Venus Williams believes her fourth Wimbledon title could herald the start of a new period of dominance for herself and her sister Serena in women’s tennis. Both sisters endured injury-blighted years in 2006 and there were plenty of pundits willing to predict that their time at the top of the women’s game was nearing an end.
Roger Federer stormed into his fifth successive Wimbledon final with a 7-5 6-3 6-4 humbling of France’s Richard Gasquet on Saturday. The four-times defending champion overwhelmed his 21-year-old opponent in a display of sheer brilliance before a mesmerised Centre Court crowd.
Roger Federer moved just two wins away from a fifth successive Wimbledon title after a 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday. The world number one will take on America’s Andy Roddick or Richard Gasquet of France for a place in the final as he continues his campaign to win a fifth successive Wimbledon crown.
Global warming is radically changing the face of Mount Everest, the sons of the men who first reached its summit 54 years ago said in an interview published on Friday. The sons of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay told British newspaper the <i>Independent</i> that their fathers would no longer recognise the world’s highest mountain.
Britain said on Friday it was "getting to the bottom" of a militant cell behind last week’s failed attacks, amid tight security ahead of the anniversary of London’s July 2005 suicide bombings. The cautiously upbeat assessment came after Australian police searched two hospitals and questioned five doctors over the London and Glasgow attacks.
Not long ago it was French football great Zinedine Zidane who was the focus of their bid for celebrity — and a few laughs. Now, it is the peloton of the Tour de France — and their notorious links with the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) — which is the subject of musical group La Plage’s latest offering.
Venus Williams strode into the semifinals of Wimbledon on Thursday while tournament organisers cast anxious glances to the sky. Her younger sister Serena, beaten by Justine Henin in the quarters on Wednesday, rates Venus as the best grasscourt player left in the draw.
Nigeria’s Archbishop Peter Akinola, the leading critic of Western liberals in a growing Anglican dispute over gay priests, insists he has no ambition to lead a breakaway church. ”That has never been on my mind,” he told London’s Times newspaper in an interview. ”We are going nowhere.”
Indian demand for South African coal is set to drop, threatening sharply lower prices, as iron makers there cut back, hit by falling prices in the steel market they supply and rising costs for imported coal. India’s sponge iron makers, who use coal as part of a process to make iron from ore, have relied increasingly on imported South African coal in recent years.
Justine Henin won the latest battle in the most fierce rivalry in women’s tennis with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 quarterfinal victory over seventh seed Serena Williams at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The Belgian world number one is chasing the one grand slam title she needs to complete her collection and looked in ominous form.
Rafael Nadal needed 20 minutes and five match points on Wednesday finally to dispose of Robin Soderling 6-4 6-4 6-7 4-6 7-5 in a rain-hit Wimbledon third round match that spanned three days. The players resumed at 4-4 in the final set in a match that started on Monday and was hit by five rain breaks, with only 20 minutes of play possible on Tuesday.
British police believe they have arrested the main suspects in an al-Qaeda-style bomb plot, some of whom appeared in intelligence databases on radical Islamists, sources close to the investigation said on Wednesday. Security experts were considering reducing Britain’s terrorist threat level, four days after it was raised to ”critical”.
The great-great grandson of Otto von Bismarck, the statesman behind Germany’s 19th century unification, was found dead at his London flat, police said on Wednesday, after a life tainted by scandal. The body of Count Gottfried von Bismarck (44) was found at his home in the upmarket Chelsea district, reportedly surrounded by drugs paraphernalia.
Ferrari have accused former technical manager Nigel Stepney of passing secrets to Formula One rivals after searching the house of a senior McLaren employee in England. Championship leaders McLaren had earlier announced that their employee, who was not identified, had been suspended pending an investigation into the receipt of classified information.
Sheffield United will play in the Championship next season, it was confirmed on Tuesday, after they lost their legal battle against relegation from the English Premiership. The Blades had claimed that West Ham should have been docked points rather than being fined over irregularities in the registration of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova proved she has grit as well as glamour when she sent defending champion Amelie Mauresmo spinning out of Wimbledon on Tuesday. Vaidisova won their rain-interrupted fourth-round clash 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-1 to reach her first All England Club quarterfinal.
Police detained a sixth doctor on Tuesday over the failed bombings in London and Glasgow, as Britain remained on maximum alert for another al-Qaeda-style attack. A Jordanian neurosurgeon and an Iraqi doctor were also among eight suspects being questioned as the probe spread around the world with the detention of an Indian physician in Australia.
Allan Donald has had his role as England’s bowling adviser extended until the end of the inaugural World Twenty20 in his native South Africa in September, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Tuesday. Donald had been due to finish his initial five-week tenure with England at the end of the current one-day international series against the West Indies.
British Airways said on Tuesday that Angola had suspended its flight licence to operate in the African nation in a move seen as retaliatory after European Union steps to ban Angolan airline TAAG on safety grounds. ”The Angolan CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] took away the operating permit that we had …,” a BA spokesperson said.
Author JK Rowling was to lead the cast of <i>Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix</i> down the red carpet in London on Tuesday for the film’s much-anticipated official world premiere. Excitement was building ahead of the star-studded London event, with thrilled fans expected to pack into Leicester Square for a glimpse of their heroes.
Triple champion Venus Williams set up a potentially explosive Wimbledon fourth-round showdown with Maria Sharapova on Monday as women’s tennis unveiled a new teenage talent. Former triple champion Williams won the last four games of her third-round clash with Akiko Morigami of Japan to move into the fourth round with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win.
The seventh and final book in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become online retailer Amazon’s most pre-ordered product. Amazon said that demand for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows passed the record of 1,5-million copies ordered online before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
British anti-terror detectives were hunting on Monday for more members of a suspected militant cell who rammed a burning jeep into a Scottish airport and tried to detonate two car bombs in central London. Cars and other vehicles were banned from directly approaching airports and security measures were stepped up across the country.
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has come a long way in the past six years. But even the crew who have filmed him for so long were apprehensive about his first on-screen kiss. ”I shouldn’t be watching this,” said producer David Heyman, describing his thoughts during the kiss scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Britain will not yield to acts of ”evil”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday after three botched attacks in two days in London and Glasgow. On Sunday, police searched several homes near Glasgow International Airport in connection with the suspected terrorist attack on Saturday on its main terminal and Friday’s foiled car-bomb plot in London.
Maria Sharapova was plunged into a Wimbledon rain row on Saturday as torrential downpours meant that just two matches were completed and drenched fans saw only 75 minutes of action. The only other women’s third-round match saw defending champion Amelie Mauresmo dismantle the challenge of Italian Mara Santangelo.
A blazing Cherokee Jeep smashed into the main terminal building at Scotland’s Glasgow airport on Saturday, police said, a day after two car bombings were foiled in central London. Police said two people were arrested in Saturday’s incident. The airport was closed afterwards. There were no reports of any injuries.
Zimbabwe’s exile from Test cricket is set to continue, the International Cricket Council announced on Friday, amid reports of financial corruption that the global governing body said it would investigate. Zimbabwe have been in decline as an international cricket force since a race row in 2005.
Justine Henin and Serena Williams moved closer to another grand-slam quarterfinal, each easily advancing on Friday to the fourth round at Wimbledon. Martina Hingis enjoyed no such luck. The 1997 Wimbledon champion lost to Laura Granville of the United States 6-4, 6-2 on court two, the ”Graveyard of Champions”.
British police hunted on Saturday for the people behind failed attempts to carry out two car bombings in London’s nightclub district in what experts called Iraq-style attacks. Security officials and ministers in the new government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, prepared to hold a second meeting to deal with the emergency.
Police defused a car bomb packed with petrol, gas and nails outside a busy nightclub in the heart of London on Friday, foiling an attack that echoed an earlier al-Qaeda plot and could have killed or wounded scores of people. Possible bomb components were found in a second car hours later, police said on Friday evening.
British police defused a car bomb in central London on Friday and said the device, made up of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, could have caused significant loss of life. The bomb was left in a car parked outside a nightclub in the busy heart of London shortly after 1am local time, when ”hundreds” of people were in the vicinity.