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&cat=19&pid=16859&cache=true " alt="Warrington land Huddersfield" class="alignleft" />
Full story to follow. Challenge Cup fifth round draw: Barrow v Hunslet Crusaders v Catalans Bradford v Leigh Halifax v Batley Harlequins v St Helens Huddersfield v Warrington/Featherstone Leeds v Blackpool Widnes/Lezignan v Wigan Ties to be played over the weekend of Saturday, 8 and Sunday, 9 May This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 18, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=16443&cache=true " alt="Campaigner wins tainted blood case" class="alignleft" />
A composer who contracted HIV and hepatitis C through an NHS blood transfusion has won a High Court challenge over compensation levels. Andrew March, 36, had criticised the government’s refusal to match higher payouts in the Republic of Ireland. Mr Justice Holman ruled that the way the UK government had reached its decision was flawed but said it was not his role to rule on the amount paid. He said campaigners should therefore not now have “false optimism”. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 16, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=12535&cache=true " alt="Leeds 20-20 Bradford" class="alignleft" />
Leeds Rhinos (6) 20 Tries: Smith 2, Delaney, Sinfield Goal: Sinfield 2 Bradford Bulls (16) 20 Tries: Nero 2, Halley, Menzies Goals: Orford 2 Lee Smith made a fairy-tale return as champions Leeds staged a dramatic second-half fightback at Headingley to hold West Yorkshire rivals Bradford. Leeds, 16-6 down at half-time, looked set for a fourth straight defeat when Chris Nero bagged his second try for the Bulls 12 minutes after the break. But Leeds hit back with three tries in 10 minutes, through Brett Delaney, fit-again Kevin Sinfield and Lee Smith. It was Smith’s second try in his first game back since switching codes again. The 23-year-old England international signed off from his first spell with his home-town club with two tries in their third successive Grand Final triumph last October. And he had only returned to Leeds from his abortive move into rugby union with Wasps the previous day. But he did not take long to make April fools of anyone who might have suspected that he had lost his cutting edge in union. Bradford had earlier stunned Leeds with three tries in the first 21 minutes, Nero’s first effort being followed by efforts from Dave Halley and Steve Menzies. But, with Smith back and Sinfield fit for the first time in a month since injuring his thigh in the World Club Challenge defeat to Melbourne, Leeds at last showed the character of champions to claim a deserved share of the spoils. There was little sign of the drama to come when veteran Bulls scrum-half Matt Orford orchestrated his side’s early lead. First, he sent the long-striding Chris Nero through a gap on three minutes before combining with Heath L’Estrange and Paul Sykes to get Halley over at the corner. Orford added one conversion, increasing his side’s lead to 12-0 midway when Leeds full-back Brent Webb was penalised for an incorrect play-the-ball. It then got even worse for the champions when loose forward Menzies took another crisp Orford pass to stretch out for a third Bradford try. But Smith responded, taking a long pass from Danny McGuire to go over on 36 minutes and give his side hope. That ought to have given Leeds confidence but their passing and timing was still awry after the resumption. And Nero wrong-footed Delaney to extend the visitors’ lead. Crucially, as it turned out, Orford was off target for the third time with the goalkick. But things were still not going Leeds’ way when centre Keith Senior was held up in what had a looked a certain score. And the home side then suffered a further blow when reduced to 10 men after hooker Danny Buderus was sin-binned on 57 minutes for holding down Brett Kearney in the tackle. But the Rhinos pulled a try back while down to 12 men, Webb’s half-break creating the position for Delaney. With Leeds now throwing caution to the wind, the Bulls defence opened up invitingly for Sinfield, who added the goal to his own try, narrowing the gap to four points. And the two sides were level on 75 minutes when Smith chased McGuire’s kick to the corner, scoring with a spectacular pick-up and dive. But Sinfield failed with the touchline conversions and, after two scruffy attempts from both teams to snatch it with drop goals, the hooter brought a fair outcome to a gripping encounter. Leeds Rhinos: Webb, Smith, Delaney, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Bailey, Kirke, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield. Replacements: Lauitiiti, Burgess, Buderus, Ambler. Bradford Bulls: Kearney, Halley, Platt, Nero, Reardon, Sykes, Orford, Lynch, L’Estrange, Scruton, Whitehead, Langley, Menzies. Replacements: Hall, Godwin, Kopczak, Donaldson. Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington). Attendance: 17,244. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 1, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=12425&cache=true " alt="Court challenge over train strike" class="alignleft" />
The planned national rail strike by the RMT union is being challenged by Network Rail in the High Court. The company will try to avert the first national rail strike in 16 years by alleging there were discrepancies in the RMT’s ballot for industrial action. The union, which has called strikes over four days, starting next Tuesday, said it would strongly defend itself. It plans to strike over Network Rail’s plans to cut 1,500 jobs and increase evening and weekend maintenance work. The union said the plans would affect rail safety. Refunds Network Rail has said it found “scores of discrepancies and inaccuracies” in the RMT’s strike ballot of signalling staff. The legal challenge concerns only the ballot of signallers, and does not relate to the RMT’s ballot of maintenance workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) ballot of supervisors. In preparation for disruption, train companies have published revised timetables for 6 to 9 April when members of the RMT and TSSA unions are due to walk out. Train operators say no services will run between 1900 BST and 0700 BST. The Association of Train Operating Companies said passengers would be eligible for a refund or be able to switch to another service if their train was cancelled or ran later than originally scheduled. If there are no trains on a particular route, season ticket holders will be able to claim compensation. TSSA supervisors and RMT maintenance workers are set to walk out from 6 to 9 April inclusive, while RMT signal staff will strike from 0600 BST to 1000 BST and 1800 BST to 2200 BST on the same days. An estimated four out of every five trains would be cancelled, and on the commuter lines into Victoria, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and London Bridge, all in London, that proportion could rise to nine out of every 10. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 1, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=12431&cache=true " alt="Court challenge over train strike" class="alignleft" />
The planned national rail strike by the RMT union is being challenged by Network Rail in the High Court. The company will try to avert the first national rail strike in 16 years by alleging there were discrepancies in the RMT’s ballot for industrial action. The union, which has called strikes over four days, starting next Tuesday, said it would strongly defend itself. It plans to strike over Network Rail’s plans to cut 1,500 jobs and increase evening and weekend maintenance work. The union said the plans would affect rail safety. Refunds Network Rail has said it found “scores of discrepancies and inaccuracies” in the RMT’s strike ballot of signalling staff. The legal challenge concerns only the ballot of signallers, and does not relate to the RMT’s ballot of maintenance workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) ballot of supervisors. In preparation for disruption, train companies have published revised timetables for 6 to 9 April when members of the RMT and TSSA unions are due to walk out. Train operators say no services will run between 1900 BST and 0700 BST. The Association of Train Operating Companies said passengers would be eligible for a refund or be able to switch to another service if their train was cancelled or ran later than originally scheduled. If there are no trains on a particular route, season ticket holders will be able to claim compensation. TSSA supervisors and RMT maintenance workers are set to walk out from 6 to 9 April inclusive, while RMT signal staff will strike from 0600 BST to 1000 BST and 1800 BST to 2200 BST on the same days. An estimated four out of every five trains would be cancelled, and on the commuter lines into Victoria, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and London Bridge, all in London, that proportion could rise to nine out of every 10. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 1, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=12430&cache=true " alt="Court challenge over train strike" class="alignleft" />
The planned national rail strike by the RMT union is being challenged by Network Rail in the High Court. The company will try to avert the first national rail strike in 16 years by alleging there were discrepancies in the RMT’s ballot for industrial action. The union, which has called strikes over four days, starting next Tuesday, said it would strongly defend itself. It plans to strike over Network Rail’s plans to cut 1,500 jobs and increase evening and weekend maintenance work. The union said the plans would affect rail safety. Refunds Network Rail has said it found “scores of discrepancies and inaccuracies” in the RMT’s strike ballot of signalling staff. The legal challenge concerns only the ballot of signallers, and does not relate to the RMT’s ballot of maintenance workers and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) ballot of supervisors. In preparation for disruption, train companies have published revised timetables for 6 to 9 April when members of the RMT and TSSA unions are due to walk out. Train operators say no services will run between 1900 BST and 0700 BST. The Association of Train Operating Companies said passengers would be eligible for a refund or be able to switch to another service if their train was cancelled or ran later than originally scheduled. If there are no trains on a particular route, season ticket holders will be able to claim compensation. TSSA supervisors and RMT maintenance workers are set to walk out from 6 to 9 April inclusive, while RMT signal staff will strike from 0600 BST to 1000 BST and 1800 BST to 2200 BST on the same days. An estimated four out of every five trains would be cancelled, and on the commuter lines into Victoria, Waterloo, Liverpool Street and London Bridge, all in London, that proportion could rise to nine out of every 10. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 1, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=12121&cache=true " alt="Call to bar Iraq election winners" class="alignleft" />
Six of the winning candidates in Iraq’s elections should be disqualified because of alleged ties to the former Baath government, a vetting panel says. If upheld, the move could alter the election result, to which State of Law coalition leader, Nouri Maliki, is already mounting a legal challenge. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiyya list won the election by two seats – too few to form a government. A list spokesman said the suggested disqualifications would be illegal. Unnamed officials from the Justice and Accountability Committee told the Associated Press (AP) news agency four of the six candidates belonged to Mr Allawi’s Iraqiyya list, but none of the six was named. The committee was set up to prevent people connected to Saddam Hussein’s ruling Baath party from standing for elected office. Officials said they had submitted 52 names before the election calling for them to be barred from standing, but the Independent High Election Commission did not act on the committee’s recommendation and six of those candidates won their elections. The other two are a Kurdish candidate and a member of the State of Law coalition, AP reported. Iraqiyya list member Hamid al-Mutlaq said: “The decisions of the Accountability and Justice Committee are not legal, those six winning candidates have the approval of the election commission. “This is a political decision, not a legal one.” About 500 candidates were barred from standing before the election by the commission. On Monday Mr Allawi accused Iran of trying to prevent him from becoming prime minister. Both the UN and US envoys to Iraq have said the 7 March poll was credible. Much of Mr Allawi’s support came from Iraq’s Sunni minority, says the BBC’s Andrew North in Baghdad, but most of the parties he would need to back him represent Iraq’s Shia majority and have close ties to Iran. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
March 31, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=11750&cache=true " alt="Team Sky named among Tour teams" class="alignleft" />
Team Sky have received an invitation to compete in this year’s Tour de France which begins on 3 July in Rotterdam. The British-based team was put together in 2009, with the aim of winning the world famous race within five years. Triple Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins is likely to spearhead their challenge as he looks to improve on his fourth-placed finish in 2009. A total of 22 teams will take part in the race – 16 ProTour outfits and six with special wildcard invitations. Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack and world champion Cadel Evans’s BMC Racing have also secured invitations to the 97th Tour. Organisers left out the Dutch outfit Vacansoleil, the team of France’s Brice Feillu, who won a mountain stage in Arcalis in last year’s edition. France’s Saur Sojasun were also left out. ProTour teams: AG2R-La Mondiale, Astana, BBox Bouygues Telecom, Caisse d’Epargne, Cofidis, Euskaltel, Fran
March 30, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=11691&cache=true " alt="Martinez slams ref over red card" class="alignleft" />
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez has accused referee Stuart Attwell of giving a red card for an incident he did not see. Martinez felt Gary Caldwell should not have received red card for a 56th-minute challenge on Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez with the score at 0-0. “We are all human beings and we make mistakes but to give a decision after something you don’t see that is lying,” said Martinez after the 3-0 loss. “You are making it up. That is hard to take.” Wigan capitulated following defender Caldwell’s dismissal as Tevez notched a 12-minute hat-trick, moving Manchester City above Liverpool and to within two points of Tottenham in the race for the final Champions League spot. But Martinez said Attwell, the youngest referee in the Premier League at 27, was wrong to red card Caldwell. “To give a red card you have to be certain. Then you are looking at the replay it is no way it is a red card offence,” he added. “Gary said he went in really strong and got the ball. Carlos Tevez saw it, jumped off the ground, he’s the one who left both feet. “He [the referee] said he saw Gary Caldwell with both feet off the ground. That’s why he gave the red card. But Gary Caldwell only went with one foot. That’s a real injustice. “The decision was a key moment in the game and until that moment we were coping really well with everything Man City had. “I felt we were growing into the game, we had a couple of opportunities and felt that the last half an hour was going to be crucial. “That decision was a key moment. It really cost us and the game went away from us.” The defeat leaves the Latics just two places and four points above the relegation zone, their next two fixtures being at Fulham on Sunday followed by a home clash with bottom club Portsmouth. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
March 30, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=10966&cache=true " alt="Birmingham 1-1 Arsenal" class="alignleft" />
By Sam Sheringham Birmingham substitute Kevin Phillips scored a stoppage-time equaliser as Arsenal’s title challenge was blown off course in a bruising encounter. The match came alive after an hour when Blues defender Roger Johnson hit the post and Scott Dann missed the rebound. The Gunners took the lead in the 81st minute when Samir Nasri fired into the far corner from the edge of the area. But deep into added-time, a Bacary Sagna clearance struck Phillips and flew through Manuel Almunia’s hands. Phillips raced away in delight after the 250th goal of his impressive career, but he knew little about the strike which hit his head and was parried by Almunia before looping in. The goalkeeper’s error will be a source of immense frustration to Gunners fans who have seen the Spaniard and his understudy Lukasz Fabianski make blunders in several key games this season. 606: DEBATE ” I have finally had it with Manuel ‘The Seal Impersonator’ Almunia ” RuiCostaJr Arsenal had already missed a number of chances to kill the game, with Andriy Arshavin and Nasri both proving wasteful in a frantic finale. For Birmingham, it was another impressive point against one of the league’s big guns, following home draws with Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton and Manchester City. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was roundly booed before kick-off, following his pre-match comments over the Martin Taylor’s challenge which broke Eduardo’s leg on Arsenal’s last visit to the ground two years ago. With Croatian striker Eduardo on the bench, Arsenal made a confident start and carved out the game’s first opening when Tomas Rosicky found space down the left and crossed low for Abou Diaby, whose goal-bound shot was deflected wide by Lee Bowyer at the near post. The Gunners were typically neat in possession and went close again when a clever chip forward by Fabregas was chased down by Theo Walcott. The winger capitalised on a stumble by Dann, but could only stab a weak shot straight at the advancing Joe Hart. Cameron Jerome, with four goals in his previous four games, posed Birmingham’s main threat. He had a long-range shot tipped around the post by Almunia before skipping inside Sol Campbell and prodding a shot straight at the keeper under a heavy challenge from the defender. Arsenal suffered an injury scare ahead of Wednesday night’s visit of Barcelona when captain Fabregas went down under a late challenge from Craig Gardner and required treatment to his right knee before soldiering on. Meanwhile, there was plenty of action off the field with a number of verbal spats between Wenger and his Birmingham counterpart Alex McLeish. The Arsenal manager and his number two Pat Rice were both involved in lengthy exchanges with the fourth official. In the second half, Arsenal again started more brightly and could have taken the lead when Diaby shot straight at Hart from the edge of the area after being fed by Rosicky. Shortly afterwards, the Gunners had a massive escape as a Birmingham free-kick from the middle of the park found Johnson at the far post. His volleyed effort struck the far post and deflected into the path of Dann, who kneed the ball over the bar from a yard out. Wenger made a double change midway through the half with Nasri and Arshavin replacing Rosicky and Walcott. And the substitutes almost combined for the game’s opening goal as Arshavin’s clever cut-back found Nasri in space, but the Frenchman’s weak shot failed to trouble Hart. Nasri made amends with a strike of real quality. He picked up the ball 40 yards out and charged to the edge of the box before unleashing a right-footed strike into the far corner. With Birmingham pushing for an equaliser, gaps were opening up at the back and Arshavin should have done better when presented with a clear opening. But the Gunners paid the ultimate penalty as a Hart free-kick was only half-cleared, allowing Craig Garder to clip the ball back into the box. Phillips battled for the ball with Sagna, whose clearance struck the striker in the face and beat the bemused keeper for a dramatic late equaliser.
March 27, 2010 | Posted in
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