Phil, football is a very personal aspect of my life...

BTW, how the hell does an army truck crush poeple walking on the side of the road?

Korean protests over US soldiers' trials

The trial has opened of a second US soldier accused over the deaths of two South Korean girls who were crushed by a military vehicle.

Sergeant Mark Walker, who was driving the 50-tonne armoured vehicle when the incident happened in June, could face up to six years in a US prison if found guilty of negligent homicide.

The trial opened to furious protests from some 200 South Korean activists, who dismissed the acquittal of his colleague, on Wednesday, as a sham.

Demonstrators tried to storm the gates to Camp Casey - the military camp north of Seoul where the trial is taking place - but were beaten back by riot police.

Anti-US sentiment

"We demand the withdrawal of US troops, who are murderers!", the protesters shouted.

The case has fanned widespread anti-American sentiment - with opposition growing to the presence of 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea to counter threats from the Communist North.

South Korea's ruling Millennium Democratic Party condemned Wednesday's acquittal of Sergeant Fernando Nino, the vehicle commander.

"We cannot accept this fraudulent verdict, which is unimaginable in any law-abiding country," said spokeswoman Lee Mi-kyung, describing the decision as an "outrage to heaven and earth".

The South Korean government had asked for jurisdiction in the case, but the US refused.

Apologies

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other top US officials have apologised over the deaths of the girls.

Shim Mi-sun and Shin Hyo-son, 14, were walking to a friend's birthday party on 13 June when they were mowed down by the US vehicle, which was taking part in a training exercise on the outskirts of Seoul.

The mine-clearing vehicle was going uphill and round a bend when it hit the girls, AP news agency reported.

The defence for Sergeant Nino argued that he alerted Sergeant Walker to the presence of the girls. The driver says he never heard the warning, because of an apparently defective communications system.