Muslim worshippers are flocking to see a pair of fish in Liverpool which appear to bear the words "Allah" and "Muhammad", their owner said on Monday. Ali Al-Waqedi (23) who hailed the Oscar fish as a "message from God," said he had loaned them to a friend whose house was close to the local mosque so that worshippers could visit more easily.
Stuart Parnaby’s goal in second-half injury time lifted Middlesbrough to a 4-3 victory on Sunday over Bolton, a victory that almost guarantees they will avoid relegation from the Premier League. Parnaby’s winner from a close-range shot came after Bolton had levelled the score after being two goals behind, the goals coming from Radhi Jaidi and Jay Jay Okocha.
British men show far more loyalty, commitment and self-sacrifice towards their favourite football team than towards their partners, a study published on Monday showed. About 94% said they would never stop loving their team no matter how badly they fared while 52% would gladly ditch a relationship that was not going well.
Arsenal were handed a huge Champions League bonus by referee Mike Riley after their Premiership game at Portsmouth was controversially called off because of a waterlogged pitch. Riley postponed the game an hour before kick-off after deciding Portsmouth’s Fratton Park pitch was unplayable following a torrential downpour.
John Terry’s fourth-minute strike put Chelsea into the FA Cup semifinals, earning a 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Wednesday to keep the Blues on course for their first league-cup double. The England centreback’s goal at Stamford Bridge sent the Blues into the final four along with Liverpool and West Ham.
Mohamed Sissoko has completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in football after helping Liverpool into the last four of the FA Cup only a month after being temporarily blinded in his right eye. Sissoko played the full 90 minutes of Liverpool’s 7-0 thrashing of Birmingham on Tuesday evening.
A British terrorist cell with alleged links to al-Qaeda discussed killing and maiming revellers at a large central London nightclub, as well as targeting power facilities, a court was told on Wednesday. One of the seven men also discussed trying to buy a radio-isotope or so-called ”dirty bomb” from the Russian mafia, but nothing appeared to have come from his enquiries.
South Africa would like Sven-Goran Eriksson to be their soccer coach at the 2010 World Cup. The Swede is leaving the England job after this year’s championship in Germany. Danny Jordaan, chairperson of South Africa’s World Cup 2010 organising committee, said Eriksson is the ideal man to lift the nation’s struggling team. ”Sven has overseen the emergence of young players and that sort of attitude would be important when building a new team for South Africa,” Jordaan said.
Arsene Wenger believes his young Arsenal team is maturing at just the right time after watching them brush Charlton aside 3-0 at Highbury. Goals from Robert Pires, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb kept up the pressure for fourth spot in the Premiership which would guarantee them Champions League football when the club moves to their new Emirates stadium next season.
The Guardian, voice of Britain’s middle-class liberals, added its voice on Monday to calls for Prime Minister Tony Blair to step down sooner rather than later, amid a scandal over financing for his Labour Party. ”He should go this year,” the paper said in an editorial, ideally before the end of September, when Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown should take his place.”
England rugby chiefs are hoping to lure World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward back into the fold following another disappointing Six Nations campaign, it was reported in London on Monday. Woodward heads the Rugby Football Union’s wishlist of replacements for beleaguered coach Andy Robinson, who saw his team suffer their third defeat of the championship against Ireland on Saturday.
Humphrey, the cat who shared 10 Downing Street with two British prime ministers but was evicted by current resident Tony Blair, has died. He was aged about 18. Blair’s office said late on Sunday that Humphrey died last week at the home of a civil servant who had adopted him.
A three-week long trial that has swung from the religious mysteries in The Da Vinci Code to the more humdrum world of copyright law approaches its climax in a British court on Monday. Lawyers for Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors who claim novelist Dan Brown ”appropriated the architecture” of their non-fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, are to begin their closing arguments.
Six men who became ill during a drug trial remained in serious condition in a London hospital on Thursday. Two of the men were listed in critical condition, Northwick Park Hospital said in a statement. Raste Khan — one of two men given a placebo in the trial — said the six had been stricken within a few minutes of receiving the drug.
Robbie Fowler scored his first goal in nine games since his return to Liverpool, helping his team beat Fulham 5-1 on Wednesday in the English Premier League. Fowler, who scored 120 goals in 236 appearances during his first nine-year spell with Liverpool, had gone eight games on his return without hitting the target.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party was at the centre of an investigation on Thursday launched by the party itself into a series of large loans received last year. Labour’s treasurer initiated the inquiry after revealing on Wednesday evening that he had not been informed about the loans given to the party by wealthy supporters in the run-up to last May’s general election.
American writer Dan Brown returned to the witness stand on Wednesday for a third day of questioning about the writing of his best-selling thriller The Da Vinci code. Brown has already been quizzed about everything from his wife’s handwriting to the word-processing program he uses.
London-based human rights activist Peter Tatchell on Tuesday dismissed Zimbabwean government allegations that he was linked to a plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. Tatchell, who has attempted citizen’s arrests of Mugabe, described the claims as ”Mugabe fairy tales” and ”downright laughable”.
British male drivers waste nearly six-million hours a year on the road because they are reluctant to ask for directions, a study said on Tuesday. Men who are lost wait an average of 20 minutes before giving up and asking for directions, while women only wait 10 minutes before seeking help.
Dan Brown took the stand on Monday to rebut accusations that he copied from other writers’ work to produce his massive best-seller Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing Da Vinci Code publisher Random House for copyright infringement, claiming Brown ”appropriated the architecture” of their non-fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.
Thierry Henry scored twice and Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 on Sunday, while two goals from Wayne Rooney gave Manchester United a 2-0 win over Newcastle in the English Premier League. Henry punished a rare blunder from Steven Gerrard to score the winner at Highbury.
William Gallas scored in the last minute on Saturday to give league-leading Chelsea a 2-1 win over Tottenham, which moved the Blues 18 points clear atop the English Premier League. Other results on Saturday included: Birmingham 1, West Brom 1; Bolton 4, West Ham 1; Everton 3, Fulham 1; and Portsmouth 2, Manchester City 1.
In a defining moment in Chelsea’s charge to retaining their English Premiership title, a wonder strike by William Gallas, deep into stoppage time, sealed Spurs’ fate as the Blues go onwards and upwards after securing a dramatic 2-1 league victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
John Profumo, the former British Cabinet minister whose liaison with a prostitute nearly brought down a government, and who spent more than 40 years redeeming himself with unpaid work among London’s poor, died after suffering a stroke, an official said on Friday. He was 91.
The British now spend more time on the internet than watching television, according to a survey published on Wednesday by internet search engine Google. The report showed that British internet users spend an average of 164 minutes online daily compared with 148 minutes watching television.
It may not be the secret to eternal youth, but one Italian company claims to have found a unique way to make people’s skin look younger, healthier and even lighter using, of all things, a truffle. The invention, TruffleTherapy, adds to a collection of gourmet products by the Dafla Skincare Institute made from wine and chocolate.
AC Milan, Arsenal, Lyon and Benfica reached the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday. Defending champions Liverpool and nine-time champions Real Madrid are out, however. Three other clubs advanced on Tuesday — FC Barcelona, Villarreal and Juventus.
A writer who claims The Da Vinci Code copied from his work insisted in a British court on Wednesday there were specific echoes of his book in the best-selling thriller. However, Michael Baigent conceded there were many differences in detail between The Da Vinci Code and his 1982 non-fiction book.
Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, is in fact an elephant, according to a Scottish palaeontologist. Neil Clark, curator of palaeontology at Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum, told The Times on Monday that the idea for Nessie was dreamt up as a ”magnificent piece of marketing” .
West Brom boss Bryan Robson has warned Barcelona to be prepared for the play-acting of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Jose Mourinho will take his side into their biggest game of the season in the Camp Nou with stinging criticism from Robson ringing in his ears after his 100th match in charge of Chelsea ended in acrimony.
Arsenal and England soccer player Ashley Cole is suing two tabloid newspapers which published articles allegedly linking him to a ”gay orgy”. Cole’s lawyer, Graham Shear, said Friday the suit accuses The Sun and News of the World of defamation, harassment and breach of privacy — even though the articles did not name the player.
A fourth person was due to appear in court on Friday, charged in connection with the British record £53,1-million robbery, as three others remain in custody. Jetmir Bucpapa (24) is accused of conspiracy to commit robbery at a Securitas cash depot in the town of Tonbridge, in Kent, southeast England, last Wednesday.