London

Kevin Pietersen has admitted he thought Shane Warne was an ”arrogant Australian idiot of a cricketer” after the pair clashed during the first Brisbane Test of the ongoing Ashes series. Last month at the Gabba, Warne almost hit Pietersen when throwing the ball to Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.

A feisty great-grandmother held four builders hostage after they told her improvement work on her home would not be finished by Christmas, several British newspapers reported on Saturday. Josie Medlock snapped when she was told the modernisation of her home would not be completed until the new year.

Britain is set to witness a rise in crime rates and a big jump in the prison population, according to a confidential Downing Street memo leaked to he Sunday Times newspaper. The document, drawn up by Prime Minister Tony Blair’s strategy unit, warned that a slowdown in economic growth was set to trigger a rise in crime rates for the first time in 12 years.

British Airways (BA) cancelled several flights from London’s Heathrow airport on Saturday, but hoped to operate all domestic flights to and from the airport later in the day. BA said it hoped to operate 95% of its Heathrow services on Saturday, with a full service on Sunday. Meanwhile, air-travel chaos also struck travellers in Brazil and India.

A man is due to appear in court on Friday charged with murdering five prostitutes in eastern England in less than two months, in a case that has gripped Britain. Steven Wright is accused of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations round the town of Ipswich.

Thousands of passengers were stranded on Thursday as heavy fog in southern England grounded hundreds of flights during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. About 500 people spent the night at London’s Heathrow airport after British Airways cancelled all domestic and some European flights to and from the airport due to poor visibility.

England attack coach Brian Ashton was named as head coach on Wednesday following the resignation of Andy Robinson last month. In a statement, the Rugby Football Union said Ashton (60) would take charge of the world champions for their opening Six Nations match against Scotland at Twickenham on February 3.

Benni McCarthy has praised Uefa for dishing out a five-match ban to Wisla Krakow’s Nikola Mijailovic, the Serbian defender who was found guilty of racially abusing him during a Uefa Cup match in October. ”I was pleased with the way the situation was handled,” Blackburn’s South African forward said.

A ”Perthetic” performance by England in the third Test of the Ashes, thereby conceding the historic urn to Australia, was blasted in the British press on Tuesday, most of which called for the resignation of coach Duncan Fletcher. England, set a near-impossible 557 to win, seemed as if they might make a battle of it on the final day before yet another collapse at the crease.

Ernie Els moved up to fifth from eighth in the world rankings issued on Monday after his three-shot victory in the South African Airways Open on Sunday. Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee survived a double-bogey finish to win the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia on Sunday. The win lifts him 28 places to 75th.

Cases of drug resistant tuberculosis are higher than previously estimated and three nations — China, India and Russia — account for more than half of all cases worldwide. Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis are strains of the disease that are resistant to at least two of the most important first-line drugs.

Sudan should have until the end of the year to agree to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur or face sanctions and other punitive measures, 15 former foreign ministers said in comments published on Monday. The international community had to convince Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that his best interests would be served by allowing the African Union peacekeeping force to be strengthened.

Tickets for a pop concert in London to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death sold out in minutes on Wednesday, organisers said. Meanwhile, a long-awaited British police report, due on Thursday, is expected to divulge new details surrounding the car crash that killed Diana.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday condemned dismissals of the Holocaust by ”revisionist” historians at a conference being staged in Iran as ”shocking beyond belief”. ”I think it is such a symbol of sectarianism and hatred towards people of another religion, I find it just unbelievable,” he said.