Two a penny

.The French navy has captured 35 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia in what French officials are hailing as the most successful mission since the European Union began monitoring the seas in 2008.
Four mother ships and six smaller boats have been seized over three days. .
The EU’s mission has focused on the Gulf of Aden – one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

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Jurisdiction over the suspects remains unclear, and there have been renewed calls for an international tribunal to be set up

.Al Qaeda’s North African wing has released French hostage Pierre Camatte after Mali freed four Islamist prisoners in response to an Al Qaeda threat to kill him.
“We confirm the liberation of Pierre Camatte,” Malian presidency spokesperson Seydou Cissouma told state radio.
Mali freed four Islamist prisoners last week after Al Qaeda threatened to kill Mr Camatte unless they were released.
He said Mr Camatte, kidnapped in Mali in November, was in the hands of Malian authorities.
Algerian media said two of the freed men were Algerian.
Their release prompted Algeria to recall its ambassador to Mali earlier on Tuesday in protest.
He said he had thanked Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure for his handling of the crisis and pledged French support in the struggle against terrorism. .
The group has waged a campaign of suicide bombings and ambushes in Algeria, but in the past few years has shifted a large part of its activities south to the Sahara desert.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has also claimed responsibility for the abduction of three Spaniards and an Italian couple.
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.Mathieu Bastareaud’s rugby redemption has been completed at Murrayfield as Six Nations favourite France kicked off its campaign with an 18-9 win over Scotland.
Bastareaud was the difference between the two sides, his two first-half tries putting the French in control of an open contest and justifying coach Marc Lievremont’s decision to hand the giant centre the opportunity to resurrect a career he had done his best to destroy.
The bizarre episode quickly spiralled out of control with diplomatic relations between France and New Zealand becoming strained and Bastareaud himself, a shy 21-year-old, was hospitalised after an apparent suicide attempt on his return to France.
The 110-kilogram centre was starting his first Test since his ignominious involvement in last year’s tour of New Zealand, during which he falsely claimed to have been beaten up by All Black fans in order to cover up a drunken fall in his hotel bedroom.
Robinson, who cuts a happier figure than during his unsuccessful stint as England coach, said there were positives to be taken out of the match ahead of next week’s clash with 2008 Grand Slam winner Wales, which lost to England yesterday.
Scotland, as so often in recent seasons, was let down by its failure to convert openings and phases of pressure into tries although, in Andy Robinson’s first Six Nations match in charge, it posed the French enough problems to suggest it could yet make an impact on this tournament.
“Also we got behind the French defence several times but the French defence scrambled very well and Imanol Harinordoquy made two or three great tackles.
“We conceded two soft tries, but I thought we were in control defensively,” said Robinson, who was assistant coach when England won the 2003 World Cup final. We have a number of positives to take out of this match and I was especially pleased by the performances of Sean Lamont and Johnnie Beattie. .
“We are of course very happy to win, it was a very tough match out there,” said the 29-year-old, who was winning his 58th cap.”
Harinordoquy, who belied his nickname bestowed on him by some Anglophine commentators of ‘very ordinary’ and was named man of the match, said that he and his team-mates had never been able to let up. In the scrum we had to have a big performance and I believe we won in that area.
“We had to play till the last minute because Scotland play with all their heart.”
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.The Black Eyed Peas were mistakenly declared best international group at France’s top music awards.
Choreographer Kamel Ouali presented the US band with the prize at the NRJ Awards in Cannes on Saturday. .
Last year Katy Perry was mistakenly given the trophy for best international song when it should have gone to Rihanna.
The prize was then given to the real winners, German band Tokio Hotel.
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.Northern Europe is bracing for what is expected to be the coldest day yet of the big freeze affecting the region.
Conditions have left many people dead and another Eurostar train has been stranded in the Channel Tunnel. .
The Arctic freeze has seen temperatures in central Sweden plunge to between minus 30 and minus 40 degrees Celsius, the coldest weather in more than 25 years.
In Germany, at least nine homeless men have frozen to death.
Around 10,000 schools shut down in Britain and will not reopen until well into next week.
Gas supplies are running low in the UK where the national grid has had to start rationing supplies of energy.
One Eurostar train arrived in London two hours late after breaking down in the Channel Tunnel, while four others were cancelled after snow got into the engines.

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The average weather in Britain recently has been only 2 degrees warmer than the North Pole

.Revellers have started ringing in the New Year across the globe with spectacular fireworks displays and massive parties hosted by world capitals against a backdrop of tightened security.
Party-goers in the South Pacific were the first to raise their glasses to 2010, leading the world into a new decade after one scarred by war, terrorist attacks, natural disaster and financial turmoil.5 million people crowded the Sydney Harbour foreshore to watch a vast array of fireworks burst into the night sky at midnight, launched from the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and four barges on the water.
In Australia, about 1.
Paris’s Eiffel Tower was ready to be transformed into a multicoloured light show for its party while in Berlin more than 1 million revellers were expected on the boulevard leading to the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of German unity, with live bands and DJs to crank up the party.
Thousands of people crammed into Hong Kong’s harbour, where 9,000 fireworks were unleashed in a display that lasted close toly five minutes, shot off from the city’s tallest skyscraper as well as other buildings
But in Thailand, police banned fireworks after a New Year’s Eve blaze at a Bangkok nightclub a year ago killed 65 people.
In New York, a downpour of confetti was to mark midnight at a traditional mass celebration in Times Square in the heart of Manhattan.
Celebrations in Britain centred on the London Eye, the giant wheel across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the world’s most famous clock.
“It will be a full fledged deployment of resources,” city police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
But after security jitters rekindled by a Christmas Day bomb plot against a passenger jet claimed by Al Qaeda, undercover police, surveillance cameras and radiation and biological detection equipment were to monitor the crowds.”
In Finland, a lone gunman chose the last day of the year to kill four people in a rampage in a shopping mall. “We assume here that New York is the number one terrorist target in America.
The US embassy in Indonesia said meanwhile it had received a warning of a possible attack on the resort island of Bali, the scene of multiple bombings targeting Westerners, but local authorities denied knowledge of any alert. He also murdered a former girlfriend and was later found dead himself. .
In Pakistan, where the Taliban’s bloody campaign rebounded in 2009, spirits were dampened in the city of Karachi by a deadly suicide attack during a holy Shiite Muslim ceremony on Monday that killed 43 people.
For Cyprus, New Year’s Eve was the last chance to smoke in pubs, clubs and cafes, with new anti-smoking law in force from January 1.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, soldiers maintained their alert after two deadly militant attacks claimed the lives of eight Americans and five Canadians, while two French journalists were reported kidnapped by Taliban.
“New Year’s Day, the 1st of January 2010, marks the beginning of the most important year in our country since 1994,” Zuma said.
And in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma used his New Year message to call for unity for the 2010 football World Cup – the first ever to be held in Africa. “We have to put the culture of negativity behind us.
“It must be the year in which we work together to make the Soccer World Cup the biggest turning point in the marketing of our country,” he said.

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New Year’s Eve also presented much of the world with a blue moon – the second full moon appearing in a calendar month – for only the second time in close toly two decades

.Veteran French rocker Johnny Hallyday has been released from a Los Angeles hospital where he underwent a back operation earlier this month, his publicists said.
“The doctors judged that Johnny Hallyday’s current state of health has improved and justifies a return home to his family while he continues to receive the medical treatment he needs,” they said.
He will spend Christmas at his home in Los Angeles with his wife Laeticia and two daughters.
He has begun legal action to determine whether the surgeon who performed the operation in Paris was at fault and earlier this week submitted a letter to French judges declaring that he had “come close to death”.
Hallyday, 66, who had been due to resume a concert tour in January, was admitted to the Cedars-Sinai hospital on December 7 suffering complications after an earlier operation in Paris.
His health problems have forced the cancellation of the remainder of his concert tour, prompting widespread speculation about the likely financial impact for insurers and promoters.
Hallyday, one of France’s most popular entertainers in a career spanning almost 50 years, is particularly famous for his energetic live performances.
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.Former champion France has secured its World Cup spot in controversial fashion after a dramatic 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland at the Stade de France.
In other qualifiers, Slovenia advanced to only its second World Cup with a 1-0 win over nine-man Russia in their European zone, second-leg play-off tie.
In the African zone, a superb Antar Yahia goal gave Algeria a 1-0 victory over Egypt to secure its own finals berth.
A second-half strike by Raul Meireles was enough to break Bosnian hearts and send 2006 semi-finalists Portugal through to the finals in South Africa, and Greece ground out a 1-0 win over Ukraine in the return leg of their European zone play-off to qualify.
The South American nation won the two-legged playoff tie against North and Central America’s Costa Rica 2-1 on aggregate.
Uruguay qualified for the final spot in the tournament with a 1-1 draw with Costa Rica. Walter Centeno got the equaliser in the 74th.
Sebastian Abreu opened the scoring for Uruguay in the 70th minute.
In the first additional 15-minute spell France had an appeal for a penalty turned down after striker Nicolas Anelka tumbled to the turf under pressure in the eighth minute.
– Contentious victory –
Giovanni Trapattoni’s visitors, beaten 1-0 in Dublin last Saturday in the first leg of their play-off, had taken a shock lead in the 32nd minute through Robbie Keane and the Irish were unlucky not to score more before forcing the match to extra-time.
Henry’s pass, however, came after the ball came off his hand prompting a rash of immediate protests by the Irish players to the match referee, Martin Hansson.
Five minutes later France skipper Thierry Henry, who had moments earlier been denied a free kick after falling to the ground 25 yards out, won the match for the hosts when his angled pass amid a goalmouth scramble was met by the head of William Gallas.
Ireland, especially captain Robbie Keane, had the lion’s share of the chances in regulation time, and it will be kicking itself having last qualified for the 2002 World Cup where it made it to the second round.
Hansson waved away appeals allowing France to qualify and avoid a repeat of its humiliating failure, at the hands of Bulgaria, to qualify for the 1994 World Cup finals. .
– Slovenians ‘immortal’ –
Striker Zlatko Dedic, who plays his club football for Bochum in Germany, scored the only goal just before the break against Russia.
“They are men of merit for continuing the Slovenian football fairy tale,” said Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek.
Russia had won the first leg 2-1 in Moscow on Saturday, but Slovenia’s win this morning meant they qualified on the away goals rule. We were better from the first minute of the game and we earned the right to go to South Africa.
“They have become immortal. We all deserving the success, from the first to the last fan.”
“Our dreams came true.
– Portuguese grind it out –
Portugal, once again without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, had won a hard-fought first leg 1-0 courtesy of a close-range header by Bruno Alves on Saturday and again had to be on its mettle before Meireles’ effort ensured their place at next summer’s showpiece in South Africa.”
Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov had scored twice in the first match before Nejc Pecnik’s goal two minutes from time gave Slovenia hope for Wednesday’s return leg.
Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, whose team limped through the first half of their qualifying program prior to a late rally, had insisted his team plays better away than at home.
Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz, whose team limped through the first half of their qualifying program prior to a late rally, had insisted his team plays better away than at home.
And 10 minutes after the restart Meireles ensured there would be no shredded nerves for the visitors as he took a pass from Manchester United star Nani and slipped a low, precise shot past Kenan Hasagic in the Bosnian goal.
– Greek break drought –
Panathinaikos striker Dimitris Salpingidis netted the only goal of the match sending Greece, the 2004 European champion, into its second World Cup finals after a 16-year absence.
Greece and Ukraine, which were deadlocked at 0-0 after the first leg in Athens on Saturday, struggled to impose themselves early on in a match played on a rain-soaked pitch of the half-empty, 50,000-seater Donbass Arena.
Ukraine skipper Andrei Shevchenko missed a chance to put his team into the lead in the eighth minute, when he failed to send home a rebound after Greece ‘keeper Alexandros Tzorvas deflected Alexander Aliev’s shot.
Greece replied with a seven-metre header by Celtic forward Giorgos Samaras, which went just inches above the crossbar from a well-struck Giorgos Karagounis free kick.
Just after the half-hour mark Salpingidis gave Greece the lead, beating Ukraine’s defenders on a breakaway and receiving a razor-sharp pass from Samaras to score past goalkeeper Andrei Pyatov.
After the break, the hosts continued to press under the watchful gaze of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
But Greece defended well, stifling the hosts’ attacks into fruitless long-range shots.
– African rivalry –
France-born defender Yahia, who plays for German club VfL Bochum, struck on 40 minutes to settle a play-off necessitated by the bitter North African rivals finishing level on points and goal difference in one of five African groups.
As a lofted through ball landed in the Egyptian penalty area, veteran Abdelzaher al-Saqqa allowed it to drop behind him and Yahia volleyed an unstoppable shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar.
African champions Egypt dominated the second half territorially only to come up against a watertight defence backed by brilliant stand-in goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi.
The match at a packed 45,000-seat Al-Merreikh Stadium passed without incident amid tight security after the Algerian team bus was attacked in Cairo last Thursday, leaving three players injured and triggering reprisal attacks.
On Saturday, Emad Moteab scored five minutes into stoppage time to give Egypt a 2-0 win which forced the play-off and raised hopes of a first appearance at the World Cup in 20 years.
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.Chancellor Angela Merkel has become the first German leader to attend a service in France on Remembrance Day.
Two days after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Ms Merkel stood together in the German capital to celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, they were together again and this time it was the German Chancellor herself making history.
Arriving together at the Arc De Triomphe in Paris, Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy laid a wreath at France’s tomb of the unknown soldier and rekindled the flame that guards it.
She became the first German chancellor to attend Armistice commemorations in France.
In the UK, Queen Elizabeth II led Britain in marking the day at Westminster Abbey in central London, at a service also attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Saluting Ms Merkel’s participation in the ceremony, Mr Sarkozy said the friendship between the two countries was a treasure to be protected through increasingly close political cooperation.
Of the 8 million British soldiers who fought in World War I, only 108-year-old Royal Navy veteran Claude Choules, who lives in Perth, remains.
The final three World War I veterans living in Britain all died earlier this year.
In Afghanistan, British troops on the front line also paused to commemorate the fallen.
But Choules shunned Wednesday’s Armistice Day commemorations there because he is against the glorification of war, his daughter said.

.Springboks coach Peter de Villiers has packed his bench with front row players in anticipation of a torrid forward onslaught from France in Saturday morning’s (AEDT) Test in Toulouse.
In the squad announced last night, hooker Adriaan Strauss, loosehead prop Wian du Preez, who is uncapped, and tighthead CJ van der Linde, currently playing for Leinster in Ireland, will all be amongst the replacements, giving de Villiers an entire front row in reserve.
“If you study the way France play, then you know to expect a forward onslaught,” de Villiers said.
South Africa took a battering in the scrums during its loss to Leicester in the opening game of its European Tour last weekend and de Villiers said he expected France to attack the world champion in the same area.”
Springboks captain John Smit, who controversially moved from hooker to tighthead prop during the 2008 end-of-year tour, said he also believed the French pack would be out to give his team a rough time in the forward exchanges.
“We don’t have anything to fear, but we have to be ready for it and a full front row on the bench is the right thing to do. They secure good ball from the set phases and provide a very solid foundation for the team, and they use the conditions well,” Smit said.
“They have a well-balanced pack and they do their primary jobs very well.
Adrian Jacobs, who enjoyed a top-class season in 2008 before being injured, replaces Jean de Villiers at inside centre.
The starting XV shows four changes from the team that beat New Zealand in Hamilton in September to win the Tri-Nations.
Zane Kirchner will start at full-back in place of Francois Steyn, who has headed for France to play for Racing Metro, and is the third player to wear the number 15 jersey for the Springboks this season.
Jacobs is a fine attacking player, but is considered a defensive weakness by many critics. .
JP Pietersen returns on the wing in place of Odwa Ndungane while Pierre Spies will play no part in the tour due to a serious finger injury and has been replaced by Ryan Kankowski.
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. Reserves: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Wian du Preez, 18-CJ van der Linde, 19-Andries Bekker, 20-Danie Rossouw, 21-Ruan Pienaar, 22-Wynand Olivier