A menu card believed to be the last item signed by Manchester United’s ”Busby Babes” before the 1958 Munich air disaster was sold at auction on Wednesday for £12 000 (€17 800). The card, autographed by 14 members of the famous young squad managed by Matt Busby, was bought by a private collector from London at a special football memorabilia sale.
The Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) violent campaign in Northern Ireland is over, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday, following a report into paramilitary activity that raised hopes of reviving self-rule. Northern Ireland’s ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, said in the report that it believed the IRA was no longer engaged in terrorism.
Online gaming firms faced a crisis on Monday after United States Congress unexpectedly passed legislation to ban online gaming there, threatening jobs and hitting stocks by as much as 70%. Online gaming firms faced a crisis on Monday after United States Congress unexpectedly passed legislation to ban online gaming there, threatening jobs and hitting stocks by as much as 70%.
Prudence and Polly the pigeons are blissfully unaware that they are at the centre of the latest political storm to hit Scotland’s Parliament. The birds go about their business of pecking and eating in their nest in the canopy above the main entrance of the iconic building in Scotland’s capital.
Football agents could be forced to reveal details of their bank accounts by the Premier League’s inquiry into allegations of corruption in football. Former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, who is leading the inquiry, said his team may use Football Association rules to force agents to open their accounts for inspection.
One of South Africa’s worst military disasters is to be taught in British schools to highlight the role of African soldiers in World War I, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced on Monday. A total of 616 South Africans, virtually all of them African, died when the steamship Mendi sank in the Channel on the way to France on February 21 1917.
Up to 40 people were killed in clashes between rebel groups in south Darfur, forcing foreign aid workers to abandon the Greida displaced persons’ camp, the Guardian newspaper reported on its website on Monday. An African Union spokesperson in Khartoum confirmed a flare-up in fighting in Greida, but put the death toll at 11 people, mostly civilians.
An intruder armed with a knife was arrested after scaling a wall and getting into a secure area of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s official London residence, police said on Monday. The man was apprehended after he scaled a fence from a road at the back of 10 Downing Street into what officials describe as the building’s outer secure area.
James Blunt’s Goodbye My Lover is the song most requested at British funerals and remembrance services, closely followed by Robbie Williams’s Angels, according to a survey released on Monday. Research for the Bereavement Register found just over a half (51%) of people ask for a specific song be be played at their funeral.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s double strike sunk Newcastle and put Manchester United on top of the English Premiership on Sunday. Solskjaer scored just before and after half-time to claim his first league goals at Old Trafford for over three years and take Sir Alex Ferguson’s side above champions Chelsea on goal difference.
Tiger Woods carded a last-round 67 to win the World Golf Championship event at The Grove on Sunday by eight shots from England’s Ian Poulter and Adam Scott of Australia. Woods was 23-under for the tournament and did not need to extend himself after taking a six-shot lead into the final day.
South African Hendrick Ramaala won England’s Great North Run for the third time on Sunday. Ramaala recorded a winning time of one hour and three seconds after breaking away over the last three miles of the Newcastle to South Shields course to finish ahead of Ethiopian Dejene Berhanu and America’s Dathan Ritzenhein.
A 35-foot putt earned Tiger Woods a third straight eagle at the 18th hole and ensured the world number one carries a six-shot lead into the final round of the American Express WGC tournament. Hopes the tournament could be revived as a contest rose when Woods’s lead briefly fell to two shots on Saturday, but he battled back to card a 67 for his third round and increase his overnight lead by a shot.
Aston Villa maintained their unbeaten start to the season on Saturday by holding Chelsea to a 1-1 draw that could cost the champions their place at the top of the Premiership. Villa’s battling display epitomised the resilience they have acquired since Martin O’Neill took over as manager in the close season.
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/ 30 September 2006
A controversial strike by midfielder Gary Speed set Bolton Wanderers on their way to a 2-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday. With nearly half an hour gone, Liverpool keeper Jose Reina was judged by a linesman to have carried the ball outside his area before clearing up field. Spaniard Ivan Campo teed up the resulting free kick for Speed to lash home.
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/ 30 September 2006
Tiger Woods is threatening to run away with the World Golf Championship (WGC) event at The Grove, United Kingdom, after adding a second-round 64 on Friday to his course-record 63 on the first day. Woods stands 15-under par after 36 holes, five shots clear of Stewart Cink, whom he beat in a play-off in the last WGC event in Akron, Jim Furyk and England’s David Howell.
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/ 29 September 2006
Former England boss Kevin Keegan said the bung scandal engulfing English football was a storm in a tea cup. Though Keegan managed Newcastle, Fulham and Manchester City in a high-profile career he said he never once came across irregular payments in more than 13 years in management.
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/ 29 September 2006
Jose Mourinho will cross swords with Martin O’Neill on Saturday for the first time since getting the better of the Northern Irishman in a memorable and controversial Uefa Cup final in 2003. Mourinho’s Porto made full use of the game’s black arts on the way to a 3-2 win over Celtic.
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/ 28 September 2006
Controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair will not officiate in next month’s Champions Trophy in India because of security concerns. Hair was at the centre of a damaging row last month over the ball-tampering allegations against Pakistan that led to the Oval Test against England ending in a farce.
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/ 28 September 2006
A star of Britain’s popular Top Gear car show who was seriously injured in a high-speed crash was airlifted on Thursday to a hospital nearer his home, officials and reports said. The show’s co-presenter, Richard Hammond, was seen laughing and smiling as he sat up on a stretcher while medics brought him to an ambulance helicopter at Leeds General Infirmary in northern England.
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/ 28 September 2006
Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam ul-Haq was cleared on Thursday of ball-tampering but found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute over his side’s refusal to play during last month’s fourth Test against England. After a two-day disciplinary hearing, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that Inzamam would be banned for four one-day internationals (ODIs).
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/ 28 September 2006
England head coach Andy Robinson has said that former skipper Jason Robinson could return to the side before next year’s World Cup in France if the conditions are right. Currently captain of Sale Sharks, Robinson captained England in his final season of Test rugby, but retired a year ago after collecting 35 caps and scoring 22 tries.
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/ 28 September 2006
Holders Barcelona left it late to snatch a 1-1 Champions League draw at Werder Bremen while a Didier Drogba hat trick guided Group A rivals Chelsea to a convincing 3-1 win over Levski Sofia on Wednesday. The place to be for excitement, though, was Anfield where Liverpool led Galatasaray 3-0 early in the second half before squeezing home 3-2 in a heart-stopping finale.
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/ 27 September 2006
Gay rights campaigners have pressed Manchester United midfielder to apologise after he allegedly made a homophobic comment to the referee during his club’s 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League. The 31-year-old former England international is alleged to have made the remark after receiving a yellow card from referee Frank De Bleeckere in the 10th minute of Tuesday’s clash in Lisbon.
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/ 27 September 2006
Inzamam ul-Haq arrived at The Oval in London on Wednesday for the start of a hearing where the Pakistan captain will answer disciplinary charges arising from his role in the team’s unprecedented forfeit of the fourth Test against England at the south London ground last month. Inzamam has been accused of ball-tampering, as captain, and bringing cricket into disrepute.
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/ 27 September 2006
American tycoon Randy Lerner has completed his takeover of Aston Villa after taking control of 90% of the shares in the English Premiership club. Lerner is expected to exercise his right to compulsorily purchase the remainder as soon as possible. The American officially became chairperson of the club last week in place of Doug Ellis.
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/ 27 September 2006
Sir Malcolm Arnold, the first British composer to win an Academy Award, died on September 23 at the age of 84 after a short illness, his carer said. Arnold, who won an Oscar for the music to Bridge on the River Kwai in 1958, died in a hospital in Norfolk county, eastern England, after suffering from a chest infection, said Anthony Day, Arnold’s companion and carer for 23 years.
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/ 27 September 2006
Striker Raul Gonzalez ended his 11-month scoring drought for Real Madrid in a big way. Injured for much of last season, Raul scored twice in Real Madrid’s 5-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday in the Champions League to become the tournament’s all-time scoring leader with 53 goals.
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/ 27 September 2006
Arsene Wenger believes Thierry Henry needs to start using his head before he can fulfil his true potential. Henry claimed his 50th goal in European football when he opened the scoring with a superbly taken header in Arsenal’s 2-0 Champions League win against Porto at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
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/ 26 September 2006
British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged followers on Tuesday to put aside squabbles over who succeeds him and focus on winning the next election in an emotional farewell speech to his party. Blair defended the centrist policies he has followed in nine years in power but said the party had to face up to challenges such as climate change, organised crime and terrorism.
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/ 26 September 2006
Will the spending needed to prevent global warming cost the world more than just sitting back, or even enjoying the possible financial benefits of a hotter planet? Economists are divided over that cold financial calculation in the week ahead of a major report on the issue to be presented to ministers of the world’s leading nations.
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/ 26 September 2006
Newcastle assistant manager Kevin Bond became the first casualty from last week’s BBC documentary alleging corruption in English football when he was sacked on Tuesday. The 49-year-old has hinted he intends to sue the BBC but that did not save him from being axed by Newcastle chairperson Freddy Shepherd.