London - The father of an Iraqi doctor on trial in Britain on charges of masterminding major attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow Thursday apologized to a court for his son's actions.

Professor Talal Abdulla, 57, said in a statement read out in court that the "sky fell" on his family when his son, Bilal Abdulla, was arrested after a failed car bombing at Glasgow airport, in Scotland, in June 2007.

In his witness statement to Woolwich Crown Court, in London, Professor Abdulla said the family name had been "blackened" and he could not imagine his son preparing to kill himself in the name of Islam.

London- Arsenal and England winger Theo Walcott will be out for around three months after he underwent surgery on his injured shoulder on Thursday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the 19-year-old had undertaken the surgery, after dislocating his right shoulder in training with England on Tuesday night.

Wenger has been critical of the number of friendly internationals in the calendar, but did not blame the FA for the injury to one of his key players.

London - US popstar Michael Jackson is expected to turn up in court in London Monday to defend himself against breach-of-contract allegations brought by an Arab sheikh, involving a sum of 4.7 million pounds (7 million dollars).

Jackson's legal representative, Robert Englehart, told the High Court in London Thursday that his client had been given medical clearance to travel to London for the trial.

It had earlier been expected that the 50-year-old superstar would give evidence by videolink from Los Angeles. His appearance at the High Court in central London is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

London - Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca announced Thursday that it was planning to cut 1,400 jobs and close three plants in Europe in a programme to "improve efficiency across the business."

AstraZeneca will close sites in Spain (Porrino), Belgium (Destelbergen) and Sweden (Uema), executive vice-president David Smith said in London.

By 2013, a further 1,400 jobs would be cut at factories in Britain and Sweden, in addition to 7,600 job cuts announced in 2007.

Kanpur, Nov. 20 : India made heavy work of an under-par England total in the first evenly-contested match between the two sides at Kanpur''s Green Park Stadium on Thursday during the third one-day international.

But the hosts edged ahead thanks to a superior run rate under the Duckworth-Lewis method when bad light curtailed their chase after 40 overs.

India were asked to chase a victory target of 241 runs, and ended up scoring 198/5 in 40 overs when play was called off due to bad light. According to the D/L method, India needed to be 183/5 after 40 overs.

London  , Nov 20 : A 12-year-old boy, who has been arrested 40 times this year, was finally locked up on November 19.

The boy, whose name has been withheld for legal reasons, was described as a “one child crimewave” by magistrates.

He was given just eight months’ detention after his lawyer argued that he should be spared youth custody, as he would be the youngest inside and might try to be like the older thugs.