.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
.The pulse behind Melbourne’s NRL success finally gets to show his wares for Australia, with Saturday’s Four Nations clash with France ending Cooper Cronk’s two-year stint in the representative wilderness.
Despite driving the Storm to four consecutive grand final appearances that yielded two premierships, Cronk’s only senior representative game was a start in Australia’s record 58-0 thumping of New Zealand in Wellington in 2007.
But not Cronk.
Since then the likes of Darren Lockyer, Johnathan Thurston, Scott Prince and even Karmichael Hunt have blocked his path to both Queensland and Test jumpers, a predicament which would exasperate the most patient of men.
“Some things don’t fall in your place and others get things the way they want sometimes.
“Everyone wants to be part of the bigger games and if you’re not a part of it you’re obviously disappointed,” Cronk said.”
It’s a case of back to the future for Cronk, who will reprise a role he once feared he would never shake when he comes off the bench against France.
“The problem is when you start sulking and dropping the bottom lip, that’s when people really start noticing, and you’re probably not going to get picked ever again.
Since then he has blossomed into one of the game’s premier playmakers - with Melbourne making the grand final every year since.
Cronk was the man in the number 14 jumper for the best part of two years at Melbourne, when understudy to starting halves Matt Orford and Scott Hill.
“It was really frustrating,” Cronk said of his bench role at the Storm.
Ironically, Cronk’s utility value now has him in a three-way race with Kurt Gidley and Robbie Farah for a berth on the Australian bench in the Four Nations final in Leeds.
“When you’re a young fella on the scene and someone says you’re playing first grade, you automatically think the world should stop for you .
“The first year I played 12 or 14 games all off the bench, the next year I played 22 and half those were starting at five-eighth…
Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens can not speak highly enough of Cronk’s attitude in camp. you soon find out that’s not how it works.
“That nine, seven, six thing about him - I’m not going to say it’s going to put him in any stronger position than the other utility boys, but it just comes down to who’s going to be fit after this next game,” Sheens said. And his skill and that attitude which have him contending to play a bigger role in the tournament than that of occasional fill-in..
“I’m going to experiment with Cooper . he’s got a chance to impress for the final in the role.. With Hunt having left rugby league to pursue a career in other codes, Cronk knows a Queensland jumper is also up for grabs. With Hunt having left rugby league to pursue a career in other codes, Cronk knows a Queensland jumper is also up for grabs. .
“It probably is a little bit (of an opportunity).
“I’ll be going out there to run hard and tackle hard and two, to play my role in the side.
“If that makes someone stand up and take notice, that’s for them to do that.”
- AAP
.The Church of Scientology has been fined 600,000 euros ($972,000) by a French court for preying financially on its followers in the 1990s.
Officials have voiced regret however that a recent change in French law prevented the court from banning the religion outright. .
A lawyer for Scientology’s French operations, Patrick Maisonneuve, says he will appeal, but “the most important thing is that this association can continue to exercise its activities.
“Religious freedom is in danger in this country,” said Eric Roux, the spokesman for Scientology’s French Celebrity Centre.
But last month the French courts were alerted to a little-noticed legal change voted in by Parliament in May - the month the trial opened - which bars judges from dissolving an organisation convicted of fraud.”
Paris prosecutors originally asked the court to order the Celebrity Centre and Scientology’s Paris bookshop be dismantled.
The change has since been dropped, but this was not retrospective, hence Scientology’s protection from an outright ban.
Founded in 1954 by US science-fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is recognised as a religion in the United States and claims a worldwide membership of 12 million.
Officials in Germany, Greece, Russia and elsewhere have accused the movement of tricking its members out of large sums, and in 1995 it was classified as a cult in France, where it claims 45,000 followers.
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The movement is best known for its Hollywood followers including Tom Cruise and John Travolta
.England has recovered from a 12-4 half-time deficit to defeat France 34-12 in the opening match of rugby league’s Four Nations tournament in Doncaster.
Teenage half-back Richie Myler scored two tries as Tony Smith’s side ran in 30 unanswered second-half points with Kevin Sinfield, Ryan Hall, Tom Briscoe and Lee Smith also crossing.
Sinfield added five goals, but England has plenty of work to do if it is to deny either Australia or world champion New Zealand claiming the title in the four-team event.
But England rallied just in time in front of an 11,529 crowd at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium - the highest for an Anglo-French international since 1952.
Tries from Vincent Duport and Kane Bentley put France 12-4 up by half-time as itsensed a first win over England for more than 27 years. .
France’s woes were compounded when Jean-Phillippe Baile was sent off for a high shot on Myler late in the game.
Smith said he was not concerned about France’s lightning start.
“We were a bit anxious and put a bit of pressure on one another.
“We were just a bit excited, even before the game,” Smith told Sky Sports. We knew if we did that they would struggle.
“We just had to settle down and build some pressure on the French.
“This is a new team, and it takes a little bit of time to get the combinations - and that showed tonight,” he said.”
Smith admitted that next week’s clash with Australia would represent a different proposition altogether.
“We go up about three rungs in class next week.
“We go up about three rungs in class next week.