Westlife are to split "amicably" after 14 years, the band have announced.

The Irish pop group will finish with a farewell tour next year and said they were looking forward to "new ventures".

Westlife - for many years managed by X Factor judge Louis Walsh - have had 14 UK number one hits over the course of their career.

The group said in a statement: "Over the years Westlife has become so much more to us than just a band. Westlife are a family."

The band, whose number one singles have included Swear It Again and Flying Without Wings, has…

Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will retire from football at the end of this season.
The 40-year-old former Netherlands international moved to Old Trafford from Fulham in 2005.
Van der Sar has made 245 appearances for the Red Devils and helped them to win three Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League.
"It is now time to pay attention to my family," he told the website of his management agency.
Van der Sar admitted he had been contemplating quitting the game since his wife, Annemarie, collapsed with a brain haemorrhage in December 2009.

I cannot really identify…

José Mourinho has refused to commit his future to Real Madrid beyond the end of this season. With widespread reports of a rift with the club's director general, Jorge Valdano, driving speculation that Mourinho could cut short his stay at the Bernabéu, Mourinho said he would wait until the summer to make a decision.

"The world is full of rumours, but they're not all true," he said after Real Madrid's 1-0 Copa del Rey win over Atlético Madrid. "Regarding my future, we'll see what happens at the end of the season. Contracts aren't the most important thing in football. If…

By Chris Harris at London Colney

Andrey Arshavin has suffered a blip in form but he’s getting back to his best and is happy to stay at Arsenal.

That’s the view of Arsène Wenger, who spent much of his pre-match press conference fending off questions about the Russian playmaker’s future following a difficult spell for the 29-year-old.

Arshavin started the season with five goals in nine games but he has scored just twice since September and was omitted for the recent Premier League clashes with Chelsea and Manchester City.

However the Russian did start at Leeds in the FA Cup…

The Beatles
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The Beatles Released in Britain on 17th January, 1969 (and a few days earlier in the US), Yellow Submarine was the soundtrack to an animated feature film which had received its UK premiere some six months earlier. The original LP release contained the Beatles tracks on side one with a newly recorded orchestral score composed and arranged by George Martin occupying side two of the disc. Of the Beatles tracks, four were brand new songs. The album was never intended as a high profile Beatles release, indeed it was issued when The…

Arsenal's Samir Nasri claims Old Trafford has lost its fear factor ahead of his side's Premier League visit to Manchester United on Monday night.

The Gunners are top of the table on goal difference from Manchester City, with United a further point behind.
But Nasri believes the current United team lacks the same aura of past teams.
"Manchester United is not the same team as before, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Tevez it was a little bit scary to play at Old Trafford," he said.
"Now I don't think offensively they are the same as before, but still they are a…

Police say TI joined an assembled crowd of people below the skyscraper before asking officers if he could help.

The man agreed to come down in exchange for a few minutes with the rapper, police said.

"I told him it ain't that bad. It'll get better, to put the time and effort into making it better," said TI, whose real name is Clifford Harris.

Rapper TI's advice to the man
He told the Associated Press news agency the man seemed "beat up by life".

"I just reminded him, know that I know. It looks bad right now but it can…

A mother from Greater Manchester has been found guilty of murdering her three-year-old daughter by smothering her with a Piglet cuddly toy.

Helen Caudwell, 42, had denied murdering Bethany at her home in Stockport on 3 October last year.

But a jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty following an eight-day trial, during which they heard she had lived a double life.

She told two men they were the father of the little girl.

Caudwell is due to be sentenced shortly.

sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-10969413

Gloucestershire methadone pair jailed after baby death
Holly Agius Holly Agius died at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital

A couple who gave heroin substitute methadone to a toddler who died of suspected poisoning have been jailed for child cruelty.

Holly Agius, aged 14 months, died after being taken to hospital from her home in Broadwell, Gloucestershire.

Bristol Crown Court heard earlier that the pair repeatedly gave her methadone in an attempt to soothe her.

Her mother Bonny Richards, 28, was jailed for 15 months. Her partner John Davies, 32, was sentenced to 18 months.

Soothe attempts 'misguided'

Post-mortem tests revealed later that…

Larry King, Nov 2004 Larry King has conducted tens of thousands of interviews over the years

Veteran broadcaster Larry King has announced that he will be ending his nightly show on CNN in the autumn.

Over 25 years of the show, King, famous for wearing braces, has conducted more than 40,000 interviews.

Larry King Live recently made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running show with the same host in the same time slot.

The news comes at a time of falling ratings for the show. King, 76, said he would spend more time with his…