Portugal and Poland drop out because winning would be disaster

A university researcher has been arrested over an alleged plot to detonate a four-tonne bomb in front of the parliament building in Warsaw when the President, Prime Minister, government ministers and MPs were present.

The demolition derby aspect of the Vendée Globe round the world race continued to dominate coverage on Sunday as the fifth of the 20 starters limped off the racecourse and a sixth sought to fix a problem which could also force him to retire.

Who knew that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin only allow their children to watch TV in French and Spanish? Speaking to the Indian TV channel NDTV, presumably in neither Sanskrit nor Hindi, Gwynnie explained, "When I'm in France I go to Boulevard Beaumarchais and buy all their cartoons".

Sven Hassel was a remarkable but controversial author who wrote successful novels set on the Eastern front in the Second World War. Starting in 1953 he published 14 novels, written in the first person, which were translated into 25 languages and published in 50 countries.

Roberto Alagna has sung the role of the lovesick Nemorino before, but this was his Covent Garden debut in the role. And in a pre-performance interview he described his challenge: he would have to ‘fight with the ghost of his past’ – ie compete with his own best moments.

England are confident defender Carl Jenkinson will receive international clearance in time to be involved in tomorrow's friendly international with Sweden in Stockholm.

An exploration of her mother's Polish roots by an English singer-songwriter; but not a subjective trawl through family history, à la Who Do You Think You Are?.

Millennium Eye: We want to take the next step – beating southern hemisphere sides

Ashes to ashes, bust to bust; dead men elected to office and the woman who failed her driving test for the 105th time

Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc is back in contention for tomorrow's clash with Swansea after an alleged incident in their last home game with Tottenham.

Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson will be drafted into the England squad for next week's friendly with Sweden, if they can get clearance from Fifa.

Immigration minister says their English language skills mean they will fit right in