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/ 26 December 2007

Sharapova’s got a sweet tooth

Self-confessed chocoholic Maria Sharapova will get a chance to taste some post-Christmas forbidden fruit in the privacy of her hotel as she arrives on Friday in Singapore for a weekend tennis exhibition. The Russian former number one is facing compatriot Anna Chakvetadze on Sunday night.

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/ 26 December 2007

Arsenal hope that history repeats itself

Arsenal have enjoyed Christmas Day at the top of the Premier League standings — and are hoping that history repeats itself and keeps them top at the end of the season. The club at the top at Christmas have won the league for the past three years — Manchester United last season and Chelsea in 2005 and 2006.

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/ 26 December 2007

Landmark for Smith in Windies Test

Proteas captain Graeme Smith will be leading his team for the 50th time in a Test match in the first Test against the West Indies, starting at St George’s Park on Wednesday. Smith is only the second South African captain, after the late Hansie Cronje, to achieve this landmark. Cronje captained the Proteas on 53 occasions.

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/ 26 December 2007

The year of social networking

Online social-networking websites saw their ranks swell and values soar in 2007 as everyone from moody teenagers and mellow music lovers to mate-seeking seniors joined online communities. Seven out of the 10 hottest topics that triggered Google internet queries during the year involved social networking.

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/ 26 December 2007

Asia marks tsunami, three years on

Survivors prayed at mass graves and mosques on Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of the Asian tsunami, while warning sirens sent hundreds fleeing beaches during a drill to test an alert network established since the disaster. The waves on December 26 2004 killed about 230 000 people in 12 Indian Ocean nations.

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/ 26 December 2007

Middle East peace off to a rocky start in 2008

Israel and the Palestinians head into 2008 pledging to seal an ever-elusive peace deal by the end of the year, but with their revived negotiations off to a rocky start. The talks held since the two sides relaunched the Middle East peace process after a nearly seven-year hiatus have been overshadowed by expansion of Israeli settlements.