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The United Nations holds the key to solving an economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe, President Thabo Mbeki told a British newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday. South Africa’s leader threw his weight behind a planned visit to Zimbabwe by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The African Union on Tuesday suggested that United Nations peacekeeping troops should be sent to Sudan’s Darfur region within two months to bolster a peace accord and prevent the humanitarian crisis from worsening. AU commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare said the accord sealed in Abuja, Nigeria ”will be credible if we can ensure the commitment becomes a reality”.

At least 2 148 people were executed in 2005 despite the majority of the world’s countries having abolished the death penalty in law or in practice, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Among those put to death were children and people with mental disabilities.

English clubs are threatening to scuttle England’s new rugby Test with the All Blacks in November because they say they’re not obliged to make their players available. England’s Rugby Football Union confirmed the November 5 Test on Monday along with live TV and ticket packages to help christen the new £100-million (-million) South Stand at Twickenham.

Africa saw a reduction in conflicts last year but gross human rights violations including killings and rape continued in volatile areas, Amnesty International said its annual report. ”The signing of several peace agreements in 2005 resulted in a decline in armed conflict across the region,” the London-based body’s 2006 International Report said.

France, Italy and Germany — but not Britain — have paid ransoms totalling -million for the freedom of nine hostages abducted in Iraq, The Times of London claimed on Monday. The claims were immediately rejected by the three governments listed by The Times as having ”bought” the release of hostages over the past two years.

Wayne Rooney’s hopes of being fit in time to play in the World Cup finals have been raised after the England team doctor claimed the forward was making a ”perfect recovery” from a broken metatarsal bone in his right foot. England medic Leif Sward told The Sun newspaper that Rooney’s fracture was healing quickly.

An immigration officer has been suspended following allegations that he offered to help a teenage Zimbabwean claim asylum in Britain in return for sex, The Observer newspaper said on Sunday. The middle-aged man offered to coach the 18-year-old rape victim on how to get through her asylum interview.

American business tycoon Malcolm Glazer, owner of English Premiership giants Manchester United, is back in hospital after suffering a second stroke. The 77-year-old Glazer was only released from the Cleveland Clinic in Florida on April 23 after suffering the initial attack.

The French were voted the world’s most unfriendly nation by a landslide in a British poll published on Saturday. They were also voted the most boring and most ungenerous. A decisive 46% of the 6 000 people surveyed by travellers’ website Where Are You Now said the French were the most unfriendly nation people on the planet, British newspapers reported.

Arsene Wenger hailed Thierry Henry’s decision to stay at Arsenal as more significant for the club’s future than winning the Champions League would have been. Henry signed a new four-year deal at the north London club two days after the Gunners went down 2-1 to Barcelona in the Champions League final.

Thierry Henry has decided to stay at Arsenal and is expected to sign a new four-year contract with the north London football club on Friday, Britain’s Sun newspaper said. ”I hope to stay as long as I can keep running,” the tabloid quoted the club’s 28-year-old captain as saying.

Harry Potter’s stolen flying car has been found after mysteriously disappearing from a film set, British newspapers reported on Friday. The pale blue 1962 Ford Anglia, driven through the air by the boy wizard and sidekick Ron Weasley in the hugely successful Harry Potter films, was in storage on a film set in Cornwall, south-east England, when it was stolen last October.

Sanath Jayasuriya has seen his chances of a Test recall dented after he was omitted from Sri Lanka’s four-day game against English county Sussex starting on Thursday. The 36-year-old former Sri Lanka captain has made himself available for selection just six weeks after he announced he was quitting Test cricket.

Whoever George Green is, he now has a good excuse for standing up Gwen at Monty’s — 56 years ago. That’s how long it took her handwritten letter to George to reach Trinity College in Cambridge, eastern England, where it arrived the other day, postmarked in London on March 3 1950.

A musical mystery surrounded Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, on Wednesday after a piano was discovered near its 1 347m summit. The piano was recovered at the weekend by 15 volunteers from the John Muir Trust, a conservation charity that owns the Scottish peak.

A young mother from Nigeria who went to court to get a heart transplant in Britain despite overstaying her visa has died, the Department of Health said on Thursday. Ese Elizabeth Alabi (29), had been denied top priority for a transplant on the free-care-for-all National Health Service allegedly because of tough new rules to discourage ”health tourism”.

The world’s first "theme park" dedicated to sex and relationships is set to open in London’s bustling West End later this summer, its promoters said on Thursday. Amora: The Academy of Sex and Relationships, featuring "high-tech and interactive exhibits together with new media displays," expects up to 600 000 visitors within its first year in the Trocadero Centre at Piccadilly Circus.

Tests have cleared a London hotel restaurant, which Tottenham blamed for a suspected outbreak of food poisoning that affected 10 of its players before a crucial defeat. Health officials said on Tuesday that a virus was the likely cause of the illness that occurred on the eve of Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to West Ham on May 7, the final day of the Premier League season.

A man interviewed live on BBC television after being mistakenly identified as an IT expert spoke on Tuesday about the glitch, which happened when he went to the broadcaster for a job interview. Guy Goma was mistaken for IT expert Guy Kewney at the BBC’s west London offices last week and found himself in a BBC News 24 studio being quizzed on a legal battle.

An unexploded World War II bomb brought travel chaos to the River Mersey on Tuesday, leaving almost 250 ferry passengers and crew stranded as navy divers rushed to disarm it, the coastguard said. Traffic was moving through the tunnel, said Craig Sim, watch assistant at Liverpool Coastguard in north-west England.

Germany captain Michael Ballack has signed a three-year deal to play for English champions Chelsea, the club announced on Monday. Ballack, who has signed on a free transfer from Bayern Munich, was set to be unveiled at a Stamford Bridge press conference. The 29-year-old midfielder’s arrival had been confirmed by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho on Sunday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi blamed the opposition and the international community for a political crisis that has seen scores killed and jailed since elections a year ago. Meles, in an interview with British newspaper The Times published on Monday, said the opposition was encouraged by mixed signals from the international community.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson admitted on Sunday that his shock decision to take rookie Theo Walcott to the World Cup surprised his coaching staff so much that they were left speechless. The Swede opted for the 17-year-old Walcott, who has yet to make his debut for Arsenal, above proven talents such as Jermain Defoe, Darren Bent and Shaun Wright-Phillips.