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/ 11 December 2007

England search continues after Mourinho snub

Jose Mourinho’s decision to turn his back on the job of England manager after talks with the Football Association has left Italy’s Fabio Capello as the new favourite to replace Steve McClaren. But having been widely criticised for rushing the appointment of McClaren in August last year, the FA may take their time in finding someone else to take on the job.

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/ 10 December 2007

Els: Leopard Creek blunder an all-time low

World number five Ernie Els is still in a daze after gifting victory to Briton John Bickerton at the Dunhill Championship on Sunday. The three-time Major winner arrived at the par-five 18th at Leopard Creek on Sunday with a two-shot lead over Bickerton, who had already completed his round. But Els twice found the water surrounding the final green to slump to a triple-bogey eight.

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/ 10 December 2007

Middlesbrough end Arsenal’s victory run

Middlesbrough inflicted Arsenal’s first Premier League defeat of the season with a 2-1 win on Sunday to cut the Gunners’ lead over Manchester United at the top of the table to just one point. Also, Bolton heaped more misery on second-from-bottom Wigan, and Tottenham secured a win against Manchester City.

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/ 9 December 2007

Giggs leads United pursuit of Arsenal

Ryan Giggs’s 100th league goal saw Manchester United on the way to a 4-1 win against bottom-of-the-table Derby County to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday. Victory at Old Trafford, where Carlos Tevez scored either side of halftime, left second-placed United a point behind the Gunners

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/ 6 December 2007

Hughes denies pressure over McCarthy

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has hit back at suggestions that the Premiership club played a part in Benni McCarthy’s surprise omission from South Africa’s squad for next month’s African Cup of Nations. McCarthy (30) had looked set to be a certainty in Carlos Alberto Parreira’s plans for the tournament, which starts in Ghana on January 20.

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/ 5 December 2007

British police arrest ‘dead’ canoeist

British detectives said on Wednesday they had arrested a man who reappeared more than five years after he was presumed drowned in a canoeing accident. John Darwin was held on suspicion of fraud four days after he walked into a London police station and told officers he believed they might be looking for him.

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/ 5 December 2007

New Ebola strain in Uganda may be milder

A new type of Ebola fever in Uganda might be less deadly than others — but that’s not necessarily good news. The World Health Organisation said last week that an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda was caused by a new subtype, the fifth to be detected since the virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and the Congo.

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/ 5 December 2007

Oil up as Opec agrees no output change

Oil rose on Wednesday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided to keep output levels unchanged, rebuffing consumer-country calls for more crude to rein in prices now near a barrel. Opec also agreed to meet again at the end of January to review its decision ahead of a regular March gathering.

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/ 4 December 2007

British ‘teddy’ teacher arrives home from Sudan

A British teacher jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Muhammad voiced relief at her release on Tuesday, as she arrived back home after a presidential pardon. ”I’m just an ordinary middle-aged primary school teacher. I went out there to have an adventure and got a lot more adventure than what I was looking for,” said Gillian Gibbons.

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/ 2 December 2007

Adebayor sends Arsenal five points clear

Emmanuel Adebayor sent Arsenal five points clear at the top of the Premier League as Arsene Wenger’s side won 2-1 against Aston Villa on Saturday. Adebayor headed the winner to extend Arsenal’s lead over second placed Chelsea after Mathieu Flamini had cancelled out Craig Gardner’s opener at Villa Park.

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/ 1 December 2007

Barbarians too strong for South Africa

Jake White’s last match as coach of world champions South Africa ended with a defeat as the invitational Barbarians beat the Springboks 22-5 in a non-cap international at Twickenham on Saturday. The Barbarians outscored South Africa three tries to one with Australia’s Matt Giteau, Wales flanker Martyn Williams and Wallaby forward Rocky Elsom all crossing the line.

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/ 30 November 2007

Oil prices slump below $90 a barrel

The price of oil fell back below a barrel on Friday as the market speculated about the chances of an increase in Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries output at the cartel’s meeting next week, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was down ,75 to ,35 per barrel.

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/ 30 November 2007

Rugby World Cup 2011 to stick with 20 teams

The 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand will remain a 20-team competition, the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced on Friday. Before this year’s World Cup, where South Africa beat England in October’s final in Paris, plans for a reduction from 20 teams to 16 were being considered because of the numerous mismatches that had taken place in the previous five editions.

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/ 29 November 2007

SMS ‘toilet’ to find relief

A new service promises Londoners they’ll never have to spend much time looking for the loo. Westminster city council, which covers London’s bustling Oxford Street, the West End and the Houses of Parliament, on Thursday launched ”SatLav” — a toilet-finding service for cellphone users.

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/ 29 November 2007

Redknapp protests innocence

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp insisted on Thursday a police probe into corruption in football had nothing to do with him. In a statement at the English Premier League club’s Eastleigh training ground, Redknapp said he was ”bitterly disappointed” to have been arrested on Wednesday and had been left ”deeply hurt” by the incident.

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/ 29 November 2007

Muller to lead Boks in Baa-baas clash

South Africa have made three changes for Saturday’s non-cap international against the Barbarians at Twickenham — Jake White’s last match as coach of the world champions. Bismarck du Plesis takes the place of World Cup-winning captain John Smit after the hooker’s French club, Clermont Auvergne, refused to release him for this fixture.

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/ 29 November 2007

Report: World faces threat of ‘cyber cold war’

A ”cyber cold war” waged over the world’s computers may become one of the biggest threats to security in the next decade, according to a report published on Thursday. About 120 countries are developing ways to use the internet as a weapon to target financial markets, government computer systems and utilities, internet security company McAfee said in an annual report.

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/ 29 November 2007

Rampant Villa crush Blackburn

In-form Aston Villa ran riot in Blackburn on Wednesday night with a resounding 4-0 victory at Ewood Park that moved them up to sixth in the Premier League. Rovers had dominated the first half hour only to be denied by a mixture of poor finishing and fine saves from Scott Carson before John Carew put the visitors ahead after 29 minutes.