The anxiously awaited attempt to pull the crippled Costa Concordia upright from its side off Italy’s Tuscan coast is under way.

Dr Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a host of devices to help heart patients, has died. He was 99.

THERE were conflicting reports last night that Romania striker Adrian Mutu, banned for seven months for taking cocaine, is involved in talks with Italian giants Juventus.