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/ 6 September 2006
England coach Duncan Fletcher has spoken publicly for the first time regarding newspaper reports he saw match referee Mike Procter before play on the fourth day of the controversial fourth Test against Pakistan at The Oval last month. Some reports in the British press suggested Fletcher had seen Procter on the morning of August 20 to discuss alleged ball-tampering by Pakistan.
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/ 6 September 2006
Tony Blair will be replaced as British Prime Minister by the end of July 2007, newspapers reported on Wednesday, signalling the start of a leadership battle that some fear may paralyse government for months. Finance Minister Gordon Brown is widely expected to succeed Blair as leader of the Labour Party and the country.
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/ 5 September 2006
World oil prices moved in different directions on Tuesday when trading was resumed in New York crude. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, tumbled 83 cents to ,36 per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the United States market.
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/ 4 September 2006
Pakistan have been told off by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for repeatedly making public comments about the events surrounding the final Test against England. Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, has issued a final warning to the Pakistan team and management to stop issuing comments related to the controversial events.
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/ 4 September 2006
Eight British Muslims were remanded in custody on Monday after appearing in court in connection with a suspected plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. The men, aged between 19 and 28, appeared at London’s Old Bailey central criminal court via video link from Belmarsh maximum security prison in south-east London.
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/ 4 September 2006
Renault’s world champion Fernando Alonso says he is looking for a ”special” victory in front of Ferrari’s home crowd at Monza in Italy next weekend. ”This year I have won in Silverstone, in Monaco, in Spain — and for sure, I want to win Monza too,” the Spaniard said in a team preview on Monday for the last European race of the Formula One season.
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/ 4 September 2006
European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam admitted Thomas Bjorn had struggled to accept his failure to make the cut for this month’s showdown with the United States. Bjorn was overlooked when Woosnam named his two wild-card choices for the contest on Sunday, giving the nod to Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke and England’s Lee Westwood instead.
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/ 4 September 2006
World Cup winners Italy better finish their long lap of honour before Wednesday. Otherwise they may not make it to Euro 2008. Held 1-1 at home by Lithuania on Saturday, the lacklustre Italians play in France less than two months after the two sides met in the World Cup final.
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/ 4 September 2006
Former world featherweight boxing champion ”Prince” Naseem Hamed was released early from jail on Monday after serving only a few weeks of a 15-month sentence for dangerous driving and seriously injuring another motorist. Briton Hamed was sentenced in May after his Mercedes sports car collided head-on with another car.
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/ 4 September 2006
Every morning a mild-mannered British servant catches his commuter train to London, whips open his laptop and helps change the way people travel around the world. Mark Smith is the man behind <i>The Man in Seat</i>, an independent website that’s riding a wave of global popularity as more and more travellers give up on chaotic air travel and embrace the romance of railways.
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/ 3 September 2006
If David Beckham was hoping for an early return to international football, the Real Madrid midfielder will have watched Steven Gerrard’s inspiring display in England’s 5-0 defeat of Andorra with a growing sense of gloom. Asked once again to fill the right-hand position that Beckham had for so long made his own, Gerrard responded in sterling fashion.
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/ 3 September 2006
Shoaib Akhtar set up Pakistan’s seven-wicket win over England in the second one-day international at Lord’s in London on Saturday as the tourists went 1-0 up in the five-match series. Akhtar finished with four for 28 from his permitted eight overs, while his miserly new-ball partner Mohammad Asif took two for 10, also in eight overs.
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/ 2 September 2006
A British government minister may have thought he was keeping up with modern trends when he put a draft policy on the internet on Friday, but was soon left red-faced when hundreds of pranksters defaced it. More than 170 cyber-jokers trashed the document by adding in bizarre paragraphs for fun
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/ 1 September 2006
A new, deadly strain of tuberculosis (TB) has killed 52 of 53 people infected in the last year in South Africa, the World Health Organisation said on Friday, calling for improved measures to treat and diagnose the bacteria. The strain was discovered in KwaZulu-Natal, and is classified as extremely drug-resistant.
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/ 1 September 2006
Everton manager David Moyes is to sue his former protégé and England striker Wayne Rooney over comments made in the 20-year-old’s autobiography, his lawyer said on Friday. Rooney, who joined Manchester United in 2004 for a fee estimated at £25-million, made his first-team breakthrough under Moyes at Goodison Park as a teenager.
Rain ended England’s run of seven straight limited-overs defeats as the first one-day international against Pakistan ended in a no-result at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Wednesday. Pakistan, chasing a revised target of 159 in 32 overs after a rain break, were 46 for one off seven overs when a second downpour ended the match.
Jonny Wilkinson, who has not played for England since clinching the 2003 World Cup with a last-minute drop goal, has changed his distinctive kicking style in a bid to stay injury-free this season. The 27-year-old Newcastle player insists he has identified what was causing him to break down during every attempted comeback and reckons it will no longer be a problem.
Kevin Pietersen says heartbreaking racial quotas forced him into making the biggest decision of his life, to quit his native South Africa and move to England. The batsman said his starring role in last summer’s Ashes’ triumph only happened when racial discrimination resulted in him being left out of the KwaZulu-Natal side because of the colour of his skin.
Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq has said umpire Darrell Hair is now in ”big trouble” as the ball-tampering row took a new twist. Pakistan Cricket Board chiefs on Tuesday called on the International Cricket Council to hold an inquiry into the conduct of 53-year-old Australian umpire Hair before disciplinary charges, due to be heard late next month, are considered against Inzamam.
Two-time defending champion Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0 on Sunday in the English Premier League, winning on Frank Lampard’s 50th-minute penalty and a late goal from substitute Didier Drogba. Unlike the Blues of the last two seasons, Chelsea looked unconvincing — particularly in the first half.
Premiership footballers are storing stem cells from their newborn babies to use in case of their own career-threatening sports injuries, according to a report on Sunday. They are freezing cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of their babies as a possible future cure for cartilage and ligament problems, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Madonna feels responsible for the children of the world and has found herself a ”big, big project” to help orphans in Malawi. Gwyneth Paltrow declares ”I am African” in a new advertisement for a charity working in Africa. The continent has long been a favourite destination for celebrity campaigners, going back to 1954 when Danny Kaye became Unicef’s goodwill ambassador.
In a break with the past, the youthful leader of Britain’s main opposition Conservative Party on Sunday renounced Margaret Thatcher’s sympathetic stance on apartheid-era South Africa. She famously branded Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress as ”terrorists”.
Liverpool picked up its first Premier League victory of the season on Saturday, beating West Ham 2-1 on first-half goals from Daniel Agger and Peter Crouch. Liverpool opened last weekend with a disappointing 1-1 draw at newly promoted Sheffield United.
Revelations that umpire Darrell Hair asked cricket’s governing body the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a 000 pay-off to defuse the ball-tampering row with Pakistan dominated Britain’s newspapers on Saturday. Copies of the e-mails in which Hair made the request to the ICC’s umpires and referees manager, Doug Cowie, were reprinted while ex-pros and pundits gave their views.
Childhood allergies are on the rise around the world, including in many developing countries where asthma, eczema and hay fever are emerging as important public health problems, scientists said on Friday. Asthma, in particular, is responsible for millions of children missing school, ending up in hospital or even dying.
Archaeologists from a television team will celebrate the 80th birthday of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth by digging up the manicured lawns and gardens at three of her palaces to trace their history. At Windsor Castle they hope to unearth Edward III’s Round Table building which they believe lies under the Queen’s ceremonial lawn.
Europe’s largest street party got under way on Sunday as festivities began in the narrow streets of London’s Notting Hill with an estimated 300Â 000 visitors coming to enjoy the first day of the annual carnival. Children and adults in elaborate costumes, many decked out with multi-coloured feathers and large wings, paraded along the carnival’s three-and-a-half mile route in west London to the sound of whistles, steel drums, and Caribbean music.
Middlesbrough scored twice in the final 10 minutes and rallied to beat Chelsea 2-1 on Wednesday, leaving Manchester United alone at the top of the English Premier League standings. Two-time defending champions Chelsea led on a 16th-minute goal from Andriy Shevchenko before Emanuel Pogatetz equalised and substitute Mark Viduka scored in injury time to win it for Middlesbrough.
Four-time European champions Ajax were ousted from the European Champions League qualifying on Wednesday, scoring an own-goal in their 2-0 loss at home to FC Copenhagen. Ajax had a 2-1 lead heading into the second leg of their third-round qualifying match at the Amsterdam Arena, but fell behind when Michael Silberbauer scored in the 59th minute.
Satellite navigation (satnav) systems may be the latest ”must have” car gadgets but London’s cab drivers, who have to pass the world’s toughest taxi exam, are not impressed. While hundreds of thousands of the high-tech guidance systems are sold in Britain every year most cabbies in London prefer to rely on their own brain power.
Pakistan tour manager Zaheer Abbas confirmed on Wednesday the team’s upcoming one-day series against England will go ahead after a disciplinary hearing involving captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was postponed. Inzamam faces charges of ball-tampering and bringing cricket into disrepute.