Alex Ferguson insisted he had no qualms with Wayne Rooney’s lifestyle after a Sunday newspaper report alleged the England striker had a major gambling hambit. Rooney put the claims from the Sunday Mirror tabloid that he’d lost £700 000 since the start of the season firmly to one side by scoring United’s first and creating their second in a 2-0 win over Arsenal.
Argentina clinched a home semifinal tie against Australia after narrowly beating reigning champions Croatia in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Zagreb on Sunday. The tie went right to the wire but Juan Ignecio Chela kept his nerve over two tie-breaks to beat Sasa Tuksar 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) in the deciding rubber.
Fred Couples was tied for the lead and chasing Masters history when he stood above a little 4-foot birdie putt at the second hole. He drew the club back, then propelled it forward. The blade tilted ever so slightly before striking the ball. It never had a chance, skidding past the cup on the right side by a good inch or two — a push, they call it, and a bad one at that.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday called on President Robert Mugabe to step down to pave way for a transitional government that should lead to the writing of a new Constitution and fresh elections to be supervised by the international community.
Inter Milan president Giacinto Facchetti on Sunday condemned the group of fans who attacked several of the club’s players at Milan’s Malpensa airport. In the early hours of Sunday morning, around 100 Inter supporters, still angry about their team’s exit from the Champions League on Tuesday, were waiting for the squad as they got off their flight from Ascoli.
Tens of thousands of people marched through Dallas on Sunday to demand that legislators pass a law to help the estimated 11,5-million illegal workers in the United States. Many Hispanic families with small children joined the protest, part of a renewed campaign to counter efforts by conservatives in the US Congress to make illegal entry a crime.
Phil Mickelson’s impressive victory on Sunday at the 70th Masters moved him halfway toward a ”Lefty Slam”, although the southpaw United States star is not ready to ponder a four-major sweep just yet. Mickelson’s second Masters triumph in three years combined with his win at last August’s PGA Championship leave him only a US Open and British Open shy of matching Tiger Woods’ feat of four major titles in a row.
Television director Ken Kirsten was shot and killed in his driveway in Northcliff Johannesburg, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Monday. According to his neighbour, Kirsten returned home after walking his dog when he was shot at point-blank range. The motive for the killing was not known.
An internal United States government report portrays a grim picture of Iraq’s stability, rating six of the country’s 18 provinces as in a ”serious” situation and one ”critical”, it emerged on Sunday. The US ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad confirmed the report, which was leaked to the New York Times, but said it marked an improvement on last year.
A stampede after an Islamic ceremony killed at least 29 women and children and left more than 100 injured in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday. About 10 ,000 women had gathered in the Faizan-e-Madina mosque to hear sermons about the prophet Muhammad, whose birthday is celebrated on Tuesday.