Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon revealed on Thursday that he had been stunned by David Beckham’s axing from the England team. ”It seems hard to accept that he is not there,” Calderon said of Beckham’s exclusion from every squad since Steve McClaren took charge.
South African Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni sounded a warning on inflation on Thursday morning as there were, as far as he could see, no indications of any meaningful change in consumer behaviour and said there were still significant upside risks to the inflation outlook.
Nissan said on Thursday it was still open to an alliance with a United States carmaker after the failure of talks with ailing General Motors, amid speculation Ford could be next to the negotiating table.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday called on governments to improve air quality in their cities, saying air pollution prematurely kills two million people a year, with more than half the deaths in developing countries. Reducing the kind of pollution known as PM10 — or particulate matter with particles of smaller than 10 micrometers — could save as many as 300 000 lives every year.
Peter Crouch can look back on 2006 having scored more goals in a calendar year than any England striker before him, but the Liverpool forward admits that he still has his doubters ahead of Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Macedonia in Manchester.
It’s supposed to be a time of peace and piety, but it’s really hard to stay spiritual while trying to get work done during Ramadan. For one month of the lunar calendar, Muslims abstain from food, drink, sex, cigarettes and profanities from sunrise to sunset with the aim of purifying the body and soul.
More blasts rocked Baghdad on Thursday, spreading yet more carnage during what was already Iraq’s worst week for bombings since the United States invasion, and as US casualties continued to mount. For the fourth time this year a bomb exploded in bustling Tehran Square in downtown Baghdad, wounding at least 20 day labourers waiting at a spot popular for seeking work.
Former Hewlett-Packard chairperson Patricia Dunn will fight ”false” criminal charges against her ”with everything she has,” her lawyer said on Wednesday. ”Today, in California, Pattie Dunn was charged with various offences. These charges are being brought against the wrong person at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons,” her lawyer Jim Brosnahan said in a statement here.
Ex-Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, facing sentencing later this month for his role in the energy trading giant’s collapse, paid a fine to a Dallas court for public drunkenness, according a report on Wednesday on the Houston Chronicle website. Skilling did not appear in the Dallas court, but pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge and mailed in a fine.
A menu card believed to be the last item signed by Manchester United’s ”Busby Babes” before the 1958 Munich air disaster was sold at auction on Wednesday for £12 000 (€17 800). The card, autographed by 14 members of the famous young squad managed by Matt Busby, was bought by a private collector from London at a special football memorabilia sale.