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/ 10 March 2008

Cardiff reaches FA Cup semis

Cardiff extended the run of FA Cup upsets on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, putting the Welsh team in the semifinals of the English competition for the first time since it won in 1927. Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson scored at Riverside Stadium for Cardiff, the only team from outside England to have won the trophy.

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/ 9 March 2008

Cardiff spring another FA Cup shock

The FA Cup will boast just one Premier League side in the last four after Cardiff City continued a weekend of shocks by beating Middlesbrough 2-0 on Sunday. First-half goals from Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson handed the Championship (second division) side a deserved win at the Riverside Stadium and a place in the semifinals alongside Barnsley and Portsmouth.

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/ 9 March 2008

Big guns shot down in FA Cup

English football’s big guns were shot down in flames on Saturday as Chelsea and Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup quarterfinals in two of the famous old competition’s most remarkable upsets. Between them Chelsea and United have won four of the last five Premier League titles and boast some of the world’s finest players.

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/ 7 March 2008

Oil eases below $105

Oil eased to under a barrel on Friday, but stayed within sight of its record high from the previous session, with a tumbling United States dollar, fund flows and Opec’s (the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) reluctance to pump extra crude providing support.

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/ 7 March 2008

Heineken, Diageo agree joint ventures in SA

British spirits group Diageo and Dutch brewer Heineken said on Friday they had agreed to form two new joint ventures in South Africa to combine their drinks businesses and also build a brewery. Diageo, which makes Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky, and Heineken, famed for its lager, said they had teamed up with Namibia Breweries to form DHN Drinks.

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/ 6 March 2008

Tippling ministers sometimes trip on UK budget day

To deliver the longest British budget speech of all time, William Gladstone imbibed a throat-soothing mixture of sherry and beaten egg to help him through a marathon that lasted four hours and 45 minutes. enjamin Disraeli reached for brandy and water to deliver the shortest budget — he took just 45 minutes to plot the path for the nation’s finances.

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/ 6 March 2008

Oil price hits record above $105

Oil prices surged past $105 for the first time on Thursday as traders reacted to a surprisingly sharp fall in United States crude reserves and the plunging US dollar, analysts said. New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, hit $105,10 per barrel, topping the previous record of $104,95 set on Wednesday.

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/ 6 March 2008

Kenya denies sponsoring post-election violence

The Kenyan government sanctioned violence following last December’s disputed presidential elections, the BBC alleged on Wednesday, but Nairobi strongly denied the claims. The BBC quoted sources alleging that meetings were held at the official residence of President Mwai Kibaki between a banned militia group and high-ranking government figures.

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/ 4 March 2008

UK backs ban on Zim cricket tour

Britain said on Tuesday it would support a ban on a tour next year by the Zimbabwe cricket team in protest at President Robert Mugabe’s rule, but the decision was up to the sport’s authorities. The BBC’s Inside Sport said the government was looking at several options to stop next year’s tour.

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/ 4 March 2008

S&P says SA outlook marginally worse

Political and economic risks in South Africa are rising, Standard & Poor’s said but added that the country’s BBB+ sovereign credit rating remains safe for now. The ratings agency said divisions within the African National Congress (ANC) as well as its slowing economy were sources of concern, although the country was making progress in addressing its energy crisis.

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/ 4 March 2008

Oil pauses below record highs, awaits Opec decision

Oil eased on Tuesday after it reached a record of almost a barrel in the previous session, buoyed by investor demand for commodities as well as expectations Opec will not increase supply despite high prices. United States light crude for April delivery was down 44 cents at ,01 a barrel by 10.30am GMT, after touching a record high of ,95 on Monday.

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/ 2 March 2008

Credit crunch fuels investor thirst for art, wine

Rollercoaster markets may have cooled investor appetites for shares or property, but interest in offbeat investments is booming as a growing number of art and wine funds compete to combine passion with high returns. Downturns typically mean a slowdown in investments, but industry watchers say the credit crunch has left the appeal of ”investments of passion” largely untarnished.

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/ 2 March 2008

Arsenal stay top but United slash lead

Arsenal left it late to stay top of the Premier League as second-placed champions Manchester United closed to within a point on Saturday. The Gunners were seconds away from being knocked off top spot at the Emirates Stadium when Nicklas Bendtner cancelled out an early Philippe Senderos own-goal to secure a 1-1 home draw against Aston Villa.

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/ 29 February 2008

Oil price strikes record high above $103

The price of New York crude oil hit an all-time high point of $103,05 per barrel on Friday owing to record weakness of the dollar, but then fell back, traders said. And the price of gold reached an historic peak of $976,32 per ounce. "This was part of a broad-based commodities run based on the continued weakness of the dollar," said Petromatrix analyst Olivier Jakob.

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/ 27 February 2008

UK earthquake: ‘It was unreal’

”The birds were flying around like it was daylight,” said David Alrewas, one of the thousands of Britons woken at night by the most severe earthquake to strike Britain in 25 years. The quake, measuring 5,3 on the Richter scale, according to the British Geological Survey, shook large parts of England and Wales at 1am GMT on Wednesday.

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/ 27 February 2008

Oil price hits new peak as dollar slumps

Oil powered to a new record above a barrel on Wednesday, closing in on its inflation-adjusted lifetime peak, as an ailing dollar on worsening United States economic data triggered a surge across commodities markets. US crude stood 15 cents higher at ,03 a barrel by 1pm GMT, off its new record high of ,08.

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/ 27 February 2008

Quake shakes Britain, no deaths reported

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5,2 shook parts of Britain on Wednesday but officials said there were no reports of anyone being killed or serious damage. The quake struck about an hour after midnight and many people in the capital London and other areas said they had been woken up by the tremors.

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/ 26 February 2008

Argentina invited to play Mandela match

Argentina have been invited to play world champions South Africa in a Test match in August to mark former president Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, the Argentine union (UAR) said. The UAR has contacted European club authorities to ask for the release of their international players for the Test in Johannesburg.

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/ 26 February 2008

Horse-racing bet makes Briton birthday millionaire

A British man celebrated his 60th birthday in unexpected style at the weekend when a 50 pence () bet on the horses turned him into an instant millionaire. Fred Craggs, from Yorkshire in northern England, was not even aware of his win when he walked into a branch of the William Hill betting agency to see how he had done with his accumulator bet.