London  - Consumers from Latin America to eastern Europe have apparently resisted drowning their economic sorrows in a glass of beer, trading figures from SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer, showed Thursday.

The group's trading update for its third quarter up to the end of December showed that lager shipments in Europe dropped by one per cent as a result of the "impacts of the global financial crisis on consumer disposable income."

London  - A waxwork of US president-elect Barack Obama was unveiled Thursday at Madame Tussauds waxwork museum in London, where US citizens will have free entry on inauguration day next Tuesday.

Obama's wax likeness has him standing, arms crossed, in a recreation of the White House's Oval Office, complete with the desk and the carpet embossed with the presidential seal of office.

Liz Edwards of Madame Tussauds said it had not been easy to create the figure, as studio artists had to rely on photographs and research.

London - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband Thursday criticized the US-inspired "war on terror" as a strategy that might have promoted terrorism.

In an article in the Guardian newspaper, Miliband said that categorizing the threat posed by hugely different groups as a simple battle of "good and evil may have done more harm than good."

Miliband's thinly-veiled swipe at outgoing US president George W Bush came ahead of a speech he is due to deliver Thursday in the reopened Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai which was at the centre of a November terrorist attack.

London - Champions Manchester United have the chance to go top of the table for the first time on Saturday night as the battle for the English Premier League title begins to hit boiling point.

Victory at Bolton Wanderers would lift United one point clear of Liverpool, who are not in action until Monday night when they host Merseyside rivals Everton.

With one game in hand, United have the chance to add to the pressure on Liverpool, who were held to a goalless draw at Stoke City in their last match.

"You don't mind when you go top, but top is definitely the place to be," United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. "Hopefully that's where we'll be by Saturday night."

London, Jan. 15 : Soccer star Steven Gerrard's wife, Alex Curran, was involved in a rush-hour collision on Wednesday.

Curran, who was driving her 55,000-pound Range Rover, crashed at traffic lights 10 minutes from the couple's home, reports The Mirror.

Shattered glass and bits of broken bumper were left in the road after her black 4x4 collided with another car. ng off."