Two a penny

.World number one Roger Federer has sunk to an embarrassing 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 second-round defeat against unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the ATP Paris Masters.
The Swiss ace looked on course for the third round after cruising through the first set, but came unstuck in the second as uncharacteristic errors begin to creep into his game.
Benneteau, the world number 49, was roared on by his home crowd and secured the result of his life with an ace after bringing up match point by rattling a crosscourt backhand past the 15-time major-winner.
“Even in the second set, I don’t think I had a break point.
“He was very strong at the end,” said Federer of his 27-year-old opponent, who has never won an ATP title. It wasn’t a bad performance.
“I can definitely play better but I can also play much worse.
“Julien went out and got the victory.”
Second seed Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, admitted that he was “very lucky” after edging a titanic struggle with Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 in three hours and 14 minutes. I had chances and missed them.
“I played great tennis in only one moment, but in the rest of the match I didn’t play well,” Nadal said in reference to his comeback from 5-6 and 0-40 down in the second set.
Nadal was a set and 5-6 down against Almagro, who had not taken a set from him in four previous meetings, and survived five match points before battling back to set up a third-round tie with 14th-seeded countryman Tommy Robredo. That’s the truth.
“I am very lucky to be in the (next) round. I played bad but I won, which is the one positive thing. I played bad but I won, which is the one positive thing. .
British fourth seed Murray saw off America’s James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4) in a match that finished at 1:46am local time to set up a match with Czech 13th seed Radek Stepanek.
“This day will be where all the memories of my career will stay, all in one box.
“This day will stand out for a long time, until I pass into a different world,” Safin, a three-time winner here, told the crowd at the Bercy arena during a special post-match ceremony.
“I didn’t feel that great on the court,” Djokovic said.”
Third seed Djokovic, who beat Federer in the Basel final last weekend, overcame Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-5. But I got a victory and that’s what matters most.
“It was probably a long week in Basel that affected that.”
Djokovic will now face French qualifier Arnaud Clement, a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) winner over German 16th seed Tommy Haas, with Del Potro to play Chilean 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez.
“Generally speaking, I’ve picked up great form in the last two months.
Soderling is one place outside the eight qualifying berths for the year-end event but needs to at least reach the final to stand any chance of securing one of the last two available spots.
Soderling is one place outside the eight qualifying berths for the year-end event but needs to at least reach the final to stand any chance of securing one of the last two available spots.
He will meet Russian Nikolay Davydenko, currently seventh in the race to London, in the next round.
Gael Monfils, the 15th seed, set up an encounter with Benneteau by beating fellow Frenchman David Guez 6-4, 7-5, with 12th seed Marin Cilic set to face Spain’s Fernando Verdasco after coming from behind to beat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2.
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.Sydney Roosters wing Sam Perrett bagged a hat-trick to help New Zealand ultimately thrash France 62-12 overnight as the Kiwis record their first Four Nations win.
New Zealand raced into a 10-point lead through skipper Benji Marshall and Perrett before France hit back thanks to Sebastien Martins’s maiden try.
But Perrett, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Frank-Paul Nuuausala led a succession of second-half tries to eventually put the underdogs to the sword as the world champions, held 20-20 by Australia last week, proved too strong.
World Cup hero Lance Hohaia and France’s Australian-born James Wynne exchanged scores either side of the break as the hosts kept their hopes alive.
Yet they started the brighter and when former Newcastle Knights man Wynne broke the tackle and fed the ball wide, Nicolas Piquemal came within inches of touching down. .
Within three minutes of the re-start Marshall was probing again and after Frank Pritchard and Fuifui Moimoi were denied, Nathan Fien chipped the ball into the corner for Perrett to collect and score.
But French hopes looked dashed in the first New Zealand attack when hooker Thomas Leuluai burst clear to lay-off for skipper Marshall to wander over and put the first points on the board.
Undeterred, Wynne, a former understudy to Australia half-back Andrew Johns, combined with New Zealand-born Kane Bentley to send Martins over for his first French try in the 23rd minute.
Bryson Goodwin dragged his first conversion attempt wide but managed to curl his second inside the posts to put the Kiwis 10-0 up.
The hosts produced three consecutive sets of six inside the New Zealand 22 but after Wynne was halted five-yards short of the line, Isaac Luke scampered clear and World Cup hero Hohaia grabbed his eighth Kiwi try.
Thomas Bosc converted to reduce the score further and after Perrett knocked-on over the line the French could smell an upset.
Yet any hopes they had of pulling away in the final 40 minutes appeared to be dashed when Bosc’s kick was fumbled in defence and Wynne downed the ball.
Goodwin made no mistake with the conversion to send the world champions in 16-6 up at the break.
New Zealand eventually turned up the heat and after a sustained period of pressure Hohaia and Fien combined to send Perrett in at the corner in the 53rd minute.
Bosc slotted over the extras from in front of the posts to peg the Kiwis back at 12-16.
With its hopes of a famous win snuffed out, France began to cave in and Nuuausala drove over before Hohaia sprinted the full length of the field to score on the hour.
Goodwin converted and after collecting the kick-off Perrett dug the ball out just short of the line to allow Waerea-Hargreaves to cross within two minutes.
Perrett did then grab his third try of the night before Goodwin and Waerea-Hargreaves rounded off the scoring.
Goodwin converted both tries before Perrett flicked the ball unselfishly out the back of his hand for Junior Sa’u to extend the lead.
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BREAKING NEWS:
A man who shot his friend dead at a dinner party has been found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Sobbing and screaming was heard in theHigh Court at Aucklandwhen the jury found Alan Christopher Paul Gundry, 30,not guilty of the murder or manslaughter of Gene Patrick Atkins, 28.

Earlier, the jury heardthat Gundry,terrified for his young family, had only seconds to decide whether to shoot his friend with a pig-hunting rifle.

The jury had acceptedGundry’s defence that he killed Atkins in self-defence.

Both men had been friends for years and had spent January 12 this year eating and drinking at Gundry’s home.

Atkinshad goneberserk atGundry’s home after a fight with his girlfriend, Sarah Jane Dean, the court heard. They had gone home and he had thrown her belongings out of his house.

But during the evening Mr Atkins had become upset with his girlfriend.

Gundry’s lawyer, Graeme Newell, told the High Court at Auckland his client had been forced to shoot Mr Atkins in an act of self-defence. She then fled to Gundry’s, and Mr Atkins followed, intending to confront her.

One partygoer had been left semi-conscious in a pool of blood after being assaulted by Mr Atkins, while Gundry’s partner, Nicole MacDonald, was held over the top of a set of stairs.

Mr Newell said five people, including Gundry’s partner, had been attacked in the accused’s house that night, all in a short space of time.

“Should a person who has been attacked or seen others attacked wait until they too are the victim of a serious assault?

“If he wasn’t acting defensively, why would he let off two rounds in his own home when his nine-month-old, his five-year-old and his partner were upstairs?

“He didn’t want to do that, he didn’t want to fire shots into his own house.

Gundry was confronted by a dire threat and had to take “instant and decisive” action to protect himself and his family, Mr Newell said.

The court was told Mr Atkins had a history of violence, including several assaults on his girlfriend and a road-rage incident.”

Gundry was a peaceful man with no history of violence and no reason to kill his friend, Mr Newell said. The charge came after Mr Atkins allegedly glassed a man in the face at an Auckland nightclub.

Mr Newell told the court that at the time of his death Mr Atkins had also been awaiting trial on a charge of grievous bodily harm.

But Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb said Gundry’s decision to shoot Mr Atkins was unacceptable and completely excessive. The injuries were so severe the man lost sight in one eye.

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.The United Nations nuclear watchdog is reporting positive steps at the start of new talks about Iran’s nuclear program. .
The negotiations between Iran, Russia, France and the US build on progress already made at a meeting early this month to end the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Western powers fear Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, although Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.
Iran had tentatively agreed to ship enriched uranium to France or Russia for processing as a way of increasing international scrutiny of its enrichment activities, although state television is now reporting that Iran will not deal directly with France because it had failed to deliver nuclear materials in the past.

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The meeting will continue today

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One of the worst yearly economic turnarounds in New Zealand’s history will take 20 years to recover from, Finance Minister Bill English said.

The final government accounts for the year ended June showed a dramatic $12.9 billion annual decline in the headline operating balance – to a $10.3 billion surplus in 2008.5 billion deficit at the end of 2009 compared to $2.

Treasury said it was the worst budget turnaround since comparable statistics began in the 1990s with the move to accrual accounting.

This was due both to the recession and decisions by both the former Labour government and the incoming National Government.

The books showed two rounds of tax cuts reduced revenue by $3 billion with extra spending announced in the 2008 budget on health and education added $2 billion to expenditure, while the lengthening dole queue and indexation of benefit increased welfare spending by $1.

Revenue would have been a lot lower except that Treasury booked $1.5 billion.

These are still open to further appeal.4 billion in back taxes due from major banks after Inland Re venue favourably challenged their structured finance deals in the courts.3 billion with investment losses and asset impairments costing another $4. .1 billion.1 billion.7 percent of GDP in 2008 to 9.6 billion compared to the $2 billion surplus in the previous financial year, which led to a dramatic rise in net debt from 5.

Around July last year was still predicting an operating surplus of $2.5 percent at the end of 2009.

The signs of gaping holes in the Government books were beginning to appear in July 2008 with Treasury predicting cash surpluses would be a thing of the past for the foreseeable future.56 billion would be revealed in today’s accounts, this was already down from the $7 billion forecast in December 2007.

This rubbed salt in the wounds of the New Zealand economy which had already been shrinking since the beginning of 2008.

Then the world was hit by the credit crisis and the collapse of many major international financial institutions which brought on a global recession.

Government debt could increase to around $70 billion meaning the cost of servicing the debt would rise from around $2.

Finance Minister Bill English said the gaps in the books would have to be met by borrowing and this combined with the harm to the economy meant it could be 20 years before the Government books regained the ground lost in the last 20 months.

Net debt would rise from below 10 percent of GDP to more than 30 percent over the next 10 years even if the economy grew at fairly robust levels in the coming years.

Net debt would rise from below 10 percent of GDP to more than 30 percent over the next 10 years even if the economy grew at fairly robust levels in the coming years.

.Italy scraped a draw against the Republic of Ireland to join Germany, Denmark and Serbia as the latest teams to secure 2010 World Cup places in a drama-laden penultimate batch of qualifiers earlier today (Australian time).
This quartet join already-qualified England, Spain and the Netherlands, leaving two automatic berths from the continent still up for grabs heading into Wednesday’s last throw of the South Africa dice.
Russia, beaten 1-0 by ten-man Germany in Moscow, and the Republic of Ireland, is among the teams assured of places in November’s two-leg play-offs.
The Irish came desperately close to pulling off a major upset in Dublin as Sean St Ledger headed them into a 2-1 lead with only three minutes to go, only for Alberto Gilardino to level on the whistle.
France, beaten on penalties in the 2006 final by Italy, are also in the play-offs after routing part-timers the Faroe Islands 5-0 to book second place in Group Seven behind Serbia, who trounced Romania by the same scoreline.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi praised the Azzurri’s “great performance”.
That put the world champions into an unassailable lead in Group Eight with Ireland as runners-up.
“If we had lost it would have been a big injustice because we played with passion, character and enthusiasm,” he added.
“We struggled but the result is even better for that.
Gilardino predicted Italy could go all the way again in 2010.
“We can hope to go all the way, the basis of this squad is the same as the one that won in 2006 but we’ve added some young players and some good players. At the end we deserved the draw,” the Fiorentina striker said.”
– Germany through –
Earlier, three-time world champion Germany ensured its participation in next year’s World Cup with a game to spare after a gritty defeat of Guus Hiddink’s Russia.
“Now we’ll go to South Africa in good spirits and with hope to win it again.
Miroslav Klose’s first-half goal booked Germany’s ticket with Joachim Loew’s team reduced to 10 men when Jerome Boateng was sent packing after receiving a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining.
Miroslav Klose’s first-half goal booked Germany’s ticket with Joachim Loew’s team reduced to 10 men when Jerome Boateng was sent packing after receiving a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining. We needed a bit of luck, but we have made sure of qualifying for the World Cup and you can’t ask for more,” Loew reflected.
“The team did well.”
Hiddink said his team can not be happy with the result. .
“We were not good enough at finishing our chances or on the counter-attack.
“But the team showed character in the second half,” he said.”
Denmark got the better of neighbour Sweden 1-0 to book its ticket as winners of Group One.
“But we still have a chance to qualify for the finals in November’s play-off.
Fabio Capello’s Group Six winners were reduced to ten men in the first quarter of an hour when goalkeeper Robert Green was sent off for a professional foul following a mistake by Rio Ferdinand.
– England’s streak ended –
Already-qualified England’s run of eight straight qualifying wins came to a sticky end in Dnipropetrovsk with Serhiy Nazarenko earning Ukraine a 1-0 win.
Spain, which had already guaranteed its place in South Africa as winners of Group Five, came through their trip to Armenia with a 2-1 win to extend their unbeaten run to nine from nine qualifiers.
Spain, which had already guaranteed its place in South Africa as winners of Group Five, came through their trip to Armenia with a 2-1 win to extend their unbeaten run to nine from nine qualifiers.
Bosnia-Herzegovina secured a play-off berth with a 2-0 win in Estonia to make sure of their position as runners-up to the Euro 2008 champions.
In other action, Switzerland boosted its prospects of making it to the finals with a 3-0 defeat of Luxembourg.
Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side are in pole position to qualify as Group Two winners, going into Wednesday three points clear of former European champions Greece.
Group Three is too close to call with Slovakia on 19 points, two ahead of Slovenia, with the same gap back to the Czech Republic.
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REUTERS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 23 year-old son is in line to head the development agency for La Defense business district in Paris, the agency’s outgoing boss said on Thursday, sparking opposition charges of nepotism.

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Jean Sarkozy, a law student married to the heiress of a retail empire, is currently a local councillor in the wealthy suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine where his father had been mayor.MsoNormalTable
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Jean Sarkozy is a candidate, he will be named director, representative of the board, and he can therefore become president, Devedjian, a government minister and a close associate of President Sarkozy told radio Europe 1.

He is now also be posed to take over as president of EPAD, the public agency in charge of developing La Defense, from Patrick Devedjian, who is leaving his post as he has reached the 65-year age ceiling for the job.

La Defense, a skyscraper-filled zone of banks and corporate headquarters just outside central Paris, is one of the main business areas of the French capital and the government hopes to develop it into a rival for the City of London financial district.

In souls nobly born valour does not depend upon age, Devedjian added, quoting the 17th century play, El Cid. .

Socialist parliamentarian Michele Delaunay decried the young Sarkozy’s candidature as a form of nepotism and provocation and pointed out that he had not even finished his degree.

French magazine Le Point reported on its website on Wednesday that Jean Sarkozy was likely to secure the board’s support on Thursday, paving the way for election to the board on December 4.

Jean Sarkozy – Nicolas Sarkozy – Paris

.Irish champion Sea The Stars won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp overnight to complete a unique treble of the English 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and the Arc.
Ridden by Mick Kinane and trained by John Oxx – owned by Hong Kong club owner Christopher Tsui – he beat home Youmzain, ridden by Kieren Fallon while seven-time Arc winning trainer Andre Fabre’s Cavalryman, under Frankie Dettori, was third.
Youmzain created his own piece of history in becoming the first horse to finish second in three successive Arcs.
Seamus Levey’s Set Sail headed for home with a 15 length advantage entering the final straight but the wind was taken out of his sails as the more fancied runners swamped him.
Sea The Stars, who had been applauded into the ring prior to the race which is a rare occurrence in French racing, had come here as the 4/6 favourite but early on he had several problems settling down as the Aidan O’Brien-trained pacemakers Set Sail and Grand Ducal set a searing gallop.
Kinane found the gap he needed and once it was seized Sea The Stars seamlessly sauntered to the lead and although the gallant Youmzain and Calvaryman along with Breeders Cup Turf champion Conduit reduced the gap in the final furlong, there was to be no stopping the Irish horse from his moment of destiny.
Unbeaten French filly Stacelita hit the front but all eyes were trained on 50-year-old Kinane and Sea The Stars, and the old stager and his superstar horse did not fail.

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Labour says the Government is paying 39 of its Beehive staff more than $100,000 per year – close toly a quarter of the total 161 on the payroll.

Internal affairs spokesman Chris Hipkins said figures obtained under the Official Information Act showed that in June this year, annual salaries totalled $13,008,803. “In addition, over $165,000 has also been spent on temporary communications staff since November 2008. .”When you factor in the extra money the Government has spent on purchase advisors and communications consultants, it becomes quite clear they are spending more on staffing the Beehive than Labour did,” he said.”Mr Hipkins said the previous Labour government had 162 Beehive staff in June last year, for an annual cost of $13,319,768, but only 16 earned more than $100,000.”

.”This is yet another example of the National Party looking for loopholes to feather its own nest at the taxpayers’ expense

.Arsene Wenger has become the longest-serving manager in Arsenal’s history but neither that milestone nor the fact that he turns 60 next month have triggered any thoughts of retirement.
Wenger, whose arrival at Highbury in the autumn of 1996 was famously greeted with an “Arsene Who?” headline, eclipsed the reign of George Allison in the 1930s and 1940s by spending 4,749 days at the helm.
The Frenchman can look back with pride on 13 years which have transformed the ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ of old into a club synonymous with his own unique brand of pass-and-move football. .
Along the way, Wenger has delivered three Premier League titles, including the unbeaten campaign of his 2003/2004 Invincibles, four FA Cups and a place in the 2006 Champions League final.
But he readily admits that setbacks such as the defeat by Barcelona in Paris three years ago and lasts season’s Champions League semi-final loss to Manchester United still rankle and provide him with all the motivation he needs to carry on.
The Frenchman takes pride in those achievements, as he does in the fostering of young talents such as Cesc Fabregas and in the astute transfer market judgement that have helped put the club on such a sound financial footing.
“Losing the semi-final of the Champions League to Manchester United last year was the lowest point, because we did not play at our level,” he recalled.
“I have never had a day when I think I could live without football,” he said.
Asked if thoughts of retirement had entered his head, Wenger responded with a dismissive snort.
“You will know if you are not hungry enough any more, but other people will tell you if you are not good enough any more.
“I know one day it will happen, but you should not live every day knowing you are going to die – you live knowing that you want to live.
But none of them will dispute that he has earned the right to have a bronze statue of himself standing outside the Emirates, alongside one of Herbert Chapman, one of his legendary predecessors.”
Wenger is not without his critics among Arsenal fans, many of whom see his apparent reluctance to spend more freely as the reason why the club have not claimed any significant silverware since the 2005 FA Cup.
For Wenger himself, the achievement that gives the most satisfaction is the 2003/04 season, when Arsenal went through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten.
For Wenger himself, the achievement that gives the most satisfaction is the 2003/04 season, when Arsenal went through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten.
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