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LONDON (Reuters) - A student who scribbled an expletive on an English language exam paper was awarded 7.5 percent for accurate spelling and effective communication, The Times newspaper reported on Monday. The pupil, who wrote "f--- off" after being asked in an English exam to "describe the room you are sitting in", got 2 marks out of 27 and would have got more if he had added some punctuati ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic champions Steve Redgrave and Kelly Holmes and nearly 100 other top British sports names have signed a petition aimed at blocking a bid by sprinter Dwain Chambers to compete at the Beijing Games after a drugs ban. Chambers, 30, has returned to competition after serving a two-year ban, having tested positive for the anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone in 2003, and ...

By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq threw open the world's third largest oil reserves to foreign firms on Monday, putting British and U.S. companies in poll position five years after U.S.-led troops invaded the country to oust Saddam Hussein. The move to invite bids for the development of Iraq's largest oilfields will mark the return of the oil majors, whose cash and technical  ...

By Jalil Hamid KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Anwar Ibrahim, leader of Malaysia's revitalised opposition, left the Turkish embassy on Monday where he had taken refuge following sodomy accusations, the latest thunderbolt in Malaysia's political tempest. Anwar left the embassy around 11:45 a. m. British time via the ambassador's residence. "Only after I received assurances of my safety, (did ...

Federer 2-1 Hewitt Four serves that sizzle to unplayable areas like lazer-guided missiles, and Hewitt can't get close. Fed aiming for his 17th successive Grand Slam quarter-final; Lleyton hasn't been in one since the 2006 US Open. Hmmm. Federer 1-1 Hewitt Swoony backhand volley from Fed at the net to get to 30-30, before two rapid Hewitt serves down the middle slam the door on his fingertips. Th ...

By Simon Baskett VIENNA (Reuters) - "Football was the winner" is one of the most over-worn cliches in the game but it happened to be true about Spain's victory in Euro 2008. The connoisseurs will be able to sit back in years to come and simply say that the best team won what was one of the most entertaining and aesthetically pleasing football tournaments of recent times. What  ...

By Fayen Wong PERTH (Reuters) - Oil rose over $1 to near $142 a barrel on Monday, bolstered by a weak U.S. dollar and continuing tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. U.S. light crude for August delivery was up $1.68 at $141.89 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 6:58 a.m. British time, within range of the record of $142.99 struck on Friday. Lo ...

LONDON (Reuters) - An 8-mile stretch of road in Cheshire often used as a race track by motorcyclists is Britain's most dangerous highway while many major routes are still unsafe, according to a survey. The single carriageway section of road between Macclesfield and Buxton has seen 43 fatal or serious accidents since 2001, most of them bikers, according to the Road Safety Foundation.  ...

By Hashem Kalantari TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian court on Monday sentenced to death an Iranian businessman on charges of spying for Israel after a two-day trial, media said. The Tehran court handed down its sentence at a time of high tension between Israel and the Islamic Republic amid speculation of a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear installations. Iranian media ide ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Police released two youths on bail on Monday over the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy, the seventeenth teenager to be murdered in London this year. Ben Kinsella, who media reports said was the brother of a former "Eastenders" actress, died in hospital after being stabbed in the early hours of Sunday morning in an area north of Kings Cross rail station. Detectives sai ...