Two a penny

.Spain’s David Ferrer dispatched Marco Chiudinelli in straight sets to level the depleted champions’ Davis Cup first-round tie against Switzerland at 1-1 in Logrono overnight.
Seven of the eight World Group matches were under way around Europe, with the start of Chile’s tie at home to Israel delayed to Saturday (local time) as a result of the disruption caused by last weekend’s deadly earthquake.
Russia carved out a 2-0 advantage over visiting India, victories for Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put France 2-0 up at home to Germany, and last year’s finalists Czech Republic opened up a 2-0 lead in Belgium. Spain also won the title in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
The Swiss are bidding to become the first team to beat the Spanish in 19 home ties stretching back to a defeat by Brazil in 1999.
Ferrer, ranked 16th in the world, is the only survivor from last year’s Cup-winning team, with Rafael Nadal (3), Fernando Verdasco (12) and Juan Carlos Ferrero (14) hit by injuries.
Stanislas Wawrinka, leading the Swiss in the absence of world number one Roger Federer, drew first blood at the Plaza de Toros de Ribera bullring when he twice battled back from a set down to beat Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Backed by the noisy, red and yellow-clad home support, he fought off stiff resistance from the powerful, 56th-ranked Chiudinelli in the second set on the clay before completing a 6-2, 7-6, 6-1 victory.
Real fighter
France’s Monfils earned his first Davis Cup point in Toulon when he fought past tenacious German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 before Tsonga took four sets to beat Benjamin Becker.
The three-day, best-of-five tie is finely balanced ahead of Saturday’s doubles, when home pair Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers play Wawrinka, who won the Olympic doubles gold in Beijing with Federer, and Yves Allegro.
“It was one of my best matches of the season,” he added.
“To win that game was a matter of honour because Kohlschreiber is a real fighter,” Monfils said.”
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Robin Soderling beat Eduardo Schwank 6-1, 7-6, 7-5 in the opening singles in Stockholm to put the hosts ahead against Argentina.
“I’m very happy with the way I moved on the court and the way I controlled the match and, of course, very happy to bring the point for France for the first time.
Ivo Karlovic came through in five sets to give Croatia the advantage over Ecuador in Varazdin and Serbia moved 1-0 ahead against the United States in Belgrade thanks to Viktor Troicki’s hard-fought 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory over John Isner.
Ivo Karlovic came through in five sets to give Croatia the advantage over Ecuador in Varazdin and Serbia moved 1-0 ahead against the United States in Belgrade thanks to Viktor Troicki’s hard-fought 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory over John Isner.
-

.
Kunitsyn, drafted in after the injured Igor Andreev pulled out, said: “It was a surprise for me and there is no way you can prepare yourself with just an hour to go before your match”

.French police have arrested Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwanda’s assassinated ex-president, who is wanted in her homeland as one of the alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide.
The arrest came just five days after President Nicolas Sarkozy made the first trip by a French leader to Rwanda since the genocide.
French police - acting on an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda - arrested Habyarimana at her home in Courcouronnes, south of Paris on Tuesday morning.
Habyarimana has lived in a Paris suburb for 12 years, having fled Rwanda after her husband Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down in April 1994 and his supporters launched a massacre of 800,000 civilians.
The Tutsi-led government in Kigali has accused the 67-year-old of being a member of the Hutu inner circle that planned the mass killings. .
-

.
She has steadfastly denied the charge

.A pay telephone line for French Roman Catholics to confess their sins has drawn criticism from bishops.
“For advice on confessing, press one. To listen to some confessions, press three,” says a soothing male voice, welcoming the caller to “Le Fil du Seigneur”, or “The Line of the Lord” service. To confess, press two.34 euros a minute.
“In case of serious or mortal sins - that is, sins that have cut you off from Christ our Lord, it is indispensable to confide in a priest,” warns the service, which charges 0.”
The service was set up this month at the beginning of the Christian fasting period of Lent by a group of Catholics working for AABAS, a small Paris company that provides telephone messaging services, its creator told AFP.
The Conference of French Bishops warn in a statement that the line has “no approval from the Catholic Church in France.
She asked for her second name not be cited because she had received threats about the service.
The creator, known only as Camille, says it does not offer absolution for sins, which only a priest can provide.
It is believed the line received about 300 calls in its first week.
“The idea is to confess sins which are not capital sins, but minor sins, directly to God,” she said.
The bishops say telephone services have a role to play in lending an ear to the aged, isolated or those with disabilities, but “it is unacceptable to allow confusion over the notion of confession”.
Callers do not talk to a person but are offered an “atmosphere of piety and reflection,” where they can listen to prayers, music and other people’s confessions and can opt to record their own.”
Camille says part of the money received for the calls goes to charity. .
-

.At least 50 people have been killed in violent storms that have caused chaos in Europe.
Most were killed in France, but Spain, Germany and Portugal have all recorded fatalities.
Packing winds just under 150 kilometres an hour, the intense low caused havoc in many countries.
In the French Vendee region, houses were inundated and people had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.
Flooding was most serious in France and Spain and a 10-year-old boy was one of a number of people killed by falling trees.
Up to a million people were without power.
At least a dozen people in France remain unaccounted for and there have been at least 60 injuries.
The UK is on flood alert and authorities in Denmark are on standby as the storm continues to track north.

.France has left itself with a ‘home run’ to a Six Nations Grand Slam after the tournament leader held its nerve to beat Wales 26-20 at the Millennium Stadium.
Victory appeared all but assured at half-time with France 20-0 in front following two interception tries.
But Wales, just as it did in its dramatic come-from-behind 31-24 win over Scotland last time out, rallied and cut France’s lead to 20-13 heading into the final quarter under the Millennium’s closed retractable roof.
Replacement fly half Frederic Michalak scored a penalty nine minutes from time that, importantly, put France two scores in front.
However, against a team of France’s all-round quality Wales left itself with just too much of a mountain to climb on this occasion.
There was still time for wing Shane Williams, on his 33rd birthday, to become the first Wales player to score 50 tries after a typical jinking run.
And with just two minutes left, scrum half Morgan Parra kicked his third penalty after Wales was caught offside in front of its posts.
Fly half Stephen Jones converted and Wales, who had been 14-24 behind against Scotland with minutes remaining, had hopes of another great escape. .
But France, unlike Scotland, booted the ensuing kick-off ‘dead’ through Michalak, belying his reputation for recklessness, and with that South African referee Jonathan Kaplan blew for full-time.”
France, which has now won three games in a row for the first time under coach Marc Lievremont, can look forward to wrapping up the Championship with matches in Paris against Italy and England on March 13 and 20 respectively.
“We’ve just got to stop pushing the self-destruct button.
“It was like watching the ghost of the Wales-Scotland match appear before us.
“We lost all coherence, you could feel that at half-time even,” Lievremont said.
“I’m very happy to win three in a row, but my emotions are divided between happiness and relief.
“I’m very happy to win three in a row, but my emotions are divided between happiness and relief.
France: 26 (Palisson, Trinh-Duc tries; Parra 2 conversions, 3 penalties, Michalak penalty)
Wales: 20 (Halfpenny, S Williams tries; S Jones 2 conversions, 2 penalties)
-

.Frenchman Julien Benneteau will seek to win the first tournament of his career after beating second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille.
Eighth-seeded Benneteau beat his compatriot Tsonga 7-6 (13-11), 5-7, 7-6 (7-3) in a fiercely contested match over two hours and 57 minutes.
Benneteau, who defeated world number one Roger Federer at the Paris Masters in November, will contest the fourth final of his career at the age of 28.
He will now face compatriot Michael Llodra, who prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) over German Mischa Zverev.
Tsonga levelled things up by winning the second set, battling back from 5-3 down to cancel out Benneteau’s advantage, but the world number 39 refused to be cowed and sewed up victory in a tense deciding tie-break.
Defending champion Tsonga broke first in the opening set but Benneteau fought back to take it to a tie-break that he eventually won after a titanic tussle.
“He makes fewer errors with his forehand.
“Julien has really improved,” said Tsonga, the world number nine.”
Benneteau enthused: “It was a great match, an intense battle. .
“But I’m proud to have held on until the end. I was afraid because I was leading 5-3 in the second set and I couldn’t see it out.
“I have to build on what I did here, where’ve I’ve gone after matches against players ranked higher than me. I’m not going to put crazy pressure on myself to win my first tournament though.”
-

.A move by a French fast-food chain to offer halal menus at a handful of restaurants has some politicians fuming, in the latest row over France’s increasingly visible Muslim minority.
The Quick chain has taken pork off its menu in eateries in Roubaix, northern France, as well as in Marseille and in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, to try to tap into the growing market of Muslim customers.
But politicians have complained that the switch to no-bacon hamburgers, launched three months ago, is depriving non-Muslims of their right to the standard menu.
“I’m not bothered by the fact that there is a halal menu,” he said.
Roubaix Mayor Rene Vandierendonck plans to file a complaint for discrimination, arguing that non-Muslims now have to trek to the suburbs to get a bacon burger, as Quick is the only fast-food place in the city centre.”
French far-right politician Marine Le Pen suggested the Halal menus were providing a financial boost to Muslim organisations that certify meat as having been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic practices.
“But this is going too far because it is the only menu on offer and it has become discrimination.
Ms Le Pen condemned the menu switch as “unacceptable” and denounced a form of “Islamisation”.
But in eight of Quick’s 350 restaurants, the “Strong Bacon” double cheese hamburger is not on offer, replaced by a halal version with smoked turkey.
In cities and towns across France, Quick’s red-and-white signs are as familiar a sight as McDonald’s golden arches, offering the usual array of hamburgers, french fries and soft drinks.
The government has frowned on Quick’s decision, suggesting that it was a form of “communautarisme”, a pejorative term suggesting that a group is exhibiting a ghetto attitude.
One customer was quoted in Le Parisien daily as saying that “it’s just not the same”.
President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government is drafting legislation to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil and is sponsoring a debate on national identity that has exposed fears about immigration.
- Series of controversies -
Home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, estimated at between 5 and 6 million, France has been caught up in a series of controversies that have highlighted its unease with Islam in a strictly secular society.
Responding to the hubbub over the halal hamburgers, the head of France’s Muslim Council called for reason to prevail and announced that he planned to meet with Quick’s owners.
Responding to the hubbub over the halal hamburgers, the head of France’s Muslim Council called for reason to prevail and announced that he planned to meet with Quick’s owners.
“There are plenty of restaurants that do not offer halal meals and Muslims are not complaining of discrimination. .
Lionnel Lucca, a deputy from Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party, has called for a boycott of Quick to press for “freedom of choice to be restored” at the fast-food outlets.”
Quick manager Luc Demain, who runs the outlet in Roubaix among others, said there had been a slight increase in business since the new halal menus had been introduced and that he had not received complaints from customers.
-

.Yvo de Boer, head of the UN’s climate change convention, will resign as of July 1, his office announced.
De Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will join the consultancy group KPMG as global adviser on climate and sustainability and work with a number of universities, the UNFCCC secretariat said.
The announcement came nearly two months after the Copenhagen summit on climate change, seen even by its supporters as a disappointment and by its critics as a chaotic failure. .
The UNFCCC, an offshoot of the 1992 Rio summit, gathers 194 nations in the search for combating the causes of man-made climate change and easing its effects.
“I believe the time is ripe for me to take on a new challenge, working on climate and sustainability with the private sector and academia,” he said.
In a statement Mr de Boer said it had been a “difficult decision” to step down.
“Copenhagen did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms, but the political commitment and sense of direction toward a low-emissions world are overwhelming.”
A Dutch national, Mr de Boer was appointed the UNFCCC’s executive secretary in September 2006.
“This calls for new partnerships with the business sector and I now have the chance to help make this happen.
Instead, after nearly two weeks of talks, the summit was only able to yield a general agreement on limiting warming to two degrees Celsius.
He had pinned hopes on a breakthrough in Copenhagen that would unlock a new treaty on climate change that would take effect after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol’s current pledges expire.
The document did not gain approval at a plenary session of the UNFCCC, and it has so far failed to gain the official endorsement of major developing emitters which helped to craft it.
The accord did not spell out the means for achieving this goal, and the pledges made under it are only voluntary.
-

.France shattered Ireland’s dreams of a repeat of its Six Nations Grand Slam in Paris overnight beating them 33-10 with scrum half Morgan Parra, who had accused the Irish of being cheats earlier in the week, masterminding the defeat.
First-half tries by William Servat and Yannick Jauzion and a second-half one from Clement Poitrenaud with Parra chipping in with 15 points saw France easily see off a rather flat Irish team.
“It’s a great start for us but it’s too early to start talking about Grand Slams,” he added.
Toulouse winger Vincent Clerc described the win as a “great performance”.”
Ireland - winless here since 2000 - managed one try through David Wallace while Ronan O’Gara kicked the rest of its points.
“I was surprised how easily we beat the Irish but we played the perfect match.
The French were not faring very well in the line-outs as they lost three in a row on their throw and it was from the third one the Irish came desperately close to scoring the opening try as Brian O’Driscoll broke through, chipped over Poitrenaud and raced for the line.
The Irish camped themselves in the French half for the first 10 minutes but some sterling defence by France kept them at bay.
That led to two disastrous minutes for the Irish as Imanol Harinordoquy set up a great move that culminated in Cian Healy tackling Parra who did not have the ball and referee Wayne Barnes flourished the yellow card without hesitation - Parra slotted over the penalty to give the hosts a barely-deserved lead.
However, 31-year-old O’Driscoll having outpaced Poitrenaud didn’t get the bounce of the ball and it was ruled a dead ball when it hit the post.
Palisson, though, had played to limp off clutching his right thigh to be replaced by Julien Malzieu.
Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery was fortunate not to join Healy on the sidelines as his leg connected with Six Nations debutant Alexis Palisson laying him out - Barnes opted to give him the benefit of the doubt and just awarded a penalty to France.
However, the French now well and truly had their tails up and in the 31st minute Jauzion went over, after Mathieu Bastareaud had made the initial break, leaving the Irish to get a talking to by O’Driscoll - Parra converted to make it 17-3.
The French finally made the Irish pay properly for being one man down as with Healy preparing to return to the fray Servat crashed over while Parra converted to make it 10-0 - O’Gara reduced the deficit with a penalty just before the half-hour mark.
The pressure told as Keith Earls - who had moved from wing to replace the injured Rob Kearney at full-back - caught the ball in the 22 for a fair catch but in taking the quick kick he fumbled it and knocked it on.
The Irish were really under the hammer from the start of the second-half as the French pierced their defence at will highlighted when O’Driscoll failed to intercept a pass and Trinh-Duc ran 30 metres only to knock on close to the line when he was tackled.
Ireland showed some spirit in grabbing effectively a consolation try through David Wallace, which was converted by O’Gara, but the peerless Parra was to make it 30-10 with just over 10 minutes remaining with a long range penalty.
France took full advantage from the ensuing scrum as they fed it out to the left and Poitrenaud eased into the corner to touch it down - Parra added an impressive conversion followed minutes later by a wonderful drop goal.
-

.
The mercurially-gifted Frederic Michalak was to rub salt even deeper into the wounds close to the final whistle with a drop goal to end a miserable day for the Irish

.The Federal Opposition has revealed that an inaccurate version of the Australian flag was flown at the previous month’s burial ceremony for Australian World War I soldiers in northern France.
The Veterans Affairs Department has confirmed problems with the flag involved one of the stars on the Southern Cross being in the wrong place.
The department says the problem is a matter for the Army, which conducted the ceremony in Fromelles.
It also had the Union Jack upside down and was a different shape.
“I would think that we wouldn’t be flying or ordering any flags and declaring and using them as an Australian flag when they were so incorrect,” Ms Markus said.
Opposition veteran’s affairs spokeswoman Louise Markus says she wants an explanation.
“The Minister for Veterans Affairs was there.
“I understand even the dimensions of the flag were not accurate. He needs to be able to explain why a flag that was not our Australian flag was flown as if it was. He was representing the Government.
The soldiers, who were killed in the 1916 Battle of Fromelles, are being buried at a cemetery close to where their remains were found in 2008.”
The first of 250 unknown British and Australian soldiers who died in World War I were reburied the previous month.
DNA tests have been carried out on the remains and the results are expected in March.
The cemetery was built close to a muddy field where the mass grave was discovered.