Bari, Italy - Italy had Giampaolo Pazzini sent off after three minutes as they drew 1-1 with visiting Ireland Wednesday in a Group 8 World Cup qualifier.

Vincenzo Iaquinta gave Italy an 11th-minute lead only for Irish captain Robbie Keane to equalize shortly before half-time.

There was much emotion at the rain-drenched San Nicola stadium where Giovanni Trapattoni was widely cheered on as he led the Irish squad against the Azzurri side he coached from 2000 to 2004.

London  - A 21-year-old man charged in connection with the murder of a police officer in Northern Ireland earlier this month appeared in court Thursday.

The accused was charged late Wednesday with failing to provide police with facts relating to the shooting on March 9 of Stephen Carroll, a 48-year-old police officer in the town of Craigavon.

He was remanded in custody by the Magistrate's Court in Lisburn, south of Belfast, and will have to appear again on April 17.

London  - A second man was charged Tuesday with the murder of a police officer in Northern Ireland just hours after a teenager pleaded innocent to the crime.

Police said a man aged 37 would appear in court on Wednesday in connection with killing of police constable Stephen Carroll, in the town of Craigavon, on March 9.

In addition to murder, the unnamed man was charged with illegal possession of a weapon.

London - The funeral of a 23-year-old British soldier shot dead by terrorists in Northern Ireland earlier this month took place in his home city of Birmingham on Wednesday.

Sapper Mark Quinsey was one of two soldiers gunned down outside Massereene army barracks north of Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 7.

He and his colleague, Patrick Azimkar, from London, were the first British soldiers to die in a terrorist attack in the British province since the signing of the 1998 peace agreement.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama nominated Daniel Rooney, the owner of American football champion Pittsburgh Steelers, as the next ambassador to Ireland on Tuesday, Saint Patrick's Day.

Rooney, 76, has played an important role in the Irish-American community.

Rooney, through charitable groups, supported the Irish peace process and co-founded the American Ireland Fund in 1976, which has raised more than 300 million dollars for peace and education programmes in Ireland.

London - Three more arrests were made Saturday in the hunt for the killers of two British soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland, police said.

The latest arrests in Armagh and near Londonderry - of men aged 41, 32 and 21 - related to the killing of two British soldiers in an attack outside Massereene barracks in county Antrim, north of Belfast, last weekend.