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/ 28 November 2007
”Le fish and chips” in a top French restaurant? Pourquoi pas? At least that’s the view of leading Gallic chef Alain Ducasse, who is embracing British cuisine with open arms, in the teeth of his homeland’s traditionally snobbish attitude towards English food.
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/ 28 November 2007
Inter Milan, FC Barcelona, AS Roma and Sevilla all advanced to the second round of the Champions League on Tuesday. Inter, Sevilla and Roma advanced with wins, while a point against Lyon was enough for Barcelona. The four teams join Arsenal and Manchester United in the next round.
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/ 27 November 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed on Tuesday that he will boycott a European Union-Africa summit to be held in Lisbon next month in protest at the participation of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. ”I will not be attending this summit,” Brown said at a press conference at Downing Street.
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/ 27 November 2007
A hunt for Britain’s top university is helping mobile firm O2 tap Facebook’s burgeoning audience and reflects the innovation advertisers need to tap the potential of such sites, analysts say. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook are hugely popular with younger internet users — vital but hard to reach for advertisers.
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/ 27 November 2007
Johan Ackermann joined South Africa on Monday as cover in case injured lock Bakkies Botha was unavailable for the Springboks’ season finale against the Barbarians this weekend. Botha hurt his ankle in the Boks’ 34-12 win over Wales at Cardiff on Saturday.
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/ 26 November 2007
The body of Princess Diana showed no physical signs of pregnancy, Robert Chapman, the pathologist who carried out her post-mortem, told the inquest on Monday into her death. But he acknowledged that while her womb and ovaries did not show any of the normal signs of pregnancy, those would not have been seen if the pregnancy was less than three weeks old.
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/ 26 November 2007
The woman known as ”the voice of the Tube” on London’s underground has been sacked after criticising the network and making spoof announcements including making fun of United States tourists, officials said on Monday. Emma Clarke has for the past eight years been famous as the voice warning travellers to ”Mind the gap”.
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/ 26 November 2007
Tottenham had an injury-time penalty kick saved in a 1-1 draw Sunday at West Ham in the Premier League. West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green dived to his left to save the shot from Jermain Defoe, who had earned the penalty after being brought down by Lucas Neill.
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/ 26 November 2007
A consortium led by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has been picked as the preferred bidder to rescue Northern Rock and plans to repay £11-billion (,6-billion) quickly to the Bank of England. Half the cash will come from the consortium and half will be raised through a rights issue at 25 pence per share.
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/ 26 November 2007
In the James Bond novels and films, it fell to technical expert Q to invent the gizmos and cunningly concealed weapons that helped the British spy cheat death and save the world. From a biometric keyboard to blast-proof curtains, the inventions on display in the real world this month came from five technology firms in the final round of the Global Security Challenge.
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/ 25 November 2007
Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the English Premier League with a dramatic 2-0 win over Wigan, while Manchester United slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at Bolton on Saturday. Steven Gerrard’s stunning strike put Liverpool on course for a stylish 3-0 win against Newcastle.
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/ 25 November 2007
A British opera singer who sang Croatia’s national anthem before their crucial football victory over England blundered by accidentally singing about his manhood, British media reported on Friday. Tony Henry’s explicit rendition was delivered before about 90 000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium.
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/ 23 November 2007
World oil prices fell on Friday after a momentous week that saw record peaks close to $100 as traders worried about tight energy supplies and geopolitical jitters in key producer countries. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, sank 95 cents to $96,34 per barrel. The contract had hit an historic $99,29 on Wednesday.
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/ 23 November 2007
Springbok captain John Smit believes his international career is far from finished. This Saturday, just over a month after leading the Springboks to World Cup glory, the 29-year-old hooker captains his country in a one-off international against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
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/ 23 November 2007
Rescue teams are working to save 154 passengers and crew from a cruiseliner sinking in the Antarctic Ocean, a British coastguard spokesperson said. ”This morning the Argentine and American coastguards are coordinating the rescue of 154 passengers from the Explorer, which is holed and taking water down in the Antarctic near the south Shetland Islands,” said Andy Catrell.
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/ 22 November 2007
Oil steadied above a barrel on Thursday, after falling just shy of the milestone in the previous session, as the dollar tumbled to fresh record lows. United States light crude for January delivery was down one cent at ,28 a barrel by 2.40pm GMT. Oil briefly surged to a lifetime peak of ,29 a barrel on Wednesday.
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/ 22 November 2007
Senior officials knew about a decision to include financial details of millions of Britons on computer discs that then went missing in the mail, British opposition politicians said on Thursday. Citing an internal email, members of the Conservative Party said blame for the scandal went higher than just the junior civil servant so far blamed by the government.
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/ 22 November 2007
Steve McClaren paid the price of England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 on Thursday when he was unceremoniously dismissed from his position as head coach. McClaren was sacked less than 12 hours after a 3-2 win for Croatia at Wembley, combined with Russia’s 1-0 win in Andorra, confirmed that England would miss out on the tournament.
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/ 22 November 2007
Springbok World Cup hero Bryan Habana believes South Africa have been given a great inheritance by departing coach Jake White. This Saturday sees White, barely a month after masterminding the Springboks’ march to the World Cup title in France, coach South Africa in a full international for the final time when his side face Wales.
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/ 22 November 2007
Britain’s newspapers savaged Steve McClaren on Thursday after the England manager failed to guide his team to the 2008 European Championships. McClaren was expected to be sacked within hours of going to print as the national press put the boot into the Yorkshireman following Wednesday’s 3-2 defeat to Croatia.
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/ 21 November 2007
A 101-year-old British pensioner has posed topless for a nude calendar to raise money for a local football team, a report said on Wednesday. Nora Hardwick will be Miss November in the calendar, aimed at raising money for her children’s team, Ancaster Athletic, in her village in Lincolnshire, eastern England.
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/ 21 November 2007
huge blaze in an empty warehouse on London’s 2012 Olympic Park last week was started when an oxy-acetylene torch ignited insulating material, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) said on Wednesday. Black smoke billowed across the city last Monday, briefly sparking security fears. The ODA has ruled out any suspicious circumstances.
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/ 21 November 2007
South Africa captain John Smit and star wing Bryan Habana are among nine members of the Springboks’ victorious World Cup final starting XV named to face Wales in Saturday’s one-off rugby union international at the Millennium Stadium. Although several players are missing from the two-match tour, the side still contains plenty of experienced campaigners.
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/ 21 November 2007
This was a bug that you’d have to look up to and definitely couldn’t step on. British scientists have stumbled across a fossilised claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever. How big? Bigger than you, about 2,5m long.
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/ 21 November 2007
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced angry questions from lawmakers on Wednesday after confidential records containing nearly half the population’s bank details went missing in the post. The disappearance of about 25-million people’s personal data vanished in the biggest-ever loss of personal information by any government.
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/ 20 November 2007
London’s metropolitan police have been forced to spend £15 000 creating ”ethnically diverse” mascots after complaints about a model deemed too white and too male, reports said on Tuesday. Critics said the original mascot risked leaving Asian and women officers ”isolated”.
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/ 20 November 2007
Jake White, South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach, on Monday played down suggestions he would be replacing Brian Ashton next month as the man in charge of England, although he didn’t rule himself out of the job at some point in the future. White is stepping down when his contract runs out in December.
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/ 19 November 2007
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on Monday with a moving thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey, the church where they married 60 years ago. The pomp and splendour of the traditional ceremony came a day before the anniversary itself.
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/ 19 November 2007
Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez has become the latest player to withdraw from the national squad ahead of Saturday’s one-off Test against Wales in Cardiff. This was confirmed by a Springbok management member on Monday morning. Du Preez will miss the last Test of the year, and the last of Jake White’s tenure as coach, due to the shoulder injury that has troubled him for much of this year.
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/ 19 November 2007
SABMiller, the world’s second-biggest brewer, has agreed to buy Dutch rival Grolsch for €816-million in cash to strengthen its position in the fast-growing premium beer market. London-based SABMiller, which makes Miller Lite, Castle and Peroni beers, said on Monday it was offering €48,25 a share.
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/ 19 November 2007
When gold reached dizzying heights above a troy ounce in recent weeks, it cast a spotlight on a ritual that has taken place in London for the past 88 years. Twice a day, representatives of five banks pick up the phone to trade physical gold and arrive at the London ”fixing” price.
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/ 18 November 2007
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has slammed the church for being ”obsessed” with homosexuality, in a BBC radio programme to be broadcast
Tuesday. The South African 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, 76, said he felt ashamed of his church for its attitude towards gays.