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Gay rights campaigners have pressed Manchester United midfielder to apologise after he allegedly made a homophobic comment to the referee during his club’s 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League. The 31-year-old former England international is alleged to have made the remark after receiving a yellow card from referee Frank De Bleeckere in the 10th minute of Tuesday’s clash in Lisbon.

Newcastle assistant manager Kevin Bond became the first casualty from last week’s BBC documentary alleging corruption in English football when he was sacked on Tuesday. The 49-year-old has hinted he intends to sue the BBC but that did not save him from being axed by Newcastle chairperson Freddy Shepherd.

The co-presenter of Britain’s hugely popular <i>Top Gear</i> car show was Friday moved out of intensive care, two days after a high-speed crash during filming for the programme, officials said. Doctors said 36-year-old Richard Hammond’s condition was improving after the accident, which occurred when he was driving a rocket-powered dragster on Wednesday.

A presenter on the BBC’s Top Gear motoring programme was seriously ill in hospital on Thursday after a high-speed crash while filming the show, the broadcaster said. Richard Hammond (36) had been driving a jet-powered car capable of reaching 480kph before the accident in northern England.

African broadcasters have been criticised for not offering their programmes to their neighbours while international networks were told off for misunderstanding African issues. ”It seems, for some of these networks, nothing good happens in this region at all! This is serious to me!” Southern African Development Community (SADC) executive secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomao said.

Marion Jones, who was recently cleared of using banned blood-booster EPO, will never be able to repair her image and should retire from athletics, track legend Michael Johnson said on Tuesday. In a column for the London-based Daily Telegraph, Johnson said Jones would be forever blighted by ”a plethora of circumstantial evidence” surrounding alleged doping.

Michael Owen has revealed that the operation on his knee will not bring an end to his career. Owen, who had the cruciate-ligament operation performed earlier this month in the United States, told The Times newspaper how he was given the good news as soon as he came round at the clinic in Denver.

Former England captain David Beckham said on Monday there was a possibility he may never play for his country again. The high-profile Real Madrid midfielder, who had a poor World Cup earlier this summer and then decided to give up the captain’s armband, added he would be trying to get back into the reckoning.

It’s a jungle out there: the number of sightings of non-indigenous, exotic animals in Britain has sky-rocketed in the last six years, according to a study released on Monday. More than 10 000 sightings of everything from wallabies to dangerous spiders, crocodiles and even a penguin have been recorded since 2000, with the rise attributed to climate change, zoo thefts and animal escapes.

No one is safe from the ever curious Mr Morello who needs British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Arsenal Football Club and The School of Taxidermy to explain to him the mysteries of British life. Armed with an endless list of quandaries to resolve, the bewildered Italian immigrant living in a London suburb badgers The Chief Druid, The Guild of Professional English Butlers and The Old English Goat Society.

Residents in government-funded housing in Bristol, western England, are up in arms over a decision by their local city council to ban doormats because they pose a "tripping hazard" for anyone escaping a fire, <i>The Guardian</i> reported on Thursday.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has acknowledged ”ups and downs” in his relationship with Prime Minister Tony Blair but says their friendship is strong and always will be. In an interview with Sky television broadcast on Thursday, Brown said Blair had led the country with ”a tremendous amount of ability, skill, acumen and sensitivity”.

Springbok scrumhalf Neil de Kock has joined Saracens from South African side Western Province, the English Premiership club announced on Wednesday. Saracens’ director of rugby Alan Gaffney says the 28-year-old, capped 10 times for his country, was someone they had been tracking for some time.

Children who had not been breastfed were more at risk during the diarrhoea outbreak of November 2005/February 2006 after major flooding in Botswana, says the United Kingdom-based National Aids Map organisation. In its September HIV and Aids treatment in practice newsletter, it said 470 children who were under five years old died in the 12 health districts of Botswana surveyed.

Jose Mourinho embraced controversy once again after his Chelsea side’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Werder Bremen on Tuesday, suggesting that there was more to the four bookings his side collected than simply a referee keen to crack down on technical offences.

Andrew Flintoff will lead England’s Ashes defence in Australia later this year after being named as captain when the 16-man squad was announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday. The all-rounder was given the nod ahead of opening batsman Andrew Strauss, who has captained the side in the absence of the injured Flintoff.

England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson could miss the autumn international Tests after being told he will be sidelined for up to eight weeks with a torn medial ligament in his right knee. Wilkinson has suffered a catalogue of injuries since the 2003 World Cup when he kicked the championship-winning drop goal that beat hosts Australia.