Two former New York City policemen were sentenced to life in prison yesterday by a federal judge who told the guilty pair that by moonlighting for the Mafia while wearing their shields they had committed "probably the most heinous series of crimes ever tried in this courthouse".

For years, student union bars have resounded to such memorable lines as "I demand to have some booze" and "Officer, I've only had a few ales", as generations of students attempt to match the characters' prolific alcohol intake drink for drink.

All diplomacy contains ambiguity, and it is possible that there is less to the U-turn signalled yesterday by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, than appears at first sight. After all, what Ms Rice actually said was that the United States was prepared to join talks with Iran "if" - and that "if" might be all-important - Tehran suspends its uranium-enrichment programme. Given Tehran's intransigence hitherto on this very subject, we may be contemplating a clever way of appearing flexible, which is designed to achieve nothing at all.

He cannot afford to alienate potential donors, so he cannot give a full account of the problem

Hoggard joins the 200 club but England's victory march is slowed by belated resistance from battered and beleaguered tourists

Watching other people's holiday videos is never the most rewarding pastime, and Ocean's Twelve (12A) is, at heart, a souvenir that George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and a crowd of other superstars brought back from their European vacation. Ocean's Eleven was hardly gritty, admittedly, but on some basic level it wanted us to believe that we were watching some crooks planning an elaborate heist. In the sequel, the crimes can't have taken much longer to write than they do to watch. We're treated to three different robberies in the closing reel, and none of them is more ingenious than someone grabbing a precious artefact while no one else is looking.

LA NInA SANTA (15)

LA NInA SANTA (15)

Ocean's Twelve (12A) Steven Soderbergh (123 mins) i8888; STARRING George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones

IRA should try the Zeta-Jones formula for Ulster peace

Human Traffic (18) to rent