London

Chelsea’s charge towards the Premiership title stuttered on Sunday when Manchester City goalkeeper David James kept out Jose Mourinho’s men in a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge. City are the only side to have beaten Chelsea this season. They won 1-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium in October.

Defending Six Nations champion France needed a late try to beat underdog Scotland 16-9, while a long-range penalty three minutes from the end gave Wales an 11-9 victory over England on Saturday. Winger Shane Williams scored the only try as Wales, which had not beaten England in Cardiff for 12 years, took control.

Postmen will no longer deliver the mail on foot to a residential street in Britain due to fear of being savaged by a growling dog. Over the past few months, the roaming collie has terrorised postmen on Manor Crescent in Swindon, in the south of England, preventing them at times from delivering letters and parcels completely.

The United States unexpectedly poured cold water on Friday over British hopes for a bold Group of Seven initiative to increase aid flows to the world’s poorest countries. Germany, however, said it will propose slapping a Europe-wide tax on airline fuel as a way to finance increased help for the developing world.

The United Kingdom on Friday urged the world’s richest nations to rise to the challenge of creating ”enduring global prosperity” by removing trade barriers and stepping up aid for poorer countries. This was at a conference on the advancement of enterprise ahead of a gathering of finance ministers of leading G7 countries in London.

Nelson Mandela on Thursday compared widespread poverty in developing countries to man-made evils such as slavery and apartheid, and urged wealthy nations to do more to fight it. He was speaking before a crowd of several thousand people at a rally in London on the eve of a meeting by the finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialised nations.

Britain will be seeking approval from the United States for its grand plan to help alleviate poverty in Africa when finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations convene in London on Friday and Saturday.

Tottenham completed their audacious £8-million combined bid for Nottingham Forest’s highly rated duo Andy Reid and Michael Dawson in the closing stages of Monday’s transfer-deadline day after the pair both passed medicals and agreed personal terms.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, hardened by years of heckling, insults and humiliating bad hair days, had an unusual experience on Monday: a member of the public actually kissed him. "He’s got lips like a baby, they’re very soft," said Jean Peterson (42), as if faintly surprised they were not made of solid British steel.

Shoppers at one British supermarket were astonished to find a pony alongside them browsing the shelves, a report said. Customers at a Cardiff branch of Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, were joined by a stray Shetland pony that had escaped its nearby paddock.

Centrebacks Robert Huth and John Terry headed Chelsea into the last 16 of the FA Cup in a 2-0 victory over Birmingham City on Sunday. The German and English internationals scored a goal in each half. In Sunday’s other FA Cup game, Bolton scored a 1-0 victory at League One Oldham.

Premiership leaders Chelsea will cut back on their big spending over the next 18 months after the Londoners announced record losses of £88-million.
Peter Kenyon, the Stamford Bridge chief executive, stressed that Chelsea’s five-year vision has allowed for heavy initial spending but added cut-backs will be required.

Thousands of expatriate Iraqis began casting ballots on Friday in their country’s first free election for more than half a century, with emotions running high despite the relatively limited numbers taking part. ”I’m doing this for my children … it’s the first step in a thousand-mile journey,” a voter in Dubai said.

British police spent £10 000 (R111 000) to catch and prosecute a woman driver for eating an apple while behind the wheel, reports said on Tuesday. Sarah McCaffrey, a 23-year-old nursery nurse, was fined £60 (R660) on Monday and ordered to pay £100 (R1 100) in legal fees.

Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp hopes to end his playing career when Arsenal bid farewell to their historic Highbury home in north London next season. Bergkamp, 36 in May, proved he still has what it takes to succeed in the Premiership when he scored Arsenal’s winner in Sunday’s 1-0 win against Newcastle at Highbury with a sublime finish.

England World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson has said the British and Irish Lions won’t need him on their forthcoming tour of New Zealand. The 34-year-old Leicester lock retired from international rugby union early last year just months after leading England to the 2003 World Cup.

A British man with a sexual fetish for tie-on surgical masks was jailed on Thursday for telephoning hospitals and dental surgeries around the country to ask for supplies to be sent to him. The judge called Norman Hutchins "manipulative and deceptive" and a "menace to anyone involved in medical or dental institutions".

Arsenal reduced the gap behind Premiership leaders Chelsea to 10 points with a 1-0 win against Newcastle at Highbury in London on Sunday thanks to Dennis Bergkamp’s first-half strike. ”The team is back on track,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports afterwards.

Non-league minnows Exeter City bowed out of the FA Cup with their heads held high after making Manchester United sweat right to the end of their third-round replay on Wednesday night. It was not until Wayne Rooney’s 87th-minute strike completed a 2-0 win that the world’s richest club finally guaranteed their place in the fourth round.

For 75 of his 95 years, William Wagstaff rode the same bicycle — until a brush with a car finally made him decide to stop pedalling and donate the bike to a transport museum. Wagstaff, from Croydon in southern England, bought the bicycle for £14 in 1929, the Daily Mirror newspaper said on Wednesday.