Eideard

Shh. Don’t tell Thierry Henry!
Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

New France coach Laurent Blanc Friday has punished the country’s farcical World Cup squad by dropping each of the 23 players for a friendly against Norway next month.

Blanc’s decision to take action was approved by the French Football Federation’s federal council after a meeting with Raymond Domenech’s successor in Paris.

France suffered a miserable World Cup campaign in South Africa, marked by striker Nicolas Anelka’s expulsion after his foul-mouthed tirade at Domenech, infighting, and the players’ refusal to train.

‘Les Bleus’ returned home in ignominy after failing to win any of their first round games, with Domenech refusing to shake South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parriera’s hand following the final defeat to the hosts…

France football has endured a woeful year, with Thierry Henry’s controversial handball which put France into the World Cup at the expense of Ireland in the play-offs, their pitiful display in the competition itself, and then the scandal involving international stars Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema who this week put under investigation on charges of having sex with an under-age prostitute.

Phew! How to start a new job, eh?

A new species of giant rat has been discovered deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.

The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano…

Like the other exotic species, the rat is believed to live within the Mount Bosavi crater, and nowhere else…

“This is one of the world’s largest rats. It is a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers,” says Dr Kristofer Helgen, a mammalogist based at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Initially, the giant rat was first captured on film by an infrared camera trap, which BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan set up in the forest on the slopes of the volcano.//

Then trackers accompanying the team managed to trap a live specimen…The trapped rat measured 82cm in length from its nose to its tail, and weighed approximately 1.5kg.

It had a silver-brown coat of thick long fur, which the scientists who examined it believe may help it survive the wet and cold conditions that can occur within the high volcano crater. The location where the rat was discovered lies at an elevation of over 1,000m…

Probably tastes like rabbit.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed six Afghan policemen and one civilian in a case of mistaken identity while targeting a Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. military and police said.

Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in air strikes by international troops in Afghanistan this year, Afghan officials say, feeding a perception that NATO-led and U.S. coalition forces do not take enough care when using air strikes.

“One local national and six Afghan national police were killed in Qalat district in Zabul province, during an operation targeting a known Taliban commander,” said Lieutenant Commander Walter Matthews, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul.

Thirteen others were also wounded, he said.

The U.S. military deeply regrets this case of mistaken fire, said Matthews.

At least, they didn’t kill any Canadians for a change. We’re beginning to run out of neighbors.