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/ 31 March 2008

Newcastle not safe yet, warns Keegan

Kevin Keegan insists Premier League safety hasn’t yet been secured despite watching rampant Newcastle United dismantle Tottenham Hotspur 4-1. Keegan’s free-flowing side moved back into mid-table and nine points clear of trouble as they capitalised on a shambolic defensive display from the League Cup holders to run out emphatic winners.

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/ 31 March 2008

US lauds Martin Luther King, but undermines his legacy

The National Civil Rights Museum sits in what was the Lorraine Motel, just beyond the shadows of Memphis’s skyscrapers and the garish neon glow of Beale Street — the main drag made famous by the likes of BB King and James Baldwin. The first words of the first exhibit state: ”Protest against injustice is deeply rooted in the African-American experience.”

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/ 31 March 2008

Playing the boycott game

You can write much of the script for London 2012 already: the tube strikes, the cost over-runs, the security computers that won’t work and the Kazakh weightlifters lost in Terminal Five. But the real problem for the Olympic games we thought we wanted to host is beginning to emerge from the smog over Beijing.

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/ 30 March 2008

Chelsea keep pressure on United with narrow win

Chelsea kept their Premier League title hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday but their performance would have caused few alarms for leaders Manchester United. Ricardo Carvalho’s well-placed header inside the opening six minutes at Stamford Bridge proved sufficient for Avram Grant’s side to close the gap to five points.

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/ 30 March 2008

BA calls in help to move T5 baggage mountain

British Airways drafted in extra staff on Sunday to shift 15 000 items of baggage built up since the disastrous opening of its showcase terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport. With nearly 250 flights cancelled since Thursday’s opening of the ,6-billion Terminal Five (T5) and more cancellations due in coming days, the airline could not say when matters would return to normal.

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/ 30 March 2008

‘Switch off, save planet’ message goes global

The Sydney Opera House to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge went dark as people switched off lights in their homes and skylines dimmed around the world on Saturday to show concern with global warming. Up to 30-million people were expected to have turned off their lights for 60 minutes by the time ”Earth Hour” — which started in Suva in Fiji — completed its cycle westward.

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/ 29 March 2008

Thatcher shrugs off E Guinea’s bid to arrest him

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son shrugged off Equatorial Guinea’s attempts to have him arrested for his alleged role in a plot to overthrow the country, according to a newspaper report on Saturday. The West African country has issued a warrant for Mark Thatcher’s arrest for his role in helping to finance and organise a coup plot.

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/ 29 March 2008

BA cancels flights after chaos at T5

British Airways cancelled more than a 100 flights over the weekend following a chaotic opening of its new ,6-billion terminal at London’s Heathrow airport. It said it had cut 66 short-haul and European flights on Saturday and would cancel 37 more on Sunday after Terminal Five’s (T5) grand opening on Thursday descended into chaos.

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/ 27 March 2008

Commodities: boom or bust?

Gold, oil, diamonds, metals: commodities have been booming. But as prices hit record highs, is the bubble about to burst? Turmoil in financial markets has, some analysts say, pushed prices well above fair market value across energy, metals and agricultural goods as investors take flight to supposed ”safe plays”.

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/ 25 March 2008

Oil slips on fresh demand concerns

Oil edged down on Tuesday for the fourth straight day, relinquishing earlier gains, as fresh concerns about weaker demand in top oil consumer the United States tempted some players to cash in. US crude was down 66 cents to ,20 a barrel by 14.40am GMT, off the day’s high of ,60.

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/ 25 March 2008

Hundreds of visitors stranded on London Eye

Four hundred people were trapped on the London Eye for more than an hour while engineers fixed a mechanical fault, a spokesperson for the riverside tourist attraction said on Tuesday. Sightseers were suspended up to 135m above the ground on Monday night as workmen repaired one of the four huge tyres that turn the observation wheel.

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/ 24 March 2008

Man United, Chelsea taste victory

Manchester United beat old rivals Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday as the reigning champions were left five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. But it was Chelsea who became United’s nearest challengers after a double from Didier Drogba saw them come from a goal behind to beat Arsenal 2-1.

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/ 24 March 2008

US told to go green or lose EU flights

United States airlines must pay for their pollution or face a curb on flights to the European Union, the EU transport commissioner warned last week. Jacques Barrot issued the ultimatum in the month that limits on flights between the EU and US are lifted, the biggest shake-up in the transatlantic airline market for 30 years.

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/ 24 March 2008

Flag pride ‘is killing airlines’

Governments shielding their national-flag airlines are "killing" the aviation industry, the head of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) has warned. Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of Iata, warned that protectionist attitudes towards flag carriers were exacerbating the current downturn in the industry.

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/ 23 March 2008

Trescothick ends England cricket career

Somerset batsman Marcus Trescothick on Saturday announced his retirement from international cricket with England due to health problems. Trescothick has long suffered from a stress-related illness and pulled out of England’s 2006 tours to India and Australia, where the tourists were thrashed in the Ashes series.

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/ 22 March 2008

Central banks in mortgage crisis talks

Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are in talks about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities in a bid to solve the global credit crisis, the Financial Times said on Saturday. The newspaper, without citing sources, said the talks were at an early stage and part of a broader exchange on how to battle the turmoil in financial markets,

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/ 21 March 2008

Hamilton is no Tiger, says Mansell

Former champion Nigel Mansell has hailed Lewis Hamilton as the Formula One driver to beat while rejecting comparisons between the 23-year-old Briton and golfer Tiger Woods. ”Lewis is the man to beat,” said Mansell, who took his title after winning the 1992 season-opener in South Africa.

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/ 21 March 2008

Oil extends slide on economic worries

Oil prices extended a week-long slide on Thursday, briefly tumbling below a barrel for the first time in two weeks amid growing concerns an economic slowdown in top consumer the United States would cut global energy demand. US crude settled down 70 cents to ,84 a barrel after falling as low as ,65 earlier in the session