United Kingdom

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 &pound;10&nbsp;000 (R110&nbsp;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.

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.

A 10-year-old boy has died in Scotland after being crushed by a giant snowball rolling down a hill, police and reports said on Monday. In what appeared to be ”a tragic accident”, the schoolboy was playing with friends when a ”giant snowball” they had been making rolled down a hill and engulfed him, a police spokesperson said.

Wayne Rooney kept Manchester United’s bid to catch Chelsea at the top of the Premiership on track with a superb double strike to secure victory over battling Portsmouth at Old Trafford on Saturday. Arsenal’s lingering hopes of retaining their Premiership title appeared to have been crushed after a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Southampton.

Fallen giants Leeds United crashed to a 3-0 Championship defeat at Wigan on Saturday in a match marred by an altercation between two of their own players. Gary Kelly and Sean Gregan squared up to each other in a bitter war of words early in the match at the JJB Stadium but they were defended by manager Kevin Blackwell.

Ukraine’s bid on Wednesday to qualify an unprecedented three teams for the Uefa Cup’s last eight had mixed results. With the three guaranteed to avoid each other in the next round, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev are looking to achieve rare European glory for the former Soviet republic.

Manufacturers planning a breakaway formula-one world championship claimed on Wednesday that their series will be fairer and more cost-effective than the established competition. BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Renault and Toyota, who make up the Grand Prix World Championship, met nine of the formula-one teams in London to outline their proposals.

A British fish-and-chip-shop owner pledged on Wednesday to embark on a 12-hour cooking epic to make the world’s biggest bag of chips. Kelvin Baines aims to make his mark by frying 1 134kg of potatoes at the Chip Stop in Plymouth, south-west England.