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/ 1 September 2005
Joseph Rotblat, a physicist who campaigned against nuclear arms and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has died, his spokesperson said Thursday. He was 96. Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, the group he founded to help rid the world of atomic arms, received the prestigious prize in 1995.
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/ 1 September 2005
Techno lust readings are likely to go off the scale as the most important gadget since the iPod launches in South Africa on September 3. Sony’s PlayStation Portable brings you games, movies and music, and will display photos. Yes, the ”C” word may have finally come of age: but convergence isn’t the first thing you think of when you see the PSP. That honour goes to the aesthetics.
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/ 1 September 2005
Michael Sheard, who played Adolf Hitler five times in an acting career that also saw him strangled by Darth Vader in a Star Wars sequel, died on Wednesday at the age of 65, his agent said. Shard, a native of Scotland, died near his home on the Isle of Wight, in the south of England.
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/ 1 September 2005
A British man died in a high-speed accident because he allowed his seven-year-old son to steer, a coroner’s inquest ruled. Peter Mourier (50) of Kingshill, encouraged his son David to lean over and steer the car as it traveled at 110kph on a motorway in western Britain on March 4.
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, with New York’s main crude contract above on concerns that refineries may be unable to produce sufficient fuel after being battered by Hurricane Katrina, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, rose 67 cents to ,48 per barrel in electronic trading.
The British government is proposing to ban the downloading and possession of violent and abusive pornography from the internet, a minister said on Tuesday. The government on Tuesday published a consultation paper on the proposed law, with a deadline of December 2 for interested parties to comment.
Real Madrid have warned they will not let Michael Owen go on the cheap as the England striker tries to negotiate a return to the English Premiership. Newcastle have already had a club record bid, believed to be £16-million, accepted by the Spanish giants. However, Owen has admitted he would prefer to rejoin Liverpool.
Mourners who paid their last respects to a British war veteran were stunned to see him strolling through the town shortly after the funeral, newspapers said on Tuesday. Friends of the former bus driver travelled from far and wide to attend the cremation after reading the death notice of a Frank Hughes in a local newspaper.
The annual World Bog-Snorkelling Championships celebrate their 20th year on Monday when competitors don the flippers in one of Britain’s most bizarre sporting events. The championships take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, central Wales, Britain’s smallest town.
Champion fast bowler Glenn McGrath faces a fitness battle as Australia begin their preparations for next month’s must-win fifth Ashes Test at the Oval. McGrath missed the fourth match of the series, which England won in dramatic fashion by three wickets at Trent Bridge here on Sunday, with an elbow injury and the loss of his accurate seam bowling was a major blow to Australia.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson claimed his side are ready to challenge for the English Premiership title after watching them beat Newcastle 2-0 at St James’ Park. Goals from Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy clinched victory for the Old Trafford club and left Ferguson eyeing the future with far more optimism that his opposite number Graeme Souness.
Britain will join an international alliance to confront United States President George Bush and salvage as much as possible of an ambitious plan to reshape the United Nations and tackle world poverty next week. The head-to-head in New York on Monday comes after the revelation that the US administration is proposing wholesale changes to crucial parts of the biggest overhaul of the UN since it was founded more than 50 years ago.
Gerry Fitt, a leader of Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland and a fierce critic of the Irish Republican Army, died on Friday, his family said. He was 79. The cause of death was not announced, but he had a history of heart disease and had been in declining health for months.
The London Zoo unveiled a new exhibition on Thursday — eight humans prowling around wearing little more than fig leaves to cover their modesty. <i>The Human Zoo</i> is intended to show the basic nature of human beings as they frolic throughout the August bank holiday weekend.
A racing pigeon belonging to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has been missing for more than a month ahead of a big race, a spokesperson said on Friday. Pigeon-fanciers feared the young bird may be flocking about with common pigeons — or, worse, have been eaten by a sparrowhawk.
It seems there are two kinds of worm in the Windows world: ones that threaten hundreds of millions of XP users, and ones that embarrass a small number of media companies using Windows 2000. The second type struck last week. It started spreading via the net on Sunday with Zotob.A, which according to anti-virus company Trend Micro, infected about 50 computers worldwide.
Internet shoppers will get a chance to add an unusual item to their wardrobe: the flamboyant swan dress worn by Icelandic singer Björk, which will be auctioned for charity next month. The quirky dress is among more than 150 celebrity fashion items that will be up for grabs on auction site eBay.
With a new blog created every second, how are you going to keep up with 900 000 posts a day across 15-million blogs? These blogs (short for web logs) are online journals written by people who might be talking about your organisation, or sharing information that could help you do your job. And if you have a company blog, how will customers find it among the millions of alternatives?
Geography isn’t history, yet. Far from ushering in the death of distance, the internet is making us more anxious to live alongside like-minded people, reinforcing rather than reducing social divides. This theory appears in a study of websites that publish information about our neighbourhoods.
Jack Slipper, the Scotland Yard detective who pursued one of Britain’s ”Great Train Robbers” across many years and two continents, has died at the age of 81, the metropolitan police said on Wednesday. The force said the retired detective chief superintendent — known as ”Slipper of the Yard” — died on Wednesday after a long illness.
Jack Slipper, the Scotland Yard detective who pursued one of Britain’s ”Great Train Robbers” across many years and two continents, has died at the age of 81, the metropolitan police said on Wednesday. The force said the retired detective chief superintendent — known as ”Slipper of the Yard” — died on Wednesday after a long illness.
People in England and Wales are more likely to commit suicide on a Monday than on any other day of the week, a tendency consistent with data from other countries, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said on Thursday. A review of 34 935 suicides found that about 17% of the deaths occurred on Mondays.
A senior US military officer on Wednesday predicted that al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq will move to the ”vast ungoverned spaces” of the Horn of Africa once conditions in the country get too tough for them. The warning came from Major General Douglas Lute, director of operations at the US’ central command. ”There will come a time when Zarqawi will face too much resistance in Iraq and will move on,” he predicted.
Frank Lampard scored twice for Chelsea in their 4-0 win on Wednesday over West Bromwich Albion, putting the defending champions at the top of the league standings. Also, Thierry Henry and Pascal Cygan each scored two goals in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Fulham; Bolton beat Newcastle 2-0; and Blackburn and Tottenham drew 0-0.
Liverpool have been branded ”morally wrong” by Bolton after admitting they want to take Greek midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos to Anfield. The European champions have gone public on their interest in the right-sided player and have even held preliminary talks with his current employers.
A life-size statue of Prince Diana and Dodi Fayed, who died together in a Paris car crash in 1997, will soon be displayed at Harrod’s department store in central London, owner Mohamed al Fayed said on Wednesday. The work shows the couple holding hands and gazing into each other’s eyes beneath a soaring albatross.
Britain finalised a new plan on Wednesday to help deport or bar Islamic radicals who promote terrorism in the wake of last month’s London bombings and said it will be implemented within days. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the list of so-called ”unacceptable behaviours” will counter the ”real and significant” threat of terrorism.
Newly installed security alarms at the British royal family’s summer estate in Scotland are going off ”day and night” thanks to the peregrinations of seven Indian runner ducks. The ducks — named Arabella, Antoine, Parsley, Sage, Rose, Mary and Thyme — were acquired by Prince Charles as environmentally friendly, free-range pest controllers around Birkhall, his getaway within the Balmoral grounds.
Britain was due on Wednesday to unveil a list of ”unacceptable behaviour” aimed at forcing the deportation of Islamic radicals in the wake of last month’s deadly London bombings. The measures come as a newspaper reported the bombs used in the July 7 London attacks were manually activated by button-like devices.
October 13 is being declared Peel Day to celebrate the life and legacy of trail-blazing British Broadcasting Corporation disc jockey John Peel, who died suddenly last year at the age of 65, the public broadcaster announced. Gigs will take place across Britain in as many venues as possible, and organisers hope Peel Day will become an annual event.
An independent police complaints panel said on Tuesday it will finish a report into the fatal London shooting of a Brazilian man wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber by the end of the year — but the findings will not be published until all other proceedings linked to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes are completed.
Arjen Robben is set to become the latest high-profile Chelsea player to be dropped by Jose Mourinho when the Premiership champions take on West Brom at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. But unlike Ricardo Carvalho, Robben is not being demoted for speaking out against Chelsea’s squad-rotation policy.