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/ 8 September 2007

French press bring guillotine down on Les Bleus


An unforgiving French media gave no quarter in its appraisal of a ”catastrophic” France team after the World Cup hosts’ shock defeat to Argentina here on Friday. France lost the tournament’s opening match 17-12 to the Pumas — a result which has severely dented their chances of even reaching the final four of the competition.

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/ 8 September 2007

Portugal face baptism of fire against Scots

World Cup debutants Portugal are looking to emerge with more than their dignity intact when they take on Scotland in their opening Pool C match on Sunday. For ”Os Lobos”, the aim of both their first three pool matches against the Scots, New Zealand and Italy is to ensure they retain enough physical and mental resources to confront Romania in their only winnable game.

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/ 8 September 2007

Henin beats Venus to reach US Open final

Venus Williams left the US Open the same way Serena Williams did, undone by all those big shots off the racket of little Justine Henin. Henin became only the second woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same Grand Slam tournament, reaching the final at Flushing Meadows with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Venus on Friday.

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/ 8 September 2007

Fighting erupts in eastern DRC

Fresh clashes have erupted between a renegade general and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations said violence in the region was hampering efforts to deliver food to tens of thousands of displaced
civilians.

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/ 8 September 2007

Kuznetsova beats Chakvetadze to reach Open final

Svetlana Kuznetsova got off to a horrible start in her US Open semifinal on Friday. How horrible? Her opponent, Anna Chakvetadze, won the first set despite hitting only one winner. And then, slowly but surely, 2004 champion Kuznetsova began keeping the ball between the lines, and Chakvetadze began missing shots short, long and wide.

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/ 8 September 2007

Apec nations to accept climate change goals

Asia-Pacific nations, including China and the United States, will accept for the first time global goals to reduce emissions, according to a draft statement prepared for an Apec summit on Saturday. The declaration reaffirmed the United Nations climate convention as the primary vehicle for fighting global warming.

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/ 8 September 2007

Bin Laden says US is vulnerable

Osama bin Laden said in a new video marking the sixth anniversary of al-Qaeda’s September 11 attacks that the United States was vulnerable despite its military and economic power, but he made no specific threats. The al-Qaeda leader said US President George Bush was repeating the mistakes of the former Soviet Union by refusing to acknowledge losses in Iraq.

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/ 8 September 2007

Arguments end in Phil Spector’s murder trial

Prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to convict Phil Spector for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson, defense attorneys for the rock legend said on Friday. ”This case exemplifies reasonable doubt,” attorney Linda Kenney-Baden told the nine-man, three-woman jury, which is expected to begin deliberations on Monday.