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By James Regan SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of Australians crammed Sydney's tiny gay quarter to applaud half-naked cowboys, gay rugby players and other scantily-dressed marchers in the city's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Saturday. Armed with picnic baskets, blankets and beer, onlookers lined the parade's 1.6 km (1 mile) route cheering the 6,000 participants and 120 colourful floats, many loosely adopting the theme of this year's Oscar-hopeful blockbuster "Brokeback Mountain", An ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Goals from Didier Drogba and Joe Cole gave Premier League leaders Chelsea a 2-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion in a bad-tempered Hawthorns clash on Saturday. Drogba punished some half-hearted defending shortly after halftime to drill a low shot past Tomasz Kuszczak and Cole wrapped up the points with a close-range effort 10 minutes after replacing Damien Duff. Substitute Nwankwo Kanu gave West Brom a lifeline with three minutes remaining but Chelsea hung on to move 18 poi ...

PARIS, France (AP) -- British designer Alexander McQueen's ready-to-wear display on Friday had all the ingredients of a riddle: a cryptic invitation and rumors that supermodel Kate Moss would be making her first appearance on the catwalk since her drugs scandal broke. In the event, Moss appeared more in the spirit than in the flesh -- but more on that later. McQueen summoned guests with leaflets featuring the words: "Bantraich de cuil Lodair." A bit of sleuthing revealed the phrase  ...

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Scores of semi-naked cowboys, a couple of Saddam Husseins and a handful of Kate Moss impersonators joined thousands of other people parading through Sydney's streets on Saturday for the city's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival. The glitzy street parade was launched in 1978 as a gay rights protest, but has since transformed itself into a vibrant festival celebrating all aspects of gay culture. Tens of thousands of people lined the route through Oxford Street,  ...

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- As no-frills breakfast kings like McDonald's Corp. and Dunkin' Donuts have gotten more serious about their coffee, Starbucks Corp. has gotten more serious about its breakfast. It started selling toasted egg sandwiches alongside its scones, muffins and other breakfast breads in hometown stores three years ago, and the effort is expanding. Offering such trimmings as peppered bacon and Black Forest ham, Starbucks added the English muffin sandwiches to stores in Washi ...

By Huw Jones BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The backlash against France's economic patriotism policy of shielding firms from foreign bidders intensified on Saturday as Britain and Germany warned there was no rolling back of the EU's internal market. Paris has drawn fire on two fronts. The European Commission suspects it of going too far in stage managing the merger of Gaz de France and Suez to create a " ...

By Steve Holland ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Getting U.S. President George W. Bush into not one but two battlegrounds in the war on terrorism -- Pakistan and Afghanistan -- stretched his security detail but Bush was adamant about going despite the risks. In doing so, he offered a boost to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, both struggling to contain Islamist milita ...

By Tim Castle LONDON (Reuters) - A government minister and close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair is to separate from her husband, who faces a high-level corruption probe in Italy, her husband's lawyer said on Saturday. Culture Minister Tessa Jowell survived an inquiry this week into whether she had broken a ministerial code over the couple's financial arrangements. But she remained under pressure after the investigation left open the possibility of links between her tax lawyer husband David ...

By N.Ananthanarayanan NAGPUR, India (Reuters) - England opening batsman Alastair Cook stroked a century on his test debut to power his team towards possible victory over sloppy India in the first test on Saturday. England reached 297 for three at stumps to extend their overall lead to 367 on a slow Nagpur pitch where India will have to bat most of the last day to save the match. The 21-year-old Cook was 104 not out, displaying his class after arriving as a late call up for injury-depleted Eng ...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Palestinian election winner Hamas will not recognise Israel despite pressure from Russia to do so during talks in Moscow, a senior leader of the Islamic militant group said on Saturday. Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas's deputy political leader, told Reuters in an interview that recognising Israel would negate all Palestinian rights and therefore was out of the question.