The ditty pokes fun at the power-play between the two men

Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin have been gently lampooned in a new year's cartoon broadcast on Russian TV.

Animated figures of Russia's president and prime minister are shown dancing in Moscow's Red Square and singing a duet about 2009.

President Medvedev is depicted playing an accordion while Mr Putin beats a tambourine against his bottom.

Channel One television broadcast the cartoon after Mr Medvedev's official new year address.

The ditty was featured in a special episode of Mult Lichnosti (a play on the Russian for "cult of personality") - a biweekly show poking fun at public figures.

The two-and-a-half-minute cartoon, with surprisingly true-to-life voices, has surprised Russians used to serious depictions of their leaders.

The duet jauntily refers to events in the past year, such as the failed attempt by a consortium including Russian bank Sberbank to buy Opel from General Motors, and the construction of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline.

'Be careful'

With fireworks exploding above the Moscow skyline in the background, Mr Medvedev's character performs a dainty leap for which he is congratulated by the prime minister, who is then lauded for his own little jump.

By Richard Galpin, BBC News, Moscow For those of us who follow political developments here, what is most surprising - if not shocking - about this very tame piece of satire is that it appeared on the biggest state-controlled channel. It speaks volumes about how effectively the broadcast media has been muzzled since Vladimir Putin rose to power 10 years ago. In the previous decade, under ex-President Boris Yeltsin, there was a brief renaissance when the media was free to publish or broadcast bitingly-critical items about the country's leaders. But those days are long gone, particularly for the main TV and radio stations which have the greatest influence over the population given their nationwide reach. Channel One leads the way as a mouthpiece for the government, with its bulletins filled with long-winded Soviet-style reports about the day-to day activities of Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev. So this cartoon does represent something new in the current, carefully-controlled political environment.

Their ditty gently mocks the power-play between them since Mr Medvedev took over the Russian presidency from Mr Putin in 2008.

"I just did my second New Year's greeting to the nation," says Mr Medvedev proudly at one stage, to which Mr Putin replies: "I've done it nine times, you know."

They poke fun at the EU and US, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and even make a reference to historic corruption within Russia's bureaucracy.

Konstantin Ernst, Channel One's director, said the Russian leaders were being added to the regular cast of Mult Lichnosti, the New York Times reported.

"We have to be careful," he told the newspaper. "You can insult someone in show business, because a person like that is selling himself, and does not answer for anything else.

"Whereas the president and prime minister also represent the work they do."

Mult Lichnosti also features other world leaders. One episode of the cartoon shows Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko inflating balloons with natural gas diverted from a Russian pipeline.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili is seen eating his own tie.

And US President Barack Obama is depicted endlessly bouncing a basketball up and down.

Jo has scored two goals in 24 appearances this season

Everton have suspended on-loan striker Jo for a breach of discipline after the Brazilian returned to South America without permission over Christmas.

Jo, 22, is in his second loan spell with Everton from Manchester City.

"We like Jo but there has to be discipline at football clubs," said Everton boss David Moyes.

"He left over a busy period and left us short of players. We've suspended him from the club. It might change but at the moment that's the situation."

The 6ft 3in forward, whose full name is Joao Alves de Assis Silva, scored 44 goals in 77 games for CSKA Moscow before joining City in July 2008.

He signed a four-year deal for a fee thought to be in the region of £18m but struggled to adjust to the Premier League and, following a return only three goals in 18 games, joined Everton on loan for the second half of last season.

606: DEBATE I thought he had potential on last seasons showing but he's been a massive disappointment for us this season TheManFromACRONYM

After returning to Eastlands at the end of the campaign, Jo rejoined the Toffees in July but has been largely used as a substitute, scoring two goals in 24 appearances.

South American players often return home for the Christmas break and late returns have been a recurring problem for European clubs.

Schalke 04 defender Rafinha did not turn up for training on Wednesday and failed to justify his absence, according to coach Felix Magath.

Peru forward Jefferson Farfan and Brazilian defender Bordon were also absent but they had obtained permission for a late return after the Christmas break.

Rafinha defied Schalke last year when he joined Brazil's Olympic Games squad after the club initially refused to release him to play in Beijing.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later ruled in Schalke's favour but the club then agreed to allow Rafinha to stay in China.

Meanwhile Moyes has told sacked Preston manager Alan Irvine, who was the Everton manager's former assistant before he moved to Deepdale, that he is welcome to come in and work at the Merseyside club's Finch Farm training ground.

"I have said to him he is welcome to come in," said Moyes. "He is a student of the game and won't sit at home.

"Alan has done such a good job he will undoubtedly work again. It would not surprise me if he gets one of the big jobs going around at the moment."

Many people were feared to have been injured in Friday's attack

At least 40 people have been killed after a suspected suicide bomb attack at a volleyball pitch in the troubled north-west of Pakistan, officials say.

Officials said the bomber drove a vehicle onto the field as people gathered to watch a match. Emergency workers put the toll as high as 70.

The attack took place in Lakki Marwat, close to North and South Waziristan.

The Pakistani army has been conducting a campaign against the Taliban in the tribal areas since October.

Dozens of people were reported to be injured in Friday's attack. Several buildings collapsed, trapping people under rubble.

"The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP news agency.

'Soft' target

Mr Khan told reporters the attack may have been in retaliation for attempts by locals to expel militants.

"The locality has been a hub of militants," he said.

"Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be a reaction to their expulsion."

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad that among those killed were members of a local peace committee who have been campaigning for an end to the violence.

Mushtaq Marwat, a member of the group, told Pakistan's Geo TV that the attack occurred as the committee was meeting in a nearby mosque.

"Suddenly there was a huge blast. We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere," he said.

Some initial reports about the attack said the vehicle that exploded was stationary, or that a bomber had walked towards the volleyball pitch.

North and South Waziristan form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan.

Our correspondent says it had been feared that while the army was congratulating itself on its campaign, militants had simply escaped to neighbouring areas such as the one where Friday's attack happened.

The number of people killed in militant attacks in Pakistan is fast approaching 600 in just three months, with no apparent end to the violence in sight, he adds.

Militants have attacked both "hard" targets, including army or intelligence offices, and "soft" ones such as markets or the crowd that was hit in Friday's bombing.

The attack came as a general strike was held in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, in protest against a bombing there on Monday and riots that followed.

The bombing, which killed at least 43 people, targeted a Shia Muslim march and was claimed by the Taliban.