Revellers in a British town are to have their fingerprints scanned when they enter pubs and clubs in a scheme launched on Friday aimed at weeding out drunken troublemakers, police said. Biometric finger-scanning machines have been installed at six venues in Yeovil, south-west England.
Middlesbrough and Sevilla reached their first Uefa Cup final on Thursday. English club Middlesbrough staged a remarkable comeback at their Riverside Stadium to beat Steaua Bucharest 4-2 and advance 4-3 on aggregate. In Spain, Sevilla needed an extra-time goal from Antonio Puerta to beat 1997 champion Schalke 1-0 on aggregate.
Britain’s top oil man, John Browne, warned on Tuesday that fear was driving the price of crude to artificially high levels, with untold consequences for the global economy. The BP chief executive said turbulence in Iran, Iraq and Nigeria was leading to continual speculation about oil shortages and there were ”all sorts of things that suggest it is getting worse”.
Terrorist bombs in sun-kissed holiday resorts have become a grimly familiar phenomenon of the post-9/11 years, but Egypt, hit for the third time in this bloody period, has had more than its share. Monday’s death toll at Dahab, an old oasis on the lovely Red Sea coast, was at least 24, with further fatalities likely among about 60 injured.
Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate on Wednesday accused the BBC of using taxpayers’ money to build a ”digital empire” that would compete with commercial rivals. The BBC has announced plans to relaunch its website to incorporate more user-generated content such as blogs and video.
A massive language-research database responsible for bringing words such as ”podcast” and ”celebutante” to the pages of the Oxford dictionaries has officially hit a total of one billion words, researchers at Oxford University Press said on Wednesday. The press publishes the Oxford English Dictionary.
Former England manager Graham Taylor on Wednesday blasted the Football Association’s search for the next national team boss as ”pathetic”. Taylor, who managed England from 1990 to 1994, believes the search for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s replacement, which began three months ago, has not been directed in a very professional manner.
The number of international refugees has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, but civil wars have led to a big rise in those forced to flee their homes while staying within the boundaries of their country, according to the United Nations.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a keen Newcastle United fan, paid tribute on Monday to club-legend Alan Shearer, who retired a few weeks earlier than planned owing to a knee injury. ”I should say for purposes of the record that I think he’s been a fantastic servant for Newcastle United and is a great player and a great man,” Blair said at his monthly press conference in London.
United Kingdom’s public finances chalked up the worst deficit in 12 years during the 2005/2006 fiscal year, official data showed on Monday, dealing a blow to Finance Minister Gordon Brown’s forecasts. Economists said that the worsening state of the public purse pointed towards likely tax hikes or public-spending cuts in the near future.
Thierry Henry came on as a substitute on Saturday and scored in the 84th minute to earn Arsenal a 1-1 draw with Tottenham in the last game at Highbury between the north London rivals. In the other key game on Saturday, Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the semifinals of the FA Cup at Old Trafford.
The radio interview I recorded with Dame Muriel Spark at her Tuscan home two years ago almost never made it on to tape because a dog outside could not be silenced. We waited for the preferred BBC background quiet during what seemed like an hour of growling, but were forced to proceed with the hound […]
The fresh fragrance released by trees in northern pine forests is a significant component in slowing climate change, according to research. The particles that carry the forests’ olfactory assault also help to cool the planet by bouncing energy from the sun back into space.
A glimpse of an alluring woman is all it takes to ruin a man’s decision-making skills and the more testosterone coursing through his veins, the worse the problem gets, researchers claimed on Wednesday. The finding is unwelcome confirmation that those most likely to be in a position of power are most susceptible to the subtle influences of the opposite sex.
World oil prices reached new peaks on Thursday, above in London and in New York owing to low stocks of gasoline in the United States and tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery struck a record high of ,22 per barrel. New York’s benchmark contract for light sweet crude for May delivery hit an all-time peak of ,49.
China carried out 80% of the world’s 2Â 148 known executions last year, while Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States accounted for most of the rest, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The London-based human rights group said in a statement that these countries bucked a steady two-decade trend towards the abolition of the death penalty.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he had been left frustrated by his side’s failure to secure more than a one goal lead to take to Spain for next week’s Champions League semifinal second leg against Villarreal. A close-range strike from centreback Kolo Toure, four minutes before half-time, was all the Gunners had to show for their near total domination of the match.
Michael Jackson has returned to the studio and plans to release a new album next year, a Bahrain-based record label said. The label, 2 Seas Records, which is owned by Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad al Khalifa, son of Bahrain’s king, said on Tuesday that it had signed an exclusive recording agreement with the beleaguered king of pop.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a strongly-worded attack on Wednesday on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, calling his regime a ”disgrace” that had brought the country to its knees. ”What the regime is doing in Zimbabwe is a disgrace,” Blair told Parliament in his weekly question-and-answer session.
Chelsea may need just a point to retain their Premiership title when Manchester United arrive at Stamford Bridge a week on Saturday but that won’t stop the second-placed visitors from going all out to erase a bitter recent memory. United, on the instruction of manager Alex Ferguson, formed a guard of honour to applaud the newly-crowned champions on to the Old Trafford pitch last season.
The price of shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) struck an historic peak on Tuesday, amid the prospect of a possible merger between the LSE and the New York Stock Exchange. The share price in Europe’s biggest exchange hit a record high of 1 252,5 pence in London trading, giving the LSE a market value of £3,2-billion.
Manchester United are fired up for one last do-or-die bid to wrest the English Premiership title from Chelsea when they go to the leaders’ Stamford Bridge ground on April 29. If Chelsea earn at least a draw, they will retain their Premiership crown — delivering a particular slap in the face to United by lifting the trophy in front of them.
A drunk man drowned on Monday after jumping off the dockside into the river Ouse in northern England to rescue his girlfriend’s shoes, the coastguard said. The 21-year-old, whose identity has not been released, dived into the water at Goole, East Yorkshire, at about 1am after he and his girlfriend had spent a night out drinking heavily.
Jose Mourinho admitted that Chelsea are ”almost there” in their quest for consecutive Premiership titles after they defeated Everton 3-0 on Monday. The Blues now need to avoid defeat in just one of their last three league matches to keep the championship trophy in the Stamford Bridge cabinet.
One of Britain’s leading fee-paying schools is to offer classes on happiness to combat the malaise in society caused by materialism and celebrity obsession, its head teacher announced on Monday. "We are introducing classes on happiness," said Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, in Crowthorne, Berkshire, west of London.
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti says he knows everything about FC Barcelona, his team’s opponent in the semifinals of the Champions League. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is just happy to be playing Villarreal this late in the tournament. Six-time champion Milan hosts 1992 winner Barcelona in the first leg of the semifinals on Tuesday, and Arsenal hosts Villarreal on Wednesday.
She lives in splendid palaces with servants forever at her beck and call, and meets thousands of people every year, but in her private life, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II leads a reclusive, solitary, sometimes ordinary life. During a regular day at Buckingham Palace, her official London residence, Queen Elizabeth is woken at 7.30am by a chambermaid who brings in her tea tray.
Britons, Europe’s biggest chocoholics, were set to have a cracking good time over Easter by splashing out on about 80-million Easter eggs, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said on Good Friday. A total of £520-million (-million) was to be spent on chocolate over the four-day weekend as the BRC forecast that Britons were set to blow £2,8-billion in total on food and drink.
A fetus lies scrunched inside a jar near the dissected corpse of a woman and an array of human organs. All are from China and all feature in an exhibition that is causing a stir in London. The organisers of <i>Bodies … The Exhibition</i> say the use of real specimens provides a unique opportunity for people to learn more about the human anatomy.
A schoolbook containing some of music legend John Lennon’s earliest thoughts, drawings and poems could be sold for £100 000 when it is auctioned later this month. The 10-page red exercise book, entitled My Anthology, dates back to when the ex-Beatle was just 12-years-old and includes an illustration of a walrus, from Lewis Carroll’s poem The Walrus and the Carpenter.
Premiership players’ salaries have reached an all-time high after jumping by 65% since 2000, a new survey released on Tuesday revealed. The average top-flight player now earns £676 000 basic pay, a rise from the approximate £410 000 which clubs paid their stars six years ago.
England captain David Beckham would like to end his career playing Major League Soccer in the United States, a British Broadcasting Corporation report said on Tuesday. The Real Madrid midfielder, who still has one year to run on his contract in Spain, said he was attracted by the country’s passion for sport.