Giorgio Angelozzi once kept bright-eyed Roman teenagers entranced, telling them tales of Ulysses. But retirement finally came, his daughter moved abroad and his wife died. ”Il Professore” found himself alone and disturbed the conscience of a nation with an advert offering money to any family willing to adopt him as a grandfather.

Bloated, blue-collar Americans — gorged on diets of fries and burgers — are bringing the nation’s steady rise in life expectancy to a grinding halt. Twenty years ago, the US, the richest nation on the planet, led the world’s longevity league. Today, American women rank only 19th, while males can manage only 28th place.

Democratic hopes of winning the White House have suffered a blow after a court ruled that independent candidate Ralph Nader will appear on ballot papers in Florida. Nader has been blamed by analysts for costing the Democrats victory four years ago after his campaign attracted voters who would otherwise have backed Al Gore.

The British Army is to start pulling troops out of Iraq next month despite the deteriorating security situation in much of the country, The Observer newspaper has learnt. The news came amid another day of mayhem in Iraq, which saw a suicide bomber kill at least 23 people and injure 53 in the northern city of Kirkuk.

Banyana Banyana got off to a disastrous campaign in the African Women Nations Cup, suffering an embarrassing 3-0 defeat by Ghana at the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday. It was a well-deserved victory for the Black Queens of Ghana, who were all over South Africa from the first whistle.

Supersport United came back from the brink of defeat to eliminate Wits University from the lucrative SAA Supa 8 Cup competition by a narrow 6-5 win on penalties at the Olympia Stadium on Saturday. Their suburban derby was a dull affair played before an almost-capacity crowd.

American Bernard Hopkins knocked out compatriot Oscar de la Hoya with a left hook to the body in the ninth round in Las Vegas on Saturday to retain the undisputed world middleweight title. Hopkins, already owner of the WBC, WBA and IBF titles, added De la Hoya’s lightly regarded WBO title to his list.

David Beckham was dropped by Real Madrid on Saturday but the Spanish giants still saw their season spiral into crisis as Espanyol handed them a 1-0 defeat just three days after they were destroyed by Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. Coach Jose Antonio Camacho also dropped skipper Raul.