London - Manchester United duo Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes have received one-match bans for their red cards against Fulham last weekend.

Rooney was given a second yellow card for throwing the ball in anger towards referee Phil Dowd during the 2-0 defeat at Craven Cottage.

Scholes was sent off early on for handling the ball on the line.

Both men will miss United's next match, at home to Aston Villa, on April 5.

London - Tottenham Hotspur defender Ledley King pulled out of the England squad for matches against Slovakia and Ukraine because of injury.

King has a chronic knee problem that makes it difficult for him to play two matches in succession.

The FA said that King would miss the friendly with Slovakia on Saturday, as well as the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on April 1.

London - Insurers Lloyds of London Tuesday announced 50-per-cent slide in pre-tax profits in 2008 amid a sharp rise in claims resulting from natural disasters around the world.

Lloyd's, the world's biggest insurance market, said pre-tax profits fell by 50.6 per cent to 1.9 billion pounds (2.7 billion dollars) in 2008, compared with 3.85 billion pounds for
2007.

The market has been hit by "significant claims from natural catastrophes, lower insurance rates and a reduction in investment income", said the firm.

London, Mar. 24 : The The Castle of Mey, the former Highland home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother has become embroiled in an equality row after opening its doors to Christian weddings, while refusing to hold ceremonies for homosexual or lesbian couples.

The trustees at the Castle of Mey near John o'' Groats, said the late Queen Mother preferred that people were married in a Christian ceremony and that they had decided to offer only Christian weddings conducted by a priest or minister.

London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday launched a diplomatic offensive to rally support for his plan to secure a co-ordinated world response to the global economic downturn at next week's G20 summit in London.

Brown's first stop will be at the European parliament in Strasbourg where he will give a speech praising the European Union's key contribution to the summit goal of forging a "new global deal," officials said.

London, Mar. 23 : During its 23-day offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israel had committed numerous war crimes by using Palestinian children as human shields and targeting medics and hospitals, The Guardian has claimed.

A month-long investigation obtained detailed evidence of civilians being hit by fire from unmanned drone aircraft under Operation Cast Lead.

The films recorded by The Guardian reveal that the Israel operation was aimed at Hamas, but left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including more than 300 children.