Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May has welcomed the conviction of radical cleric Abu Hamza on terrorism charges.

Leinster will be back. Matt O’Connor was adamant about that last night.

HEINEKEN CUP POOL ONE:

Leinster 16 Connacht 13

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard threw open her job to a leadership ballot today in response to reports that supporters of her intra-party rival Kevin Rudd were gearing up to challenge her.

Reading 0 Wigan 3

US Open champion Sam Stosur became the first woman into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Dominika Cibulkova on Court Philippe Chatrier this afternoon.

Les Kiss empathises with the decision of Italy coach Nick Mallett to throw down the gauntlet to Ireland at the scrum.

IRELAND attack coach Alan Gaffney has backed the side’s commitment to ball-in-hand rugby but admitted a win against Scotland on Sunday would be a timely affirmation of their current approach.

Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan is “sick of the whole Andy Carroll saga” and determined to move on from the shock departure of the club’s star striker.

Adam Scott and Retief Goosen moved to within a shot of overnight leader Bubba Smith during the early stages of the second round at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Australian Barbarians 9 England 15

Wigan 0 Everton 1

TONY McGAHAN, pictured, has signed an extension to his contract as director of coaching with Munster to bring him through to the end of the 2011/2012 season.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the world faces a repeat of the current economic turmoil unless the Group of 20 countries tackles the need for financial regulation reform.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has introduced a motion to Parliament apologising to Aborigines for past mistreatment.

TWO anti-whaling activists who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship in a protest were last night transferred to an Australian vessel.

AN AUSTRALIAN was conscious and spoke to his medical team during life-saving brain surgery in what doctors are claiming as a world-first procedure with cutting-edge technology.

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson criticised Australia today for taking the US side in stalled World Trade Organisation talks on global trade liberalisation.

Independence hero and former guerrilla fighter President Xanana Gusmao today urged warring factions to end violence ripping through East Timor’s capital, while ex-soldiers whose rebellion triggered the broad mayhem offered peace talks.

London Irish’s hopes of a Guinness Premiership and European Challenge Cup double were dealt a major blow last night when director of rugby Brian Smith was banned for three weeks.

Charlton 2 Middlesbrough 1

Australia and the United States talked up nuclear power during a two-day Asia Pacific climate change conference, but the controversial energy source was conspicuously absent when meeting delegates issued a strategy for slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

The two most wanted men in south-east Asia are believed to have masterminded the suicide bombings at three crowded restaurants on the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali, officials said today.

A US Marine Corps fighter jet dropped a bomb and damaged a building in an accident at a remote military range in northern Australia, the government said today.

An Australian has died of injuries sustained in the London terrorist bombings last week, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

A car bomb exploded in a business district of central Baghdad today, and a police officer said at least seven people were killed and 16 wounded.

The family of an Australian engineer being held hostage in Iraq offered a “donation” to the Iraqi people today, as Australia’s top Muslim cleric left for Baghdad in a last-ditch effort to win his release.

ENGLISH rookie Oliver Wilson is only three shots off the lead in the Holden New Zealand Open - a week after fearing he had contracted pneumonia.

Australian Olympic chief John Coates today described the possibility of world 400m hurdles champion Jana Pittman missing the Olympics as “tragic”.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said today that the Butler report on Iraq supported his view that weapons of mass destruction could yet be found there.

BLYTH TAIT kept his cool at a balmy Punchestown yesterday to claim a brace of victories, as Niall Griffin lifted Irish spirits with a third to the former world champion in the feature Olympic-format event.

Clive Woodward questioned the wisdom of yesterday’s end-of-season Barbarians fixture after watching his scratch England side go down 32-12 at Twickenham.

The mastermind of a deadly rampage that killed five belonged to a Saudi opposition group in London, according to officials in the Saudi industrial town of Yanbu today.

A WESTERN engineering firm yesterday said it was evacuating all 90 foreign staff from the Saudi city of Yanbu after gunmen shot dead five of their colleagues.

European diplomats have said that two Americans, two Britons and one Australian were killed in today's suicide attack in north-west Saudi Arabia.

As dawn broke today across the Aegean Sea, more than 10,000 Australians, New Zealanders and Turks gathered to sing hymns and pray for those lost in the First World War battle of Gallipoli, making the trip despite security concerns.

Opposition activists today refused to disband protests until authorities agree to re-count Taiwan’s weekend presidential election, won by the incumbent one day after he was wounded in a mysterious shooting that critics say influenced the vote.

LAURA DAVIES, who was so racked with nerves she hardly slept a wink, overcame debilitating pressures to make a credible debut on the European Tour at the ANZ Championship in Australia yesterday.

THAILAND confirmed Asia’s eighth human victim of the avian flu virus yesterday in the deadliest outbreak on record, while the number of affected countries rose to 10 with Laos and China reporting cases.

Two of seven foreign oil workers kidnapped by ethnic militants in Nigeria’s volatile oil delta have been released, a state government official said today.

DECLAN BROWNE will miss Friday night’s opening Test in the Fosters International Rules Series against Australia after suffering a dead leg in a clash with a Western Australia player during yesterday’s warm-up game.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard welcomed today’s guilty verdict against a key figure in the Bali nightclub bombings.