FOA issues media statement

Formula One Administration Limited (‘FOA’), the commercial rights holder of Formula One, wishes to clarify and correct inaccurate and misleading statements made to the media yesterday by “FOTA”:

In particular FOTA claimed that monies are owed by CVC (FOA’s controlling shareholder) to the teams for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Championship seasons. Neither CVC nor FOA owes any amount to any team.

The contract between the commercial rights holder and the teams competing in Formula One, the so-called Concorde Agreement, expired at the end of 2007. All prize fund entitlements payable to the signatory teams under that arrangement were paid when due.

FOA has made new contracts with various teams currently competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship on an individual basis, whereby the team has committed to participate in the Championship for an agreed period in return for which FOA has agreed to pay a share of an annual prize fund generated from and calculated with reference to its profits. Each of these teams has been paid its full prize fund entitlement to date.

A few teams have yet to enter into a contract with FOA concerning their participation in the Championship, notwithstanding which FOA has made substantial payments to each of them on account of future prize fund entitlements they will have when they sign a contract, demonstrating FOA’s goodwill and intent to conclude a new arrangement with them.

FOA welcomes that the teams are engaging in constructive discussions to progress a new Concorde Agreement that will encompass all teams. FOA looks forward to finalising and concluding that contract with the teams in the coming weeks, at which time they will be paid whatever their entitlement will be under the new arrangement.

FOA has no relationship with FOTA. It has always had a direct relationship with teams and will continue to do so.

Source:
http://www.formula1.com

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Trulli loses podium for safety car infringement

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli has lost his third place in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after stewards penalized him for passing under the safety car in the closing laps.

Trulli ran off road near the end of the race, thus losing a place to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, but then repassed the world champion once he had rejoined the circuit.

The Italian was given a 10-second stop-go penalty as a result, but since the offence occurred within the final five laps that was translated into a 25-second penalty added to his race time. He thus drops to 12th.

"I can't say how disappointed I am to finish third but have the result questioned," he said. "When the safety car came out towards the end of the race Lewis passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do."

Source:
http://www.formula1.com

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LG GB106

Specifications
LG GB106

Network	2G 3G	GSM 900 / 1800
Size	Dimensions Weight Display	102 x 45 x 14.6 mm (4.02 x 1.77 x 0.57 in) 70 gram CSTN, 65K colors 128 x 128 pixels, 1.5 inches (~121 ppi pixel density)
Memory	Phonebook Call records Internal Card slot	300 entries 10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls 1 MB
Data	GPRS EDGE 3G WLAN Bluetooth Infrared port USB
Features	OS CPU Messaging Ringtones Browser Radio GPS Games Camera Video Colors Java	SMS Polyphonic(16) ringtones FM radio; built-in antenna Yes White, black - Loudspeaker - Mini-SIM - World time and stopwatch - Organizer - Predictive text input - Clock - Calendar - Alarm
Battery	Stand-by Talk time	Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh Up to 440 h Up to 6 h 30 min

Image: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_gb106-pictures-2645.php

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LG GB110

Specifications
LG GB110

Network	2G 3G	GSM 900 / 1800
Size	Dimensions Weight Display	103 x 45 x 14.6 mm (4.06 x 1.77 x 0.57 in) 65 gram CSTN, 65K colors 128 x 128 pixels, 1.5 inches (~121 ppi pixel density)
Memory	Phonebook Call records Internal Card slot	500 entries, Photocall 10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls 1 MB microSD, up to 4 GB
Data	GPRS EDGE 3G WLAN Bluetooth Infrared port USB	v2.0
Features	OS CPU Messaging Ringtones Browser Radio GPS Games Camera Video Colors Java	SMS Vibration, ringtones WAP 2.0/xHTML FM radio; built-in antenna Yes VGA Black - Loudspeaker - Mini-SIM - MP3 player - Predictive text input - Organizer - World time and stopwatch - Clock - Calendar - Alarm
Battery	Stand-by Talk time	Standard battery, Li-Ion 900 mAh Up to 440 h Up to 6 h 30 min

Image: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_gb110-pictures-2646.php

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Bayern, Wolfsburg pressure Hertha

Bayern Munich beat Karlsruhe 1-0 to close the gap behind league leaders Hertha Berlin, who were humbled in Stuttgart, although they were without injured strikers Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose. Bayern welcomed back Franck Ribery, who had been suffering with a shin injury, and the French midfield maestro made his mark in the 34th minute when he split the Karlsruhe defence to set up Argentina striker Jose Ernesto Sosa.

Sosa was partnering Lukas Podolski up front for Bayern, with both Toni and Klose suffering from ankle injuries. He took his chance by darting through the penalty area to drill Ribery's pass under Karlsruhe goalkeeper Markus Miller. Bayern had Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto to thank for the three points in the dying seconds, as he deflected an effort from Karlsruhe's Michael Mutzel over the bar.

Karlsruhe stay bottom, while the win keeps Bayern second, but just one point behind Hertha who were brought crashing down to earth after hosts Stuttgart scored two goals in four minutes to continue their rise up the table to sixth. Brazilian striker Cacau scored just two minutes after the break to put the hosts ahead before a header from Germany Under-21 midfielder Sami Khedira to double the lead on 51 minutes.

Third-placed Wolfsburg are also just a point behind Hertha after they won 3-0 at Arminia Bielefeld. Brazil striker Grafite netted in the 58th minute to become the league's joint top-scorer with 18 goals in 16 games, level with Hoffenheim's injured striker Vedad Ibisevic. With fourth-placed Hamburg in action against Schalke on 22 March, Hoffenheim dropped further back in the title race as their 2-2 draw at Hannover left them five points off the leaders in fifth.

Bayer Leverkusen are seventh after their 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt. Although they hammered Stuttgart 4-0 the week before, Werder Bremen continue their erratic season as Borussia Dortmund captain Alexander Frei slotted home a 61st-minute penalty to take the three points as his side are ninth, with Bremen tenth in the table. Cologne remain in mid-table after their 2-0 win at second-from-bottom Energie Cottbus, while Borussia Moenchengladbach remain in the bottom three as they lost 1-0 on 20 March at home to fellow strugglers Bochum.

Source:
http://www.fifa.com

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Klinsmann satisfied as Bayern close gap

Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann was pleased the defending champions ground out a 1-0 win over Karlsruhe to narrow the gap on leaders Hertha Berlin to just a point. "The three points were what mattered," said Klinsmann, in spite of his side's average performance, as a single first-half strike from Argentina striker Jose Sosa gave Bayern the three points. With leaders Hertha Berlin losing 2-0 in Stuttgart, both Bayern and third-placed Wolfsburg are now only a point off the top, but Munich's performance at their Allianz Arena against rock-bottom Karlsruhe was far from impressive.

"We've won the way Hertha have won seven or eight times this season, which is OK from time to time," added Klinsmann. "Especially in the second half, it didn't go the way we wanted it to. We were too hurried, Karlsruhe fought back and made chances.

"We failed to wrap it up in the first half. Nevertheless, we're satisfied enough," he said. "It's good we're only a point behind Berlin. The players are allowed an occasional off day."

With Bayern facing Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals next month, captain Mark van Bommel was also demanding more from his side. "There's nothing much to say. We played badly, but won," said Bayern's Dutch captain, who signed a year's extension to his contract in midweek.

"It was OK to start with and we scored the goal. But otherwise, we're all aware it wasn't great," van Bommel said. "At this stage of the season, these are the games you have to win, and we've gone out and won. There are three points at stake, we've taken them, and that's all that matters."

League leaders Hertha Berlin let their four-point lead slip to just a single point as they were beaten 2-0 at Stuttgart. "It was a very good game," said Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel. "The team responded well to the 4-0 defeat by Werder Bremen the week before and rose to the challenge. They corrected a lot of mistakes and I am very happy."

With both Bayern and third-placed Wolfsburg hard on his side's heels, Hertha coach Lucien Favre was critical of his side's performance after losing captain Arne Friedrich with a first-half thigh injury.

"Stuttgart were clearly better," said the Swiss coach. "We saw two different teams, one played very well, the other one badly. If the team doesn't function properly, you will concede goals. We had a bad game and sometimes you have to accept that as a coach."

Source:
http://www.fifa.com

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Schalke sack Rutten

German side Schalke 04 said that thay had parted company with their Dutch coach Fred Rutten. Mike Buskens, Youri Mulder and Oliver Reck, all members of the club's backroom staff, will take charge of training.

Earlier Thursday, the 46-year-old Rutten said he had expected to leave the struggling Bundesliga side at the end of the season.

Rutten had a contract with Schalke until 2010 having only taken over as trainer of the Royal Blues in July 2008, but the club are eighth in the table and have been blighted by erratic form this season.

Source:
http://www.fifa.com

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