Two a penny

.France captain Thierry Henry said he understood why fans were jeering him after persistent booing from the home crowd during the 2-0 loss to Spain in a World Cup warmup match at the Stade de France on Wednesday.
France, in its first game since Henry’s infamous handball against Ireland in a World Cup play-off in the same stadium last November, was outclassed by the European champions and the 32-year-old captain was the main focus of French fans’ wrath even before Spain opened the scoring.
“I understand people who were eager for us to play well against Spain and, when you don’t play well, you have to expect being jeered at.
“It’s the same story as usual and it’s not the first time I’ve experienced that kind of situation at the Stade de France,” he said.
“I absolutely had no pace. I don’t know if I deserved that but there is nothing I can do.
Coach Raymond Domenech, who had been a firm supporter of France’s all-time topscorer until Wednesday night, expressed his concern at Henry’s present state. .
“[His situation] raises some questions but we’ve not reached the point yet when it has become alarming.
“Obviously, everybody knows Titi has performed better in the past and it’s obvious that it is becoming a problem for him to play high level games such as this one while he’s got less playing time [at Barcelona],” Domenech, the only man French fans booed more than Henry, said.”
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.Real Madrid has become the first team in any sport to post revenues in excess of 400 million euros ($602 million) in a single year, according to an annual survey of the richest soccer clubs by accountancy firm Deloitte.
In its survey released today, Deloitte said the figure of 401.4 million euros had been helped by high broadcast revenue.
European and Spanish champion Barcelona overtook Manchester United, which was hit by the weak pound, into second position.
Real topped the “Football Money League” report, which ranks the 20 biggest clubs by revenue, for the fifth consecutive year. The club’s revenue rose by 57 million euros to 366 million euros.
Barcelona posted the largest absolute increase in the Deloitte report, from the 2008-09 season.
“Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have created a clear revenue gap between themselves and their European competitors, and look set to contest the top two positions in the Money League for the foreseeable future, particularly if the pound doesn’t strengthen against the euro,” Alan Switzer, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said in a statement.
The combined revenue growth for the 20 clubs slowed compared with previous years to over 3.
Top clubs weathered the worst economic crisis in decades thanks to their loyal fan bases and large broadcast audiences, according to the report.8 billion).9 billion euros ($5.
The top 20 was little changed from last year, with Werder Bremen and Manchester City replacing VfB Stuttgart and Turkish club Fenerbahce.
“However, it will not be until 2009-10, the season currently in progress, before we see the full impact on clubs’ revenues,” said Paul Rawnsley, director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.
The list was again dominated by European clubs, with seven English clubs, four from Italy, and two each from France and Spain.
The list was again dominated by European clubs, with seven English clubs, four from Italy, and two each from France and Spain. (1) Real Madrid (ESP) 341.
Rankings (position, last year’s position, club, country, revenue in millions of pounds, revenue in million of euros):
1.4
2.9, 401.7, 365. (3) FC Barcelona (ESP) 311. (2) Manchester United (ENG) 278.93.0 4.5, 327.6, 289.6, 289.5 5. (6) Arsenal (ENG) 224.0, 263.06. (5) Chelsea (ENG) 206.4, 242.3 7. (8) Liverpool (ENG) 184.8, 217.0 8. (11) Juventus (ITA) 173. .29. (10) Inter Milan (ITA) 167.4, 196.510. (7) AC Milan (ITA) 167.4, 196.511. (15) Hamburg SV (GER) 124.9, 146.712. (9) AS Roma (ITA) 124.7, 146.413. (12) Lyon (FRA) 118.9, 139.614. (16) Marseille (FRA) 113.5, 133.215. (14) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 113.0, 132.716. (13) Schalke 04 (GER) 106.0, 124.517. (n/a) Werder Bremen (GER) 97.7, 114.718. (20) Borussia Dortmund (GER) 88.1, 103.519. (n/a) Manchester City (ENG) 87.0, 102.220. (17) Newcastle United (ENG) 86.0, 101.0 -

.Europe’s major airports are in the grip of strikes, with at least one more staff walkout now threatening services.
French air traffic controllers are threatening to strike for four days from today.
From today, strikes by air traffic controllers in France are set to affect services all over the country.
In the UK, British Airlines cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action, and Germany’s Lufthansa is now negotiating with pilots over a strike which affected tens of thousands of passengers.
Five unions are taking part. Civil aviation authorities will ask airlines to cancel some flights at Paris’ two main airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle.
The union’s Len McCluskey says work conditions are also a major concern for unionised British Airways cabin crews, who have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike. They are worried about how Europe’s single sky policy will affect their jobs.
In the face of big losses, British Airways this year cut cabin crew numbers on long haul flights and brought in a two year pay freeze.
“A clear indication of the deep sense of grievance that our members feel,” he said.
“These are people who fly together, these are people who put each other’s health and safety in each other’s hands, and to try to pit one against the other which the company has done and I have to say some pilots, not all, but a number of pilots have behaved in a way that I think when they look back on this in time to come when we have resolved this dispute, they’ll be rather ashamed,” he said.
Mr McCluskey says the airline is threatening to take away staff travel perks if they strike, and bringing in strike breakers to pit workers against each other.
“We are not talking about the death knell for the airline, but we are talking about a situation in which the airline will be severely damaged and long term damaged, and it would lose out to its competitors,” he said.
However, analyst Howard Wheeldon, of BGC Partners, says British Airways has nothing left to give, and the striking crew will price themselves out of a job. The company has just agreed to head back into talks with pilots, after a strike of less than 24 hours.
Mr Wheeldon says German airline Lufthansa is in a similar position. They don’t trust us anymore.
Lufthansa spokesperson Klaus Walter says the airline has already been damaged
“We have passengers that are now cancelling their flights even if they have tickets for a later date and they could fly.
The pilots’ union was planning a four day walkout, which Lufthansa says would have cost it 100 million euros. .
“I just came back from Afghanistan and want to go to my family in the United States.
The shorter strike was enough to disrupt the trips of 10,000 passengers.
Lufthansa’s 4,000 pilot strike has only been suspended for two weeks, putting extra pressure on talks. It is difficult,” said one affected traveller in Dusseldorf.

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.Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel have defended their conduct within the Astana team during last year’s Tour de France after criticism from Alberto Contador.
Armstrong and Contador were team-mates at Astana last year, with Bruyneel their director.
Contador won his second Tour and Armstrong, the record seven-time champion, was third in his comeback year.
While Contador remains at Astana, Armstrong and Bruyneel are now at new American team RadioShack.
But there were clearly tensions within the team and Contador has since criticised Armstrong and Bruyneel, who have worked closely together for more than a decade.
“I’m a bit frustrated by the comments that he didn’t have any help.
“[Last year] was a clear example of a team working as a team, no matter whom they had to work for,” Bruyneel said on Saturday.
“That was absolutely not the case.
“The tension . …
“It was sometimes stressful, intense, but not close toly close to what has been written or said. was a lot less than everyone thinks,” he said.
“I just assumed from the start that the Tour de France is the hardest race in the world.
“I just assumed from the start that the Tour de France is the hardest race in the world.
“That’s why you have a head coach in sport, you don’t go off and make your own plan and do your own thing,” he said.”
Armstrong said the first person he listened to in the team during the Tour was Bruyneel, not Contador.
“Mentally he’s almost unbreakable – there were times in the Tour last summer that you saw that he had to be fractured mentally, because of things that were done in the race and the perception among the people, the fans and the peloton,” he said.
But the American has also praised Contador ahead of their head-to-head battle at this year’s Tour de France.”
– AAP

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“He never [cracked], he was always very, very tough – he’s a strong-minded young man

.Muslim women who wear the full Islamic veil in France will face a possible 750 euro ($1,170) fine, according to a draft bill unveiled by the leader of the parliamentary majority.
Jean-Francois Cope, who heads the governing UMP party in the National Assembly, told Le Figaro newspaper’s weekly magazine that men who force their wives to wear the burqa or niqab could face an even heavier fine.
“The law will address an issue of security,” Mr Cope said in an interview with the magazine.”
The draft legislation will be presented in the next two weeks and should come up for debate in parliament after the March regional elections, he said.
“The proposed measure would prohibit the covering of the face in public places and on the streets, with the exception of special cultural events or carnivals.
“We can measure the modernity of a society by the way it treats and respects women,” he said.
The majority leader, who is also openly campaigning to succeed President Nicolas Sarkozy as the right-wing candidate for the presidency in 2017, said the burqa must be banned to defend women’s rights. .
Many politicians from the left and right have cautioned that a draconian law banning the head-to-toe veil would be difficult to enforce and probably face a challenge in the European rights court.
The burqa debate has heated up ahead of the release at the end of the month of a much-awaited report by a parliamentary panel that has conducted six months of hearings on the issue.
Critics argue that a specific law enacted to ban the full veil would be tantamount to using a sledgehammer to swat a fly.
Mr Sarkozy himself has said that the burqa is not welcome in France but has not stated publicly whether legislation should be enacted.
In the interview, Mr Cope argued that a law would act as a deterrent by sending a “clear message” that France will not allow women to fully cover themselves. Only 1,900 women wear the full veil in France, according to the interior ministry.
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.Frenchman Richard Gasquet has been cleared over a positive cocaine test, after sport’s highest court accepted that he was probably contaminated inadvertently by kissing a woman in a nightclub.
“The player has been exonerated from any fault or negligence,” the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said as it rejected an appeal from the International Tennis Federation (IFT) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who had asked for a ban of between one and two years.
“On a balance of probability, the CAS panel concluded that it was more likely than not that the player’s contamination with cocaine resulted, as Gasquet always asserted, from kissing a woman in a nightclub in Miami on the day before the anti-doping test and that the player had met the required standards of proof with respect to the way of ingestion.
“I am totally relieved,” Gasquet told French television channel Canal Plus.”
The world number 52, who appeared before a CAS hearing in Lausanne in November, was provisionally suspended in May after a sample he provided in March tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
“I thought I had more chances to win grand slams, to beat (Rafael) Nadal at Roland-Garros and (Roger) Federer at Wimbledon than to be tested positive. .
“I am happy to be a hundred per cent cleared.
“I am now ready to go to Australia on December 28, to play two tournaments there and to enter the Australian Open. It was very difficult for me, I’m glad it’s over. I could have done without all this but now I’m happy to be back on the tennis courts.
“Mentally, it was very tough.”
Gasquet, who finished 2007 in the top 10 of the ATP rankings, always claimed his innocence and said he had a hair sample tested by an independent lab which showed no trace of cocaine. My goal is to make it back into the top 10.
In July, an independent tribunal set up under the tennis anti-doping program, found the 23-year-old guilty but ruled that he had been inadvertently contaminated.
In July, an independent tribunal set up under the tennis anti-doping program, found the 23-year-old guilty but ruled that he had been inadvertently contaminated.
The ITF expressed its disappointment at the CAS decision to clear Gasquet.
However, the ITF and WADA appealed to CAS in August for a heavier sanction.
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.Albert Camus’ daughter says critics of the French President have turned her late father into an “anti-Sarkozy missile”, after Nicolas Sarkozy called for the renowned writer be reburied in Paris.
Mr Sarkozy suggested earlier this month that the remains of the author of The Outsider and The Fall should be brought to the Pantheon, the resting place for French national heroes.
The right-wing leader’s idea provoked a largely hostile reaction from France’s intelligentsia, with many pundits arguing that the left-wing existentialist philosopher’s legacy was being exploited for political gain. .
Daughter Catherine Camus said she was shocked by the degree of hatred for the President that was expressed after he suggested her father’s remains be moved from their current resting place in southern France. For me, he represents my country. “I am a republican citizen and the president of the republic was democratically elected.”
But she added that she was surprised that Mr Sarkozy had decided to take an interest in an author noted for his deeply individualist beliefs and for his defence of the downtrodden.
Albert Camus’ son Jean was angered by the Pantheon plan, and denounced it as a cynical bid by Mr Sarkozy to requisition the legacy of a staunchly left-wing thinker.
“Men of power do not usually like Camus,” said Catherine Camus, who has not yet declared whether or not she is in favour of moving her father’s remains to the Pantheon.
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.A rarely seen French secret report on Adolf Hitler is among thousands of documents on 1920s Germany that are about to emerge from obscurity as part of a major overhaul of the French National Archives.
The yellowed, hand-written note from 1924 features a photograph of Hitler in a suit and tie, sporting his trademark side-parting and moustache.
“He is not an idiot but rather a very cunning demagogue,” says the note on Hitler by an anonymous agent. It is part of a treasure trove that had been gathering dust in a Paris mansion for decades.
Part of a huge archive from the period when French troops occupied part of Germany after World War I, the Hitler report was stored separately from the rest of the papers in a metal cabinet where France keeps its most important documents.
The agent presents Hitler as “the German Mussolini” and notes that he runs paramilitary groups “of the fascist type”, but does not raise any particular alarm about the man who would go on to lead Nazi Germany and launch World War II.
Seen only by a very privileged few, the Hitler report has now been extracted from the cabinet and will soon be available for historians to study, along with tens of thousands of other papers dating back to the French occupation of Germany. .
– ‘Racist’ –
The papers, which include everything from spy reports on politicians to details of German industrial techniques that the French hoped to appropriate, were not analysed or indexed.
Those documents were transported to Paris in 1930 and have been stored ever since in the bowels of the National Archives, housed in a magnificent early 18th century residence in the heart of the historic Marais district.
All that changed four years ago, when the Archives launched a conservation project to examine every single one of the papers and create a comprehensive index that will be posted online.
As a result, they remained hidden in more than 6,000 boxes, an unmanageable mass of raw material, inaccessible to historians and slowly deteriorating as paper-clips rusted, dust accumulated and ink faded from sheets as fine as cigarette paper.
She said the newly organised archive would be moved to a new state-of-the-art storage facility which is being built in a Paris suburb.
“On both sides of the Rhine, there was a very strong demand from historians to work on the inter-war period, and particularly the roots of the Second World War,” Isabelle Neuschwander, director of the Archives, said.
As well as Hitler, the French agents in Germany scrutinised other men who would go on to become powerful Nazis including Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler. There, the papers will be kept in much safer conditions and will be accessible to any researcher.
– Industrial espionage –
Also under the French spotlight was Konrad Adenauer, the then mayor of Cologne who would become the architect of the West German state after World War II.
The Himmler note goes straight to the point: the first word is “racist”.
“Competent but drawn to subordinate roles,” the note says. But whoever wrote the Adenauer report did not take the full measure of the man.
“That is not what interests me most.
Michele Conchon, an archivist who has been working full-time on the German papers for the past four years, said that while the most eye-catching pieces were the reports on famous Nazis, they were not the most valuable to historians.
She mentioned reports on violent incidents in which ordinary Germans showed their anger at the French occupation, burning French flags or attacking isolated soldiers guarding buildings. This archive is extremely rich in what it can teach us on daily life in Germany between the wars,” she said, surrounded by boxes of dusty files.
“There are reports of factory visits that were probably carried out with the aim of industrial espionage,” she said.
“There are reports of factory visits that were probably carried out with the aim of industrial espionage,” she said.
The secret service reports even offer insights into the lives of ordinary Germans – and into the nervousness of the French, who kept close tabs on German public opinion.
Thus, a report on an obscure schoolteacher, named as Mr Hinze, reveals surprisingly close scrutiny.
“Schoolteacher, 31, neutral, no obvious prejudices, content with our occupation which ensures order, hopes to see us go when peace will be signed,” says the report on Mr Hinze.
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.French commandos have stormed aboard a Somali pirate ‘mothership’ and arrested 12 gunmen, the military announced, adding that the gangs are increasingly operating in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean. .
A helicopter from the warship fired a warning shot across the vessel’s bows as its crew began to throw incriminating material over the side.
On board they found grappling hooks, GPS navigation devices and assault rifles, French military spokesman Admiral Christophe Prazuck said.
French troops boarded the ship and arrested the pirates without violence.
“The European team in place has significantly reduced the number of boats taken hostage.
“Last year or at the start of this one the centre of gravity was in the Gulf of Aden,” Admiral Prazuck said, referring to the straits between Arabia and the Horn of Africa that have become notorious for pirate attacks. Though they still threaten the Gulf of Aden, the pirates have switched their activity further offshore into the Indian Ocean.
Several naval task forces now carry out anti-piracy patrols, including flotillas commanded by the European Union, NATO and the United States.”
Admiral Prazuck said pirates were now striking in areas up to 800 nautical miles from their bases on the coast of Somalia, a lawless and largely ungoverned African state plagued by faction-fighting.
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Floreal is fighting under EU colours as part of Operation Atalante

.French world number 12 Gilles Simon has been confirmed as a starter in the Brisbane International event in January.
Simon, 24, will join compatriot Gael Monfils, former world number one Andy Roddick and American James Blake in the men’s draw.
The Brisbane International will take place at the Queensland Tennis Centre from January 3 to 10.
Simon has won six career titles and was a quarter-finalist at this year’s Australian Open.
Baghdatis, on the comeback trail from injury, pulled out of the Kooyong Classic for the Sydney event because it carries tour points.
Meanwhile, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis has joined the field for January’s Sydney International tennis tournament. .
As a result, US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro has been added to the line-up for the Kooyong event in Melbourne from January 13-16.
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