Two a penny

.The health ministry in France has issued a warning after eight people died and seven fell sick in two European countries from using heroin contaminated by anthrax.
“Since December 6, there have been 15 confirmed cases of anthrax among heroin users, 14 in Scotland and one in Germany,” the ministry’s General Directorate for Health (DGS) said in a statement. “The likeliest source is heroin contaminated by anthrax spores.
“Eight people died,” it said.
Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium that exists naturally in the soil and can also occur among cattle. .
The ministry said the contaminated drug may also be circulating in France and other European countries. It is also, more notoriously, a potential bio-terror weapon.
-

.
“There is no outward sign or colour enabling the user to tell whether the heroin has been contaminated by anthrax, and contaminated heroin dissolves or is used in the same way as uncontaminated heroin,” it said

.Former French midfielder Zinedine Zidane is glad he was sent-off for his head-butt in the 2006 World Cup final because he has not had to live with regret over escaping punishment.
Zidane received a red card for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, the last match of his career, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“It [the sending off] was a very good thing,” the former Real Madrid and Juventus playmaker told France Football magazine. I don’t know how I could have lived with it had France become world champions and I had stayed on the pitch.
“It’s good that [Italian keeper Gianluigi] Buffon signalled what I had done to the referee because it was not pretty.
“Many people outside football got involved, people who love you when you lift trophies and let you down when things go wrong.”
Zidane, who helped France lift the World Cup in 1998, thought there had been an over-reaction to Thierry Henry’s handball that led to France beating Ireland in November and securing a 2010 World Cup place. .”
-

.Former French president Jacques Chirac has been placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds while he was mayor of Paris.
There are now two judicial cases hanging over Mr Chirac.
The first and larger of these cases will go to trial next year.
Both concern his long period as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and both centre on claims he paid senior members of his political party the RPR with funds that belonged to city hall. That means a trial in this case is more likely.
Now Mr Chirac has been told he is under formal investigation in the second. .
Mr Chirac has long protested his innocence in both affairs and he says he will be happy to explain his side of the story before a judge

.A man jailed in France for plotting to bomb an Australian nuclear power reactor could come up for early release next year, his lawyer said.
Convicted in 2007, Willie Brigitte received a nine-year jail sentence, of which six years was a fixed term. . With three years served before his conviction, the fixed part expires in November 2010.
Mr Durimel said that for early release, Brigitte would have to have a record of good behaviour and a guarantee of work in France, where he would have to remain for a probationary period.
But he stressed that “nothing was decided”, playing down Australian media reports that Brigitte, 41, could be freed next year for good behaviour.
Brigitte, a Muslim convert from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, was jailed in France for plotting to blow up a nuclear power plant in Australia and other possible targets.
During his jail term so far, “to my knowledge he has had no disciplinary incidents, so he is behaving quite correctly”, the lawyer said.
Mr Durimel argued at the time that there was a lack of proof to convict Brigitte, who was jailed on charges of “criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise”.
He was accused of setting up a terrorist cell in Australia on the orders of a Pakistani extremist group.
This catch-all offence, used in almost all terrorism cases in France, gives judges wide-ranging powers of arrest and detention without the need to prove that an attack was imminent.
-

.France’s first lady, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has agreed to star in Woody Allen’s next movie.
“He suggested I appear in his next film. I don’t know what the role would be, but I said yes,” the 41-year-old Italian-born singer-songwriter told the main evening entertainment show on the Canal+ network.
“I’m not an actress at all.
“I go into everything blindly or I’d never do anything at all,” she added, apparently referring to her showbiz career rather than to her sudden marriage last year to President Nicolas Sarkozy. When I’m a grandmother I’d like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen. Perhaps I’ll be completely hopeless, but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one.
“Woody Allen kindly asked me not to do a film with anyone else before him.”
New York filmmaker Allen visited the French first couple in June this year during a trip to Paris to promote his last movie, Whatever Works.
“If anything concrete ever comes of it, it’ll be a great experience for me. She has charisma and she performs, so she’s not a stranger to an audience. .”
-

.Rafael Nadal has silenced a partisan crowd by knocking out local favourite and Paris Masters title holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-5 with an impressive performance to reach the semi-finals.
World number two Nadal, who has won the French Open on the other side of town four times but never this event at the Bercy hall, will meet Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Gael Monfils, seeded 15th, later made sure there would be a French presence in the last four by recovering from a set down to oust 12th seed Marin Cilic of Croatia with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
The Serbian world number three earlier ruined Robin Soderling’s hopes of making the World Tour Finals in London by beating the Swede 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Czech Stepanek, the 13th seed, qualified the easy way when US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who was hampered by an abdominal strain and was trailing 4-0, retired.
The gifted but erratic Monfils worried his fans at first with clumsy errors, but then stepped up a gear and thrilled a raucous 14,000 crowd with astonishing winners to set up a semi-final against Radek Stepanek.
Spaniard Nadal, who still has an outside chance of finishing the year as number one, had the crowd against him and faced a strong challenge from the powerful Tsonga, who loves fast indoor courts.
Argentine Del Potro, the world number five who had survived seven match points before Chilean Fernando Gonzalez retired in their third-round match, clearly struggled to move around the court before quitting.
“I played a lot better today,” said Nadal, who struggled in his previous two matches, saving five match points in the first. But he showed more composure when it mattered. This is positive and gives me a lot of confidence.
“I was really focused all the time and played well at important moments.
The energetic Spaniard underlined his determination by winning his last game to love and finishing with a service winner, putting Tsonga out of the race for the Nov.”
Nadal made very few unforced errors and seized his chances, managing breaks with perfect timing in the 11th game of each set.
World number 10 Soderling’s defeat by Djokovic means the French Open runner-up, like Tsonga, will not go to London and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco grabs the last ticket to the finals. 22-29 season finale featuring the world’s top eight players.
“It looked tense because physically I didn’t really feel 100 per cent there,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer in the Basel final last week, looked tired at times, notably in the second set, which Soderling took in just 28 minutes.”
-

.

.Battling Rafael Nadal has moved into the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo, underlining his threat to unseat Roger Federer as world number one by the end of the season.
With Federer a shock loser to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, a win for Nadal in the final would leave him just 305 points adrift of his arch rival with the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to come in London later this month.
Nadal ended Federer’s long reign as world number one after winning the Beijing Olympics last year, but Federer bounced back to regain the top spot in July after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon titles.
Robredo even served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set, but once again Nadal produced his best with his back to the wall to pull through by winning the final three games of the match.
Nadal needed to save five match points to get past Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro in a second round marathon of over three hours, and he wobbled again against Robredo, another countryman and a player he had beaten in straight sets in all five of their previous encounters.
The Scot, who won a season-best sixth title in Valencia last weekend, was taken to 1:45am (local time) the night before in defeating James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4).
Joining Federer on the sidelines though was fourth seed Andy Murray, who found two matches in one day too much to handle as he lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
“I said last night it was going to be difficult to come back and feel 100 per cent.
“But you still come out and you try to give it your best shot. It’s obviously limited recovery after a long match,” he said.”
Nikolay Davydenko meanwhile became the seventh player to qualify for the eight-man London Tour Finals, despite losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in another third round match. [I] wasn’t good enough.
But then Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who was holding on to the eighth and final slot, lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Placed seventh in the standings coming into Paris, the loss briefly left the Russian at the mercy of the four other players in with a chance of playing in London from November 22-29.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
The match was evenly poised, with Gonzalez having taken the first set 7-6 (8-6), before Del Potro hit back with an identical scoreline in the second set.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez dropped out of the race when he pulled out injured in his third-round match against Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro.
Next up for him, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Soderling, who reached the French Open final the last time he was in Paris in June, will still have to at least reach the final at Bercy to have any chance of making it through to London.
He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year, having lost in four finals.
The 2008 Australian Open champion from Serbia, last year’s Tour Finals winner, is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week, where he beat Federer in the final.
“He is a big server and is having the best year of his career.
“Robin has a chance to qualify for the Masters Cup so he will give his best in the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said.”
Benneteau, who said his win over the world number one Federer was the best moment of his career, failed to carry his form through, losing 6-4, 6-3 to compatriot Gael Monfils. .
-

.Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco have moved closer to spots at the World Tour Finals in London with contrasting second-round wins at the Paris Masters.
World number seven Davydenko, who would make sure of entering the November 22-29 season finale with a semi-final appearance, brushed aside German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1.
The Spaniard’s win meant Czech Radek Stepanek and Croatia’s Marin Cilic dropped out of the race, leaving just five players fighting for the two remaining tickets to the London event featuring the world’s top eight players, with Davydenko and Verdasco first in line.
Verdasco, the world number eight, who will a book a trip to London if he wins the title but could qualify earlier depending on how other contenders fare, needed over two hours to move past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
World number nine Tsonga, who retired from his first-round match against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in Valencia last week because of a wrist injury, looked as fit as ever, outclassing Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 7-5 in a second-round match.
The other three are Swede Robin Soderling, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the defending champion in Paris.
“I love it here.
“I felt really good from the start,” Tsonga said.”
Eighth seed Tonga, who had a first-round bye like all seeded players, will next face compatriot Gilles Simon, who ousted Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in dramatic fashion in the day’s last match. I feel light, I feel there are no constraints and I’m just happy to go to the stadium every morning.
After receiving treatment, he appeared unable to move properly but still managed to force a tiebreak which he took 7-4 when Ljubicic hit a return long on the second match point.
Simon, seeded 11th, was leading 3-2 in the decisive set when he hurt his right knee.
“Every year it’s the same, whether I’m in (the World Tour Finals) or not depends on how I play in Paris, and I’m always in,” Davydenko said.
Davydenko, 28, who won in Paris in 2006 and is seeded sixth this year, will now meet Soderling or Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic.
“Making the World Tour finals is a big motivation,” the Spaniard said.
Seventh seed Verdasco, 25, next faces Cilic or Poland’s Lukasz Kubot. .
“I know if I win all my matches, I’ll qualify, whatever the others do, so that’s my goal.
-

.
World number one Roger Federer and number two Rafael Nadal will get started on Wednesday, against Frenchman Julien Benneteau and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro respectively

.Kangaroos stalwart Petero Civoniceva admits the Australian pack needs to step up if it is to walk away with the silverware from the Four Nations final on November 14.
While the Kangaroos still need to beat winless France in Paris this weekend to confirm a spot in the Elland Road decider, Civoniceva says the tournament favourites have failed to impose themselves up front against either New Zealand or England.
New Zealand intimidated the Australian forwards with some brutal defence in their drawn tournament opener, while the Kangaroos struggled to contain the much bigger English pack when they started to get a bit of ball in the second half of Saturday’s 26-16 win in Wigan.
Those two sides will battle it out on Saturday for the other final berth.
“They had all the momentum and probably if the game went a little bit longer it could have got a bit scary.
“Those latter stages it started to get a bit hairy, but full credit to the boys for hanging in,” he said of the England game, when the hosts came back from 26-0 down at half-time.
“To a man we all knew we probably let ourselves down with what happened against the Kiwis. .”
The match was only the second Civoniceva has played since late June after damaging his toe in Queensland’s Origin II win in Sydney.
“We weren’t too far off the mark, but physically they certainly set the standard and we had to come out and match England up front where they’re very strong.
The France game would normally be one where the elder statesman of the Kangaroos pack would be expected to get the night off.
The 33-year-old admitted to struggling with his fitness late in the game, a factor which will probably see him get another run against France in Toulouse before the final.
“I’ll definitely put my hand up [to play against France] - if the results were a bit more dominant I might have got a rest,” he said.
But the need for match fitness is likely to be the deciding factor - plus the fact the 38-Test veteran needs to play to be able to break Johnny Raper’s record for most appearances in the green and gold by a forward.
“We were on the back foot, we were defending back to back sets but overall I was pretty happy.
“I probably hit the wall a little bit [against England].”
- AAP

.The only surviving Union Jack from the Battle of Trafalgar has sold at auction in London for close toly $700,000 after being found tucked away in a drawer in a Sydney home.
The battle-scarred flag, which was flown from the mast of HMS Spartiate during the battle, was given to Lieutenant James Clephan by his crew mates 204 years ago as a reward for his bravery during the fighting.
Lieutenant Clephan’s relatives moved to Australia in the 1960s and the flag was tucked away in the bottom drawer of a home in Castle Hill, Sydney for safe-keeping.
The 1805 naval engagement pitted the British fleet under Lord Nelson against the combined French and Spanish fleets, and the ensuing British victory was seen as a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars.
During a fierce bidding war the price climbed more than 30 times the original estimate, setting a new world record for a British flag.
Overnight a London auction house was stunned when the flag sold for a world record of 384,000 pounds ($687,774). .
The buyer is an American collector who wants to remain anonymous.
“So this is a passion I’ve had for history and many of these artefacts people often do not keep the story and the history together.
“I’m a collector and I’ve been collecting flags for over four decades, and I work on keeping the story and the relic together,” he said.
“In the United States it would have a nice home and if we’re not able to work something out with the British government, we of course will give it a good home in the US.
“We understand the concern people may have in the United Kingdom about the flag going to America, but we’re working on a plan to work with the British government to accommodate that concern.”
The buyer says he finds the story of Lieutenant Clephan “intriguing”, which is what attracted him to the flag. I’m sure it will be on view in the US for people to see.
“We’re familiar with the history of the lieutenant who was given the flag at the time right after the battle.
“It’s one of the most historical flags, certainly in the Western world, that’s well documented from a historical event,” he said.”

.
“This is a man who worked himself up through the ranks of the British Navy and became one of only 16 captains to do that in the history of the Royal Navy