The price of Brent North Sea crude oil reached a new record high of ,25 per barrel in trading in London on Thursday amid concerns of a supply crunch, despite the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’s move to hike output. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, hit a record ,70 in electronic deals on Thursday.
World oil prices fell on Wednesday with Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) ministers meeting in Iran under pressure from cartel kingpin Saudi Arabia to raise their crude production quotas owing to strong demand for global energy. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude, for delivery in April, fell to ,45 a barrel in electronic deals.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says he may sue a top European soccer official who called him ”an enemy of football”. Volker Roth, chairperson of Uefa’s referees’ committee, blamed Mourinho for the resignation of referee Anders Frisk. Frisk stepped down on Saturday, saying he had received death threats that were triggered by remarks Mourinho made.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called on Monday for Western countries to make good on promises of debt relief to poor nations, saying failing to do so would destroy their credibility. Poor countries, especially in Africa, have long complained that repaying massive debts is draining away funds that could be spent on better roads and schools.
Preliminary reports suggest that Jonny Wilkinson’s knee injury is not as bad as first thought, his club, Newcastle, said on Monday in a statement. Wilkinson was carried from the field just 34 minutes into his comeback match for Newcastle against Premiership opponents Harlequins on Sunday.
David Beckham is preparing for life after soccer. Following this season, he has two years remaining on his contract with Real Madrid. He arrived at the club 20 months ago, and he’s won nothing. He’ll turn 30 in May, and he knows Madrid fans are demanding and impatient.
Britain named the country’s first black Cabinet minister as its next ambassador to South Africa on Monday. Paul Boateng, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will quit the government after the next national election to take up the diplomatic post in Pretoria, the Treasury said in a statement.
For North Carolina-based football fan Chris Barrett, the trip to the United Kingdom to watch his favourite team in action was a long-cherished dream, after years of saving money. If only the match had not been cancelled. Barrett, a 36-year-old United States schoolteacher, was putting a brave face on the disappointment on Saturday.
Unrelenting United States pressure on Cuba, set to ratchet up again at next week’s United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, is testing relations between the Bush administration and a new generation of centre-left Latin American leaders. As it has done each year since the early 1990s, the US will urge the commission to adopt a resolution condemning Cuba’s human rights record.
In an experiment designed to test out one of the oldest arguments in the battle of the sexes, a British village is to be temporarily stripped of its womenfolk to see if the remaining men are able to cope. The stunt will be carried out in Harby, a tiny community in northern England, and filmed for a BBC reality television series called <i>The Week the Women Went</i>.
In a feat that put human sword swallowers to shame, a British dog managed to gulp down a stick only 5cm shorter than its own body, and escape unscathed, a report said on Thursday. Millie, a two-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, swallowed the stick by accident while on a walk with her owner in fields behind his home.
A superb Thierry Henry goal was not enough to spare Arsenal from another year of underachievement in Europe on Wednesday as Bayern Munich held out to squeeze into the Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate. Henry’s opportunist strike midway through the second half earned the Gunners a 1-0 win on the night.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s commission on Africa has come up with a road map to recovery for the continent, but countries must now cooperate and focus on priorities if the project is to succeed, the only American member of the task force said.
Jose Mourinho has admitted that he enjoyed Chelsea’s stomach-churning triumph over Barcelona on Tuesday even more than watching his former club FC Porto triumph in last season’s Champions League final. The acrimony that marred the first-leg encounter between the two sides failed to prevent them from delivering an epic encounter.
With Arsenal about to say farewell to their Premier League title, French striker Thierry Henry has a moody demeanour these days, even when he’s stroking the ball into the net. Instead of waving his arms and grinning from ear to ear, Henry tends to jog quietly away, take the applause of the crowd and teammates and go to say thanks to the player who provided the pass.
The chilly waters off northeastern England are rarely that inviting for bathers, but at least those who do venture in for a dip have been able to do so in the knowledge they are safe from sharks. Until now, that is. British maritime agencies have warned surfers and divers thinking of braving the North Sea to be on the alert for a shortfin mako shark.
As Prince Charles prepares for his second marriage, the glamour, tragedy and soap opera of his first are bursting back into life — in dance. <i>Diana the Princess</i>, a ballet by Danish choreographer Peter Schaufuss, opened on Tuesday at Manchester’s Palace Theatre, more than 300km from Buckingham Palace. But it has already created a buzz among royal-watchers.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney are reportedly being investigated by the Football Association (FA) for their behaviour during Manchester United’s goalless draw at Crystal Palace. It has emerged the FA will also scrutinise Rooney’s conduct after the final whistle, when he had to be restrained during a confrontation with referee Mark Clattenburg.
The sons of famous men often struggle to make their mark. And Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, is struggling more than most as he contemplates the loss of Lebanon and his country’s increasing international isolation. While his father dominated Lebanon after first intervening in 1976 with United States connivance, Syria’s 14 000 troops and security forces now face a humiliating retreat under popular fire.
Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming a ”narcotic state” with its biggest annual crop of opium since the overthrow of the Taliban, the United Nations drug control board warned last week. The increase is a blow to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said in 2000 that the war against the Taliban was an opportunity to eradicate the poppy harvest, which is the source of three-quarters of all the world’s heroin.
It seems incredible that a government with a majority of 161, in its eighth year of office, and facing the disciplines of an imminent election, can simultaneously provoke one of the largest House of Commons revolts of its period in office and inflame MPs of all parties by procedural incompetence. Yet this is the double whammy that Labour inflicted on itself in a torrid five hours last week.
The southern hemisphere comfortably defeated the northern hemisphere 54-19 in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Rugby Aid tsunami fundraiser at Twickenham on Saturday. The south outscored their opponents eight tries to three with New Zealand fly-half Andrew Mehrtens landing all six of his conversion attempts.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will next week demand a radical shake-up of the west’s approach to the world’s poorest continent when his year-long Africa Commission calls for a doubling of aid, the dismantling of trade barriers, the writing off of debts and immediate action to stamp out corruption.
A practical joker scared Welsh pub-goers by placing a 60cm snake in the coin-return slot of a jukebox, it was reported on Friday. Fourteen-year-old publican’s daughter Stacey Caldwell got the fright of her life when she found a boa constrictor coiled up in the coin-return slot in the pub in Cym, South Wales.
The Cursing Stone of Carlisle was intended simply as an innocent community art project, harking back to the British city’s colourful past. But following floods, disease and a string of other local misfortunes, town elders are considering whether the £10 000 (R110 000) art work should be removed and destroyed, a report said on Wednesday.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his understrength side’s gutsy penalty win over Sheffield United in the FA Cup on Tuesday proves the Gunners can yet salvage something from the season. Arsenal are as good as out of the running for the Premiership, trailing Chelsea by 10 points.
Charity singles improve the world in many ways — but not when they’re pure torture to listen to, writes John Harris in London.
The groundbreaking — and deadly — Poison Garden threw open its doors on Monday in north-east England with a collection of cannabis plants, opium poppies and the coca plant that is the source of cocaine. Mind-bending magic mushrooms, poisonous foxgloves and deadly nightshades are also among the plants cultivated in the garden.
It might be their troubled consciences, or perhaps just the anti-social hours of their job, but politicians are among the most sleep-deprived people in Britain, a study showed on Tuesday. MPs catch on average only five hours of shut-eye per night, a level that might well affect their ability to make rational decisions, the survey found.
The United Kingdom’s top law-and-order official said on Tuesday he believes controversial proposals for a new anti-terrorism law will win the approval of Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords. The Prevention of Terrorism Bill will allow Britain to place suspects under house arrest without the need for a trial.
Premiership champions Arsenal suffered a serious blow on the eve of their fifth-round FA Cup replay with Championship outfit Sheffield United with the news that leading striker Thierry Henry had been ruled out with an Achilles injury. Dennis Bergkamp, Jose-Antonio Reyes and Robin van Persie are all suspended for the clash.
Britain is offering up to 30 training places at some of its most famous museums to help young South African curators hone their skills, British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced on Monday. The R3,3-million scheme — which will run for three years, is being paid for by the British government under a partnership with the South African Department of Arts and Culture.