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/ 21 December 2006
Prince Charles won the latest round in a legal battle with a newspaper on Thursday over the unauthorised publication of his private journals, in which he called Chinese diplomats ”appalling old waxworks”. Two senior Court of Appeal judges upheld an earlier ruling that Queen Elizabeth’s eldest son and heir to the throne had a right to keep his diaries secret.
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/ 21 December 2006
Thousands of passengers were stranded on Thursday as heavy fog in southern England grounded hundreds of flights during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. About 500 people spent the night at London’s Heathrow airport after British Airways cancelled all domestic and some European flights to and from the airport due to poor visibility.
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/ 21 December 2006
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba broke Newcastle’s hearts again as his superb late goal clinched a 1-0 League Cup quarterfinal win on Wednesday. Drogba had come off the bench to score the winner against Newcastle in the Premiership last week and he repeated the trick at St James’ Park.
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/ 20 December 2006
England attack coach Brian Ashton was named as head coach on Wednesday following the resignation of Andy Robinson last month. In a statement, the Rugby Football Union said Ashton (60) would take charge of the world champions for their opening Six Nations match against Scotland at Twickenham on February 3.
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/ 20 December 2006
Benni McCarthy has praised Uefa for dishing out a five-match ban to Wisla Krakow’s Nikola Mijailovic, the Serbian defender who was found guilty of racially abusing him during a Uefa Cup match in October. ”I was pleased with the way the situation was handled,” Blackburn’s South African forward said.
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/ 20 December 2006
In a democracy, a change in political leadership is usually not a foregone conclusion. But in 2007, Britain will make an exception by saying goodbye to the Blair era and installing Gordon Brown as his successor without a vote. The unprecedented situation arises from a promise of a handover of power Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his Labour Party colleague many years ago.
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/ 20 December 2006
Nestled in London’s business district, Smithfield, one of Britain’s oldest markets, is gearing up for Christmas and New Year with turkeys, geese and organic chickens selling rapidly. Once the historic wholesale meat market opens at 3am, Smithfield comes alive with the hustle and bustle of traders, as it has done for centuries.
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/ 20 December 2006
It’s looking like a bleak mid-winter for Britain this Christmas as businesses and schools seek to airbrush out the annual Christian festival for fear of offending people of other faiths. The popular press is hot on the heels of the Christmas ”killjoys”, compiling an almost daily list of politically correct do-gooders who they say, frankly, are just spoiling the fun for everyone.
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/ 19 December 2006
A second man has been arrested on suspicion of the murders of five prostitutes in the eastern English town of Ipswich, police said on Tuesday. The 48-year-old man was arrested in Ipswich itself early on Tuesday, a day after a 37-year-old man was detained in a village outside the eastern port town, said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
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/ 19 December 2006
Justin Gatlin and Floyd Landis made headlines for their sporting achievements in 2006. They were bigger news when they were caught in the year’s biggest doping scandals. Gatlin, who equalled the world record in the 100m, and Landis, who won the Tour de France, had positive tests for testosterone revealed within 48 hours of each other at the end of July.
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/ 19 December 2006
A ”Perthetic” performance by England in the third Test of the Ashes, thereby conceding the historic urn to Australia, was blasted in the British press on Tuesday, most of which called for the resignation of coach Duncan Fletcher. England, set a near-impossible 557 to win, seemed as if they might make a battle of it on the final day before yet another collapse at the crease.
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/ 18 December 2006
Ernie Els moved up to fifth from eighth in the world rankings issued on Monday after his three-shot victory in the South African Airways Open on Sunday. Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee survived a double-bogey finish to win the season-ending Volvo Masters of Asia on Sunday. The win lifts him 28 places to 75th.
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/ 18 December 2006
Cases of drug resistant tuberculosis are higher than previously estimated and three nations — China, India and Russia — account for more than half of all cases worldwide. Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis are strains of the disease that are resistant to at least two of the most important first-line drugs.
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/ 18 December 2006
British police on Monday arrested a man on suspicion of the murder of five prostitutes in the port town of Ipswich in a major breakthrough in a case that has gripped the nation. The unnamed 37-year-old man was arrested early on Monday morning at his home at Trimley, near the port town of Felixstowe, Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told reporters.
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/ 18 December 2006
Manchester United’s lead in the Premier League was cut to two points on Sunday after they lost to West Ham 1-0 and Chelsea came back to beat Everton 3-2. Nigel Reo-Coker scored the winning goal in the 75th minute at Upton Park, giving Alan Curbishley a winning start as West Ham manager.
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/ 18 December 2006
Sudan should have until the end of the year to agree to an international peacekeeping force in Darfur or face sanctions and other punitive measures, 15 former foreign ministers said in comments published on Monday. The international community had to convince Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir that his best interests would be served by allowing the African Union peacekeeping force to be strengthened.
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/ 17 December 2006
Liverpool’s recent revival gathered pace on Saturday as Rafael Benitez’s side overcame Charlton to climb to third in the English Premiership table. A 3-0 lunchtime win at the Valley ensured Liverpool were able to leapfrog Arsenal and Portsmouth, who held the Gunners to a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
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/ 15 December 2006
Britain’s Prince William, eager to draw a line under a decade of conspiracy theories about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, graduated as an army officer on Friday to launch his military career. The second in line to the throne passed out at the elite Sandhurst military academy before his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, in a ceremony famed for its pomp and circumstance.
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/ 14 December 2006
Britain’s Tony Blair was quizzed as a witness on Thursday by police probing claims that political parties awarded state honours in return for loans. Analysts said it was a fresh embarrassment for a damaged prime minister. Blair was not cautioned by police about his rights before the interview, suggesting officers do not believe he has charges to answer.
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/ 14 December 2006
A British police inquiry ruled on Thursday that Princess Diana was not the victim of a murder plot when she died in a tragic car accident in 1997. Diana’s death triggered a string of conspiracy theories that British spies, or even her ex-husband, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had plotted the accident because her relationship with Dodi al-Fayed was embarrassing the royal household.
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/ 14 December 2006
British detectives probing the deaths of five women by a feared serial killer are hunting a mystery man in a blue BMW who may provide a key to the affair, a top police officer said on Thursday. The focus on a ”chubby” driver seen by witnesses came as police were expected to confirm formally the identity of two bodies believed to be victims of the killer.
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/ 14 December 2006
Didier Drogba showed Chelsea will not give up the English Premiership title without a fight as his late goal clinched a 1-0 win against Newcastle on Wednesday. Jose Mourinho’s side are now five points behind leaders Manchester United and should have renewed belief they can overhaul Sir Alex Ferguson’s side after this hard-fought victory.
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/ 14 December 2006
Feyenoord and Paris Saint-Germain — two clubs whose last Uefa Cup matches were marred by violence — reached the round of 32 in Europe’s second-tier competition on Wednesday, and were joined by Ajax, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Celta Vigo and Fenerbahce.
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/ 13 December 2006
British police admitted on Wednesday they ”fear the worst” after the latest grisly findings in a probable serial-killer probe, as they race against time to prevent the death toll of five rising further. Extra officers are being drafted in from around the country to hunt for a killer already dubbed the ”Ipswich Ripper”.
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/ 13 December 2006
Tickets for a pop concert in London to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death sold out in minutes on Wednesday, organisers said. Meanwhile, a long-awaited British police report, due on Thursday, is expected to divulge new details surrounding the car crash that killed Diana.
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/ 13 December 2006
Crude oil prices could head lower in 2007 after striking all-time highs above per barrel this year, as global production catches up with demand and geopolitical risks lessen, experts say. ”This year, the main story has been the political-risks story,” Global Insight oil analyst Simon Wardell said.
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/ 12 December 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday condemned dismissals of the Holocaust by ”revisionist” historians at a conference being staged in Iran as ”shocking beyond belief”. ”I think it is such a symbol of sectarianism and hatred towards people of another religion, I find it just unbelievable,” he said.
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/ 12 December 2006
Police ratcheted up a search for two missing prostitutes on Tuesday as fears grew that a ”ripper”-style serial killer is at large in a quiet English town where three sex workers have already died. Detectives begged prostitutes and their clients for information in the port town of Ipswich on the east coast, where two sex workers have been murdered and another has been found dead.
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/ 12 December 2006
Sir Alex Ferguson ordered his Manchester United players on Monday to win the Champions League, the English Premiership and the FA Cup if they want to be considered as a great side. He told his charges it is time to prove how good they are by turning their promising start to the season into silverware.
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/ 11 December 2006
West Ham United sacked manager Alan Pardew on Monday after a poor run of results left the club third from bottom in the Premier League. A club statement said Icelandic chairperson Eggert Magnusson and the board ”had been concerned by the performances in recent weeks and felt it is the right time to make a change”.
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/ 11 December 2006
A painting by British wartime leader Winston Churchill sold for £612 800 (,2-million) at auction on Monday, a new record for the part-time artist and about three times the pre-sale estimate. View of Tinherir was painted in 1951 in Marrakech, Morocco, and given two years later to United States General George Marshall.
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/ 11 December 2006
Chelsea dropped two points at home on Sunday, needing an 84th-minute equaliser from Michael Essien to earn a 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League. The draw gives Manchester United an eight-point lead at the top of the standings, but with one more game played than Chelsea.