London - West Ham United confirmed on Wednesday that they have signed defender Herita Ilunga on a four-year deal from Toulouse.

The DR Congo international has been on loan at the English Premier League side since the beginning of the season, and has made himself a fixture at left-back.

"It is a great joy for me to have signed permanently for a club that believed in me and gave me the opportunity to play in the Premier League," he told the club website.

Monte Carlo - Roger Federer and Davis Cup teammate Stanislas Wawrinka advanced into a Swiss showdown in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday as Federer kick-started his spring clay season.

The newly-married second seed had to fight through as Italian Andreas Seppi saved three match points before exiting 6-4, 6-4 to the 13-time Grand Slam champion.

Number 13 Wawrinka spent more than two and a half hours in his struggle with Argentine Marcello Vassallo Arguello to seize a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Hamburg - A senior European Central Bank (ECB) warned Wednesday that cutting interest rates below 1 per cent could severely hit money markets and result in lending between banks freezing up.

In a speech delivered in Hamburg, Axel Weber, the president of Germany's influential central bank the Bundesbank, said that trimming rates in the 15-member eurozone to below 1 per cent could mean banks lending with each other would become "completely paralyzed." Weber is also a member of the ECB's governing council.

Munich - Bayern Munich must win the Bundesliga title and strengthen its squad, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Wednesday in the wake of his team's Champions League quarter-final exit against Barcelona.

Confronted with "Klinsmann out" chants from the fans in the return leg against the Spanish league leaders the previous night, Klinsmann acknowledged that every coach is measured by success.

Warsaw - UEFA head Michel Platini was in Ukraine on Wednesday to gather information for a decision on which cities will host Euro 2012 matches in Poland and the former Soviet republic.

Platini at a Kiev press conference said the tournament could be played in "six to eight cities... the best venues possible, the country notwithstanding."

Johannesburg, Apr. 15 : South Africa have backed off-spinner Johan Botha as a key player in their Twenty20 World Cup plans despite him being placed under the scanner for suspect action.

The International Cricket Council says Botha, who was also reported following the Sydney Test of January 2006, has been cited following Monday''s fourth one-day international against Australia in Port Elizabeth.