Most Recent Posts

CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — For the Algeria squad, this has been a tournament of breaking new ground.

First, Algeria won its first World Cup match since 1982 — a 4-2 victory over South Korea, and then on Thursday it qualified for the knockout stages for the first time.

Islam Slimani's 60th -minute headed equalizer was enough to gain his team a 1-1 draw against Russia and the one competition point it needed to place second in Group H behind Belgium.

Now, Algeria has another 32-year anniversary on its radar.

On Monday, the Algerians will meet Germany in the Round of 16 in Porto Alegre.

The teams haven't met since 1982 when Algeria beat West Germany, one of the tournament favorites, with Lakhdar Belloumi memorably stroking home the winner. Though it went on to win another game in that tournament, Algeria failed to qualify for the second round of the World Cup after West Germany and Austria played out a result that suited both of those teams.

The European teams, meeting a day after Algeria had won its last group game, knew that a 1-0 win for West Germany would put both through to the second round at Algeria's expense.

Qualification for the second round in Brazil finally allows the team from north Africa to move on from one of the World Cup's most contentious episodes.

And the relief was certainly evident in the celebrations on the pitch.

Qualification prompted mass celebrations in the packed Algerian section in Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, and on the pitch among the players. Even the combative coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, was hugging staff and players and shaking his head in apparent disbelief.

"I'm very proud of what we achieved tonight," Halilhodzic said. "I think Algeria played a heroic match and our qualification is perfectly deserved."

Algeria had to come from behind to get through. Russia, needing a win to advance, went on the attack from the start and dominated the first half with its intricate and swift passing movements through midfield. The Russians took the lead in the 6th minute when Alexander Kokorin powerfully headed in a left-foot cross from Dmitry Kombarov.

Slimani's equalizer came after Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev failed to catch a swinging left-foot free kick from Yacine Brahimi. That was the second costly error that Akinfeev has made in the tournament for Russia, though there were indications on the TV broadcast that a green laser was being shone toward the goalkeeper just before the free kick was taken.

Russia coach Fabio Capello said his goalkeeper was "blinded by the laser beam."

Halilhodzic said he saw nothing.

"I think it's something that we can discuss in a restaurant, in a bar, now let's talk about a game that was very demanding," he told a post-match news conference.

Halilhodzic said he told his team at halftime not to panic after Russia's strong start to the game. Before Algeria's equalizer, Russia had chances to double its lead. The most notable chance came in the 26th minute when Oleg Shatov weaved through the Algeria midfield but his right-foot shot drifted wide of the Algeria post.

In the second half, midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, man-of-the-match Slimani, and Brahimi all worked hard to help neutralize much of Russia's attack.

"During the first half Russia used its experience, the way they controlled the game, the way they organized themselves, my players were a bit naive but once again this Algeria team has a lot of margin to progress and I suspect that we can go a lot better maybe in the next round against Germany," he said.

History could be on his side. As well as beating West Germany in 1982, Algeria won their previous encounter in 1964.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers are more confident about the economy than they have been in more than six years.

The Conference Board's confidence index rose to 85.2 this month from a revised 82.2 in May, the private research group said Tuesday. The June figure is the highest since January 2008, a month after the Great Recession officially began.

More Americans are optimistic about business conditions and the outlook for jobs, though fewer expect their incomes will grow over the next six months.

"Still, the momentum going forward remains quite positive," Lynn Franco, a Conference Board economist, said.

The index compiled by the Conference Board shows that confidence has been rising steadily since bottoming at 25.3 in February 2009. It's well above last year's average of 72.3. But it still hasn't returned to full health. Before the recession, the index usually topped 90.

Consumers' attitudes are closely watched because their spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

Consumers registered the most favorable assessment of current business conditions since March 2008, and their outlook for the next months rose to highest level since August 2013. The percentage saying jobs are "plentiful" was 14.7 percent, highest since May 2008.

"Americans appear to have had a bit more of a spring in their step over the past two months," Jennifer Lee, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note.

An improving job market has brightened Americans' outlook.

The U.S. economy generated more than 200,000 jobs in May for the fourth straight month — the longest such streak since 1999. The unemployment rate has tumbled to 6.3 percent in May from 7.5 percent a year earlier.

Icy weather put the economy in a deep freeze the first three months of the year: From January through March, the economy contracted at a 1 percent annual rate — a figure that might be downgraded even more when the government issues updated first-quarter numbers Wednesday.

But economists expect the economy to pick up momentum as the year wears on and to be expanding at a 3 percent annual pace in the second half of 2014.

NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Wiggins of Kansas was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on Thursday night.

The Cavs went for a freshman from Canada to open the draft for the second straight year and hope Wiggins works out better than Anthony Bennett.

Bennett was injured last summer, came into the season out of shape and made no impact, one of the reasons the Cavs were back in this spot again.

But Wiggins seems a much more ready product after averaging a Kansas freshman-record 17.1 points. He might have ended up as the top pick anyway, but became the best option for the Cavs when Jayhawks teammate Joel Embiid suffered a stress fracture in his right foot shortly before the draft.

"A thousand thoughts are going through my head right now," Wiggins said. "It's a dream come true."

Wearing a black tuxedo jacket with a white floral pattern, the guard slipped on a maroon Cleveland hat, hugged his supporters and went on stage to shake hands with Commissioner Adam Silver, who was calling the first round for the first time since replacing David Stern.

Milwaukee followed with another freshman, Duke forward Jabari Parker, who on Wednesday disputed that he was out of shape for his workout with Cleveland and performed poorly. Some consider him the more NBA-ready player after an All-American season for the Blue Devils, and getting to play in Milwaukee puts him near his family in Chicago.

"I'm just very optimistic," Parker said. "If it was 1, 2, put me at 60, just getting that opportunity, getting that chance of being in the NBA."

Embiid went third to Philadelphia, drawing loud cheers from the many red-and-blue dressed 76ers fans who made the trip to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, as well as from Philadelphia guard Michael Carter-Williams, last season's Rookie of the Year who was sitting on the arena floor level.

The 76ers had two top-10 picks and could afford to take a chance on Embiid, the big man who may have ended up the top prize despite his lone season at Kansas ending early because of a bad back. But once the foot injury popped up during workouts, leaving his NBA debut uncertain after surgery, the two teams at the top passed.

"He worked so hard," Wiggins said. "He didn't let nothing get to him. He always stayed motivated. So I'm just proud. It's a proud moment for Kansas.

Arizona forward Aaron Gordon went fourth to Orlando, which also had two picks in the lottery, followed by Australian guard Dante Exum to Utah.

Then came two teams not used to picking so high: The Boston Celtics took Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart, with the rival Los Angeles Lakers following at No. 7 with Kentucky forward Julius Randle.

The draft squeezed itself into the free agency frenzy that kicked off Monday, when Carmelo Anthony informed the New York Knicks he would become a free agent. LeBron James did the same the next day in Miami, and moves around the league since then appeared to be made with the pursuit of them in mind.

If James is interested in returning to Cleveland, a new teammate would be glad to welcome him.

"I want to win," Wiggins said. "If he wants to win, we'd be good together."

The 76ers took point guard Elfrid Payton of Louisiana-Lafayette at No. 10 with their second pick — they went into the draft with seven overall in the two rounds — and Orlando grabbed Croatian forward Dario Saric with its other lottery pick at No. 12.

In between, Denver took Creighton's Doug McDermott, but the scoring star was already bracing for a reported trade to Chicago, asking officials if he was supposed to keep wearing the Nuggets hat. He was told he was until the deal was made.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

BAGHDAD (AP) — Prominent Shiite leaders pushed Thursday for the removal of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as parliament prepared to start work next week on putting together a new government, under intense U.S. pressure to rapidly form a united front against an unrelenting Sunni insurgent onslaught.

Increasingly, the Shiite al-Maliki's former allies believe he cannot lead an inclusive government that can draw minority Sunnis away from support for the fighters who have swept over a large swath of Iraq as they head toward the capital, Baghdad. In a further sign of Iraq's unraveling along sectarian lines, a bombing on Thursday killed 12 people in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad that houses a revered shrine, and police found the bullet-riddled bodies of eight Sunnis south of the capital.

Most crucially, though, backing for al-Maliki is weakening with his most important ally, neighboring Iran.

A senior Iranian general who met with Shiite politicians in Iraq during a 10-day visit this month returned home with a list of potential prime minister candidates for Iran's leadership to consider, several senior Iraqi Shiite politicians who have knowledge of the general's meetings told The Associated Press.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wants al-Maliki to remain in his post, at least for now, the politicians said, but Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, believes al-Maliki must go or else Iraq will fragment. Khamenei holds final say in all state matters in Iran, but the politicians expressed doubt he would insist on al-Maliki against overwhelming rejection of him by Iraq's Shiite parties.

The general, Ghasem Soleimani, is expected to return within days to inform Iraqi politicians of Tehran's favorite, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations.

Iran's Shiite cleric-led government succeeded in herding reluctant Shiite parties into backing al-Maliki for a second term four years ago, and its leverage over Iraq's Shiite political establishment has grown significantly since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops after an eight-year presence.

Non-Arab and mostly Shiite, Iran has found in majority Shiite Iraq a convenient vehicle to extend its sphere of regional influence to the heart of the Middle East. Iran's leverage in Iraq also gives it a trump card against its Sunni rivals in the Gulf region, where powerhouse Saudi Arabia, for example, has traditionally viewed Tehran with suspicion.

The United States and its allies are pushing for the creation of a government that can draw support among Iraq's Sunni minority, which has been alienated by al-Maliki, seen as a fiercely partisan Shiite.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, meeting with al-Maliki in Baghdad on Thursday, told a news conference that "we believe the urgent priority must be to form an inclusive government ... that can command the support of all Iraqis and work to stop terrorists and their terrible crimes."

Hague's trip follows a visit by U.S Secretary of State John Kerry, who earlier this week delivered a similar message.

Kerry met in Paris on Thursday with foreign ministers from America's top Sunni Arab allies to consider how to confront the al-Qaida breakaway group leading the Sunni insurgent offensive, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The threat "concerns every single country here," Kerry told them at the start of the meeting, held at the U.S. ambassador's residence.

The Arab diplomats did not commit to sending any military assistance to Baghdad, as the U.S. is doing. The Pentagon said Thursday that four teams of Army special forces have arrived in Baghdad, bringing the number of American troops there to 90 out of the 300 promised by President Barack Obama. The Americans will advise and assist Iraqi counterterrorism forces.

The Obama administration hopes that Iraq's Sunni neighbors — notably Jordan and Saudi Arabia — will use their cross-border tribal networks to bolster the Sunni militias helping to fight the Islamic State. However, while they feel threatened by the Islamic State, those Sunni countries are also bitterly opposed to al-Maliki, saying his Shiite-dominated rule has marginalized Iraq's Sunnis.

So far, al-Maliki has defied calls to step aside. In April elections, his State of the Law bloc won the largest proportion in parliament — 92 seats in the 328-member chamber — but that is not enough for the simple majority needed to name him prime minister.

He no longer has the support of his former Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni allies in his previous coalition.

"We need a government of national consensus. Now, who do you think will not be able to achieve consensus?" said Baleigh Abu Qolal, spokesman for a major Shiite party, the Iranian-backed Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.

Compounding the pressure on al-Maliki, a prominent Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, called in a televised statement late Wednesday for a national unity government of "new faces" representing all groups.

Al-Sadr, whose followers fought fiercely against both U.S. forces and Sunni extremists during the height of the war nearly a decade ago, also vowed to "shake the ground" under the feet of the Sunni insurgents, who have threatened to advance toward Baghdad and holy Shiite cities in the south.

Also, Iraq's most revered and influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, appealed to al-Maliki through an intermediary to step aside because he fears al-Maliki is driving Iraq into fragmentation, according to a senior member of a prominent Shiite family that has for decades maintained regular contact with al-Sistani.

"Al-Sistani is in his 80s and if there is one thing he does not want to see in his lifetime, it is an Iraq breaking up into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish enclaves," the senior family member told the AP.

Al-Sistani, believed to be 86, lives in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, where he rarely ventures out of his modest house. But his voice is powerful: His call to arms last week prompted tens of thousands of Shiites to volunteer to fight against the Sunni militants.

Notably, Soleimani, the Iranian general, met for two hours with al-Sistani's powerful son, Mohammed Reda, in Najaf, the Shiite politicians said.

The list of potential candidates that Soleimani is carrying includes Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a French-educated economist who has served as vice president; Bayan Jabr, a former finance and interior minister under al-Maliki; and former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the politicians said. But al-Maliki may insist that, if he goes, another figure from his State of the Law bloc get the post, giving him a continuing influence, they said.

The United States is pressing for parliament to act quickly on forming the new government, a process that took nine months in 2010. "Our concern will increase with every passing day" that the timetable is not met, a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussions over the Iraqi political process.

Iraq's vice president called on the new parliament to convene Tuesday, when, under the constitution, its first step will be to elect a speaker. It then has 30 days to elect a new president, replacing ailing Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani, who has held the post for two terms and is ineligible for another. The president's job will likely go to Kurdish politician Barham Saleh, a former deputy prime minister.

The president will have 15 days to mandate the head of parliament's largest bloc to form a new government. That prime minister-designate will then have 30 days to put together a coalition.

With Iraq's bitterly divided sects focused on self-interests, the country's top Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, vowed Thursday to maintain control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, seized by Kurdish forces, ostensibly to defend it from the Islamic State fighters.

"We will remain here together in Kirkuk," Barzani declared during a tour of the city, which the Kurds have long sought to incorporate into their self-rule region.

The frequent discovery in recent weeks of bullet-riddled bodies dumped on the streets has raised the specter of a return of sectarian warfare.

On Thursday, authorities found eight men believed to be Sunnis in their 30s and 40s who had been shot to death in Mahmoudiya, a volatile town about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Bagdad, police and hospital officials said.

Then, shortly before sunset, a bomb exploded near a clothing shop in Baghdad's northern Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, killing 12 people and wounding 32, authorities said.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes in Paris, Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Diaa Hadid in Irbil contributed to this report.