Nigerian Iginla wins Olympic men's hockey gold medal with the Canadians.

"Iggy!"

It was a scream Jarome Iginla had heard many times in his career. But never this loudly. Or with so much urgency.

Like a blind man, the scream told Iginla where Sidney Crosby was on the ice. It told him where to pass the puck. And it told him how little time he had before the play went sour.

"There's different pitches of yelling," said Iginla. "He was yelling. He was yelling pretty urgently. I knew he had a step [on defenceman Brian Rafalski]. So I was hoping I hadn't delayed in getting it to him."

Moments after Iginla heard the scream, he heard the roar. And though he did not see Crosby beat goaltender Ryan Miller with a wrist shot at 7:40 in overtime, the sold-out crowd told him that Canada had just defeated the U.S. 3-2 to win the gold medal.

"I fell down so I didn't see it," said Iginla. "I couldn't believe it. It was done. I didn't see where he put it or whatever, I just saw him jump around. It was awesome."

The score was tied 2-2 when Crosby outraced Rafalski to the puck in the corner of the offensive zone.

After passing the puck along the boards to Iginla, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain made a beeline to the net.

What happened next might as well have happened in complete darkness for Iginla.

Fighting off a check from Ryan Suter and with his back toward the play, Iginla was unable to see Crosby skating into the slot for the give-and-go.

But he listened for where his linemate was on the ice. And after hearing his nickname being screamed, the Calgary Flames captain wheeled around and fed Crosby a perfect pass before being knocked to the ground.

"I just tried to let him know where I was," Crosby said of Iginla. "He outmuscled the guy. That's basically what it came down to; a one-on-one battle and he won it and we were able to capitalize on it."

"We were talking all tournament to keep communicating," added Iginla. "We were saying all the time to let me know if he was open and stuff. He let me know there. He was screaming."

When he got up, all of Canada Hockey Place was screaming.

So was Iginla, who could not quite believe he had just won his second gold medal.

More importantly, said the Edmonton native, he had just helped Canada break an Olympic record with 14 gold medals.

"I'm very proud to be Canadian, to be part of these Olympics, to part of this team, to join the women's side in the gold medals," he said. "And you know what I'm really proud of? To join the Canadians in ... setting that record.

"Today is pretty special. You watch other Olympics and you're watching the gold medal hunt and we're not really in it, you know what I mean? We were looking for our first one at home and then all of a sudden we're setting a record. To be part of that I'm very proud and it's an awesome feeling."

Iginla was one of only four players -- captain Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and backup goaltender Martin Brodeur were the others -- on Canada's roster that had also won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002.

And while experience served the 32-year-old, who finished with five goals and seven points, he was even more impressed with the performances of the younger generation.

When a 24-year-old Iginla won gold in 2002, he scored two goals in the championship game against the U.S. This time around, the youngsters once again proved their worth.

Drew Doughty, who is 20 years old, had a plus-6 rating. Jonathan Toews, 21, had eight points and a goal last night. And 22-year-old Crosby, who was left off the 2006 roster that lost to Russia in the quarter-finals, came up the biggest by scoring the gold-medal winner.

"I think the youth, the young group, they're a very confident group that compete hard," said Iginla, who could not say enough about Crosby's ability to perform under pressure.

"The guys are trying to shut him down all the time ... but he just keeps going. He keeps battling. It was awesome to see him put that in."

View Iginla's profile

Source: Vancouver Sun

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The Brazilian government has announced trade sanctions against a variety of American goods in retaliation for illegal US subsidies to cotton farmers.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) approved the sanctions in a rare move.

Brazil published a list of 100 US goods that would be subject to import tariffs in 30 days, unless the two governments reached a last-minute accord.

It said it regretted the sanctions, but that eight years of litigation had failed to produce a result.

It said it would raise tariffs on $591m (£393m) worth of US products - from cars, where the tariff will increase from 35% to 50%, to milk powder, which would see a 20% increase in the levy.

Cotton and cotton products would be charged 100% import tariff, the highest on the list.

The Office of the US Trade Representative said it was "disappointed" by Brazil's decision and called for a negotiated settlement.

Critics say the US has given its cotton growers an unfair advantage by paying them billions of dollars each year.

In 2008, the WTO ruled that subsidies to US cotton producers were discriminatory.

Tall order

Carlos Marcio Cozendey, head of economic affairs at Brazil's foreign ministry, told a news conference: "The idea was to distribute the retaliation broadly in order to maximise pressure.

"US farm subsidies are condemned worldwide. This archaic practice must stop."

However some analysts say major changes to these subsidies would involve modifying agricultural legislation - a tall order for the US Congress against a difficult economic and political backdrop, says the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo.

Our correspondent says the dispute, which began in 2002, is one of the few in which the WTO has allowed cross-retaliation, meaning the wronged party can retaliate against a sector not involved in the case.

He adds that it appears the Brazilian government has deliberately chosen a wide range of products in order to have maximum impact.

Safety net

Cotton producers in the US argue that the system of subsidies has changed since the WTO made its original ruling in 2005.

"The US has made changes in the cotton programme as well as the export guarantee programme," Gary Adams, chief economist at the National Cotton Council told the BBC, adding that US cotton production was now 40% to 45% lower.

Mr Adams said he believed that subsidies were still justified.

"We feel this is a very important financial safety net for producers," he said.

Steven Bipes of the Brazil-US Business Council urged the US to take steps to avoid what he called "damaging" retaliation by Brazil.

"The business community finds it extraordinarily important that countries, including the US, comply with its WTO obligations and otherwise negotiate to find common ground when there are disputes," he told the BBC.

Source: BBC

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