12/11/2011 BBC Weekend News


12/11/2011

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Resign, they chanted. Italy is the world's seventh biggest economy,

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and yet surveys suggest it's now easier to do business in Mongolia

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and Saddam bee ya. The MPs who dared to walk among the crowds were

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pushed and heckled. The opposition held responsible. It's over.

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some MPs, it's the end of a long wait. Tomorrow the President will

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give the position to someone else, he said, someone with a top

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international profile. His name is Mario Monti, a widely

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respected professor of economics, who will head a cross-party

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technocrat government. Judging from the rowdy scenes in Parliament

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today, where the Government's austerity bill was finally approved,

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it's hard to imagine the main centre right and centre left

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parties working together. Mr Berlusconi remains the leader of

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his party, a force behind the scenes. Today, in his first face to

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face meeting with Mr Monti was busy setting out his terms. No matter,

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by the end of the evening, the anger had turned to celebration, as

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news of Mr Berlusconi's resignation was officially announced. Does the

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new Prime Minister they welcome really have the power and charisma

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to unite the Parliament and the country behind the tough reforms

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demanded? Well Silvio Berlusconi has dominated Italian politics for

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two decades, despite the repeated gaffes, allegations of corruption

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and the scandal. How did he mesmerise the Italian public for so

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long? Christian Fraser is in Rome. Humphrey Hawksley looks back at his

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political career. Silvio Berlusconi has reshaped Italian politics over

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the past 20 years. He was born into a rich family and sang in a

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nightclub while studying law. He forged his road to power through

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his business iz, first property, then television and the media and

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used profits from that to buy his home town's foundering football

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club, which he turned into a top European winner. He used a football

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slogan "go Italy" to back a new movement. His attempt at austerity

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measures then sparked ugly scenes in Parliament. He lasted just seven

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months in office. But he kept bouncing back. In 2001

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and again in 2008 to become Italy's longest serving Prime Minister

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since the Second World War. He was constantly defending himself

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against corruption charges, investigations and all.

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He was accused of using his power to protect his wealth and anger

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turned to violence when a protester smashed a model of Milan cathedral

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into his face. International pressure on him

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increases too and his quips became embarrassing. "I have to bring you

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some greetings from a man, what is his name? Just A Minute, it was

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someone with a tan." With his sex life he brushed off criticism with

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a similar attempt at humour. TRANSLATION: If I sometimes see a

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beautiful girl, I say better to like girls than to be gay. Finally,

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holding a good party and working the crowd were not enough. His

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failure to revive Italy cost him his job.

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Christian, a day of high drama in Italian political life, where does

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the country go from here, do you think? There's an old saying in

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Italian politics "the first man named, is the first man burned."

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I'm not saying Mario Monti will be tied to the stake on the first day.

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But you cannot underestimate what he has to do. Silvio Berlusconi

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says he will support him as long as he has to, but he can and will pull

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the plug when he wants to. Though he's not the Prime Minister, he's

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still the leader of the biggest party here. Mario Monti knows he

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has an important thing through Parliament, the first austerity

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plan. He must go wider and deeper. He must do it as an unePresident-

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Elected -- unelected Prime Minister. Thank you. Syria has condemned the

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decision by the Arab League to suspend its membership because of

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ongoing violence against anti- government protesters. The League,

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which met in Cairo today, is also set to impose economic and

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political sanctions on the country. Jon Leyne reports from Cairo.

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Outside Arab League headquarters, intense pressure on Arab

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governments to punish Syria. These mostly Syrian protesters are

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demanding what was once a cosy club for Arab dictators and autocrats

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take action against one of their own. We want total toppling of the

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regime. We want everyone to be held accountable. On the street outside,

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they laid out imitation body bags to represent the more than 3,500

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people now believed to have died in Syria. You wouldn't have seen this

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priel President Mubarak was in power. It's putting huge pressure

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on the member states of the Arab League to take action. As the

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meeting began, word soon emerged that Syria was to be excluded. The

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League is threatening to take the issue to the United Nations as well.

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TRANSLATION: We call on all Arab human rights groups to take action.

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If it doesn't stop, we will contact the UN and other international

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human rights organisations. There's overwhelming evidence that security

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forces have continued attacks on protesters, even after agreeing to

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halt the violence a week ago. This decision by the Arab League could

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embolden protesters. Stepping up the confrontation

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further. President Assad has been sent a powerful message. Even his

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former friends believe his days are numbered.

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Here, union leaders have dismissed as daft a suggestion by a

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Government minister, that public sector workers in England and Wales,

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planning to strike over pension changes should walk out for just 15

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minutes. The Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, said the

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token industrial action would minimise disruption to the public

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and wouldn't cost workers a day's pay. Our Business correspondent Joe

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Lynam reports. Last June hundreds of thousands of public sector

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workers walked out over Government plans to water down their pensions.

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To prevent a repeat of that and last spring's TUC march, talks are

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under way between the unions and the Cabinet Office minister,

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Francis Maude, and the Treasury secretary, Danny Alexander. Unions

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have voted for the next strike action by public sector workers to

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take place November 30th. Instead of a full walk out that day, Mr

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Maud has offered unions a token 15- minute strike without losing any

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pay. They've jumped the gun. They've rushed to have battology --

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ballots on strike action, while the Government's just made a big,

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generous offer. The union dismiss the idea. Each part of the public

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sector has a different pension scheme. All of those need to be

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thoroughly examined. Now between 30th November isn't very long to

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sort out these deep problems. I hope that Francis Maude spends more

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time negotiating with us and less time coming up with daft ideas.

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order to cut the deficit, the Government wants public sector

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workers to retire later. Staff would have to pay more into their

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pension pots and from 2015, all new public sector staff would join what

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the unions say are less generous schemes. If the strike in three

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weeks' time goes ahead, then the Government has warned that it may

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be tempted to change the law surrounding strike action. That

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would mean that at least half of all union members would have to

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cast a ballot for a strike to have legal force. At the moment, only a

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quarter of union members in the public service have voted for the

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current industrial action. The manager of Tottenham Hotspur,

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Harry Redknapp, is to face trial over allegations of tax evasion. Mr

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Redknapp and the former chairman, Meelan Mandarich will appear at

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Southwark Crown Court on January 23 next year.

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The Ministry of Defence has dismissed claims in a leaked Army

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memo suggesting that injured soldiers could lose their jobs as a

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result of more cuts to personnel. The MoD said the memo, which was

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obtained by the Daily Telegraph was incorrect. It also rejected

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suggestion it's was planning more cuts than those already announced.

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Our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale reports. It's the time of

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year that the entire nation remembers the sacrifice of those

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who've served in uniform. This morning politicians paid tribute to

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some, who've now left the service. Soon many more will be joining

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their ranks. The Ministry of Defence has already said that

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12,000 soldiers will be made redundant. A leaked confidential

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Army memo suggests the final figure could be significantly higher. But

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that's now prompted a strong denial. The so-called leaked document is a

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memo writen by a junior Army officer and is incecked. My

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predecessor announced the reductions in forced numbers that

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the Army will achieve to 2020. We have no plans to change those

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numbers. The MoD says the memo's author was an Army captain, though

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the document was still sent to commanders on the front line in

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Afghanistan. It comes as politicians and the military

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grapple with how to cut the size of the Army. It will involve difficult

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decisions. We have been set a task by the government to get the Army

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represent deuced. As the person responsible for that programme, you

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would not expect me to do anything other than actually look at all the

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possibilities. One of the most sensitive issues is what to do with

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those who've been wounded. Ben Parkinson suffered serious injures

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from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The leaked memo suggest some of

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those injured might have to leave the Army, highlighting the fears of

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Ben's family. We know that perhaps the terms aren't as blunt as appear

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in the memo, but we know that long- term, the aim of the MoD is to off-

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load the wounded as quickly as possible. The Ministry of Defence

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insists no-one injured will be forced out of the Army while

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they're receiving medical treatment. Nevertheless, the next round of

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redundancies expected early next year, will not be an easy process.

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Now with today's sport, here's Matt Gooderick. England have beaten

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Spain 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley. Captain for the day, Frank Lampard,

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scored the only goal early in the second half. Andy Swiss now reports.

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It was a night for English pride. First, the much discussed poppies,

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on training tops and arm bands, as Wembley united in a spine tingling

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silence. Then the match, or mismatch, it

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seemed, as an experimental England team chased the best in the world.

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Spain looked crisper, classier. England clung on until the break.

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After it, the unthinkable. Captain Frank Lampard looked as surprised

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as anyone, out of nowhere, England were ahead and a wave of confidence

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suddenly surge add cross Wembley. Not for long though, first Villa

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rattled the wood work. Cesc Fabregas particularly culpable.

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England gutsed it out. It wasn't perhaps quite the night Fabio

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Capello had in mind. He missed his son's wedding for this. His stand-

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in skipper still gave him plenty to celebrate. This was the proudest

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moment by far of any England career against the world champions.

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Remembrance weekend, it became a very big game for me and the team.

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We've done it today. Yes, it was only a friendly. Yes, it was hardly

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convincing, but England have beaten the world champions and that is

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some achievement. There was also an impressive

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friendly win for Wales in Cardiff. Gary Speed's side recorded their

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third victory in a row beating Norway 4-1. Gareth Bale scored the

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first. Craig Bellamy scoring the pick of the goals.

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England will line up in the final of rugby league's Four Nations

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after beating defending champions New Zealand in Hull. They won 28-6

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and will now face Australia next Saturday.

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Sanjeev Shetty reports. Watching the Haka isn't everyone's favourite

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way to bounce back from defeat. After losing to Australia last week,

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such was England's lot. This was the tightest of matches and it took

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until the 28th minute for either side to register on the score sheet.

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The competitive nature of this encounter sometimes threatened to

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spill over. Rugby authorities may investigate Isaac Luke's challenge

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on Rangi Chase. Regardless Kevin Sinfield kicked another two points

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from the resulting penalty. The captain continued to impress after

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the interval. His high kick dropping to Ryan Hall, who

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stretched the home side's lead. New Zealand wouldn't lie down. With an

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hour gone, Jason Nightingale's try put them on the score board. But it

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was England's night. More kiwi indiscipline saw Kevin Sinfield

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slot home another penalty. They added two more tries before the end.

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