The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid back below the 11 000 mark in early trading on Tuesday after falling nearly 200 points on Monday, as Ben Bernanke’s baptism of fire as chairperson of the United States Federal Reserve prompted a fresh bout of jitters on Wall Street.
Spain is about to take the world into uncharted legal territory. Later this month, a resolution is going before Parliament that, if passed as expected, will give a set of rights to chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. These great apes will then be regarded in Spanish law as ”legal persons”.
Global stock markets advanced on Friday as bargain hunters snapped up shares after a turbulent week of sharp losses, the result of concerns about rising inflation and interest rates. European stock markets recovered some ground on Friday, following Thursday’s massive sell-off, and after a steadier overnight performance on Wall Street.
The Church of England said on Wednesday it had proved a hit with football fans seeking divine intervention to help England win the World Cup after putting a prayer for the team on its website. The church said it had scored more than 4 000 hits on the prayers section of its wbsite after posting the prayer last month for the likes of England captain David Beckham and his teammates.
The Times newspaper, aiming to increase its online audience by supplying video news clips, said on Tuesday it planned to launch an internet television service this week. Third-party providers will initially provide news clips for the new service, Times TV, which plans in the longer term to encourage its readers to contribute newsworthy videos, the British daily said.
About 200 hooligans ordered to hand over their passports by May 30 have failed to do so, the British Home Office announced on Monday. The order was given to stop known troublemakers heading to Germany for the World Cup but several have ignored the order.
The diamond industry has promised much but done little to end the illegal trade in so-called blood diamonds, which fund wars in Africa, the British non-governmental organisation Global Witness said on Monday. Elements of the diamond industry ”continue to trade in conflict and illicit diamonds, while the rest of the industry turns a blind eye,” it said.
London’s emergency services responded poorly to the July 7 suicide bombings by relying on outdated communications, lacking medical supplies and failing to track thousands of survivors, an official report said on Monday. The London Assembly’s July 7 review committee said that the most striking failure was the lack of planning to care for thousands of survivors.
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It was D-day for England’s World Cup squad on Monday as they prepared to set off for Germany on a mission that they hope will end with skipper David Beckham raising high the trophy in Berlin on July 9. Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men will have one final training session on home soil before they fly to their base camp in the Black Forest resort of Baden-Baden.
Chelsea signed teenage Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo on Friday, although most of the reported £16-million transfer fee will go to Manchester United. The Blues and United have been in a long legal battle over the future of the 19-year-old star.
A group of eight Westerners — six British, one American and one Canadian — were kidnapped on Friday while working on an offshore oil rig in Nigeria, the platform’s owners said. A group of people climbed on board the Bulford Dolphin facility off Nigeria’s southern coast at about 4am local time and seized the employees.
European stocks rose on Friday, recovering part of recent losses as investors seized on news that the New York Stock Exchange Group was to acquire the pan-European stock market Euronext. The $10-billion (€7,8-billion) cash and stock deal, announced overnight in New York, will create the first trans-Atlantic securities market.
Botswana’s Kalahari Bushmen are seeking the support of Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie in their fight to reclaim their ancestral lands, a London-based organisation supporting them said on Thursday. Jolie — a United Nations Children’s Fund ambassador — is currently in neighbouring Namibia.
The debut album by Oasis, the band that best spread the Britpop craze of the 1990s, has been voted the greatest album of all time in a major music poll published on Thursday. <i>Definitely Maybe</i> beat <i>Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band</i> by the much-loved Beatles into second place.
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England striker Peter Crouch says he wants to be more than a super-sub at the World Cup and is desperate to force his way into Sven-Goran Eriksson’s plans. The towering Liverpool forward appeared as a goal-scoring substitute during Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Hungary, but admitted he was disappointed to be left out of the starting XI in the absence of Wayne Rooney.
He looked a bit like an unoiled crane trying to manoeuvre in high winds, but Peter Crouch’s unusual goal celebration in England’s World Cup warm-up game has apparently sparked a dance craze. The 2,04m Liverpool striker embarked on the jerky blend of body-popping, robotic dancing and moonwalking after scoring England’s second in the 3-1 win against Hungary on Tuesday.
The father of Princess Diana’s dead lover welcomed the news on Wednesday that fresh witnesses and evidence have been found as part of a probe into the car crash that killed the couple in Paris in 1997. Mohammed al-Fayed also said he hoped Sir John Stevens, a former top police officer who is leading the investigation, would continue his work until he found "the truth".
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said on Wednesday she was optimistic that a European Union country would offer to jail her predecessor if he is convicted of war crimes. Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is awaiting trial before a United Nations-backed war-crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone.
Desmond Dekker, who brought the sound of Jamaican ska music to the world with hits such as Israelites, has died, his manager said on Friday. He was 64. Dekker, who lived in England, collapsed from an apparent heart attack at his home on Thursday, manager Delroy Williams said.
A British lawmaker renowned for his firebrand rhetoric drew a storm of criticism on Friday by saying a suicide bomber would be ”morally justified” in killing Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Iraq war. George Galloway was asked in a magazine interview if he thought such an attack was justifiable provided there were no other casualties.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on the United Nations on Friday to intervene in his homeland’s political and economic crises. The Zimbabwean government has rejected UN involvement, saying Secretary General Kofi Annan need not make a long-planned visit.
Killing British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a suicide bombing would be morally justified as revenge for the war in Iraq, firebrand lawmaker George Galloway has said. In a magazine interview that was widely reported on Friday, the MP for the anti-war party, Respect, was asked if it would be justifiable for a suicide bomber to blow up Blair, provided there were no other casualties.
A cat stowed away in a crate of crockery on a container ship and travelled 9 600km from China to Britain, living on cardboard and condensation, a newspaper said on Friday. Nicknamed Chairman Miaow, the white tabby cat crawled into the crate before it was loaded onto the container ship bound for Britain, the Daily Telegraph said.
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Wayne Rooney will travel with England to the World Cup despite being told that he will be unable to resume full training before June 14 at the earliest, four days after his country’s opening match. A scan on the Manchester United forward’s broken foot confirmed the initial prognosis that he would need about six weeks to recover.
Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper The Times announced on Friday it will launch a United States edition next month as part of a push to make the paper an international brand. The US edition will go on sale on 6 June via subscription and at more than 2 000 retail outlets across New York and New Jersey.
A sex theme park designed to enhance its visitors’ lovemaking skills will open in the heart of London within months, the academy’s director announced on Wednesday. "Amora: The Academy of Sex and Relationships" is hoping to seduce up to 600 000 visitors through the doors in its first year.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to a scientist, a philosopher and a chicken farmer, it was the egg, British newspapers reported on Friday. he key to the age-old question apparently lies in the fact that genetic material does not change throughout an animal’s life.
Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer was arrested after a woman complained that he had indecently exposed himself, Press Association, citing police sources, said on Thursday. Dyer (27) had been released on police bail without charge pending further investigation, sources said.
Robert Pires is leaving Champions League finalists Arsenal for a two-year deal with Spanish side Villarreal, the French winger confirmed on Thursday. ”After six wonderful years at Arsenal, full of fantastic moments, I have decided to accept a new challenge at Villarreal for the next two years of my career,” the 32-year-old said on the English Premiership side’s website.
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David Beckham is no longer England’s main man. The 31-year-old midfielder — known as much for his glamorous lifestyle, fashion sense and tattoos as for his bending free kicks — has been eclipsed as England’s key player. Wayne Rooney, still recovering from a broken foot, is the player England’s opponents fear most.
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If the soccer gets boring at the World Cup, watch out for the secret signals between the match officials running the game. Over the years referees have developed discreet ways of passing or receiving messages, often involving the assistants helping out the man in the middle when he or she may not have seen an incident.
World powers gathered in London on Wednesday to try to break a deadlock over how to stop Iran enriching uranium, as Tehran again warned against military intervention. Senior officials from the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and China will discuss a European proposal at the closed-door talks.