Pope pardons Vatican butler

Pope Benedict XVI granted his former butler a Christmas pardon Saturday, forgiving him in person during a jailhouse meeting for stealing and leaking his private papers in one of the gravest Vatican security breaches in recent times.
After the 15-minute meeting, Paolo Gabriele was freed and returned to his Vatican City apartment where he lives with his wife and three children. The Vatican said he couldn't continue living or working in the Vatican, but said it would find him housing and a job elsewhere soon.
"This is a paternal gesture toward someone with whom the pope for many years shared daily life," according to a statement from the Vatican secretariat of state.
The pardon closes a painful and embarrassing chapter for the Vatican, capping a sensational, Hollywood-like scandal that exposed power struggles, intrigue and allegations of corruption and homosexual liaisons in the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
Gabriele, 46, was arrested May 23 after Vatican police found what they called an "enormous" stash of papal documents in his Vatican City apartment. He was convicted of aggravated theft by a Vatican tribunal on Oct. 6 and has been serving his 18-month sentence in the Vatican police barracks.
He told Vatican investigators he gave the documents to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi because he thought the 85-year-old pope wasn't being informed of the "evil and corruption" in the Vatican and thought that exposing it publicly would put the church back on the right track.
During the trial, Gabriele testified that he loved the pope "as a son loves his father" and said he never meant to hurt the pontiff or the church. A photograph taken during the meeting Saturday — the first between Benedict and his once trusted butler since his arrest — showed Gabriele dressed in his typical dark gray suit, smiling.
The publication of the leaked documents, first on Italian television then in Nuzzi's book "His Holiness: Pope Benedict XVI's Secret Papers" convulsed the Vatican all year, a devastating betrayal of the pope from within his papal family that exposed the unseemly side of the Catholic Church's governance.
The papal pardon had been widely expected before Christmas, and the jailhouse meeting Benedict used to personally deliver it recalled the image of Pope John Paul II visiting Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who shot him in 1981, while he served his sentence in an Italian prison.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the meeting was "intense" and "personal" and said that during it Benedict "communicated to him in person that he had accepted his request for pardon, commuting his sentence."
Lombardi said the Vatican hoped the Benedict's pardon and Gabriele's freedom would allow the Holy See to return to work "in an atmosphere of serenity."
None of the leaked documents threatened the papacy. Most were of interest only to Italians, as they concerned relations between Italy and the Vatican and a few local scandals and personalities. Their main aim appeared to be to discredit Benedict's trusted No. 2, the secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Vatican officials have said the theft, though, shattered the confidentiality that typically governs correspondence with the pope. Cardinals, bishops and everyday laymen write to him about spiritual and practical matters assuming that their words will be treated with the discretion for which the Holy See is known.
As a result, the leaks prompted a remarkable reaction, with the pope naming a commission of three cardinals to investigate alongside Vatican prosecutors. Italian news reports have said new security measures and personnel checks have been put in place to prevent a repeat offense.
Gabriele insisted he acted alone, with no accomplices, but it remains an open question whether any other heads will roll. Technically the criminal investigation remains open, and few in the Vatican believe Gabriele could have construed such a plot without at least the endorsement if not the outright help of others. But Lombardi said he had no new information to release about any new investigative leads, saying the pardon "closed a sad and painful chapter" for the Holy See.
Nuzzi, who has supported Gabriele as a hero for having exposed corruption in the Vatican, tweeted Saturday that it appeared the butler was thrilled to speak with the pope and go home. "Unending joy for him, but the problems of the curia and power remain," he wrote, referring to the Vatican bureaucracy.
A Vatican computer expert, Claudio Sciarpelletti, was convicted Nov. 10 of aiding and abetting Gabriele by changing his testimony to Vatican investigators about the origins of an envelope with Gabriele's name on it that was found in his desk. His two-month sentence was suspended. Lombardi said a pardon was expected for him as well. He recently returned to work in the Vatican.
Benedict met this past week with the cardinals who investigated the origins of the leaks, but it wasn't known if they provided him with any further updates or were merely meeting ahead of the expected pardon for Gabriele.
As supreme executive, legislator and judge in Vatican City, the pope had the power to pardon Gabriele at any time. The only question was when.

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Aleppo's fledgling government reflects a society shaped by war

Members of the Syrian opposition in Aleppo are preparing to unveil what will be the most ambitious transitional government effort to come from inside Syria since the revolution began 21 months ago.
Aleppo’s Transitional Revolutionary Council, a civilian effort to provide government services in areas of northern Syria under opposition control, has created a 224-person Grand Assembly with representatives for every area of the province, even those still under government control. The new legislative body plans to have its first meeting within a month.
The creation of the opposition’s Grand Assembly comes on the heels of weeks of major rebel gains in northern Syria and is emblematic of their growing confidence in Aleppo. But the new legislature faces challenges finding sufficient funding and securing locations to meet, underscoring the challenges that remain despite recent progress.
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“What makes this project successful here in Aleppo is that most of Aleppo is liberated,” says Rafat Rifai, a freelance journalist who works as a consultant for the Transitional Revolutionary Council. Still, he adds, “the main financial resources are still with the regime so if the new assembly tries to take on the same role of the [Assad] government, it will need the same budget.”
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The assembly has only limited funding. It comes from a mix of sources including Syrian expatriates and local businessmen, and the new Syrian opposition coalition formed in Doha last month is said to be considering offering assistance. The modest budget will force the group to prioritize its efforts on essentials such as repairing the electric grid and addressing bread shortages.
Throughout opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo province, citizens have formed a variety of ad hoc councils to manage their villages and neighborhoods in the absence of a central government, but the Grand Assembly is the first attempt to create a representative body that can begin to operate more like a traditional government body.
The new legislators were chosen in town hall style meetings by their communities. In areas still under control of the Assad army, representatives were selected from residents of these areas who had fled to opposition-controlled territory.
“We try to push them to choose the best and most qualified person to be the representative, not just the most popular,” says Shekary, who does not use his full name to protect his identity and serves as the media coordinator for the General Assembly.
Organizers say that with fighting still ongoing in Aleppo and reliable communication by telephone or Internet often impossible, a popular election to choose the 224 representatives would not have been feasible.
SEATS APPORTIONED BY SACRIFICE
The number of representatives each district receives is proportional to both its population and level of participation in the revolution. The latter is determined by a matrix that uses measurements such as the number of residents killed in the uprising and the level of destruction the community experienced.
Responding to a question about whether giving less representation to those who did not participate as heavily in the revolution could appear as a punitive measure, Hakeem Halabi says this current council is meant to serve as a transitional revolutionary government, which, for the time being, is run by those who started the uprising.
“We agree in the future we will have to have a popular vote,” says Mr. Halabi, co-leader of the temporary presidential committee for the Transitional Revolutionary Council, adding that the goal of the forthcoming assembly is to help achieve the goals of the revolution. "There are people with guns on the street and they deserve to get representatives.... If they don’t have a big enough voice, it will be hard to convince them to put down their guns.”
The assembly will hold its first meeting in Gaziantep, Turkey, just north of the Syrian border. Originally the group wanted to hold the meeting in Syria along the border where government jets seldom bomb, but a recent air strike against a border town made them reconsider.
The group says that they will conduct their meetings in Turkey, but return immediately upon their conclusion. Opposition forces have long criticized their leadership based outside the country for being out of touch with realities on the ground. The newly created Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, founded in Doha, enjoys more support within Syria, but still faces criticisms for operating outside the country.
“We consider ourselves more legitimate than the Doha coalition itself because this transitional council is 100 percent in Syria,” says Halabi.
Currently, there are no other provinces firmly enough under rebel control to consider something like the Aleppo Grand Assembly there, and there are no plans to use it as a model for temporary government in provinces that come under opposition control in the future.

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Uruguay postpones vote on 'state as dealer' approach to drug regulation - but not for long?

Uruguay has been on the vanguard of drug policy reform in the Americas, proposing a state regulatory market for the cultivation and consumption of marijuana. (See our cover on “Latin America reinventing the War on Drugs” here).
But last week the project’s No. 1 proponent – and perhaps the globe’s most trailblazing reformer – Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, told Parliament to postpone the vote.
President Mujica always said he would not go forward with the proposal if a majority of Uruguayans did not accept it. And a new poll by the firm Cifra shows 64 percent of those surveyed remain opposed.
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“Don’t pass a law because it has a majority in Parliament,” the president was quoted as saying in the local press. “The majority has to be in the streets.”
His words will generate a cheer from those opposed to such a radical rethink of the “war on drugs,” from United States drug officials to functionaries at the United Nations.
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But few think it means the project has been forever shelved, including those who don't explicitly favor it. In fact, Pablo Stratta, who is the secretary of the Mothers of the Plaza, an organization that fights against drug addiction, says that the polls do not reflect that people are necessarily against Mujica’s project but that it is simply not their top priority – an opinion his organization shares.
“Before we talk about legalizing any substance, whether it’s marijuana or any other, we have to start talking about addiction from a health perspective,” Mr. Stratta says. “There are many other problems to be talking about, such as the families of drug addicts, or the number of addicts living on the streets.”
Still, the news surprised those who support the increasingly bold moves around drug reform. Many proponents have looked at Uruguay’s proposal as a model for the globe; from new ballot initiatives in Washington and Colorado that make recreational marijuana use legal, to presidents in Mexico and Colombia calling for new solutions to the US “war on drugs.”
Martin Jelsma, a foremost drug policy reform proponent at the Transnational Institute, was attending a drug reform meeting in Bangkok when he read an article insinuating that Mr. Mujica’s motive in delaying the parliamentary vote on the subject stemmed from doubt.
He called his colleagues from the Uruguayan drug commission, where he is an adviser. And he says he, like Mr. Stratta, is convinced that it will pass in the future – the timing is just not right.
"There have been several other quite controversial and difficult issues to deal with,” Mr. Jelsma says, including abortion and gay rights.
“And there was still the clear hope from the president’s side that this project would be carried through with a clearer majority of support population wise. In that context there are still deep details to sort out … like the details of the proposal, how it relates to UN treaties, legal issues,” Jelsma says.
"I don’t have doubts myself that a good communication strategy and a good poll that does not reduce [the issue] to overly simplistic questions will show that there is a majority support for the direction in which Mujica and his government wants to go.

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South Korea charges North building missile that could reach US

South Korean defense officials say they have evidence showing a recent North Korean missile launch was to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
South Korean navy divers have recovered more than three tons of debris from the first stage of a missile Korean analysts say was fueled by a type of nitric acid developed in the former Soviet Union over 40 years ago for firing missiles with warheads more than 6,000 miles. The rocket, fired from a pad in northwestern North Korea on December 12, managed to put a small satellite into orbit, but officials offer the discovery of nitric acid as evidence of the real reason why North Korea was anxious to test it.
The defense ministry released a photograph of a truck carrying the most conspicuous piece of the debris – the gleaming white casing for the first stage. The word Unha in Korean lettering, the name of the rocket, was clearly visible.as it was in North Korean pictures of the rocket before the launch.
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“Definitely their main purpose is to have the capability of reaching the US west coast,” says Kim Tae-woo, former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification. “North Korea this time proved the capability of their ICBM."
The evidence of the rocket’s mission as a test of an ICBM, according to the defense ministry, was that the main piece of the wreckage was a container for “redfuming nitric acid” that’s not ordinarily used in missiles for launching satellites.
A member of the team that examined the rocket was quoted by Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, as saying they had found the rocket “was intended for testing ICBM technology rather than developing a space launch vehicle.” He said the team based this conclusion on the fact that “red fuming nitric acid” was used “as an oxidizer” and could “be stored for a long time at normal temperature.”
Navy divers reportedly found still more wreckage on Sunday and are still scouring the seabed of the Yellow Sea off the southwestern coast of South Korea.
The major piece picked up from a depth of 250 feet measured more than 25 feet long and nearly 8 feet in diameter. Mr. Kim, who worked for many years as a senior North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, says the success of North Korean scientists and engineers in launching the rocket “does not mean an immediate threat.”
“They are successful this time,” he says, but “it was just a simple test.” He adds that “their satellite technology is very primitive” – so much so that analysts here believeNorth Korea has lost touch with the 200-pound object as it circles the earth.
Mr. Kim is quick to add, however, that putting a satellite into orbit “is not their main target.” Rather, he says, the North Koreans want to develop the technology for firing a warhead a long distance – a highly complicated feat..
The great question is when and how North Korea will test the response of the incoming administrations of both the United States and South Korea. Park Geun-hye, daughter of the long-ruling dictator Park Chung-hee, assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979, was elected as South Korea’s president last Thursday and is to be inaugurated in February.
“North Korea might be tempted to test John Kerry either by long-range missiles or another nuclear test,” says Lee Chang Choon, a retired South Korean diplomat whoserved as ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. President Obama has nominated Senator John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
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North Korea has conducted two previous underground nuclear tests – in October 2006 and again in May 2009 – soon after test-firing long-range missiles.
Kim Tae-woo agrees with that assessment. “Traditionally North Korea may be preparing to test the will of the second Obama government,” he says. “North Korea definitely wants to test Mr. Kerry.”
North Korea has been celebrating the launch of the rocket – and the satellite – with exuberant displays in Pyongyang. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, reported by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency to have visited the launch site and personally penned the hand-written order to go ahead with the launch, urged more launches at a dinner Friday honoring scientists, engineers and technicians responsible for the launch 11 days ago. KCNA quoted the North Korean leader as urging them to develop “carrier rockets of bigger capacity” in order to put “a variety of more working satellites” into orbit.
The rocket is believed capable of carrying a payload of 1,200 pounds.
South Korea, says Kim Tae-woo, is developing ballistic missiles with a maxium range of 500 miles – enough to reach any target in the North, including the launch site of the Unha. “We can have a much greater deterrence,” he says, “but it takes time.

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Muslim scholars and clerics: suicide bombings are un-Islamic.

Suicide bombers in Afghanistan have shown little restraint: Wedding parties and even mosques and children have witnessed gruesome targeting by the Taliban against civilians.
But as attacks soared in the summer and fall, killing scores of civilians every week – including at least 40 Muslim devotees at a mosque in late October –public revulsion has turned into unprecedented condemnation.
For the first time in late January, Muslim scholars and clerics from around the world will come to Kabul specifically to condemn suicide bombings as un-Islamic. The conference will be the first to focus on suicide bombing, and its framers hope the result will reverberate beyond Afghanistan.
"Many times, scholars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have made statements but had no influence," says Mufti Shamsur Rahman Firotan, a religious scholar in Kabul. "This one will have influence, and will give the idea to the people that suicide attacks are forbidden. The message is for all: in Iraq, in Pakistan, all these [militant jihadist] groups."
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Senior United Nations officials have challenged religious officials to speak more loudly against attacks carried out in the name of Islam, while Afghan religious scholars have long decried suicide attacks, with little response by the ultra-conservative Taliban. An official gathering this summer resolved that suicide attacks "have no legitimate foundation in Islam."
It had little effect at the time. But those declarations have now been further bolstered. Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, the highest religious authority in the birthplace of Islam and respected by the Taliban, explicitly condemned suicide bombing.
Yet since Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheikh issued such a high-profile public statement in late October, Taliban suicide attacks have continued, some with multiple bombers. But Afghan religious scholars say momentum is building against them.
One reason is because Mr. Abdulaziz “does have influence on the Taliban," says Mr. Firotan, who is a member of Afghanistan's Ulema Council of Islamic scholars, which has long campaigned against civilian deaths.
"The Taliban think we are their enemies, so they don't respect our declarations," says Mr. Firotan. "But Mufti Aziz is respected by them, and all around the Islamic world…. It has influence."
INVOKING MUHAMMED
The newsletter of Afghanistan’s religious scholars, called Al-Islam, publicized the Grand Mufti’s high-profile pronouncement against suicide bombing.
Invoking the Muslim prophet Mohammed, Abdulaziz noted that killing innocents has been forbidden for 14 centuries. He said justifying suicide attacks in the name of religion was a "misuse" of Islam.
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"Attacks, suicide attacks, and killing of the innocent have no place in Islam, and whoever conducts these are not just deprived of Paradise, but they will go to hell," Abdulaziz said according to Al-Islam. "There is jihad in Islam, but it is very different from killing of the innocent and suicide attacks [which does] not benefit the people and humanity."
The Taliban claims it has not "officially" received Abdulaziz's fatwa (or religious decree), says Firotan, but only heard about it.
'THIS IS NOT THE WAY'
The Quran makes clear that self-defense is acceptable, says Firotan, providing "there is no other way to live, but that is not the situation now."
For those who want to fight US forces, says Firotan, there are methods. "But this is not the way – to go to mosques, banks, bazaars, or shops. There, are 100 percent, some Taliban who are [also] against these actions."
As the Taliban has waged its insurgency in recent years, it has also increasingly targeted civilians, along with US and NATO military forces, Afghan security, and the government. By early summer, the toll caught the attention of the UN Special Representative Jan Kubis, who lamented in a speech that every morning started with “very sad news” of civilian deaths.
Addressing an Islamic cooperation conference in June, he said the previous “typical” week had 200 civilian casualties, with 57 dead. The week before registered 244 casualties, with 90 killed. One day saw three suicide bombings; another single day left 107 casualties.
Such a soaring toll was "unacceptable," Kubis said. "We keep hearing reports of suicide bombings, intimidation, targeted killings, assassination of elders, religious leaders, teachers, and scholars, burning of schools – all done in the name of Islam."
Yet Kubis noted that different interpretations are also heard, based on the Quran, that show such acts to be un-Islamic. The result has been confusion and questions in the minds of many Afghans.
"They are not anymore sure what is the truth, what is right, what is wrong, what is Islamic, what is non-Islamic," said Kubis. He challenged the religious scholars to magnify their voices: "You have a major role, a major responsibility to help."
That message has been transmitted many times by many religious scholars and officials, over many years. But it has yet to break through to those who favor such attacks, as “religious” as their ideology is meant to be.
EASIER SAID, THAN DONE
Even the writ of Taliban chiefs is limited, as shown by the example of fugitive leader Mullah Omar. In 1998 he condemned the use of anti-personnel landmines as "un-Islamic" and "anti-human."
Despite that, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) notes that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) placed by Taliban operatives are "by far the biggest killer of civilians" in Afghanistan. In the first nine months of this year, they caused 340 deaths – a nearly 30 percent increase from the same period the previous year.
Likewise, suicide attacks remain a pernicious killer, despite the volume of religious scholarship against it.
"Practically every family has suffered some form of attack by these suicide bombings or IEDs, and they don't look at it very kindly," says Massoumeh Torfeh, the director of strategic communications for UNAMA in Kabul.
Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a former Taliban ambassador to the UN who is now a member of the High Peace Council, tasked by the government of President Hamid Karzai with talking to the Taliban, says the opinions of religious figures can have an impact.
"Afghanistan is a religious country, and absolutely the majority are listening to their religious scholars," says Mr. Mujahid. About the Taliban, he says: "They are human beings, and also they have their religious scholars."
Mujahid quotes the Quran, saying: "You have to fight against those who are fighting against you. But do not cross the limit."
That limit is beyond "proportional reaction," says Mujahid: "It means that when someone is fighting against you with their fists, you should not use a Kalashnikov."
The Taliban see themselves as "being attacked, that war is being waged against [them]," adds Mujahid. The High Peace Council is "trying our best to convince them that war is not to the benefit of any party [and to] settle everything by negotiations, not by fighting."

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Soccer-Marseille cling on with leaders after beating St Etienne

 Andre Ayew struck just before the break to give Olympique Marseille a 1-0 home win against St Etienne on Sunday and keep them level on points with leaders Paris St Germain.
As Ligue 1 goes into a three-week break, OM are third with 38 points, behind pacesetters PSG and second-placed Olympique Lyon on goal difference.
St Etienne, who last beat OM at the Velodrome in 1979, are 10th with 27 points from 19 matches.
The game got off to a rather dull start with neither team creating chances and Marseille looking cautious having lost their last two home games.
Marseille, however, went ahead on the stroke of halftime when Ghana striker Ayew, who will play in the African Nations Cup with the Black Stars from Jan. 19 to Feb. 10, headed home from a Rod Fanni cross.
Josuha Guilavogui was set up by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but Steve Mandanda dived into the midfielder's feet to deny St Etienne an early opportunity to equalise two minutes into the second half.
Fanni cleared Aubameyang's strike off the goal line 15 minutes from time to keep his team ahead.
Andre Ayew then came close to doubling the tally in the 85th minute after being set up by his younger brother Jordan, only for his low shot to be blocked by Stephane Ruffier.
Earlier, Valenciennes moved up to sixth on 29 points after goals by Gregory Pujol and Jose Saez gave the Northerners a 2-1 win against visiting Evian Thonon Gaillard.
Toulouse, who had bagged only four points from their last eight games, beat Sochaux 2-0 courtesy of goals by Adrien Regattin and Emmanuel Riviere.
On Saturday, PSG claimed a 3-0 win at Stade Brest and Lyon beat Nice 3-0 at home.

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Soccer-European roundup-Barca win again, Chelsea score eight

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Barcelona finished the year with a win at Real Valladolid and a record haul of 49 points for this stage of a La Liga season with Lionel Messi scoring his 91st goal of the calendar year while arch rivals Real Madrid lost at Malaga.
Chelsea eased the disappointment of their Club World Cup final defeat by beating Aston Villa 8-0 but Manchester United's lead over local rivals City at the top of the Premier league was cut to four points after they were held at Swansea City.
The Ligue 1 title race is a thriller with three teams - Paris St Germain, Olympique Lyon and Olympique Marseille - on 38 points at the halfway stage as European club football in the major leagues outside England heads into the winter break.
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SPAIN
Lionel Messi struck his 91st goal this year as unbeaten La Liga leaders Barcelona won 3-1 at Real Valladolid while Real Madrid slumped to a 3-2 defeat at Malaga where Jose Mourinho surprisingly left captain and keeper Iker Casillas on the bench.
The setback left champions Real 16 points adrift of Barca, who have a record haul of 49, and seven behind second-placed Atletico Madrid, 1-0 winners at home to Celta Vigo.
Valladolid kept a dominant Barca at bay until two minutes before halftime when Xavi turned a low cross into the net.
Messi doubled Barca's lead on the hour with a trademark run and finish for his 26th goal of the league campaign as he extended the calendar year record he broke earlier this month when he overhauled Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old mark of 85.
Substitute Cristian Tello added a third in what was the perfect tonic for Barca following the news that coach Tito Vilanova had to have throat surgery last Thursday and is starting a course of chemo- and radiotherapy.
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ENGLAND
Chelsea, playing with a swagger missing for much of the season, routed Aston Villa 8-0 to move up to third place while Premier League leaders Manchester United wasted the chance to move six points clear after a 1-1 draw at Swansea City.
Striker Fernando Torres began the rout after three minutes and David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic made it 3-0 at the break. Frank Lampard marked his 500th Premier League game with a rasping fourth before Ramires (two), Oscar and Eden Hazard joined in the fun for Chelsea, who also missed a late penalty.
United, who led at Swansea through Patrice Evra before being pegged back by league top scorer Michu's 13th goal this season, hold a four-point advantage over Manchester City, who beat Reading 1-0 thanks to Gareth Barry's stoppage time goal.
United have 43 points from 18 games, followed by City on 39 and Chelsea - who handed interim manager Rafael Benitez his first home league win - on 32 with a game in hand.
United boss Alex Ferguson was left fuming after their match, saying Robin van Persie "could have been killed" by Swansea's Ashley Williams when the prone striker was struck in the head from point-blank range by a clearance after a foul was given.
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ITALY
A late double from substitute Alessandro Matri helped top of the table Juventus to a 3-1 victory at 10-man Cagliari after the Serie A leaders had missed a penalty.
Lazio's 1-0 win at Sampdoria put them second above Inter Milan who were held 1-1 by Genoa in the final matches of 2012.
Champions Juve have 44 points, eight ahead of Lazio with Fiorentina and Inter, who slipped to fourth, a further point behind.
Cagliari took the lead against Juventus through Mauricio Pinilla's 16th-minute penalty after Marco Sau was fouled.
But they had Davide Astori sent off in the 65th for a second booking and Juve finally scored 10 minutes later through Matri after Arturo Vidal blasted his spot kick into the stands.
Home keeper Michael Agazzi kept Cagliari in the match until Matri added his second in stoppage time and then Mirko Vucinic scored a flattering third for the visitors.
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FRANCE
Ligue 1 top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted his 18th goal of the season as Paris St Germain reached the halfway mark leading the standings with a 3-0 win at Stade Brest.
PSG have 38 points and are first on goal difference from Olympique Lyon, who beat visitors Nice 3-0, and Olympique Marseille, 1-0 winners at home to St Etienne thanks to Andre Ayew's first-half header.
Fourth-placed Stade Rennes, who beat AC Ajaccio 4-2, trail the top three by six points as Ligue 1 takes a three-week break.
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NETHERLANDS
Jeremain Lens's early double set PSV Eindhoven on the way to a 6-1 win over neighbours NAC Breda that left them top on goal difference from Twente Enschede who won 3-0 at AZ Alkmaar.
Lens opened the scoring after 11 minutes when he netted a rebound and while Breda goalkeeper Jelle ten Rouwelaar saved a penalty from Lens six minutes later, the PSV forward soon made amends with his second goal of the match.
Further strikes from Georginio Wijnaldum, Mathias Jorgensen, Luciano Narsingh and Juergen Locadia took PSV's league tally to 60 this season.

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UPDATE 3-Soccer-Ligue 1 summaries

Dec 23 (Infostrada Sports) - Summaries from the Ligue 1 matches on Sunday
Sunday, December 23
Olympique Marseille 1 Andre Ayew 45+1
St Etienne 0
Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 37,007
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Toulouse 2 Adrien Regattin 26, Emmanuel Riviere 85
Sochaux 0
Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 16,401
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Valenciennes 2 Gregory Pujol 14, Jose Saez 74
Missed penalty: Mathieu Dossevi 50
Evian Thonon Gaillard FC 1 Saber Khlifa 33
Red Card: Djakaridja Kone 73
Halftime: 1-1; Attendance: 14,308
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Saturday, December 22
Bastia 4 Jerome Rothen 9, Anthony Modeste 13,63, Sambou Yatabare 26
AS Nancy 2 Benjamin Moukandjo Bile 51, Andre Luiz 76
Halftime: 3-0; Attendance: 1,200
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Olympique Lyon 3 Lisandro Lopez 40, Anthony Reveillere 55, Bafetimbi Gomis 77pen
Red Card: Dejan Lovren 90
Nice 0
Red Card: David Ospina 74
Halftime: 1-0; Attendance: 30,903
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Girondins Bordeaux 0
ES Troyes AC 0
Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 19,726
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FC Lorient 2 Maxime Barthelme 48, Pedrinho 90+1
Stade de Reims 2 Odair Fortes 6, Gaaetan Courtet 70
Halftime: 0-1; Attendance: 16,471
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Ajaccio 2 Adrian Mutu 2, Fousseni Diawara 41
Stade Rennes 4 Julien Feret 17pen,72, Romain Alessandrini 44, Cheick Diarra 60
Halftime: 2-2; Attendance: 6,312
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Lille 4 Nolan Roux 24,62, Dimitri Payet 43, Ryan Mendes Da Graca 74
Montpellier HSC 1 Souleymane Camara 82
Red Card: Younes Belhanda 45+1
Halftime: 2-0; Attendance: 44,735
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Friday, December 21
Stade Brest 0
Red Card: Abdou Sissoko 34
Paris St Germain 3 Zlatan Ibrahimovic 55, Kevin Gameiro 73, Bernard Mendy 90+2og
Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 14,601

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Soccer-Villa's Lambert keen to move on from Chelsea mauling

- While most managers fret over congested fixtures during the festive season, Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert must be thankful his shellshocked side have only two days to stew over Sunday's 8-0 mauling by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Villa's worst ever league defeat has dragged them back into the relegation battle and the Midlands side now sit just three points above the drop zone.
The defeat was all the more galling for Villa given they had gone five games unbeaten in the Premier League since a 5-0 drubbing by champions Manchester City last month, while Chelsea's form had been patchy under interim coach Rafa Benitez.
Scot Lambert acknowledged his team had been second best in every department on Sunday.
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong," he told Villa's official website. "We have been on a really good run but we got beaten up today by a really good side. We were second best."
Spanish striker Fernando Torres needed just three minutes to confirm his return to form to put Chelsea 1-0 up, before David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic made it 3-0 at the break.
Frank Lampard marked his 500th Premier League game with a fourth before Ramires (two), Oscar and Eden Hazard joined the fun for Chelsea, who also missed a penalty.
Stamford Bridge has not been a happy hunting ground for Villa, who were hammered 7-1 there in 2010.
Lambert said Sunday's defeat would sting his side into action and he was looking for a response when they host sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
"You always learn when you win, lose or draw. That will be a wake-up call for us," he added.
"We only have two days to mull over it but we have to go again against Tottenham on Wednesday. I am sure whoever plays on Wednesday will atone for that."
Former Norwich boss Lambert has had a mixed start since taking over at Villa at the end of last season, taking just six points from their opening nine Premier League games.
However, their recent unbeaten run, which included an impressive 3-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield last week, gave the fans hope they had turned the corner.
Lambert said he had not given his players a roasting in the dressing room after the embarrassing defeat to Chelsea as they were well aware their level of performance was unacceptable.
"You can go in there and rant and rave all you want but it won't really do you much good. They know my feelings on it," he said. "But they know themselves that they have let everybody down."
Also on Sunday, Norwich City said they had come to an agreement with Lambert and Aston Villa to settle the dispute over his departure at the end of last season.
Villa will pay Norwich the original amount agreed in Lambert's contract with the Norfolk club, who will pay the former Scotland midfielder his bonus due after the 2011/12 season.

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Soccer-Benitez demands more after Chelsea smash eight

LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Rafael Benitez was still scribbling notes towards the end of Chelsea's 8-0 rout of Aston Villa on Sunday and after the game, the Spaniard said there was plenty of room for improvement.
As Chelsea made it 13 goals from two games since returning empty-handed from a 12,000-mile (19,312-kilometre) round trip to Japan for the Club World Cup a week ago, Benitez demanded even more from his players.
"I can see the team improving with the little things we wanted to improve," said Chelsea's interim manager after his team climbed to third in the English Premier League.
"But we can still improve some things. I say that after winning by eight."
Striker Fernando Torres, rediscovering the killer instinct he showed under Benitez at Liverpool, opening the scoring with a thumping header in the third minute at Stamford Bridge.
The goals kept flowing, Frank Lampard marking his 500th Premier League start with a sweetly struck fourth and Brazilian Ramires netting twice in an early Christmas stuffing of Villa.
"The players have been really focused since I arrived," Benitez, whose appointment angered Chelsea fans following last month's sacking of Roberto Di Matteo, said.
"They knew they had a new manager and they had to perform. We have to try to adjust things in every training session but I was impressed with the way we played.
"From day one, they were keen to learn and to improve," added the Spaniard, whose meticulous attention to detail are beginning to reap dividends for the Blues.
"Chelsea were a top side before I came here. They still are. You can see the team has confidence in themselves. They believe, they have good movement and they create chances."
Becoming the first holders to exit the Champions League at the group stage and then failing to compensate for it by lifting the Club World Cup, the pressure had been on Benitez.
Chelsea still trail Premier League pace-setters Manchester United by 11 points, and Manchester City by seven, albeit with a game in hand.
But Benitez, who has tinkered with his side to good effect since their gruelling trip to the Far East, believes Chelsea can climb back into the title race.
"Now we have to sustain this run and it will be easier for me to say we can compete," the Spaniard added.
Many of Chelsea's players had said while in Japan that having time away from the bearpit of the Premier League to work with and adapt to Benitez's style would bring its rewards.
"To win is always special, but the mentality of the players was good," said Benitez, game-by-game beginning to look the part in his official Chelsea suit.
Credited by the players for making the team more compact defensively, against a Villa side woefully out of their depth, Chelsea's attacking football was at times breath-taking.
"Even after we scored our sixth goal, we kept pushing forward for more," purred Benitez. "We had the balance we are looking for.

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