Tychon Aiyash blog

Marquette upsets No. 9 Syracuse 76-70.

MILWAUKEE – Jae Crowder scored 13 of his 25 points in the second half and Marquette handed No. 9 Syracuse its fourth straight loss, 76-70 on Saturday.

C.J. Fair's layup tied the game at 64, but Crowder's layup put Marquette ahead by two. Kris Joseph's jumper tied it for the last time for Syracuse which never led in the game. Jimmy Butler hit a 3-pointer with 1:51 to go and then Darius Johnson-Odom made another 3 as Marquette withstood the charge.

Joseph led the Orange with 18 points, but it wasn't enough as Syracuse (18-4, 5-4 Big East) who have lost four in a row for the first time since Jan. 16-29, 2006.

Butler finished with 19 for Marquette (14-8, 5-4).

Butler and Dwight Buycks each made one of two free throws and Johnson-Odom made two in the final minute to seal the victory.

A porous defense figured prominently in the Orange's previous three losses. Then-No. 5 Pittsburgh shredded the Syracuse zone for a 74-66 victory Jan. 17. Villanova, ranked eighth at the time, hit 11 3-pointers in an 83-72 victory last Saturday at the Carrier Dome. On Tuesday, Seton Hall made 10 of 17 3s in a 90-68 rout, the worst home loss since an 85-61 defeat on Feb. 7, 1998.

The Orange had won five straight over Marquette since it joined the conference in 2005 and held a 7-2 all-time record coming into the game. The Golden Eagles had beaten every Big East opponent except for Syracuse, but Crowder and Butler changed that.

Darius Johnson-Odom added 17 points for Marquette which had open Big East play with victories over West Virginia and Rutgers. Then, the Golden Eagles lost four of six to nationally ranked teams, including consecutive defeats to then 16th-ranked Notre Dame last Saturday and fifth-ranked Connecticut on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles, 2-7 overall against ranked teams this season, had frittered away second-half leads in each of their last three losses because of defensive breakdowns.

Scopp Jardine's reverse layup off a Marquette turnover capped a 25-14 run, erased Marquette's 11-point halftime lead and tied the game at 56 with 8:18 to go.

Syracuse started the second half with an 8-1 run while holding Marquette scoreless for almost four minutes to pull to 43-39 with 16:38 left. The Orange cut off Marquette's driving lanes which had been wide open in the first half and forced the Golden Eagles to shoot from the outside. Marquette missed three shots in the span and turned the ball over once as Syracuse finally made it a close game.

Crowder and Johnson-Odom each had 12 points to pace Marquette's attack that went over and through Syracuse's zone defense. The Orange contested Marquette's drives through the paint, but couldn't stop the scoring. The Golden Eagles made 13 of 15 free throws to Syracuse's 1 of 2.

Marquette led by 11 points three times in the first, the last on Jimmy Butler's close-in jumper that gave Marquette a 42-31 lead at the half.

Chelsea wins 4-0 at Bolton in Premier League

BOLTON, England – Didier Drogba scored on a swerving 33-yard shot that dipped past goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen in the 11th minute, starting Chelsea to a 4-0 victory at Bolton on Monday night that gave the defending champions consecutive Premier League wins for the first time since October.

After Drogba's ninth league goal of the season, Florent Malouda side-footed home from a tight angle in the 41st, Nicolas Anelka scored on a left-footed drive in the 56th and Ramires added his first Chelsea goal in the 74th minute.

Chelsea, which beat Blackburn last week, has won consecutive league matches for the first time since defeating Wolves on Oct. 23 and Blackburn seven days later.

Chelsea (12-6-5) has 41 points, seven behind first-place Manchester United (12-0-10). Bolton (7-8-9) is 10th with 30 points.

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BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Javier Martinez scored in the fifth minute, and Fernando Llorente and Iker Muniain added second-half goals, leading Athletic Bilbao over visiting Hercules 3-0 and into sixth place in the Spanish league.

Bilbao (10-8-2) won for the eighth time in 11 home games and has 32 points, 23 behind first-place Barcelona. Promoted Hercules (6-10-4) is 12th with 22 points, five points above the relegation zone, heading into Saturday's home match against Barcelona.

Rio Tinto wins full Riversdale support for $3.9 billion bid

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Rio Tinto's (RIO.AX)(RIO.L) $3.9 billion bid for Africa-focused coal miner Riversdale (RIV.AX) gained steam on Monday after a representative of Riversdale's top shareholder Tata Steel (TISC.BO) backed the offer.

The full board of Riversdale, coveted for its coal projects in Mozambique, recommended the bid saying it was unaware of any other offers in the works, even as an Indian consortium said it planned to decide on January 27 whether to bid.

Riversdale Managing Director Steve Mallyon said his company "had not had one call" from the consortium, called ICVL and made up of an Indian steel maker, iron ore miner and a utility, which may be interested in the coal for its own use.

"I've met a couple of the companies in ICVL (in the past) and I am at a loss to understand the interest," Mallyon said.

Mallyon said negotiations were already underway to sell a large portion of the company's future coking coal to steelmakers in Brazil, Europe and possibly China and talks were in a late stage to tie up the company's thermal coal output with a major commodities trading house, leaving little for Indian buyers.

"So we've only got about 10 million tonnes of coking coal to play with for a number of years and that's not a lot to play with," Mallyon said. "This does not seem to be the type of tonnes the Indians would be seeking."

Tata Steel has already signed a supply agreement for 40 percent of the production from Riversdale's main Benga mine, scheduled to start up this year.

As of Monday, no superior proposal to Rio Tinto's offer had been received, Riversdale said in a statement after releasing its official response to Rio Tinto's bid, adding the company was not aware of any party having an intention to make such a proposal.

While Tata Steel's representative on Riversdale's board, N.K. Misra, recommended Rio Tinto's offer, Mallyon said his support was not a sign of Tata Steel's intent for its Riversdale stake.

"I'm not privy how they (Tata) are going to handle this, with our Tata director we've been focused on the Riversdale board recommendation versus what Tata wants to do," Mallyon said.

"I think as Tata gets to know Rio Tinto as well as we do, they will then make a decision, but I don't think they are at that point yet," Mallyon said.

Given that Misra is Tata's head of mergers and acquisitions, his recommendation of Rio Tinto's bid at least makes it clear that Tata Steel itself is not planning to trump Rio Tinto.

Riversdale's shares rose 1.2 percent to A$16.50, only a 3 percent premium to Rio's A$16 a share offer, indicating investors are not expecting a higher offer to emerge.

"If no one else comes in, I suspect this deal is going to get done as it is," said Hayden Bairstow, resources analyst at CLSA, adding that any new bidder would probably have to pay A$18-A$20 a share.

Rio Tinto declined to comment on Riversdale's formal recommendation of the offer.

When the deal was first announced in December, Misra abstained from voting on the offer. Riversdale said he now backed the offer in his capacity as a Riversdale board member.

Riversdale's two biggest shareholders, steel makers Tata Steel with 24.2 percent and Brazil's CSN (CSNA3.SA) with 16.29 percent, are both mainly interested in locking in coking coal supplies but have yet to commit to Rio's offer, due to close on February 18.

Rio Tinto is holding talks with Tata Steel about its stake, a source close to the transaction said.

Riversdale's third-largest shareholder Passport Capital has been trimming its stake from 15.69 percent over the past few weeks, indicating it is not holding out for a higher offer.

CLSA's Bairstow still thinks it is possible the Indian consortium, International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL), could launch a higher bid, as devastating floods in Australia have disrupted coal mining and driven up coal prices, highlighting the need for alternative supply sources.

"I still think there is some chance, but it diminishes by the day," he said.

The consortium consists of utility NTPC (NTPC.BO), Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL.BO), iron ore miner NMDC (NMDC.BO), Coal India (COAL.BO) and steel maker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.

A source familiar with the deal said the consortium's advisers at Citi had recommended they pursue a counter bid, but ICVL does not have to follow that suggestion if it believes a bid is not viable.

Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board cleared Rio's bid on Friday.

Riversdale said talks with its Chinese shareholder Wuhan Iron & Steel Corp (600005.SS) over acquiring a stake in the Zambeze coal project in Mozambique have been suspended while Rio's offer remains on the table.

(Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee in Mumbai and Michael Smith in Sydney; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

US engineer jailed 32 years for tech sale to China

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A former B-2 stealth bomber engineer guilty of selling classified military technology to China that could help cloak missiles has been sentenced to 32 years in prison, the US Justice Department said Tuesday.

Noshir Gowadia, 66, of Hawaii, was convicted of five offenses in August following a trial in federal court on the US island state. He had been accused of passing on design information that would allow cruise missiles to avoid infra-red detection.

"Mr. Gowadia provided some of our country's most sensitive weapons-related designs to the Chinese government for money. He is now being held accountable for his actions," Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris said in a statement.

From about 1968 to 1986, Gowadia served as an engineer with defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he helped develop the "unique propulsion system and low observable capabilities of the B-2" bomber, the Justice Department said.

He maintained a security clearance for an additional 11 years, working on classified matters as a US government contractor until 1997 when his clearance was revoked.

Prosecutors alleged that from 2003 to 2005 Gowadia traveled six times to mainland China where he helped with testing and data analysis that helped authorities in developing a stealthy cruise missile exhaust system.

He was found guilty of illegally communicating classified information and illegally retaining defense information following a 40-day trial.

"Mr. Gowadia went beyond disclosing information to China, he performed defense work in that nation with the purpose of assisting them in their stealth weapons design programs," said Florence Nakakuni, the US Attorney for Hawaii.

At the time of his arrest in 2005 he had been paid at least $110,000 by China, the Justice Department said.

Gowadia was also convicted of exporting classified information about the B-2 bomber, money laundering, and filing false tax returns.

Upon first learning of the sentence in Hawaii, Gowadia's son said the family would appeal.

"We believe very strongly that he's innocent, and we very much look forward to the appeals process in the 9th circuit, son Ashton said Monday on Hawaii broadcaster KHON2.

Gowadia is the second American in four days to be sentenced on charges related to disclosing classified information to authorities in Communist-ruled China.

Michigan man Glenn Shriver, 28, was jailed for 48 months for conspiracy to reveal national defense information to Beijing intelligence agents.

That sentencing came on the final day of a much-scrutinized state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Inter juggernaut faces stern Serie A Udinese test

ROME (AFP) – Inter Milan coach Leonardo faces possibly his sternest test yet of his fledgling career with the reigning Serie A champions as his all-conquering team travel to Udinese this weekend.

Leonardo has made a perfect start as Inter boss, winning five out of five games, including four in the league.

Inter have banged in an impressive 15 goals in that time at a rate of three a game -- a far cry from earlier in the season under Rafael Benitez when they were scoring at less than half that frequency.

However, if there has been a worrying aspect to Leonardo's tenure, it has been Inter's defending.

They have conceded seven in those five games and have looked vulnerable at times.

At home to Genoa and Cesena they conceded two goals but scraped through 3-2 each time.

And the last team they will want to be facing at this time is free-scoring Udinese, who have banged in four goals in each of their last two games, both away from home.

Udinese were unlucky not to come away from the San Siro with three points when they led AC Milan 3-1 and then in injury time 4-3 before drawing 4-4.

But they followed that up with a 4-2 win at Genoa last weekend and can also boast the league's top scorer in Antonio Di Natale.

Leonardo so far has not seemed too worried about his side's leaky defence, describing it as coincidence that most of those goals have come from set-pieces.

And after squandering a two goal lead against lowly Cesena before snatching a 3-2 win, Leonardo seemed equally unperturbed.

"It was a very difficult game, almost a paradox, we were playing very well, went 2-0 up but then we made the change (Diego Milito came off) and we tried to settle down, there was a bit of ping pong and what happened, happened," he said.

"But then in the second half we gave away less, fewer counter opportunities. In general it was a struggle with great sacrifice from everyone.

"We struggled a lot, it was the longest game of my life as coach but in the end it was worth it."

Milito is not certain to play against Udinese having picked up a hamstring injury that forced him off against Cesena.

If he does miss the game it will be a blow to Inter, who want to maintain momentum as they chase down their arch rivals.

Milan come into their home clash against Cesena on the back of two league draws in a row.

However, they seemed to be back on track in midweek as they thumped Bari 3-0 in the Coppa Italia.

They were boosted by Antonio Cassano making his first start for the club sce his January move from Sampdoria.

He, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho linked up well and gave a glimpse of what may be to come from the league leaders if those three start to click into gear.

Behind them several teams have struggled to capitalise on their recent slip-ups as Juventus, Roma, Lazio and Napoli have all also dropped points.

Juventus face the toughest test this weekend and a defeat at Sampdoria could all but rule them out of title contention.

Napoli and Lazio are both on their travels, away at Bari and Bologna respectively.

Fixtures (1400 GMT unless stated):

Sunday

Udinese v Inter Milan (1130), Bari v Napoli, Bologna v Lazio, Chievo v Genoa, Fiorentina v Lecce, Sampdoria v Juventus, AC Milan v Cesena (1945)