Two a penny

.Former French midfielder Zinedine Zidane is glad he was sent-off for his head-butt in the 2006 World Cup final because he has not had to live with regret over escaping punishment.
Zidane received a red card for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, the last match of his career, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“It [the sending off] was a very good thing,” the former Real Madrid and Juventus playmaker told France Football magazine. I don’t know how I could have lived with it had France become world champions and I had stayed on the pitch.
“It’s good that [Italian keeper Gianluigi] Buffon signalled what I had done to the referee because it was not pretty.
“Many people outside football got involved, people who love you when you lift trophies and let you down when things go wrong.”
Zidane, who helped France lift the World Cup in 1998, thought there had been an over-reaction to Thierry Henry’s handball that led to France beating Ireland in November and securing a 2010 World Cup place. .”
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.Former French president Jacques Chirac has been placed under formal investigation for misuse of public funds while he was mayor of Paris.
There are now two judicial cases hanging over Mr Chirac.
The first and larger of these cases will go to trial next year.
Both concern his long period as mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and both centre on claims he paid senior members of his political party the RPR with funds that belonged to city hall. That means a trial in this case is more likely.
Now Mr Chirac has been told he is under formal investigation in the second. .
Mr Chirac has long protested his innocence in both affairs and he says he will be happy to explain his side of the story before a judge

.France’s first lady, ex-supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has agreed to star in Woody Allen’s next movie.
“He suggested I appear in his next film. I don’t know what the role would be, but I said yes,” the 41-year-old Italian-born singer-songwriter told the main evening entertainment show on the Canal+ network.
“I’m not an actress at all.
“I go into everything blindly or I’d never do anything at all,” she added, apparently referring to her showbiz career rather than to her sudden marriage last year to President Nicolas Sarkozy. When I’m a grandmother I’d like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen. Perhaps I’ll be completely hopeless, but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one.
“Woody Allen kindly asked me not to do a film with anyone else before him.”
New York filmmaker Allen visited the French first couple in June this year during a trip to Paris to promote his last movie, Whatever Works.
“If anything concrete ever comes of it, it’ll be a great experience for me. She has charisma and she performs, so she’s not a stranger to an audience. .”
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.French star Thierry Henry considered ending his international career following the furore that surrounded his handball against Ireland in the World Cup play-off in Paris last Wednesday.
Speaking to the L’Equipe newspaper, the Barcelona striker says that he felt abandoned and alone in the days after the match, which saw the French qualify for South Africa on the back of a goal set up by Henry’s sleight of hand.
Asked if he had considered calling time on his international career Henry replied: “Oh yes.
“I was really upset, and not for the first time. On Friday when everything had gone too far.
“After Euro 2008 also but it was not the right moment. After the World Cup in 2006, I considered that but it was too early. There was a new generation who needed me.
“Despite everything that happened last week, the way I felt abandoned, I will never let my country down. It just wasn’t possible.
That led to calls from Ireland and from some sectors in France for the fixture to be replayed, but world governing body FIFA ruled out any such eventuality ahead of the World Cup draw, which takes place in Cape Town on December 4.”
Henry freely admitted at the end of the Ireland clash that he had used his hand in setting up the French equaliser for William Gallas, which was enough to send the Irish crashing out of the tournament in extra-time.
He did regret having celebrated the goal but says that he had been taken up by the emotion of the moment in what had been a tense encounter.
Henry, who himself stated it would be best to replay the match, says he feels great sympathy for the Irish having suffered a similar fate when playing for Arsenal against Liverpool in 2001 FA Cup final.
“I shouldn’t have done that, but quite honestly it was just out of my control,” he said. .”
Asked if he thought the incident would leave a lasting stain on his career, Henry said. After that we did not celebrate, not even in the dressing rooms. I don’t think that all I have achieved in my career up until now will be be spoiled by this. “Quite honestly no.”
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.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has ruled out any connection between an incident on a Qantas jet last year, which left over 100 passengers injured, and the crash of an Air France Airbus into the Atlantic Ocean.
The ATSB has released its second interim report into what may have caused the Qantas jet to nosedive twice on its way from Singapore to Perth.
Investigators say they are yet to determine what caused sensors on the plane to fail, but they say interference from cosmic rays is among the issues being investigated.
“We verified .
The ATSB’s Martin Dolan says the cause of the incident has not been found, although the plane was tested in a flight over a radio transmitting station in Western Australia to see if cosmic waves were to blame… that the station was transmitting and there were no anomalous effects, so it was an interesting idea but not relevant to what happened here,” he said.
The bureau says international aviation authorities have worked out a protocol to override the problem, which is now part of general procedure. .

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The bureau says although the Qantas plane and an Air France jet were similar aircraft, the sequence of events leading up to each failure was different, and the sensors involved were different models from different manufacturers

.Battling Rafael Nadal has moved into the Paris Masters quarter-finals with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Tommy Robredo, underlining his threat to unseat Roger Federer as world number one by the end of the season.
With Federer a shock loser to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, a win for Nadal in the final would leave him just 305 points adrift of his arch rival with the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to come in London later this month.
Nadal ended Federer’s long reign as world number one after winning the Beijing Olympics last year, but Federer bounced back to regain the top spot in July after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon titles.
Robredo even served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set, but once again Nadal produced his best with his back to the wall to pull through by winning the final three games of the match.
Nadal needed to save five match points to get past Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro in a second round marathon of over three hours, and he wobbled again against Robredo, another countryman and a player he had beaten in straight sets in all five of their previous encounters.
The Scot, who won a season-best sixth title in Valencia last weekend, was taken to 1:45am (local time) the night before in defeating James Blake 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4).
Joining Federer on the sidelines though was fourth seed Andy Murray, who found two matches in one day too much to handle as he lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
“I said last night it was going to be difficult to come back and feel 100 per cent.
“But you still come out and you try to give it your best shot. It’s obviously limited recovery after a long match,” he said.”
Nikolay Davydenko meanwhile became the seventh player to qualify for the eight-man London Tour Finals, despite losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Sweden’s Robin Soderling in another third round match. [I] wasn’t good enough.
But then Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, who was holding on to the eighth and final slot, lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Placed seventh in the standings coming into Paris, the loss briefly left the Russian at the mercy of the four other players in with a chance of playing in London from November 22-29.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
His defeat meant that Davydenko was assured of finishing the week no lower than eighth, which stamped his ticket for London.
The match was evenly poised, with Gonzalez having taken the first set 7-6 (8-6), before Del Potro hit back with an identical scoreline in the second set.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez dropped out of the race when he pulled out injured in his third-round match against Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro.
Next up for him, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Soderling, who reached the French Open final the last time he was in Paris in June, will still have to at least reach the final at Bercy to have any chance of making it through to London.
He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year, having lost in four finals.
The 2008 Australian Open champion from Serbia, last year’s Tour Finals winner, is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week, where he beat Federer in the final.
“He is a big server and is having the best year of his career.
“Robin has a chance to qualify for the Masters Cup so he will give his best in the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said.”
Benneteau, who said his win over the world number one Federer was the best moment of his career, failed to carry his form through, losing 6-4, 6-3 to compatriot Gael Monfils. .
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.Kangaroos stalwart Petero Civoniceva admits the Australian pack needs to step up if it is to walk away with the silverware from the Four Nations final on November 14.
While the Kangaroos still need to beat winless France in Paris this weekend to confirm a spot in the Elland Road decider, Civoniceva says the tournament favourites have failed to impose themselves up front against either New Zealand or England.
New Zealand intimidated the Australian forwards with some brutal defence in their drawn tournament opener, while the Kangaroos struggled to contain the much bigger English pack when they started to get a bit of ball in the second half of Saturday’s 26-16 win in Wigan.
Those two sides will battle it out on Saturday for the other final berth.
“They had all the momentum and probably if the game went a little bit longer it could have got a bit scary.
“Those latter stages it started to get a bit hairy, but full credit to the boys for hanging in,” he said of the England game, when the hosts came back from 26-0 down at half-time.
“To a man we all knew we probably let ourselves down with what happened against the Kiwis. .”
The match was only the second Civoniceva has played since late June after damaging his toe in Queensland’s Origin II win in Sydney.
“We weren’t too far off the mark, but physically they certainly set the standard and we had to come out and match England up front where they’re very strong.
The France game would normally be one where the elder statesman of the Kangaroos pack would be expected to get the night off.
The 33-year-old admitted to struggling with his fitness late in the game, a factor which will probably see him get another run against France in Toulouse before the final.
“I’ll definitely put my hand up [to play against France] - if the results were a bit more dominant I might have got a rest,” he said.
But the need for match fitness is likely to be the deciding factor - plus the fact the 38-Test veteran needs to play to be able to break Johnny Raper’s record for most appearances in the green and gold by a forward.
“We were on the back foot, we were defending back to back sets but overall I was pretty happy.
“I probably hit the wall a little bit [against England].”
- AAP

.French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of spending $400,000 of taxpayers’ money on a luxury shower that was never used. .
A spokesman for the French government said the $400,000 was spent on renovating more than just the shower.
It was custom-built for Mr Sarkozy, with power and massage jet buttons and surround-sound radio.
The French Court of Accounts put the total cost at $280 million.
The French European Union presidency, which ran from July to December 2008, was one of the most expensive in history.

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Kiwis heading into Labour Weekend have been warned to expect mixed weather, and told to take care on the roads.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce issued a statement today calling formotorists to take care on the roads over the long weekend.

”Please act responsibly to ensure your own safety as well as that of your passengers and other road users.

More people were choosing to holiday in New Zealand this year and the roads will be unusually busy, he said.”

In the lower North Island, the New Zealand Transport Agencyclosednorthbound passing lanes on State Highway 1 at Waikanae and Te Horo from midday todaybecause of expected heavy traffic.

”Enjoy the weekend break but please use commonsense and patience on the road. The delays were due to a minor crash close to Waikanae.

However, police said shortly after 4pm that traffic was already extremely heavy between Paraparaumu and Waikanae and, at times, not moving at all. But the southbound passing lane north of Otaki will be closed on Monday for the same reason.

The Waikanae and Te Horo passing lanes willbe reopened late on Saturday afternoon.

Senior Sergeant Kris Burbery of the Central District Highway Patrol said additional units would be drafted in for the weekend.

Police are also planning a heavier presence north of Wellington.

Meanwhile, Metservice forecaster Ian Gall said the remnants of a cold southerly wind were easing over the country and were expected to give way to temperatures from 16 to 20 degrees across the country for the start of Labour weekend.Police will betargeting speed and alcohol related offences, as well as the behaviour of drivers around passing lanes and intersections.

“We’re getting rid of cool times so generally speaking we’re going to see maximums in the top half of the tens.

“Nationwide we’re talking about mostly fine weather, possibly a few afternoon showers in a few places and quite a lot of clear patches with some morning frosts,” he said.

However, showers were possible around the central North Island and eastern parts of the South Island.”

Mr Gall said they expected temperatures to be consistently luke-warm across the country.

It was expected to remain “pretty good” over the North Island, he said.

Mr Gall said the sun was expected to give way to cloudy patches later in the weekend, in particular over the South Island on Sunday with the wind expected to slowly turn into a north-easterly.

“We’re still in unsettled spring conditions so any good spells we’re getting have been fairly brief and are likely to be fairly brief for a while yet,” he said. .

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National and ACT have struck a deal over ACC reform that will see the Government investigate opening the work account to competition.

A press conference was expected at about 4pm to release details of the deal which clears the way for ACC Minister Nick Smith to introduce his stalled Bill to increase levies and reduce some entitlements.

“I am pleased the Government has secured support for this critical legislation from both the Maori Party and from ACT that will see ACC’s proposed levies reduced by half,” Dr Smith said.

ACC Minister Nick Smith confirmed the ACC Reform Bill will now be introduced next week.

“Today the National and ACT Parties reached an agreement that will ensure the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Bill will be passed through all stages,” Dr Smith said.

The Maori Party earlier this week said it would support the Bill as far as a select committee hearing.

“I think it’s clear that both ACT and National have made up their minds that they think parts of ACC should be privatised, notwithstanding the fact that its cheaper than Australian equivalents and notwithstanding it’s the best compensation system in the world,” Labour’s ACC spokesman David Parker said.

Labour said the deal was inevitable but was not good for taxpayers.”

The account was opened to competition between 1998 and 2000 until a Labour government re-nationalised it.

“In the end New Zealanders will end up paying more themselves to fund the profit margins of private insurers and getting less cover..

“We’ve been through this before and it ended in a muddle - people didn’t know who was covering them . the private insurers were a lot tougher when it came to people getting treatment and long term costs were projected to go up..

“People should have a choice of insurance provider for work-related accidents in the same way that they have a choice for their home and car insurance,” Mr Hide said.”

However, ACT Leader Rodney Hide said greater competition would provide more choice, quality of service and reduce costs. .

Dr Smith said National intended to work with ACT to open the ACC work account to competition subject only to the Government receiving a report from the steering group currently considering the stocktake of ACC accounts.”

The group will provide an interim report on the competition issue no later than 1 February 2010.

The ACC Stocktake Group will also explore other areas in which the private and non-government sectors (including Iwi) can be involved in accident management and compensation.