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Curfew guard
07/28 | 23:19 GMT
©AFP / Tauseef Mustafa
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard during an undeclared curfew in downtown Srinagar, as part of a week-long calender of protests and strikes called by Muslim separatists.
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Hughes set for Fulham job: reports
07/29 | 11:16 GMT
©AFP/File / Andrew Yates
Reports said that former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes, seen here in 2009, is set to be appointed as Fulham boss within the next 48 hours.
©AFP/File / Andrew Yates
Hughes is understood to have reached an agreement over a three-year contract worth two million pounds
LONDON (AFP) - Former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is set to be appointed as Fulham boss within the next 48 hours, according to reports in England on Thursday.
Hughes was said to have been contacted by Fulham after the west London club were unable to lure Ajax coach Martin Jol to Craven Cottage.
With the new Premier League season starting in just over two weeks, Fulham officials have been desperate to find a replacement for Roy Hodgson, who left earlier in pre-season to take over at Liverpool.
Hughes is understood to have reached an agreement over a three-year contract worth two million pounds a year after talks with Fulham and his family, who are currently based in the north of England.
An announcement is expected soon and the 46-year-old will bring in his own backroom staff that includes Mark Bowen, Kevin Hitchcock and Eddie Niedzwiecki.
Hughes is likely to be given around 15 million pounds to spend by Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed and he will link-up again with chief executive Alistair Mackintosh, who he worked closely with during his time at Manchester City.
One of his first jobs will be to consider a mooted deal for Steve Sidwell from Aston Villa as well as attempting to persuade goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer to stay at the club if Arsenal decide to increase their bid for the Australian.
The former Manchester United and Chelsea striker first came into management with the Wales national team and was close to guiding them to Euro 2004 but lost out in a play-off to Russia.
Hughes moved to Blackburn in 2004 and led Rovers to an FA Cup semi-final and UEFA Cup qualification.
Four years later he joined City but despite pushing the club into the top six, expectations changed when the Abu Dhabi United Group took charge and he was dismissed midway through last season.
Football
Hughes set for Fulham job: ...Plastic Bertrand admits not singing pop classic
07/28 | 17:44 GMT
©AFP/File / Stephane de Sakutin
Belgian pop star Plastic Bertrand, pictured during a 2003 concert, confessed Wednesday he did not sing his 1977 hit record "Ca Plane Pour Moi" -- nor any of the songs on his first four albums.
©AFP/File / Stephane de Sakutin
Plastic Bertrand said he did not sing any of the songs on his first four albums
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgian pop star Plastic Bertrand confessed Wednesday he did not sing his 1977 hit record "Ca Plane Pour Moi" -- nor any of the songs on his first four albums.
"I don't mind saying it was not my voice," he told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir in an unusual confession for the pop world.
"I'm the victim. I wanted to sing, but he would not let me access the studio," Bertrand said about the real singer behind the hit single, Lou Deprijk.
"He asked me to keep my mouth shut in exchange for 0.5 percent of the rights, and promised he would make a new version with my voice, which of course he never did," Plastic Bertrand said.
"It was time he stopped pretending otherwise," Deprijk's lawyer said about Plastic Bertrand's admission.
A Belgian appeal court in 2006 ruled that Bertrand was the "legal performer" of the classic track.
Entertainment
Plastic Bertrand admits not singing pop ...Morgan sparks England revival
07/29 | 14:57 GMT
©AFP / Ian Kington
Mohammad Aamer of Pakistan (left) reacts after dismissing England captain Andrew Strauss at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Eoin Morgan led England to 190 for four at tea after Pakistan took two wickets in quick succession on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge.
©AFP / Ian Kington
Aamer took two wickets for 19 runs in eight overs
NOTTINGHAM, England (AFP) - Eoin Morgan led England to 190 for four at tea after Pakistan took two wickets in quick succession on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge here on Thursday.
England, who won the toss, were in trouble at 118 for four shortly after lunch, with Kevin Pietersen out for nine in his first match since injuring his thigh in a one-day international against Australia at Lord's on July 3.
But former Ireland left-hander Morgan hit back with 44 not out featuring nine boundaries and together with Paul Collingwood (27 not out) had so far shared an unbroken stand of 72.
In a series where the Decision Review System (DRS) was being used in England for the first time, Pakistan wasted both their two permitted unsuccessful challenges on appeals by Mohammad Asif for lbw and caught behind against Pietersen on one and five.
But Asif then bowled Pietersen, leaving a gap between bat and pad, off the inside edge.
England's other South Africa-born batsman, Jonathan Trott, had added just three to his lunchtime 35 when he padded up to an inswinger from Aamer.
Trott, succcessful with a previous referral, asked for New Zealand umpire Tony Hill's lbw verdict to be reviewed.
But replays suggested the ball was clipping the top of the stumps and Trott was out, with England 118 for four.
And there was a fresh flashpoint when wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal appealed for a catch against Morgan, on five, off the bowling of left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Aamer.
But even before the third umpire ruled in Morgan's favour, crowd jeers were ringing round Trent Bridge as replays on the giant screen showed the ball had clearly bounced into Kamran Akmal's gloves.
It took Collingwood 30 balls to score his first four but then two came in as many Umar Gul deliveries, courtesy of a couple of square cuts.
©AFP / Ian Kington
Strauss (R) was caught behind for 45
Morgan then cover-drove and glanced off-spinner Shoaib Malik for fours.
Both batsmen cashed in against Pakistan's slow bowlers and Morgan made it six boundaries for England in 12 deliveries with a trademark reverse sweep off leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.
Before lunch Aamer, who took seven wickets in Pakistan's dramatic three-wicket second Test win over Australia at Headingley last week, had Alastair Cook caught at first slip and had England captain Andrew Strauss caught behind for 45.
Earlier, Strauss had a huge reprieve when, on 15, he edged an outswinger from the 18-year-old Aamer only for Kamran Akmal to drop the routine chance.
Cook struggled in overcast conditions similar to those in which Pakistan bowled Australia out for just 88 in the first innings at Headingley and on eight edged Aamer to first slip Imran Farhat.
Trott then became the first batsman to use DRS in England when, on 13, he given out, lbw to Kaneria, by de Silva. As replays showed Trott had got an inside edge, de Silva reversed his original verdict.
But Aamer did have Strauss, playing loosely outside off-stump, eventually caught behind by Kamran Akmal to end a second-wicket stand of 51.
Pakistan players wore black armbands in memory of the 152 people killed in after an airplane crashed near the capital city of Islamabad on Wednesday.
Cricket
Morgan sparks England ...France vows to tear down Gypsy camps
07/29 | 02:59 GMT
©AFP/File / Jeff Pachoud
A gypsy camp in Vaulx en Velin, east of Lyon. France has vowed to tear down illegal Gypsy camps and expel Gypsies from other EU states who break the law, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the minority posed security "problems."
©AFP/File / Jeff Pachoud
A gypsy camp in Vaulx en Velin, east of Lyon
PARIS (AFP) - France intensified a crackdown Thursday on illegal Gypsy camps and moved to expel foreign Gypsies breaking the law, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said some in the community posed security problems.
The move followed crisis talks called by Sarkozy on Wednesday as part of his declared "war on crime" which prompted rights groups to accuse him of stigmatising the Roma, Gypsy and traveller minorities.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said that about 300 illegal "camps or squats" housing Gypsies and travellers would be closed in three months and foreign Gypsies breaking the law would be immediately deported.
"Tax inspectors will be sent to inspect the households of the inhabitants of these illicit and illegal camps because a lot of our compatriots are rightly surprised to see the caravans pulled by certain powerful cars," he added.
The French government said many in the camps or settlements were involved in "smuggling, exploiting children for begging, prostitution or delinquency".
France will also ask Romania and Bulgaria to send about 20 police officers to the greater Paris region, where many Gypsies live, and proposes sending its own forces to the two countries to fight trafficking.
Anti-racism groups, however, were outraged, accusing Sarkozy of singling out and smearing a minority for electoral gain.
©AFPTV
VIDEO: France's Roma Gypsies are concerned by President Sarkozy's "war on crime" talks. Duration: 02:11
"The Elysee wants to stir fear in order to deploy security measures and a surveillance society," said Dominique Sopo of the pressure group SOS-Racism.
Sarkozy stirred controversy by warning ahead of the meeting that some members of the itinerant minorities posed security "problems", in response to an attack on a police station in Saint-Aignan, central France last week.
Masked rioters tried to break down the door of the station, damaged other buildings and burned cars during the attack, sparked after police shot dead a Gypsy during a car chase.
Sarkozy called the meeting of ministers and police chiefs to review what he dubbed "the situation of travelling people and Roma and the problems that certain members of these communities pose to public order and safety".
Gypsy groups and political opponents said Sarkozy's approach stigmatises minority communities and did not distinguish between ethnic Roma and Gypsies, and the separate community of French "travellers".
"If Nicolas Sarkozy must repeat his declaration of war, the Collective of Gypsy Associations will be prompted to take legal action for incitement to racial hatred," the rights association UFAT said in a statement.
©AFP / Boris Horvat
French lawyer and human right league member Henri Braun (C) in Saint-Ouen
The group said it wanted to meet Sarkozy to discuss a solution for the 400,000 Gypsies and travelling people in France.
Authorities estimate that in France there are about 15,000 Roma, an ethnic group widespread in eastern Europe.
Most in France are thought to be from Romania and Bulgaria, which both joined the EU in 2007. Many live in slums in suburbs such as Aubervilliers on the outskirts of Paris.
There, Socialist mayor Jacques Salvator runs an "insertion village", a cluster of publicly-funded plastic cabins that are home to about 12 Roma families while they wait to be allocated public housing.
Salvator said that "50 projects like this one would be enough to solve the problem in the Paris region."
The cabins are home to Roma such as Dominica Mierriutu, 53, and her husband Mircea, 58, who came to France from Romania and were moved to the "village" from a nearby slum along with their five-year-old granddaughter Rebeca.
"We are lucky. It was a miserable life in the slum shack. Now the children go to school, we have hot water and all that," Dominica Mierriutu told AFP.
Some Roma groups oppose the "insertion" housing system however, saying it fails to help them integrate and find legal work.
Lifestyle
France vows to tear down Gypsy ...Churchill's false teeth go on sale
07/29 | 14:46 GMT
©Churchill Archives Centre
A set of dentures made for Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill went under the hammer on Thursday as auctioneers expected to fetch up to £5,000 for "the teeth that saved the world".
©Churchill Archives Centre
An archive of Churchill's personal papers is to be made available on the Internet for the first time
LONDON (AFP) - A set of dentures made for Britain's war-time prime minister Winston Churchill went under the hammer Thursday as auctioneers expected to fetch up to £5,000 for "the teeth that saved the world".
The false teeth were specially designed to preserve Churchill's natural lisp which can still be heard on the morale-boosting radio broadcasts he made to the nation during World War II.
Churchill also used them to vent his frustration when the 1939-45 conflict was not going well by dramatically flicking them out of his mouth, according to Nigel Cudlipp, whose father made the dentures and who is now selling them.
"My father recounted many stories of Churchill putting his thumb behind the front of the teeth and just flicking them," Cudlipp told BBC radio.
"My father used to say he could tell that he could tell how well the war effort was going by how far they went across the room and whether they hit the opposite wall.
"Churchill was not a man who was renowned for his patience."
It is thought that only four sets of the teeth were made. One is thought to have gone to the grave with him, another is in a London museum labelled "the teeth that saved the world" and a third was melted down.
The dentures are going on sale at auctioneers Keys in Aylsham, Norfolk, eastern England, who have issued a guide price of between £4,000 and 5,000 (6,000 euros, 7,800 dollars).
Meanwhile, it was announced Thursday that a huge archive of Churchill's personal papers is to be made available on the Internet for the first time within two years.
This includes around a million pages of material such as annotated drafts of his most famous speeches, school reports and even information about his cat, dogs and pet budgerigar Toby.
"Churchill was someone who lived by his pen so this is an incredibly rich written archive and it must be one of the largest personal archives of its kind in the country," Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, told AFP.
