The Tongan side stayed competitive throughout the match
The quantity of rubbish in the sea is driving a growing alarm among countries whose economies rely on tourism
The structural risks of the buildings and others like them were widely known, but that city officials did little when alerted about them
The organised fights of Russia’s violent football superfans are facing a clampdown by the president ahead of the World Cup
As the European capital of culture, Marseille is shaking off its seedy image.
The city’s modern food scene is one of the most exciting in France.
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A new museum in France reflects Mediterranean civilisation and culture.
SA and Lesotho are hoping to attract funding for their infrastructure plans when they show off their giant water project in France this week.
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/ 16 November 2007
An art lover who kissed a -million painting, leaving red lipstick smears on the canvas, was fined by a French court on Friday and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community work. Rindy Sam told the court that she was ”overcome with passion” when she saw the painting by United States artist Cy Twombly.
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/ 11 October 2007
A self-professed art lover stood trial this week accused of damaging a $2-million painting by kissing it while wearing red lipstick. The deputy prosecutor in Avignon accused the defendant on Tuesday, Sam Rindy, of "savagery" for having left a lipstick smear on the work by United States artist Cy Twombly.
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South Africa progressed to the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Sunday by eking out a hard-fought 37-20 victory over Fiji in a brutal but enthralling game in which no quarter was given. Some monumental hits were exchanged between two immensely physical sides.
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Defending champions England again proved Australia’s nemesis, dumping the match favourites out of the Rugby World Cup with a high-pressured 12-10 quarterfinal victory at Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on Saturday. England, who downed the Wallabies in the 2003 final in extra-time and in the 1995 quarterfinal, both with drop goals, handled the high stakes better.
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There’s no disguising this one. South Africa against Fiji should be a mismatch of a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal. Fiji would have to produce the perfect game to upset South Africa and advance to the semifinals. So that’s what coach Ilie Tabua is asking his squad to do. Fiji qualified for their first World Cup quarterfinal since the inaugural edition in 1987 with a 38-34 upset over Wales.
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South Africa play Fiji in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in Marseilles on Sunday with a game plan based around a return to basics in a bid to nullify the Pacific Islanders’ flair and raw talent. The Springboks are sure to dominate the set-piece, Fiji having suffered in the scrum throughout their pool games against Japan (35-31), Canada (29-16), Australia (lost 55-12) and Wales (38-34).
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South Africa coach Jake White said that hatching a victory over Fiji in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal in Marseilles on Sunday was not ”rocket science”. Possession of the ball in contact against Fiji, an area where South Africa suffered in their narrow 30-25 pool victory over Tonga, was essential, said White.
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South Africa coach Jake White said on Wednesday that injured prop CJ van der Linde will be fit to face Fiji in the World Cup quarterfinals. Van der Linde had picked up a knee injury and had been considered a doubtful starter for Sunday’s game at the Stade Velodrome.
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South Africa are facing a front-row crisis ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarterfinal clash against Fiji. BJ Botha has already been forced out of the competition with knee ligament damage suffered in the 64-15 Pool A win against the United States last week, while fellow tighthead prop CJ van der Linde has bruising on one of his knees.
Always fierce rivals in sport, Australia and England’s World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday should be a classic if it matches the same level of animosity that has dominated the build-up. The players have stuck to the sportsman’s mantra that they respect their opponents and will have to be at their best to win.
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South Africa’s imposing lock forward, Bakkies Botha, has slimmed down for the World Cup but still has a huge appetite for success before he calls it quits. Botha is relishing a forward battle with Fiji in the quarterfinals on Sunday, where victory will keep the Springboks on course for a second world title and the 28-year-old on track for a half-century of caps.
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South Africa faced a further worry over their slim prop resources on Tuesday after tighthead CJ van der Linde limped out of training ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarterfinal against Fiji. Van der Linde injured his right knee in a mauling session and was unable to complete the session.
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The Wallabies are focusing on blunting the effectiveness of Jonny Wilkinson in their crunch Rugby World Cup quarterfinal in Marseilles on Saturday to ensure there is no repeat of his match-winning heroics for England in the 2003 final. The masterful flyhalf has steadied England after their rocky start to the tournament.
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Fiji are braced for a titanic forward battle when they take on South Africa in the World Cup quarterfinals in Marseille on Sunday. The Pacific Islanders, shock 38-34 winners over Wales in their decisive pool game, are expecting the Springboks to target their set-piece play, according to coach Ilie Tabua.
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/ 30 September 2007
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Two tries by wing Christophe Dominici helped France crush Georgia 64-7 in their final Pool D match on Sunday to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals. Needing four tries to secure a bonus point, France ran in nine in Marseille with Dominici becoming his country’s record try scorer in World Cup history.
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/ 22 September 2007
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Argentina hammered Namibia 63-3 in Marseille on Saturday, winning a vital bonus point to take pole position in pool D and a big step towards qualifying for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals. The Pumas’ place as either number one or two in the group will now be decided by the result of their game against Ireland on September 30.
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/ 18 September 2007
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Dan’s battered camper van dates back to 1985, two years before the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. But the one-time cream coloured vehicle, which has more than 240 000km on the clock, has been pressed into service for a rugby odyssey in France as part of a European tour.
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/ 12 September 2007
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Italy rebounded from their All Black mauling to record a morale-boosting, if incredibly dour, 24-18 win over Romania in a Rugby World Cup Pool C game at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on Wednesday. In a game that was certainly no advert for free-flowing rugby, the forwards battled out a war of attrition interrupted by a veritable comedy of handling errors.
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/ 8 September 2007
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Hot tournament favourites New Zealand got their World Cup campaign off to the ideal start at the Stade Velodrome with a scintillating 76-14 rout of rivals Italy. The contest was dead and buried after the first 20 breathless minutes, during which the All Blacks scored five converted tries against an Italian team shown up to be woefully inept in their early defensive alignment.
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/ 8 September 2007
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World Cup debutants Portugal are looking to emerge with more than their dignity intact when they take on Scotland in their opening Pool C match on Sunday. For ”Os Lobos”, the aim of both their first three pool matches against the Scots, New Zealand and Italy is to ensure they retain enough physical and mental resources to confront Romania in their only winnable game.
England coach Brian Ashton was left to rue a breakdown in the basics in his team’s tryless showing in the 22-9 defeat to France, the second loss in eight days against the World Cup hosts. The England squad now have 10 days off before gathering again in London on August 29 and Ashton and his coaching staff have been left with plenty to think about.
Quick Step rider Cedric Vasseur gave the hosts their first stage win of this year’s Tour de France when he lead a French one-two ahead of compatriot Sandy Casar in the 229,5km tenth stage on Wednesday. The 36-year-old Vasseur won a sprint finish after five hours 20 minutes and 24 seconds of racing under the sweltering heat ahead of Casar, with Swiss rider Michael Albasini in third.
In 2003, officials overseeing an election in Schaerbeek, a suburb of Brussels, got a shock. An electronic vote-counting machine declared that 4 096 more people had cast their vote than the ballot slips testified. The machine had been thoroughly tested. So what went wrong? The answer was, literally, a strike from the heavens.
A blind Belgian man on Saturday claimed a place in the record books after completing a tour of France in a light aeroplane. Luc Costermans, a 41-year-old former businessman blinded two years ago in an accident, said he hoped to make it into the <i>Guinness World Records</i> book for his tour of the country, completed on Friday.