Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1

Liverpool 1 Southampton 0

Bolton 0 Blackburn 1

Manchester City 1 West Brom 1

Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to eight points with a 2-0 win at Portsmouth.

A key player in recent takeover activity on Irish and British high streets has lined up a £1bn (€1.4bn) war chest for a major deal of its own, it was reported today.

Lawrence Dallaglio and his Wasps forwards can expect a heavy workload this week in an attempt to shunt the European champions’ Heineken Cup challenge back on track.

Wasps 31 Leicester 37

Northampton 23 Toulouse 21

Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 1

Everton 3 Bolton 2

The Labour Party has criticised the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority's failure to identify those responsible for the overcharging scandal at AIB.

Llanelli Scarlets 22 Ulster 9

Dundee 2 Celtic 2

Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given will not be holding out the hand of friendship when he runs out to face Everton tomorrow.

Wales 98 Japan 0

Barcelona 1 Celtic 1

British supermarket chain Iceland was poised to be separated from its parent company Big Food today after the group received a £326m (€474.5m) offer from Icelandic retailer Baugur.

President George W Bush for the second time was chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year, after winning re-election and “reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style” – a reference to his cowboy image.

A woman charged with killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb was showing the child off to people at a café and to her pastor hours before she was arrested, residents said.