Robson, of Britain, who turned 16 last week, reached the semi-finals of the girls event, replicating Henin’s score against Ester Goldfeld, of the United States. Robson will play Kristyna Pliskova, of the Czech Republic, in the last four today.

“I think it is really important,” says Scotty Lago, a member of the U.S. Olympic snowboard team. “I’d love nothing more than to go to Aspen and get a medal at Winter X.”

There will be 42 Olympians in the Winter X Games, including 2006 snowboard cross silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis and all eight from the U.S. halfpipe team.

The X Games, broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, open today in Aspen, Colo., and run through Sunday.

Last year’s Winter X Games telecast reached more than 7.5 million homes with 68,100 on-site attendees.

Medaling at Winter X Games is a different challenge than doing so at the Olympics.

While Vancouver will have the top four riders from countries around the world, Winter X has the world’s top riders, regardless of nationality.

“When you go to the X Games, you know all the best riders are going to be there,” says Norwegian snowboarder and five-time medalist Andreas Wiig.

The best riders are not just aggressive young men; Winter X also fields an expanding segment of top female athletes.

Freeskier Sarah Burke is considered the queen of women’s superpipe and is expected to defend her gold medal status Saturday night.

“They’ve always been really progressive. It’s the biggest, most important one to all of us by far.”

Poutiainen posted a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 26.51 seconds on the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, showing that the technical specialist from Finland has fully recovered from a back problem just in time for the Vancouver Olympics.

Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany finished a distant 1.05 seconds behind for the first podium appearance of her career, and giant slalom world champion Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany placed third, 1.45 seconds behind.

Vonn has a 56-point lead in the overall standings on Maria Riesch of Germany, who took eighth.

Vonn was coming off super-G and downhill victories in the last two days, but giant slalom is the event she has the most difficulty with: She has never finished on the podium in it.

Miller skips race. Felix Neureuther of Germany earned his first career World Cup victory, winning a slalom that American Bode Miller skipped to rest a sore ankle.

The 25-year-old Neureuther finished in a two-run combined time of 1:37.35 on the icy Ganslern course in Kitzbuehel, Austria. His victory came 31 years after his father had won there.

Miller did not race because his right ankle hurt too much after prerace warm-ups.

“Bode wanted to ski fast in Wengen, in Kitzbuehel, and at the Olympics,” U.S. team spokesman Doug Haney said. “So, now he is obviously building up toward Vancouver.”

Canadians win skicross. Canada’s Christopher Delbosco and Kelsey Serwa won the World Cup skicross races in Wilmington, N.Y.

Delbosco beat Andreas Matt of Austria and Canadian teammate David Duncan across the line at Whiteface Mountain, while Daron Rahlves of the United States finished fourth after a three-week layoff.

Biathlon’s best. Andrea Henkel led a 1-2 German finish in a women’s 10-kilometer World Cup biathlon pursuit race in Anterselva, Italy.

Henkel moved to second from fifth in the World Cup standings with 465 points. Sweden’s Helena Jonsson leads with 536.

U.S. biathlete Tim Burke did not compete and dropped to fifth in the World Cup standings with 393 points.

Germans win Nordic combined. Host Germany won the first Nordic combined World Cup team event of the season in Schonach to increase its lead in the Nations Cup.

Georg Hettich, Eric Frenzel, Bjoern Kircheisen, and Tino Edelmann combined for 469.3 points from the jumping portion for a 10-second lead in the 4×5-kilometer cross-country race, which they won in 42:49.4.

The top Americans took a break from World Cup competition to prepare for the Vancouver Olympics. But Bryan Fletcher, Taylor Fletcher, Alex Miller and Nick Henderson combined to give the U.S. team a ninth-place finish.

Lange leads Germany. Andre Lange of Germany won the season-ending four-man World Cup bobsled race to capture the European championship title.

Lange teamed with Rene Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, and Martin Putze to finish in a two-run combined time of 1:42.59 on the 1976 Olympic track in Igls, Austria.

The U.S. team had already secured the overall World Cup title last week.

Petrova, who had dismantled US Open champion Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-1 on the same court in Hisense Arena two days earlier, was not quite as ruthless on Sunday but still ran out a comfortable 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 winner.

The 27-year-old Russian, who was ranked as high as number three in the world in 2006, has been plagued with niggling injuries since 2007 and not won a tournament since Cincinnati in 2008.

However, a new attitude towards the game and to her high profile matches at Melbourne Park had allowed her to advance into a quarter-final with either Justine Henin or Yanina Wickmayer.

“When I played Kim, before going on court, I said, ‘it’s all or nothing, I gotta to give everything’ (and) I did,” Petrova told reporters.

“Same thing happened today. If I can continue doing this, I can get even further.”

Kuznetsova, who did not finish her third round match until around 2 a.m. on Saturday said she thought Petrova was playing better than she had in the past two years.

“I think she might have been right,” Petrova said when told of Kuznetsova’s observation.

“It’s not only that I’m playing well, but I think it’s just the whole composure on the court, it’s like one complete player.”

Petrova said she that composure had developed after she decided to look at tennis as just a game and to keep telling herself there were worse things to losing a match.

“It’s not the end of the world if you lose a match, because life goes on,” she said. “There is so many beautiful and wonderful things you can do besides that.

“I’ve learned to deal with the losses and I’ve learned to keep the motivation always up. Maybe right now because of that, I feel a little bit more relaxed.

“I’m not as stressed if I make a silly mistake or something doesn’t go my way because, you know, I still can make the best out of this day.”

The two played on a fast indoor carpet in Henin’s home country of Belgium nearly two years ago, in one of the last tournaments Henin played before she retired – the last tournament she won. So the power coming from the other side of the court in their third-round match at the Australian Open Friday was no surprise.

But as she did with the more accomplished Elena Dementieva in the previous round, Henin was somehow able to manage her nerves, and her opponent, in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win during which she was down a set, 1-3, and very nearly a second break of serve that likely would have meant her demise.

“I’m happy I’m in the fourth round. I survived a little bit today. It’s always good to be in this kind of match, because I came back from nowhere,” Henin said. “Physically, I suffered a little bit in the last two days.”

It’s hard to execute a variety of shots when the ball is coming at you as if shot out of a cannon. And Henin found herself getting blown off the court, without the energy to counter. Slowly but surely, though, Kleybanova’s level dropped. And Henin, as champions do, cleaned it up significantly on her side of the net. “She was doing a very good job at that time. I just decided to wait for the opportunities. She started to serve not as well at the end of the second set, and in the third it was much better,” she said.

Henin has survived two serious tests so far. She’s in the final 16 to face another Belgian in Yanina Wickmayer.

Currently ranked No. 16 but forced to go through qualifying because she was under suspension for failing to follow her federation’s drug-testing protocols when the entries closed, Wickmayer posted a 6-1, 6-7 (4) 6-3 against Sara Errani Friday to set up Henin’s second match against a countrywoman.

If Henin gets past Wickmayer, and Kim Clijsters keeps winning, there will be an all-Belgian quarter-final.

There was one early shocker Friday, when No. 8 women’s seed Jelena Jankovic went down to No. 31 seed Alona Bondarenko. Jankovic, who hasn’t been talked about much here, made 38 unforced errors in the 6-2, 6-3, third-round loss.

Meanwhile, the top men continue on, although No. 7 seed Andy Roddick got a bit of a scare Friday against mercurial Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez. The American needed more than 3 1/2 hours to beat Lopez 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

On Thursday night, the only awkward moments during Roger Federer’s otherwise routine 6-2, 6-3. 6-2 second-round win over Victor Hanescu of Romania came early when Britain’s Prince William arrived amid applause, the popping of flash bulbs and the sighs of young female fans.

“Got off to a good start and kind of never looked back,” Federer said. “Very happy with the way I played. Moved well and played some amazing shots. It was great.”

None of the men’s seeds had much trouble advancing Thursday, although a rise in temperature coincided with some grumpy behaviour from 2008 champion Novak Djokovic.

The Serb dropped the first set to Marco Chiudinelli, before prevailing 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

The only upset came when No. 17 seed David Ferrer went down to 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, a Cypriot with a huge following and some nine uncles and 20 cousins in Australia.

No. 9 seed Fernando Verdasco, a semifinalist last year, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 22 Lleyton Hewitt went through without dropping a set. Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko continued to breeze through his matches incognito, posting a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 win over Ukrainian qualifier Illya Marchenko.

Venus and Serena Williams played back to back Thursday afternoon, both against left-handers. Serena, despite a heavily-wrapped right thigh and a thick bandage below her left knee, looked focused in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. Sister Venus had a few more issues against Austrian veteran Sybille Bammer, a player she had practised against the weekend before the tournament started. But she still prevailed 6-2, 7-5

Instead, a series of doctor’s visits and tests have revealed what both Lesnar and UFC president Dana White described as a “miracle.” The big guy is healed and ready to return to the Octagon this summer, probably against the winner of the fight between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin in March.

“Let’s be clear, I’m still the heavyweight champion,” Lesnar growled, in trademark fashion, on ESPN on Wednesday morning.
Popular Yahoo! Sports Stories

There couldn’t be better news for the UFC and fans of mixed martial arts. Lesnar isn’t just apparently well again (although really, who knows if there could be a setback or another episode), but his return to fighting brings back the sports’ biggest box office star.

Lesnar, 32, is a polarizing figure – or was until he got sick. You either loved his in-your-face ways or wanted someone to punch him in his face because of it. You were either one of the new fans that Lesnar drew in, perhaps from his days as a professional wrestler, or you resented them.

Either way, Lesnar was difficult to shift your eyes away from. A huge man who needs to cut weight to make the 265-pound limit, he was growing as a fighter and an intimidator during his brief career. His fights were thrilling and he headlined the hugely successful UFC 100, which did a reported 1.6 million pay per view buys.

His postfight tirade after his dominating victory over Mir at UFC 100, complete with flipping off the crowd and cussing out UFC sponsors, made him a tour de force. It didn’t mesh with his private life as a blue-collar, down home guy from South Dakota and Minnesota, yet Lesnar had learned how to sell fights during his days in the WWE.

The truth was, he just wanted to hang out in the woods with his family and emerge a couple times a year to beat the heck out of someone. And now, it seems, he can again.

“The doctors were dumbfounded,” Lesnar said. “They couldn’t find any signs of trouble.”

This was a long way from the fall, when illness and weakness caused Lesnar to sit out almost three weeks of training camp as he prepared to fight Carwin in a bout scheduled for November in Las Vegas. When I visited his training camp in October, he complained of being “dead in the ass.” Within weeks he couldn’t work out at all and when doctors couldn’t figure out the medical issue, Lesnar dropped out of the fight.

In an effort to fight depression, he went hunting in Canada where he had a painful diverticulitis attack.

“I felt like I got shot in the gut,” he said.

He wasn’t excited about his Canadian medical care, comparing it to “a third world country” where he couldn’t get any treatment. Finally Lesnar’s wife, Rena (better known as former pro wrestling star Sable), sprung him from the hospital, loaded him into a car and while Lesnar writhed in pain, drove “100 miles an hour” across the border and into North Dakota. He wound up MedCenter One, a hospital in Bismarck, N.D. There doctors were patient, didn’t immediately perform surgery and slowly nursed him back to some form of health.

“My wife saved my life,” he said.

Still, when he returned to the farm he owns outside Alexandria, Minn. he was down 40 pounds and facing an uncertain future. He got a second opinion at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and heard the same thing – surgery. He changed his diet. He said he put his mind to healing. Dana White claimed Lesnar tried some holistic healing procedures. He began light workouts and focused on regaining some of his weight.

By the time Lesnar visited a doctor on January 5, he not only felt better, medical tests couldn’t find a problem. He kept returning for more and more tests. “Four of five different opinions,” Lesnar said, including one on Tuesday.

And now he’s focused on the future – returning to a sport where he found the peace of mind and quality of life that he’d been seeking since bailing on a multi-million dollar contract with the WWE.

“The doctor said, ‘You’ve got a lottery ticket,’ ” White said on ESPN.

Lesnar appeared fully aware of his good fortune. There is simply no way to know how long it will last or whether he is truly “healed.” A man built on bullying others inside the Octagon wore a look of fear as he described his recent medical journey and humility at his prognosis.

“I’ve got a different take on life,” Lesnar said. “When you have everything taken away, when you lay helplessly on a hospital bed … I’ve always been in control. For me to sit there for 30 days and not have control of anything … “

He went on to thank his wife, with whom he recently had a son. And his doctors. And the UFC. And anyone who thought of him while he was sick.

The powerhouse of a man who fans learned to hate because of his gruff ways at least sounded like a new guy.

Stands to reason, he’ll be just as wicked inside that Octagon though.

Recommendation: Minnesota to win @ 1.78 with Betfair

Fresh from four straight wins and a first play-off victory in 13 years, the Dallas Cowboys are on a roll. Dallas have outscored the opposition 99-31 during its four-game winning streak, with 12 touchdowns in that span scored by three running backs and five receivers, but a visit to the Vikings on Sunday will be their toughest test for a while.

Earning the NFC’s second seed and securing home field advantage for this round may benefit Minnesota greatly. The Vikings are 8-0 at the Metrodome this season, with the last five of those wins coming by 17 points or more. They’ve also won three straight home meetings with Dallas – including a 27-10 playoff victory Jan. 9, 2000 – since a 23-17 defeat Sept. 17, 1995.

Of course the story that has run through the entire Vikings season has been that of Brett Favre – many thought he wouldn’t get this far but he has and that week off could prove a godsend to the 40-year-old quarterback. The veteran led the Vikings to a 10-1 start before a late stumble brought back memories of Favre’s downfall with the Jets last year, but he managed to finish the year strongly as his team finished with a 12-4 record. He has plenty of weapons at his disposal in the explosive Vikings offence which has that important key – balance.

Talking of balance, that to us is the key to this game the Cowboys are going to have to establish the run against a very good run defence in order to be able to go vertically deep down the field. If they don’t establish the run then Romo is going to be forced into making plays and that has got him into trouble before as he does have a habit of forcing a pass and the Cowboys receiving corps are no match for those in purple.

The Cowboys appear to be the chic Superbowl pick at the moment but this is a pretty good Minnesota side that come into the game rested, and ready to play – we just wonder if the Cowboys are starting to believe the hype – if they are they could have a rude awakening in the Metrodome.

There’s really not much SportsChat can add to this story. It goes without saying they are going to have damn good looking children that will be able to throw a variety of balls and objects great distances. In fact, SportsChat recommends they consider ‘Mustang’ as a name for any future son.

‘Mustang McCoy.’ It just feels right. A kid couldn’t be named ‘Mustang McCoy’ and not win at least one Super Bowl unless the fame of winning four straight high school champhionships before skipping college and going straight to the NFL goes to his head.

Gilbert Houngbo made the announcement Sunday in Lome, two days after a deadly ambush on the team’s bus in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda. The prime minister said if a team presents itself “under the Togolese flag,” it will be a “false representation.”

The Togo team said Saturday it planned to stay and play in the tournament, even though Togo’s government had said it was recalling the squad.

Team members have not issued a statement since the prime minister’s Sunday announcement.

Togo midfielder Alaixys Romao said Saturday the team is “determined” to participate in the competition. He said the team cannot let the victims down “and leave like cowards.”

The Togolese team bus was attacked Friday as it crossed from the Democratic Republic of Congo into Angola’s Cabinda region.

Gunmen killed the bus driver, Togo’s assistant coach Abalo Amnalete and its spokesman Stanislas Ocloo. At least seven others were wounded.

Among them is goalie Kodjovi Obilale, who was evacuated to South Africa where he is recuperating from surgery.

A separatist group, the Front of the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, that has long operated in the oil-rich Cabinda province has claimed responsibility for the attack on Togo’s bus. The rebels said Sunday the attacks will continue.

The insurgents’ commander, Joao Batists, told VOA the gunmen were not trying to target the Togolese team specifically, but rather Angolan security forces.

Despite the violence, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) says the tournament will open as scheduled in Cabinda.

Togo is scheduled to play Monday.

Angolan government and tournament officials held crisis talks Saturday on the security situation.

Angola’s Prime Minister, Paulo Kassoma, called the attack an “isolated act” and said the safety of the tournament’s teams are guaranteed.

FIFA, football’s international governing body, offered its utmost sympathy to the Togolese team. It said it expected a full report from the organizers, the Confederation of African Football.

As to Rachel’s Christmas present, Woods gave her cash and wild sex!

According to News of the World (NOTW), Rachel told a friend that she and Tiger met after dark at a friend’s mansion in Florida over the holidays, with Rachel often arriving wearing a disguise, once a ski mask. They also have a condo in Palm Beach.

Rachel has been staying at her family home in Palm Beach close to where Woods’ 155 ft, $20 million yacht Privacy was berthed.

Woods sailed out on Privacy on Wednesday, reportedly headed to the Bahamas. Rachel is expected to return to LA or New York this weekend.

Rachel believes Tiger’s marriage with 30-year-old Swedish model wife is over.

“It is definitely over with his wife, they are getting divorced and he’s agreed to give her $300 million (£187m) including all the houses,” she told the friend.

Interestingly, while admitting that she and Tiger bonded over good sex, Rachel asserts Woods is a a sex addict and needs help.

Knowing his voracious appetite for sex, Rachel isn’t piqued about Tigers prolific philandering.

“She is deeply in love with this man, and the excitement of their situation. She doesn’t care that he has slept with other women,” says the Rachel friend.

“She feels they have a unique connection. She has even told us that Tiger and her want children together.”

While confident that she has Tiger hooked, Rachel finds the tabloid attention unnerving, afraid it might put off Tiger and dampen his lusting for her.

Rachel is hoping to land a modeling deal from the fame and publicity that has accrued to her over her Woods connection. She has hit the gym in a big way to shape up in anticipation.