Manchester United turned David Beckham into an international superstar and on Tuesday he bid an emotional farewell to Old Trafford before he quits European soccer for the United States. Beckham joined United in 1991 at 16, debuted the next year, and transferred in 2003 to Real Madrid.
A fund to help Africa overcome obstacles to trade and investment is set to launch its first projects in East Africa after strong backing from corporate donors, officials said on Tuesday. The Investment Climate Facility (ICF) said latest contributors to the fund included Microsoft and South Africa’s Standard Bank.
Five members of a British embassy group missing for two weeks in a remote part of Ethiopia have been released and are safe and well, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said on Tuesday.
The English Football Association announced on Monday that it would not be taking any action against Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho after he called referee Mike Riley a ”son of a whore”. Television cameras picked up Mourinho telling Riley he was a ”filho da puta” during an altercation at half-time in Chelsea’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham in the FA Cup quarterfinal on Sunday.
Ford has agreed to sell its iconic Aston Martin brand for just more than £470-million (R6,65-billion) to a British-led consortium, the United States firm said on Monday. The luxury car maker is famous for its long-running association with the James Bond blockbuster films.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho found himself engulfed by controversy once again on Monday after television microphones apparently caught him calling referee Mike Riley a ”son of a whore” in Portuguese during Sunday’s FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur.
Stuart Pearce vowed to battle on as the pressure on his position increased following Manchester City’s 2-0 FA Cup quarterfinal defeat at 10-man Blackburn. Pearce’s fate at Eastlands, where he has been in charge since replacing former England coach Kevin Keegan in March 2005, could be decided in the next few days after another poor performance by his side.
Chelsea stormed back from two goals down to snatch a 3-3 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in an electrifying FA Cup quarterfinal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Hossam Ghaly and an own goal by Michael Essien gave Tottenham a 3-1 half-time lead as they looked set to end a 17-year wait for a win at Stamford Bridge.
Cristiano Ronaldo converted a second-half penalty to give Manchester United a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup on Saturday. Ronaldo’s 17th goal of the season came in the 68th minute after a hand ball from Middlesbrough captain George Boateng. ”We never gave in and we got our deserved equaliser,” Man United coach Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports News.
Ireland’s 19-18 win over Scotland, their third Triple Crown triumph, in four years was overshadowed on Saturday by a row over an alleged choking assault on flyhalf Ronan O’Gara. Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan claimed after the match that an unidentified Scots player had left O’Gara blue in the face and close to losing consciousness.
FW De Klerk, in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper, said that non-black people in South Africa feel like ”second-class” citizens. ”… affirmative action has led to a substantial percentage of not only Afrikaners, but of all whites and coloureds and Indians feeling that their groups are being reduced to a sort of second-class citizenship,” he told the paper.
Captain Thierry Henry will not play for Arsenal for the rest of this season due to injuries, the Premier League club said on Friday. The France striker, who damaged stomach and groin muscles in his team’s Champions League exit to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday, should be ready for next season, Arsenal said.
Britain and Ireland urged Northern Ireland’s politicians on Friday to agree to a power-sharing government after assembly elections in the province or face continued direct rule from London. The vote, widely viewed as a test of support for joint rule, was dominated by the Protestant pro-British Democratic Unionist Party and Catholic Sinn Fein.
Northern Ireland took a step towards restoring a government shared between Protestants and Catholics as it counted votes on Thursday from an election for a new provincial assembly. A strong showing for the main parties on both sides of the divide at Wednesday’s ballot could strengthen prospects for a return to sharing power.
British actor John Inman, famous for his role as an eccentric shop assistant in the BBC comedy Are You Being Served?, died on March 8 at the age of 71, his manager said. Inman died in the early hours at Saint Mary’s Hospital in west London after a long battle with hepatitis A.
An English police force faced a civil lawsuit on Thursday from a young woman who was punched five times by a police officer as he arrested her during a scuffle outside a nightclub last year. The South Yorkshire Police in northern England defended the conduct of the officer.
Using plants to feed our fuel needs may be a great idea, and the biofuel goldrush could be a moneyspinner for several poor countries, but some experts warn people may go hungry as food prices rise. Fans of biofuels give the impression we could soon be running cars on maize, producing electricity with sugar, and getting power from palm oil.
The British Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday it would investigate claims of racist behaviour towards black Commonwealth soldiers serving in the British Army. The move comes as Belize-born Marlon Clancy announced he was setting up an independent union for 6 000 Commonwealth soldiers in the army to help them deal with racism.
Liverpool ended FC Barcelona’s reign in the Champions League by knocking the defending champions out of the competition on Tuesday. Inter Milan and Lyon — the league champions of Italy and France — also were eliminated, while English champions Chelsea advanced.
British police are probing whether a key aide to Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to ”shape evidence” in a cash-for-honours investigation clouding his last months in office, a report said on Tuesday. The Guardian newspaper report came despite efforts to gag the media from reporting the contents of an alleged email thought to be central to the inquiry.
Lille will be hoping it is a case of third time lucky in Manchester on Wednesday when they attempt to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their acrimonious Champions League tie with Manchester United. The French club have failed in two attempts to persuade Uefa to annul the first match on the grounds that the quickly taken free-kick by Ryan Giggs should not have been allowed to stand.
Swiss-based miner Xstrata beat forecasts with a 119% rise in 2006 adjusted net profit, boosted by strong copper and nickel prices, and said on Tuesday the industry outlook remained positive. The London-listed firm, 36% owned by commodities giant Glencore, said it made a net profit of ,89-billion.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office denied on Monday that it had leaked information relating to an investigation into alleged corruption in the political honours system. The Attorney General won an injunction on Friday prohibiting the BBC from publishing details of an email exchange between two of Blair’s closest aides.
Britain’s top law officer gagged a media outlet for a second time from reporting on Monday on an alleged ”bombshell” memo at the heart of a cash-for-honours row threatening Prime Minister Tony Blair. The injunction by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith against the Sun newspaper came after he took similar action against the BBC on Friday.
Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool can open the door to a second Champions League title in three years by shutting down Barcelona at Anfield on Tuesday night. A memorable 2-1 win in the Nou Camp a fortnight ago has left the 2005 champions as favourites to progress to the quarterfinals of this year’s tournament at the expense of the holders.
A preliminary hearing was set on Monday in the inquest into the deaths of Princess Diana and her lover Dodi al-Fayed. Diana (36) and Fayed (42) were killed along with chauffeur Henri Paul when their Mercedes crashed in the Pont d’Alma tunnel in on August 31 1997.
Tottenham scored in the fifth minute of injury time to win 4-3 at West Ham on Sunday and deny the Hammers’ vital points in their fight to avoid relegation. Carlos Tevez had scored his first goal for West Ham and set up two more as the last-place team led 2-0 and then 3-2 in the 85th minute before conceding two late goals.
Manchester United moved closer to the Premier League title with a dramatic 1-0 win at Liverpool on Saturday that left them nine points clear of Chelsea. The champions ground out a 2-0 victory at Portsmouth, with Didier Drogba scoring in the 33rd minute.
Moammar Gadaffi has complained that Western countries have failed to properly compensate Libya for scrapping its nuclear arms programme and as a result countries like Iran and North Korea would not follow his lead. Libya agreed in 2003 to abandon its nuclear arms programme and allow access to international weapons inspectors.
Investigations gathered pace on Thursday into whether contaminated petrol was responsible for a mysterious problem that has damaged the engines of hundreds of cars across Britain. Retailers and suppliers said they were carrying out tests on fuel but had so far found no evidence of any abnormalities.
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis has launched a new cheap and easy-to-take combination pill to fight malaria that could help reduce deaths from the killer disease in Africa, it said on Thursday. Sanofi will sell the drug at no profit for less than for adults and 50 cents for children under five years old.
Blackburn boss Mark Hughes is hoping a refreshed Benni McCarthy can fire Rovers all the way to the first FA Cup final at the rebuilt Wembley stadium after the South African striker dumped Arsenal out of the competition. McCarthy came off the bench to score a stunning solo goal to earn Rovers a last-ditch 1-0 win over the Gunners in their FA Cup fifth round replay on Wednesday.